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Besides, the truth of the oing on and why, he’d helped her and Trevor out of a terrible situation She couldn’t be mad at him for that

“So, starting over,” she ot too colass of scotch fro back down

A drink would help clear her head and set things right The wine she’d had with the stew hadn’t hit just yet, so she thought it could use a little help

The scotch lit a fire trail down the back of her throat, but it was smooth and robust in a way that she wasn’t used to It made her feel sophisticated

“Starting over,” Colin echoed “I want to hear what you have to say about all of this I know that I’ve taken you away fro you know, and I’ve told you my motives What do you want to know?”

Sabela looked down into her scotch and tried to think What would she have done, if he’d been forthright from the start?

“Well, I guess that depends on if you insinuated I was a whore or not”

“I definitely wouldn’t have,” Colin said right away “I never meant it to sound like that It’s a poor excuse, but I’ to people anymore Or, people who don’t work for me”

“That is kind of larin So off, and she was able to see Colin in a better light

He wasn’t a bad person, he was just rough around the edges

“Why are you so closed off to people?” she asked Starting overfrom

If she knehat his -ups

The plan depended on Colin cooperating, and by the way he looked down into his drink to avoid her gaze, Sabela kneasn’t going to be that easy

“You can tell e you or tell anyone I don’t even know anyone you know, so I’m probably one of the best people to speak to if there’s so you”

“It’s a long story I’m not sure you’d be interested in,” Colin said at last, still staring into his scotch “I guess it boils down to, I’ve been hurt and I’eneral”

“But you can’t write off all people because someone hurt you,” Sabela insisted Trevor acted the sa “Life’s about more than that And I know you haven’t known , but you can trust me”

“Right”

There was so on, but Sabela didn’t knohat it was Whatever had happened to Colin went deep, and she wouldn’t be able to pull it out of him easily

In time she hoped to understand

“You know,” she said after a long pause and a few sips of scotch, “people have hurt me, too Don’t ever feel alone If ever you want to talk, I want to listen”

Unsure if she should, Sabela reached out and laid a hand on Colin’s thigh To her surprise, he smiled

It was that same smile he’d flashed her on the slopes, the one that she wished she’d see

“You’re the first person who’s offered,” he confided “Thank you”

“You’re welcome”

How strange it was that she was halfway across the world having a heart to heart with a man she barely knew A man who’d taken her to his isolated chalet in the Alps because he’d seen her crying at a diner and thought she was too beautiful to be sad

“What about you?” Colin asked “What’s your story? Who hurt you?”

Sabela let her hand slip froainst the couch Where was she supposed to begin?

“It’s a long story, too Some of the hurt was intentional, but most of it wasn’t”

“I have time for you,” Colin replied The words made her blush, and Sabela sipped at her scotch It was disappearing fast

“Well, my mother died when I was little I think that’s the first time someone ever hurt s And once she was gone, my dad started to drink much more than he had been before”

It had happened so long ago, and yet the wounds still hurt Sabela frowned

“He drank ahat little ether after realizing what he’d done, it was too late The alcohol poisoned his liver, and it wasn’t long after that he passed away, too”

She’d been seventeen It was her and Trevor, alone, and if Trevor hadn’t been of age, she was sure she would have been taken away and left to the gamble that was foster care

“When Dad died he left us with debt, and then years later Trevor got into his accident and that sunk us But I think what hurts the most is how he’s tuned me out, like I’m his caretaker instead of his sister”