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“You might own my heart, George Stone, but that doesn’t give you the right to abuse it. It doesn’t mean you get to decide what I do, who I see, who I sleep with, where I work. I’m not your employee or someone who even gives a crap if you get your own damn way or not. It doesn’t mean you get to throw your money around until I see things your way and give in to you the way everybody else does!”
“Then please enlighten me as to what it does mean.”
“It means if you’re sorry, you man the hell up and stop hiding behind your money. It means you show me you’re sorry, because right now, all I see is a man unwilling to admit his mistakes.” I placed my own hands on the table and leaned into him. Our breaths mingled as his eyes flicked to my lips, and mine to his, before our gazes crashed into each other’s. “And for a man s
“Us,” he finished, sitting next to me. The tug inside my chest grew and spiralled into an all-consuming ache I felt deep into my bones. I could see it now—the love we never knew existed circling us. The love, so pure and real, clouded by reality and lies. I couldn’t take my eyes from it, the picture of us. We looked perfect. Like we were meant to be there. Like its right—right, right. Wouldn’t-have-it-any-other-way kind of right. It cuts and it hits and it twists inside me. An evil reminder of what we had. What we have. What’s buried beneath the same reality that sliced it apart. “How did you get it?” I asked softly. “I called Joe while we were in Italy and asked to see the pictures that weren’t chosen. Then I bought them from him and had these done. They were waiting for me in New York when I got back last week.” I swa
Rubbing my hand over my stinging butt cheek, I turned and glared at him. “Not looking good for you already, Mr. Stone.”His eyes darkened. “Call me that again and the only thing looking good will be you lying back on my desk completely naked.”I put my boots on, fighting my smile, and he unlocked the door. I stopped in the doorway and glanced up at him. “Is that a promise, Mr. Stone?”“Gina,” he growled, and I laughed, walking into the reception area. He grasped me round the waist and steered me into the elevator, waving to his receptionist, who looked on, still bewildered. Poor woman.When the elevator doors closed, I leaned up and whispered in his ear, “I can play dirty, too.”“And if I wasn’t trying to behave, I’d have this elevator stopped and you against the wall so I coul
I sighed. “I do trust you, George. As a person, I do. But I just don’t know if I trust you with my heart again.”“I’ll prove you can.” He softly touched his lips to mine. “I don’t deserve this second chance, but I’m going to make every second of it worthwhile. For the both of us.”“Deserve it or not, you were going to take it,” I muttered. “Easy way or the hard way. I know when to pick my battles.”“Oh yes. Because I wholeheartedly believe you aren’t going to fight me every step of the way.”I followed him into the kitchen and nodded when he pulled a bottle of wine from the fridge. “I will never stop fighting you. It’s way too fun.”He placed the glass in front of me. “I know.”“Crap. I drove to your office. My
“Mom made it clear from day one that she didn’t like Rachel—and she wouldn’t try to either. You, however, have always been somewhat of a golden girl in her eyes. So naturally, when she learned of the events in Paris, I transported to the top of her shit list.” I covered my mouth with my hand. Shit list. Hearing such a juvenile term from him amused me so much. It was so out of line with his usual composed speech. “That’s because your mom obviously has good taste.” I dropped onto the bed tummy-first and proped my chin on my hands. George emerged from his closet, minus his jeans, and my mouth went dry. Holy shit, the man cut a fine figure in those boxers. I couldn’t decide if I preferred the underwear look over the suit. “That’s a matter of opinion.” Wait. What was the question? “Hey!” I shook off my haze. Clearly, I needed sex. Fast. “Wha
I laid it on the bed while I changed my underwear and rolled some stockings up my legs. With a rub of my temples, I pushed the memory aside, slunk into the tight material, and looked in the mirror.It hugged my body perfectly, and I could imagine the look on his face when he sees it. It’ll be somewhere between pleasure and anguish, delight and torture.Exactly what I was going for.I applied my makeup and painted red onto my lips. The shade matched the heeled pumps peeking at me from my shoe rack in the closet, and I slid my feet into them easily. My toes wriggled to get my feet comfortable, and I stood.George was standing at the door to my lingerie room, and I bit the inside of my lip. Shit. Should have closed the door…“Like what you see?” I asked, repeating his words from earlier.“Do you have stock in the linger
I’ve never needed love, not from a man. I’ve never needed to feel loved for my life to have any sort of meaning. I looked at those women and believed they were weak because they needed someone to lean on, but perhaps I was wrong.There was nothing weak about love, and needing to hear George tell me that he loves me didn’t make me weak either.****** *******“Gina!” George’s mom stood and opened her arms to me when we entered the restaurant. I stepped into her warm embrace, then his father’s, and took a seat opposite them at the table.We were seated in the back of Glassini, an upscale restaurant that neighbors the Southfall hotel. The curved shape of our booth meant we were practically invisible to prying eyes, and the lighting was just bright enough to make out the shade of red velvet on the chairs but lo
She was silent for a moment before she continued. “I told him to tell you. When he told me you were going with him on the trip, I told him you had to know. You weren’t just anyone. You’ve never just been anyone. Not to him.” I swallowed and looked down. “What did he say?” “He said he would. He said he planned to tell you, but I couldn’t push him into it. He didn’t want to lose you again.” “And he still couldn’t tell me.” Cathy sighed heavily. “I think he spent the day in bed with a migraine when I was through with him. He’s loved you since you met, and because of his stubborn pigheadedness, he hurt you in a misguided attempt to protect you.” “I think I said the same thing to him,” I said softly, looking up. “He fired her.” Her lips twitched. “He forced her to sign the divorce papers in front of us and our la
“I condensed a week of meetings into a few days. I had no choice but to attend them, but the second I could leave, I was on the plane back to New York.”“Why?” I swallowed and looked at him.His mom might have told me, but I needed to hear it from him. My crazy mind, the insanity he made me feel, needed to hear it. It needed to hear something to validate the relationship he believed he payed for but was so very real.George’s lips curled slightly at the corners, and he brushed some hair from my face. He left his hand cupping my head and drew our faces closer together.“Because I couldn’t be away from you for any longer than I had to be. I couldn’t stand by and not fight for you when you were back here. There wasn’t a single part of me that would let me do that.”“Your fighting could use so
