His expression remained maddeningly inscrutable. “Any idea when the change might have been made?”
Her throat constricting, she headed for her dad’s private office, thinking a clue as to why this all happened might be there. “I don’t know.” Hoarsely, she admitted, “I haven’t been here since Dad died last May.”
And as CEO, she should have been. Frequently. No matter how difficult or gut-wrenching she found it.
Silently berating herself for her inexcusable lapse in judgment, she slogged past the door that had always stayed open. Flipped on the lights. Saw her dad’s worn denim jacket slung over the back of his chair. A box of his favorite mints sitting open on the desk. The World’s Greatest Dad coffee mug she had made for him in elementary school sitting there, next to his calendar, clean and ready to be filled.
For a moment, it was almost as if her father had just stepped out for a spell. And would come striding back in, larger than life, at any second.
A sob caught in her throat, as she realized just how much she wanted that to happen.
An anguished cry left her mouth.
And then the grief and tears she’d been holding back came pouring out in a harsh, wrenching torrent.
The next thing she knew, Chase’s arms were wrapped around her. He pulled her close as even more tears flowed and her slender body shook with sobs. She clung to him and he held her until the worst of the storm passed. And for one sweet moment, time really did stand still. There’d been no decade apart. No heartbreaking end to their engagement. No years of them pretending each other didn’t exist. No years of not speaking.
There was only him and her, and her overwhelming need for comfort and the urge to lean on his incredible strength.
The surprising yearning to kiss him one last time.
So she lifted her head, and did.
Though it was supposed to be the goodbye kiss she had never given him, the final denouement in their ill-fated relationship, the brief caress quickly turned into something else entirely.
A reminder of all they had shared that was at once passionate and tender, sweet and loving, as well as a jarring testament of all they had given up.
And that, too, was more than she could bear on this very emotional day.
She and Chase had let each other down and crushed each other’s hopes and dreams once. She’d be a fool to venture down the same path and hope for a different result.
Hand pressed against his chest, she tore her mouth from his and pushed him away. “No,” she gasped, common sense returning with reassuring speed. It didn’t matter how much she was hurting or how alone she felt.
She looked Chase in the eye. “There’s no way in hell we’re getting involved again!”
Copyright © 2018 by Cathy Gillen Thacker
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Stella Bagwell for her contribution to the Montana Mavericks: The Lonelyhearts Ranch continuity.
ISBN-13: 9781488093814
The Little Maverick Matchmaker
Copyright © 2018 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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The Little Maverick Matchmaker (Montana Mavericks: The Lonelyhearts Ranch Book 3) Page 22