She grabbed his arms, urging him to stand. “Preston, no. Don’t.”
Ignoring her, he produced a little black box and opened it. A large marquise diamond sparked in the soft restaurant lighting, faintly blue against the white satin lining. “Please.”
At her back, an excited murmur rippled through the other diners, and heat rose into her face. For a solid minute, she couldn’t come up with a thing to say in response. “Preston—”
“You don’t have to answer now,” he added in a rush. He stood and closed the box, pressing it into her hand. “I know this is a lot to take in. I had planned to wait, but I have to let you know how serious I am this time.”
Panic skated down the back of her neck. “What about Lark?”
“I broke it off with her right after we got back from Key West. I regret hurting her, but she’s the woman everyone thought I should marry, not the one I wanted, and I’m done listening to everyone. I want you, nobody else.”
Not that long ago, it would have been so easy to say yes, to throw herself into his arms and sink back into the comfort of a relationship with him. Now there were too many variables. Would she ever be able to completely trust him again? And what about Cam? Going back to Preston would mean the end of their friends with benefits relationship. Would they be able to go back to a plain old friendship? Or, oh God, would she lose him completely?
Pain bloomed in the center of her chest at the thought of losing Cam, and yet she could not tell Preston no. She tried. The word was on her tongue, but wouldn’t leave her lips.
Two years. She’d spent two years of her life with this man. Five if she counted the years he’d spent pursuing her before they officially started dating. That had to mean something. At the very least, he deserved more consideration from her than a flat-out rejection.
Everyone made mistakes, right?
Even Cam was not immune to them. He’d proved that today by lying to her.
“I’ll think about it,” she said.
Preston pulled her into his arms, and a round of scattered applause came from the other restaurant patrons. No doubt, they all thought she said yes. She stared down at the box in her hand.
Maybe she should have.
Chapter Twenty-one
“I figured I’d find you here.”
Eva flinched at the sound of Cam’s voice. She’d come to Maguire’s because work was out of the question after making a fool out of herself in front of Miguel this afternoon, and home didn’t seem like a good idea either. Maguire’s dark interior, smelling of beer, fried food, and decades of cigarette smoke, was comforting, a security blanket masquerading as a cop bar. But she should have guessed Cam would come looking for her here.
He settled at the bar beside her and flagged the bartender, who acknowledged him with a smile and short wave before pouring a pint of Guinness and bringing it over. He waited until the bartender left to tend other patrons before spinning on his stool and facing her.
“Listen, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied, and you have every reason to hate me.”
She heaved out a sigh. “I don’t hate you, Cam.” She didn’t think it would be possible to hate the man.
“You have every right to be pissed as hell,” he said.
“And I am. Absolutely. But,” she added, even though she didn’t want to make the admission, “I know you and I get your reasoning.” She aimed a scowl at him. “It still really fucking hurts you lied to me. I thought you were the one person I could trust without a doubt and then you went and pulled this shit.”
He spread his hands in a gesture of supplication. “I’m an idiot.”
“I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his brows draw together. Then he noticed the ring box sitting on the bar in front of her. He nudged it. “What’s that?”
“A ring.”
Setting down his beer, he scooped up the box and opened it before she could stop him. His jaw tightened. “Preston gave you this?”
“Earlier tonight,” she said as a flush worked into her cheeks. She didn’t know what she had to be ashamed about, but there it was. “I went to dinner with him.”
The blue of Cam’s eyes darkened to a turbulent gray. “Why?”
“Why not?”
He growled at her non-answer. “Are you seriously accepting this?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? How can you even consider it after what he did to you?”
Wincing because he had a point, she struggled to find the words to make him understand. “We were together for years, Cam. It’s hard to throw that much time away.”
“And what about our years together?”
She hesitated. “That’s different.”
“Why? Because we weren’t sleeping together?”
“Yes.”