Page 61 of Yours, Forever

The next time I opened my eyes, he was close enough for me to see his pupils dilate.

"Max…"

My eyes closed again and I waited, my heart in my throat.

"Eva." His hand cradled my cheek.

When nothing happened, I opened my eyes.

Awe pooled in Max's eyes. "You were going to let me kiss you."

I gasped.

"Even though I turned your life upside down," he said. "Even though I'm not the man you saw yourself with."

Being caught was the perfect antidote to the feeling in my chest; instead of floating into an endless, blue sky, I crashed. The balloon deflated fast enough that it disappeared from my consciousness altogether.

"Max. No. I'm sorry. We shouldn't."

"Darling—"

I straightened, suddenly aware I leaned toward him. "Please don't call medarlingright now."

"Eva. You look so beautiful, and we were talking of love and the future we want... and the way you looked at me... for a second I thought..."

He made to come close, his hand hot on my face, but I pulled away. His hand dropped heavy between us.

"You thought wrong." I shook my head. "I did too. Whatever I felt—it was the fantasy of the night we just had. This dress, your tux, the view of the city. These rings." I took them off. The air up here or the moment or both, they had cooled me down to the point they slid off my fingers with no resistance.

I made a fist, the stones and metal hard into my palm.

I forced myself to take a deep breath. "The line between what's fake and real got too blurry, that's all."

I locked eyes with him. He gazed at me in full seriousness, and a hint of defiance I rarely saw.

I shook my head, ready to negate whatever words built on his tongue. "We need to remember this is for the public. To get at your dad. That one day I'll go back to Laguna Island and I will be alone, because you will leave."

"Because you'll divorce me in two years?"

"And because it's not only my actual house that's too small for the both of us. Laguna Island itself isn't big enough for someone like you."

My voice, despite my best intentions, had been quiet but too stern. Harsh, even though I never meant them to be.

It didn't surprise me to see pain on Max's face, and it cut me that I had caused it.

"I'm sorry." I squeezed the rings harder in my hand, until they dug into my palm. "That came out wrong. You're not the problem. Your big personality is wonderful and charismatic and... well. What I meant was only the core of it—Laguna Island isn't a place someone like you would choose, and I will never leave. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You're putting words in my mouth. Have you asked me what I would choose?"

"No, and that's on purpose. Even if you tell me you like Laguna Island— or me— will you feel the same in two years? When the lack of the right wine, dining options, even a dry cleaner get to you."

"I'm not that shallow." Hurt still marred his usually open, friendly face.

"Then what happens when you know every single person, and have invested in every single business possible? When your friends keep missing you and asking you to visit? Or a board meeting calls you away? And every time you leave, you remember what you loved so much of your past life, and it'sharder to remember what kept you in Laguna Island all these months?"

His face hardened. His jaw clenched.

"Max… tonight wasn't my life and my hometown has never been yours. I don't know how to fit you in my tiny home, and I don't really fit in your world unless I'm covered in an armor of expensive fabrics and precious stones. If it weren't for the set up your dad trapped you in, and the fact that the one person who would enter such an arrangement with you lived in a quaint small coastal town, you'd never set foot on the shores of a place like Laguna Island."