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more than we loved each other. She’s still a dear friend.”
    His features relaxed. “Have dinner with me.”
    “It was my turn to ask a question,” Macy pointed out.
    “That wasn’t a question.” He leaned forward. “Have dinner with me. Just you and me.”
    “No.”
    “I’m not leaving until you say yes.” He sat back in his chair, a relaxed predator. “I have my phone and my tablet, so I can conduct business between appetizers. I can be here all day.”
    Her stomach tightened. “You wouldn’t.”
    “I would. As a matter of fact, if business is what you’d prefer to discuss, I understand that your foundation wants donations from Hard Knocks Athletics.”
    “I’ve already talked to Renata about that.”
    “Forgive me for being blunt, but I handle all of the public relations activities for Hard Knocks and its parent company, DJD Holdings. Renata can talk to Sebastian, but Sebastian will turn it over to me to handle.”
    Her brows knitted together. “Well, since you’re being blunt, maybe I should be, too. I don’t think someone with your reputation is a good fit for our organization.”
    Hurt crossed his features, and Macy wished that she could pull the words back. Then his expression cleared. “Reputations can change.” He lowered his voice. “Maybe I’m looking to be reformed.”
    Michelle took that moment to return to the table with their small plates. Macy remained silent until the server left, then filled the silence by describing each of the dishes she’d ordered, and suggesting he save room for the bourbon praline pie.
    “This is good, Macy. Everything here tastes great. I knew you’d be good at this. You’re good at everything you touch.”
    His tone, husky and low, pulled decadent memories from her, memories and yearningshe’d thought long buried. “What do you want, Raffie?”
    “I want you. I want to drown in sunset again.”
    She gasped, remembering how he’d run his hands through her unruly red waves, making a curtain around them as they kissed, as she rode him. He’d called it drowning in sunset and she’d melted at his poetic sincerity.
    “Raphael …”
    He reached across the table, capturing her hand in his. “I missed you, Macy. Every single day. I still do.”
    She jerked her hand away. “You have a strange way of showing it. You don’t miss someone by going incommunicado only two months after you promise not to forget them.”
    A muscle in his jaw twitched. “You mean when I showed up in Paris to surprise you, only to discover you’d pulled a fast one and disappeared?”
    She jerked her head up. “What?”
    His expression hardened, losing its boyish, seductive charm. “I tried, Macy. I tried to do the right thing, do what was expected of me, but I couldn’t. Not back then. Two months after you went to Paris, I turned the daily management of the company back over to the chief operations officer, spent a month getting everything in order, and headed to Paris to find you.”
    His hand curled into a fist around his fork. “You weren’t there. I searched for you, and when I finally called your father, he told me you didn’t want to see me. I had nothing left, so I went to Thailand and spent two years disciplining myself by studying Muay Thai. Then I got on the international circuit and when I tried to track you down again, I discovered you were dating that prince dude.”
    A tremble swept through his hand before he dropped the fork. He reached for his leftwrist, toying with his cuff. “I figured you’d found your happily-ever-after and I decided it was best to let you have it.”
    He didn’t know.
    She’d been in the process of working up a full head of steam to tell him off once and for all. It evaporated on a rush of realization. He didn’t know what had happened to her in Paris, didn’t know that she’d tried to contact him. She’d thought he’d abandoned her in her time of need when the reality was that he’d been on his way to her. He’d gone to