Charlotte had no idea how her aunt knew that the two of them had broken up. She knew that Preston and Uncle Howard were close, but she didn’t see the two men confiding in each other enough to have Preston call him and tell him about their break up. Somehow the two of them had found out though, or at least her aunt had. Part of her wanted to ask how her aunt knew. Another part of her wanted to let the conversation drop since Preston was the last thing she wanted to talk about at the moment.
“Yeah, I…”
“Before you say anything else, Charlotte, I have a confession to make.” She could see the way her aunt was torn as she carefully chose her next words. Charlotte had no idea what kind of confession her aunt might want or need to make to her, but she wasn’t going to interrupt her before she was able to get her next thought into words.
“Your uncle is the reason he ended things with you. I’ve been begging Howard to come and tell you about him for weeks now.”
Charlotte was a little confused. She knew her uncle didn’t approve of the relationship between the two of them, but she didn’t think that there was anything he could say that would affect the way Preston felt about her, at least not if his feelings were real.
“Aunt Amelia, I don’t think I understand. How is Uncle Howard the reason that Preston broke things off?” She knit her eyebrows together, leaving the piping bag forgotten on the countertop in front of her.
“Howard went to see him, oh it must have been nearly two months ago. He threatened to have the board remove him as CEO of Pierce Industries if he continued to see you. He’s been convinced that Preston was just stringing you along all this time, but I don’t think Howard was paying attention to the way you clearly felt about him. I’ve been watching you, and I know you were in love with him. I’m quiet, but I’m not stupid, dear. And Howard, well, I know he means well, but he’s about as thick as a submarine door when it comes to something like love. Somehow, he convinced that man that he was the last thing that you needed and that you’d be better off without him and to top that all off, he threatened his entire corporation if he continued to pursue a relationship with you.”
Charlotte was shocked into silence when her aunt finished talking. She wasn’t sure what to say in response to all of that. The last thing she had expected to hear was that her uncle had interfered in her relationship in any way. It was an absolute shock to hear that he was the reason she had been heartbroken for the last three weeks and the reason she had spent the four weeks before that in doubt and driving herself crazy wondering about how Preston felt about her.
Charlotte was slowly putting the pieces of what had happened together. There was a reason that Preston had pulled away from her. He’d been hoping she would move on, on her own instead of having to break her heart in person, but she hadn’t given him a choice when she had showed up unannounced in his office that afternoon. Maybe it would have been romantic for him to have given up everything for her, but when he was already doubting if he was worthy of her, to have everything he had worked for threatened just made everything that much worse.
She tried to imagine what her reaction would have been to have her livelihood taken away over something she was insecure about, but it was difficult for her to put herself in that place. Her bakery was important to her, easily the most important part of her life since things had ended between she and Preston. If someone took that away from her, she would have nothing left. It would have entirely broken her and there was no way she could blame Preston for not wanting to let all of that go for her. She wouldn’t have even asked him to. Maybe he had even thought he was doing what was best for the two of them in the long run.
“Aunt Amelia…” She paused, looking into her aunt’s eyes. She could see the apology there, but her aunt didn’t let her finish before she continued.
“I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I didn’t come to you sooner and I’m sorry I let your uncle do any of that without telling you. He thought you were better off without Preston, but all I can see is you throwing yourself into your work and forgetting to actually live your life. I can’t live with myself knowing what caused it was neither one of your faults.”
Charlotte didn’t say anything. She just walked over and pulled her aunt into the hug that she clearly needed. Her aunt hadn’t been to blame for any of this and even if he had been dead wrong, Uncle Howard was doing what he thought was best. She made a mental note to have a long talk with him about what was appropriate and what wasn’t the next time the two of them were together, but in the meantime, she knew exactly what she needed to do.
“You don’t have to be sorry. It’s ok. Thank you for coming to tell me. I know that took a lot of courage for you to come here and tattle on Uncle Howard. I’m going to forgive him too, even if he doesn’t say he’s sorry, but I owe an apology to Preston. Maybe he owes me an apology too. The two of us have a lot to talk about.” She gave her aunt one last squeeze before letting her go.
“Promise me one thing please, dear?” Amelia took one step back, smiling over at her niece.
“Anything, Aunt Amelia.” She wasn’t sure what her aunt was going to ask her, but whatever it was had her clearly amused.
“Once you and Preston work things out, make sure you bring him over to dinner and don’t tell your Uncle Howard. I’ll make sure he behaves himself, at dinner and after. I’m not going to let him sabotage things between the two of you again, but I need to see the look on his face when he realizes the two of you are back together.”
Charlotte wouldn’t have thought her aunt was capable of plotting that kind of thing behind her uncle’s back, but she had clearly been through the ringer with this entire ordeal. She could see how much she wanted Uncle Howard to get his comeuppance over all of this, and she believed her when Amelia said she wasn’t going to let her uncle interfere between the two of them any more than he already had.
Returning her aunt’s smile, she nodded and thought over what was about to come up.
“I’d love to, but I can’t promise you he’s going to agree to come. I can’t even promise you that things are going to work out between the two of us.”
“Oh, I’ve seen the way you look when his name comes up. You still have that look about you know when I talk about him, so I think you’re going to do a lot more making up than you might imagine, but either way, I want you to be happy, sweetheart. You deserve it, more than anyone else I know. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m supposed to be out shopping for new pans and if I come home without them, your uncle is going to know something is up. I just needed to come see you. I missed you and you deserved to know the truth.”
Charlotte said her goodbyes to her aunt, returning her attention to the cake in front of her. She needed to go see Preston, but first, she needed to get this cake done. There was no telling what was going to happen between the two of them once this ball got rolling and this job was an important one. After this, she was marching straight back to Preston’s office to tell him what she knew. She just needed to make sure that he was going to be in the office when she got there, but a quick text to Sophie would make sure that he was in or at least in the city before she went tearing back over there to throw things into a loop for the both of them all over again.
Chapter 8
Preston Pierce was hard at work with Sophie seated across the desk from him taking dictation as he worked his way through the beginnings of another deal. After things had ended between he and Charlotte, the only thing Preston had left was his work, and he had thrown himself into it headfirst, clinging onto things here at Pierce Industries like it was the only thing keeping him afloat.
And maybe that was true. It was the one thing he had left now that she was out of his life. He couldn’t bring himself to go out with anyone else, or even to give a call to one of his old female friends to keep him company once she was gone. All the relationships he had had before her seemed shallow in comparison and they were all just a pale shadow of what he really wanted in his life.
Sophie kept maki
ng snide little comments about Charlotte with every chance that she got. His assistant wasn’t going to let him walk away from things without making sure he knew how badly he had messed all of this up all over again. It seemed like the things that kept coming between the two of them were always failings on his part.
However, today she seemed entirely focused on the work in front of them, for the most part at least. She glanced down at her phone a time or two as notifications of messages came in, though that was part of her job. Sophie was responsible for keeping his schedule and for running interference on messages that were supposed to come through to him, so answer a text message or two while the two of them were working wasn’t anything unusual. What was strange was the next thing that came out of her mouth.
“So, you’ve got a last-minute meeting coming in at four thirty this afternoon.” She glanced up from her phone to him, keeping her face absolutely unreadable as she nonchalantly announced a change in his schedule.
“And just who in the hell is coming in to see me at the last minute this afternoon and why did you agree to let them?” He knit his eyebrows together. Normally, she didn’t change his schedule without a very good reason and she rarely did it without consulting him first. The fact that she had both changed his meetings around and done so without even bringing it up until forty-five minutes before the event was happening meant it was something that was a potential emergency, though she was keeping the details of what was about to happen under her hat.
“Not saying.” She looked down at the stack of paper in her lap, making some marks to correct the phrasing of something or another in the paperwork before she glanced up at him, nonplussed.
“Not saying, alright. Just drop it. You’ll know what’s up when they get here. Just go with it.”
Preston had no idea what was going on and normally, he would have had a million questions about what was about to happen for Sophie. But something told him not to question her too hard on this one. He was just going to have to trust her judgement. He certainly hadn’t trusted his own judgment lately, so maybe letting go and trusting Sophie this once was something he could at least try out.
“Fair enough. Just let me know if I need to know anything before whoever this is walks in the room okay?”
“Mmmhmm.” Sophie was holding her cards close to her chest on this one and her reply was giving nothing away. Preston just let the response go. It was probably nothing, some interview or another she had decided he needed to do, maybe something for charity. Fine, he could do any of that without much of a second thought. She was probably punishing him for all of his transgressions in regard to her friend Charlotte and he probably deserved all of it.
Instead of focusing on that, he got back to work, making sure that the two of them had gotten to a stopping point by three-thirty so that he could prepare for whatever meeting was about to come up. Sophie gathered her things, heading for the door to go back to her own desk to work, but she paused in the doorway, glancing over her shoulder to throw a grenade in the room behind her just before she left.
“Oh, by the way, your meeting this afternoon is with Charlotte.” And with that bomb, she walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her and leaving him behind to deal with the aftermath.
Preston immediately went into a panic mode. Charlotte? What in the world could Charlotte want to discuss with him enough to make an appointment with his secretary? He’d spent the last three weeks missing her more than he had imagined possible and if he had thought he had been able to move on from her, even a little bit, all those thoughts were completely dashed now that he knew the two of them were going to be face to face in less than fifteen minutes.
Jumping up from his desk chair, Preston made a beeline for the private bathroom in the apartment just off his office to check his reflection in the mirror. His eyes had dark circles underneath them, a testament to the fact that he hadn’t been sleeping much in the last few weeks. He was impeccably dressed, but that couldn’t hide the fact that he was absolutely miserable and he had been since the minute that Charlotte had last walked out of his office.
Now, she was about to walk back in through those doors and Preston had no idea what to expect when that happened. Was she on her way to berate him some more? Was this entirely business related? Maybe she needed another investor for her bakery now that things were getting off the ground. He had no way of knowing until she walked in through the double doors. All he could do was wait.
He didn’t have to wait long for the sound of the intercom to let him know that his four thirty meeting had arrived. That meant the only things separating him from Charlotte were the thin panels of wood that made up the doors to his office. When those doors finally opened, he couldn’t stop himself from holding his breath until she was in the room.
And suddenly, there she was. He hadn’t seen her in three weeks and then only once when he had been responsible for breaking her heart. She’d been a wreck that day. All the light he had loved to see in her eyes was gone, but right now, at least a portion of that was back. She was beautiful, even more so than he had remembered and the moment she was in the room, everything he had been fighting to keep at bay during the last few weeks came flooding back all at once.
“Hello, Charlotte.” Those were the only two words he could come up with as she made her way over to his desk, sinking into the chair opposite him for the first time in far too long. It felt like the air had been sucked out of his lungs.
“Hello, Preston.” Her voice was like music to his ears, after fighting the urge to call her just to talk to her one more time for so long.
“I know that we left things off on less than favorable terms, but…” Preston began talking, but Charlotte interrupted before he could get any of what he was thinking off his chest.
“Before you say anything else, I just need you to know a few things. First thing, my aunt came to visit me this morning at the bakery and she let me know exactly what my Uncle Howard came to you and said. So, I know that you had to choose between me and being the CEO of Pierce Industries. I don’t hold any of that decision against you, at all, but I needed to tell you that my Uncle Howard won’t be a problem any more. Aunt Amelia is very insistent that if he decides to even think about going through with that plan, she’s going to make his life absolutely miserable. I can show you the text messages, if you’d like to see them.”
Charlotte moved to pull her cell phone from the pocket of her skirt before he reached out to stop her. Preston couldn’t quite reach her arm from across the desk, but the motion itself was enough to stop her in her tracks. The air between the two of them was tense, both of them were waiting on the other to say exactly what was on their minds, but Preston knew Charlotte well enough to know that she wasn’t going to put her feelings on the line until she was certain about his.
Preston had missed a lot of opportunities to tell Charlotte how he really felt about her, but he wasn’t going to miss this one when it had been dropped in his lap like a gift. Maybe she didn’t want to hear about it now that things had ended between the two of them, but he couldn’t let her leave without saying it to her, especially now that she knew the truth of why he had made the decisions he had made. Now it was his turn to speak.
“When your uncle came to me, I didn’t know what to think, but the only thing running through my mind was that maybe he was right. Maybe, I’m not the best thing for you. Every time I look at you, I see all the potential you have built into you just by virtue of who you are and I’m not at all certain I’m the person who deserves to have access to all of that. I’m much older than you, I’ve lived so much more of my life and to be frank, there have been times I’ve absolutely squandered it.” Charlotte could have interrupted him, but she didn’t. Instead, she let him continue and get out all of the thoughts he had been holding onto for weeks and week, even longer than he had been regretting his decision to break her heart in half.
“I could have chosen something else. I could have decided to throw it all in you
r uncle’s face and take my chances with the board. He has a lot of influence over them and he could probably get his way. Though, I’d have put up a fight. There’s no way I’d let go of this business without a fight, but I let you go without one. So, I wouldn’t blame you for never wanting anything to do with me again, but I need you to know that I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you more. I’m sorry I let you go without fighting for the two of us. I just started to believe that I was the worst possible thing for you, even if you were the best thing that ever happened to me.” There it was, all laid out on the table, and now the choice about what happened next was entirely up to Charlotte.
She sat there in silence for a long moment, taking in everything that Preston had to say to her but not speaking. The lack of sound hung between them in the air, so thick someone could have cut it with a knife. He wanted her to speak, but he also wanted to give her the chance to decide on her answer without pushing her into things she wasn’t prepared to do. After a few moments that felt like hours, she finally replied, and all he could do was to sit back and listen to what she had to say.
“I didn’t know when I walked into this office the last time I was here that you were going to pull the rug out from under me like that. I’d be a liar if I told you it wasn’t what I was expecting. After you’d left me hanging for almost a month, it was honestly my worst fear come true. To find out that my own family is behind it, is probably devastating, but it’s far less devastating than having the one thing that meant the most to me yanked away from me by someone I was feeling that close to.” Preston could feel a lump in his throat as she spoke, putting into words the way that she had felt when he ended things with her.
“I’m sorry…” Charlotte shook her head, standing up from the chair she was seated in to walk around the desk and place a finger over his lips.
“I’m not finished yet.” She leaned back on the edge of the desk, resting her weight against the edge of it. Preston kept his mouth shut. As much as he wanted to apologize, Charlotte deserved a chance to say her piece. He owed her that much at least.
Sweet Seduction: A Billionaire Virgin Romance Page 6