“I’m not taking you with me,” he said carefully.

Well, she had that answer at least. Wow, that hurt. She’d even known what he was likely to say and it still felt like someone had kicked her in the gut. She wasn’t going to cry in front of him. “Okay. Look, I’ve got to close up. It could still be an hour or two. Someone can give me a ride home. You don’t have to sit here wasting time.”

“Linc? You going to ask him to give you a ride home? Is he the reason you suddenly want me to go home so badly? You want to see if it can be good with your old training partner?”

“That’s not fair.”

“None of this is fair, chèrie. That’s what I’m trying to explain to you.”

“I asked you to take me with you,” she shot back. “So I don’t get the jealousy thing. Look, I’m not having this argument with you here. I made my play. It didn’t work. I think this is more serious for me than it is for you.”

He stood in the middle of the bar, his hands on his hips. “I didn’t lie to you. I didn’t tell you I would take you with me.”

God, she needed to get out of here. She didn’t want to be the chick who cried her eyes out her first week in. It looked like she would need this job quite badly. “No, you didn’t, and that’s good. It’s my fault. I got in too deep, but it’s time to stop. You said you didn’t want to hurt me. We’re getting to the point that it’s going to hurt me and quite badly. So let’s try to end this as friends. That’s what we promised, right?”

A long huff came from his sensual mouth. “We don’t have to end anything at all right now. I think that’s what I’ve told you all damn night. I’m not going anywhere.”

Why was he being obtuse? “I’m in love with you. Can you say the same?”

He was perfectly silent, but she watched his skin flush, saw how tight his body had gone.

There was her answer. She took off her apron. “Go home, Remy, and I’ll do the same. I wrecked it. We had a good thing going for a week. I know that. Blame me. But we end here because I can’t keep you. You’ll end up hating me if you stay, so go and be happy.”