By ten o'clock that night, Bev was no longer so confident. She hadn't heard from Mack all day, not even to return the messages she'd left him. She patted her bed, and the beagle hopped up. She had a feeling the beagle was going to become the next addition to her family. She was too sweet to send to a shelter, and her big, brown eyes could swallow Bev up with love. And what girl couldn't use a little more love in her life? Especially since Mac was sitting on the balcony, probably waiting for Mack to arrive with Janey. Could she blame him?

A knock at the door made her heart lurch. "Who is it?"

"It's Mack."

Bev leapt to the floor, her heart soaring with elation. He hadn't rejected her. She flung open the door, then froze, stunned by the hard lines on his face. "What's wrong?"

"I have to leave."

"Leave? To where?" He'd just arrived. "Business crisis?" But at least he came by, even if it was only for a minute, right?

"California."

"Really? For how long?" Emptiness wafted over her and he hadn't even left yet.

"Two years."

Bev felt like she was choking. "What?"

"I told off Whittle today."

"You did?"

Mack nodded. "He threatened to press charges against you for the pipe. Said you did it. So I threatened him to make him back off."

Her heart thudded. "Do you think I broke the pipe?"

He snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. I wouldn't have lost my client over you if I didn't believe in you."

Aww…how sweet was that? "I thought you were mad, because you didn't stop by at the end of the day to say you were leaving."

"Oh, Bev. I couldn't. I had to go with Whittle to do damage control when we got back to my office. He was ready to try to get me thrown in jail for assault."

She blinked. "You hit him?"

"No. But I might have scared him a little." Mack grinned slightly. "But anyway, that's in the past. I have to go to California now."

Bev held up her hands. "Wait a minute. I'm confused. Did you get fired?"

"Of course not." He stepped into the small apartment and shut the door. "He tried to get me fired, of course, but since I own part of the company, he can't exactly do that."

"So, what happened with California?"

"About five months ago, we signed a huge client who is California based. They wanted one of us to stay out there so they could have personal service. My partner and I agreed that if we could sign a few more big California clients, then one of us would move out there for a couple years to start up a small office."

Bev collapsed onto the couch, her heart leaking out of her body. "And you're going?"

Mack sat down beside her and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. He stared at the rug. "I have to."

"Why? Why not your partner?" Tears threatened, but she bit them back.

"Because his wife is six months pregnant, and they have two kids in school. It's not a good time for them to move."

Bev pressed her fists into her eyes. "And you're single."

"Yes."

She lifted her head and looked at him, the man she loved so desperately. "You're definitely going?"

"Yes." Mack tore his gaze off the carpet and looked at her. "Come with me."

"What?" A pebble of hope stirred in her chest. "You want me to move to California?"

He took her hands in his. "Yes. Will you?"

"Whoa." Bev pulled her hands out of his and stood up. "Just like that, you want me to give up and move? What about my animals?"

Mack stayed on the couch, watching her with a veiled expression. She couldn't read him at all. "The shelter is closing in two days. You can open a new one in California."

"With what? I don't have any money."

"I'll pay for it."

Bev stopped pacing and stared at him. "What?"

"I'll buy the property and give you money to start it up properly."

"Hold on a sec. Let me see if I get this." She pressed a hand to her forehead. "All along, you've had the money to donate to save the shelter and you haven't done it? And now you're offering just so I'll move out there and be your sex toy?"

Mack stared at her for what felt like an eternity.

"Mack?"

"That's not how it is. It's more complicated than that."

"Then tell me how it is." She was so angry her hands were shaking, her heart felt like it had been torn from her body and trampled by a herd of buffalo. "Is it that you wanted me to rely on you so you could suck me into your life and seduce me? Or was it that all your statements about how bad you felt were lies? Or was it for my own good to lose my shelter? Tell me, Mack."

His face looked calm, but there was a hurricane in his eyes. "I donate over a million dollars every year to fund medical research and to various children's foundations. I pay for lodging so families can stay in the same city as their kid who needs to be relocated for special medical treatments."

Bev slumped against the television table, listening to him.

"When I go to the hospital and hold the hands of kids who are sick, whose families can't be there, I know I'm doing the right thing with my money, and I'll keep doing it. Not only can I help make sure my family is taken care of, but as long as I keep earning this much money, I can take care of a lot of other people so maybe one family or one child somewhere doesn't have to go through what my family went through. I have to make choices, Bev, and I've chosen sick kids."

"Mack..."

He held up his hand. "When I first met you, my interest in the shelter was just part of another job. It wasn't personal."

"So you've said." But her voice was quiet and nonjudgmental.

"And then I met you, and you turned my world on its side. I didn't intend to get involved with you, or to care about the shelter on a personal level." He scooted forward on the couch, staring at her. "But both of those things happened, and I can't walk away now. Giving you money for a shelter now isn't a donation to the shelter. I would do it just for you."

Bev's heart was being held together by tiny bits of fragile thread. "Why do you want me to come, Mack?"

She could only go if he loved her. A passionate affair was one thing. Taking a risk by letting herself fall in love was another. But giving up her life and moving across the country for him was too much, unless he loved her. "Why would you buy me the property, Mack?"

"Because I want you to come with me."

"But why?"

He shook his head, running his hands through his hair. "I don't know."

One thread broke, and a piece of her heart fell. "I want love, Mack. Marriage, kids, and a husband who adores us. That's what I want."

His hands dropped and he looked at her. His eyebrows were knitted in pain, the lines around his mouth deep. "I can't promise that right now."

Another thread broke. "Any of it?" If he just told her he loved her, that would be enough for now.

He shook his head. "I can't."

The sound of her heart breaking was like glass shattering. "Then I can't go with you."

He closed his eyes for a long moment. "Are you certain?"

"Yes." The tears were back, pressing hard. A knot the size of a tennis ball was in her throat, sobs were churning. She would not fall apart in front of him. "I think you should leave, Mack."

"No. I'll stay tonight. I don't leave until tomorrow."

She shook her head, biting her lower lip so hard she was sure she was drawing blood. "No. You have to leave. I can't do this anymore."

"Bev..." He stood up, reaching out for her, but she backed away.

"No, Mack. Be fair."

He dropped his hands, his face so lost she almost cried for his pain. "I'll call you from California."

"No, you have to let me go, Mack. I can't wait for two years, and I'll never get over you if you stay in my life."

"I don't want you to get over me."

Bev shook her head in disbelief, outrage overcoming the urge to cry. "Don't you get it? You don't get everything you want. If you loved me, I'd be yours forever. But since you won't love me, or can't or whatever it is that's holding you back, you don't get to keep me around for the moments when you're feeling frisky or lonely. It doesn't work that way."

He tightened his lips, then nodded. "You're right. I never wanted to hurt you."

"I know." But he had, deeply, and they both knew it. "I'll always love you, Mack."

He moved in front of her, his face and body only an inch from hers, but he didn't touch her. "Don't. I'm not worth it."

A tear dropped from her eye, trickling a lonely path down her cheek. "I can't wait for you."

"I know."

"Good-bye, Mack."

"My flight is at noon tomorrow. You can reach me on my cell until then if you change your mind."

"You have to change yours first." It wasn't a threat, or a bribe. It was the truth.

"I can't."

She nodded. He leaned forward to kiss her, but he stopped before they touched, changing his mind. "Goodbye, Bev."

And then he left.