In the stock room, Kari was standing at a table sorting through a big box filled with cleaning supplies.  Alex walked in and sat on the edge of the desk she stood in front of, with his long legs stretched out and his big arms folded.  He was now right beside her so close he could smell her sweet perfume.  He could see the pain in her big, beautiful eyes.

“What’s the matter?” he asked her softly.

Kari didn’t say anything.

“Kari?” Alex asked.  “What’s wrong?”

Kari looked into his eyes.  They looked so sympathetic that she suddenly felt as if she wanted to cry.  But she didn’t.  She refused to be that weak.  “I’ve learned something about myself,” she said.  “I’ve learned that I have an aversion to drama.  And your wife?  Dramaville.”

“My ex-wife,” Alex corrected her.  “And don’t worry, honey.  She won’t be an issue at all.”

“Even when your daughter gets out?  She talked as if your daughter was going to come and live here, in Apple Valley, when you aren’t going to even be living here.”

Alex didn’t know why Kari had assumed such a thing.  Not that he had any definite answers himself.  He was still weighing the options.

“My daughter won’t be a problem, either.”

But he could tell Kari wasn’t feeling it.  He could tell she wasn’t at all sure if he was worth the drama, however it might come.  Before Kari his life was work, golf, and sleeping around.  Now his life felt as if it had more meaning.  As if it had more grounding.  A tinge of desperation began to overtake him at the thought of losing this new lease on life.  “Come to New York with me,” he said impulsively.  “I’ll send the plane for you tomorrow night.  We can spend the weekend together.”

“But I thought you were coming back tonight?” Kari hated that her voice sounded so needy, but she was disappointed and wasn’t trying to hide it.  “You aren’t coming back tonight?”

“There’s been a change of plans,” Alex said, hating to tell her at a time like this.  “I’ve got to handle some business in another state, and then attend meetings in New York.  And then this weekend I’m going to Vegas to meet with a couple I know.  But that’s why I want you to come with me.  I want you to meet them too.”

Kari looked at him.  “But . . . I can’t just pack up and leave like this, Alex,” she said.  “This jet-setting, last minute planning isn’t my lifestyle!” she added.

“It can be,” said Alex.  “Tomorrow is Friday.  You already told me Jordan was spending the weekend with Benny and Faye.  Why not, Kari?”

Kari stared at him.

“We’ll spend Friday night at my house, and then Saturday we’ll fly to Vegas for a little business and, I hope, a lot of fun.  I’ll have you back in Apple Valley by Sunday night- just in time to tuck Jordan in for the night.”

“I’m going to tell him you said that, too,” Kari said.

Alex laughed.  Kari smiled.  Then his look turned serious, and more desperate than he would have liked to expose.  “Will you come?”

Kari felt as if she was being put on the spot.  But she was learning that life with a man like Alex was never going to be a nine-to-five, with every plan carefully laid out.  She fought her entire life for that kind of normalcy.  Was Alex worth upsetting her routine, and her life?  Was this man worth the drama and the risk?

She looked into his eyes.  Heck, he didn’t even speak up for her when his ex-wife was ragging on her!  But then even that thought upset her.  When since she needed some man to speak up for her?  She could defend herself.  That was why she knew she had to be careful.  This decision could not be about what Alex could do for her.  It had to be about if she wanted to take that commodity called time, perhaps her most precious gift, and give it to him.

The jury was still out.  It was still too soon.  But Kari Grant was daring if she was anything.

“I’ll come,” she said.

And Alex exhaled, smiled, and then pulled her into his arms.

They both were relieved, and they both were uncertain.

For Kari, it was all about the heart.  She didn’t want to get hers broken.

For Alex, it was all about the head.  Why would he pull this innocent person into his world, and his drama, and his far-from-normal life?  Why didn’t he leave town today, stop coming back until the casino and hotel were up and running, and let well enough alone?  She’d get over him in seconds, he believed.

But that wasn’t the problem.

It was him getting over her.

He didn’t think he could.

That was the problem.