She checked the peephole first and scowled as she recognized Kell. She opened the door and he frowned at her and then cursed under his breath.
“You look like hell.”
“Uh, thanks.” She pulled the jacket of her sweat suit closer together before crossing her arms over her chest. Randall and Shelley had pretty much said the same thing when they’d sent her home this afternoon.
“Damn, this is a mess. I thought I had everything figured out but I think I’m missing something here,” Kell said, running his hand through his thick blond hair.
“What are you talking about? It’s really too early in the day for you to be drunk.”
“I don’t drink. Listen, can I come in?” he asked, taking a step toward her before she could even move.
“Sure.”
She wanted to pretend he was the last person she wanted to talk to but the truth was she was starved for news on how Jeremy was doing. She had even tried to delicately pump her brother for information, but Dare hadn’t heard from Jeremy, either.
She led the way into her house, stopping in the middle of the living room. “What’s up?”
He paced around the room like a caged tiger. There was a grim set to his mouth. “That’s what I want to know.”
“What did Jeremy tell you?” she asked, knowing that no one was going to be able to help them. Over the sleepless nights she’d spent alone in her bed, she’d rehashed everything a million times. She knew she couldn’t force Jeremy to love her, and she didn’t want to be with him without love.
“Nothing. He hasn’t said a word about you in two weeks. All he does is work.”
She shook her head. She wished he was getting on with his life, but by the same token a part of her was happy to hear she wasn’t the only one suffering. It made her believe that maybe he had cared for her. “I’m sorry to hear that. I don’t think it has anything to do with me.”
“It has everything to do with you. It’s clear to me that you two have had a fight. Whatever it was about, you need to go to him and fix it.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Yes, it is. No problems are that insurmountable.”
“Some of them are, Kell. This isn’t just a fight or a difference of opinion. We want different things from life.”
Kell sighed. “I pushed him to offer you a prenup. Don’t hold that against him.”
“It wasn’t that. I would sign one if he asked me to.”
“Then what is it? He’s so into you.”
“He’s not into me. At least not the way you mean. I’m an obsession that he’s trying to exorcise from his soul.”
“He said that?”
“Yes, he did. And I don’t know how to convince him otherwise. I’m not sure what you want from me, but I can’t just go back to him and pretend to be whatever he wants until he gets tired of me.”
Kell stared at her for a long time. “Because you love him.”
She nodded.
Kell paced over to the front door and opened it. Glancing back at her, he said, “Just think about talking to him.”
She nodded and watched him leave, knowing that she’d think of little else other than Jeremy.
Jeremy watched the sunset from his multimillion-dollar home. He glanced around at the luxury furnishings and the life that was full of the best things money could buy. But it felt empty. It felt the way it had before he’d met Isabella McNamara and his life had changed.
Obsessions had a way of doing that.
But the thing was, he no longer believed she was only an obsession. Her words that last night on his boat haunted him. A million times he replayed them. Heard her say she loved him and then quietly ask to go home.
He’d broken her heart and he had no idea how to fix it. For a while he hadn’t even contemplated fixing it. He’d wanted to find another woman and prove to Bella exactly how desirable he was to other females. But he’d been disinterested in any other woman.
Then this last week he’d realized how much she’d brought to his life. Not just her presence in his bed, but the way she’d brought his circle of friends together with hers. The effortless way she had of making connections between people and ensuring no one felt inferior.
The way she had long ago. And he’d offered her a contract to stay in his life. In retrospect, he understood perfectly where he’d gone wrong.
His gut said to go back to her and make another offer. One where she set the terms and he’d do whatever she wanted. Be her love slave or whatever else she’d have from him.
But another part, a bigger part, was truly afraid of what she made him feel. He’d hurt this past week in a way that he’d never felt before. His life had been a gilded one of privilege where no one denied him anything.
Until Isabella. His Bella. He wanted her back. He wanted her happy.
There was a knock on his study door before it opened. He glanced over his shoulder to see his butler standing in the doorway. “Are you receiving, sir?”
“Who is it, Thomas?” he asked, hoping against hope that it would be Bella. If she came to him, he’d take her back and throw out the contract.
“Kell, sir.”
The last thing he wanted to do was talk to Kell, who kept trying to take the blame for his breakup by pointing out that some women found prenups offensive. If only he’d offered her a prenup, he had the feeling she would have signed it with no qualms. God, he’d been a total ass.
And Bella wasn’t going to come back. She deserved a man who loved her the way she loved him.
She loved him. That’s what she said. What if she’d been mistaken?
“Sir?”
He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced around the study. His desk was littered with files and he’d closed more deals this week than he had in the previous three months. He’d been working nonstop, jacked up on coffee and adrenaline. Afraid to close his eyes because he dreamed of her in his bed and woke aching and hungry for her.
“Yes, send him back.”
Jeremy logged on to his e-mail while he was waiting for Kell and saw that he had a message from Bella. Before he could open it, Kell came into the room and headed straight to the bar, grabbing a bottle of Perrier. “What the hell did you say to Bella?”
“Why?” he asked, distracted from her message for a moment by his cousin. Damn, he should have refused to see Kell—then he could have read her message in private.
“Because I went to see her to apologize for putting you up to asking for the prenup and…”
“And what?” He was surprised by Kell’s actions, but he shouldn’t have been. Kell had spent the last week telling him that just because he’d screwed up by trusting the wrong woman, Jeremy shouldn’t screw up by not trusting the right woman.
“She looked like hell. I don’t think she’s slept in a week.”
Dammit, he thought. He’d wanted to be her hero and to protect her. Instead he’d left her and she was worse off for having known him. “Leave it alone, Kell. I told you to stay away from her.”
Kell didn’t respond to that, just scooped some ice from the ice bucket and poured his Perrier into a glass. “You’re miserable, too.”
“And your point is?” he asked, trying not to look at his Outlook inbox, but failing. Why had she e-mailed him?
“You’ve never been stupid about anything. Not women, not business. Don’t let her be the first.”
“Why is this so important to you?”
“I want to believe that you and I can be happy.”
“I’ll take that under consideration,” he said, glancing at his computer screen again.
“What’s so important on your computer?”
“Bella sent me a message.”
“Did you open it?”
“No, I’m waiting for you to leave.”
“Are you sure you don’t need me?”
He nodded. Kell walked toward the door. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Jeremy watched him go before finally clicking on the icon to o
pen the e-mail message. It was brief and to the point. No smiley face after her name. Just a listing of JPEG file names.
Pictures from his birthday party. He opened them up one by one and felt like he’d been punched in the gut. In front of him in full color was the life he’d been afraid to imagine for himself and Bella. A life that was full of friends and family. One that they shared together.
And he knew then that there was a small chance that she still loved him. A woman who’d go through all this effort for her lover wasn’t someone who could walk away easily. And he remembered other things she’d said that last night. Remembered that she, too, wanted a life together. Just not as his mistress.
Finally he got it.
He pushed away from his desk, grabbed his keys and walked out of his house. He didn’t realize he was running until he reached his car.
The knock on her door just after dinner startled her. But a part of her had been hoping, ever since she’d e-mailed the pictures, that Jeremy would come. She was almost afraid to look in the peephole and see someone other than him.
But there he was. Wearing a pair of faded jeans and a faded college T-shirt. His hair was unkempt and he scarcely resembled the fashionable man she knew him to be.
She opened the door and stared at him. He didn’t say anything to her, either. He shifted from one foot to the other.
“I got your e-mail.”
“Oh. Did you like the pictures?”
“Yes. They turned out really nice,” he said.
God, had he really come over here just to thank her for the pictures?
“I don’t have any other ones.”
“That’s okay. Thanks for the ones you sent.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, waiting for him to say something else, but minutes dragged by and he said nothing. Finally she realized that he wasn’t going to say anything and a part of her was ready to beg him to take her back. But then she remembered how hard she’d struggled to rebuild her life. And she knew she couldn’t. He had to meet her halfway.
“Goodbye, Jeremy,” she said, starting to close the door.
His hand shot out and he blocked the door from closing. “Can I come in?”
“Why? To talk more about the photos?”
“No,” he said, thrusting his hands through his hair. “I didn’t come over here because of the pictures. I’m here because I’m an idiot.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am,” he said, stepping over the threshold and closing the door behind him. “I want you in my life. I can’t live without you.”
“I want those things, too, but I don’t want to be your mistress.”
“I don’t want that, either, not anymore. I was afraid to admit how much I need you, but that doesn’t change the fact that I do need you, Bella. I’m asking you to take me back on your terms. I don’t have a contract or gifts. I don’t have anything except myself.”
“Someone once told me that the best gift was one of yourself.”
“A wise man.”
She was almost afraid to hope that he meant what he said. “What if I said my terms were marriage and a family?”
“That offer would be more than I deserve,” he said, drawing her into his arms and holding her so tightly she knew he’d never let go. “But I’d say yes before you changed your mind.”
“I’m not going to change my mind.”
“That’s good.” He buried his face against her neck. “I love you, Bella.”
“I love you, too.”
He lifted her in his arms and carried her into her bedroom. He made love to her and then cradled her to his chest. They talked about the future and made plans. Permanent plans. Plans for their life together.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0204-1
SIX-MONTH MISTRESS
Copyright © 2007 by Katherine Garbera
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Six-Month Mistress (The Mistresses Book 2) Page 12
