“Where are you going?”
“I haven’t had dinner.” He stifled a yawn, ran his hands through his messy hair. “I’d intended for us to have a quickie, not a full session. But I’m hungry, and that seemed like a good stopping point.”
I screwed up my face. “That was a horrible stopping point.”
“Maybe for you,” he said mildly. He went into the kitchen and pushed on a flat panel. The refrigerator door, it turned out. We both stared at the gaping white maw; other than a six-pack of orange soda, it was empty. “Damn.” He pulled out his phone and pushed a button. “Order us a large pizza, extra cheese. Mushroom and peppers. And an order of mozzarella sticks.” He turned to me. “You need anything?”
“Slice of your pizza?”
He didn’t even smile. “Also, get someone to stock my kitchen tomorrow. At least a week’s worth of food.” He hung up and looked in the freezer. It was completely empty.
I ducked under his arm and slid up between Corbin and the refrigerator. I didn’t know where my sudden bravery had come from. I put my arms around his neck.
“I trust you,” I said. “You saved my life. You… were so kind to me.”
Corbin brushed his thumb over the side of my cheek, then he kissed me. Tenderly. There was an amount of regret there, too, it seemed. “It’s ok, Audrey. We’ll get there. Or we won’t.”
“But what I said… I didn’t mean to say it.”
He didn’t respond to that. We were both wondering the same thing: if I meant it. Except I knew that I did. Because even though I hadn’t meant to say it, it was the truth. And it wasn’t even an epiphany. I’d been turning it over in my mind, trying to make sense of it, trying to understand what it meant for someone like me to fall in love. It was inconceivable that he didn’t suspect how I felt.
But maybe he’d been hoping that it was otherwise. From the first, I’d presented myself as a woman who didn’t get attached. Everything between us was sex and affection. But love? Not that. And he’d told me that he still mourned his wife.
I bit my lip and cursed myself.
Corbin caught my chin and lifted it. “Audrey, I wouldn’t be worried about what you said if you could have repeated it. That you can’t… it makes me think that it’s true.”
“That is insane logic.” I jerked away from him.
“I’m not asking you to do anything except repeat what you said earlier.”
I couldn’t think straight. “How do I convince you that I’m fine? That I’m not turning into some psycho clingy girl who plans out the names of our kids and orders monogrammed sheets.”
Corbin winced. I was so deep in the hole that I couldn’t see daylight anymore. Shut up, Audrey. I was making things so much worse. And there was only one way out. “I said that I was falling in love with you. Ok. That’s what I said. But I didn’t mean it. How pathetic do you think I am?”
Corbin’s mouth was open, and he worked his jaw a little from side to side. He looked away, probably embarrassed for me. “Guess that’s settled, then,” he said.
“I hope so.”
Someone knocked at the door. I was too naked for company. I recovered my shirt and bra and hurried into the bedroom to collect the rest of my clothes and get dressed.
When I came out, Corbin was standing at the dining room table, and he wasn’t alone. A pretty woman with glossy, chin-length dark hair stood with him, their heads bowed over a tablet computer. I guessed she was in her late twenties. She had the type of trim, naturally athletic body that I usually only saw on fitness-but-really-fashion magazines near supermarket checkouts. She looked up at me. I could tell she was surprised, though she hid it quickly.
Corbin looked over. “Jennifer, this is Audrey.”
Jennifer covered the floor between us with a few quick strides. She shook my hand. Professional. Confident. “Nice to meet you, Audrey. I’ll be taking Corbin’s place for the next few days.”
Taking
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