Page 47 of Worth the Risk

She sniffled like she was about to cry, but her eyes were suspiciously dry.

I moved behind my desk, wanting it between us so she couldn’t get handsy the way that she usually did.

“I wasn’t rude. I just told you not to send me any more nude pictures that I never asked for.”

She came to the front of my desk, leaning forward with a pout on her lips. It was probably supposed to be appealing, but it landed flat with me.

“Don’t be like that. I was just trying to show you that I missed you while you were gone.”

“I don’t know why you’d miss me. It’s not like we spend any significant time together.”

“I visit the hospital all the time.”

I shook my head. “That’s not us spending time together. That’s you hanging all over me and slowing me down while I’m trying to work.”

She scoffed as she straightened and crossed her arms over her chest. “Unbelievable. We’ve been dancing around this for so long, flirting all the time, and now you’re just going to act like you don’t want me? I know that you regret breaking up with me.”

Wow. She was confident, I’d give her that.

“I haven’t been flirting with you. But I’ll admit that I haven’t stopped you from coming on to me, and I should have.”

She bristled. “I was just responding to your energy.”

“We both know that’s not true. I haven’t sought you out once since the engagement ended. Haven’t called or texted you. I don’t touch you, and I don’t talk about my personal life with you. Believe me when I say that I don’t want to be with you.”

I tried to be firm without coming across as hateful. I didn’t want to hurt her because Zoey was right when she said that Delilah wasn’t really to blame for all this. She was bold and a little naive, but she didn’t deserve cruelty.

Zoey was also right about me sacrificing my integrity for ambition. I didn’t encourage Delilah, but I was willing to let her think whatever she wanted about my feelings for her if it worked to my advantage in the end. That wasn’t fair to anyone.

“I’m sorry that I led you on,” I said, meaning it. I didn’t think about her feelings in all of this.

But my guilt over that disappeared as she rushed around my desk and threw herself into my lap. Her arms locked around my neck before I even knew what was happening, and she brought her face in close to mine, lips puckered.

I turned my head at the last second and her lips landed on my cheek instead of my mouth, but that didn’t make it okay. Grabbing her arms, I pried them off my neck and stood, leaving her no choice but to get to her own feet or tumble to the floor.

I held onto her arms just long enough to make sure her legs were steady, and then I released her and backed away.

“Damn it, Delilah,” I snapped. “I told you that I’m not interested in you!”

“But I’ve never stopped loving you! I thought you ended the engagement because you freaked out about the commitment. I thought that if I hung around long enough, you’d realize…”

Her voice broke, and this time, there were tears in her eyes. But my sympathy had evaporated when she tried to force a kiss on me.

“I’m not afraid of commitment at all,” I said, thinking of how much I wanted to see Zoey walking toward me in a white dress. “But you’re not the woman I want to commit to, and you never will be.”

Delilah flinched, but I wouldn’t take the words back or even soften them. I tried to gently set a boundary, and she wouldn’t accept that. So, blunt honesty was the only way to go.

I glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that more time had passed since I arrived than I realized.

“You need to go,” I said. “I have some things to do before my meeting with the board.”

Delilah started to reach out for me, and I wasn’t sure what she wanted to accomplish, but I took a step back. Her fist closed and she lowered it to her side.

“I meant it, you know. I’ve always loved you.”

“You might think that, but I promise that there’s someone better for you out there. You and I just aren’t right for each other. We never were.”

Her mouth turned down and she swallowed hard. I thought she was fighting the urge to cry, but her eyes suddenly hardened. Her voice was cold and sharp when she spoke again.