As he looked down at her, the background music was the only sound, save for the other diners and the clink of silverware against plates.
He doffed his hat, and she saw that his eyes were blue like an early Texas spring sky that was just on the edge of renewal.
When he spoke, he kept that gaze on her, even though he was talking to the rest of the group.
“Sorry for the interruption,” he said, “but I wanted to take the opportunity to try and talk Mina into staying.”
Everyone applauded at that, and each clap was like a chop to Mina.
Really, that was the reason he’d come here?
Because he’d lost his assistant and he wanted her back?
That couldn’t be. Not after she’d seen what she’d seen in his eyes just now.
He held up his hand. “Everyone knows that I’m never going to find someone like Mina. Not anywhere.”
His words carried a double meaning—business and personal—and suddenly his first words did, too.
I wanted to take the opportunity to try and talk Mina into staying.
With him?
He came to the side of her chair, so close that her hands began to quiver. She folded her arms over her tummy without really knowing she’d done it.
“I wish to God you would come back,” he said to her, so low that his voice combed over her, owning her.
It was as if he’d forgotten what they’d said to each other last night, what had made them both angry in the first place.
And they couldn’t ignore that.
She turned to him. “You think this is going to do it? Bring me back?”
“I’m hoping it’s a start.”
She realized that the whole table was getting uncomfortable. This had gone beyond a conversation about Chet wanting her to return to the Group, and they could obviously sense it.
But he didn’t back off.
He wasn’t running away this time or making up excuses to hide how they felt about each other.
“Imagine me,” he said so everyone else could hear, “on my first day, walking into the Group’s offices. I’d seen the place when I was a little boy, and it was hellishly imposing even then. But as a new co-vice president?” He shook his head. “It made me want to go back to Montana and never look back. But Mina took care of me. She ran my schedules, made sure I looked good every step of the way. I knew that she was going to go far in the Group, and she did. But, even as she was moving up that corporate ladder, there was a hitch.”
The love he’d confessed for her last night was even clearer in his gaze now.
My Lord, she thought. He was about to come clean after stubbornly using and reusing that line about how much he didn’t want to sully her reputation at the Group.
He was laying it all out there.
“I finally saw what was in front of me all along and fell in love with this woman,” Chet said.
Everyone was silent, wide-eyed. Mina was the worst of them all as her breathing quickened, her gaze going hazy.
He loved her, even after everything.
Danny was the first one to rise from his chair, followed by Corrine.
“Er,” he said. “I’ve got to…”
He pointed toward the restrooms. One by one, the rest of them followed, leaving their food for later.
Chet remained, though edgy, as if wary of how she was going to react.
“Why did you say all that in front of them?” she asked.
“They’re going to know anyway that we were together, and I wanted to make it as clear as day that I won’t tolerate any gossip about you…or us…or how you earned your way through the Group.” He took her hand in his. “I wanted everyone to know how much I treasure you, Mina—not just as my assistant, but…”
He held her hand over his heart.
“But as the woman I want to be with forever and always.”
Last night, Mina had told him that, too, and suddenly she didn’t care that they were in a back room in a public place where anyone could walk in on them.
She was only a woman who wanted to go forward with the man she loved.
Mina’s eyes had a glassy look that told Chet she was about to cry. And when he reached into the bag he was carrying, showing her what was in it, the tears came.
“Here,” he said, giving her a thick pastel book that he’d purchased.
A how-to baby book.
She hugged it to her chest, lowering her head. Chet wanted to touch her, just a brush of his fingertips over her cheek. Just a skim over the beautiful auburn hair that gleamed in the lights.
But they weren’t quite to that point yet.
“I want to be the best dad I can be,” he said, his voice thick. “When I said I’ll always be there for the baby, I meant it. It’s just that I left out the most important part besides that.”