Page 166 of Soul Mates: Hercules Valentine and I

“Take for what?”

“To make my jitters go away.”

“You’re jittery?”

“I’m nervous about being alone with you and what we have to talk about.” The honesty slipped out of my before I could contain. I attribute the ease with which I express myself around him to the fact that maybe if our families weren’t so hell-bent on hating each other for no good reason, he and I would probably be planning our wedding too.

Hercules frowns. “Have you come to tell me that you can’t work for us?”

The corners of my mouth turn down as I nod. “Not unless I can clear it with my family. And they are just unbending when it comes to Valentines.”

There’s an edge to his chuckle. “Mine too. When it comes to the Groves.”

I tilt my head back and gape up at the VTI building. Longing grips my heart. “I mean, I want to work for you. I want my old team back. I never even got a chance to apologize to them.” I turn to him, and his gaze locks on mine. My heart flips like it used to in high school whenever one of us accidentally caught the other staring and we allowed our eyes to linger on each other. “Nor have I apologized to you,” I whisper breathlessly. I swallow the extra moisture that pours into my mouth.

“I forgive you,” he whispers. His eyes are full of longing.

“But could you ever trust me?”

Hercules clears his throat. “You were in my company for two weeks, giving you the ability to do major damage, and yet you did none. So yes, Paisley, I trust you. It’s your brother I don’t trust, or your uncle.”

I drop my head as I sigh. Just the mention of Max and Leo makes my countenance heavy.

“But…”

I lift my head, and I’m facing the man I love. “But?”

Hercules’s Adam’s apple bobs. “I need you. Your team needs you. All those people that you love to work with will be out of job if we don’t something big, fast.”

I’m almost in a trance as his breath wafts across my face. We’re sitting mighty close. But I don’t want to abruptly scoot over to make room between us. I love being near him too much. “Then you want to get the personal trainer software off the ground?”

“Yes.”

“And has Mason had the team done any preliminary development?”

“Like what?”

“The AI programming, for one.”

“No.”

I grunt thoughtfully. “Okay. Well… work on that first. The demonstration model that I programmed for Mason has basic capabilities. I would task Rina and Nat with building a comprehensive knowledge-based AI module, like, as of yesterday.”

“Come back.” His words slip through the air like a plea that came straight from his heart.

“I can’t,” I whisper.

“Not as an employee. As a…”

“I can’t,” I insist as water pours to my eyes and my chest rises high and falls low with every breath.

Hercules is breathing heavily too, studying the expression on my face. “Your decision isn’t solely about our families, is it?”

I shake my head. “You’re engaged.”

His eyebrows crush into a severe frown. “It’s not real, Paisley. I don’t love her, nor will I ever love her.”

“But you’re marrying her.”