The CEO(51)

‘I talked to Lulu,’ she blurted.

Callum waited. His eyebrows rose in a question.

‘And she told me the truth. She told me everything.’

His chest rose and fell on a deep sigh. ‘I’m glad.’

‘I want to be angry at her for letting me believe all this time that it was you … but of course I can’t. No matter what, she’s my sister. Can you understand that?’

‘I’ve got two brothers, remember? I understand.’

‘I’ve thought terrible things about you. Called you all kinds of names that I can’t repeat in polite company. But I was wrong all along. I wish I’d known that, Callum, because, you see … I’ve wasted so much energy trying to hate you, did you know that?’

When he smiled, she knew everything would be all right. ‘I knew you did. That’s why I hired you to landscape my gardens.’

‘Seriously? You hired me because I hated you?’

‘C’mon. Ava the Terrible being forced to spend time with me, someone you hated so much? I thought it would be fun to see you squirm. That’s why I made the offer too good for you to refuse.’

Ava took a step closer to him, reached for his hand and entwined her fingers with his. So warm and strong and sure. Just like him.

Callum pulled her a step closer. She looked up into the eyes of the man she loved and saw love reflected right back at her.

‘Why didn’t you tell me what had really happened?’

He looked at her, long and loving. ‘It wasn’t my secret to tell. I made mistakes, and plenty, but cheating on my wife wasn’t one of them. I thought you had to hear the truth from Lulu. You would never have believed it from me. She’s your sister and you would always be loyal to her. Blood is thicker than water.’

He slipped an arm around her and looked down into her eyes. ‘What’s with the dress?’

‘You don’t like it?’

‘I like it.’ He dropped his gaze to where the tight bodice created more of a cleavage than she actually had. ‘I like it a lot.’

‘Good.’ Ava glanced around the expansive garden. ‘So, why did you want to meet here?’

‘Because it’s special. It’s our place,’ he said, his voice a rasp.

‘This place, right here,’ Ava said. ‘Is the place you realised you might love me, right?’

Saying it out loud, free from the guilt and the hurt she’d felt for so long, was like a rebirth.

Callum smiled at her emphasis. ‘Yeah. Since that day.’ His grin lit her up from the inside.

‘So that’s about two weeks by my reckoning?’

He squeezed her hand. ‘I hadn’t thought of it that way but yes, about two weeks.’

Ava took a deep breath. ‘Try five years.’

‘What?’

‘Callum Malone, I’ve loved you for five years. Since the first time we met at my parents’ house for dinner. We had roast lamb and you went back for thirds on the roast potatoes. I can’t blame you. My mother makes excellent roast spuds.’

‘What the hell?’ Callum asked with a confused head shake.

‘I tried hard not to let it show. It’s been agony, but it’s what I had to do. You weren’t mine.’

‘I never knew.’

‘And that’s exactly how I wanted it to be.’

‘Ava. I couldn’t have …’

‘I know, I know. You were involved with someone else. And it wasn’t as if I was waiting around for you to break up with my sister or anything. I tried to fall in love with other people.’

‘You did?’

‘I’ve been out on dates. I went on one last week, actually.’

Callum’s dark eyes and suddenly serious face thrilled her, and she got brave.

‘I don’t know if I want to hear this.’

‘Don’t worry. I didn’t have the five hundred dollars necessary to … um … secure the transaction.’

‘He was a …?’

‘A professional woman pleasurer, yes.’

Callum snorted. ‘Lucky bastard.’

‘The trouble was … he wasn’t you.’ And then Ava kissed him. Deep and long and hungry and fraught with a passion that had been building for a very long time. An eternity, it seemed.

When she pulled her lips from his mouth, breathless, giddy, she felt the desire in his gaze.

‘Babe,’ he said, kissing her again, pulling her lower lip gently with his teeth, playing with her mouth like it was his because it was, ‘I know a man who will make love to you for free. And then cook you dinner after.’

Ava kissed him and Callum wrapped his arms around her.

‘I love you, Callum. Like crazy.’ Ava’s voice hitched and she felt the tears in her eyes. ‘For so long I thought I did. But that was nothing compared with what I feel for you now.’