She cocked her head to the side and leveled a serious look at him. “Come on, Drew. Let’s be honest here. If you’ve changed your mind about doing the ad shoot, at least tell me.”
He stood and paced, spending more time looking out the window than at her. A bad sign. Carolina stayed on the sofa, because it was obvious Drew didn’t want her close. The thought stabbed through her, the hurt palpable.
“I don’t know. Work’s been tough, you know? We’ve lost some games and we’re all trying to figure out what’s not working for the team. It’s all I’ve been able to think about lately.”
“Understandable. When things don’t go right at work, it consumes you.”
He stopped and looked down at her. “You’re not mad.”
“How could I be? All I needed was an explanation of where your head was at. And I do know how you feel. But the bottom line is, I’m at deadline for the print advertising. You’re either in or out. My preference is you being in. It’ll only take a few hours for the shoot, Drew, and I really need you.”
She was laying it all on the line for him, telling him how much she was relying on him for this.
He looked at her, and she waited.
“I just . . . can’t right now, Carolina. I have to give everything to the team.”
“But you’re still going to do the show, aren’t you?”
He didn’t answer her.
“Drew. You have to do the show. You’re fitted. It’s too late to get someone else.”
“Yeah. Sure. I did the fittings, right? I’ll do the show.”
She’d never seen such a lack of enthusiasm. Not that she expected him to be thrilled about it, but . . . God, she had spent a year getting ready for this. And now it was three days away and he wanted to bail on her?
“You could have said no at the beginning, you know. It wasn’t even my idea to have you in the show. It was Gray’s.”
He gave her a wry smile. “So you didn’t want me.”
She let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m not saying that. But it’s too late now. I need you to say you’re going to be there.”
He shrugged. “I’ll be there. For the show part, anyway, because I promised you I would.”
He’d also promised her he’d do the advertising. Which meant he was giving her nothing. There was no emotion in his voice. He was walking away from her yet again. Somehow, it hurt more now than it had all those years ago when he’d dumped her. Maybe because she cared more now than she had then.
She stood, tamping down the hurt that wrapped around her like a pin-pricking blanket. She refused to take this personally. He’d made a business decision, and nothing more. “Okay. I get that your schedule is full regarding the print ad. I’ll just go in another direction.”
“Wait.”
She stopped, hoping he’d changed his mind.
“Look, I was going to have something to eat. Maybe run out and grab a cheeseburger. Do you want to join me?”
She couldn’t even force a smile. “I hate burgers. Thanks, but no. I have a lot of work to do, so I’ll just grab a taxi and head out.”
She put on her coat and went to the door.
“Carolina, I’m sorry.”
She didn’t want to see him anymore, couldn’t even form words, hating that there was a catch in her throat, that she wanted to cry. She had to be a professional about this, not act as if he’d just broken her heart.
But he’d just broken her heart, dammit. He’d let her down, and she couldn’t help the way she felt.
This was what happened when she allowed herself to get close. She should have known better. If she’d have kept things business-only between them, she wouldn’t feel as if he’d jerked her world out from under her right now.
She finally took a deep breath and turned around. “Don’t say anything. It’s all right.”
She opened the door and shut it behind her before she did something incredibly stupid, like bursting into tears or asking him why he didn’t care enough about her to do this one thing that meant the world to her.
A taxi was just pulling around the corner, so she hailed it and it stopped. She’d gotten lucky, was hoping she wasn’t going to have to stand there under the windows of his apartment for twenty minutes waiting for an available cab. She climbed in and gave the driver her address, then sat back and thought about which of her models she was going to use for the print advertising.
There was no time to wallow in her misery, no time to think about herself. She had to get moving on the advertising campaign. Work had to take precedence.
When she got back to her apartment, she went to her model portfolios and brought them up on her computer, searching through each face, studying each body, imagining them wearing the briefs.
She’d have to scrap the shoot the way she’d envisioned it. Without Drew, it would no longer make sense. She’d have to come up with something else, something equally enticing.
Reaching into her bag for her sketchbook, she propped her feet up on the table and closed her eyes, letting her imagination have free rein.
The only problem was, her mind had gone completely blank.
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