Desire Me

by Kayla C. Oliver

  “Anyway, what’s more important is that I still don’t know who bought the painting,” I said, trying to change the topic of conversation.

  “But isn’t that the point? Didn’t Mr. X tell you that he doesn’t want you to go looking for him? He clearly wants to stay anonymous for a reason,” Ira said, and I nodded.

  “Yeah, but he said that he’s seen the painting in person. I can’t think of anybody who I showed the painting to, who also has fifty thousand dollars to spare. Except Gareth, of course, but I believed him when he said it isn’t him,” I continued. Ira had her lips puckered and her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

  “That is very weird. Unless—was it someone who saw the painting at one of the fairs we took it to?” Ira asked, and I clapped my hands.

  “That’s it! Someone—Mr. X, whoever he is—saw the painting at the fair! Oh my God, Ira, you are a genius!” I was jumping up and down with joy. The mystery had been bugging me for two months, and now it made complete sense. Ira was laughing too.

  “I know I am. You’re welcome,” she said.

  “So going to those fairs weren’t a complete waste of time!” I exclaimed, and Ira was nodding.

  “I knew it. I told you they weren’t. I’m so glad we went. You wouldn’t have your studio right now,” she said.

  “And I wouldn’t have fifty thousand dollars to my name either. It’s the best thing that’s happened to me,” I said, but I was lying. I knew that meeting Gareth was the best thing that had happened to me, no matter how short-lived it had been.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Gareth

  I was standing outside the C Scape office building in Brunswick. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing there. I had just walked out of my own office in New York, taken a cab to the airport, and bought myself a one-way ticket to Brunswick.

  In the past two months, since the morning that Aubrey had come to my apartment, I hadn’t felt like myself.

  I had no idea where she was now, but if she had followed through with her plans, she was already in Brunswick. Two months had passed, and there’d been no contact. I knew that if I tried, I would be able to find her easily, but I was also sure that she didn’t want to see me again, not after the way I had treated her.

  It was a mistake. Now more than ever, after I’d had time to think over everything—and knew I still hadn’t gotten over her, even after two months—I knew that pushing Aubrey out of my life had been the biggest mistake I’d made.

  I thought about her all the time. I wondered what she was doing, how she was, if she’d sold her painting, and if she’d found anybody else to be with. She deserved a good man, a man without his own complications who could dedicate time and attention to her. She was a talented artist, and she deserved success. Even though I knew I wasn’t right for her, I knew that I wanted her. I hadn’t wanted any other woman as much as I still wanted her.

  Now I was standing outside a tall, impressive building just beside the Brunswick port, and I had no idea what my next step was going to be. Before I could do anything about Aubrey, before I could even go and see her, I first needed to fix the problem with C Scape and Hunter Morgan. There wasn’t much else to do for me now but walk ahead.

  The office was not what I expected. It was much less corporate than I imagined and had a homely small-town feel to it. Despite the men being billionaires, these guys seemed to run their offices more like a family business than a multinational billionaire-dollar corporation. It wasn’t how I did business, but I couldn’t ridicule them either. I could see the C Scape appeal now.

  I felt at ease here. I wasn’t as aggressive as I thought I would be.

  I walked right up to the reception desk and spoke to a friendly young lady about possibly speaking with Hunter Morgan or any of the other men who ran the company. The lady took my name and made a call, and in the span of a few minutes, I was being shown to the elevator, right up to the top floor.

  The man who was leading me seemed nervous. He no doubt knew who I was, and I followed him into a boardroom where Hunter Morgan, Rhett Larkin, and Owen Rivera were waiting for me.

  The three of them stood up from their chairs when I entered, and I could sense the charged-up atmosphere in the room.

  “Mr Gray!” Owen exclaimed, extending his hand toward me. I looked at his hand for a moment and shook it briefly before sitting down. The three of them were sitting across from me, staring at me like they thought I was going to pounce on them. Hunter looked like he was charging himself up for a fight.

  None of us had spoken. I could hear the sound of the ticking clock on the wall. The door behind them opened and a girl walked in with a tray of coffees and danishes. She placed it on the table between us, but none of us made a move toward any of it. This wasn’t the time for refreshments.

  The very fact that the four of us were sitting in a room together was strange. I had never pictured this happening. Even a few weeks ago, I would have refused to sit down with them.

  I cleared my throat, and Hunter shifted in his chair.

  “Look, Mr. Gray, if you’re here to threaten me and the company again, I suggest that you save it,” Hunter spoke up, and I turned my gaze toward him. His face was dark, and his eyes were narrowed—he was ready for a showdown.

  I clenched my jaws and nodded.

  “Okay, fair enough,” I said, and the men exchanged nervous looks. “However, I’m not here to threaten you. I’m here to propose a truce.”

  This time, Hunter nearly jumped out of his chair. Owen sat back in his chair and nearly laughed out loud. It was Rhett who maintained his calm and stared at me like he was trying to figure out if I was making a joke.

  “Did I hear you correctly, Mr. Gray?” he asked, and I smiled at him.

  “Call me Gareth, and don’t expect me to call you Mr. Larkin,” I said, and he smiled at me too. It was a smile of relief.

  “You’re calling for a truce?” Hunter broke in, and I turned to him.

  “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Hunter. I want to apologize for that juvenile phone call from a few months ago. I have a tendency to get carried away,” I said.

  Hunter stood up from his chair and reached his hand out to me, and this time I had no problem in shaking his hand.

  “Gareth, please, try the coffee. It’s a Columbian ground, I can promise you you’ll love it,” Owen said with a relieved chuckle, and he handed me a cup of coffee.

  The sudden change in atmosphere in the room was almost comical. The four of us were sitting around a table in a boardroom, picking out danishes and drinking expensive coffee. We hadn’t even begun talking yet, and already, I knew this was the right decision.

  ***

  “So, what do you have in mind?” Rhett broke the ice.

  The four of us had been filling time with small talk. I asked them about Brunswick and the weather, Rhett told me that he had grown up in New York, Owen filled me in on how he was now in a relationship with a wedding planner. None of the conversation we had till now was relevant to what I was actually doing in their office. Just the idea of a truce between our companies was enough to keep us going.

  I felt like I could be friends with these men. Like I could be a part of this atmosphere. Suddenly, I didn’t feel like a lone wolf in this big bad world any longer.

  I sat back in my chair and sipped some more of the coffee. Owen was right—this was really good coffee.

  “To be honest, I haven’t given this as much thought as I should have. I just decided that it would be easier for us if we worked in collaboration, rather than as rivals,” I said. For the first time in several years, I was sitting with a group of men from the industry and trying to have an honest conversation. There was no pretense and no aggression. I didn’t have a bone to pick with them anymore, and it felt good to just let go. It was all Aubrey—she had given me a whole new perspective on life. One that I had never experienced in my adult life.

  The men looked at each other again, and their expressions were still that
of relief.

  “That has been our hope as well. We didn’t want to work against your company,” Hunter said, and I nodded.

  “I’ve spent a lot of time waging wars against other people who I believed were threats,” I said.

  “And you’ve won those wars!” Owen commented, and we smiled at each other.

  “Yes, I guess I have, but you see, it was my natural instinct. It took a lot for an outsider like me, with no godfather in the industry, to make a breakthrough,” I said.

  “You paved the way for other outsiders like us. We know we owe that to you,” Hunter added.

  “But I don’t want to fight you. You guys were underdogs, but in the span of just a few years, you’re at the top and I can fight you if I want, but I don’t want to. I would rather concentrate on other things in my life,” I said and looked at Hunter, who smiled at me knowingly.

  “We can have our lawyers talk it out, come to some kind of agreement?” Owen suggested, and I shook my head.

  “No, let’s leave our lawyers out of this. I would rather that we did it ourselves,” I said, and the others agreed.

  “Let’s go over our details. Why don’t you guys come up with a set of talking points, and I’ll come up with mine. We can meet again, let’s say in a week’s time, and go over the kind of agreement we want to discuss,” I suggested.

  I was relieved too. I was glad to see that these men were even less interested in fighting me than I was in fighting them. I had misjudged all of them for the bullies I thought they were. Instead, they were hardworking, honest young men who were trying to make it in this industry, just like I had been six years ago.

  It was going to be a better business decision to join hands with them. We could grow together.

  We stood up from our chairs and shook hands. Rhett and Owen eventually left the boardroom, and Hunter remained with me.

  “About that phone call,” I said, and it was difficult for me to say it, but Hunter wasn’t an aggressive man. He shook his head and smiled.

  “It’s already forgotten. You took me by surprise, and I spoke to Aubrey about it and she explained the situation to me. I’m glad the two of you have been able to work it out,” Hunter said.

  “That’s the thing. We haven’t really worked it out. I trusted her when she told me that she wasn’t working with you, but I pushed her out of my life because at the time, I still thought of you as a rival,” I admitted. Hunter was staring at me wide-eyed. I could sense that Aubrey and he hadn’t spoken.

  “And you didn’t want to be in a relationship with a relative of your biggest rival?” he asked, and I shook my head.

  “I want her back,” I said abruptly, and Hunter clenched his jaws.

  “I can’t say that I know my cousin very well, but she doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would forgive easily,” Hunter said, and I took in a deep breath.

  “I know, and she has a lot to forgive. I am a man who has made a lot of mistakes,” I continued.

  “Do you know where she lives?” I asked him, and he furrowed his brows.

  “Doesn’t she live in New York anymore?” he said.

  “She’s back in Brunswick. You didn’t know?”

  “Aubrey and I don’t talk. If she’s in Brunswick, I can try and find out where she’s living,” Hunter suggested.

  “That would be great. That would be perfect. The only thing I can do is hope that she would even want to see me again.”

  Hunter and I shook hands again before I left his office.

  I was in Brunswick now, with one problem solved but the biggest one still weighing down on my shoulders. If Aubrey refused to see me, if she had moved on and didn’t want to have anything to do with me, then all of this would have been a waste. I didn’t care what agreement I came to with C Scape if Aubrey wasn’t going to be in my life.

  Everything I was doing now was for her.

  Chapter Twenty

  Aubrey

  I had just started working on a new painting, and finally, for the first time in a long time—at least since the time that I had met Gareth—I felt at peace with myself. I was living independently, I had made a considerable sum of money from my art, and I had some hope for the future.

  I was in my studio now, mixing paints on a palette to apply the first brushstrokes to the canvas. In my studio I worked with the door open to let maximum natural light in. I hadn’t heard Gareth come to the door. He had jumped over the wall around the back garden and walked straight to the studio.

  It was only when I heard the rap on the wooden door that I flipped around with a gasp. I saw him at the door, framed by the harsh sunlight, his figure dark enough that I couldn’t really see his face. But I would have known him anywhere.

  “Gareth?” I exclaimed, and the palette fell from my hand to the ground. He stepped in, with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket. I saw him clearly now. Polo shirt, dark jeans, his beard and hair as neatly trimmed as ever. His blue eyes were sharp and intense.

  “I didn’t mean to startle you, Aubrey, I took the liberty to come in. I’ve been ringing the bell at the cottage door for ages,” he said. I wiped my paint-covered hands on my dungarees and watched as he stepped toward me.

  “I don’t have too many visitors, especially not in the middle of the day while I’m working,” I remarked.

  I didn’t know how to feel. I knew that I should have been offended, even angry and aggressive, but I was too excited to see him.

  Gareth gulped, and for the first time since I had known him, he actually looked nervous. His eyes darted around the place, he was almost afraid to meet my eyes.

  “What are you doing here?” I demanded, and finally, he looked at me again. I couldn’t think of one good reason for why he was here, other than to torment me. How many times were we going to have sex, and how many times was he going to remind me that we didn’t have a future together?

  “I’m here because I’ve been a fool,” he said. Our gazes were locked, and I could see that it was taking every breath of courage he had to say those words to me.

  “You came all the way here to Brunswick to tell me that you’re a fool?” I retorted. Why did this man never give me what I expected? Why did he always have to surprise me? It was hard enough already to move on, and now he was just making it worse.

  “Pretty much, yeah. It’s taken me two months to realize that I can’t keep fighting,” he continued, and I furrowed my eyebrows as I stared at him.

  “Who are you fighting?” I asked him, and Gareth took another step toward me. I knew I should have backed away. I shouldn’t have encouraged him to come any closer to me, but I couldn’t get my body to follow the instructions of my heart.

  “Everyone—everything. That’s all I’ve done ever since I left high school. I’ve fought friends and colleagues and competitors, and people who cared about me. I just refused to believe that anything good could ever come from being friends,” he said.

  I could see every inch and detail of his face now. I could stare into the deepest spots of his icy-blue eyes, and I knew he was speaking from his heart. What was he doing? What did he want from me?

  “Why are you telling me this? What do you want me to say?” I asked, and I could hear my voice going screechy. I was so confused!

  “Because you made me realize that there are some things more important in life than success and business and competition. I don’t need to prove myself anymore,” he replied.

  I could feel my lips quivering. My eyes were filling up, and I didn’t know why. Why was I so darn emotional all the time around him?

  “What are you trying to tell me, Gareth?” I asked, and he took in a deep breath.

  “I’ve made my peace with C Scape, with your cousin. I went to see them this morning, and we talked it out. I don’t want to fight them anymore,” Gareth told me.

  I shook my head in disbelief.

  “You went to see Hunter?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine Gareth sitting down and having a civilized conversation wi
th Hunter.

  “Yeah, I did, and we’ve decided to work on a collaboration, some sort of merger so that our companies aren’t at loggerheads anymore,” he explained, drawing even closer to me now.

  I felt like I had lost my ability to breathe, like my throat was closing up, and my feet had turned into jelly.

  “What does that mean? Why did you do this?” I demanded, craning my neck to look up at him as he drew closer and closer to me.

  “Because I want you, Aubrey, and I am willing to make peace with C Scape if that’s what it takes to be with you,” he replied.

  I stared into his eyes, and my mouth fell open in shock. That was the last thing I would have expected Gareth to do. He had made it very clear to me that nothing would change his mind, and now he was standing there, telling me he had done just that. How was I supposed to believe him? After he had pushed me so rudely out of his life already?

  I watched him gulp, his blue eyes widening as he searched my face for a response.

  “Aubrey, please tell me that I’m not too late for that,” he said.

  ***

  “Aubrey?” Gareth said my name again when I hadn’t replied to him in some time. He had snapped me out of my thoughts, and I stared at him now, feeling and looking lost.

  “I know I should have treated you with more respect, but I play hardball at business and I’ve been foolishly ambitious. It took me some time to come to terms with my feelings for you, and I…” Gareth continued, and I cut him off.

  “Gareth!”

  He clamped his mouth shut, and he stared at me with an expectant look in his eyes.

  “How long am I going to have to wait for you to kiss me?”