A Forever Love(32)

“Oh”—Aubrey rolled her gaze to the ceiling and raised her hands high—“I knew I was different. Not only did I not stack up in the supermodel department, but I was also your subordinate at Travati Financial. Wow, how cliché, the younger protégée sleeping with her boss, and then let’s follow that up with her getting pregnant.” She spun and faced him, her eyes narrowing. “I did not want to be that girl, that woman. That’s not who I am.”

No, that wasn’t who Aubrey Hayes was then or now. She was much more than a cliché or a gold digger or a one-night stand. She was more than all those things. She was unique and original, and she’d stirred him to his very core. Brought him in that one night to a place he couldn’t imagine and had wanted to visit again and again and again.

Justin stood. “You remember when you came to me, after that night, when you walked into my office?”

A flush started at her collarbones and colored her neck, finally pinkening her cheeks. She didn’t move or nod, but her eyebrow twitched an acknowledgement that she shared that memory.

“I had an entire speech prepared for exactly what would go down when we spoke.”

Aubrey’s tongue chased over her full bottom lip. She crossed her arms. “I’m quite certain you did. I’m sure it was lovely. You were very good at letting women down easily. An art form for you. A magical touch as I remember. Most of your former flings actually remained your friends after you got rid of them.”

“Oh, Aubrey.” He stepped closer. Lavender and mint, the scent of Aubrey, filled his nose. Her luscious red hair, wild and curly and untamed. “Do you have such little faith in your appeal?” He tilted his head and looked into her eyes. “The words that I’d prepared were not meant to make you leave, the words were meant to make you stay.”

Her lips parted. Her eyes widened. A sharp gasp.

“Was I wrong? Did I misinterpret our night together? All those months when we worked side by side. You and me, our rapport? I’d never had a relationship like that with any other woman, nor have I since.” His eyebrows creased. “Was I completely wrong in my assessment of what could have been between us?”

She turned from him. Stepped away from his touch, his nearness. Her arms crossed over her body. “No,” she said, her head tilted toward the floor, her entire body faced away from him. “You weren’t wrong.” Her voice was nearly a whisper. “But how could I possibly believe, then, with the life you had”—she turned and faced him now. Her expression a study in confusion and melancholy—“how could I have thought that I would be enough for you?”

His heart careened in his chest. She was right. He’d given her no indication that he’d wanted her after their night together. Instead he’d listened to her words and let her go with a hope that he’d one day win her over. That he’d be ready for a permanent relationship and she’d still be there, working with him at Travati Financial. He had such excellent instincts in business. Great timing. Both had helped him to acquire his fortune, but they had been completely off where Aubrey was concerned.

Her eyes held an openness, a vulnerability. He stepped toward her and he reached out and pressed his fingertips to her cheek. “I wanted you. I wanted us … but I also realized that demanding that you make a different choice when it came to our night together would mean losing you.”

How could she forgive him, trust him, after the other night? He’d been so hard, so callous, so angry, and yet here she was, baring her soul to him, making herself vulnerable to him, telling him about the mistake she’d made due to her own fears. How could any person allow themselves to be so emotionally vulnerable again and again and again? And yet Aubrey did, was doing so now. His heart swelled; in many ways she’d been much too good for him then and was still too good for him now.

The heat pounding through his body wasn’t just desire, not just lust, but the memory of the feeling of wanting to protect her, to make her his, to take care of her and her soft, vulnerable side that spoke to him as no other woman had.

He nodded. “You came into my office and used words like professionalism and career and not wanting to be the woman sleeping with her boss.” His fingertips pressed up from her cheek and over her hair. Soft as silk. “I couldn’t be the man to keep you away from your own dreams.” He shook his head. “But instead, I lost you anyway. You left. I should have come after you, chased you, found you.”

“You weren’t ready and neither was I.” She tilted her cheek into his touch.