All night, she’d been aware of him like never before. Even in his distant mood, she’d been drawn to how devilishly handsome he’d looked in his formal evening suit and impeccable tie. His hair, so dark and silky, had made her almost weep inside in longing to sink her fingers in the tempting locks. Every other woman in the room had found it hard to resist taking more than a second look and Keyonna had felt an almost irrepressible urge to scream, “He’s mine!” to let them know Nick was out of bounds.
But then common sense prevailed as she recalled that Nick Vitale wasn’t hers. Soon, he would be but only on paper. Why was that prospect becoming more and more distasteful to her? Was she beginning to want something more?
Before Keyonna could dwell on that possibility, she heard the doorbell ring. She was so surprised to have someone at the door at that time of night that she didn’t think twice before going to answer it.
She rolled her eyes in exasperation when she saw Mark standing there.
“Mark, seriously?” she said, staying put in the middle of her front door in case her ex had any thought of letting himself in. In the past few weeks she’d had to ignore a load of his messages and calls, thankful that Nick never found out about them since she could never be sure what he’d be capable of if he knew Mark was still trying to contact her.
And now here he stood, his handsome face strained, his hands shoved into his jacket as he waited on her doorstep with a lost expression.
“You never gave us that chance to talk, Keyonna. I couldn’t stay away,” Mark said deeply before heaving a deep sigh. “And now I feel like you need to hear my explanation before you go ahead with your marriage to Nick Vitale.”
Keyonna shook her head in disbelief. “Nothing you could say would change the fact that I’m getting married to Nick in a week’s time. Why is this so hard to understand, Mark? Whatever we shared, it’s over. No amount of explanation can bring us back together. I don’t love you,” she told him clearly.
“And you love him?” Mark asked with a twist to his lips. “I was parked across the street waiting when I saw him drop you off just minutes ago. And I couldn’t help thinking; what does he have to offer you that I can’t? Oh sure, he’s almost rich as Rockefeller and then of course he’s got this fancy Italian heritage that seems to get women all in a tizzy. But you never seemed the type to fall for all that crap, Keyonna. You were always my girl; the kind I always thought I’d find waiting when the time came for me to come home.”
“Well, you thought wrong,” Keyonna said quietly. She couldn’t believe he’d actually been staking out her apartment, waiting for her to return. Just imagining if Nick had run into him was enough to make goosebumps rise all over her skin.
Hiding a shiver, she went on in a tight voice, “Things might have turned out differently if you’d worked as hard at our relationship as you did with your career in the military. You never bothered to call or even write me for more than a year before you got back, Mark. Now I can’t say what you must have gone through back there but if you cared, you’d have stayed in touch to make sure I knew you were okay, and that you were coming back to me. For all I knew you’d moved on with some other girl or had even gotten married. What did you expect me to think? What’s done is done. Just go home, okay? I’m sure you’ll have someone filling the space pretty soon anyway. Girls had never been a problem for you so I guess you’ll be fine.”
Mark’s eyes looked pained as they held hers. “There may be other girls but it was always you, Keyonna. Yeah, I messed up. I don’t need a crystal ball to tell me that. But back there in Afghanistan, I was facing a lot of stuff that just had me blanking out the world just so I could make it through the ordeal. I kept thinking that was the best way to deal with things but now I realize I was wrong. I convinced myself that the life I knew would be waiting for me if I ever got through that last mission. But then there was always one more operation, and then another until months passed and before I knew it, it was two years since we’d last spoken. I’m sorry I threw away what we had but if you give me one more chance.”
Keyonna bit hard on her bottom lip, flinching slightly. She really, really hated to do this, especially when she thought of what they’d once shared. It had been innocent and sweet, and Mark had never ever done a thing to cause her pain while they were together. It was just never meant to be. She shook her head one last time at him, her eyes apologetic.
“I’m sorry too, Mark. But no. Even if I wanted to, I can’t. And please, it’s best if you never tried to see me again, or call me. Goodbye, Mark.”