I stopped at the threshold after I wiped off the tears from my face, looking at Jared’s strong back and arms as he prepared our breakfast, wondering how I could have let myself make such a grave mistake. I’d let our attraction mess with my mind, ignoring the voice of reason that reminded me I’d already been betrayed too many times.

Everything I’d thought was true was actually a lie, and it was eating me alive. Just a couple a minutes ago I was the happiest woman alive, but now I was on the bottom. On the deep, deep bottom, lost and without answers.

He’d said he wouldn’t hurt me ever again. Liar.

He turned his head over his shoulder, finally sensing my presence behind him, and I winced. Even now, all I wanted was to go and kiss those sensual lips, and much more, but I wasn’t going to let him play me like a puppet any longer.

“Babe,” his lips formed a beam, and he stepped toward me, but then he halted when he noticed the expression on my face, and a frown presented itself on his. “Claire? What is going on?”

I crossed my arms over my chest, forcing myself to enter the kitchen and lessen the distance between us.

“You’re asking me what is going on, you lying son of a bitch?” The insult was out of my lips before I could even think about it twice, but I was so mad I didn’t even care that I was doing something completely out of character.

He recoiled, confusion and anger filling his eyes. “What the hell, Claire? Why are you acting like this?”

My tears threatened to spill out again, but I bit my lip to prevent them from coming out. I wasn’t going to let him see me cry. I was stronger than this.

“You lied to me. You lied to me all this time. And I gave you another chance, foolishly believing your words.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down.” He raised his hands in the air, taking another step toward me. “I don’t understand a word you’re saying. I lied to you? About what? When?”

He feigned innocence, which only made my hackles rise. If I hadn’t been deceived by him once, I could actually believe him. His face and attitude were that convincing.

“You told me you were going to save Pathways! You told me you were going to buy it and everything was going to be alright! But that was all a lie. You never planned to buy our building and save it.”

He clenched his hands, visibly shaking. “That’s bullshit! Where did you get that from? I never lied to you about that. Never.” He shook his head, clearly confounded by my accusation. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m really going to buy that building. In fact, I’m having a meeting with my accountants today about the purchase and—”

“Real Estate Silver’s contractors are currently at my clinic. They are going to tear it down today. So stop pretending.”

His eyes widened. “What? No! They can’t do that.”

I looked away, tears prickling my eyes as pain spread through my chest. I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t. “Don’t play innocent, Jared. You knew about this. I trusted you, but you knew about this all along and—”

“I didn’t know about this!” He grabbed me by my arms and made me look at him. “Listen to me, Claire. You have to believe me. I understand that your trust in me is fragile—”

I snorted, painfully aware of the heat his hands emanated, seeping into me. “My trust in you is non-existent.”

His face fell, his eyes glistening as if my words had cut him to the quick. “You have to believe me,” he repeated. He brushed his fingers against my cheek, but I pulled away, refusing to let him touch me no matter how much I wanted it. He didn’t let go of me, keeping me in place.

“I was at the meeting with the board several days ago and we discussed my plan to buy Pathways’ building. I didn’t lie to you about that. We were negotiating about this for hours, and I made sure to present them all the reasons why I should obtain that building. I even talked with my father, who’s the majority shareholder of Real Estate Silver, to appeal to them. I was certain we convinced them to let me obtain the clinic, and I was already preparing the funds for the purchase.”

We observed each other silently as I mulled over his words, at sixes and sevens because I had no clue how to feel about this. My heart wanted me to believe him and give him yet another chance, but my reason told me I was stupid for even considering letting this slide.

But what if there was even a slight chance he was telling the truth? What if he actually hadn’t known about this and hadn’t lied to me about saving my clinic?

“Then what are they doing in my clinic?” I pulled away from him, needing to put several steps between us so I could think more clearly. His nearness was definitely clouding my better judgment.

He grabbed his head, exasperated. “I don’t know! As I told you, I was certain I managed to convince the board to let me purchase that building instead of Real Estate Silver, so I don’t know what the fuck is going on now.”

He began pacing left and right. “We’ve been working under tight deadlines, and they have been pressuring me these last few weeks to accelerate the process and obtain the building before some other buyer emerges. The location was too good to miss this opportunity. So this is the only way I can explain why they would do it straight off.”

His pleading eyes locked on mine. “Believe me.” Tentatively, he stepped next to me and took my hands. I had difficulty swallowing, feeling like I was walking a thin line. Only one wrong step could lead me to an abyss of failure, but what if he was telling the truth?

I closed my eyes, basking in his touch. His fingers were tracing my wrists, caressing me slowly, and it felt too good. “I don’t know, Jared. I don’t know if I can trust you.” I met his gaze. “I have trust issues. My mother had cheated on my father, and my first love decided it was a good idea to cheat on me with my very best friend. Then you came and hid the truth from me. So now, I feel like I would be a complete fool to put my trust in you again.”

He moved his hands around my waist, pulling me against him, but I had no strength in me to push myself away from him. My body was betraying me.

“Claire, I understand why you can’t trust me that easily, and I don’t want to pressure you to believe me. But I don’t want you hurting. I don’t want you to think I’m some bastard who just wants to play with your feelings.” He cupped my cheek. “I told you that I care about you. And that is real. I care about you.” He lowered his head, only a few inches separating our lips. “I love you,” he said it so silently that I could have easily missed it.

“What?”

“I love you, and I want to make you happy. That’s not a lie. So I’m going to fix this. I’m not going to let them take that building. I’m going to save it. For you.”

My pulse went haywire, my world changing color with the feeling of overwhelming joy. I could see it in his eyes—the truth. I could feel it in his gentle touch, in the way he kept me against him, the heat radiating from him in waves.

And with no more doubts, I pressed my lips against his and gave in to my desire, our bodies coming together like two separated pieces of one whole. Like I’d come home.

“I’m so sorry for everything, Claire,” he muttered into my lips, pressing his forehead against mine. “I’m sorry for making you lose your trust in me. If I hadn’t been such a jerk in the beginning, maybe things could have been different. But now it’s time for me to fix it.”

My lips were still tingling and swollen when he pulled away to call his assistant. I observed his face frowning as they hashed out this issue, relying on the hope that everything was going to be alright. It had to be.

“And my father? Is he there too?” He listened to his assistant intently, focused on one spot on the floor. “Okay. Then maybe he and I can do something to pull this off. Okay, Ramon. See you soon,” he said and ended the call.

“What is happening?”

He ran his fingers through his hair and tugged at it.

“It appears that several members of the board aren’t happy with me leaving the business, which is why they aren’t quite willing to drop the project and hand it to me.”

“That is absurd!”

“Tell me about it. I have to go there and talk with them again. I can’t let them demolish that building.”

“But what are you going to say to them?” I was becoming fidgety, getting more worried by second. “Do you have a plan?”

His grim face brought leaden sensation to my stomach. This wasn’t good at all. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to do to convince the board, but I promise you I won’t give up on your building or you.” He kissed my hand before he leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Everything is going to be alright. I won’t let them to this. I’m going to find a way.”

Despite the hopelessness of the situation, a flicker of warmth rushed through my chest. Jared was real. He hadn’t stabbed me in the back. He was trying to make things right.

“I trust you,” I said at last. “Now I know you aren’t at fault here and you’re going to do all you can to help me with this. Which means a lot to me. Thank you.”

His lips grazed my cheek before they slid over mine, eliciting a tiny moan from me. “No, thank you. Thank you for believing me and for letting me do this for you. You mean a lot to me, so I can’t just stand aside and do nothing as your world falls apart.”

I was about to tell him he meant a lot to me too, but my phone rang again, reminding me of the urgency of the situation, and I fished it out of my pocket. Marissa. “I have to go. Alison and Marissa are probably doing all they can to move our things out of that building before they start tearing it down, so I can’t lose any more time here.”

“I know. Go.”

I drew away from him, on my way out of the kitchen, but then I stopped and faced him. “And I love you too, Jared.”

The last thing I saw before I left the kitchen in a hurry was his eyes widening, and a small smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. He was the one who was giving me the strength to push through this, and I held onto the tiny threads of hope that he might be able to do something and get us out of this predicament.

After all, my glass had always been half full, so I wouldn’t let despair get the best of me.