Page 49 of A Way Out
Hell no, he’d never apologize for that. It had been the greatest night of his life, hands down, even if it never should have happened.
“I wasn’t an ass last night. But I was this morning.”
“You were.”
He forced out a chuckle. “You don’t plan to make this easy, do you?”
“Not at all.”
He laughed. Probably not the reaction she was expecting, but he couldn’t help it. “You are really so amazing, do you know that?”
“Stop. Don’t say things like that. I might think you like me.”
“I do.”
“Not the way I want you to.”
Sighing, he leaned his head against the door jam. “Maria, we’re working together. Literally, now. You aren’t just a sponsor anymore. You’ve already taken the band to the next level. We’re…” What was the right word? “Partners.”
“No, Oz.” She stood, and he was given the full effect of Maria all dressed up and ready to participate in her sister’s pre-nuptials. She wore a simple, red sheath dress with nude sandals. Three gold paperclip necklaces hung around her neck, gold hoops in her ears. A stack of gold bangles on her wrists clinked gently when she moved.
Christ, she was breathtaking.
She walked toward him, and all he could do was stand there and hope…for things he would not allow to happen again.
But she didn’t kiss him or even hug him. She paused a foot away. There was sadness in her eyes.
“We aren’t partners. You won’t let us be partners.”
She splayed her hand on his chest, her fingers curling into his shirt for a moment before she pushed him and he stumbled backward into the bathroom. “Go get ready for the rehearsal.”
She closed the door smartly in his face.
Chapter Eighteen
Maria pressed a shaking hand to the closed door and willed tears not to spill from her eyes.
You’ll ruin your makeup. She hurried over to the vanity to snatch up a tissue to dab at the corner of her leaking eyes.
Damn it.
She hated everything about this situation with Oz. If not for his insistence that they could not have a relationship, her life would be darn near perfect right now.
She was bonding with her sister.
Riley was having the time of her life.
And Maria quite possibly had found her calling, after a lifetime of pretending she was happy doing nothing at all. Okay, raising Riley and running a household were not nothing, but they weren’t what she wanted.
No, that didn’t come out right. She wanted Riley; she didn’t want the life she’d left back in Washington.
For the first time, she felt as though she actually could have it all. She could be happy.
Except for the part where Oz kept insisting they needed to be…what had he said?
Partners.
Nope. Not the right word. Unless he added “business” to the front of that word.
