Page 158 of Ten Day Affair
"Here, let me?—"
"I got it."
The cap finally gives with a satisfying twist. I pour with my left hand, managing not to spill more than a few drops on the glass table.
We settle into the cushioned chairs, the silence stretching between us. Waves crash in steady rhythm below, and the sky bleeds from gold into soft lavender. Sam takes the first sip, then glances over.
"Sorry about the bum arm."
"Your door won. Decisively."
That earns me almost a smile. She leans back, facing the ocean. "So. You wanted to talk. Talk."
My chest tightens. This is it. The moment where I either fix this or destroy whatever microscopic chance I might have left.
"Alright. Where to begin… Ask me anything."
She tilts her head. "Anything?"
"I'm an open book now. Whatever you want to know."
"Were you lying the whole time? About everything?"
The question hits like a punch. "About liking you? No. About wanting to be with you? Never. With the board stuff, transparency, yeah. I held back."
"Why? I mean, I get it at first. But once thingsprogressed, once you knew how much this vote would've wrecked me, why weren't you up front?"
"To be honest, things were already in motion before I even got here. I didn't know you when all of this started. It got tricky fast once we met. I didn't know how to handle it. I tried to fix it. But plain and simple, I fucked up."
Her jaw tightens. "Tricky."
"I liked you. Even if this was temporary, I started to have conflicting feelings about what we were doing very early on. But I had responsibilities, contracts already signed. I couldn't just?—"
"Just what? Tell the truth?"
"I should have. You're right." The admission burns, but it's true.
She studies my face like she's looking for tells. "At what point did you realize you should have been upfront?"
"After you gave me the tour of your mom's wing." I set down my glass.
"I started reeling about everything, I scrambled to try to find another way to do this."
"You still didn't tell me your part in this."
"I knew that wouldn't change anything. And I admit, I didn't want to risk losing you. I thought if anything could be done to fix it, I had to do it quietly. At that point, though, telling you my part wouldn't have done anything except solidify the plan already in motion."
"I guess that makes sense, but I still can't make sense of feeling like everything between us was a lie."
"Our time together was the most authentic I've ever been."
She shakes her head. I'm not sure what she's thinking, but it feels so good to get this off my chest, for her to know why I made the choices I did. It doesn't make them right.
"You said you resigned. What does that mean? It's your own company. You are Houston Enterprises."
"I resigned from King's Holdings. That is the shell company that Houston Enterprises owns, essentially. It is the acquisitions arm. I resigned from King's Holdings. I will no longer be a part of that, even though my company owns it. It's confusing, but I will no longer do any acquisitions. And I left before this deal closed, meaning I'm not involved anymore."
"You said that was to protect me."
