Okay, maybe she was being a bit overdramatic, but after traversing the world for the last few years, the idea of landing in Montana wasn’t exactly a dream come true.
“We have all night,” Jackson reminded her.
“You sure are persistent. What if it’s something that I’m greatly upset about? Or maybe, just maybe, I don’t know you and don’t want to share my life with a stranger.” That was pretty cut-and-dried. The problem was that she found herself wanting to share everything with this man. This stranger.
Probably not very wise.
“I read people. I do it for a living, Alyssa. I find companies that are failing and I overtake them, then fix them or rip them apart. I know how to read people better than you could imagine.”
“And you’re reading me?”
“I’ve been reading you from the first moment our eyes met.”
From the expression on his face, she had no clue what he’d come up with in his assessment, and she found herself desperately wanting to know. So of course she refused to ask. Still, it wasn’t like her to back down.
She gave him a sassy smile. “Maybe I’m reading you right back.”
“Good. I’m an open book.”
“Liar.”
If it wasn’t his idea, he didn’t speak to people. She’d seen him in action. What she didn’t understand was why he was speaking to her now. What did he find so fascinating about her? She was, all in all, a very uninteresting person.
“Still, I have nothing but time . . . for now,” he said, showing how persistent he could be.
“Yes, and then the clock strikes midnight and we both fade away,” she countered.
“Technically, the clock should strike about eight or nine when we land.”
“I hate traveling backward in time. I start one place on a certain date, and when I land, it’s the day before, or two days later. Why can’t every place just be the same time zone?”
“That would be interesting,” he said. “It could be pitch-black out and still be high noon. Or we could watch the sun rise at midnight.”
“Let’s just reset time.” Dang. He must be floored by the fundamental stupidity of her remarks. But she was so tired . . .
“You can put me off, but I won’t give up,” he told her as he fiddled with her blankets, making her stomach quiver as she waited for the brush of his fingers. When it didn’t happen, when his knuckles never brushed against her flesh, she felt disappointment.
“Fine! But I’m warning you that it’s a horrendous story that no one would really be interested in hearing. Then again, since I won’t ever see you again after tonight . . .” He wasn’t giving up, so what could it hurt to talk to him?
He just continued to gaze at her with those soulful brown eyes of his as he waited for her to continue either her rant or her story.
“I’m a model. Or I guess I should say I was a model. To make a long, boring story much shorter, but still just as uninteresting, my manager, who also happened to be my boyfriend, was having an affair with several other people besides me, including my wardrobe guy. However, I’m the one who got spotlighted. I’m the one labeled, and I’m the one who lost everything when he ran off with my money, my reputation, and my self-respect.” Her voice dripped with self-loathing.
“Whoa, wasn’t expecting that,” Jackson said.
“To make matters worse was how I found out. He cleaned out my account, ended my contracts, and left me high and dry in Paris. I’m currently returning home with my head shamefully low, preparing to eat crow in front of all those who told me the modeling world wasn’t where I should be.”
“How could he end your contracts?”
“That’s just another part of my own stupidity. I signed the documents without even blinking because I trusted him, and didn’t know he was ending my contracts instead of extending them. I was a fool and I’m paying for it now.”
There was a pause as he processed her words, then he focused on something she’d said a minute earlier.
“Why would anyone tell you not to go for your dreams, that modeling was stupid?”
“Because modeling is short-lived and most people don’t make it. I really struggled for a while, but then things started to come around. Romance sparked between my manager and me, or so I thought, and I landed a big contract with a makeup company. All of that has been taken away now. I’m twenty-four, way too old in the modeling world to start over, and I have nothing. No college degree, no work experience to list on a résumé, and no money. The people who told me to get an education instead of modeling were right. I’m sure they’ll enjoy telling me so.”
“Why is it such a scandal? It sounds like he was a cad.”
“Because he was married . . . and before you give me that look, I didn’t know he was married. I also didn’t know he had been taking pictures of me that if ever leaked to the papers would horrify my parents. He framed me to take a fall because all along he was only there to use me.”
She took a shuddering breath. Why was she spilling her guts to the guy? It felt freeing to speak about it, though, to tell her story and let it go.
“If you really don’t want to quit, you don’t have to. Sure, he has what sounds like blackmail material, but the truth will come out. It just may be a long ride while you go to trial.”
“You sound like this is something you’ve gone through,” she said, her curiosity piqued.
“I know the law. Without seeing any documents, I don’t know your exact situation, but it sounds to me like you have a good case to get your contracts back, at least.”
“Yes, I was told the same thing. However, I’m done with this world. I’m tired of the lights, the fake people, the drama. I was ready to come home a year ago, but I didn’t want to accept failure. Carl just forced me to make the decision I wanted to make anyway. The only part that really sucks is that he got away with almost all of my money.”
“Have you hired an attorney?” he asked.
“I’ll worry about that when I get home. This just happened. Right now all I want to do is go home, get some advice from my mom, and take a breath. Then I’ll regroup and try to figure out what I’m going to do next. It just feels like I’ve gone nowhere, done nothing with my life,” she said.
Jackson looked at her for a long moment, his eyes seeming to see right into her very soul. “I think you’re downplaying what you have accomplished.”