Chapter 90

All of which was true. Any other night and he wouldn’t even bother to check on it. Of course, any other night and he wouldn’t even be here to check on it.

“So what do we do?” she asked, following him down the hall to the elevators. “You’re not going to call the police, are you?”

“To check out a downed camera? No.” He shot her a droll look. “We’ll go down to the security offices on the second floor to reboot the camera. Then we’ll go up to the eleventh floor to double-check that everything’s fine.”

“Maybe this is a stupid question, but shouldn’t there be a guard or someone on duty down there?” She looked pointedly at his phone. “Or was that the call you just made?”

“He’s probably just out on his rounds.” No point in telling her that even if the guard was on his rounds, he should have answered his phone.

As they waited for the elevator, he prayed that chattiness of hers would vanish. Naturally, it didn’t. This just wasn’t his night.

“If the building’s security offices are on the second floor, why do you need three whole floors up here?”

“These are the business offices.”

“When you say the business offices you mean…” She left the question dangling.

“The whole international operation is run from the business office,” he explained.

“The whole international operation, huh? I see.” She paused before asking, in an overly casual tone, “How big is Carrington Security, exactly?”

“We have offices in about five states. As well as smaller ones too in three others.”

“Oh.”

He slanted her a look and she seemed to be purposefully keeping her expression very blank. “How big did you think it was?”

“Oh. That big. About.” The elevator doors opened on the second floor and she followed him out. “Sure, that’s what I was thinking.”

“You thought it was just Messina Diamonds, didn’t you?”

“Well,” she said sheepishly. “It’s not like I’ve been glued to your career.”

“The other day you said you knew what I did for a living. I assumed you’d done your research.”

“I read. It’s hard to avoid all the references to Carrington Security in the gossips and business section.” A blush crept into her cheeks. “But generally I try not to pay attention.” Then, as if she’d revealed more than she intended, she added in an overly cheerful voice, “So I guess it must be nice being able to travel the world and wake up in a different country every week.”

They approached the doors and he mindlessly did the security protocols and led her through the utilitarian reception area to another set of locked doors. “It gets old after a while,” he admitted. Then when he realized that sounded pathetic, he added, “What about you? Do you travel a lot?”

“Oh, sure.” Her tone was a little too bright. “A couple of years ago a girlfriend and I went to Glemdale for the weekend.”

“Sounds nice.”

“It was great!” she said with enthusiasm. “We stayed at a very nice Holiday Inn.”

He should have been gloating. Yet somehow it made him a little sad. His next words were out of his mouth before he thought better of it. “I guess you regret it now.”

“Regret what?”

He concentrated on unlocking the final door. “Not having more faith in me.” He told her, although what he actually meant was ‘Not having a little more faith in us’

She placed her hand on his arm. “That's not true.”

He shook her hand off as he led her through the door into a room dominated by a bank of computers and monitors. He yanked back the rolling chair and sat in front of one of the computers.

“You believe me, don’t you?”

He ignored her question as he opened up a program, feigning far more concentration than the act required. After few minutes, he rocked back in the chair. “This’ll take a few minutes and then we’ll go up to the eleventh floor.”

“You never answered my question.”

He shrugged. “What does it matter?”

“It matters to me.” She pulled a chair close to his and sat. He still faced the bank of computer monitors, so she was talking to his profile.

Just let it go, he told himself. This isn’t worth it. But he didn’t let it go. “Which explains perfectly why you walked away from me without looking back… immediately after telling me that you loved me.”

“Is that what you thought? That I ended things because I didn’t believe in you?”

But he still didn’t meet her gaze. There were some conversations that just weren’t worth having. That was a lesson he’d learned a long time ago. It was a tactic that had served him well growing up. Keep quiet. Keep your head down. Avoid the tough conversation. Focus on the task at hand.

So instead of responding to Candace , he stared dead ahead at the monitor as if the series of blinking lights and the words “Camera 1121 Offline” were the key to all of life’s mysteries.

“I guess that is what you thought.” Since he wasn’t talking to her, she kept talking to herself, filling in his part of the conversation with an exaggeratedly pessimistic view. “You must have thought I was glad to leave. Only interested in going to Quinley to have a good time, until—”

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said, even though he knew he should have kept his mouth shut.

“What?” She seemed so surprised by his interruption, she merely gaped at him.

“I said, it wasn’t your fault.” God, did he really want to hash through this? No. Not. Even. A little. “Of course not. You had responsibilities. Responsibilities that were already taken care of but you had to leave because you were afraid of what we could become. I should have realized our relationship meant nothing to you. That those three weeks weren't enough for you to fall as deeply as I did,”

“Oh my gosh.” She shot to her feet, knocking her chair back. “You actually believe that.”

He spun his own chair out to face her, surprised at her vehement reaction.

“I can’t believe that you actually think that.” Shock quickly gave way to anger and she swatted at his shoulders with her tiny beaded clutch. “That I didn't fall for you too.” She punctuated the sentence with a thump. “That it didn't—”

He grabbed her wrist before she could land another blow. How dare she act offended? “That actually hurts, you know.”