Once Upon a Valentine (31 page)

“You knew how much this date meant to me,” she said, feeling that lump return to her throat right on schedule. Her eyes burned.

He scoffed. “Right. It was so meaningful, a random blind date with some loser you met online.”

“How I meet people is none of your business. It’s not like you are interested in anyone seriously.”

“This isn’t about me, it’s about you. And don’t try to convince me that it was so damn meaningful to you. It was just a date. It’s not like you were going to sleep with the guy.”

Ginger held his gaze defiantly. “Then explain the condoms I have in my purse.”

He visibly flinched as if she’d hit him. It surprised her until she realized why.

She waved a hand. “You know what you’re feeling toward me isn’t real. This jealousy or possessiveness or whatever you want to call it. You turned on Jorgensen at the very thought I might stay and have dinner with him alone. You chased away Brad before I could see him. It’s all because of that stupid gingerbread cookie.”

“You think so, huh?”

“I know so.” But then she went silent, thinking through the schedule of the night. She hadn’t eaten the cookie until well after Brad was supposed to show. And Stephen hadn’t seen her face to face until later.

She shook her head as if to clear it. Things weren’t totally adding up for her, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that Stephen had sabotaged her chance with another man.

She let out a breath and tried to calm herself. “Look, I get it. I understand why you did this.”

“You do?”

“You’re trying to protect me from getting my heart broken. Maybe you thought it would distract me at work too much.”

He looked at her as if she’d just pushed a knife into his chest. “Yeah, that’s all it is. Just an employer looking out for his employee.”

“Thanks, boss.”

“Don’t call me that. Not now.”

She watched him warily. “I think I should leave.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Go take those condoms and put them to good use.”

“You don’t have to be a jerk about this.”

“Whatever, Ginger.” His jaw tensed. “Just being around you right now is difficult for me.”

“Touché.” She didn’t want to let on how much his words hurt her. This was getting out of control. Time to leave and let the magic wear off. Even now, feeling this angry with him, she still wanted his hands on her. His mouth on her. It was like some kind of fever she couldn’t shake.

“I’m going back to the café so I can talk to that woman.” She turned toward the door. “You stay here. I mean, you already paid for the room so you may as well enjoy it. I’ll deal with any whistling men I come across.”

“I think you’ll be safe. The spell’s wearing off. I can feel it lifting and it’s not even midnight yet,” he said flatly. “What a relief.”

Yeah. She was sure it was. But the thought of Stephen no longer desiring her brought with it a deep and painful disappointment. He’d lied to her and tried to ruin her romantic life in one fell swoop tonight.

And still her heart ached.

She grabbed the door knob and was about to turn it when she glanced over her shoulder. “Why did you do it, Stephen?”

“What part? I’m starting to get a little unclear about everything I’ve done wrong tonight.”

“Why did you stop him? It was just a blind date.”

“A blind date for which you had a ready supply of condoms.”

“Hardly a ready supply. Two.”

He glared at her. “Two too many.”

“Hey, you had a date tonight, too. Or did you? Brad said that—”

“Let’s forget what Mr. Perfect said. The magic is lifting, Ginger. You can roam freely about the city now.”

“I can’t say I’m disappointed about that.” She nodded firmly and turned the knob to open the door. “Good night, Stephen.”

“Good night, Ginger.”

She walked down the hallway to the elevator with a heavy heart. It felt as if she’d just lost something really important. Something that had been in her hands—like sand—but had sifted through her fingers so quickly there was no way to stop it before it was all gone.

The elevator doors opened and she got on. Jabbing the button for the lobby, she pressed back against the mirrored wall behind her and sighed.

Stephen had chased away her date. He had waited outside that café without giving her any idea of what he was up to. She’d had no clue that he had a problem with her dating. He could have said something at the office this morning when he’d presented the staff with a big heart-shaped cake to celebrate Valentine’s Day. She’d told him all about Brad then, even shown Stephen his picture. She’d played Brad up as being amazing, good-looking, successful, sexy…really slathering it on thick.

Why had she bothered to do that?

Come on,
a little voice inside her said.
You know why. Stop lying to yourself.

She’d been looking for some sort of reaction from Stephen. Maybe to spark some jealousy in him.

She’d done it because she was in love with Stephen. And she had been for a very long time.

“Damn it,” she whispered to herself as the elevator reached the lobby.

Stephen had wanted to protect her from some guy he didn’t think was right for her. He’d gone about it all the wrong way—and she certainly wasn’t ready to forgive and forget his underhanded methods.

But why had he really done it? She could understand if it had been after the cookie’s magic kicked in, but it was
before.

She remembered what he’d asked Jorgensen earlier.

“Are you in love with her?”

If the author had answered yes, would it have been different? But Jorgensen simply said he wanted her. The other men had shown interest, but no one else had said they loved her.

Only one.

She stood in the lobby for about ten minutes, the color draining from her face, before this information completely sank in.

“Excuse me, miss?” A man touched her arm.

Ginger turned to look at him. “What?”

He frowned. “Just making sure you’re okay. You looked upset there for a moment.”

She waited for him to say something like the other men tonight to show that he was interested in her. But instead he just looked steadily at her.

No desire. Just concern.

No more spell. Stephen was right when he said it was lifting. This was the proof.

“I need to…go,” she said.

But instead of storming out through the front doors of the hotel and heading back to the café as was her original plan, she turned back toward the elevators, practically running to them. She stabbed at the up button, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.

I love you, Ginger. So much. You have no idea. You never have.

He’d said it. It would have made sense if the cookie magic was some sort of a love spell, but she’d never asked to be loved. She’d asked for men to want her so she could pick who she wanted in return. And they had wanted her—for a short time.

But Stephen had said that he
loved
her.

It felt as if it took forever before the elevator finally arrived. She got on it and then it felt as though it took forever until it reached the fifteenth floor. She had no idea what she was going to say or what she was going to do when she got back to the room and confronted Stephen about this.

The elevator doors slid open to show that he was waiting just outside, his expression anxious.

His eyes widened when he saw her. “You’re back.”

For someone who worked with words all day long, she was currently at a complete loss for them.

“Where are you going?” she forced herself to say.

He opened his mouth but then shut it as if he’d had second thoughts about what to say. “Out.”

“Were you going to follow me back to the café?”

“I wanted to make sure you were safe.”

“But the spell’s over.”

“Yes, it certainly is. For me, I mean. For other men, who knows? You might have been engaged five times over by the time you got three blocks from here.” He wasn’t meeting her gaze. “Why did you come back?”

“Because I needed confirmation about something.”

“Confirmation about what?”

“I—I need to know why you chased Brad off.”

He didn’t speak for a moment. “Because he wasn’t good enough for you.”

She had the elevator open with her elbow. She hadn’t stepped off it yet. “You could have told me that.”

“Would you have believed me? Look, Ginger, he wasn’t good enough for you. No guy is, okay? That’s just how I feel. Take it as a compliment. I don’t normally give anyone else’s love life this much thought.”

“But you do mine?”

He didn’t reply to that.

She swallowed and summoned up enough courage to say what she needed to say next. “On the subway, you said that you loved me. But the cookie magic wasn’t a love spell. And you once told me you don’t believe in love.”

He raised his eyes to meet hers. There was an edge of pain there. “What’s your point?”

Suddenly, she wasn’t sure. She was horribly afraid she was making a mistake here that would do great damage to their normally wonderful friendship, something she valued deeply and didn’t want to lose. She wasn’t usually so completely unsure when it came to men—reading them, wondering what they thought. It had been a rough night for her ego.

“No point, I guess.” She let go of the elevator door and it started to close.

Stephen stopped it. His gaze had grown more intense. “What do you want me to say, Ginger? That I’m in love with you? That you proved to me that I can feel that way about someone? That I’ve been in love with you since first meeting you and making a drunken fool out of myself, in public? That I’ve pined for you every day we’ve worked together, imagining what it would be like to tear your clothes off and make love to you on the boardroom table? That every woman I’ve gone out with since I met you has paled in comparison. That I can’t stop thinking about only you? That I wish desperately that you didn’t think of me only as a friend and that you wanted me just as much as I want you?”

She gaped at him, overwhelmed by his tirade.

He immediately looked as if he regretted saying all of that and he let go of the elevator door. Before it closed, she slipped off and stood only a couple feet away from him.

“Well, there you have it,” he said quietly. “You want to know the reason I scared off your date tonight? Why I’d do it again in a heartbeat even if it means you’re going to hate me? It’s because I don’t think that any man in the world is good enough for you. That the thought of anyone else touching you or kissing you drives me insane with jealousy. No man should be with you, Ginger. No man except me.” He laughed humorlessly. “My business is going to hell in a handbasket. Why shouldn’t I destroy my personal life, too?”

“So, it’s true?” she whispered. “You’re in love with me.”

“Why else would I act like such a fool on Valentine’s Day—with or without some stupid cookie to blame for it?” His pained gaze flicked to hers for a brief moment. “You should probably go now.”

“I can’t go.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m in love with you, too.”

He looked at her so sharply, she almost laughed.

“Don’t play with my emotions tonight, Ginger,” he warned. “I’m close to the edge.”

“I’m not playing. I’ve never been more serious in my entire life.”

A deep frown creased his brow as he continued to stare at her with shock as he took in what she’d just said to him, laying her true feelings out so they were raw and completely defenseless. “Well, in that case…”

He closed the distance between them in two steps, then pulled her against him and crushed his mouth against hers.