“But I—I didn’t …”
His expression turned deadly. “You have ten seconds to get out of this room or I’m calling security. The paparazzi would have a field day snapping pictures as they kick you to the curb. Or I could always do it myself.” Vincent stepped toward the phone, and Anna moved quickly to his side.
Shoulder to shoulder they stood, daring Jade to make a scene. “Ten, nine, eight …”
With a murderous glare, Jade slowly backed toward the door. “You’re going to be sorry.”
There was a long silence, and then Vincent responded as she turned her back, “I already am.” With a loud crash, the door slammed shut, and Jade was finally gone.
Jade’s exit should have been a time for rejoicing, but Anna felt more like throwing up. The moment Jade left the room, Vincent’s body language changed. He was no longer rigid and furious. As he fell into the chair, his shoulders slumped forward, his chin dropping to his chest. He buried his face in his hands and was broken. Anna wanted to scream at him. She wanted to rub his stupidity in his face and scream “I told you so” about Jade, but she couldn’t. Whatever had gone down with Lexi must have been awful. Anna’s stomach dropped.
“What happened?”
She sat quietly and listened to him explain the last fifteen minutes to her. The words exploded from him with such deep sorrow and regret that it brought tears to her eyes. A few times she had to stop her jaw from falling open at his stupidity. When he finished the awful tale, he finally looked up at her, his eyes full of heartbreak.
“I’m so stupid. This should have been the greatest night of my life. I was going to break up with Jade, as I should have done weeks ago. Finding out the identity of the mole wasn’t a good enough reason to keep Jade around. I couldn’t stay away from Lexi another second. I had to be with her and prayed that she wanted to be with me. Anna, I love her.” There was devotion in his eyes as he spoke of Lexi, but then a shadow washed over his face. “She’s never going to speak to me again. I said such awful things.”
“How could you accuse her? There isn’t a more loyal person on the planet. She loves you, you big idiot. She’s loved you since the moment she laid eyes on you back in high school.” Anna threw her hands into the air.
“What? Lexi doesn’t love me. I think, I hope, she’s attracted to me, but there’s no way …”
Anna snorted. “Men. You really are the dumbest creatures on the planet.” Anna grabbed his shoulders and gave him a shake. “She wants to be with you. The girl takes care of everything for you, knows all your favorites, sneaks you burgers, stays at work all night to help you when something goes wrong. You two work seamlessly together, like you share a brain. You know what one another is thinking. It’s like you can read each other’s minds or something. Her eyes light up when you walk into a room, and when you compliment her, she blushes every time.”
“Harmless flirting.” Vincent downplayed their interactions, still not allowing himself to hope.
“Really?” Anna arched an eyebrow at him. “So you’re saying Lexi goes around kissing random men she has no interest in? That doesn’t sound like her to me.”
Vincent exhaled. “That first kiss was supposed to just be a taste, a little something to answer all the confusion I had about my feelings when I was near her. I thought if I got it out of my system, I’d be able to get her out of my head and out of my dreams. But as soon has her lips brushed against mine, I was lost. The taste of her intoxicated me like a drug. The second kiss was something I needed from her. I craved her in ways I couldn’t explain and was helpless to stop it from happening. I wanted that kiss to get under her skin, to brand her as mine in some way. Ever since, I can’t think of anything but Lexi.”
He looked at Anna, his face the picture of devastation. She’d never seen him so distraught.
“I have to find her and apologize.” His voice came out as a shaky whisper as he rose to his feet. “If—if she doesn’t forgive me, I don’t know what I’m going to do. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Anna.”
Anna held him and felt him shaking in her grasp. She patted him on the back and whispered reassurances in his ear, not entirely believing them herself, but she needed to give him something, some hope that he still might have a chance to make this right.
After providing her brother a few moments of comfort, she held him at arm’s length and quickly wiped her tears. “You seem to be more in control.”
Vincent nodded his head. She took a deep breath, becoming very serious. “So, what do you plan on doing to fix this?”
“I have to find her and beg her to forgive me. I’ll walk through the fires of hell if I have to.”
There was a small grin on Anna’s face as she patted his cheek. “Good man.”
Vincent kissed her hand, then grabbed his jacket and took off for the door. “I have to go.”
“How are you going to find her? She could be anywhere, even at the airport booking the next flight out of town.”
Vincent thought about it, then suddenly seemed very sure of himself. “I know where she is.” He cast one quick look back at his sister. “Can you explain everything to Mom? She needs to know.”
“Sure, leave me to clean up your mess like always.” Anna gave him a weak smile. “Go find her. Fix this.”
“I love you. I know I’m a jerk and don’t say it enough, but I do.”
“I love you too, Vincent. Go!”
Vincent made his way down the dimly illuminated street on the cool, dark night. The stars twinkled overhead, and the full moon hung low in the night sky. Couples strolled past, their fingers intertwined as they watched the water, whispering to one another. Their happiness made him long for Lexi even more. Would he ever get the chance to take her on a romantic walk, tuck her safely under his arm, and tell her how much he loved her and kiss her under the stars? Or was he destined for a life without love?
He passed in front of Ghirardelli Square and found Lexi’s winding path through the riverside park. His steps became more tentative as he approached the shadowy figure sitting on the bench in the distance. There was no calming his thundering heart, his ragged breathing, or the pain in his chest. Every time she wiped a tear from her face, Vincent felt like his heart was being ripped out. He could tell the moment she heard his footsteps because her whole body tensed, but she didn’t turn toward him.