Billionaire's Contract Engagement(31)

No, she wouldn't leave again. She was through discovering the world. Her world was here. Home. Where her family lived.

The sliding-glass doors opened and Noah stepped out. She turned all the  way around in her chair to greet him, but stopped when she saw the  expression on his face.

"I was about to say good morning," she said as he came over and plopped down beside her.

He sighed and held out another newspaper. "I thought about not showing  you this, but I knew if something was being said about me, I'd want to  know about it so I wouldn't be blindsided."

Dread began low in her stomach. She stared fearfully at the extended  paper. Then her disgust overcame her apprehension and she plucked it  from his hand.

There in black and white for the entire Bay area to see was a detailed  account of all that had happened in New York. Oh, it was a blatant smear  campaign. It was written in the guise of an article announcing the deal  brokered between Reese Enterprises and Maddox Communications.

It detailed her job history, colorful as it was, to the present and  hinted broadly about there being a relationship between her and Evan.

Nothing was left to the imagination. Everything she'd worked so hard to overcome had been splashed in excruciating detail.

She should be angry. Furious even. But what she felt was. resignation.

She looked up into the worried eyes of her brother as the realization hit her.

It would always be something. Evan was right to be angry that she'd  placed more importance on what others thought of her than she did what  he thought of her.

As long as the people she loved knew the truth, it shouldn't matter what  some stranger thought. Brock believed in her and her abilities. She had  the backing of her agency. Her family loved her unconditionally. Evan  evidently didn't care who knew they were involved, so why should she?

For the first time in a long while, she looked at her life with a sense  of deep gratitude. For so long she'd been shaped by external forces. Her  desire to shed the protective grasp of her family. Her need to escape  from the scandal in New York and prove herself to everyone around her.         

     



 

The only person she'd been proving anything to was herself. Everyone else had known all along what kind of person she was.

"Oh, Noah, I've been so stupid," she whispered.

He cocked his head in confusion. She responded by throwing her arms  around his neck and hugging him fiercely. Then she drew away and kissed  him on the cheek.

"Thank you."

He still looked supremely puzzled. "For what?"

"For opening my eyes. I've been so very blind to what was in front of me all along."

He grinned crookedly. "Well, okay. Do me a favor and the next time Adam  and Dalton start riding my ass, you remind them that I opened your eyes.  Whatever that means."

She smiled back. "What it means is that I'm through trying to please  others. I'm through caring what they think about me. The only people in  this world who matter to me already believe the best of me. What more do  I need?"

"Don't let these bastards get you down, Cece. You're right. We love you  to pieces and nothing anyone ever insinuates is going to change that.  Furthermore, I know good and damn well that the girl I helped raise  isn't a manipulative, calculating bitch who doesn't care who she hurts  on her way up the corporate ladder."

She hugged him again. "Thank you, Noah. You have no idea what that means to me."

He leaned away, still holding her arms. "So what about Evan?"

She pressed her lips together. "He told me not to bother crawling back  if I changed my mind. Well, too bad. I made a mistake. It's not the end  of the world. We all make them. I'm sure he's made his share. He was  angry and I'm sure he didn't mean half of what he said. I'm going to  make him listen to me. Then I'm going to take the leap and tell him I  love him and hope like hell that doesn't make him run for cover."

Noah touched her cheek in a tender gesture. "If he does, he's a fool who doesn't deserve you. Remember that, okay?"

She glanced down at her rumpled appearance. She shuddered to think what  her hair looked like. She's spent the last three days moping.

"I need to go jump in the shower and then I have some apologizing to do in person."

Noah got up, leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "Good luck."

He held his hand out to help her up. She hurried inside, determined not  to waste another minute without telling Evan she was sorry and that she  loved him.

She took a while in the shower mainly because she was working out just  what she wanted to say to Evan. Simple vanity also made her want to look  her absolute best. I mean, who went and groveled when they looked like a  hag with a hangover?

She pulled on a robe and twisted a towel around her hair. Then she  walked through her bedroom and into the hall on her way to the kitchen.  She needed something to eat, and she needed to tell her dad she'd be  leaving in the next hour.

When she rounded the corner into the living room, she looked up and  nearly fell over in shock. There, sitting on her father's couch, was  Evan. Noah and her father were nowhere to be found.

"Oh, no," she whispered. "No, no, no." This wasn't supposed to be the way she confronted him.

She turned, intending to make a mad dash for her bedroom and shut the  door until she could make herself presentable. He caught her before  she'd gone three steps.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms. "No, Celia, don't go. Please."

She moaned in frustration. "Dammit, Evan. You've ruined everything. I  was going to look nice when I came to apologize. Now I'm in my bathrobe  and my hair is all wet and in a towel. I don't even have any makeup on."

Then it hit her. What was he doing here? At her dad's? How had he even known where to find her and, moreover, why would he care?

He chuckled and pulled her even closer. "I don't give a damn what you  look like. I need to talk to you. Personally I don't think you've ever  looked better to me."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you doing here, Evan? How did  you know where to find me? I was about to leave to go find you."

"Then it's good we found each other," he said softly.

He tugged her back into the living room. "Come sit with me, Celia. Please. There's so much I need to say to you."

"Ditto," she murmured.

She let him pull her down beside him on the couch, even if she was still  horrified by the fact she was wearing a robe, with nothing on  underneath, and she was wearing a wet towel on her head, for God's sake.

But when she looked at him, she promptly forgot all that. All she knew  was that she loved this man, and she'd do anything to make things right  between them.         

     



 

"I'm sorry," she said in a low, shaky voice.

He pressed a finger to her lips. "Shh. I don't want to hear that word  cross your lips. It's me who is sorry. I was an ass. I said despicable  things to you."

Her eyes widened, and she felt the ridiculous urge to cry again, as if she hadn't done enough of that in the last few days.

"First, I want to talk about this," he said as he drew out the dreaded newspaper clipping from his pocket.

She froze, her stomach seizing with dread.

"Don't look like that. I don't believe a word of it. But it's obviously  an important part of your past. It hurt you and it's affected a good  portion of our relationship. I want you to tell me what really  happened."

Her lips trembled and she twisted her hands nervously in her lap. "I got  out of college, intending to rule the world. I moved to New York. I  loved it there. Such a big, busy city, and I was away from home, away  from my family. At the time that was important to me. I was stupid."

"I think we all go through the desperate need to get away from our family," Evan said.

She shrugged. "So there I was, out to take on the world. I landed a job  with a prestigious agency and I worked my butt off to advance as rapidly  as possible. I was good and I knew it. So when I got promoted, it  wasn't a surprise to me. There were people who'd been there longer who  were pissed, but I knew I deserved it. I felt like I deserved it.

"And then one day my boss called me in his office to congratulate me,  and he let me know at the same time what he expected in return for the  favor he'd granted me."

"Son of a bitch," Evan growled.

"I was horrified. And a bit naive because I honestly hadn't seen it  coming. I didn't even know what to do at first, other than turn him down  flat. I was stupid enough to think that would be the end of it."

Evan scowled and reached over to take her hand.

"I buried myself in work, convinced that if I worked harder, landed more  accounts, that he'd just go away. One night I was working late and he  dropped in to see how I was doing."

She made a derisive sound deep in her throat. The memory strangled her. She hated that helpless feeling.

"He came onto me hard and didn't intend to take no for an answer. He  probably would have raped me if his wife hadn't burst in. I think she  knew what was going on, but she didn't care. She had her way out of the  marriage and a way to make him pay for everything he'd ever done wrong  to her in their marriage.