Billionaire's Contract Engagement(46)

She turned to Ash and flashed him a shaky smile. "I'm ready."

She got out and waited by the elevator while Ash collected their bags  from the trunk. He pushed the button for the elevator and it immediately  opened. They stepped inside and he slipped a key in a lock on the  panel, then hit the button for the top floor.

"Does everyone need a key?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Only our floor."

She wondered why, and how many other condos were on the top floor. She  was going to ask, but the movement of the elevator made her so dizzy it  was all she could do to stay upright. Besides, as the elevator came to a  stop and the doors slid open, she got her answer.

They stepped off the elevator not into a hallway, but in a small  vestibule in front of a set of double doors. Doors that led directly  into their condo! They weren't a condo on the sixth floor. They were the  sixth floor, and what she saw inside when he unlocked the door  literally took her breath away. The entire living area-kitchen, dining  room and family room-was one huge open space with a ceiling two stories  high, bordered by a wall of windows that overlooked the ocean.

The floors were mahogany, with a shine so deep she could see herself in  it. The kitchen looked ultramodern and she was guessing it had every  device and gadget on the market. The furniture looked trendy but  comfortable, and everything, from the oriental rugs to light fixtures,  screamed top-of-the-line.

For a second she just stood there frozen, wondering if, as some sick  joke, he'd taken her to someone else's condo. If they really lived here,  how could she not remember it?

Ash set the bags on the floor and dropped his keys on a trendy little  drop-leaf table beside the door. He started to walk toward the kitchen,  but when he realized she wasn't moving, he stopped and turned to her.  "Are you coming in?"

"You told me you do okay," she said, and at his confused look she added,  "financially. But you do way better than okay, don't you?"

He grinned and said, "A little bit better than okay."

Her fiancé was loaded. She lived in a loft condo overlooking the ocean.  It was almost too much to take in all at once. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged. "It just didn't seem that important. And I didn't want to overwhelm you."

"Oh, awesome idea, because I'm not the least bit overwhelmed now!" She was so freaked out she was practically hyperventilating.

"I take it nothing looks familiar."

"Curiously, no. And you'd think I would have remembered this."

"Why don't I show you around?"

She nodded and followed him to the kitchen, looking out the bank of  windows as they passed, and the view was so breathtaking she had to  stop. She could see sailboats and ships on the water and they had a  phenomenal view of the Bay Bridge.

Ash stepped up behind her. "Nice view, huh?"

"It's. amazing."

"That's why I bought this place. I always wanted a place by the water."

"How long have you lived here?"

"I bought it after the divorce was final. Right before we met. You've  lived here almost as long as I have. You've always said that your  favorite room is the kitchen."

She could see why. The cabinets had a mahogany base with frosted glass  doors; the countertops were black granite. All the appliances, even the  coffeemaker, were stainless steel and it looked as functional as it was  aesthetically pleasing. "Do I cook?"

"You're an excellent cook."

She hoped that was one of those things that just came naturally.

There was a laundry room and half bath behind the kitchen, then they  moved on to the bedrooms, which were sectioned off on the right side of  the loft. Three huge rooms, each with its own full bath and an enormous  walk-in closet. He used one as a home office, one was the master, and  the third he told her was hers.

"We don't share?" she asked, trying hard to disguise her disappointment.

"Well, you've always used this as an office and kept your clothes and  things in here. I just figured that until things settle down, maybe you  should sleep here, too."

But what if she wanted to sleep with him?

He's only thinking of your health, she assured herself. She knew that if  they slept in the same bed they would be tempted to do things that she  just was not ready for. Look what had happened in the hotel. And last  night she had wanted so badly to climb out of her own bed and slip into  his.         

     



 

She walked over to the closet and stepped inside, looking at all of her  belongings. She ran her hands over the shirts and slacks and dresses,  feeling the soft, expensive fabrics, disheartened by how unfamiliar it  all was.

"Well?" Ash asked, leaning in the closet doorway, looking so casually  sexy in faded jeans and an untucked, slightly rumpled polo shirt, his  hair stilled mussed from driving with the windows down, that she had the  bone-deep feeling that as long as they had each other, everything would  be okay.

"They're nice clothes, but I don't recognize them."

"It'll come to you, just-"

"Be patient, I know. I'm trying."

"What are you planning to do now?"

"Look through my things, I guess. It's weird, but it feels almost like I'll be snooping."

"If it's okay with you," he said, "I'm going to go to the office for a while."

They'd barely been back ten minutes and already he was going to leave her alone? "But we just got here."

"I know, but I'll only be a couple of hours," he assured her. "You'll be  fine. Why don't you relax and take some time familiarizing yourself  with the condo. And you look like you could use a nap."

She didn't want him to go, but he had sacrificed so much already for  her. It was selfish to think that he didn't deserve to get back to his  life. And hadn't the doctor suggested she try to get back into her  regular routine as soon as possible?

"You're right," she told Ash. "I'll be fine."

"Get some rest. Oh, and don't forget that you're supposed to make an  appointment with that new doctor. The card is in your purse."

"I'll do it right away."

He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead, a soft and lingering brush of his lips, then he turned to leave.

"Ash?"

He turned back. "Yeah?"

"Thank you. For everything. I probably haven't said that enough. I know it's been a rough week, and you've been wonderful."

"I'm just glad to have you home," he said. He flashed her one last sweet  smile, then disappeared from sight. Not a minute later she heard the  jingle of his car keys, then the sound of the door opening and closing,  then silence.

As promised, the first thing she did was fish the doctor's card from her  purse and called to make the appointment. It was scheduled for Friday  of that week, three days away at nine in the morning. Ash would have to  drive her of course, which would mean him taking even more time off  work. Maybe he could just drop her off and pick her up. She wondered if  it was close to his work. The receptionist spouted off cross streets and  directions, none of which Melody recognized, but she dutifully jotted  them down for Ash.

With that finished, she stepped back into her bedroom, wondering what  she should investigate first. There was a desk and file cabinet on one  side of the room, and a chest of drawers on the other. But as her eyes  swept over the bed, she was overcome by a yawn so deep that tears welled  in her eyes.

Maybe she should rest first, then investigate, she thought, already  walking to the bed. She pulled down the covers and slipped between  sheets so silky soft she longed to shed all of her clothes, but this was  going to be a short rest, not a full-blown nap.

But the second her head hit the pillow she was sound asleep.

Despite how many times Ash reminded himself what Melody had done to him,  she was starting to get under his skin. He was sure that going to work,  getting back to his old routine, would put things in perspective.  Instead, as he rode the elevator up to the sixth floor, his shoulders  sagged with the weight of his guilt.

Maybe it was wrong to leave Melody alone so soon. Would it have really  been so terrible waiting until tomorrow to return to work? But he'd felt  as though he desperately needed time away, if only a few hours, to get  her off his mind. Only now that he was gone, he felt so bad for leaving,  she was all he could think about.

Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

The halls were deserted as he stepped off the elevator, but when he  entered his outer office his secretary, Rachel, who'd single-handedly  held his professional life together this week, jumped from her chair to  greet him.

"Mr. Williams! You're back! I thought we wouldn't see you until  tomorrow." She walked around her desk to give him a warm hug. He  wouldn't ordinarily get physically affectionate with his subordinates,  especially a woman. But considering she was pushing sixty and happily  married with three kids and half a dozen grandchildren, he wasn't  worried. Besides, she was sometimes more of a mother figure than a  secretary. She reminded him of his own mother in many ways, of what she  might have been like if she'd lived. However, no matter how many times  he'd asked, she refused to address him by his first name. She was very  old-fashioned that way. She had been with Maddox long before he came  along, and probably knew more about the business than most of the  hotshots working there.