Lost in Italy (50 page)

“Take care, sweetheart.”

Chapter 27

Halli no longer wondered.  She knew the answer to the question she’d pondered two weeks ago on a sunny sidewalk outside the hospital in Menaggio, Italy.

A person didn’t look any different after they’d fallen in love.

Trent hadn’t seen her anguish when she lied that none of what they’d shared was real.  Ben and Rachel bought her excuse that she was still working through the trauma of the trip.  And not a single person at work had commented on how miserable she’d been since her return.

Then again, maybe she deserved her own Oscar.

Since the moment they’d arrived at the hospital until now, she’d been acting.  Hours and hours of acting, every single day.  Concentrated cheer succeeded in fooling everyone, and subtle makeup hid the evidence of sleepless nights, but she knew the truth as she tossed and turned in the dark.

Denying Trent and attempting to bury her feelings hadn’t protected her from further heartache; it’d jump-started the pain.

“Well, if it isn’t Halliwell.”

Halli cringed, pasted on a smile, and turned from the lobby entrance as her fingers clenched on the strap of her purse.  “Hi, Jennae.”

Still bitter over a promotion lost to Halli six months ago, the station director’s tall, blonde, model-beautiful assistant paused to give her a venomous smirk.  “Waiting for a date?”

Usually she didn’t let the woman’s snide comments hit their mark, but thoughts of Trent left her vulnerable.  It took extra effort to lift her chin, keep her smile in place, and tell the truth.  “My car’s in the shop so my brother’s picking me up for dinner.”

“Aw, how pathetically sweet.”  Jennae flipped her stick-straight hair over her shoulder and sashayed away on three inch sandals with a satisfied grin curving her ever-glossed lips.  “How was your little trip to Italy?”

Halli answered with her standard, “Uneventful.”

“Just like you planned.”  The blonde’s patronizing chuckle bounced across the carpet before she backed into a conference room.

“Yep,” Halli whispered.  She shoved the lobby door open to wait outside in the late afternoon heat of August.  “Just like I planned.”

Definitely an Oscar.

Since she’d returned, not a single one of her co-workers had recognized her in the grainy photos circulating in the tabloids.  It never would’ve crossed their minds that she—boring Wisconsin Halli—could have a sexy, romantic adventure with a movie star like Trent Tomlin.

Some days, even she found it hard to believe.  Only in her dreams, held in his arms, did it all seem possible.

You couldn’t have paid her to tell anyone
she
was the woman half-hidden behind Trent’s shoulder.  Jennae would’ve had a field day with that information.  She loved any opportunity to grind on Halli’s self-esteem and wouldn’t have hesitated to gloat over Trent’s absence now.

It was bad enough she tortured herself, staring at pictures and watching Trent’s movies while she kicked herself for not trusting the emotion she’d glimpsed in his eyes and accepting his dinner invitation.  If she’d taken whatever time he’d offered, she’d have a few more days worth of memories to cling to during her endless nights.

And she might have, if his reply to the question
“Is there something going on I should know about?”
hadn’t been such an emphatic,
“No.”

Those last moments together plagued her memory along with everything else.  How fleeting the warmth in his eyes that she cautioned herself against reading too much into.  How quickly he’d accepted her assertion that the two of them were never meant to be.  How swiftly he’d left without looking back.

No fight.  Just that last, unexpected, blistering kiss and,
“Take care, sweetheart.”

She checked for Ben’s red truck in the mostly empty parking lot before setting her purse down and dropping onto a nearby bench in defeat.  It was stupid to go on like this forever, yet impossible to get Trent out of her mind.  No matter what she did, she was left with only one solution.

A solution that made her bury her head in her hands to take a shaky, fortifying breath.  After reluctantly toying with the idea for a couple days, now it solidified in her mind and heart.

She had to go see him.

He’d probably flash that charming smile and try to figure out a kind way to tell her she’d been nothing more than stress relief, a passable distraction, and a pain in the ass.  Or, he might just flat out tell her to get lost.  She drew in another unsteady breath.  If he did, she’d salvage the trip by thanking him for paying their medical bills in Italy, hold her chin high, and leave with her dignity intact. 
Then
she’d cry in private and try to figure out a way to move on with her life.

But it would be worth the risk.  It had to be.  Because what she was doing now was not living.  Her experiences in Italy proved that truth without question.  If there was the slightest chance of being held in his arms again…one more kiss…one more night…

No
.  She had to be realistic.  Wishful thinking would only make it that much harder if he laughed in her face.

The muted rumble of an engine filtered through her conscious.  Good.  Ben and Rachel’s support was just what she needed right now.

She reached for her purse, lifted her head and immediately lost the ability to breathe.

It wasn’t the blue Mustang convertible that stole all her oxygen and threw her heart against her ribs; it was the baseball cap wearing, sunglasses cool, scruff-jawed man in the driver’s seat.

Trent pulled himself up with a hand on the edge of the windshield and the other braced on the passenger seat headrest.  He swung his jeans-clad legs up and over the passenger door and landed on the sidewalk only a few feet away from her bench.

“Hi.”

My God, even with just one word, he sounded as good as he looked.  Halli rose on wobbly knees, clutching her purse in front of her.  Her own
“hi”
stuck in her throat when the sunglasses were tossed back in the driver’s seat and she met his gold-flecked, green-hued eyes.  Conversely, her “What are you doing here?” came out just fine.

“Showing my confidence who’s boss, dammit.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Halli heard the lobby door whoosh behind her and Trent’s gaze shifted.  He smiled then, looking uncharacteristically nervous, and still better than she’d ever seen him.  A second later, Jennae stepped up beside her.

The downward sweep of her gaze and slow upward lift of her lips was pure invitation.  “You’re not Halliwell’s brother.”

“Not even close,” Trent agreed.  His gaze locked on Halli’s, one corner of his mouth quirking in that half grin she loved so much.  “How about a quick spin around the lake?”

“Ooh, I’d love a ride,” Jennae purred.

Possessive jealousy devoured Halli’s usual control.  Didn’t help that Jennae was just the type who usually draped Trent’s arm.  And he’d smiled at her.  Halli turned and lifted her chin, somehow managing to look down her nose at the six inch taller woman.

“
You
are not invited.”

Surprise lit Jennae’s eyes.  A second later she laughed.  “Cute claws, Halliwell, but I don’t see how it’s your call.”

“It will always be her call,” Trent stated.

Jennae’s prowling bravado faltered as her gaze shifted between them.  “You two actually know each other?”

“Intimately,” Trent replied.

Heat exploded in Halli’s cheeks, but she didn’t say a word.  What the heck was he doing?  Jennae’s gaze narrowed on Halli a second before her jaw went slack.

“You?” she asked with disdainful disbelief.  “
You’re
the mystery woman in Italy?”

Realizing Halli hadn’t told anyone about them, Trent enjoyed putting the over-confident, insulting blond in her place with a dismissive glance.  “If you’ll excuse us, this is a private conversation.”

He took Halli’s arm and gently pulled her with him.  At the convertible, he reached past Halli for the passenger side door.  Silky brown hair tickled his lips when he leaned in and whispered in her ear,  “I’m not usually a fan of jealousy, but damn, that was hot.”

She spun around, knocking his arm away before he could grasp the handle.  “She annoys me, that’s all.”

Trent studied Halli’s unreadable expression.  For the hundredth time, he beat back his nerves.  He’d been an idiot in Italy.  Her fears had fed his and convinced him to walk away.  But not this time.  This time he played for keeps.

He braced his left hand against the side of the car.  She backed up, but had nowhere to go as he leaned in and braced his right hand on the other side, trapping her.

“If I hadn’t stepped in, Barbie would’ve lost her eyes to your cute claws.”

She stared at his chest and he dipped his chin to try catch her eye and coax a smile.  “Admit it.  You want me all to yourself.”

He got the smile and a laugh.

“I haven’t missed your ego one bit.”

“And the rest of me?”

When she still wouldn’t look him in the eye, he closed the distance between them and removed her purse from her death grip to toss it into the car.

Then he kissed her.  Soft and gentle, and full of the love he had yet to share.  Her hands rose to his chest.  Flattened for a moment, then fisted in his T-shirt.  He drew back and waited for her lashes to lift.  The longing in her blue eyes sent his heart soaring, but other emotions cast shadows that couldn’t be ignored.

“What are you afraid of?” he asked.

She didn’t look away this time, though he noted her throat muscles convulsed in a hard, audible swallow.  “I’ll never be like Jennae, or any of the other women you date.”

“Dated.  Past tense.  And if you were, I wouldn’t be here.”

Another flicker of hope in her eyes.  Before it could flourish, her stubborn little chin tilted and she stated, “I saw the press conference, Trent.”

He frowned. 
Which one? 
Ten seconds into his desperate attempt to recall which event and what he’d said, she filled him in.

“On the steps in front of the hospital,” she said softly.  Hurt colored her voice as she added, “After everything we’d been through, you said you barely knew me and then joked about where to get a new boat.”

Ah.  Things were becoming so much clearer.  “Obviously, you’ve never dealt with the press before.  If I’d have admitted we had a relationship you wouldn’t have had a moment’s peace,” he countered.

“You told your friend quite emphatically at the hospital nothing was going on between us.”

“I told my
publicity manager
there was nothing going on that
he needed know about
.  I hadn’t talked to you yet, I wasn’t going to stand there and tell
him
how I felt.”

“Why not?  You’d already made it clear how you felt back on the boat.”

Her expression mirrored the one she’d worn when he’d inferred their night together meant nothing to him.

“I wanted those words back the instant I said them, Halli.”

She didn’t appear convinced.  He shoved away from the car, hands fisted at his sides as frustration sank teeth into his determination. 
She’d
pushed
him
away in Italy, yet now he found himself defending why he’d left.

“The look in your eyes that day…I knew I held your world square on my shoulders and it scared the hell out of me.  Living up to expectations has never been my strong suit, and I couldn’t stand the thought of letting you down.”

“No matter how things turned out, Trent, I wouldn’t have blamed you.  You’d more than proved yourself.”

“Not to myself.”

Her hand on his arm urged him to face her again.  “And now?” she asked softly.

“I’m working on it.”

Their eyes met for a long moment.  The air thickened with expectation.  Halli knew what she wanted to say, but was still scared to believe in the fairytale staring her in the face.  Trent was the one who broke the silence.

“You said what we’d shared wasn’t real.”

“Can it be after only four days?” she wondered.  “You kissed me and then walked away with nothing more than a
take care, sweetheart
.”

“Distancing technique.  Remember?”  A wry laugh accompanied the swipe of one hand through his hair.  “God, you nailed me with that one.  Never realized I did that until you threw it in my face.”

His parting words took on a whole new meaning.  Her heart leapt with joy.  Geez!  She’d recognized it on the boat, how’d she miss it in the hospital?  And all the times she’d gone over the conversation in her head?

Trent took her hands in his.  “Since the moment we met, Halli, you were different than anyone I’d ever known.”

“Yeah…I annoyed the hell out of you.”