Page 7

Just like that, the world fell away.She was back in his arms, in that exhilarating place that felt like nothing else in her universe.The way Zachary Savage said her name made her want to break down and weep with equal amounts of joy and sorrow.
He exhaled noisily down the line.“Please say something, baby.”
The world snapped back into sharp focus.Horns blared and people rushed past at breakneck speed.Sights, sounds, smells.But all the wrong ones.She yearned to be back in Paris or in Marrakech.Before everything had gone to shit.
“You want me to say something?How dare you pull me up on my promises when you never kept even one of yours?”Her voice, husky from all the emotions she was trying to keep inside, sounded like she’d smoked a pack of cigarettes for breakfast.
“Bethany—”
“You expect me to keep trotting after you like some horny puppy after you dropped a bombshell at my feet and walked away?Let’s try this for a second.What if I’d been the one to throw that grenade at your feet?Would you want to carry on blithely, as if what I’d said didn’t matter?”
“No.But I wouldn’t have walked away either.I let you go because?—”
“You let me go?FYI, I am my own person.I may have let you have too much of your own way back in Paris and Marrakech, but don’t mistake willing for spineless.”
“I never thought you were spineless.”
That appeased her a little, but anger still burned in her gut that he would use her promises against her.“Your last text was a low blow.I’m disappointed that you would sink to that level.”
“I wanted to get your attention.”
She noted that he hadn’t apologized.That Zach was still very much in play.“Well, you succeeded.For a minute.Goodbye?—”
“No!Dammit, don’t hang up.”
Her grip tightened on the phone.Someone else bumped into her and a hiss of anger was swiftly followed by a rude suggestion of what she could do to herself.
“Where are you?”Zach demanded.
“I’m standing in the middle of the sidewalk somewhere in Midtown,” she replied before she could think better of it.
She heard the distinct sound of a chair being shoved back.“I can be there in fifteen minutes.Tell me exactly where?—”
“Wait a minute.You’re in New York?”Shock rocked through her.Somehow, she’d imagined he was calling from his base in San Francisco.Learning that he was in the same city made her hot and cold at the same time.
The idea that he was fifteen minutes away made her heart flip over.
“I’m trying not to be disturbed by the fact that you think I’d be anywhere else but where you are.”
Words, she reminded herself.They were just words.And Zach Savage was very good with his words, even when they hid his true meaning.
When she was bumped a third time, Bethany forced herself to move.She wanted to ask him how long he’d been in New York but clamped her mouth shut.
“I took the next commercial flight right after my plane left to bring you home,” he volunteered softly.“You needed time, so I didn’t want to force my presence on you on my plane.Tell me where you are.”
She reached an intersection and stopped.“No.”
“Please, baby.”
“You were right about me needing time.”
He breathed out, and Bethany could imagine his eyes narrowing into laser-sharp focus.“It’s been a week, Bethany.It’s felt like three fucking lifetimes, but it’s been a goddamn week.”
The lights changed, and she went with the flow of human traffic.She had no idea where she was headed but moving was a little better than being frozen like a robot, attuned to Zach’s voice.“I know exactly how long it’s been.Are you ready to explain what you meant in Marrakech?”
His silence lasted a few seconds but it felt like a year.“I told you, it’s not that easy.”
The permanent vice-like grip around her chest tightened another notch.“Then I guess I’ll be taking more time.”