“Thank you for asking. I’ll be fine.”
And with that, she turned toward Miles’s car and let herself into the passenger side. As he drove the car away from the curb, she forced herself to smile and wave to the couple.
“I appreciate you not making a scene back there,” Miles said, keeping his eyes firmly on the road in front of them.
Chloe didn’t know what to say so she opted for silence. The moment Miles pulled up outside her house she got out of the car and walked to the front door. She could feel Miles just a few steps behind her. Once they were inside, she gestured to the living room, and he went and sat down on the sofa.
“I’ll be back in a moment,” she said.
She probably needed more than a moment to gather her thoughts together but with him right here under her roof right this minute, the least she could do was dump her things in her bedroom and then go and wash her hands and face. After leaving her bags on the desk she kept in the corner of her room, she scurried to the bathroom and quickly splashed some cold water on her face.
Chloe regarded her reflection in the mirror. She looked like a wreck. The light summer tan she’d accumulated during the break had faded and a lack of sleep had left her skin and eyes pale and dull. She quickly dried herself off and forced herself to return down the hall to where Miles awaited her.
He hadn’t stayed seated. Instead, he was up and pacing the threadbare carpet.
“I thought you’d escaped out a back window or something,” he said half-jokingly as she came into the room.
She’d been tempted, but she wasn’t going to let him know exactly how much he’d unsettled her with his sudden reappearance in her life.
“You said we need to talk?” she answered.
Chloe lowered herself onto the single armchair she possessed and sat stiffly with her hands clasped in her lap, almost as if she’d been called before the principal and was expecting a reprimand. Nervously, she began to chew the inside of her cheek.
Miles moved past her, and the merest waft of the cologne he wore teased her nostrils. She breathed in sharply, then instantly wished she hadn’t as her mind was filled with the scent of him and just how close she’d been to him to inhale that particular fragrance. A deep pull of longing dragged through her center and she felt a faint tremor ripple through her body in response. Darn it, how could she let him affect her so easily?
He finally sat down opposite her and leaned forward. She drank in the sight of him, concerned to see that he looked about as rested and happy as she did, which was to say not very much at all.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She stared at him. She’d betrayed him in the cruelest way and he was asking her if she was okay? Chloe dragged in a deep breath and let it go before answering.
“No, Miles. I’m not okay. How about you?”
The words bounced between them like a tennis ball in a grand slam tournament.
“Me neither. Look, I know I was abrupt with you when you left the estate and I’m sorry. The way I handled that was wrong. I was angry and I didn’t listen to you. I owed you that much at least.”
“What are you doing here, Miles?” she asked, her voice wreathed with the weariness that pulled at every muscle in her body, including her heart.
“We need to talk... No. Correction. I need to talk and I ask that you listen.”
Chloe let her body relax against the back of the chair.
“Okay, I’m listening.”
He looked at her then, his eyes clashing with hers, and in them she saw a world of hurt meshed with a world of longing. She recognized the look because she saw the same thing in her gaze every morning when she looked in the mirror. Her foolish heart ached for him and what he was going through—for what they both were going through.
“I won’t deny that it crushed me to find out that you’d hidden your true motive. I have never in my life felt so betrayed by another person, and believe me, when you grow up with a man like my father, you get used to the feeling. But what you did, it cut me like nothing else I’d ever experienced. I felt as if you’d destroyed us. That you’d torn apart the very fabric of the precious relationship we were building together. I lashed out. And I apologize for that.”
She let his words sink in, then parsed through them. Looking for a glimmer of hope that they could work this thing out between them. But so far, there was not so much as a kernel to cling to. Chloe blinked against the burn of tears that was starting at the back of her eyes and fought not to rub at the sharp pain piercing her chest.
“I’m so sorry I hurt you, Miles. While that might have been my intention—No,” she corrected herself. “I have to own this. That was my intention—before I met you. But it didn’t take me long to realize that you were not the man your father was. My anger and my family’s betrayal began and should have ended with Trent Wingate, and I am truly sorry that my mom and I thought we had the right to visit that on you and your brothers and sisters.”
She dragged in another breath. “But you hurt me, too. When you confronted me, I told you the truth. I told you everything. I opened up to you and you just slammed a metaphorical door right in my face. You refused to listen to me. You refused to even try to understand what I’d been through and what my life had been like since your father’s treatment of my dad, or what motivated me to contemplate doing what I did.
“Choosing that path—revenge—wasn’t easy, especially when I discovered exactly who you are on the inside. And knowing who you are and what you’re like made it hurt all the more when you turned me away.”
Miles’s expression twisted, as if he was in pain, and he pressed his lips together as though fighting to hold back words that begged to be said. He closed his eyes briefly and drew in a shuddering breath before opening them again.
“I’m sorry for that, too, Chloe. Believe me, I’ve never known anyone like you before. The circles my family move in, the people I’ve mixed with all my life? None of them are like you. Not a single one. I couldn’t believe that I could open up and feel about another human being the way I felt about you, right from the start. Do you have any idea what that did to me? You rocked the foundation of my life.” Exhaling roughly, he scrubbed a hand across his face. “Yes, of course I know that people meet and fall in love and live happily together forever after. But I always thought that was a pipe dream. Hell, it wasn’t even a dream for me. I had my work, I dated. I never expected to fall in love the way I fell for you.”
Chloe felt cautious anticipation begin to grow deep inside. Did this mean there was still a chance for them to work through this? To find a way back to each other that had a solid foundation based on truth and love?
“Well, I didn’t exactly expect to fall in love with you, either. All my life your family was held up in front of me as a target. As something to bring down. A group of people I didn’t know or understand, but people that had destroyed the stability my family had been based on and who forced my father’s hand to take his own life. Obviously, now, I understand that no one made that ultimate decision to end my dad’s life but him. But that didn’t lessen my anger at your family.”
“What my father did was despicable, Chloe.” Miles shook his head in disbelief. “Even now I can’t begin to understand what he was thinking when he did that. How he could do that to another human being. But to him, the end always justified the means. When I reached the stage of my life where I understood how he operated was wrong on every level, I distanced myself from him and everything associated with him. I made my own way in the world. Without his support or approval or his money. I am not my father.”
“I know, Miles, and I’m sorry I ever thought you were. Of course, when I got to know you, I knew you were not to blame. It made me think twice about what I’d hoped to achieve in hurting you, let alone hurting your entire family. It made me realize that I couldn’t go through with it.”
They
both fell silent for a moment. Each awash in pain and regret. But then Miles shifted and looked at Chloe again. The expression on his face had changed. His eyes held something new. Hope?
“Chloe, answer me this.”
“Anything.”
“If you were being totally honest with me about your feelings, do you think we can get past this? You brought sunshine in my life in a way I’ve never experienced before. You blew out the cobwebs and you replaced them all with a breath of fresh air. I’ve never felt happier with anyone the way I felt when I was with you and, on the flip side, I have never felt as utterly bereft as I have since I ordered you out of my life.”
“Of course I was being honest with you, Miles. I fought it. Yes, I’ll admit that. But I couldn’t help but love you as I started to get to know you. I know you’re a proud man—a self-made man—and that you don’t need anybody to complete you or your life on any level. But I hope there is room for me in your heart because you fill mine and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
He abruptly stood and walked to her chair and pulled her upright.
“Do you mean that? I mean, I’m not doubting you, but this depth of emotion is new to me. I feel like I have to second-guess myself all the time. Today, when I came to find you, I wanted to demand you give me the truth about why you did what you did, but then I realized you’d done that. It was my own stubbornness that refused to listen to what you’d already said.”
She lifted her hands and bracketed his face. “Miles, I mean it. I loved you then, I love you now. I will love you forever.”
He shuddered then, as if the weight of the world had lifted from his shoulders and he’d finally freed himself from his deepest fear.
“I love you, too, Chloe Fitzgerald. I want to be with you, always. I want to plan a future together with you, a life where we know we can rely on one another and to hell with the rest of the world. We can build our lives together, our own family together—and all of it on a foundation of truth and happiness. What do you say?”
Tears came to her eyes in earnest now, but she didn’t blink them away. These were tears of joy. Of faith in a future she had only ever dreamed of.
“Yes. I say yes!”
He tightened his hold on her and drew her closer, angling his face to hers and capturing her lips in a kiss that imbued all the sweetness of this moment together with all the heat of his love for her and hers for him in return. They might not always have the smoothest road ahead and they still had so much to learn about one another, but Chloe knew in her heart and to the depths of her soul that they’d endure, no matter what.
* * *
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Insatiable Hunger
by Yahrah St. John
One
Falling Brook’s country club had been given a face-lift, Jessie Acosta thought as she walked around the elegantly appointed ballroom. The Black & Silver Soirée theme was in full effect. Silver and black balloons hung from the ceiling and the tables were decked with black tablecloths and silver lamé runners.
Black and silver confetti had been sprinkled over the tables, giving them a festive touch, and on top of each sat either a glass vase filled with black tulips and silver-gray roses or a bowl topped with silver and black ornaments. Black plates sat atop silver chargers and held silver napkins and flatware. Reunion guests’ names were in tiny silver frames next to each setting. The reunion committee had outdone itself.
Jessie herself had come prepared to dazzle in an eye-catching, sequined spaghetti-strapped gown with a plunging V-neckline and an open back with crisscross detail. Or at least, that had been her intention, but her long-distance boyfriend, Hugh O’Malley, was nowhere to be found. When she’d asked him if he was coming home from London for the event, he’d informed her he was too busy at work. So she’d spent most of her evening in the company of Ryan Hathaway, at one time one of her oldest friends.
That changed fifteen years ago when her parents had lost their entire fortune because of Black Crescent Investments. CEO Vernon Lowell had embezzled millions from his clients—her parents included—disappearing before authorities could catch him. That loss had led Jessie to always wanting to make her parents happy and to do what was expected. Instead of hanging out with Ryan all the time, she’d started dating Hugh O’Malley, who was from one of the richest families in town, just to please them, and she knew they expected them to marry. But lately she’d become increasingly dissatisfied with the direction of her life and their long-distance relationship. And then tonight happened and suddenly she was seeing the world through a different lens.
Ryan stood a few feet away, talking to several of their classmates, but he was head and shoulders above them. Ryan wasn’t the sweet, shy boy next door who wore glasses and was slightly overweight she’d grown up with. The Ryan Hathaway she’d met tonight was confident, lean and trim, and wore contacts. There wasn’t anything shy about him. He was sexy and carried it well in a black custom-fit tuxedo.
Jessie hadn’t be able to stop herself from ogling. It had been several years since she’d last seen him. Ryan’s once-curly black hair had been cut into a close-cropped fade along the sides with curly tendrils at the top. And since when did he have facial hair? It was just a smattering—a mustache and fuzz on the chin—but it gave him a hint of mystery and danger. His charcoal eyes had been trained on her for most of the night and, to Jessie’s surprise, she kind of liked it.
When they’d talked, it was like the years faded away and they were just Ryan and Jessie sitting in his tree house and talking about their dreams for the future. Ryan had done quite well for himself. He worked for a high-profile investment company in Manhattan while Jessie toiled away as an associate at a midsize firm in corporate law.
It amazed her that they’d been in the same city yet hardly seen each other. But how would they, when she worked sixty-hour weeks? Sometimes more. She wanted to make partner and the only way to do that was to get those billable hours.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Ryan asked, suddenly by her side. She’d been so engrossed in thought, she hadn’t seen him wander over.
“Just thinking about how so much has changed,” Jessie said, glancing up at him from underneath her lashes. “You, especially.”
A large grin spread across his incredibly full lips. Why hadn’t she noticed how divine they were before? “Me? I’m the same Ryan you’ve always known.”
Jessie shook her head. “I beg to differ. You’re different.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
She smiled. “No, it’s a great thing.”
He regarded her silently for a moment, as if weighing his options. “Care to dance?”
“I would love to.”
Any thoughts she had evaporated the moment Ryan pulled her against him. Jessie felt...well, sort of strange because they’d never danced together. Maybe when they were little and had been playing around. In his arms now, Jessie felt acutely aware of her body and the way her breasts crushed against Ryan’s chest.
Raw masculine heat radiated from his close proximity, causing her heart to flutter uncontrollably. And when Ryan pressed his body against hers and slid his thigh between the softness of hers, Jessie nearly lost it. This was Ryan. It wasn’t right she should be feeling these things...but she did.
He smelled so good. Felt so good. When he wound his arms around her waist, Jessie wanted to reach up on her tiptoes and sweep her lips across his. What was wrong with her? Ryan was her friend, but he didn’t feel like a friend. She glanced up and peered into his eyes. He didn’t look at her like one, either.
His ebony gaze raked over her face, his eyes trained on her mouth. He was going to kiss her. And she wanted him to. Desperately. She wanted to feel his lips crushed against her own, only then might it slake the hunger growing deep in her belly. She licked her lips in anticipation and watched Ryan’s eyes grow dark with desire.
He wound his fingers through her shoulder-length bob, bringing her face to his.
“Ryan!”
“Tell me you don’t want me to kiss you,” he taunted.
Jessie opened her mouth to say no, but she couldn’t get the word out. And it would be a lie because she did want Ryan’s kiss. She closed her eyes, preparing herself for an unforgettable kiss, when suddenly there was commotion behind them.
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