As he came out of the bedroom with a big, sexy grin on and nothing else, her heart skipped a beat in her chest.
She wouldn’t cry. Wouldn’t let herself fall apart again the way she had the first time out on his cliffs. She thought, I’m falling in love with you, and the very last thing in the world I want is to leave you.
But what she made herself say was, “It’s time for me to go.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
No.
It was the only word Drake could think. The only thing he knew to be true.
If Rosa truly didn’t want to be with him any longer, he would never hold her here against her will. But if she was leaving for any other reason—and he figured there could be dozens of possible options to choose from right about now—he wouldn’t let her run again.
Not without him at her side.
He didn’t trust himself to say anything at first, simply put his hands on her face and kissed her. And when he finally made himself draw back, he said, “I love you.”
Joy flickered in her eyes, but a split second later, that joy was gone. “You can’t.” She tried to push him away. “You don’t.”
“I can.” He lowered his mouth to hers again. “I do.”
Right here, right now, whether she liked it or not, he was making his vows to her. Vows that he wouldn’t let her feel hopeless, afraid, or alone ever again.
“What happened while I was sleeping? What’s brought the panic back into your eyes?”
“Oscar needed to go out and it was so sunny and bright. I felt...” She closed her eyes. “I felt hopeful. Like maybe I could get through this. Maybe I could figure things out.” When she opened her eyes, they were bleak. And full of the cynicism he hated to see. “There was a woman outside. A pretty one, with pie. Mona’s granddaughter.”
At last, the scene began to take shape for Drake. “She recognized you.”
“Of course she did. And there I was, wearing nothing but your shirt. She had to know what we’d been doing even though I lied. I told her we were just family friends. That you’re like a brother to me.”
He laughed. He couldn’t help it, when nothing had ever been more preposterous.
“It’s not funny.”
He brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. “She’s going to find out the truth of what we are to each other soon enough, Rosa. Everyone will.” Because he wasn’t going to let her run from him like she’d tried to run from everyone and everything else.
“There are more pictures! New ones!” She finally managed to duck out from beneath his arm. “You can’t be with me.”
Rage at hearing of more pictures hitting the Internet rose so fast it choked him, but he needed to hold it at bay. For now. “I’m with you now. And we’ll deal with the pictures together.”
“I can’t drag you into this with me. Not like this. Not when the scandal has just got even bigger. I need to leave right away. Before Trinity thinks of a reason to come back and finds us here together. Before she sees me on all these canvases, and pictures of your paintings end up on the Internet too.” With every word, he could hear and feel her panic growing more and more out of control. “I should never have come here. I should have found somewhere more remote, looked for a better place to hide out.”
There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but only one truly mattered right now. “I love you,” he said again, wanting to make sure she didn’t ever forget it.
For the past few days, he’d watched her begin to believe more and more in her strength. Yesterday had seemed like such a big turning point on so many levels.
Now, however, her belief seemed to have been stripped away again.
He knew it was the shock of learning about more pictures—and being surprised by a fan in the woods when she thought she was safely hidden from that world—that had done it. But he also knew Rosa was more than strong enough to deal with all of it.
Right at this moment, however, it was clear that he wouldn’t have a prayer of convincing her of any of that. So instead of trying, he said, “If you want to hide, really hide, I have just the place for you.”
She looked at him as if that were the very last thing she expected him to say. “You do?”
“I do.”
Looked like he was going to be paying a visit to his father’s cabin at Summer Lake in the Adirondacks, after all.
But he wouldn’t let them leave without a reminder of how far they’d come in his little Montauk cabin. He swooped her up into his arms and carried her toward his bedroom.
“Drake, put me down. Didn’t you hear anything I just said? We need to leave.” She shook her head. “I mean, I need to leave. You should stay here. You should forget about me.”