"Thank you for coming to get me," I say once we're driving away from Lola's Deli. I'm trying to catch his eye, but he has shades on, and he's not looking at me.

"This city's not a great place to wander around on your own, if you don't know where you're going. And this neighborhood is one of the worst ones. I thought you knew that," he says slowly like he's angry with me, but trying to contain it. "But that won't be a problem, since you're going home today."

I thought we already discussed this. I thought it was decided. I want to stay.

A shaky, "Why?" is all I manage.

He looks at me sharply, but I can't see his eyes and can't read anything in his face. "Your father called me. He threatened to tell the press all about the deal we made. I won’t have that."

I gasp. Dad wants his land back. Why would he threaten that? He knows I'm OK.

"He wouldn't…I just spoke to him this morning…"

Eric breaks hard almost crashing into the bus in front of us. "Was that the plan all along? You come with me, then your father goes to the press and the cops?"

I turn to face him, the seat belt cutting into my collarbone painfully, but I don't care. "No! That was never the plan. The original plan was messed up enough, but I'm here now, the deal was made, and I…I want to stay."

"That'd be too much of a risk now," he says. "Besides, I don't honor deals made by double-crossers and liars."

This is it. The end of our relationship. All I have to say is OK, and all will be as though it never happened. But I can't. I'm not a liar. And I want to stay with him.

He pulls into the underground garage of a building that looks like it was carved from black glass.

"You'll call your father from my office to tell him you're coming home. Then I'll have someone take you to the airport."

He's taken my silence as agreement, and I feel worse than a wet kitten might as I trail after him to the elevator.

He stretches out his hand once we're inside it. "Give me back my keys and credit card."

I wish I could see his eyes, then I'd know what he's really thinking, but he still hasn't taken off his sunglasses.

"What we shared…that meant nothing to you?" I ask in a small voice, looking down at my purse, which I'm holding like I'll never let it go.

The silence that follows is so absolute that I'd be sure I was alone in the elevator, if I couldn't see Eric's very polished shoes.

Eric's arm swings out and he punches the big red stop button, causing the elevator to lurch then grind to a halt. He rips off his sunglasses, and grips my chin, forcing me to look at him. I'm so happy to be looking into his eyes again that I hardly feel his fingers on my chin.

But the thunderstorm raging on a dark desert night rampaging in his eyes makes my relief short-lived.

"The only reason I took you with me on Saturday was because I thought there could be something more between us," he says in a voice so calm I must be imagining the anger flashing from his eyes. "It rarely happens, but I must've been wrong. I won't be played and I won't be lied to."

"You weren't wrong. I felt it too," I whisper. "And I never lied."

The silence that follows is scary, because it's louder than any fight I've ever heard. But I want to stay right here, if it means getting a few more minutes with Eric.

"I want to believe you," he says, releasing my chin and running his hand gently down my cheek. "But this project is too important to me. You're going home. Besides, maybe I just brought you because you look like Sophia."

I don't think he really means that last. Or maybe he does, and I'm just being naïve. If I had more experience with love then maybe I could make sense of all this. Then I could say the right thing to make him change his mind and let me stay. But I don't.

He's not unstopping the elevator though, and he's running his thumb across my lips now, making me ache for him even more.

I wish this elevator would stay still forever. It's an insane wish. Just like my need to stay with him is. But right now, it's all I truly know, all I truly understand. And if I could just get him to believe me, he'd let me stay.

Because I know that's what he wants too.