Free The Reunion Mission by Beth Cornelison Page B

whose fault is that?”
    “There’s plenty of blame to go around.”
    Her shoulders slumped. “You’re probably right.” Heaving a sigh, she slid her purse strap in place on her shoulder. “Pity, too. Before that morning, I thought we had something pretty good between us.”
    So did I. Daniel bit back the reply. No point dwelling on could-have-beens. “Takes more than hot sex to make a relationship work.”
    Nicole scowled. “I know that.”
    She continued to glare at him, but he saw the heat that flared in her eyes. Heat that said she was remembering the sultry tangling of limbs and slap of flesh as their bodies writhed together. Daniel’s body hummed as his brain easily conjured an erotic image from that night.
    She cocked her head at a haughty angle. “Relationships take time...to learn each other’s interests and tastes—”
    “They take trust. Respect. Honesty,” he snarled. He growled his frustration and waved her off. “Forget it. Like I said, it’s history. Leave it alone.”
    “What makes you think we didn’t have trust or...respect or...?”
    “Leave. It. Alone,” he repeated, his gaze drilling into her.
    She threw up her hands and shook her head. “Whatever.” Spinning on her heel, she stalked to the door and yanked it open.
    Daniel’s pulse stumbled, and acid gnawed his stomach. He was about to blow it again. He’d spent his final minutes with Nicole fighting about the past rather than repairing the tensions between them. But if he saw no future between them, why did he care so much where their relationship stood?
    He squeezed the bedsheet in his fist. “Damn it, Nicole. Stop.”
    She waited for him to speak but didn’t turn.
    His heart thundered as he searched for something to tell her. You complete me. You make me want to be a better man. We’ll always have Paris. He pinched the bridge of his nose as a parade of clichéd movie lines filled his head. Finally, he sighed and muttered, “It was a good night. But...we were too different to make it work.”
    She sent him a sad look over her shoulder. “It was a great night. But you didn’t give us a chance to work.”
    Nicole disappeared into the hall, her hurt and disappointment still hovering in the air, reverberating around him. Daniel sank back in his pillows as a shard of hope lodged inside him like a splinter. Was it possible he’d read the situation wrong that morning years ago? Had he missed the most important opportunity of his life—the chance to be with Nicole?
    He closed his eyes and swore under his breath. Hope was a painful, double-edged sword. Just when he thought he’d finally cut Nicole out of his life, she cast a new light on his dark memories from their past.
    * * *
    Despite assurances that Tia could be released from the hospital that afternoon, legal red tape and delays kept Tia in the hospital another 24 hours. But Nicole made the most of the extra time, pushing the Department of Children and Family Services to complete an emergency home inspection and interview that allowed her to be appointed Tia’s temporary legal guardian. Nicole took Tia to her father’s New Orleans garden home, making a mental note to add apartment hunting to her to-do list once matters with Tia were settled.
    “Hello?” she called as she and Tia entered the kitchen through the back door. “Anyone home?”
    “Miss Nicole!” A thin, prematurely gray-haired woman bustled in from the laundry room and rushed to hug Nicole. “You’re home! And safe, praise the Lord!”
    Nicole beamed and embraced the woman who’d been her father’s housekeeper for as long as she could remember. “Sarah Beth, how good to see you!”
    Nicole introduced Tia to Sarah Beth Salyer, who traveled with her father to his many homes depending on where he was in residence at the moment—Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Baton Rouge or his ski cabin in Breckenridge. The two women caught each other up briefly on their respective status quos, then shared another tearful