Page 136 of The Thing About My Prince

“It was a non-ending because I didn’t want to end it.” His grip on my hands tightens at the same time as deep, troubled furrows appear in his brow. “It was the absolute last thing I wanted to do.”

That, I can accept. Not least because of the sincerely remorseful look that racks his beautiful features.

But I’ve thought about this over and over, and come to the conclusion that the speed with which he went from saying we’d sort everything out when he got back to New York, to calling it off the next day, means something must have happened.

And I’m sure as hell not kissing him again until I know what that was. “Then why did you do it?”

He leans forward and pulls my hands to his heart, where it beats against them. “I did it foryou. I’m so sorry I hurt you, but I promise I did it foryou.”

It would be so easy to fold and give in to the pleading look in his eyes. But I’ve spent years not taking no for an answer in my work, and today I’m not taking no for an answer on my own behalf.

“Oliver, will you please explain to me what the hell that means?”

“This is the part I’m dreading telling you. The part where I explain why the book got scrapped.”

“I wondered about that. But I couldn’t get any answers.”Julian told me he had no idea, and everyone I spoke with at the publisher’s gave me fudged nonanswers. “But what has the book being scrapped got to do with you ghosting me like a total ass?”

Oliver looks down at our hands and laces his fingers through mine, like he’s locking us together. It sparks a bloom of heat across my chest that I could do without right now while I’m trying to make rational decisions.

He chews his bottom lip for a moment before speaking.

“This is the thing that could send you running from the plane and never wanting to see me ever again.” His gaze slowly lifts until his troubled eyes are locked with mine. “You might hate me for it. But if this is the start of a future together, I’m not going to keep any secrets from you.”

“No secrets is good.” But his words make my heart race with the fear and dread of how awful what he’s about to tell me might be. “Go on.”

Still looking right into me, Oliver takes a deep breath, and I swear his hands tremble a little against mine. “My parents and Giles told me that if I agreed to not do the book, they would make sure you got a new job to replace the one in Eastern Europe that you lost to that useless rich kid.”

I stare at him blankly for the fraction of a second it takes me to process what he’s said.

Then a hot flash of anger, hurt, frustration, and crushing disappointment that he can’t possibly know me as well as I thought he did makes me snatch my hands from his and jump to my feet.

“Seriously?” Rushing, pulsing blood pounds in my ears. “After everything I’ve told you? After everything you know about me? You pulled strings to get me a job?”

I turn away from him, pressing my eyes tight shut. Maybe if I shake my head hard enough, this won’t be true. “So I’m not even here, in this job, on my own merit?”

Tears of frustration burn my eyes. I’ve worked my ass offfor this, and my biggest achievement wasn’t even my own. It came from a person born to influence getting it for me.

How could he let this happen when he knows how much I’d hate it?

“Of course you are.” He rises to stand behind me and tries to turn me to face him. My effort to pull from his grip is half-hearted and, after a moment of resistance, I allow his guiding hands move me.

“They told me what the woman atThe Sentinelis like,” he says. “And I researched her before I agreed, read a bunch of interviews with her, and I’m certain she would never have given you this job as a favor.”

He brushes a strand of disheveled hair out of my face. “She’s someone who appoints people on nothing but their talent and skill and passion and drive. The only thing you got through my family was an introduction. That was all. After that, it was you who got yourself this job. Amanda wouldn’t have given it to you if she didn’t think you were the best person. And the only reason she didn’t think that before the introduction was because she hadn’t met you.”

His rambling answer sounds panicked, like he’s worried his fear has come true and I might be about to run off the plane and vanish into the desert heat.

But the logical, unemotional part of me knows he’s right. Amanda’s reputation is legendary. And I’m even more certain after dealing with her these last few weeks that she would never give me, or anyone else, an assignment based on anything other than merit.

And the fact that Oliver took the time to find out what she was like before agreeing to the plan shows how much he cared that I’d hate the idea of anyone in his position giving me a leg up the career ladder. It shows how much he knows me.

Oliver rests his hands on my shoulders and the tension that had gripped my body eases. “Amanda is a total hard-ass.I know she wouldn’t do anything unless it was her own decision.”

“Thank fucking God.” He blows out a long, relieved breath and takes my hands again.

He holds them more gently this time, less like he’s clinging on for dear life, and strokes me with his thumbs in a way that makes my chest ache and tears prick my eyes.

“But you gave up the book for me, Oliver. You really needed that book. And the documentary.”