Evan frowned. “I can’t wake her up. She’s tired anyway because she’s up a lot with the baby.”
Micah spotted Evan as he weaved toward the door. He finally grasped him by the collar and steered him in the right direction.
“Thank you for coming. Have a good night,” Kristin called from the bar.
Micah raised his hand in acknowledgment, but he noticed that Julian just turned around and shot her a false smile.
“She’s a nice woman,” Micah commented as he assisted Evan into the car.
“She’s a major bitch,” Julian retorted, grinning.
“I like her,” Micah argued, not seeing Julian’s grin because he was busy trying to get his drunken cousin situated in the vehicle.
Julian sighed. “I like her, too.”
Micah rolled his eyes, wondering how his brother would act if he really didn’t like a woman, because he’d been a real prick to Kristin. He didn’t show his interest in a good way. “Then quit acting like an asshole when you see her.”
Julian shrugged. “I can’t. I have too much fun watching her eyes change color when she’s pissed off.”
It was interesting that Julian even noticed. Micah waved for him to get into the car before climbing in himself.
He lingered for a moment, wondering if Tessa had noticed that he was gone. Picturing her face as they’d danced made his cock stiffen. He saw her face in his mind as she smiled up at him, and he swore she looked familiar, like it was a face he’d seen somewhere before. But he didn’t think he’d actually been introduced to her. He would have remembered her.
His fingers curled around the crystal Beatrice had given him. For some reason, he’d kept it, even though he shouldn’t have accepted any kind of a gift from an elderly woman he didn’t know.
Problem was, there was no redemption for him, and no woman waiting for him to claim her. He was as free as a bird, traveling from place to place looking for a new extreme. Micah loved his life just the way it was right now.
He let go of the stone and jerked his hand from his pocket as he slid into the car.
Not able to completely forget Tessa’s beautiful, delicate face, Micah tried to focus his attention away from her and on Evan so they could figure out a way to get him his woman back.
Nevertheless, when Micah boarded his own jet the next morning, he did wonder how long it would be before he’d see her face again in the future.
He hoped it wouldn’t be long.
CHAPTER 21
The next morning, Evan sat in front of his computer in his downstairs office, wondering how in the hell he was going to write to Randi. It had always been so easy before, so natural, that he never thought about what to say. It was so much different now, and there was so much at stake.
His stomach rolled as he took another slug of his coffee. He’d already swallowed some pills to make his head stop banging. While the headache was slowly improving, the coffee he was swilling wasn’t helping his gut.
He popped a few antacids into his mouth and threw the roll back into the drawer.
No wonder I never drink. I feel like crap.
Ignoring his discomfort, he stared at the blank email in front of him with a scowl. Granted, he had known Randi wouldn’t be happy that he hadn’t shared who he really was with her, but he didn’t know she’d feel betrayed. All he’d wanted was a little more time. It nearly killed him that his actions had made her sad and distrustful. He’d rather die than to see her in pain, emotionally or physically.
What am I going to do if she doesn’t forgive me?
“Not an option,” Evan growled to himself as he placed his fingers on the keys. He’d gone from elation to the depths of despair last night. She’d told him she loved him, and then she’d left him. “She still loves me,” he muttered. “I need to make her understand that I didn’t intend to hurt her.”
No. I was just being a selfish prick. I didn’t think about how my secret would affect her, how she would feel because I didn’t share the discovery with her immediately.
Putting himself in her place, he would have probably been annoyed, too, but he would have gotten over it. He would have eventually ended up being pretty damn happy that the two women who fascinated him were one and the same.
Problem was, he hadn’t been certain she’d feel the same way.
I can never love a man like him . . .
Dammit . . . why had she written those words? There was nothing that would have stopped him from claiming her for a lifetime if he’d known that she loved him. He didn’t care what background she came from or what obstacles they had to overcome to be together.