“We’ll have the wedding next weekend.”
She laughed bitterly. “Sure we will. As long as something more important doesn’t come up. Here’s the thing, Drew—if you continue down this path, you’re going to end up a lonely old man without friends or true companionship. You won’t know who loves or likes you for you. All they’ll see is dollar signs, and all you’ll feel is mistrust. I’m offering you something real. I’m offering you years of friendship. I’m offering all of me, yet you won’t give me all of you.”
“I can’t,” he began.
“You won’t.”
“Easy for you to say,” he growled. “You haven’t lived my life. You have no idea what it’s like to be me.”
“You’re right, I don’t. Because you won’t let me in.”
“There’s nothing to see, Hannah. Not one fucking thing.” He picked up the small plate of fruit and hurled it against the wall. “There’s nothing. Nothing. Get that in your head.”
“I’m leaving,” she said.
“I’ll bring you back, kicking and screaming if I have to.”
“I’m not leaving you. I’m leaving this room, this city… I need space. I need my old life back.” Her silver gaze turned hard. “But in the meantime, take your threat and shove it up your ass, Andrew Montgomery.”
Then she left his office and him standing there, staring after her.
Chapter Thirteen
Nothing was going as planned with Hannah. However, that was probably their biggest problem. She had become an unplanned part of his life, however permanent, and he was making her miserable.
She was his childhood friend, the girl who had always accepted him for him, and never treated him any differently because of his last name or his money. His memories of her were precious. And he had no desire to destroy someone as precious as Hannah.
The light in her silver gaze seemed to have dimmed in the last couple of weeks, and her smile no longer reached the outermost parts of her face. Hannah smiled with everything inside of her, always had… until she’d come to stay with him in Charlotte.
Now it was as if she were wilting, becoming a shell of the girl he used to know and the woman he was growing to love.
“Damn it.” He couldn’t be in love with her. Affection. Caring. Concerned. Those were acceptable feelings, but not love.
Never love.
Yet, he knew without a doubt that love was trying to have her way with him. Worse, if he loved Hannah now, then what would he feel for her in five years, when it was time for him to honor his word and let her go? It would drive him insane. He knew it.
Hell, he hadn’t been able to go a day without touching her once they made love. Yeah, there was that damn word again, but it was true. With Hannah, sex was making love.
It was intimate.
Hot as hell.
And it made him feel completely vulnerable.
Ella burst through his office door, a determined look on her face. Shit. He did not need her drama today. “What did Blake do now?”
“It’s not Blake. It’s your father.” She swallowed, visibly shaken. “He suffered a stroke and is on his way to Duke Hospital.”
The floor seemed to drop out from under him. “What?”
“You have to go. I already notified the airport.” She handed him his cell phone and an overnight bag. “Go. I’ll let Hannah know, and she can meet you there.”
Hannah wouldn’t come, not after the way he’d acted during their argument. God, what an ass he was to her, not to mention how natural it was for him to assume that role.
“Mr. Montgomery. Andrew,” Ella said. “Your car is waiting for you.”
“Yes. Thank you.” He strode out the door, meeting Blake along the way.
“Connor called me. He couldn’t get ahold of you.”
“I was in the middle of a… meeting.” Well, that was certainly one way to describe his conversation with Hannah.
“Shall I go with you?” Blake asked.
Though Drew appreciated his friend’s genuine offer to help, he declined, saying, “I need you to run things while I’m gone.” He punched the down button for the elevator.
“Whatever you need, mate.”
The elevator doors opened.
“Thank you,” Drew said as the doors closed.
*
His father was still in surgery when Drew arrived. London cried out his name when she saw him and threw herself into his arms. He stroked her long, dark hair.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Everything will be okay.”
“I’m so scared,’ she whispered. “The doctor said that Dad has major blockage in his carotid arteries, and that’s what caused the stroke. He was in the middle of working out at the gym.”