A Forever Love (13 page)

“That’s not what happened.” His voice was soft. A long sigh. His eyes searched the ceiling of the bedroom. “I got sick.”

She pressed upward on her forearms. “What do you mean—”

“We kept it private. A secret. We had to. We were in the middle of a huge deal, and if they’d found out something was wrong … that I was ill, the deal would have collapsed and Travati Financial … Well, let’s say Max’s inheritance wouldn’t be available to him.”

“He doesn’t need your money.”

“He may not need it, but he’s going to take it.” He peered into her eyes. “You’ve had him for fifteen years, Aubrey, and I haven’t even met him. He’s my son. My only son, and the only child I can ever have. Until two days ago, I didn’t think I’d ever get to have a child.”

She sat with his words. Held them close and replayed them in her mind. “No wonder you were so mad.”

“Right. Well, that’s no excuse to be cruel. There’s no excuse for that.” He pressed her chin up and looked into her eyes. “I’m sorry. I behaved very, very poorly.”

Aubrey nodded. “I’m sorry too. I kept your son”—her voice cracked—“oh my goodness, I kept your son, and if you’d died …” She rolled onto her back and pressed her fingers to her lips. “If you’d died, he never would have known you and you never would have known him and …” She shook her head, nearly unable to process the thought, not wanting to process the idea that she might have kept these two men who shared the closest of bonds from ever meeting each other. They would meet, Justin and Max. She knew this needed to happen, no matter the fear that clutched her heart. The urge to flee, to seek out the familiar, pulsed through her body.

“I need to go.” She pulled the blanket from her body, and the cool air prickled her flesh. This was just sex, wasn’t it? Glorious sex, but only sex. Pent-up emotion that had been used to communicate. Her head told her so, and yet her heart …

She turned toward Justin. He lay in bed, sprawled on his back, his eyes blinking at the ceiling. Yet she wished there could be more, more than just the want and need and desire of fifteen years, more than the memory of a night that haunted them both. Could it be more? She wasn’t certain how. Her fear, her lie, still lay between them, a giant weight that pulled her down to earth after a night of flying amongst the stars.

“We have a wedding tomorrow, rehearsal dinner tonight, there’s so much work to get done.” She bent toward the floor and gathered up his T-shirt, then slipped it over her head, a gesture almost too familiar, and yet the scent of Justin that enveloped her made it worthwhile. She wanted to crawl back into bed, to rest her head in the crook of his arm, to feel him pull her tighter to him and have the morning to make love, but the spell seemed to have broken. The faded light behind the curtains grew brighter. Dad would be up already, and while they didn’t live in the same quarters, most likely he’d know she hadn’t slept at home. There would be no questions of course—she was a grown woman—but there would be looks from those stern eyes that always seemed to say the things to her that Dad rarely said out loud.

Her feet touched the cool floorboards and she pushed her body upward.

“Aubrey?” His voice was rough from sleep.

She turned toward him, hope in her heart that he would ask her to stay, that he would say that he forgave her and that last night wasn’t a fluke, hope that he would repeat all the words he’d wanted to say to her the morning after their night together fifteen years before. She held tight to the silence, learning from the past mistake of blurting out the words that she’d not meant fifteen years before. She’d wanted him, then, to tell her to stay, to be his, but he hadn’t. What a silly young girl she’d been.

“Yes?”

He pressed his lips into a firm line, and his head swiveled toward her. She pushed down a gasp at just how stunningly beautiful the man who lay in the bed beside her was. Shockingly handsome and completely male, entirely male, so very male that her shoulders trembled and her body feel like Jell-O.

“The documents should get here today. I’ll bring them by. For you to sign. Admission of Max’s paternity.”

Her heart fell. Not because she was giving him the piece of Max that was entirely his, but because she’d wanted different words to come from Justin’s lips.

“Of course.” She stood and gathered her hair into a ponytail and wrapped a loose tendril of hair into a circle to hold it back. “I’ll be in the my office most of the day. Or in the dining room preparing for tonight. Find me. I’ll sign them.”

After a swift nod from him, she turned and walked toward the bathroom. Yes, she had much to accomplish today, and one of the most important things was making certain she didn’t let herself get a broken heart.

*

“How goes business in Dubai?” Justin sat at the desk downstairs with his laptop open. He’d showered and shaved. There was fruit, a splendidly prepared frittata, and a fresh carafe of coffee waiting for him when he’d arrived on the first floor. No Aubrey. All traces of her were removed. Her dress, her shoes, even the remnants of the panties that he’d snapped from her body. His sex grew hard with the memory.

“They want more time before we close,” Leo said. It was late in the Arab Emirates, and his brother looked as though he hadn’t been sleeping.

“More time? What the hell for?”

“They say there’s one more vote from the board that needs to take place.”

“But you don’t believe them?”

Leo scrubbed his hand over his stubbled jaw. “I think they’re stalling. Either waiting for us to panic and offer more money or—”

“Or what?”

“Or there’s another bidder in the mix.”

“What the hell? How can there be another bidder? We have an oral agreement, a contract—”

“Things work a little differently over here, brother. We both know that from the past five deals. My sources are checking it out, but my gut tells me they’re wavering on numbers and then they’ll hit us with their best shot.”

What was a done deal a week ago was now tenuous? “This isn’t good,” Justin said. While Travati Financial was privately held, they still had debt, plus the credit they’d taken on to purchase the two smaller companies for this specific deal—companies with overhead that they’d thought would be immediately put to work once this “done deal” officially closed. “Damn. Thoughts?”

“Working it out, big brother, still working it out. Looks like you’re relaxed though. Is that a T-shirt I see you in? On a workday?”

“Casual Friday.”

Leo laughed.

There was very little casual about Justin. He believed in dressing for success and, to the chagrin of all employees in the New York offices of Travati Financial, had not ever agreed to institute a casual dress code, not even on Fridays.

“See you’re enjoying the luxuries of Kansas.”

Justin’s chest tightened. What did Leo know or think he knew?

“How goes it?”

“Nearly complete.” He’d spoken to his attorneys earlier that day, and the necessary paperwork was being sent before evening.

“Back in the office Monday then?”

Justin wished he could give his brother a definitive answer. As much as he missed New York and the busy urban streets, he wasn’t certain he’d back to his beloved Manhattan by Monday.

“Not sure yet, this …” What did he want to call what he was doing? Justin didn’t want to lie, but he wasn’t yet ready to share with Leo that he had a son and that Leo was now an uncle. “This is taking longer than expected.”

“All the Travati brothers are spending way more time hammering out deals they thought were closed, eh?” Leo gazed past his computer screen, the lines of fatigue around his eyes and mouth obvious even over the computer.

“Seems like. I’m off to make a conference call. You’ll keep me informed?”

Leo nodded. “Always do. And you the same?”

Justin nodded. He was, in fact, lying to his brother by omission. The hypocrisy of his actions wasn’t lost on him. He needed to meet Max and then find the right time, the right moment, preferably when all four Travati brothers were together, to actually tell them that not only did he have a son, but they, his brothers, were Max’s uncles.

“When I have news,” Justin lied, “you’ll be the first to know.”

*

“You did what?” Nina gasped, her voice so loud that half the Rockwater Farms kitchen staff turned to look at Nina and Aubrey.

“Shhh, I’m already the town harlot. Do you have to give them rumors to spread?”

“Oh please.” Nina waved her hand. “You’re a grown woman. Besides, kitchen staff always need something to gossip about.”

Nina, coffee cup in hand, followed Aubrey into her office. The muscles of Aubrey’s legs were sore. All the right muscles ached in all the right places for all the right reasons. She smiled, and then the smile slid from her face with the realization that there wouldn’t be a repeat of last night. They’d sign the paternity papers sometime today and then hammer out the details of Justin meeting Max and when Max and Justin would spend time together.

“Little hungover?” Nina asked.

“No booze,” Aubrey said. The passion last night hadn’t been fueled by alcohol. This was real, honest-to-goodness attraction, the kind that swept your feet from beneath you and yanked your breath from your lungs. She’d had the same exact feeling fifteen years ago, the first time she’d slept with Justin. “Besides, we both know that drunk isn’t an excuse. Stopped being one in college.”

“True.” Nina tilted her coffee cup to her lips. “Details, please.”

Aubrey sank into her office chair. Her emotions were near the surface, and she was so conflicted when it came to Justin. She’d told him he was the father of her child, then three days later had the most mind-blowing sex she’d had in fifteen years. Fifteen years.

“It was amazing.” She looked out the window of her office. She wasn’t happy or excited. There was too much weighing on her to feel the elation that should come after a night of mind-blowing sex. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, then looked at Nina. “And complicated. Last night shouldn’t have happened. There’s already conflict and emotion and challenges, and this just … Well, it muddies the waters and makes everything even more difficult.”

“Love usually isn’t easy.” Nina swallowed a sip of coffee. “Or it hasn’t been for me.”

“Love?” Aubrey’s eyes narrowed on her sister. “I’m not in
love
with Justin Travati.”

“You have your story and I have mine.”

“Really, Nina? You’ve been cooking for too many weddings.” She reached out and pressed the On button for her computer. “We were together one night fifteen years ago.”

“And you worked with him for a year and a half before and three months after. Never had sex again and now share a child with him.”

“We don’t know each other well enough to be in love.” She clicked on her calendar and to-do list for today. “Besides,” she mumbled, “I’m not even certain he likes me.”

“Mm-hmm. I can see that, especially after the secret you kept for fifteen years.”

Aubrey glanced over her computer screen and toward her sister. “Exactly. But thanks for mentioning it again. I hadn’t quite forgotten that I kept Max away from his father for nearly forever.”

“Fourteen years isn’t forever.”

“Justin got sick after I left.”

“How sick?”

“Could have died sick, from the way it sounded.” She leaned back in her chair. “Can’t have any more children.”

“Oh.” Nina overemphasized the shape of her lips. She raised both eyebrows. “That explains some of the anger.” Her gaze slid toward the ceiling. “Wow. Just wow. So you leave, he nearly dies, finds out he can’t have children, thought he’d never have children, then discovers that he does have a child.” Nina tilted her head to the side. “That could make for a little rage.” Her gaze met Aubrey’s. “How exactly did he discover Max?”

“E-mail.” Aubrey clasped her hands together and set them on her desk. “From Max.”

“I wondered,” Nina said. “Everything seemed a bit too coincidental. So what did Maxie say when you told him his dad had arrived?”

Aubrey’s heart rate shot up, and she clasped her hands even tighter. Her eyes locked to Nina’s. “Haven’t told him yet.”

Nina’s jaw dropped open. “Really? Have you learned nothing from the last secret you tried to keep?”

Having a sister could be the best of times and the worst of times, and right this very moment, while it was good to have someone to speak with, it wasn’t so great to have Nina judging her and throwing the errors of her past into her lap.

“The man
just
got here.”

“Five nights ago,” Nina said. She stepped toward Aubrey’s desk. “You have to tell Max. You either call him or drive up to Camp Willow, but this can’t wait. He’s already angry that you wouldn’t tell him a stitch about his father, and now the man has arrived and you didn’t say anything?”

Aubrey closed her eyes. When Nina said it like that, it sounded even more horrendous than when she played it out in her mind. “I’m trying to do this gently, methodically, the right way.”

“Last time it took you fifteen years, and you still didn’t do it. Seriously, Aub, if you want to maintain any credibility with Max, you’ll tell him today. Maybe even in person.”

“Have you seen this list?” Aubrey turned her computer screen toward Nina. “We have a rehearsal dinner for seventy-five people tonight and then a wedding for two hundred tomorrow.”

“Call Cassidy. She’ll come in early. She can totally handle tonight, and you’ll be here for tomorrow.”

“You really think this is the time for me to run away to Camp Willow to get Max?”

“I think that, as you say, you have one chance to do this right, and if Max discovers that not only was his father here but you didn’t tell him, you will lose all your son’s trust.”

“That’s not fair.”

“No, it’s not. Nor is it fair that Max had to wait this long to meet Justin or that Justin never knew about Max. You can’t control everything, Aubrey. This one has spun away from you. You’ve got to do this, and you’ve got to do this now.”

Aubrey pressed her lips together. The heat behind her eyes threatened tears. She locked her jaw and stared at her desk. “I’m just trying to do the right thing.” She looked up at Nina.