Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 344

Chapter 344

“I feel gravely ashamed kneeling here looking at you.” He lifted his eyes then, and they were red at the rims, wet in the way a man’s eyes go wet when he is fighting very hard not to cry. “But I had to face what I did. Saying sorry is not enough to beg for your forgiveness, Pat. I know that. I only hope you will give me the chance to make amends. But I will start with this.” He swallowed hard. “I am very sorry.”

I folded my arms tighter and let the silence stretch until it sat between us like a third person in the room.

“You want my forgiveness?”

He nodded, and for one wild moment I almost laughed at the absurdity of the whole scene. There he was, the heir of the Duke family, dressed in expensive clothes, kneeling on the floor of my office like a man begging a judge for

mercy.

The joke, of course, was on me, because some tired and stupid part of me wanted to believe him. I had carried this shame for eleven days. I had replayed my own foolishness every night until it felt like a stone lodged permanently behind my ribs. Maybe forgiveness was the only way to set the stone down. Maybe it was the one thing I needed to do for myself, not for him.

“I forgive you.” The words came out flatter than I intended. “There is no need for you to kneel. Get up and leave.”

He stared at me as though I had struck him. Then he rose slowly to his feet and took a step toward me, but I shot my hand out between us.

“Do not come any closer.”

“Pat, please.” His voice cracked in the middle of my name. “Just give me a chance to court you properly.”

“Court me? Why?”

“Because I want us to start over.”

“There is nothing between us to start over from.” I kept my hand raised. “I felt sorry for you back then, and I thought I was helping you, that’s why I did what I did without realizing that the whole time, you were busy stabbing me in the back.”

“I deeply regret that.”

“And I have already forgiven you. I only said it so there would be no illusions about what we were to each other before. Which was nothing.”

“Please.” He edged another inch forward, and I saw his hands trembling at his sides. “Give me a chance.”

“Why?” I let the word hang in the air. “Are you in love with me?”

He swallowed, and the truth of it moved across his face before his mouth opened. “I am not sure what I feel for you.”

“Then I am sure for you.” I uncrossed my arms and pointed at the door. “You still feel guilty because you believe sorry is not enough. That is all this is. If you need complete absolution, go find a priest. They will not ask you to leave.”

Something flickered across his eyes, hurt or surprise, I could not tell which. “Then at least let us be friends. I just want to be close to you, Patricia.”

“I can never be friends with a man I have slept with.” I let out a long breath. “You are wasting both our time. I am

1/2

+15 Bçnus

sure you have things to do, Mr. Duke, just as I have things to do. Leave, or I will call security.”

He stared at me for a long, quiet moment, and for one second I thought he might argue. Then he turned and walked out of my office without another word, and the door clicked shut behind him.

The breath that left me came in one long rush, and I realized my hands were shaking. I pressed them flat against my desk and waited for my heart to slow. It refused to slow for a very long time.

The rest of the day passed in a blur I could not account for. I stayed locked in my office, staring at the same spreadsheet until the numbers stopped meaning anything. I did not cry. I had cried enough over the past eleven days to last me a lifetime. But I could not make myself work either, so I simply sat there while the afternoon light crawled across the wall and faded into evening. 1

2/2

+15 8cnus