actor’s hand in farewell because of the packages Andreas had taken from Kayla.
“You think you’re a slick operator, don’t you?” she demanded as they rode the elevator downward.
“I know what I want.”
“Really? What part of what you want has you in New York right now, Andreas? Because I really don’t understand. You want to sell the company? I can’t stop you. You want the bride pimp to find you a wife? I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen while you’re here. So, what purpose is you being here going to serve?”
“I’m here for you,” he said, like it should be obvious.
“But why?”
He didn’t answer. Not in the elevator, not when they walked out onto the crowded New York streets, not when they got into the cab he hailed. In fact, Andreas remained stubbornly mute until the cab stopped in front of their hotel, where instead of letting her out, he imperiously waved at the doorman.
The man came over and Andreas handed over Kayla’s packages with instructions for taking them up to the suite along with a generous tip.
“Where are we going?” she asked when Andreas got back in the cab.
“You were going to dinner. I would not deprive you of nourishment.”
“We could have ordered room service.”
“You were looking forward to a night out on the town.”
Was he kidding? “Not with you.”
“We are still friends, Kayla.”
“I’m not sure we are, Andreas.” It hurt to say.
The tightening of his jaw said he didn’t like hearing it either. “Do no say that.”
“Don’t pretend like it matters to you.”
“Of course it matters!” he roared.
Kayla jumped, shocked. Andreas did no lose his temper. Not with her. Not like this.
“Six years ago, you told me how much I mattered to you. I was just too desperate to believe something else.”
“What? What are you talking about six years ago?” He turned to face her in the back seat of the cab, green gazed laser-like focus entirely on Kayla. “I thought you were angry about the meeting yesterday.”
Kayla could feel the tears at the back of her throat, burning in her eyes. “I did too, but it’s all part of the same thing, isn’t it? I’ve never been more than a means to an end to you. What I don’t understand is why you’re here, why you tracked me down to Jacob’s apartment, why you had to ruin my night with him. I guess I’ve never really known you, have I? I never thought you were petty.”
“Petty?” Andreas demanded in a near roar. “The only reason that damn playboy still has his coveted role on Broadway is because he tried to protect a woman I care about very much.”
“You don’t care about me. You have never cared about me.” Of that one fact Kayla was absolutely certain.
She’d been the piece of the puzzle Andreas needed to get his business off the ground. The brain behind the software to make the dream a reality so he could thumb his nose at Barnabas Georgas and prove that Andreas Kostas didn’t need his father’s money or his name, or anything else from the family that had hurt him so much.
“Turn this cab around!” Andreas sounded as out of control as she’d ever heard him, his big body fairly vibrating with stress.
“What do you mean?” The cabbie’s hand gestured wildly. “I can’t do no U-turn. This is a one-way street, buddy.”
“Take us back to the hotel,” Andreas demanded in only slightly lower decibels.
Kayla crossed her arms over her chest and glared. “I thought we were going out to dinner.”
“We are not having this conversation in front of a room full of strangers.”
“Sounds more like a fight from where I’m sitting,” the cabbie piped in.
Andreas ignored him and shook his head at Kayla. “You don’t understand.”
“On that we agree.”
He didn’t look calmed by that acknowledgment. The silence between them on the ride back to the hotel seethed with resentment and things left unsaid.
Kayla was terrified that after tonight the only person she’d considered family wouldn’t be anything but a bad memory. But if she was right, if her place in his life was what she thought it was, that was all he’d been for six years and she’d been fooling herself all along.
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