Richard stared at her, his gaze unreadable now. "So what you're saying is that I should just stand aside and let him worm his way into your space, hoping you'll come back to me when it's all over?"
"No," she said, more gently this time. "I'm saying… let me handle it my way and you shouldn't interfere with the process. You've always said you wanted honesty. Well, here it is. The ugly, tangled truth."
He stared at her for a long, weighted moment, exhaled as if he'd come to a hard conclusion within himself, then slowly moved toward her.
When he reached her, he lifted his hands and rested them on her shoulders, his thumbs grazing the curve of her collarbone. His voice dropped to a low murmur. "You don't owe him anything, Shantel."
