“I needed to be with you.”
She wanted to smile. Her heart was dancing. She hadn’t allowed herself to hope for this moment, but now that it was here, she was beyond happy. At the same time, she didn’t want to give in so easily to him. She didn’t want Red to think he could treat her terribly and then she’d take him back the second he decided he wanted to return.
“I’m very busy shopping right now,” she said, picking up a can of tomato soup and examining it.
“I can see that,” he said. And then, insistently, “Look at me.”
She turned and looked up at him. He was staring at her with longing, with fire, and she was struck once again by his physical perfection. He could have been a movie star, she thought, if he’d wanted to be. Any woman would pay any price to have him, and yet here he was, with her. In this dingy little convenience store.
“Okay, I’m looking at you,” she said.
He was dressed in a suit with a light trench coat because it had been raining off an on all day. She could smell the rain on him even now. “I’ve never felt this way about someone,” he said. “I need you.”
She looked away, unable to deal with the passion she was feeling. If she kept looking at him, she wouldn’t be able to stay strong. “You can’t just toy with me,” she said.
“I’m not toying with you.” He caressed her cheek, and then his hand cupped her chin and tilted her face towards his. “Look at me, beautiful.”
She met his gaze once more and felt the tears sting her eyes. “You were the one who threw me out of your office. You humiliated me, laughed at me. And then two weeks of nothing.”
“I was wrong.” His eyes didn’t waver. “I was…conflicted.”
“Conflicted about what? Why do you have to make this so complicated?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“You’re the most frustrating, ridiculous person I’ve ever met.”
“And so are you,” he told her.
“So where does that leave us?” she asked.
“I didn’t expect to feel this way,” he said.
“How do you feel?”
And then he kissed her, while she held the can of tomato soup that she didn’t even want. His lips were firm and warm, his hands held her face softly, slid around to the back of her neck, her hair. She’d never felt such passion before, hadn’t imagined it even existed.
Finally they broke off. He smiled at her and she laughed.
“This is crazy,” she said.
“Let’s go back to your place,” he replied.
She shook her head. “No way Jose.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun. I want to see how you live.” He grabbed her free hand and started for the exit of the store. The middle-aged Korean man who was working the register stared at them.
“Red,” she squealed. “We can’t!”
“I’ve done a lot of things in my life,” Red told her. “I built a multi-billion dollar business from scratch. I’ve invested in startups that people said would never amount to anything, and made money doing it. I swam with the sharks near the Great Barrier Reef. I think I can make it through a night at your second-story walkup.”
She laughed. “My roommate’s home. I can’t.”
“Already met her.” He cocked his head. “Come to think of it, she wasn’t particularly friendly to me.”
Nicole stopped dead in her tracks. “Don’t joke around like that.”
He smiled. “I’m not joking. I thought you’d be home so I knocked on your apartment door.”
“You didn’t buzz first?”
“Someone was coming out of your building while I was waiting, so I just went in and knocked like a true gentleman. But the girl who answered the door wasn’t very forthcoming. She refused to tell me where you were.”
Nicole put her hand to her forehead. “Oh no. No, no, no.” She had a terrible feeling.
“Relax,” he said. “She’s harmless. And luckily, I know that you have a habit of shopping at this store on weekday evenings.”
“I really wish you hadn’t gone to my apartment,” Nicole said. “You’re famous—she definitely recognized you.”
“We’re not doing anything illegal,” he smiled.
He had a point, Nicole thought. Why was she being so secretive about this relationship? Partly because she wanted it to be just between them. She didn’t want to always be answering Danielle’s probing questions, defending her own actions. But also because she sensed that Danielle would judge her, would tell her that it was a mistake. She would say that Red was only going to hurt her.
“You’re right,” she told him, trying to convince herself that she didn’t care what Danielle knew. “I don’t give a damn what Danielle thinks.”
The Korean man at the register was unabashedly watching their banter, his face a mask of puzzlement.
Red sighed. “I think we can do something more interesting than your apartment. I’ve got a place in mind.”
“Where?”
“Trust me.”