Crash Into Me(68)

A knock on my door that night shook me out of feeling sorry for myself and my lovelife woes, and I opened it to see Tristan standing there in just the silk pajama bottoms I'd seen draped over a chair in his room.

"I'd hoped you'd be in my room," he said with that innocence that sometimes seeped into his voice.

I looked away and bit my lip nervously. "I just figured you'd want to be alone. I mean...well, I thought maybe you'd be back at the penthouse instead of staying here."

"Why?"

His question made me turn to look at him, and he seemed genuinely confused by what I thought. There was a gentleness in his eyes that made me want to say what was on my mind, so I came clean.

"I'm so sorry I said that back in Dallas, Tristan. I didn't mean to put words in your mouth. It's only been a short time that we've known each other. I mean, it feels much longer since we've spent so much time together, but..." I let my sentence trail off and finally said, "I didn't mean that I actually thought you felt that way."

He extended his hand and held it out for me to take it. "Come with me."

I took a deep breath and slowly lifted my hand to place it in his. He closed his fingers around mine and began leading me to his bedroom. We said nothing as we walked, until finally he closed the door behind me and whispered, "You belong here with me. And you don't have to be sorry for anything you said."

For the moment, remaining silent seemed like the best idea. What could I say? That I wished he really felt that way about me so I wouldn't feel ridiculous for falling in love with someone after only two weeks? I knew how that would sound. I mean, I'd been the person who'd told friends time and again that it took months or even years to truly fall in love with someone and here I was full on, head over heels in love with Tristan Stone, no less.

He sat on the edge of the bed and looked over at me like he wondered what I was doing all the way over near the door. The chair near the window was empty, so I sat there, so not wanting to talk about this anymore.

"I think we should talk."

Ugh. There it was. The international signal for what's about to come next is going to rock your world. I said nothing while my stomach dropped and I swallowed hard. I had no idea what he'd say, but as the seconds ticked by and he still hadn't said a word, the room began to feel like it was shrinking around me. The fun house feeling was anything but fun.

"This has been moving pretty fast, Nina. I didn't intend on things getting to where they are so quickly."

It was so much worse than anything I'd imagined. He was dancing around the elephant in the room, but it was no use. He was breaking up with me. This explained the extra five grand. That was my parting gift, like the losers got on game shows.

I wanted to run away and hide. Standing up, I tried to steady my legs and get the hell out of there, but I didn't take three steps toward the door before they gave out and I was in a heap on the floor. All I could think was that was the perfect moment to be struck by lightning and disintegrated into dust.

"Nina, open your eyes. Talk to me."

Tristan's voice was laced with concern, and I opened my eyes to see a matching look on his face. Or maybe it was pity. Either way, I was still there in one piece and he was leaning over me.




I propped myself up on my elbows and plastered a smile on my face. "I'm fine. Just slipped. No big deal."

Scooping me up from the floor, he lifted me in his arms and onto the bed. He was so gentle, but I was even more convinced that he was breaking up with me. Now he probably just felt bad.