Bonnie beamed and shrugged. "It'll all be so easy if you two just kissed and made up, you know." She strutted past Dean, who'd fallen behind. "All this sexual tension between you two is tiring. Just get a room already." She nodded to Dean and made off quickly after Dana before Elle could fire back.

"Sorry about Dana," he whispered.

Elle shook her head and kept her gaze on her toes. "No, you're not."

"No, I'm not," he agreed. "I'll end all this if you just have one dinner with me. One."

Elle eyed him, unable to push down the feeling of joy she felt. "I can't mix business with personal life."

He grabbed her by her arms and glared at her through what she could only describe as pure anger, something raw and hurt. "I'm just business to you?"

"That's not what I mean?" Elle shook her head, but the damage was done. She pulled out of his reach, even though her every pore screamed to be taken into those arms. "You're my employer, Dean. No matter what I feel about you, that fact will not change."

"What are you afraid of? Me? Or commitment?"

Elle threw him an incredulous look. "I was married. Commitment's not the issue."

"Then tell me what this is? Between you're driving me mad with your mixed signals."

"Looks like I've opened a can of worms." Dana popped out into the hallway and cleared her throat. "Tess is ready for her close-up."

Elle nodded and watched Dana disappear behind the door once more. She turned to Dean, who hadn't cared to look away. She cleared her throat. "Dean," and she could see his shoulders tense in anticipation of yet another rejection. "I like you a lot," she whispered, "but I have so many things going on at the moment with myself and Maya. I just don't know what I want. All I know is I don't want to ruin a friendship if things don't work out."

Dean shook his head. "You're writing me off without giving me a chance. Where is my chance, Elle?" He took her gently by the shoulders for the second time that morning and felt a small shudder run through her body. "You can't deny this."

"No, I can't." She shook her head. "And that scares the hell out of me." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek for the first time, held his hands for the first time, all the while wanting to keep from melting into the air. "Can we not do this now? Please."

"Under one condition." He pulled her close, his hand running through her hair, and before she could pull away, he kissed her gently.

"Elle?" Dana had stepped out of the room, and without another word, stepped back into the room. "She won't be long."

All the day Elle could barely concentrate on the job at hand and was glad she had Bonnie with her. Dean's presence unsettled her so much so that for once she thought she should have chosen another profession. What if her lack of concentration showed in her work?

"How are you going, Bon?" Dean asked once they got to his car after the shooting pit stop at La Perouse. Elle had elected to sit in the back the whole day.

"Elle and I should do more Sydney weddings!" was the reply.

Dean glanced at Elle in the back view mirror. "You're looking tired."

"I am." She met his gaze.

"I can cover hens myself, you know?" Bonnie jumped at the opportunity. "Why don't you rest a little in the apartment? You haven't let me cover anything by myself yet. Maybe this is a chance."

"I don't know."

"I'm experienced enough now. Let me do the hens alone." Bonnie twisted around to face Elle. "Besides, maybe you could get Dean to help get the car fixed instead."

Dean glanced at Elle again as he pulled to a stop behind Jared and Tess's Mini Cooper. "That sounds like a plan." And Elle could only nod. It made sense. Besides, she didn't feel like going to a party tonight.

"Just get back to Dean's safe," she muttered wearily.

"I'm sure if it's late, Tess will put Bonnie up with a bridesmaid. It won't be a problem," Dean offered. "I'll ask her when we stop."

Elle hovered awkwardly beside Dean in the garage as he leaned over her car's engine with a torch in one hand. "Anything?"

"Loads."

"What'd you mean?"

"Well, there's the engine," he began.

"What about the engine?" she asked, her voice tense. She didn't need a car problem in a foreign land.

He burst out laughing. "Nothing. I just meant there's an engine in here, so that's a good start."

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

"Yep." He nodded briskly.

"Does it look bad?"

"Well, I don't really know what a good engine looks like."

"Dean!" Elle glared at him.

"Ellenor!"

"Do you know what's wrong with the car?" She crossed her arms, more to protect than defend.

"Actually, I have a confession to make, Elle." He leaned closer. "I have no intention of fixing your car."

Elle blinked once, and then she blinked twice. "You don't know how to fix the car, do you?"

"I could, but I don't want to." He slammed the bonnet closed and turned on her. His soft hand was suddenly on her cheek, caressing her skin and pushing her fringe from her face. "Be my date for the rehearsal dinner?" She shook her head. "Why not?"

"What will people say?"

"What a gorgeous couple we make?"

"I'm a widow..."

"A beautiful young woman," Dean cut in. "That's what they'll think. It's a big change from Look. He is alone again."

Elle smiled a small smile. He hadn't just called her beautiful. "I come with loads of baggage and a child."

"I'll take every baggage you got. In fact, I say get more baggage, just to keep it all interesting," he said.

"And Maya?" She fought back tears.

He leaned in closer, rendering her perched on the hood of her car. "Maya is a part of you, Elle. And I want you with all your parts intact."

"You don't want kids of your own?" she breathed, unable to look anywhere but his lips.

"Up to you."

Elle blinked back tears of joy. She could love him just as easily as she'd ever loved Blake, or perhaps easier. "Bonnie's probably coming down..." she whispered.

He nodded, and stood back, letting her stand on her own two feet as they could hear a pair of heels clapping on the concrete.

"Be my date, Elle," he implored. "Just once. Then I'll leave you alone if that's truly what you want."

"Let me think about it," she managed, standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. "Goodnight, Dean."

"How do I look?" Bonnie's voice interrupted them. She posed hands on her hips. She'd got into a super tight bodysuit of a sequined dress that showed off her long legs. Her eyeshadow dramatic shades of green and brown to highlight her eyes. Her long red hair pulled back into a stunning ponytail, and her heels made her almost as tall as Dean.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come tonight?"

Bonnie shook her head. "Absolutely not. It's a night for the young. You go rest."

"You look fit for a club." Elle smiled back.

"Then she's perfectly dressed," Dean added, taking out his car keys. "Let's go."

Bonnie hugged Elle. "Don't wait up."

"You've got everything?"

"Spare batteries and chips. I'm set."

Elle waited till they were inside the car before heading up to the apartment, wondering what would have happened had Bonnie taken a little longer to come down.

An hour later, there was a soft knock on the door. Elle sat perched on the sofa, a glass of wine in hand, and waited for another knock. It was almost nine in the evening, and the bell sounded again. She put the glass on the coffee table, muted the telly, and walked over to the door. She could barely reach the peephole. Outside, Dean stood impatiently.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, opening the door.

"You didn't give me an answer." He stepped inside.

She'd only just closed the door and turned around when he cornered her. "Would you like a drink?" she asked, squeezing past him, back into the open space of the lounge. "I was going to replace it before I leave, but I hope you don't mind. I opened one of your bottles."

Dean paced the lounge while Elle got him a glass.

"Did Bonnie find the girls okay?" she asked from the kitchen, trying to make small talk. She took the wine out to him.

He took the glass but kept his eyes on her. "I asked you a question."

Elle picked up her glass from the table and almost gulped the whole thing down. Dean was making her nervous. "I told you I'd think about it," she blurted. "I'm working, remember. I'm not a guest here."

"That's not what I meant." He shook his head.

"Then?" she mouthed, already parched in her nervousness.

"Could you ever love me?" His eyes implored. "Could you?" he repeated. "I thought I'd let you decide on your own time, but we only have two, three days max together, and I can no longer dance around you. I need to hear it, Elle. Do you want me or not?"

Though his eyes never faltered from her face, a tremble laced his voice, betraying the calm he was trying to project. He moved closer. "You know how I feel, Ellenor. Just tell me no once and I'll leave, but there's no way I'm leaving here tonight without an answer."

Elle's lips quivered. "What if Bonnie comes back?"

"She won't."

"But if she does..."

He thrust the wine glass on top of the cabinet in anger, causing it to spill all over his pristine cream carpet, but he cared not.

"She's staying with Tess tonight," he answered, exhausted. "Just one word, Elle! You can either take me or release me," he begged, his anger and frustration abating. "Don't sit me on a barbed fence."

Elle's breath came out haggard. She'd never seen Dean this way. He'd finally passed her the ball. The decision was hers to make. He'd leave if she all but said 'No'. It was that easy.

"Could you love me?" he whispered, barely audible. She shook her head slowly, and it gutted him. His jaw clenched and his fists balled. He gave one brisk nod of his head and turned for the door.

"Ask me again," she breathed, rooted to a spot. Unable to turn away from Dean, and confused as hell about what she should do, listen to her head or her heart. "Ask me again," she pleaded. "Ask me if I love you. Ask me that."

Dean stood there, shocked. "Do you?"

She nodded.

"You do?"

She nodded again. "Yes."

Before she could take it back, Dean pulled her to him, and kissed her, hard.

Elle listened to the rushing of her blood in her veins. She wanted him to love her, but suddenly she froze with fear, unable to return his kiss. It had been over two years since she'd been with a man.

"Do you want me to stop?" he whispered, his hand running up through her hair. The only thing he needed was for her head to shake. He kissed her again, their lips brushing one another's frantically. He pulled her body into his, lifted her slight frame off the floor, and she floated. At least Elle thought he floated. The world shrank all the way to the back of her mind.

She kept her eyes closed. He was moving through the lounge by memory, and she knew where he was going. She wanted him to take her there, but if she opened her eyes now, she might lose her courage. She was, as she'd vowed, going with the flow.

She heard the door click shut behind her and sensed the darkness through her closed eyelids. Before long, she felt the softness of his bed, the weight of his on hers.

"I'm nervous," she whispered, barely able to see him in the dark room.

He kissed her lips tenderly. "Me too."

"I haven't done this in..." she began, her body trembling with anticipation.

"Want me to stop?"

She shook her head and pulled him close once more. "Just go gentle on me."