“I know,” he said, voice resigned. “Funny you should say that thing about how frustrating and annoying and confusing I am. Because that’s exactly how I feel about you.”

“But I’m just a job to you. You shouldn’t have feelings for me.”

“Wish to hell I didn’t. It’d make things a fuck of a lot less complicated.”

I just stared.

“I like my life how it is,” he continued. “I’ve got work and family and friends. It’s all good. Maybe in five or ten years I’d be interested in marriage and kids, but not now. Let alone not with someone like you.”

“Someone like me?”

“That’s right.”

A fiery rage burned within. “Good news, Ziggy. I don’t recall either proposing to you or offering to bear your spawn. You’re free to go, buddy. The door’s right there. Don’t let it hit your ass on the way out!”

The man just smiled. Like I wasn’t about to attack him with my perfect French nail polish. Scour his face with lines and all the rest. What’s worse was, as soon as I saw his smile, my knees turned to water. Oh, man.

“Mae, I spend enough time dealing with photographers and fans at work. Of course I was wary of inviting that sort of thing into my private life,” he said. “However, it’s a part of your life and that’s good enough for me. But you should know, I’m never going to be able to buy you a Bentley or take you on a private jet to Paris. Often I have to work late or travel. No matter how much I want to, I’m not always going to be able to be with you. Can you accept that?”

“You’ve given this a lot of thought.”

“It’s pretty much the only thing I’ve been thinking about since I met you.”

And that was big. That was really big. Scarily huge, in fact.

“So what do you say?” he asked calmly. “We could try just fucking, see if we lose interest in each other. But I honestly don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.”

“Huh.”

He waited. I stared. Not much else happened. “Mae, it’s been a shit of a day. And as much fun as this is, I’m exhausted and so are you. What do you say we call it a night and if you want, we can keep arguing some more about it in the morning over breakfast?”

I had nothing.

“I’ll sleep in the chair in your room again. No need to rush things. You can think everything over and let me know when you reach a decision. No pressure, okay?”

My head was a mess.

“Fact of it is, I can’t walk away from you. Already tried going home instead of coming here tonight.”

“You did?”