He crossed back to the bed, sat on the edge and cupped her face in his hands.
“Sydney, I’m so sorry.”
Disconcerted, she pulled back, smoothing down her tousled hair and tucking it behind her ear. “Why are you apologizing?”
“I promised you we wouldn’t sleep together while I was your boss and—”
“You didn’t really promise,” she hastened to correct him, trying to lighten his mood. “You scoffed at the idea and tried to control your laughter.”
“I knew this wasn’t what you wanted. I betrayed your trust.”
He looked guilt ridden. Tormented.
A few weeks ago she would have assumed this was all an act, but now she knew better. Now she knew that despite everything, despite his upbringing, despite the arrogance that was so much a part of him, despite his natural charm and easygoing nature, he was an astonishingly decent man. Maybe even the most decent man she knew.
She understood that now in a way that she could not possibly have understood a few weeks ago. Or even twenty-four hours ago.
It nearly broke her heart to think that—in the middle of all he was going through—he was worried about whether or not he’d betrayed her trust. With all he had on his plate right now, with the fate of a billion-dollar company resting on his shoulders, with his family life in turmoil and with his dreams of running Hope2O at risk, he was worried about her. Because that was how compassionate he was. It awed and amazed her. It humbled her.
Pulling the sheet with her, she climbed onto his lap, straddling him. She kept the sheet wrapped around her, so that the only thing separating them was luxuriant cotton. Thin though the barrier might be, she needed it because without it, if they were skin to skin, they would be too close. Pressed against his body, her words would get lost in the intimacy. It would be too easy for this to become about sex. Besides, she’d be too vulnerable.
Instead, she cupped his jaw in her palms and tilted his face so he met her gaze. Beneath the remorse in his eyes, there was the spark of heat. The passion that was always so close to the surface. The passion that had distracted her far too often from the man he really was.
“You didn’t betray my trust,” she said soothingly. “This was what I wanted. It was what we both needed.”
He studied her for a long minute before nodding slowly. His arms snaked around her, one behind her neck, the other cupping her buttocks. He pulled her closer, but rather than kissing her, he bumped his forehead against hers.
“I’m still sorry. I—”
“It’s okay.” But she could see that the regret in his gaze was still there. The lingering doubts. “I get it,” she reassured him. “You don’t want to be that guy. The pushy obnoxious guy who manipulates and controls people to get what he wants. I understand now why you don’t want to do that. It’s because you don’t want to be like your father. But trust me. You’re not that guy. You’re nothing like your father. You’re nothing like anyone in your family. I—”
“You’re wrong,” he said sharply. Then he stood abruptly, picking her up and turning around to deposit her on the bed before pacing over to the sliding door that overlooked the balcony. “I’m more like my father than you know. I have lied to you. I’ve misled you.”
Her heart seemed to catch in her chest. For a moment, she wondered if this had something to do with Hope2O, but he was so serious, so distraught, she couldn’t believe that it did. Then she forced out the word, “How?”
Instead of answering outright, he kept talking as if he hadn’t even heard her question. “All this mess in my family, this stupid quest our father has laid out, this complicated web my mother has woven, all of it could have been avoided if they would just tell the truth. If just one person in the family would stop lying about everything, would stop trying to manipulate and control the situation to get what they want. If either of them had been honest about anything, their marriage would have been different. I don’t want any part of their legacy of lies and deceit and one-upmanship.”
She climbed off the bed, wrapped the sheet around her body like a toga and crossed to stand right behind him. The view out the window overlooked the parking lot and the downtown cityscape. She wasn’t worried about anyone seeing her because during the day it would be nearly impossible to see into the hotel room from outside, even if there were buildings nearby.
She didn’t say anything, but just let him talk. Whatever lie he’d told, whatever deception he’d perpetrated, she didn’t believe it was as serious as he was making it out to be. She knew him too well now for that.