Preston was glad he had asked Sophie to hold his calls and make sure he wasn’t interrupted for the afternoon. It might have been for very different reasons, but it did give him the privacy he needed to think things over.
Preston knew how he felt about Charlotte. She wasn’t someone he thought he could live without, but was he the best thing for her life? She’d managed well enough without him. Charlotte had opened her bakery, hired two people to work for her and turned it into an early success all without his help. She could have a hell of life if he never intervened in it. Maybe his interest in her was entirely selfish.
It was his need for her influence in his life that had lead the two of them here. She was the best thing that ever happened to him, but if he couldn’t give up what was best for him for what was best for her then what kind of relationship was this going to be? He could only imagine it as an extremely one-sided one.
The only thing that could possibly be in it for her was the fact that he was a billionaire, but she wasn’t taking advantage of that in the slightest. She didn’t have it in her. He knew her well enough to know her motives were pure. Preston was never quite certain what exactly it was that Charlotte saw in him if she wasn’t attracted to the money and power. Most women were in it for that and that alone, but Charlotte had scoffed all of that right from the beginning.
She deserved a life that she could be happy with, one that could wind up in marriage and kids and a house in the suburbs, all of the kinds of things that a young woman might want, or at least a commitment from someone who hadn’t spent all his life swearing that he was never going to let one woman tie him down.
Never mind the fact that if he decided he wanted to try to stay with her, it was going to mean he was going to have to say goodbye to everything that he had worked so hard to build. There was too much at risk in this situation. He wasn’t ever going to be able to make Charlotte happy, and if he tried, he was only going to wind up making himself miserable in the long run. Both of them were going to end up the worse off for it. He should do them both a favor and try to end things now.
The only real question was going to be how he should do it. Should he cut ties completely or let her down slowly and gently? which was going to be the least impactful way? Getting it all done at once would mean that she could have her heart broken and spend time getting over things more quickly. Cutting himself out of her life slowly would give them both more time to get used to being without each other. She might even get tired of him being distant and decide to end things herself.
Preston had no way of knowing how she was going to react to what he chose to do. In the end, all he could do was make his choice and hope that it was the best thing for them both in the long run. All he knew was that Howard was right, Charlotte would be better off without him.
Chapter 5
Something had happened in the last few weeks, but Charlotte wasn’t quite sure what it was. She and Preston had gone from seeing each other almost every night to hardly seeing each other at all. At first, he had called her with the excuse that he needed to go out of town for business. That was something she understood and the fact that it hadn’t happened before now was honestly a surprise. He was busy, heading off to Canada for a couple of weeks to take care of a business deal he had been working on for a month. Him traveling and being gone for days on end was certainly something that was going to happen, and she was going to have to learn how to deal with it, but this was different.
What she hadn’t been expecting was for him not to call her or answer all her text messages with single word replies. At firs,t she chalked it up to Preston being busy with work or in meetings but she also was starting to read between the lines. Charlotte wasn’t sure if she had done something wrong or if Preston was finally just getting tired of dealing with her, but she knew something was up.
She knew he had gotten back into town today, because his secretary Sophie had told her so. She’d asked her friend to keep her informed about when he got into town. It wasn’t that she was tracking him down, but she was determined that she was going to make him talk to her.
Charlotte had plans to head over to his office before the close of business today, which meant she was going to be leaving Riley in charge of closing the bakery on her own for the first time. She’d been with Charlotte for over a month now, and so far, things between them had gone perfectly. She was a little nervous about leaving her employees in charge, but her uncle had been adamant that eventually Charlotte was going to have to let go of some of the day to day running of the bakery or she was going to run herself straight into the ground. He was right about that. She was already exhausted and it was only going to get worse.
Feeling like she was in the middle of being rejected by the first man she had ever had feelings for was just making all of it worse. Today was the day she was going to deal with all of that. She just couldn’t understand what the hell happened. Everything seemed to be going so well between them, they were connecting emotionally and physically in ways she had never imagined were possible. And then…it was all crashing down.
She’d left the bakery at four in the afternoon, a good two hours before she was due to leave and started walking towards the Pierce Building with determination. All that determination was gone by the time she had reached the lobby. She lingered near the elevator bank, rethinking her decision to walk up and considering just heading back to the bakery to close up for the day and let things go back to the way they were.
Charlotte had made the move to push the button and summon an elevator five times before one opened to the bottom floor, emptying its contents onto the ground floor before another young woman walked inside, turning to face Charlotte as she held the door open.
“Going up?” Her eyebrows went up in question and Charlotte really didn’t want to have to explain why she was hesitating down here in the lobby so she followed her into the small box with a nod.
“Yeah. Thank you.” She pushed the button for the top floor, riding up in silence with the other woman until her stop and then continuing on alone. She had no idea what she was going to say once she got up to Preston’s office or if he was going to even be in, but she supposed she had to try. There was no way she was going to be able to spend her nights alone with no one but Andy for company while she worked on recipes for her sadly neglected blog. She would have traded all of it to get things back to the way they used to be with Preston.
When the elevator opened to the top floor, the office looked completely different than it usually did to her. She wasn’t used to seeing it busy with the normal nine to fivers buzzing about. Every time she had been up here, except for the few she was delivering food for the office workers, it was after hours. Usually, it was only she and Preston were in the office. Maybe it was ironic that she was seeing things as they really were now, instead of being stuck in that idyllic little world that the two of them had built for themselves up in the office.
The only person Charlotte recognized as she walked nervously into the office was Sophie. She stopped just in front of the older woman’s desk with a nod.
“Well, I haven’t seen you in far too long and neither has he. Go in there and give him hell for me.”
Charlotte glanced over at the double doors to Preston’s office.
“So, I’m guessing that means he’s in.”
“Yes, he’s in and he’s alone. I’ve made sure his schedule is clear for the rest of the afternoon for you.”
Charlotte could tell from the tone of Sophie’s voice that she was incensed. When she had called Sophie to ask for advice, her cooperation with pinning down Preston wasn’t what she had expected, but it had been Sophie’s idea to come in while Preston was in the office. Charlotte had no idea how to get the answers to her questions otherwise. He’d been evasive over text messages and hadn’t answered any of her phone calls in well over a week. She deserved to know what was going on, at least that was what Sophie said, and Charlotte knew she wasn’t going to be able to go on with anything u
ntil she knew the truth.
“Wish me luck then.” Charlotte took a deep breath and turned to face the double doors, trying to steel her nerves before she walked into the lion’s den. She’d had a lot of good nights in that office. She’d had some hard ones too, ones that challenged everything she had understood about herself. Something told her that today was going to be one of those tough ones.
There was nothing left to do but walk through the doors and into the room where he was waiting for her, even if he didn’t know it yet. She wasn’t certain whether she should knock or just barge in. In the end, she settled for just walking into the office and waiting for his surprise. When he looked up from the stack of papers on his desk, Preston’s eyes went wide. Charlotte could tell that she was the last person he had been expecting to see.
“Charlotte, I…”
She held her hand up as soon as Preston started to speak. Suddenly, she felt emboldened now that she was in front of him. He’d been ignoring her for far too long and she wasn’t going to let him start making excuses now.
“I’m not here to chat, Preston. Well, at least not small talk. You’ve been ignoring me for weeks now and I just wanted to ask why. I deserve to know what is going on because something is clearly wrong.”
There it was. Charlotte had just laid all her card on the table. She wasn’t going to cry or act wounded, at least not in front of Preston, but she had to know what was going on between the two of them. She watched as he sucked in a deep breath, putting down the folder he had been holding and glanced up to her fully.
“Please, sit down.” She half wanted to argue with him and insist on standing up, but if what he had to tell her was something he thought she needed to be sitting down for, then maybe she needed to sit down. Charlotte sank slowly into the chair without replying while she waited for his response.
“I know I’ve been distant in the last few weeks. I’ve been busy with work, but that’s no excuse. I’ve been busy with work before and made time for you. Things are—well, things re just a little different now.”
Charlotte could feel her heart sinking into the pit of her stomach as he started talking. She’d thought she was prepared for this, but now that it was finally happening, she could feel all her resolve escaping her.
“Different how?”
She bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep her emotions from betraying her in that moment. She didn’t want him to think that he had broken her and part of her was still holding out hope that she was just misunderstanding what he was trying to tell her.
“Charlotte, I’m not good for you. Plain and simple. You’re better off without me in your life.”
She knit her eyebrows together, feeling like decisions were being made for her for reasons she really couldn’t understand.
“And just how aren’t you good for me, Preston? Don’t you think I should decide what’s good for me and what’s not?”
She kept her eyes locked on the man in front of her, trying to read his expression, unsuccessfully. He was absolutely stone-faced. There was no wonder he was so good at the negotiating table.
“I know you think things are good and maybe they are for now. I’ve just been thinking about the long term. I’m not the kind of man who settles down with just one woman and I’m most certainly not the type to get married and start a family. You’re young and you might not be ready for that now, but I know you well enough by now to know that eventually, you’re going to want to get married, buy a house, have kids, the works. I just think that maybe you should be in a relationship that’s eventually going to lead to those things instead of wasting your time with someone like me who is just going to wind up hurting you in the long run.”
Charlotte let out the breath she had been holding. Preston had been more blunt than she had ever seen anyone be in her life. She’d known Preston could be cold when he was dealing with business, but to have that same coldness directed towards her.
“I see…” She wasn’t sure what else she was supposed to say to all of that. He wasn’t necessarily wrong. She knew she would more than likely want those things in her future. Charlotte had no way of knowing what the future might hold, but she had been happy now with the way things had been going between she and Preston. All of that felt like it was being snatched out from under her at once, even if he had been distant.
“I’ve been staying away hoping that maybe you’d lose interest in someone who was unavailable, but since you’re here now, I suppose just being straightforward and telling you what is up is the best option. At least it means that we can have a clean break.”
Charlotte could only nod as she pushed up from the chair to stand. She’d heard enough of all of this. Maybe someone else would have started an argument or tried to come back at him, but she didn’t have it in her, she felt numb and broken. Her feelings for Preston had been real and now they were being smashed and thrown back at her as if they meant nothing. She moved to go, but he was still talking.
“You were great, honestly. It’s not you at all. I just think you can do better and you deserve the best for you and your future. I’m just not the best for you…” She heard his voice trail off, but she wasn’t about to turn around and give him the pleasure of seeing the expression on her face. She was heartbroken, but he was right about one thing. He didn’t deserve to see her like that if this was how he was going to be.
“No, I completely understand.” She took a deep breath and composed her voice as she started to walk out of the office. “You sure did get bored pretty quickly, though. I hope the next one lasts you a little longer before you’re ready to drop them and move on.”
She didn’t wait for his reply before she walked out of the office and slammed the door closed behind her. Charlotte still needed to make it across the office to the elevator before she was going to let herself fall apart. She couldn’t put on a show for the rest of the people here. Most of them had no idea that she and Preston had even been involved. Only Sophie had any clue and as soon as the older woman saw her face she stood up from her desk.
“Charlotte…” Sophie started to move out from behind the desk to comfort Charlotte, but Charlotte waved her off.
“I’m fine, Soph. I swear, or at least I’ll be fine. It’s better I know now rather than later.” Sophie nodded and kept her distance. Charlotte didn’t think she would be able to keep herself together if Sophie tried to hug her. She was barely holding on to the thin rope of composure that she had managed to keep, but knowing that the other woman felt bad for her somehow made it all worse.
“Call me, ok? We’ll get together and have coffee soon.” The two of them saw each other often. Sophie came into the bakery almost every other day to get something at breakfast time and there had been a couple of nights when Preston was busy that the two of them had dinner together. Charlotte supposed she was going to have a lot more time for making friends and hanging out with her old ones now that Preston wasn’t going to be taking up any of the little free time that she had.
“Sure thing, Soph. We can do that or get dinner or something. It’ll be nice to have someone to talk to. Right now, I just want to go home and not think about anything for a while.”
“I get that. I promise, things will look better after a good night of you relaxing and taking some time for yourself. You’ve got a successful business, you’re gorgeous, and you’re probably the sweetest person I’ve ever met. Things are going to work out for the best. Trust me.”
Charlotte could only nod at the things her friend was saying. Maybe Sophie was right, but in this moment, it didn’t really feel like anything was working out for the best.
“I hope you’re right. I’ll talk to you later, ok?” She waved goodbye to her friend and made a beeline for the elevator. As the doors closed her into the small space, she pushed her weight into the wall behind her and sank to the floor, praying that no one else was going to get on before she reached the bottom floor. There was only so long that she was going to be able to be strong and Charlotte ha
d reached her breaking point.
The tears came before she was ready for them, but this was going to be a long elevator ride and an even a longer ride home. At least she had an entire salted caramel cheesecake and a pint of chocolate ice cream waiting for her at home in the fridge. God knows she was going to need to drown her sorrows in sugary goodness because something told her she was in for a long night.
Chapter 6
The last thing that Preston had been expecting this afternoon was to see Charlotte come storming through his office door without even knocking. He’d been keeping himself distant. He’d even made the excuse of a business trip out of the country to avoid being in the same city as her. Still she had been texting and calling him, trying to make a connection the entire time he had been gone. It had taken everything that he had had in himself not to continue things on the course they’d been on and it completelydestroyed him to say those things to her this afternoon.
As soon as Howard heard about him being out of town for an extended business trip he had gotten an email from his business partner that just solidified his reserve to do this. He wasn’t what was good for Charlotte. Howard had convinced him of that, but Preston had always had his doubts about it. He was far too old for Charlotte, not to mention that he didn’t want the things she did out of life. Besides her business, how much did the two of them have in common, anyway?
Nothing. At least that’s what he was telling himself. Still, having her come into the room and look him in the eye while he had to break her heart was more than he had known he could handle. He knew Charlotte was barely holding it together. He could see the tears building in the corner of her eyes while they were talking, but he needed to keep this going for her own good. It didn’t hurt that her uncle had threatened to take away everything that he had worked his entire life to build. He was always going to lose Charlotte. She would have out grown him and moved on in time, anyway. He didn’t want to lose his entire empire to go along with her.
Sweet Seduction: A Billionaire Virgin Romance Page 4
