For Business...Or Marriage? (11 page)

C
ade sat in his office. His lonely, quiet office.

He’d been back in San Francisco for two days and not a word from Abby. She’d left the hotel so fast, by the time he’d explained his actions to his nosy brother and gotten back up to the room, she was gone. Her luggage was still there, but she’d requested for everything to be sent to her home address.

She’d charged the shipping, an airline ticket and cab fare to the company credit card.

Not that he cared. He’d handled this whole situation in the worst possible way. Instead of saving her from dealing with the mess, he put her right smack-dab in the middle of it and ripped her heart out in the process.

The electronic ding sounded, indicating someone
had walked into the lobby. Cade sighed and knew it was now also his job to greet new clients.

But, before he could get from behind his desk, Mona appeared in the doorway with a large, blue folder in hand.

“Busy?” she asked.

Other than the fact his office skills sucked, the temp replacement was late, he’d ruined the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he was trying to figure out how the hell to fix the mess?

“No,” he replied, gesturing to the burgundy wing-back chair across from his desk. “Have a seat.”

She laid the folder on his desk and sat down. “These are the legal papers from my father. He said you and Brady need to sign all five copies. One for each of you, one for me and one for each of our companies’ attorneys.”

Cade opened the folder and scanned the heading. “This can’t be.”

“There’s no mistake,” she assured him. “My father still wants to go into business with you and Brady. He’s actually thrilled about the endeavor.”

Cade looked back up. “Why? I called off the wedding.”

Mona smiled. “Before I could.”

“What?”

“I’ve fallen in love,” she explained. “I didn’t know who I was more afraid of upsetting, you or my father. And now that you’ve also fallen for someone, this will all be so much easier.”

How the hell did everyone know what he was feeling?

“You were going to call off the wedding? But you had a dress shipped here,” he reminded her, thinking he needed to give the thing back before she left. It was taking up way too much room in his coat closet.

She smiled and tucked a strand of ebony hair behind her ear. “I did. I figured I needed to keep up my end of the deal, but when I got your message that you needed to talk to me and it was urgent, I hoped that was the reason.”

“I hated to leave a voice mail, but I was running out of time,” Cade explained. “I hated having two women think they were the one in my life. It wasn’t fair to anyone.”

“Especially you,” Mona added.

Cade smiled. She really was a beautiful woman. But all her body-hugging business suits and perfectly placed hair were nothing compared to the beauty of Abby when she’d woken that morning he’d given her the pearls.

The signal from the front door chimed again and Cade came to his feet.

“Excuse me just a second.”

But, yet again, he was too slow to make it to the lobby before Abby entered his office.

She didn’t look half as miserable as he felt. The tan she’d gotten from their traveling only added to her natural beauty. Her golden hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders and her knee-length baby
blue sundress only made her look that much more wholesome and innocent.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking past Cade to Mona. “I just came by to get some of my things from my desk. I won’t get in the way.”

Cade had a feeling she was talking about a lot more than the present meeting.

“You’re not in the way,” he told her, but he was talking to her retreating back.

“Damn,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair and turning to Mona.

She came to her feet. “I’m leaving. Talk to her. I’m sorry if I caused this.”

“You didn’t,” he assured her. “I did all this damage on my own.”

“Just sign those papers,” she reminded him. “I’ll come for the dress later. I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”

Smart and beautiful. “You’ll make some man very happy.”

She smiled and left, leaving Cade to his own misery and mess.

As he went to his doorway, his heart clenched at the sight of Abby taking a box of pictures from her bottom drawer. He’d never seen that box or the contents, but he could only assume it held treasured pictures of her mother.

“Can you come in here for a minute?” he asked.

She turned, clutching the box to her chest. “I think we’ve said everything. Let’s not rehash the mistakes we made.”

“I know I don’t deserve your time, but I’m asking for one minute anyway.”

Abby sighed. “One minute.”

Elated from such a small victory, Cade stepped aside, allowing her to pass through.

“You said you loved me,” he said without much thought to how he would actually use his one precious minute.

“I did.”

He quirked a brow. “Did?”

“Fine. I do. I can’t turn my feelings for people on and off, Cade. I’m human. Is that what you called me in here for? To hear that I love you so I could add to your ego trip? Mona’s visit wasn’t enough?”

Cade eased toward her, even though he knew it wasn’t a smart move. “I deserve that. But I have to tell you—”

That damn chime to the door sounded again.

“Better go get that,” she told him. “You’re short an assistant.”

He groaned and made his way to get rid of whoever was in the lobby.

A young, college-aged woman stood holding a purse and a folder. “Hi. I’m Kelly Armstrong from the temp agency.”

She couldn’t have been five minutes later?

“Have a seat.” He gestured to the empty desk. “I’ll be out in five minutes.”

Just as he turned to go back into his office, Abby brushed past him and out the door.

“Is this a bad time?” the temp asked.

Cade glanced over his shoulder. “Actually, yes it is. I will make sure you get paid for today, but is there any way you could just come back in the morning?”

“Absolutely.”

Once she was gone, Cade went back into his office and froze.

The legal documents to form the multi-billion-dollar merger were spread across his desk. He had not done that. He’d left them in a neat stack.

Obviously, Abby had shuffled through them. And left her own mark.

Coiled on top of one of the papers were his grandmother’s pearls.

Abby didn’t sulk. Really. She liked to think shopping and buying outrageous items she couldn’t afford was simply a cleansing of her life. Hard on the credit card, but a nice, temporary pick-me-up.

She hadn’t used her credit card for months and she was certainly making up for it.

Shoes, purses, raw silk dresses with the skinny belts, a variety of summer casual clothes—those made her happy. But when she went into an upscale furniture store and picked out a brand-new bedroom suite, that elated her…for now.

A mahogany sleigh bed—to be delivered in two days—would look nice with the jewel-toned bedding set she’d seen in a catalog. She also picked out a matching armoire and dresser. She didn’t care that all
this enormous furniture would take up the majority of her studio apartment.

On her drive back to her apartment, Abby felt a bit better about the new things in her life. But she knew nothing, absolutely nothing, could fill the void. Just like she knew she had no one to blame but herself.

Was she sorry she’d gone after what she’d wanted? No. At least she’d had a few days of loving Cade. Just because he didn’t want to accept her gift, didn’t mean she’d change anything.

She wasn’t going to beg, she wasn’t going to grovel. But she also wasn’t going to sit around and mope, feeling sorry for herself.

Abby let herself into her apartment and dumped her bags onto the sofa. She upended them, spilling out all the skirts, dresses, capris, tanks, halters and other goodies. She grabbed the first colorful, cheery top she saw and a pair of khaki shorts.

Starting right now she was going to make something of her life and come Monday morning, she’d hit the pavement once again to look for a job. But for tonight, she was going to have some fun.

Her thighs burned, her body ached, but she held on.

Abby tightened her legs around the bull as she jerked back and forth.

“Woo!”

“Go, girl!”

The cheers from the crowd added with her own determination had Abby holding on until the end.

She’d beaten the bull again.

“A new record for Bulls ’N Beers,” the DJ announced. “Twenty seconds!”

Abby gripped the outstretched hands and hopped off the stage. She slid back into her wedged sandals and smiled as people patted her on the back and offered their remarks of amazement.

Making her way over to the bar for a drink—her first of the night—Abby felt a small tingle of victory for setting a record on the bull.

“I’ll take whatever you have on tap that’s light,” she told the bartender.

“Put it on my tab.”

Abby turned to the sound of the voice she’d tried for days to get out of her head. Unfortunately, seeing the man was much, much worse than hearing him.

And he looked agonizingly good. Did she expect anything less than perfect from Cade Stone?

With his tan, bronzed skin against his baby blue polo, he looked like a beach boy taking a break from CEO life.

“Here you go, young lady.”

Abby turned to get her drink and pulled a five from her pocket. “I pay for my own drinks. Keep the change.”

Cade slid his fingers around her arm and turned her back to face him. “Come with me.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

He ignored her glare—which she thought was her meanest look—and tugged her with him. Since she didn’t want to cause a scene, she went along.

But he didn’t go outside as she’d thought he would. He waded through the crowd and went down a narrow, dimly lit hallway and into an office. Once he ushered her inside, he closed the door.

“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded.

“I’m making you listen to me.” He reached out, took the beer from her hand and set it on the glass-top coffee table. “And I want you lucid when you do.”

Lucid? Had he thought she’d been drinking all night? Hmm…funny.

Without a word, Abby crossed her arms and waited. Please, please don’t let him say how sorry he was for their time together and that this was for the best. She would absolutely crumble right here if he announced their brief relationship was only a fling.

“Can we sit?” he asked, gesturing toward the old black leather couch against the wall.

For a second she thought about ignoring his request, but if he was going to hammer home the fact he had to marry Mona, Abby wanted a firm foundation beneath her.

She walked around the coffee table and sat on the far end of the couch, thankful that Cade sat at the other end.

“Everything that has happened since we were in Kauai has been one misunderstanding after another,” he explained. “I couldn’t approach you until now, now when everything was chaotic around me.”

Abby’s heart started beating again for what seemed like the first time since Mona’s voice mail. But she
didn’t want to get her hopes up. She couldn’t stand another blow mentally.

He ran a hand through his hair and Abby’s anticipation kicked up a notch. He was nervous.

“First, let me say that Mona and I aren’t getting married.”

“Because of what happened between us?” Abby asked.

“Yes and no.” He eased forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “I’d been calling her while we were gone last week to explain I couldn’t marry her while I was having strong feelings for you, but she never answered my calls. Finally I left a brief message on her voice mail telling her I had to talk about the engagement and I needed her to call me.”

Because she couldn’t sit still, Abby crossed her legs, pleased when Cade’s eyes followed her movement and his jaw clenched.

“A few days after that,” Cade went on, “I called her father and told him that I was sorry, that I couldn’t marry Mona, but if he’d still like to work out a deal, I’d be willing to listen.

“I didn’t think he’d go for it, but this morning Mona brought papers by my office.”

Abby allowed the excitement to build within her. There was no way he would be telling her this if he didn’t want to be with her. Would he?

But, since she’d suffered, she allowed him to go on. This was petty, she knew, but he deserved it.

He eased over a bit on the sofa and stared into her eyes. “Mona also came to tell me she was going to
call off the wedding, as well, because she’d found someone. She wasn’t sure how to tell her father or me, so that’s why she called you and sent the dress. She felt as if she had to keep this up until she could confess.”

Abby wasn’t quite sure what to think. But she did have some questions.

“Would you have given in and married her if her father had turned down any other idea?” she asked.

“No.”

He didn’t hesitate and his eyes never wavered from hers. This was a good sign.

“So why are you here? And how did you know I was here?” She held up a hand. “The owner called again, right?”

“Yes. I asked him to watch for you. I thought you might come here since this is where you came when you found out about the wedding initially.”

He knew her so well.

She swallowed. “What do you want from me?”

“Everything.” He came to his feet, reached in his pocket and pulled out a small, black pouch. “You left these.”

He pulled the strand of pearls out and took her hand to pull her to her feet. “I want everything from you, Abby, that you are willing to give me. Your life, babies, your love.”

Abby’s knees shook, her eyes filled. “What will you give me in return?”

He clasped the necklace around her neck. “My life, babies. My love.”

Abby closed her eyes, absorbing the moment. Tears slipped out and down her face. When the softness of Cade’s fingertips swiped at the moisture, she opened her eyes and met his.

“I love you, Abby. Realizing that was worth so much more than a multi-billion-dollar deal.”

She smiled and knew he meant every word.