Page 40 of One Night Gamble
“Oh, I didn’t know that. I’m sorry but I’ve already told Gran—”
“Stop, Talia. What did I do?”
“Nothing,” she said. “You didn’t do anything. You’ve been great, and I have really enjoyed—”
“Are you breaking up with me over the phone?”
“Can I call you back when I’m out of the store?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said.
She disconnected the call and he immediately took off downstairs. He texted the valet stand to have his Veyron brought to the front. She didn’t call back immediately which he knew was telling.
What had happened?
Why was she trying to end things now? Things had been going so well between them. Or had that been a lie?
He knew he didn’t have a long track record in the relationships department but he’d done everything he could to show her what she meant to him.
He drove out of the city toward Henderson when Talia called him back.
“It’s me.”
“I know,” he said. “Listen, I’m on my way to your Gran’s retirement community. Can we talk in person?”
“Casey, I don’t know if I’ll have the strength to say what I know I have to if you are standing next to me.”
“That should be a big warning that breaking it off with me isn’t what you want,” he said.
“Even if we both know it’s the smartest thing to do?” she asked.
“It’s not the smartest thing to do,” he said. “Where are you?”
“I’m still in the grocery store parking lot,” she said.
He saw the strip mall up ahead where the grocery store was where they first met. He steered into the parking lot and saw her car sitting at the end. Pulling in next to her, he hung up the phone and got out of his car. She did the same.
He leaned back against the driver’s side door and he knew…knew he had to say whatever she needed to hear, whatever it took to make her stay. He had to make her understand that she meant more to him than anything else.
Damn. He still felt that desperate need to win. That thing that he’d always avoided during his career as a gambler. But he’d never played a game with stakes this high and he wondered if her hold over him was going to make him resent her at some point. But at this moment, he was like any addict who needed a hit. He needed to win—win her agreement to stay by his side.
“Talia,” he said, just her name.
She leaned back against her car and wrapped her arms around her middle. “This isn’t easy for me, either. I really like you, but from the beginning, we both knew that this was dangerous. That working together and dating wasn’t an ideal situation.”
Casey wondered what had happened today. She’d been fine at breakfast, and he’d been thinking about them having a life together. Not this.
“But we are making it work,” Casey said. “Or, at least, I thought we were. You have to tell me what changed.”
She stood up straighter. “Darien just said some things that made me realize that whatever happens between us won’t just involve you and me. I know we said that you’d leave, and I could keep my job, but your partners didn’t agree to that. And maybe if we end things now, we can still be friends…”
“First of all, Darien is an ass and I’m going to make sure he apologizes to you for whatever shit he said. He’s got a chip on his shoulder where women are concerned. I’ve been giving him some room but that’s about to end,” Casey said. Damn Darien. Just because his own track record with women sucked, that didn’t mean he had to crap all over Casey’s relationship with Talia. He liked…hell, he was pretty sure he loved her. Love. It was the one emotion that had always eluded him.
“I’m just not sure,” she said.
There was more to this than what Dare had said. “What else?”
“I… Are you playing in the championship we are hosting in two weeks?” she asked.
