Pleasure spiked through her but she tamped it down. “That could change in a moment. The dining public can be capricious. In the early days of a restaurant, one bad night or one bad review can be disastrous. The Park City restaurant has a track record and a fan base. All the glory with none of the pressure.”
She said the words with a flippancy she didn’t feel.
“So that’s why you’re leaving. Because this was an opportunity you couldn’t pass up.”
She forced a smile. “What other reason would there be?”
“I don’t know. You tell me. Two weeks ago, you were the damn poster girl for the Chamber of Commerce, full of all the reasons why Hope’s Crossing is the perfect town. Utopia with a ski lift. Now you’re ready to just walk away from all of that.”
She didn’t owe him any explanations. She should tell him good-night and walk the few hundred yards to her own house, just take her dog and go. As tempting as that was, she didn’t want him to think she was running away—from this discussion or from anything else.
“Just because I love Hope’s Crossing doesn’t mean I can’t be happy in Park City. Maybe I just need a change. Plenty of people start over somewhere new. You did.”
“And that’s the whole point, isn’t it?”
She frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
He fell silent, his gaze troubled as he absently patted Leo. “I’ve been running this through my head ever since talking to Claire today,” he finally said. “It sounds crazy. Completely crazy. But I have to ask. If I weren’t here, living down the street, would you still be all ready to throw your life away, everything you’ve worked so hard to build here, and move to another state? Away from your family, the home you just bought, the restaurant you’ve always wanted?”
Those nerves in her stomach now clutched so tightly she couldn’t seem to draw a breath. No. Oh, no. She couldn’t let him think that. While she managed a shaky little laugh, she was very much afraid she didn’t fool him for a second.
“Wow. Talk about unbridled conceit.”
“Yeah, maybe. But right now, listening to you talk about opportunities you couldn’t pass up and taking the easy route to success, my bullshit meter is spinning off the charts.”
“Maybe you ought to have somebody take a look at that.”
She couldn’t do this, lie to him, with any hopes of convincing either of them. And the truth was, she didn’t owe him any explanation. Why should she bother to try? She gripped Leo’s leash and took off blindly in the direction of her house but only made a few steps before he caught her, reaching for her arm.
“Alexandra.” The troubled sincerity in his voice stopped her progress more effectively than the fact that he was a six-foot, one-hundred-eighty-pound former Army Ranger, and she froze.
“Tell me the truth. Please. Does your decision to leave have anything at all to do with me?”
He still had his hand on her arm and she could feel the heat of him radiating through her muscles, her nerves, straight to her center. How could she flat-out lie to him? Her decision to leave had everything to do with him, but she certainly couldn’t tell him that.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She tried to sound dismissive and composed, hoping he didn’t hear the shaky note to her voice. “You really think I’m the kind of woman who would completely change my life because of a man?”
“Classic diversionary tactic. Answer a question with a question. Which was really no answer at all. If you can look me in the eyes and tell me straight up that your decision to leave has nothing to do with me, I’ll back off.”
She gazed at him solemnly, drawing on every ounce of deception and subterfuge she might possess while she prayed he couldn’t see the truth in her eyes. “My decision to leave has nothing to do with you.”
“Liar.” He said the single word softly, damningly.
She shrugged her arm away. “I’m too tired for this right now. Go to bed, Sam. Why don’t you take that colossal ego with you?”
She took a few more steps down the street, Leo beside her, trotting obediently along. Poor, confused dog.
Again Sam followed after her. This time he moved in front of her to block her way. They were now directly under the streetlight in front of Mr. Phillips’s house and she could easily see his expression. For once it was open and clear. He didn’t look angry. He looked upset, his eyes dark with concern and with something else. A soft, warm tenderness that terrified the hell out of her.
“What if I were the one to leave? Would you stay then?”
She stared at him, oddly aware of the light glowing around him and the bright spangle of stars above that. “You’re not leaving.”