Flirting With Destiny(22)

I stopped.

Maybe that’s what I needed to exorcise her from my life. I needed to fuck her until my dick nearly fell off and then walk away and go back to my life.

I smashed the bag of ice to loosen the cubes from the giant clump they’d become in the old fridge, liking the idea more and more. Man, she really looked good, still beautiful as ever, smiling and, hell, at least she remembered me.

Was she still single? Where does she live? What does she do? I pounded the ice ball harder until shards and cubes flew in all directions. Aunt Melissa would know, but it would be stupid of me to ask. Did I really want to venture down that road?

“Everything okay in there?” she called from the other room.

I appeared in the family room, fresh drink in hand, noticing that my aunt was just finishing the last of her beer.

“Lauren works in town as a secretary for an insurance company.” Damn. Aunt Melissa knows me too well. “It’s Chip Harrison’s company. Actually it’s his father’s business, but Chip pretty much handles everything when people call.”

I bit the inside of my mouth, hoping to crush any excitement that might show on my face. I nodded, but before I could offer a response, I felt the vibration of my cell phone in my pocket.

“Excuse me, I have a call.” I pulled it out and walked back into the kitchen to talk. I recognized the number; it was my assistant and I groaned, expecting another crisis at work. Sure enough it was, and this time it wasn’t something I could handle over the phone.

When I ended the call, I went back to tell Aunt Melissa the words she didn’t want to hear.

“I’m sorry. That was my assistant on the phone. It looks like I’m going to have to go back to Chicago.” I was relieved. It looked like destiny was making my decisions for me. It was best to get out of town before I had any other stupid ideas about staying.

All she said was, “Oh” but I could see the disappointment in her eyes. She really was like my mother in the way she gave me that look.

“Something urgent has come up and I need to go back to handle it immediately. I’ll have to leave tonight.”

Aunt Melissa’s look of disappointment faded to one of knowing. She gave me a soft smile that said this was nothing new to her. As usual, just a brief visit and then… gone.

“You can take whatever you want. In a day or two I’ll make arrangements to hire someone to come gut the house of its contents. The house is already on the market and…” Her eyes darted to the box of photographs then back to me, the question clear in her eyes.

“You keep it,” I said and watched disappointment shift her features again. She took the shoebox and stood up, giving me a big hug. “Thanks for all of your help with the funeral and… um… let me carry that lamp out to your car for you.”

I stood in the driveway, waving good-bye, my other hand on my phone ready to call my driver. He would need to pick me up, get me to the airport for the red-eye out of Hicksville and the disappointments that still lingered here.





Chapter 10

Lauren

“I can’t believe you’d do that!” I screamed, angrier than I’d been in my life. My heart was pounding and my blood pressure was probably through the roof. “You had no right looking at my cell phone. That’s private. You’re crazy.”

“Why don’t you just admit your guilt then? Save me the trouble. Privacy equals secrets. What don’t you want me to see?” He voice was low, controlled, each word ground out in a staccato. “Is it the guy you talked to at the sandwich shop? Who is he, Lauren?”

“I’m not guilty of anything. You take everything I say and twist it around and use it against me. You’ve got me so mixed up. I don’t know what to say or what to do anymore. I feel like I can’t do anything right in your eyes.”

I’d gone over to Chip’s house after work for our usual night together. Things went downhill fast. We’d already been over this a minute ago when I came out of the bathroom and caught Chip with my cell phone in his hand, searching for something—evidence to fuel his jealousy of some imaginary guy I was seeing—and the argument just kept going in circles. I was drained.

“I can’t do this anymore. All we do is argue, then you get angry and things spin out of control. I’m sick of it.”

“If you love me, you wouldn’t have anything to hide. You wouldn’t care if I look at your phone. We’re in a committed relationship. Lauren, you should trust me. Obviously, I can’t trust you. What are you hiding?”

“I can’t even talk to you anymore.” What an asshole. I wanted to pull my hair out. Here we go again—blame me; yell; punch something to show what a big man you are… hell no, I’m out of here before I let that happen again. Asshole. I snatched my phone and grabbed my purse.