Love's Deception by Adrianne Byrd

here?”
    She looked flustered. “Yeah. It’s really not as expensive as it looks.” She shrugged.
    Was she kidding? He knew exactly how much it cost to live in this area of town. “Are you sure you don’t work for the mob?”
    She laughed. “I really appreciate your bringing me home. After I wring my aunt’s neck, I’m sure it will never happen again.”
    He parked inside the garage.
    “You know it’s not necessary for you to walk me to the door.”
    “Nonsense. I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t escort you safely home.”
    She started to protest again, but the look on his face told her she was wasting her breath.
    When they stepped from the elevator, Nathan was immediately impressed by the subtle elegance that greeted him. He glanced down at his simple black jeans and snug cotton turtleneck and felt underdressed. “Nice place.”
    “Thank you,” she said uneasily. She thought the walk to her suite seemed unbelievably long. When her front door came into view, she exhaled. “Here we are.” She tested the knob and was relieved her aunt hadn’t locked her out.
    “Then I guess this is good night?”
    “It looks that way.” She glanced at her watch. “I’d invite you in for a nightcap, but it’s pretty late.”
    He looked at the time. “Three o’clock. I’m sorry I kept you past curfew, but I really enjoyed your company. You gave me a lot to think about.”
    “I hope I was able to help.”
    “You were.”
    They fell silent. Neither knew how to end the evening.
    “Good night, Risa.” He leaned forward and tipped her chin up with his fingers and placed a tender kiss against her lips.
    A sweet sensation pooled within her body, making it impossible for her to hold on to a clear thought. When he pulled away, her quick intake of air burned her lungs. “Good night,” she managed to whisper.
    He smiled, then turned and walked away.
    Carissa watched him as he moved down the hallway and knew that she had just made a horrible mistake. Turning, she entered her penthouse, then slumped behind the closed door. She was playing with fire and she had no idea how she was going to put out the flames Nathan Edwards had ignited.

Chapter 15
    N athan didn’t drive home. Despite the late hour, he returned to Northside Hospital. Carissa had given him a lot to think about. Maybe the past was exactly where it needed to be, in the past. Easier said than done , he thought.
    The sorrow that seemed to possess her when she spoke of her father troubled him. Hell, he felt downright sorry for her. Yet it was a path he was in danger of following. He knew what he needed to do, but it still wasn’t easy.
    As he traveled through the empty hallways, he tried to figure out a way to bury years of heartache. And he wondered if he was capable of forgiving. He’dalways viewed things as black and white. There was no such thing as a gray area. It was probably why he was so hard on people, including India.
    When he arrived in the ICU, Nurse Anne greeted him with a smile. In their brief conversation, he learned that there was no change in his father’s condition. Dr. Peterson warned him that there was a possibility of his father remaining in a coma for years. Nathan prayed that wasn’t how this Shakespearean tragedy would end.
    Moments later, he sat beside Travis’s bed, staring at his still form. Had his father thought of him often over the past thirty years? Had he regretted his decision to walk out on him? Nathan hoped so.
    Guilt can be a very powerful thing . Carissa’s voice floated through his head. He exhaled and leaned forward to take Travis’s hand. It was still cold.
    “This isn’t easy for me,” he said above the lump in the center of his throat. “I want you to wake up. I know there’s nothing, yet everything, between us. But I don’t want to go through life with any more regrets. I can only hope that you feel the same way.”
    Tears slid from Nathan’s eyes with his heartfelt confession. “It took a friend of