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Her head turns toward me.

I keep my attention on the traffic ahead. “What?”

“I left because of you.”

She studies my profile for long enough that I can feel it. “You mean because of what happened at the gala?”

“Because of what happened afterward.”

The dressing room situation itself hadn’t lasted long. Ten minutes, maybe less, and yet I can still remember the mascara beneath her eyes and the champagne glass caught between her fingers as she tried to laugh off how lonely she was.

I remember the way she looked at me when I told her she seemed exhausted, almost as though hearing the truth from another person gave her permission to acknowledge it herself.

“I’d known you for months before that night, at least in the way security knows people.” I check the mirror before moving around a cab drifting toward our lane. “Your schedule affected Spencer’s, so paying attention to you was part of the job. After enough events, I could tell when a crowd was getting to you or when you’d had enough of photographers and were looking for an exit.”

Emma’s mouth tilts. “That’s slightly unsettling.”

“It’s the job.”

“I know.”

“Back then you were Spencer’s girlfriend, which meant you were part of his environment. I paid attention because I was supposed to pay attention.”

She waits until I’ve taken the next exit before I continue.

“That night changed the reason I was paying attention.”

Her expression loses the trace of humor.

“I went back to work and told myself we’d had a conversation because you were upset and I happened to walk into the room. Then I started noticing you more.”

Emma watches me without interrupting.

“After that, things I’d ignored because they weren’t my business started getting under my skin. Spencer would leave you standing somewhere the minute a camera appeared, or I’d hear him blame you for whatever had pissed him off that day, and I’d catch myself looking across a room to check where you were even when you had nothing to do with my assignment.”

Her hand shifts away from her stomach and rests in her lap.

“I tried avoiding you when I could. If another member of the team could handle an event with you, I let them. If there were multiple vehicles, I kept my distance.”

Her eyebrows lift. “You did?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you were getting busier.”

“I was trying to stop thinking about you. I mean, you were the first person I’d fixated on since I lost my wife, and you were my boss’s girlfriend. It wasn’t exactly ideal.”

A small laugh escapes her, but it fades when she sees I’m serious.

“I’d spent most of my adult life doing protection work, and that job only works if you know where your boundaries are. I couldn’t keep standing beside Spencer while wanting his girlfriend, and I wasn’t going to interfere in your relationship because I thought he treated you badly.”

Emma looks down at her hands. “You could’ve told me.”

“You were with him.”

“I know.”

“That mattered.”