So when she’d let him have her on Friday, he’d taken the offer without debate. But he was realizing the error of his ways now. In taking her, he’d confirmed everything she held true about him—namely, that all he wanted from her was sex.
But that wasn’t the case anymore. He wanted more from her. He wanted her forgiveness, to start with. He wanted their relationship back.
“What’s the matter?” His heart thundered.
He’d been worried all weekend about today. That hot interlude they’d shared still made him tingle. He’d never have pegged Eve as the sexually spontaneous type, but this woman was so full of surprises. She’d blown his mind, but she’d also shown him her vulnerable side. He liked seeing that part of her more than anything else.
“I had to give you this.” She pressed an envelope onto his desk. Dread filled his gut.
“I didn’t ask for any documents,” Grant said, more breathless than he’d liked to have been.
“This is my letter of resignation.” Three grenades couldn’t have put a crack in her poker face.
“Eve, sit down. Let’s talk.” Grant held his voice steady—a tough feat, when she was shaking him from inside.
“There’s nothing to talk about. I’ve already made my decision.”
He groaned. He didn’t need her being difficult again. As it was, he’d been nursing too many glasses of Baileys in the darkness of his room this weekend and he was not completely recovered.
Taking a step back, she held his gaze for longer than he was accustomed to. A spark flickered between them. Died just as quickly.
“Baby, sit down,” he pleaded. “We need to talk about what happened Friday night.”
Her amber eyes exploded into the color of fire. “Friday night never happened.”
Grant clicked his tongue. Being difficult was probably embedded in her DNA.
Drawing to his feet, he went over to her side and sandwiched her hands between his. “It most definitely did.” His top buttons were open, so he only had to tug his shirt to the side to show the faint bruises coloring his neck. “Proof.”
She blew out a groan. “That’s not why I’m quitting.”
“That’s exactly why you’re quitting. It’s written all over your face.” Cocking a brow, he tossed her letter into the cylindrical metal dustbin at the base of his desk. “But I can’t let you go.”
“How can you let me stay at the company after what happened yesterday? I can’t even look myself in the mirror anymore. Who was I? What was I doing?” Her honey eyes were stormy—full of hurt and rage. “I acted so unprofessionally. I was half-afraid you were going to threaten to sue me for harassment today.”
“Catch me suing anyone for sexual harassment.” Grant guffawed. “But I’d like you to explain why you suddenly decided it was a good idea to seduce me in the break room.”
“Because I was hopped up on coffee and I’d left my brain in a bin somewhere, obviously.” She coiled her fingers into a tight fist.
“The real reason, please,” he insisted.
“Fine. I wanted to fuck you. No, I needed to. Do you think you’re the only one who has been longing for sex since we started dating? I’ve yearned for it twice as much as you. But I can’t own my sexuality the way you can, and I didn’t want to get hurt, so I kept it to myself.” She downcast her eyes. “I hate that side of me. It’s embarrassing, at this age.”
“I like that side of you. It’s beautiful, exciting, and turns me on.” Grant cased her face with his hands. Immediately, goosebumps rose on her skin.
She frowned. “I can’t do this, Grant. It’s not good for me. You’re not good for me.”
“Orgasms keep you young, didn’t you know?”
Rolling her eyes, she tipped her head back. “You know what the funny thing is? I almost believe all the lies you tell me. You’re an arrogant, misogynistic bastard and somehow, I keeping finding ways to rationalize everything you do. When I’m with you, I lose all my sense. You have that effect on a lot of women. As much as I’d like to think I’m above your charm, I’m not. I’m just another woman who succumbed to you.”
“No, you’re the woman who made me succumb to you.”
Her skin warmed under him. Chewing her lip, she said, “I’m quitting.”
“You can’t. Carla goes to school here.” Grant tried to play the child card.
“I’m moving to another company, not another city.”
“I’m not letting you go.”
“You don’t have a reason to reject my resignation.”
Even though she was furious, she didn’t withdraw her hand from between his. So she still wanted him. Good.
“Oh, I have a very good reason.” Pulling her by his arm, Grant lined up their chests. “I’m in love with you.”
He expected her to cry, to jump in joy at his declaration of love.
Instead, she went off like an angry firework. “Love? Do you even know what love is? Do you know it means to love someone forever? It means accepting the fact that they’ll grow old, ugly, sick, irritable, weak, stupid, and dependent at some point. It means accepting their faults, their weaknesses, their humanness, not trying to Botox them away.”
“Eve, I—” He tried to interrupt, but she put a finger on his lips.
“All you care about is looking good. Being powerful. Preserving your image. Having a pretty face hanging on your arm. Well, I’m not young enough, or beautiful enough, or sexually competent enough to keep your kind of love.”
Disappointment squeezed out of her voice and pierced him where he was weakest.
She was right. She was so right. He didn’t know what love was. Because no one had shown it to him before.
“I won’t cheat on you. I was faithful to my wife.” He did his best movie star voice, the one that melted women’s hearts.
Eve pouted. “It’s not your faithfulness I worry about. I just don’t want you to wake up someday and grimace at the age spots and sagging breasts next to you. I don’t want to feel inadequate and insecure because I can’t meet your unrealistic expectations.”
“I can’t make you believe me, but I’ll tell you this,” Grant said. “Since we started going out, I’ve changed. I may have been very critical of every flaw on your face in the beginning, but slowly, I began to adore them. My concept of beauty became deeper. I hated it, though. You were what I wasn’t supposed to find beautiful, but I did.”
Eve wasn’t giving up. “It’s not only about my appearance. I’m very different from the kind of women you’re used to. I can’t have sex-on-demand like a thirty-something, nor am I going to be able to fulfill your very traditional expectations of what a woman my age is supposed to do.” She blinked, like she was going through a list in her head.
“You’ve already defied all my expectations, so let’s just say I’m prepared.”
She carried on, like he’d not spoken at all. “I’ll still be working, obviously, but I’m quitting this job because—”
“No.”
“I can’t stay. Even if I stay with you, I can’t stay here. It would be too awkward. I think I’ll finally start the business I’ve been planning on starting.”
“I’ll hire you,” Grant promised. “And I’m glad you said you’ll stay with me.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Do you still love me?”
He expected her to shirk away and be wishy-washy, but she said, “Sadly, I do.”
He took a deep breath. “I love you, too. It took me a while to realize but…but that’s because I’ve never been in love before. Not like this.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “Eve, believe me when I say this, because it truly comes from my heart. Even when you have twice as many lines on your face, and you’re half a minute from death, I’ll love you.”
Eve’s face relaxed, but she was still in fighting mode. “This is not over, yet. I want you to make amends to my daughters about what you said to them.”
“I already did.”
“Really?” Speechless, her j
aw unhinged itself.
“Oh yeah. And I’ll do anything else you want me to do. I’ll jump any hoops you put me through, because you are worth it. You’re more than worth it.” He walked towards her. “Someday, I’m gonna look back and think, how in hell did I ever find a woman like you? How did I find someone who could make a man out of me?”
“And I’m gonna look back and think how I found a man who could coax the woman out of me.”
They exchanged a brief, emotional gaze before the heat of the moment sealed their lips together in a perfect, sensual union. Warm. Pure. And beautiful.
*
Deadline days made every writer nervous. But this deadline day might just be the easiest in his life.
As Jamie trailed Bella to her studio, after dinner with her friends, he gripped the gift in his hand tighter. He’d held out giving her his gift, because the right occasion hadn’t popped up, and he wanted her to be in a place where she could read leisurely.
Trekking up to her studio, she opened the door with him behind her. The flap of heat from the radiator felt heavenly after freezing out in the December cold.
“Right now, I wanna give a big hug to whoever invented heaters.” Unwrapping her red scarf from around her neck, Bella tossed it on the couch. Her coat went on the coat stand next. “It’s a lifesaver.”
“It’s colder than usual out there.” Jamie dropped his jacket, too, stripping down to his cardigan.
Sneaking a glance at the green wrapped rectangular box in his hand, Bella raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been carrying that around forever. Are you actually going to give it to me or not?”
“Sorry. I was waiting for the perfect moment. Happy birthday, angel. Congratulations on turning thirty-five.” He added a long, hot kiss to the gift.
“Turning thirty-five is not such a great feeling for a single woman, you know.” Bella tumbled onto the couch.
“At the risk of sounding cliché, I’m gonna tell you that you look more beautiful by the year.”
“You haven’t known me long.” Frisking the package, Bella put a puzzled frown on her face. “What’s in it? A book?”
“Open and see.”
Tearing it open impatiently, Bella lost her balance and tottered when she saw the title on the front of the spiral bound book. “Love Me Like You Do Part 2?”
Tears clung to her lashes as she flipped the pages and made an attempt to read the words through wet eyes. “Oh my goodness—you made them get married.”
“You wanted me to.” He kneeled down beside her.
He was itching to pull out the second surprise he’d planned for her. But he wanted to wait for the right moment. Timing was crucial before he told her that he was planning to stay with her in New York. “Should I pour you some wine while you read?”
“Wait—” Leaving the script on the couch, Bella tucked him between her warm, cozy arms. “Thank you. I’m speechless—I don’t know what to say. Nobody’s ever done something so special for me before.”
“You’re a special woman, so you deserve something special,” he said. “I hope you like the story, though.”
“If you wrote it, I’ll definitely like it. I’ve never not liked anything you wrote. I’m your biggest crazy fangirl, remember?”
Their first awkward coffee at Ninth Street Espresso flowed into his mind, and he released a smile.
That felt like so long ago. It’d only been six months since then. Six months in which they’d gone from enemies, to professional acquaintances to friends to lovers to commitment. Looking back, it was unbelievable how serendipitous their meeting at the supermarket had been.
It was even more fiction-like than any rom-com meet-cute he’d ever written. Maybe they’d always been meant to be.
“Do you remember what I told you when we first met at Trader Joe’s?” Their faces were close now, the tips of their noses brushing.
“That you wanted my body? I was totally weirded out by that.” Her breath carried traces of sugar and cinnamon from the cinnamon roll she’d consumed earlier. It wafted over his skin.
“No, I told you that you were the one I’d been looking for.” He gulped, his fingers skating down a smooth strand of her hair.
This is the moment. Do it.
“Mmmm. Yeah. You did say something like that. What about it now?”
Jamie dug his hands into his pocket. The moment was here.
“I meant it.”
I’m going to stay with you, Bella.
The words sounded clear and decisive in his head, but when he tried to get them out, he was interrupted by a loud tap on the door, followed by a male voice that said, “Sunshine, I’m here.”
Bella’s face turned to a ghostly white in front of his eyes.
“Who’s it?” Hurriedly, Jamie sprung to his feet.
“Excuse me.” Her voice was low and breathy.
She crept to open the door with a sort of resignation, and as it opened, the bottom dropped from Jamie’s heart.
At the cusp of the apartment stood Bryan Singer. Shirtless.
“Hey, baby. Happy birthday. Thought I’d come over and give you a surprise. Sorry I haven’t talked to you much these last few weeks. Recording gets crazy sometimes.” Bella’s face was slammed against his hairless, defined chest.
Every cell in Jamie’s body blazed with anger. How dare the jerk touch her? Marching up to them, he pulled Bella away from Bryan’s grip.
“Hands off.” His warning was menacing.
“Who’s this?” Bryan squinted. “The guy you’re seeing?”
Bella threw her hand up.
“Who she’s seeing in none of your business,” Jamie cut in, tightening his jaw. “You guys were over a long time ago. She can see anybody she wants now.”
Bryan raised a single eyebrow in challenge. “She and I got back together last month. Tell him, sunshine.”
Jamie raised a shoulder blade, expecting Bella to join him in calling out Bryan’s lie.
But she stayed silent. Dead silent.
“Bella?” It bled to drag her name out of his throat. The pained, guilty expression she wore didn’t help one bit.
“Bryan, why’re you here?” Bella asked. “Weren’t you supposed to be recording an album?”
“The album’s not progressing as I thought. Sunshine, I really need to talk to you. Can you tell him to go away?” Bryan sauntered in and parked his body right between Bella and his.
Not wanting to imagine the worst, Jamie gave Bella a slight nudge.
“She’s not telling me to go away. I was here first,” Jamie asserted.
“I really need to talk to you.” Bryan squeezed his eyes at Bella.
She sighed. “Jamie, I’ll have to talk to him. Sorry to do this to you, but can we meet tomorrow?”
“What?” His disbelief was palpable. “I thought you hated him.”
“Things have changed recently...” Guilt shone brightly in her blue irises.
Fuck. Fuck. Oh, fuck.
Jamie’s cool slipped away in the blink of an eye. “You got back with someone who cheated on you? Are you out of your mind?”
“Don’t shout at me!” Bella yelled, with her hands on both sides of her head.
“Leave the past in the past, man.” Bryan’s hand lunged to his shoulder. “I’ve changed. I understand how much she means to me. This time, I’m determined to marry her.”
“You’re marrying him?” He could’ve choked on that sentence, because it was so distasteful to utter.
Instead of replying, Bella bit her lip and avoided his eyes as if looking at them would turn her into stone.
“Talk!” he pushed, rage spiraling in his tone.
“It’s not what you think. I’m not marrying him—” Tearful, she tried to grab his hand, but Jamie dropped it to his side, out of her reach.
“Not yet.” Bryan winked, scooping her into his arms. Touching her in places only he had the right to touch her. She didn’t even struggle.
He winked, and Jamie had to fight the ur
ge to strangle him.
Anger coiled through his body, raining down every cell in his body. How could he have been so wrong about her? What else had she been doing behind his back? Kissing Bryan? Holding hands? Giving him blow jobs?
Hell, he didn’t even want to know. He wouldn’t be able to take it in this state, anyway.
“Guess I should leave you to it, then.”
If he stayed here any longer, he didn’t know what he would do. Right now, it even hurt to look at her face. See the betrayal flashing in bright red.
“Jamie, wait.” Bella finally shrugged away from Bryan.
Rubbing his scalp, Jamie glowered at her. “You were the one who said you wanted me to stay faithful, and you were cheating all along?”
“I wasn’t cheating. I was just considering...” Her words snuffed out.
“You were considering cheating? Does that even make sense?”
Hesitation. Shuffling. Then she said, “I’ve only met him twice. And we did nothing but talk.”
“And you didn’t think this was worth mentioning to me?”
“I wasn’t sure what you’d think of me meeting him.” She combed back her hair with her fingers. “You wouldn’t have liked it.”
“I wouldn’t have. I don’t.”
She tried to close the gap between them. He didn’t let her. “But Bryan wanted to apologize, and I’ve waited eight years to hear him say that. I’ve waited eight years to have that moment.”
“Fine. You had your moment. Why is he still lingering in your life?” Jamie scalded Bryan with a severe look.
“Dude, don’t glare at me. She’s the one who said she was ready for us to be together again. I didn’t force her into it.” Bryan slanted his long, lean frame against Bella’s doorjamb.
“He didn’t force me,” Bella confirmed.
“Did he drug you, then? Because I don’t understand why you’d do something so stupid if you were clearheaded.”
“Because Bryan has changed. He needs me. He’s been having…problems and I want to help him. I want to be there for him. As a friend.” She was struggling not to stammer, not to stop. “And you’re going in January. We only promised to stay together until you left…”
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