I longed for the past, when I would wait with this bear until my dad showed up for our weekend together. He loved me more than the breath in his lungs. We’d have such fun together, picnicking or watching a movie. Whenever I was heartbroken, or simply had a bad day, he’d just sit and listen to the sad tale, then hug me close, promising that someday I’d meet someone who would treat me like the treasure I was. Little did I know at the time that he was that man. He was the epitome of unconditional love, and now that he was gone, I felt like I didn’t matter to anyone at all.
I heaved myself off my childhood bed and wandered into my mother’s room. I exited to the backyard through her sliding glass door and found the old tire swing hanging from the oak tree in the corner of the brown square that used to be lawn. I settled myself onto it gingerly, monitoring the bend of the branch overhead. Satisfied that it would hold, I gently swung with my bear in my arms and let the tears come freely.
The sliding glass door rolled at the other side of the yard. Laughter rumbled through until my mother’s high-pitched, excited chatter floated nearer. “See, there she is. She must’ve snuck out here, the little minx!”
I gave one of those shudder sighs that said my body hadn’t recovered from the constant crying, and wiped my eyes on my sleeve. There was no telling who she was sending out to find me. Probably the cousin, nephew, or junior associate of the man she was dating. If she got me hitched with money, or even the prospect of money, she’d assume all her troubles would be over.
I rested my chin on the tire swing, waiting for the bachelor of the moment to saunter in front of me, thinking I was as easy as my mom.
“There now. Can I get you something? Are you sure you don’t want some wine? Or sparkling water?” my mother asked, a few paces behind me.
“No.”
Cold washed down my spine as I snapped my head around.
Hunter stood next to my mother in one of his tailored suits. Straight and tall, handsome and broad, he looked like a million dollars while standing in the wilderness of my childhood backyard. He slid his hands in his pockets as my mom winked at me and walked back. A few people looked out the sliding glass door at Hunter before my mother shooed them back into the house and closed the door.
Hunter’s deep brown eyes, always hooded as though just emerging from the throes of climax, gazed at me with regret and uncertainty. “Need a push?”
Aware that my face was probably still stained with tears, and worried it was streaked with worse, I turned away to wipe my eyes and nose on my sleeve. “No,” I said with a hoarse voice. “I don’t trust the branch to hold up.”
I heard his six-hundred-dollar shoes crunch on the brittle, dead grass. He stopped in front of me, looking down on my face.
“What are you doing here?” I asked softly, not daring to meet his eyes. I knew better than to ask how he found me—the man could get whatever information he wanted, one way or another.
“Brenda doesn’t put my coffee in the exact same place on the desk every time she brings it to me. She also doesn’t smell like lilac on a fresh spring morning. She doesn’t have the low, sultry hum to her voice, or the uncommon beauty I look forward to. Her hips don’t sway in a completely unassuming way that still manages to catch every male eye in the vicinity. I don’t want to look up from my work when Brenda walks away, as I always do with you. I don’t want to touch her, or kiss her, or watch an embarrassed flush creep up her face. And I certainly don’t want to do that with some other random admin after my cock or my money.”
I blinked up at him, barely daring to believe what I was hearing.
“I missed you as soon as you walked out of my office,” he continued. “I’ve not got anything done since you left. I might as well have stayed home. But home wouldn’t have you there. And with you is where I want to be.”
“But…your contract…” New tears were flowing now. Tears of hope. I was desperate to believe him.
He stepped closer and brushed his fingertips along my chin to lift my face. “I can’t have you near, because you distract me, but banning you from my life completely derails me. A contract can’t fix what’s wrong with me. It was to prevent the feelings you are forcing me to feel. I can’t go back to the way things were. I can’t pretend I don’t have feelings for you, Livy. So I find myself in uncharted waters.”
“What does that mean for us? For you?”
He bent to brush his lips along mine. “I’d tell you to run, but I would chase you. I am chasing you. Come back to work for me.”
I nodded, not trusting my voice.