“You’re being a bitch and we’re going to talk about that right now,” Laurel promised.

The door brushed closed and she was left alone with Remy.

“I take it I’m the bad choice she’s trying to save you from?” Remy asked, his eyes on the door.

“She doesn’t have to save me from you.” How was it that a mere few hours before she’d been looking forward to nothing more than going home with him? She’d even started calling it their home because Remy didn’t spend any time in his own apartment. He’d kind of moved in after that first night. All the better to do his job. “We broke up.”

“We had a misunderstanding,” he corrected.

Oh, she’d misunderstood plenty. She wondered how far he would go with the deception. “What did I misunderstand?”

“I misunderstood myself,” he said. He strode over to her. “Damn it, Lisa. I was wrong. You were right. Look, we started this on the wrong foot. I said I was being open and honest with you and it was all bullshit because I wasn’t honest with myself. I pushed you away all those months ago because I had this vision of who I thought you were.”

“I know that. You thought I was some kind of rich, entitled person who never struggled once in her life. You kind of do that with a lot of people. You’re like the opposite of my sister Lila, who assumes everyone without a college degree is a vagrant.”

“I’ll work on it. Maybe there is something there. I can be close minded. I was called trash my whole life by anyone who didn’t understand where I came from. I expect it from women. All my life I was the guy you screwed, not the one you married. Hell, the one I did marry divorced me because she said she could do better.”

She knew he was divorced, but this was the first time he’d talked about it. “So you thought it would be fun to get into the rich chick’s panties and turn it all around on her?”

“What? No. That’s why I was afraid of you,” he said. “I now know that there’s something I’m way more afraid of and that’s losing you. Come home with me, ma crevette. I don’t think it will be home if you’re not there. I know it’s soon, but I swear I’ll do everything I can to make you happy and comfortable down there. I’ll have to work…”

“Is my brother paying you more to take me with you?” Will must be desperate after tonight.

Remy stopped for a moment, his whole body going still. “Lisa, that is an entirely different discussion.”