by James, Anna
A moment later, she hit the same peak with a shuddering moan.
Her arms came around him, tears filling her eyes. “I love you, Reed. So very much.”
Chapter 16
Reed shook. His pulse raced.
Ashley loved him.
This wasn’t how things were supposed to be. Theirs was a fun-only-nothing-serious affair with great sex.
Phenomenal sex, yes.
Love, absolutely not.
Love didn’t last. When it ended . . . He shuddered. Get a grip.
He peered over at Ashley. She slept soundly. She was still recuperating. He’d let her rest.
He tossed back the sheet, got out of bed, and strode into the bathroom. After setting the temperature to a frosty ninety degrees Fahrenheit, he turned on the shower and stepped inside.
The cool water cascaded over him and the vicious tumult of sensations swirling inside subsided.
He wasn’t in love with Ashley. He’d gone too long without sex. Yes, that had to be it. Reed McNamara never had a serious relationship with a woman in his life. And that wasn’t going to change now.
He lathered up, rinsed, then turned off the water and stepped out. After toweling dry, he went back into the bedroom and dressed.
Ashley woke. Alone. She rolled onto her side and peered over at the clock sitting on the bedside table. Two o’clock. She’d slept for more than two hours. Reed had worn her out! She laughed, feeling happier than she had in weeks.
Her old clothes sat in a neat, folded pile on the dresser. She donned the leggings, but it was too hot for the sweatshirt, so she put the T-shirt she’d worn earlier back on and went in search of Reed.
She found him in the home office, sitting behind a sleek, ultra-modern, metal and glass desk, his head bent over. He was dressed in a pair of tan dress pants, a long-sleeved button-down shirt, and matching tie.
The complete antithesis of the Reed from earlier today. Her stomach sank.
He looked up at her as if sensing her presence.
“You’re awake. Good. I’ve got to go into the office. I thought we’d head back to the city after you have something to eat.”
His short, crisp tone set her on edge. The old work-a-holic Reed was back for sure.
“I’m not hungry. The chicken soup was filling.”
He gave a sharp nod. “Okay, then let’s go.”
They made the long drive in silence. When they arrived, he turned to her.
“I’ll, ah, see you around.”
A violent tremor shot through her and her entire body seemed to cave in on itself. See her around? After what they’d just shared?
Idiot, idiot, idiot.
Nothing had changed between them. How could she have imagined otherwise.
You wanted to be wrong. You wanted Reed to love you as much as you love him.
A hysterical laugh bubbled up inside her. What a fool she’d been. Reed didn’t love her and never would. He wouldn’t allow himself to. His past experiences had turned him bitter and nothing she said or did would change that.
No matter how much she wished the opposite were true, she didn’t mean a damn thing to Reed McNamara. She flung the car door open, then turned to face him. “You know, sometimes you can be a real jackass.”
Shoulders squared, head held high, Ashley slipped from the car and walked with purpose to the main entrance of the steel structure that held the penthouse condo.
She wasn’t going to cry, she told herself as she rode the elevator to the top floor. He wasn’t worth it.
Her cell phone buzzed when she reached the front door. Maybe Reed had second thoughts? She yanked the phone from her purse and checked the caller ID.
It wasn’t him. Stupid, stupid, stupid. “Hey, Nicole.” She made a determined effort to sound normal.
“Hey, Ash. How are you doing?”
Tears clogged her throat. She let out a strangled sob.
“Ashley?”
She didn’t respond. Couldn’t. Her breaths came in sharp gasps.
“What’s wrong Ashley?”
A loud wail escaped from deep inside. “Reed and I are getting divorced.”
Chapter 17
Reed arrived at the downtown offices of Paradis and McNamara at three O’clock which gave him plenty of time to prepare for his four p.m. meeting.
He stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for the tenth floor. His cell phone buzzed. He pulled out and read the text from Max.
One word blazed across the screen. Dumb-ass.
He stiffened. Ashley hadn’t wasted any time telling her sisters about the divorce. It had only taken him fifteen minutes to get from the condo to the parking garage.
His phone buzzed again. This text from Nicole. What the hell!
He shouldn’t be surprised. He’d known the families would be upset by the news, which is why they’d waited until after the engagement party to let them know.
The elevator opened and he stepped into the lobby and made his way down the hall.
Ashley’s words echoed in his mind. You’re a real ass, Reed. His gut roiled.
“I’ll see you around” had been a harsh thing to say, no downright unfeeling considering what had happened between them earlier. And that’s what he’d been going for. Cold-hearted bastard.
He’d gotten what he wanted. Ashley now hated him. Bile rose in his throat.
It was better this way. Easier, anyway, for her to loath him than go on loving someone who didn’t love her back. Couldn’t love her.
Reed walked into his office.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Daniela stormed into the room.
News travels fast. He wouldn’t let her spark his temper. “Good afternoon, Daniela. What can I do for you?”
Daniela slammed her hands on her hips and glared up at him. “What the hell are you doing? You’re one of the smartest people I know, but walking away from Ashley has to be the most . . . unintelligent thing you’ve ever done.”
“I see you’ve heard the news.”
“Yes. You’re divorcing Ashley.”
He nodded.
“How can you stand there so calmly when you’re ruining your life?”
“I don’t see us splitting up as ruining my life. Things didn’t work out.”
She shook her head. “Did you even try?”
No. You ran like hell the minute things got tough. “This is none of your business, Daniela.” He took a seat behind the massive oak desk, pulled out the file he’d been studying before he’d left the house, the papers Marsh had sent detailing the divorce settlement, and began reading where he’d left off earlier.
Daniela blew out a harsh breath. “Ashley is better off without you. She deserves someone . . . who is worthy of her.” She turned on her heel and strode out of his office.
Reed sat in the same spot staring at the same page he’d turned to four hours ago. Daniela’s parting words whirled around in his head. Ashley deserves someone . . . who is worthy of her.
Ashley sat at the mahogany conference table in Dana Roberts’s posh Naperville office listening while Dana specified the last points in the divorce settlement.
Perspiration beaded on her brow, despite the climate-controlled room.
“Do you have any questions?” Dana asked when she’d gone through every detail.
“No.” Everything was as she’d expected.
“Okay. All you need to do now is sign at the bottom of the page.” Dana slid the document in front of Ashley and then handed her a pen.
Just sign on the dotted line and you’ll be a single woman again. The pen remained poised in her right hand, hovering above the sheet. Just do it. Sign the damned decree. She scrawled her signature, then shoved the paper away
.
“I’ll have a messenger return these to Marshall Kline today, and send a copy to you for your records.”
Ashley nodded. Her twelve-week marriage was officially over. She felt . . . nothing. No anger. No sorrow. No pain. Nothing. She sucked in a deep breath, let it out slowly, then gathered her things and rose from the chair. “Thank you, Dana.”
Dana cast sympathetic eyes in her direction. She extended a hand. “You’re welcome. Good luck.”
Ashley shook it, then strode from the office with her head held high.
Chapter 18
Reed woke to the sound of his cell phone ringing. He reached over to the bedside table in his Park Hyatt hotel room in downtown Chicago and snatched up the phone. “Reed McNamara.”
“Oh no, it sounds as if I woke you,” an unfamiliar female voice on the other end line crooned.
You did. He glanced at the alarm clock. Nine o’clock. Shit. He’d overslept.
“Reed? Are you there? It’s Marilyn from Willard Properties.”
The real estate agent he’d contacted to sell his condo. “Yes, of course. How are you?”
“I’m fine. We have a buyer who’s submitted an offer on your downtown penthouse.”
That got his attention. “Great. How much are they willing to pay?”
“The wife has fallen in love with the place and doesn’t want to be outbid, so they’ve come in with a full-price cash offer.”
Reed let out a low whistle. “I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
“Then you’re accepting their offer?”
Reed grinned. “Hell, yes.”
“I’ll fax the paperwork over now. Congratulations.”
“Thanks, Marylin.”
“You’re welcome.”
No sooner had he returned the phone to the nightstand when it rang again.
“Reed McNamara.”
“Where the hell are you?”
He snorted. “Good morning to you, too, Daniela.”
“You’re over an hour late for your meeting with Howard.”
Damn. “I forgot.”
There was a short pause and then Daniela’s voice crackled down the line. “You. Forgot? That’s not like you.”
No, it wasn’t like him at all, but he hadn’t been himself lately.
He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, couldn’t concentrate for shit either. It was the reason he’d wound up here, at the Park Hyatt hotel.
He couldn’t stand being at the house on the lake a moment longer. Ashley’s presence lingered in every room. Her beautiful face and delighted sighs. The heady scent of her perfume that drove him mad with wanting. How that was even possible when she’d been there less than forty-eight hours was beyond him.
He’d tried to go back to the condo, but found no peace. Everything there reminded him of her, too.
“Reed?”
“Tell Howard I’m on my way.”
He arrived at the downtown office a short time later and found Howard seated in one of the two chairs placed in front of his desk. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”
Howard frowned. “You look like hell, son. Is everything okay?”
“Let’s not play games. If you’re here to lecture me on how I’m ruining my life, Daniela has already beaten you to the punch.”
Howard let out a loud belly rumble of laughter. “You’re just like your father.”
Reed stiffened. “Excuse me?”
“Stubborn as a mule.”
Reed glared. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“He walked away from your mother because of his stupid pride.”
“Ashley asked me for a divorce, not the other way around.”
“Why, Reed? Did you ever ask yourself that question?”
“Look, things didn’t work out, that’s all.”
Howard laughed again. “Yes, sir, just like your father. Although, he finally smartened up. Wish I could say the same about you, son.”
“Smartened up? I think you’d be pissed as hell that he smartened up considering my mother divorced you and went back to him.”
“Ah, hell. We should never have gotten married in the first place. I knew she was still in love with him. She never made any secret about that.”
Reed frowned.
“That’s right. I knew she still loved your father.”
“Then why did you propose? And why would she accept? You were married for six years.”
“I asked your mother to marry me because I was lonely. My first wife and I did everything together. It was just the two of us for thirty years and then she died. I was alone for two years and then I met your mother. She made me laugh and I felt alive again. I loved her, but I wasn’t in love with her. Your mother knew that.”
Reed shook his head. None of this made sense.
“Don’t you see? She was lonely, too. And she believed your father would never come to his senses.”
“But he did. And she left you. For him. Didn’t that make you angry? Regardless of the reasons why she agreed to be your wife.”
Hard dark eyes bore down on him, and Reed sucked in a sharp breath.
“I’m gonna say something. And you may not like me much after, but it’s the God’s honest truth. I had thirty of the happiest years of my life with my Mary. If it had been the other way around, and she’d come back to me, I’d have left your mother without another thought.
“I wouldn’t have stuck around for all those years trying to make things work. But your mother isn’t like me. She’s a decent person who took her marriage vows to heart.
“And she didn’t leave me for your father. She had nothing to do with him the whole time we were married. Do you understand that?”
“If that’s true—”
Howard nodded. “That’s right. I left her. For someone else.”
All this time he’d believed his mother had been the one to walk away, to fall out of love. Again. But the relationship hadn’t been about love. It had been Howard who left. Why hadn’t she ever told him?
You didn’t let her. Wanted nothing to do with her.
Not just her. He’d wanted nothing to do with his father either.
Was sick of the games they’d played with each other. With him.
But, if what Howard said was true . . .
Howard stood. “Well, it’s been good seeing you, son.”
Reed frowned. “Where are you going? I still owe you an update on the Riverfront project.”
“I already know what’s going on. I met with Daniela two days ago on that.”
“Then why did you insist we meet today?”
Howard let out another hearty laugh. “Yep, just like your father. Clueless.”
He clapped Reed on the shoulder, then pulled him into a big bear hug.
“Take care, son.”
Reed stood there staring long after Howard left, his mind whirling with everything he’d just learned.
Chapter 19
Ashley ambled into the cozy, bright kitchen at Max and Nicole’s high-rise apartment on Saturday morning. Quiet chatter came from the rooftop deck. She poured a cup of coffee, added milk and sugar and then went outside to investigate. The warm summer sun blazed high overhead.
“Morning.” Ashley ambled over to join Max and Nicole seated at a round, wrought-iron table with a fire-engine-red canvas umbrella, a matching tablecloth, and seat cushions.
Nicole glanced up from the newspaper spread out before her. “More like afternoon. You slept late.”
Yes. That happened when you were up most of the night.
“Come and join us.” Max tapped the chair beside him.
“Did you sleep well?” Nicole asked.
Ashley sat and placed her cup on the table. She’d been looking for a way to begin the conversation they needed to have. This was as good as any. “No, but not because your spare bed wasn’t comfortable. It was. Has been for the three days I’ve been here.” They’d insisted she stay and she’d agreed because she didn’t want to be alone.
Max flashed one of his dazzling smiles. “You're always welcome.”
Ashley grinned and then gave him a quick hug. “You actually mean that.”
Max’s eyes turned serious. “You’re family. Despite my idiot brother.”
Ashley shook her head. “Have you talked to him yet?”
Max rolled his eyes. “No.”
She sighed. “I don’t want to be the reason you two aren’t speaking.” When he only stared, a mutinous expression on his face, she added, “You can’t force him to do something he doesn’t want to do. Go and see him. Please. He needs you. He’s all alone.”
Max’s eyes widened. “How can you be sympathetic?”
“Don’t get me wrong. I still think he’s a total shithead.”
Nicole snorted, and Max chuckled.
Ashley smiled. “But shithead, or not, he’s your family, too. And despite what he thinks, he’s going to need both of you to get through this. Please don’t cut him out of your lives.”
“What about you?” Max asked. “I can’t imagine you’re going to want him around when we’re all together.”
She couldn’t have asked for a better opening for what she had to say. “That won’t be a problem because I won’t be around.”
Nicole gasped. “What?”
“I finally heard from Harvard. They accepted me. And I’ve decided to go.”
Nicole sucked in a quick breath. “You’re going to Harvard?”
Ashley nodded. “Yes.”
“But that means leaving Chicago and—” Nicole didn’t finish the sentence.
Max placed a hand over Nicole’s and squeezed. He gave her a loving smile and then turned to Ashley. “I think that’s great. Congratulations.”
