angry about what happened to me, of course, but my family is there. Kylie is there… She needs me.”
“What do you need, Wren?” He stood, shoving back his chair so hard it almost toppled over. “Because it’s hard for me to tell whether or not you care about your future. You seem to base all of your actions on other people.”
“No, I don’t.” Her face reddened in a way that told him she knew damn well he was right.
“No? You came here to find justice for your friend. You’re now offering to put yourself at risk to get Sean Ainslie to confess.” He ticked the items off his fingers. “And let’s not forget how you buttered me up to make sure I wouldn’t turn you in.”
“That is not true.” Her face looked as though it might crumple, but instead she stood and drew in a deep breath.
“Isn’t it? Because from my standpoint, it seems like everything you’ve done is to serve someone else. You don’t live your own life.”
“I do. I spent time with you because I cared about you.”
Cared. Past tense.
Because now she didn’t need anything from him. The realization that she’d used him was like a slap across the face.
“You don’t get to say that to me.” The frustration tumbled out of him unbidden. “Not after you’ve screwed my reputation only to throw it back in my face by putting yourself in danger.”
The hurt that streaked across her face wrenched like a knife in his chest. “I didn’t force you to sleep with me.”
“My record here has been one hundred percent clean. I have been a model employee until this. And now my reputation is on the line, and for what?”
She’d let him believe she wasn’t involved when she was and, worse than that, she’d let him believe that he meant something to her. That he was important and real and visible.
“I’m sorry, okay?” She threw her hands up in the air. “It was selfish, I know that. But I wanted to help my friend and…I liked you. You were the first guy who’s ever made me feel like I’m not useless and wrong. If I could change things, I would.”
“Well, you can’t. I’ll have to earn back Logan’s trust, and he’s not the kind of guy who dishes it out easily.”
“What do you want me to say?” she said, wrapping her arms around herself.
I want you to tell me I mean something to you.
“If you don’t know what I want from you, then it’s clear you don’t actually care for me at all.”
She looked so small and vulnerable, and his instincts urged him to bundle her up in his arms. But he couldn’t touch her again, not now that he knew how little he’d meant to her. The thought of staying with him hadn’t even crossed her mind.
“Are you trying to hurt my feelings?” she asked, her voice coated in frustration.
“This isn’t about feelings. It’s about actions.”
She shook her head and sucked on her cheek, though he could still see the tremble in her lip. “Have you ever thought that maybe life isn’t all black-and-white? You can’t just spreadsheet everything out and use a formula to make a decision.”
“Do you think that’s what I did last night?” Damn it, she had a way of dragging him out of his logical mind-set into dangerous emotional territory. “Do you think I came to your apartment because a formula told me so?”
She blinked. “Well—”
“No, I came to your apartment because I couldn’t stand the idea of not clearing the air between us. When I saw Sean there…” Why was he even bothering? “You know what? It doesn’t matter. You’ve made up your mind.”
“I never meant to hurt you.”
“Just promise me one thing,” he said. “At some point in your life, you’ll start basing your decisions on what you want instead of hiding behind everyone else’s needs.”
WREN FELT AS if the air had been sucked from her lungs. He made her sound so…weak.
But the truth was, she couldn’t stay in New York. She had no job, no purpose. When she wasn’t on a mission for someone else she had no direction. What was she supposed to do? Sit around all day working on paintings that would never sell while slowly dying from the fear that Rhys would one day realize she was talentless? That she wasn’t going anywhere in life?
He was a go-getter. A person totally in control of his life, of his career. He would be successful in whatever he chose to do.
“Is it so bad that I want to do right by the people in my life?” She asked, hoisting her bag over one shoulder. “That I want to help people?”
“Help yourself, Wren. One day you’ll be grateful you did.”
“I told you from the start that I wasn’t going to be here for long. I was never planning to stay.”
He nodded, the expression on his face impossible to read. He was shutting her out; she could tell from the way he looked at her, almost as if she was invisible. Like he was looking through her.
It hurt far more than she was prepared for.
“I’ll send Quinn back in,” he said. “She’ll take you through what needs to happen next.”
As he walked out of the meeting room and disappeared into the office, Wren blinked away tears. Perhaps it was for the best. She’d potentially damaged his career, lied to him and misled him… Why would he want anything to do with her after that?
You’re doing the right thing. You’re taking care of the people you care about.
But didn’t she care about Rhys? Spending last night in his arms had made her feel so complete. So whole.
At that moment her phone started to vibrate and Kylie’s face flashed up on the screen like a sign.
“Hey,” she answered.
“Wren, I felt so bad about what I said last night.” Kylie’s voice was tight, her stress evident. “I’m sorry I told you not to call. I’m just… I’m messed up right now.”
“It’s fine. I shouldn’t have pushed you,” she said. “Anyway, I’ve almost wrapped things up here.”
“Does that mean you’re coming home soon?” The desperation in her friend’s voice made a lump lodge in her throat.
“Your wish is my command.”
“You don’t know how happy that makes me. I miss you so much.” She
