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  My Gavin.

  Closing the sketchbook and sliding it into her handbag, Tali pulled out a few Euros and tossed them on the table. As she quickly gathered her things, her mind began to clear. She knew what she needed to do. She needed to talk to Gavin.

  Tali hurried along the sidewalk, nearing the hotel with every step. Hopefully Gavin was in his room and she could talk to him. Tell him he'd been right about her and she was going to talk to her father about the job he expected—but never asked—her to do. Then she would make things right with Gavin so maybe they could spend a little more time together since she couldn't seem to stop thinking about him.

  She picked up her pace, eager to get to him, even more eager for the chance to make up with him. She smiled at the thought of what making up could entail. Hopefully sexy time would be involved. Lots and lots of sexy time.

  Tali stumbled, falling forward, landing on the sidewalk on her hands and knees. Her ankle screamed at her as it was held in an awkward position. She carefully pulled her foot free from where her spindly heel had gotten caught in a deep crack in the sidewalk. Trying not to twist it, she stood, brushing the dirt off her pants.

  Balancing her weight on her other foot, she put one hand flat against the window of the building beside her and gently rolled her ankle with the other hand. Aside from a slight twinge of pain, it felt okay. By tomorrow it would be good as new again as long as she got back to the hotel and out of the heels soon.

  She tentatively put weight on her foot, taking a moment to make sure her ankle would bear weight like normal. She sighed with relief as she took a tiny step and didn't have any pain. Good. No harm done—other than looking like an idiot. Tali glance around her, thankful the sidewalk was empty which meant no one had witnessed her little mishap.

  Then Tali's gaze fell to the coffee shop window her hand was currently pressed against. It was the same shop she'd been to earlier with Gavin. Inside, a few patrons had big silly grins on their faces as they watched her. Maybe her little fall wasn't as invisible as she'd originally thought. But it wasn't those people who caught her attention. Nope. Her attention fell fully on one person—Gavin.

  Well, make that two people—Kerry, sky whore extraordinaire, was with him.

  Tali stood frozen to the sidewalk as she stared through the window at Gavin. He was cuddled up nice and cozy in a cushy booth with Kerry. Don't waste any time, do you? Kerry had her head nuzzled into his chest and his arms were wrapped tightly around her. As Tali watched, Gavin kissed the top of Kerry's head.

  Huh. Hadn't he done that to Tali too? Hadn't he held her the exact same way before?

  Tali's pulse quickened as she stood there, unable to look away. Her breathing came in short gasps as she choked back the tears threatening her eyes yet again. God, what the hell was with her and the crying? She never cried and now it seemed like every time she turned around, she was on the verge of crying like a little baby.

  Maybe because she kept getting hurt by people she thought cared about her. Well no more. No more tears for Roger… or for Gavin. She was done. She didn't need a man in her life to be happy. She'd figure out happiness all on her own.

  Tali took her hand off the glass and smiled weakly at the people still watching her. Then she turned away from them and crossed the street, narrowly missing a Vespa scooter as it zipped down the street. She didn't stop to think, she just moved, one foot in front of the other as quickly as she could. She needed nothing more in that moment than to get as far away from the coffee shop as she could—as far away from Gavin as possible.

  Tali didn't stop until she reached her hotel room. Letting the door close behind her, she rested back against it with her eyes closed. She desperately tried to block out the noise of the thoughts running through her head. She didn't want to question what she saw. She didn't want to question what she felt. She wanted to escape it all for a little while.

  She needed a little time to sort out everything that had happened in the last couple of days—Gavin, her realization about art and work, all of it. And she needed some time alone to do that.

  "Hi, Tali," a familiar voice said amidst the darkness of her still-closed eyes.

  She shrieked as her heartbeat jumped into her throat at the unexpected company. Her eyes popped open for an instant to confirm her suspicion was correct, then slammed shut again as if doing so could make what she'd just seen untrue.

  Please don't be true. Please don't be true.

  Tali let her head fall back and bang against the door. "Ouch."

  "You okay, baby?"

  "No. No I'm not okay." She laughed loudly, longer than was appropriate. "I'm so totally not okay."

  Tali opened her eyes and leveled her stare on the man who'd apparently thought it was okay to break into someone's hotel room and make themselves comfortable on the comfy bed. Not cool. That he'd also had to nerve to break into the mini bar and steal the one jar of salted cashews, which he knew were her favorite, was simply going too far. No one stole her cashews, especially not him.

  "How did you find me, Roger?"

  What was he, a spy or something? Did he have agents working for him, keeping tabs on her? Or was he really just a giant pain, destined to make her life miserable and annoying? She guessed the later was true.

  "This is where you always stay. Once I knew you were in Paris, it wasn't hard to track you down. And everyone here knows me, knows we're together, so they didn't mind letting me into our room."

  She shook her head. "My room and we're not together. I can't believe you. What the hell are you doing here? You broke up with me, remember?"

  She crossed the room, grabbing the almost-empty jar of cashews out of his hand and stood beside the bed, glaring at him and wishing daggers would shoot out of her eyes and directly between his legs.

  One for each nut. Cashews not included.

  His eyes flickered between the jar of nuts and her cold expression. A grin slowly spread across his face. Damn, she wanted to wipe that grin off his face. For many reasons, only one of which had to do with the whole "breaking up with her and immediately getting engaged to her friend" thing.

  "I wanted to talk to you and you haven't been taking my calls. Or my emails. Or my texts."

  "Yeah," she started, popping a nut into her mouth and crushing it between her teeth. Oh that felt so good. She could crush nuts all night. "Did you ever think maybe, just maybe I did that on purpose? Maybe I didn't want to talk to you after what you did so I ignored you."

  "Well," he looked down sheepishly, "I guess I didn't really think about that. Anyway, when I couldn't get a hold of you, I decided to stop in to see your dad to make sure you were okay and he told me you'd run away to Paris."

  "I didn't run away… Well, that's not entirely true. I didn't have any reason to stay in the Meadow so I decided to take a little trip to recharge. I wanted to be alone." She paused for a moment, hoping to let that point sink in to his thick skull. "So you tracked me down and followed me to Paris why, exactly?"

  Roger sat up and swung his legs around the edge of the bed so he faced her. She took a step back. "I really wanted to talk to you. I know what I did was shitty, and I'm sorry."

  For half a second, she almost wanted to believe him. Almost.

  "Really? You're sorry you dumped me. Or you're sorry you announced your engagement to Samantha-frickin'-Swanson the next day. Or maybe you're sorry that because of your announcement, I figured out you two were obviously sleeping around behind my back while we were still dating. What exactly are you sorry for?"

  She wasn't going to let him get away with this. There was no way he was using his usual nice guy charm and talking his way out of this heap of shit he currently found himself in. No. Frickin'. Way.

  He scratched his nails across his forehead and peeked up at her from beneath his hand. "I'm sorry for all of it. Samantha was a mistake. The whole engagement thing was a huge, ginormous mistake of epic proportions."

  "You bet it was." She threw the empty jar of cashews into the garb
age and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. She took a few big gulps of the cold water, washing away the salty taste in her mouth. It was almost as if she were washing away her feelings about Roger, too.

  Seeing him now, she knew she'd been wrong to think he might be the one. Sure, he had a few of the qualities she wanted in the guy she'd spend the rest of her life with, like good looks, a stable bank account, and aspirations for more in the future. But the things she really wanted the most—respect, to be loved unconditionally, to be supported emotionally—those were never things Roger would ever be able to give her. Never. It wasn't in his blood.

  "I want you back, babe. I broke it off with Samantha and I want you. I was wrong to ever let you get away, but I'm willing to make it up to you."

  She laughed again. "Make it up to me. That's a good one. Like all of a sudden, you're going to say something or do something that will magically repair the broken heart you inflicted on me. Yeah. Good luck."

  Tali stepped back again as Roger stood from the bed and approached her. He stroked his hand along her jaw and she jerked her head away from him. His touch was like being rubbed with poison ivy—it made her skin itch. He dropped his hand to her shoulder instead and gripped her tightly.

  "Give me a chance to prove to you how sorry I am and I'm sure we can find a way to work this all out."

  "No. I don't want to work anything out with you. Hell, I flew across the Atlantic to get away from you. What part of that tells you I would want to get back together with you? We're over. Whether or not you screwed up things with Samantha is your problem, not mine. I'm done with you."

  "You aren't." He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arm tightly around her lower back.

  She arched her back away from him, but his hold on her was strong. Too strong. "Let go of me." She tried to sound as strong and forceful as she could.

  "Give me a chance and you'll remember how good we are together. One kiss, baby. That's all I need."

  "No. Let go of me right now." She struggled against him, straining her body to break free of his hold. When the hell did Roger get this strong?

  Roger wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and held tight so she couldn't turn her head away from him. Crushing his mouth to hers, he forced his tongue past her lips and into her mouth. The smell of his after-shave filled her nose and the familiar scent suddenly made her feel nauseous. He groaned into her mouth. Her heartbeat pounded in her throat and her breath hitched. She had to get away.

  She did the only thing she could think of—she bit down hard on his tongue. He pulled back from her quickly and she jerked her knee up, catching him right between the thighs. Bull's-eye.

  Roger dropped to his knees, mumbling something incoherent on the way to the floor. Tali stumbled backward, bumping into the bed and falling down to sit on the edge of the mattress. She never took her eyes off Roger.

  "What was that for?" he asked, finally getting out words that actually sounded like words and not garbled noises.

  "Um, because you forced yourself on me." He had to be kidding, right? He had to know what he'd done to her was wrong.

  "I wasn't forcing myself on you. I was proving to you that you still have feelings for me." He struggled to his feet and gripped the edge of the bedside table while he stood straight.

  "The only lingering feeling I have for you is the pain in my knee from where it collided with your brain. And I'll do it again in a heartbeat if you ever try a stunt like that again."

  She was leery of him and ready to bolt for the door the second he even looked like he might attempt another kiss. Roger took a step toward her and she flinched.

  "Relax," he said, raising his hands defensively. "I've got it. I won't touch you again."

  Roger crossed the room and sat cautiously in the wooden chair in the corner, groaning as he changed positions. Tali couldn't help but smile a little on the inside at his obvious discomfort. After putting his hands—and lips—on her the way he had, she wanted him to have a reminder of why forcing himself on her was such a stupid thing to do.

  "Why are you really here, Roger?"

  He sighed. "I made a mistake with Samantha. She's making all these crazy wedding plans already. I'm going to go broke on the ceremony alone, not to mention the honeymoon she's planning for us. I can't do it. I can't deal with her. I should have stayed with you."

  "Gee, thanks for your heartfelt declaration of your love for me, but I'm not interested. If you've made a mistake getting mixed up with Samantha, that's your problem and I'm not going to help you fix it or take you back. It's time for you to leave."

  "Why can't you give me another chance? Why do you have to be such a bitch about this?"

  She laughed. "Did you hear yourself? Yep. I'm done. Get the hell out of my room before I call security and have you thrown out."

  Roger rose from the chair. "You're going to regret this decision when you're old and still alone."

  "I think I'll manage just fine, thanks. Now get out." She held open the door, a clear invitation for him to leave.

  He passed through the open doorway, but stopped with his hand on the frame, staring at her intently. "What we had was great. We could be great together again."

  "What we had was a lie. You were with her behind my back. I'm a lot smarter now and I'm not about to fall for your shit again." She closed the door behind Roger, barely waiting for his hand to be free of the doorframe.

  Goodbye and good riddance.

  Chapter Nine

  Gavin stood from the booth in the little coffee shop and stretched. He'd been there for a long time with Kerry, talking and rehashing stories of when they'd flown together previously. And when she'd told him about her most recent messy break up, his heart broke at how badly she'd been treated. But there was only so long he could sit there and comfort her. The truth was, he couldn't stop thinking about Tali and worrying about whether or not she was okay.

  In his time spent with Kerry, he learned he was absolutely and completely over the whole jet-setting lifestyle. Obviously, he still wanted to fly, but he also wanted to have a home base. He wanted roots somewhere with someone special and he knew exactly who he wanted that person to be—Tali.

  "Listen, Kerry. It's been great seeing you again, but I really should run."

  Kerry grabbed her coat and handbag and followed him out of the shop and onto the sidewalk that was now crowded with people heading home after work.

  "I understand," she said. "It's that girl you were with earlier, isn't it?"

  Gavin nodded. "It is."

  He didn't know how he would work things out with Tali, but he knew he had to find a way. He hated she'd left upset with him. He hated even more that he'd deserved getting slapped. He rubbed his hand along his cheek, remembering the sting of his skin as her hand connected with his face and smiled.

  "Boy, she's really done a number on you. I can't remember ever seeing that expression on your face before." Kerry fastened the buttons on her coat and shouldered her handbag. "You better go fix whatever it is you've done wrong before she gets away."

  "How did you know?"

  "It's pretty clear you've been distracted this whole time. It just took me this long to figure out why. It was nice catching up with you. Good luck getting your girl back."

  "Thanks. I think I'm going to need it."

  "She must be something else to get you all worked up this way."

  "She certainly is something else," he said as Kerry walked away, leaving him standing on the street alone.

  The question now, was how to get her back. She probably wasn't going to want to talk to him after all the things he'd said to her. And he really couldn't blame her. It was her business how she wanted to spend her life. Who was he to tell her what she should or shouldn't do after knowing her for such a short amount of time?

  He'd screwed up and now he had to find a way to fix it. He'd never met a girl like Tali before and he wasn't about to let her go. How could he prove to her he would be with her no matter wh
at choices she made, as long as she chose to be with him?

  He had an idea. He didn't know if it would work or not. It wasn't as grand and elaborate as other men might come up with, but it seemed right. No, it felt right. Now he had to pray he could make it happen.

  Gavin let himself into his hotel room. The hallways were quiet with everyone in their rooms for the night or still out partying. When he'd walked by Tali's room, it had been quiet. He could only assume at this hour she was already in bed, sleeping and hopefully she wasn't out partying with anyone else. He wasn't sure what he'd do if she was. Best to assume she was in her room and leave it at that. Any other way of thinking was sure to lead to him not sleeping, and that's not what he needed.

  Not when he had big plans for the following day to speak to Tali.

  As it was, sleeping would be challenging. How could he possibly expect to get a good night's sleep when he would be going over his plans in his head? Who needs sleep anyway?

  He took one more peek at the package he'd picked up earlier in the evening before carefully setting it on the dresser for safekeeping until tomorrow. He hoped the gesture would be enough, but only time would tell. And somehow he had to find a way to convince her to see him again. But how?

  Tali leaned back against the pillows, the television lighting the darkened room. She flipped channels endlessly trying to find anything watchable, but in the middle of the night in Paris, the local programming left a lot to be desired.

  She wasn't really watching it anyway. No. She was simply lying there in the dark, enjoying the peace and quiet after what had turned out to be a fairly stressful escape to Paris. She hadn't gotten much time to relax and recoup, but at least she accomplished the most important thing on her list—get over Roger.

  He was one hundred percent out of her heart and mind. She had no room for him anymore. He would never be able to hurt her again.

  Gavin, on the other hand, was a different story entirely. In the few days she'd known him, he'd managed to root himself into her heart, her mind, her entire being so fully she couldn't imagine how she would breathe if he wasn't a part of her life. That's why she had to get him back tomorrow.