"Why?" she demanded. "Why won't it happen?"
He spread his hands. "Because you're here with me."
She stabbed her finger in his chest and waved the paper under his nose with her other hand. "You see this offer? They saw what I could do and didn't make me jump through any more hoops to demonstrate my worth."
“Hoops?” Connor snapped. “Is that what you call me trying hard as I could to—"
“To what?”
“Give you what you wanted! A promotion!”
She shook her head. “You mean, keep me where I’m most convenient for you?”
“No! Keep you with me because I love you!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Rosalie blinked.
“I love you, Rosalie.” He grabbed her hand, seizing the moment of stunned silence that he knew was his only chance. “I need you here with me.”
“If you love me,” she stabbed her finger into his chest, “then you would want this for me. I'm damn good at my job and they recognize it. Unlike you." She stabbed him again.
"Of course, I see it. That's why I wanted you there this weekend.”
"To make you look good. Which is what I always do."
"You do make me look good. That's why we're a great team."
She shook her head. "Well, not any more. Because I quit."
15
Connor stared across the table at the woman before him and wondered just how the hell this had happened.
He felt like he had a hole inside of him. Like a vital organ was missing: his lungs, his liver, his spleen—
His heart.
The hurt was all-encompassing, reality-erasing. Rosalie's defection—their breakup, he couldn't believe they'd broken up—was a gaping open wound.
And his mother was busy rubbing salt all over it.
The dinner she'd demanded could not have had worse timing than if Jenny-the-secretary had arranged it. Connor had staggered into the restaurant, feeling like the world had exploded, only to be hustled to a corner table of an over-priced, over-salted Italian bistro that clearly didn't use McClellan technology to handle their ordering process.
"It's a real shame," his mother clucked as she fiddled with her champagne glass. "My grandchild's mother should be here for this news."
Connor wanted to slide underneath the table the same way he had as a kid. Hide under the too long tablecloth, away from the world. He lifted the edge of the tablecloth appraisingly, wondering if he could fit.
"Your mother and I have news," Jerry intoned. He clapped his hand over Natalie’s hand and the two shared a syrupy sweet smile.
Once, on a long flight, Connor had fallen down a Wikipedia rabbit hole about paranormal events, reading an entire article about spontaneous human combustion.
He really hoped it was true and would even happen to him right now. "That's why we're in Aspen," his mother trilled. "I had no idea he was going to do it, but Jerry proposed!" She slid her hand out from under the table and waggled a diamond under Connor's nose.
Right now, spontaneous human combustion sounded nice.
"Another round?" he squeaked to a passing waiter. He recovered enough of his composure to manage a wan smile. "We have something to celebrate."
"That's what the champagne is for," his mother hissed, holding her glass out pointedly. "Cheers, Connor." She smashed her flute against his so aggressively he was pretty sure she'd chipped the crystal, but that wasn't his problem. He drained his glass in a single gulp.
His problem was that Rosalie wasn't here with him now.
"Well, good." Hysteria tinged his voice, but he didn't care. "That's real good, actually. You don't date anyone for my entire life, and then you marry the first boyfriend you have. Great, Mom. Wonderful."
"Hey, now," Jerry growled, but Natalie shushed him with a look. Raising her eyebrows, she tilted her head. Connor recognized their silent communication as the same he’d once had with Rosalie.
Fuck. Rosalie. He buried his head in his hands.
"Right, so I'll just go grab a drink at the bar then," Jerry announced much too loudly.
Connor peeked through his fingers. His mother reached out and tugged his hands from his face. "Did she dump you?" she asked sympathetically.
"Mom!"
"What? Am I wrong? Did you dump her?"
"Jesus." He buried his head in his hands again. "You were right the first time. I just … haven't really wrapped my head around it yet."
When his mother's silence stretched out far longer than it should have, he dared peek through his hands again.
She was pursing her lips, tilting her head. The same way she always had when working up the nerve to say something. "Just say it, Mom. Don't make me suffer."
"You're clearly suffering," his mother clucked.
"I can't believe it."
"I know."
"I lost the client and my girl in the same damn day. And I lost my girl to the client."
"She cheated on you?" His mother pressed a hand to her breast.
Connor shook his head violently. "No. No. Not like that. He offered her a job." Connor licked his lips. "And she fucking took it. I lost, mom. I'm supposed to always win, and I lost."
"Now where did you get the idea you were always supposed to win, Connor Michael?"
He snorted incredulously. "Um. I don't know. You?"
Natalie laughed. Probably the most shocking thing to happen on this, the most shocking of days. "Oh, man," she sighed, pressing her palm to her forehead. "Right. I did sort of mess you up with that, didn't I?"
Connor gaped. "Excuse me? Say that again please?"
"With the focus thing." Natalie shook her head. "I was out to prove something, Connor. I was the black sheep. My family … well you know, they basically disowned me when I decided to raise you by myself."
"I know." The memory of his grandfather's disapproving glare was etched into his brain. He’d hated and adored him in equal measures.
His mother nodded like she’d read his mind. "I made you my sole focus. I knew if I pushed you hard, you'd show everyone that you and I were a good team. That we could make it without their money, their name or their help."
She pressed her lips together. "I made that my life's work, and because of it, I cut us off from the rest of the people who loved us and didn't wish us any harm. The only harm was what I did to us both." She took his hands in hers. "I am proud of you. So proud of how much success you have. But I never wanted that success to come at the expense of the ones you love." She glanced behind her to smile at Jerry, who raised his glass from the bar.
"I did that for so long, putting all my focus on winning through you … that I missed out on so much. Thank God for Jerry. He waited for me to get my head on straight again."
"Wait. Jerry waited for you?"
"Don't you remember him? He was your Boy Scout den leader when you were nine or ten?"
"Mr. Wright?" Connor gaped at the man at the bar. "No way."
"He's lost a lot of weight."
"And all his hair."
"Hush, he's sensitive about that." His mother shook her head. "Anyway, the point is, I let love pass me by for too long. Don't make my mistake, Connie."
"Mom, I asked you to stop calling me that like fifteen years ago."
"And like I told you fifteen years ago, no way." She grabbed a fistful of his cheek and squeezed. "You're too smart to be this dumb. Go fix this, Connor. I want my grandbaby at my wedding."
Connor fiddled with his utensils. “So long as we’re sharing, about Jenny.”
“Jenny, who? Jenny, your secretary? What about her, Connie?” Connor saw the smirk on his mom’s face and smiled in return.
“She’s terrible at her job.”
Natalie sipped at her champagne. “Well, of course, she is. She’s what, eighteen?”
“Twenty-one.”
His mom reached for her purse and pulled out her lipstick. Removing the cap, she looked at Connor in shock. “Well, what did you expect? This is her first job. I neve
r knew what possessed you to hire her as your secretary. When I asked you to hire her as a favor, I expected you to put her in some entry-level job.”
He watched his mom apply lipstick, his own mouth and opening and closing. “But I thought…I mean…you implied that….” Connor’s voice trailed off unable to finish. Natalie finished with her lipstick and put her purse back under the table.
“Connor, I can appreciate the effort you put into giving Jenny a chance as your secretary, but if she’s such a problem, then place her somewhere where she won’t be drowning under your expectations. Now. Tell me how you’re going to win your baby mama back.”
16
"I'm going to be honest with you." Anna’s blonde curls bobbed as she leaned over the wobbly table at their favorite coffee shop.
Rosalie let out a resigned sigh. "Of course, you are."
"I can't lie. I'm physically incapable of bullshit. Which is why I am uniquely qualified to tell you that, while I understand that Connor was being a total dickhead—"
"Total and complete dickhead," Rosalie agreed dully.
"—and you deserve so much better."
"Yes." She narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Why do I feel like the next thing out of your mouth is going to be ‘but’?"
Anna rolled her eyes. "However." She stuck out her tongue. "I feel like maybe you're upset?"
"Why do you think that?"
Anna gestured to Rosalie's plate. "You just demolished your second brownie this morning and it's not even ten o'clock yet."
"I can't drown my troubles in wine and I can't drink more than a spit of caffeine. Chocolate is my only vice. Let me have this." She wet her finger and deliberately wiped up each crumb before sucking the chocolate off.
"Hooo-kay." Anna scooted her chair around the table and put her arm around Rosalie, forcing her to rest her head on her shoulder. A curl went up Rosalie's nose, making her sneeze. "You're a mess, honey. And believe me, I would be too if I just broke up with my hot-ass rich boyfriend and quit my stable, important job at the same time."
"I had to," Rosalie complained. "It was such a mess."
Anna turned to fix Rosalie with a withering stare. "Was it a mess because it's broken forever? Or is it a mess because you're too scared to try to fix it?"
Rosalie pulled back. She opened her mouth. Closed it. And looked at her hands. "I'm not scared of fixing it," she confessed. "I'm scared that if I try to put it together, it'll be exactly the same as before."
"With Connor taking all the credit and only noticing you when he needs you." Anna nodded emphatically. "Yeah. We don't want that. Not a bit."
"No but"—Rosalie buried her face in her hands—"I honestly don't think he knew he did that."
"Because you never told him," Anna said. "Because you never tell anyone how you're feeling. That's why I had to drag you away from the office—one that you don't even work at anymore, mind you—and ply you with baked goods until you acknowledge you're only human."
"Was it unfair of me to get mad at him for being himself?" Rosalie moaned through her fingers.
"I guess?" Anna tapped her fingernail against her teeth as she stared into the middle distance. "The only way to know that for sure is to see what he does next."
"I can't see that. I'm due to start at Ventura in ten days." Rosalie shook her head. "It's over. How I feel about that makes no difference. I blew it." She stood up, stared at her plate, and sighed. "Fuck it."
Anna's eyes went wide when Rosalie lifted her plate to lick it clean. "Damn girl. You have to know how weird this is for me right? This is like, the Rosalie equivalent of cursing out a priest and going on a three-day bender."
"That's … really sad." Rosalie leaned over and braced her hands on the tabletop. "I'm allowed to be morose for exactly one more hour, okay? Set a timer. I still have to pack my office and I'm not allowed to cry the whole time I'm doing it."
Anna hemmed but dutifully set the timer on her phone. "Okay, ready?" She pressed start.
Rosalie collapsed back into the seat. "Order me another brownie," she begged.
And burst into tears.
* * *
She was still sniffling as she pulled back into her space at McClellan, but aside from red-rimmed eyes that she could pass off as allergies, she was done crying. She hoped.
But she couldn't be sure. Missing Connor crept up on her out of nowhere, walloping her upside the head with the most profound sense of grief and loss she'd ever felt. Worst was the regret.
You didn't have to break up with him. She’d told herself that nearly a million times. You didn’t have to be so damn cruel about leaving. She should have taken him aside and gently explained why she was upset. Connor would have understood. He was so sweet. He was so involved. He was so passionate and generous and—
"Crap," Rosalie sighed as the tears started again.
She was either going to have to sit in her car forever or walk in with her head held high and her tears still falling.
Anna was already at her desk when Rosalie walked in, diligently pretending she'd been there all morning. But when she saw Rosalie, her mouth twisted oddly. She hopped up only to plop back down again. "Hey! Where are you headed?"
"My office." Rosalie narrowed her eyes. Anna was acting odd. "I have to finish cleaning it out."
"Right … okay! Go right ahead!'
Rosalie stared at Anna. Her friend was bouncing up and down on her toes as she watched Rosalie pass. Rosalie paused before her door and tried to push it open.
And tried again.
Frowning, she gave it one more shove. She heard rustling as the opening door caught against—
Roses?
Her office was covered wall to wall with roses. They spilled off her desk and onto the floor. They were stacked in vases to the ceiling in alternating colors of red and white. Their heady scent overwhelmed her as she filled her lungs, inhaling sharply.
"Anna?" she called out warily. "What's going on?"
"I hope I got it right this time." Connor's voice floated out from behind the flowers.
Rosalie gripped the doorframe as he stepped out from behind a tower of vases, picking petals from his hair. "White means humility, right? And red for love. Obviously. Because I love you, Rosalie, so much." He looked down at his shoes as she stared in disbelief. "And red and white together means unity. Me and you. Or rather, me supporting you. In whatever you do."
"Connor—" She sighed.
He shook his head. "No. You were about to apologize, and I don't want you to. I am the one who needs to be sorry, and I am, Rosalie. So sorry." He lifted his hand to her hair, and she rested her cheek in his palm. "I want you to do whatever you want to do. I love you, I need you, but it was wrong of me to keep you in the same position just because it was convenient for me. You deserve everything. You are capable of anything. And if you stay, I promise that I'll make sure you accomplish anything you want."
When she swallowed, his eyes darted across her face before he reached up and pressed both hands to her cheeks. "But look at me. I want you to hear this. If that's not what you want, then I'll live with that too. If you want to go work for Ed, then I'll do long distance. I'll buy a second home right next to yours and make all the doctor's appointments so you don't have to think about it and can focus on your career. If that's what you want, I’ll support it, and I'll make it happen."
Rosalie heard a squeak behind her and realized that Anna was watching this whole scene. She closed her eyes and sighed happily. "We have a witness."
"I know." He looked over Rosalie's shoulder. "And if I don't do this right, you'll let me know?"
"Absolutely, Mr. McClellan," Anna squealed.
Connor nodded. "Good. You're my new personal secretary then. Congratulations." As Anna gasped, he turned back to Rosalie. "Don't worry, I'll find something for Jenny. Like maybe in the mailroom."
Rosalie burst out laughing. "I'm not worried about that!"
"Are you worried about something else?" Connor searched her face.
Rosalie dragged her lip over her teeth before smiling. "I'm worried I might love you too much."
Connor exhaled before taking both of her hands in his. "Not possible. But if you want to go away for a ski weekend to try to prove it to me, I'm game." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. As Rosalie gasped, he dropped to one knee. "You can wear this for the occasion." He pressed the ring to her fingertip, waiting.
Rosalie couldn't breathe.
"Rosalie?"
"Connor?"
"Are you going to say something? I'm kind of freaking out."
Rosalie exploded with laughter. "You're supposed to ask me, Connor. I can't read your mind!"
"Oh. Yeah. I'll work on that too. Anna? Can you remind me of that?" he called out the door.
"You got it!"
Connor nodded. "Then, Rosalie, will you marry me and make me happier than I have any right to be?"
"Yes," she exhaled, grinning. "That was some good wooing, Connor."
He slipped the ring onto her finger. "It worked?" He pulled her close and brushed his lips against hers. "Finally," he sighed before kissing her hard.
Epilogue
Ed Coney was a vegetarian now.
Luckily, Connor's beautiful, brilliant, and talented wife already knew this, so she made sure the brunch menu was appropriate. Connor looked down at his tofu Benedict and sighed. "I can forgive you for poaching my wife away from my company, Ed. But I'm not sure I can forgive this."
Ed guffawed as he wiped his mouth. "Try it. It's good for the heart. And you need to start eating clean to keep up with that little girl of yours."
Connor hid a yawn behind his hand. "Okay, fine, I'll eat all the kale in the world if it means I stop feeling like death." He glanced up at Rosalie as she walked into the kitchen with little Lily in her arms. "How is it that you look so fresh and beautiful?" he asked, craning his head up for a kiss.
McClellan Billionaires: The Complete Series Page 10