by Kait Gamble
After what she’d done to him, Tomas was the last person she would expect to come to her defense.
Maia kept the wan smile on her face as she made another attempt to eat. Thankfully, Alex had taken his hand from hers. She snuck a glance at him to find that he was already watching her with speculating interest and a mysterious half smile.
The rest of the meal went by without Chloe saying anything else snide about Maia. Instead, she did her best to turn the conversation to her favorite topic—herself. Maia was relieved. With everyone focused on Chloe, she’d be too occupied to make any more comments.
As the meal came to an end, people drifted off into separate little groups. Maia took advantage of Tomas and Alex being distracted by other guests who vied for their attentions. Fully intending to use the moment to catch her breath, Maia edged toward the veranda.
“I hope you’re enjoying yourself, Maia.” Guillaume approached her with a friendly smile.
Caught, she forced a cheery grin. “I am. Thank you for inviting me.” What else could she say?
Guillaume motioned to the bar laden with dozens of bottles. “Can I make you anything?” When she shook her head, he smiled and walked them to the veranda as if he knew that she needed space more than anything else right now.
Maia inhaled the cool night air, enjoying the blended scents of sea and exotic wild flowers. Another two breaths and she felt almost normal.
“So Alex tells me that you two have a past.”
Maia nearly choked on her next breath. He’d spoken to his father about her? It wasn’t too hard to believe considering the champagne incident. It would only be natural to wonder why it had happened.
It took her a long moment to formulate her reply. “That’s just what it was. The past.”
“I see.” He brooded quietly for a moment. Maia blinked. It was like she was getting a glimpse of Alex in the future. “Can I tell you something, Maia?”
Maia’s heart fluttered. Did she really want to hear what he had to say? She nodded stiffly.
“Alex and I didn’t have the greatest relationship when he was growing up. I’m sure you can see he’s quite bull-headed and single-minded in his determination.” He chuckled when Maia only stared back wide-eyed, unwilling to respond to that. “He was much worse when he was younger. He resented having doors opened for him. He was very determined to make it on his own, hence his move abroad for his schooling.”
Maia remembered he never really mentioned his parents when they were together. Whenever they came up, he’d tense up and change the subject.
“Alex refused to come home for the holidays. He didn’t even want to talk to us on the phone. I don’t think he planned on coming back until he’d made his first million. But then his mother grew ill.” Guillaume’s smile waned a little and he cleared his throat. “After the accident, Alex became a different person. It was almost as if he lost a part of himself along with the memories. He became hard. Distant. His studies, then afterward work became his life.” He looked at her as if he recognized something in her eyes.
Maia knew what it was he saw. She was the same. After Alex left, she’d closed herself off, focused on her studies and, after graduation, did nothing but work. “Why are you telling me this?”
His voice was soft. “I think that you two can help each other.”
“I don’t think that we can.” Maia gripped the stone railing with both hands. “I don’t think I can.”
“I don’t mean to push.” Guillaume put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Or pry. I just see the way you two look at each other.” His smile widened when she whipped her head around to gape at him. “There is still something there.”
Alex saw his father and Maia talking on the veranda and wondered what they could be discussing. From a glance at Maia, he’d have to say it wasn’t about the article. When a pained expression briefly darkened her exquisite features, he had a sneaking suspicion that they were talking about him.
He took a step toward them with a sudden, but inexplicable need to coax the look off her face.
“Alex.”
Tomas approached with a glass of brandy in each hand.
“Tomas. Good to see you again.” He took the offered drink. For a long while, the two men stood silently taking stock of each other.
“So you and Maia, huh?” Tomas waded into the conversation slowly, between sips of the golden liquid. “Sorry if I stepped on your toes at dinner. I didn’t know you and she were a thing.”
Alex wasn’t sure why he didn’t correct his friend. He didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he focused on what he saw between Tomas and Maia. “You two were together once.”
The blond man nodded. “About a year ago.” He smiled sadly. “I have to admit when I first saw her this evening, I thought this was my second chance. I guess I thought wrong.”
Alex shrugged nonchalantly, but he studied the other man, his words, his actions as he spoke of Maia. He clearly still had feelings. “Why did you two break up?”
“She left me. It was my fault. I knew Maia had a problem with commitment.” He sighed. “To put it in the most basic terms, I pushed and she ran.”
He said it so simply. So plainly. As if he were stating that her hair was brown, or that her eyes were hazel. It seemed that Chloe’s assessment of her coworker was accurate enough.
“You don’t seem to hold a grudge.” Alex wasn’t sure he could be so magnanimous if their roles were reversed.
“Like I said, it was my fault.” He looked Alex up and down again. “I’ve been waiting for her, but I guess it’s pointless now that you two are together.”
Again, Alex let his friend’s assumption pass. “Did you ever find out why she was so reluctant to settle down with you?”
Tomas downed the last of his drink and shook his head. “Not exactly. I’m sure you’ve noticed that Maia doesn’t like to talk about feelings. It wasn’t until just before she left that she confided that she’d been hurt in the past and was afraid and unwilling to open herself up that way again.” He shrugged. “I was the idiot who drove her away. Only I had hoped she would find her way back to me. You’re a lucky man, Alex.” Tomas clapped his friend on the shoulder.
Alex felt a pang for his friend. “Things don’t always work out the way we want. I’m sorry, my friend.” Not really.
“I’ll be fine. Just glad she didn’t end up with a creep who will take advantage of her.” He chuckled humorlessly. “Or someone like the arschloch that messed her up so badly.”
Something that felt faintly like guilt twisted at his gut. Was he the one to turn her into the commitment-phobic woman she now was? If so, it was up to him to make things right. “Did she mention what he did to her?”
Tomas shook his head. “That was one thing she would never talk about. Whatever it was it made her stop trusting men with her heart.” He smiled. “Perhaps you will be the one to shatter that shell.”
Not likely if he was the one who had put it there.
Tomas took a healthy sip of the amber liquid as he regarded Alex. “So how are the projects in Asia coming along?”
Alex smiled. At last. Something he knew and could discuss with some intelligence.
Chapter Six
Maia opted to stay outside a little longer to enjoy the cool air, the view and the solitude—to mull over the new information.
Guillaume left her with a few thoughts. None of them were about helping Alex heal. Most of them included escape or hiding until her job was done. And staying away from him. The farther she kept from Alex, the better for her sanity. What frightened her most was the attraction she still felt for him. It wasn’t logical. He’d hurt her so badly and yet her hormones still ran amuck whenever she got near him.
“Maia.” Tomas approached her cautiously, as if he was afraid she was going to turn and run like a frightened rabbit.
Not that she could blame him.
“Hi.” She looked back out over the ocean before turning back to him again. Tomas was gorgeous. Sweet. Caring. K
ind. Definitely a man for whom she could imagine letting her guard down. And if she had stayed with him, she probably could have, eventually. But after seeing Alex again, Tomas’ presence, no matter how dazzling, was eclipsed. She put a hand on his and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about what I did to you. To us.”
He enclosed her hand between his. “I know, Maia. I can’t say I wasn’t angry. And disappointed. I thought what we had was worth working for. Fighting for. When you took off the way you did, I went a little crazy. I tried to find you. And when I couldn’t…” He took her hand and pressed it to his chest. “I realized that if you wanted me, you would come back.”
And that was the moment she realized that what she had done to Tomas was what she thought Alex had done to her. It made her heart shrivel to think that she had done it deliberately. She might not have been thinking straight and had been only following her instincts, but she had still abandoned a man who so had obviously cared for her. Alex had had an excuse. What did she have? A messed-up head? It brought anguished tears to her eyes that she had hurt him the way she had.
“You don’t have to say anything. I can see that you and Alex are together. I want you to be happy and if it’s with him then I’m okay with that.”
Maia’s heart clenched. He had things so wrong in that regard, but she didn’t correct him. “Tomas… I’m so sorry.” That at least was the truth. “I was a coward. And I never should have run out on you like that. I hate that I hurt you. I should have called or texted or…something.”
He wiped away her tears with his thumb. “Hey, now. Whatever will be, will be.”
It was his philosophy and was one of the reasons she got along so well with him. It was also what frightened her. Things with him were comfortable. Easy. He just wasn’t what she wanted. Who she wanted. She didn’t think she could want anyone ever again. At least, not the forever kind.
“Now that I know you are well, I’m fine.” His smile was a little sad as he let his hand drop. “Think of me from time to time, liebling.”
Maia nodded. How could she forget about someone so sweet?
He left her then, and for a long time, all she heard were the muted sounds of conversation in the background while the breeze whispered around her.
She had known for years that she was damaged. After Alex had disappeared, she’d found it hard to trust anyone. There’d only been a few attempts at a relationship over the years and they’d all failed because she wouldn’t let her walls down. The last was with Tomas. It hadn’t been easy to walk away from him. He’d been the closest she’d come to truly opening up to anyone in a very long time.
Only she hadn’t been able to. And she’d hurt a good man.
Disgusted with herself, she gripped the balustrade and stared into the distance. The realization of her own sickening actions had to come after she found out that everything she believed about Alex’s abandonment of her was wrong. That he wasn’t to blame.
He didn’t remember her. Or anything they had. Or shared. And she was left with nothing but bitter memories.
It was a cruel trick of fate.
It was sad. And it left her a seething mess of confused emotions.
The tears built and she gritted her teeth against them. She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t going to break down.
She felt his presence before she heard him.
“Maia? Are you okay?”
Not really. She nodded. “I’m fine.”
Alex spun her around and gently cupped her cheek. “You don’t look fine.”
His touch triggered her impulse to run. Blood roared in her ears. She tried to back away but was trapped against the railing. “Alex. Please. Just leave me alone.”
“I can’t.” He tipped her chin up so she had no choice but to look up into his eyes. “You’ve done your damnedest to push me away, but for some reason I just can’t get you out of my head. I’m not going to let you drive me away, especially not when you’re upset.”
Alex’s gaze was hypnotic, heated, as he peered into her eyes. “When you threw that drink at me at the restaurant, I thought you were insane. When you told me that we had been together in the past, I thought you were lying.” Alex touched her cheek with his fingertips. “But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.” His touch made her skin tingle, just like it always had. Maia was on the verge of turning her face into his palm, but forced herself to twist out of his grasp. To put some space between them.
“Well, you should. Just forget about me.”
He stepped closer, but didn’t touch her this time. “I can’t. I won’t. There’s something about you that I can’t ignore.”
What could she say to that? It was what she’d thought she wanted all those years ago, but now? She was too messed up to even contemplate another relationship, let alone one with Alex.
“Don’t say anything. I’m not going to push you. I just want the chance to get to know you.”
“Why? I attacked you. I’m obviously unable to maintain a lasting relationship. I’m sure you’ve heard that by now.” It just didn’t make sense for him to be interested in her. Especially when he could have any woman he wanted.
“Like I said, there’s something about you.” He dropped his head to lightly brush her lips with his. “Something I want.”
It was a ghost of a kiss, but Maia’s body reacted as if her blood had been ignited. He brushed his mouth over hers gently before darting his tongue out to taste her lips. The instant he did, she gasped at the intense sensation from the glancing contact.
Alex took quick advantage and deepened the kiss, angling her back so he could devour her.
Maia clung to his shoulders as their tongues dueled. Instinctively, she pressed against his hard chest, reveling in the strength she found there. His arms held her firmly against him, refusing any space between them.
A long-forgotten sensation took hold. Heat blasted through her body from every point he touched to pool low in her pelvis in a liquid ache. She wanted him with a ferocity that shook her from head to toe.
It was as exhilarating as it was terrifying.
Trembling she shuffled back. Licking her lips, getting that one last taste of him, she fought to get her breathing back under control. “Alex… I don’t know if this is such a good idea.”
It would be too easy to let him do what he liked. But if she did, then it would leave her wide open to getting hurt once more. And if things went wrong with them yet again, would she be able to put herself back together?
He closed his hands over hers and grazed her lips, her chin then her earlobe with his lips to whisper, “Trust me.”
That was the problem. She had before and it had nearly destroyed her.
Chapter Seven
Maia woke the next morning still in a daze. On the way back to the hotel, Alex hadn’t said anything more about the subject of them. He had walked her to her door, kissed her hand gently and bidden her goodnight.
She had floated to bed and, in her dreams, she’d been back at university and they’d been basking in the glow of young love.
The dreamy haze fizzled away in the sobering morning light and was replaced by confusion, which was then quickly chased by trepidation.
What was he thinking? Had he talked to Tomas? What had he told Alex? What had Chloe been telling him?
Why did she care?
He might have been interested in starting things up again, but she wasn’t.
Maia dialed room service and pulled out her laptop. She was going to write the article and get out of there before she did something monumentally stupid.
Like let herself fall for Alex again.
* * * *
By the time breakfast arrived, Maia had manically put together a third of the article. If she worked through the day, she could have a fantastic first draft done. By midnight, she might even have approval from Jo. Within twenty-four hours, she could be on a plane headed to the other side of the planet.
Bolstered by the idea, Maia had a grin on her
face when she opened the door only to have it melt away when she saw who had brought her meal.
“Morning, Maia.” Alex smiled and deftly sidestepped her as he walked into the suite.
“What are you doing here?” She ran a hand through her tangle of hair reflexively. Maia hadn’t anticipated him showing up like this.
“I thought I would bring you breakfast since I didn’t see you downstairs this morning.” He uncovered the tray. “I hope this is to your liking. You strike me as a fruit for breakfast kind of person.”
He was right about that. It looked wonderful. “Thanks, but I ordered room service.”
“Let me worry about that.” If he noticed she looked like she’d just fallen out of bed, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he ushered her to the seat and sat her down. He then pushed back the curtains and opened the balcony doors with a flourish.
It was only when he sat and picked up a cup of coffee that she noticed there were two. It looked like it was going to be more than him simply dropping off the food then leaving. Then again, had she ever really thought that it was even a possibility?
“Don’t be shy.” Alex speared a plump strawberry and handed her the fork. “How’s the article coming along?”
Of course, he would have seen the laptop. She took the fork and put it back down in favor of the coffee. “Good. I think I can be finished with the first draft tonight.”
He took a slow sip of his coffee and took his time swallowing. “That soon?”
She followed his lead and sipped out of her own cup before she answered. “Yes. Jo’s been talking of another article about a new game lodge in South Africa. The villas are situated on the reserve grounds up in the trees so animals can come right up to your window. Definitely not for the faint of heart. I can’t wait. It’s been a while since I’ve been chased by wild animals.” She laughed. “She wants me there ASAP.”