Before I knew it, Greg was picking me up and carrying me back onto the private elevator.

“Put me down, Greg! I need to talk to him! Don’t let him do this to me! He said he doesn’t know me and you know that’s not true!” I’d never behaved so erratically in my life. “Please! I need to tell him I’m sorry again! He didn’t understand me! Please! Please!”

He set me down on the floor as soon as the doors shut and hit fifty two—Damien’s floor. He ignored my pleas and kept his face completely stoic.

When the doors opened again, he gently grabbed me by my shoulders and walked me down the hall to my room.

He pulled another handkerchief from his jacket, and as if he knew that I was too broken to do anything but cry, he wiped away my tears as they fell—waiting until they’d completely stalled.

He reached into his pocket and handed me a bottle of Benadryl. “I suggest you tell Mr. Edwards that you were lost and ended up at the gift shop on the other side of the resort. He called the front desk twice, wondering if you’d bought your medicine yet.”

My hands shook as I clasped the bottle. “Thank you, Greg...Um, I know you don’t have any obligation to me but....Could I ask you for a favor?”

“Anything, Miss Gracen.”

“Could you tell Jonathan that I said, ‘I love you’? And that I meant it when I told him that?”

He looked sympathetic. “Of course, Miss Gracen. Have a good night.” He patted my shoulder and walked away.

Chapter 33

Claire

My reflection was lying to me. Again.

She was showing me a happy woman in bright red lipstick and bronze eye shadow, a woman who looked like she was having the time of her life—not a heartbroken woman who’d spent every night this week crying herself to sleep.

You can do this...You can do this...

I screwed the top onto my mascara and placed it into a bag. I stepped back from the mirror and twirled around in my dress—the sparkling nude colored one that Jonathan had picked out months ago, the one I would’ve worn to the IPO ball.

I’d hoped that by wearing it tonight, he would at least acknowledge my existence.

Ever since I’d snuck up to his room a few nights ago, he’d gone out of his way to avoid me: He and Stacy were supposed to sit at our table all week for the daily breakfasts, but he had his seat changed. He was supposed to present Damien with an award at the Value Ball two nights ago, but he claimed he had an emergency, so he created a video for the audience to view instead.

I saw him a few times in the hallways, and each time I would walk towards him and try to get his attention, but the security guards always kept me from getting too close.

“It’s our last night here, sweetheart.” Damien walked into the room and smiled at me. “I see that you’ve saved your best dress for the occasion.”

I hate being called “sweetheart.” Why haven’t I told him that?

“Do we have to stay at the banquet the entire time?” I asked. I knew Jonathan was set to receive an award, and even though I wanted him to acknowledge me, deep down I knew that he wouldn’t. I didn’t want to sit and suffer as everyone else fawned all over him.

“Of course not. We can leave right after the closing statements.”

Great...

He reached for my hand and we walked out of the room and towards the elevator like we had several times before.

“Did you have fun this week?” Damien pressed the down button.

“Yes.”

“Well, if you’re not still—” The loud ping of the elevators cut off his sentence.

“What were you saying?” I walked onto the elevator and noticed Jonathan and Stacy standing together on the other side.

Jonathan’s eyes went straight to my dress, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he swore under his breath.

“I was saying that if you wanted, you and I could go to another resort next weekend. I promise I’ll turn off my cell phone and focus all my attention on you.” Damien put his arm around my hips. “And you won’t be on your—you know...Would you be interested in that?”

“I...” I felt the heat of Jonathan’s glare on my back. “I’ll have to think about it.”

“Well, make sure you do that. It’s a wonderful resort, and there’s plenty of amazing water activities. It’s also extremely private.”

“Private things are definitely her specialty...” Jonathan muttered.

Damien must not have heard him because he continued. “There’s this beautiful mountain clearing that I’d love to take you to. We could spend the entire day there. There’s also a lover’s loft nearby.”

“Stop it, Jonathan...” Stacy whispered, and I wondered what she was talking about.

“It sounds very tempting,” I said as the elevator doors opened.

Damien motioned for me to step off first and looked back at Jonathan. “Congratulations, Jonathan. You actually deserve the ‘Innovator of the Year’ award. Now, freeze that compliment and remember it, because you know as soon as this conference is over, I’ll go back to hating everything about you.”

Jonathan smiled. “Thank you, Damien. That makes two of us.”

I sat at the dinner table and picked at my food, too hurt to eat much of anything. Jonathan was sitting directly across from me and he hadn’t looked over at me once.

Any time he touched something on the table—butter, bread basket, pepper, I asked if he could pass it to me. But, instead of doing that, Stacy answered for him. She would say, “Of course he can,” and send it my way.

I figured that since they were unable to switch their seats for this event, they’d planned a course of action for dealing with me.

I even texted him several messages, desperate to get him to look at me—just once: “Please look at me, Jonathan.” “You can’t avoid me forever...” “I said I was in love with you, doesn’t that mean anything?” “Are you really that upset with me?”

I saw him look through his phone, saw him read every single message, but he managed to keep his gaze elsewhere.

I even tried the more blatant text message approach: “I know you like the way I look in this dress.” “I bet you wish you could take it off of me...”

I watched as he read my last two messages, as he glanced at them without a single emotion crossing over his face.

“Would you like me to ask my assistant to bring you some food from elsewhere?” Damien looked at my plate. “You haven’t eaten much at all today...I don’t want you to get sick.”

“I’m fine. I guess my appetite is a little off today.” I sighed as Jonathan and Stacy whispered something to one another.

“At least try the potato dish,” he said. “It’s to die for.”

I picked up my fork and began eating some of it, nodding my head at how good it tasted.

“See?” Damien patted my thigh. “When do you want to leave?”

NOW. “How about right n—”

“Mr. Edwards?” A woman poked her head in between us. “We’re setting everything up and we’ll be ready for you in about twenty minutes. Are you ready to present?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “I’ll be there shortly.”

The woman walked away and I grabbed his hand. “Ready to present what?”

“The Innovator of the Year Award. Jonathan presented me with my award the other day so it’s only fair that I present him with his. Even if we don’t see eye to eye, there’s no one else as big in technology as the two of us so—”

“So, we can’t leave right now?”

He furrowed his brow. “What exactly has been bothering you this week? And don’t say allergies because I don’t think you actually have any.”

“Nothing...It’s—”

“Are you ever going to tell me why you were crying the other night?”

I sighed. “Yes...But could we please go—”

“Mr. Edwards?” That woman came back over again. “We’re going to start things a little earlier. Could you come with me please?”

“We’ll leave right after I present the award. Okay, sweetheart?” He kissed my cheek and stood up, walking away from the table.