“Then you have to learn to trust me more.” It was time to see if he could open up a bit. She’d noticed something. “You seemed to struggle when you were sleeping.”

She’d drowsed, but mostly she’d lain in bed and thought about what had happened. And then she’d watched him while he slept. He’d grimaced as though having a bad dream, and he’d muttered something about not wanting to go.

He seemed to breathe her in for a moment. “I was dreaming about the accident. One minute I was walking along, heading toward city hall. I was coming to see you that day. I was going to convince you to work on a project with me. I was going to ease my way into your world. So I was walking along and happy and then I was fighting for my life.”

She’d only heard about the accident. She hadn’t been there. Hallie’s mom had a heart attack while driving, and she’d lost control of her SUV. Hallie almost lost her baby girl, and it was only Lila LaVigne’s swift action that saved any of them.

“Gertie didn’t tell me you had an appointment that day.” She remembered how terrified she’d been when she’d heard Rene had been hurt and that they were taking him to the hospital hours away. She’d run down to the site, but he’d already been taken in the ambulance.

“I didn’t make one because I thought you would duck out on me. I was tired of waiting. I was going to bring you a project and use the time we spent together to get close to you again.” He shifted and suddenly she found herself on her back on the bed with Rene looming over her. “I sat there on the sidewalk while I was bleeding out and all I knew was that I’d wasted the best part of my life by walking away from you. I don’t know that I would do it again. I think if I went back, I might let the selfish part of me win, and then we could have been married for years.”

This was a much better way to deal with her. Maybe he could learn. “You don’t know that would have happened. Maybe I would have told you I wasn’t interested in you back then.”

A slow, sexy smile curled his lips up. “Oh, you were interested. I was there. I remember everything about that night.”

Her body was already heating up again, and she wanted to let all her doubts go because she wanted this to work. “You’re older than me. I’m the youngster, remember? I think your memory might be going.”