“If you ever had the pleasure of getting in bed with me again..." Zander narrowed his cold eyes on hers. “You would be the one to catch fire, and we both know it.”“I don't think so. You did all the work on the yacht, remember? ”He frowned.“Oops! Did I hit some nerves, husband, dear? ”With that, he curled his finger, motioning her into the conference room. People had begun to trickle straight into it with their coffee cups and sleepy eyes. Elvie obeyed, her catlike, limber walk telling him she knew he was looking.Matheo, the old cow, opened the door for them before he walked in.“Hey, Sonny boy. How's the honeymoon?" He clapped his back.“Call me that again if you want a one-way ticket to early retirement,” Zander muttered.“Junior.” He winked at Elvie.“Mr. Ass," she saluted.They shared a knowing smile. Zander punched him in the face. Internally, of course. His limits were few and far between, but they were there. Besides, Matheo had just married the morning show’s latest weathe
Elvie knew she was being irrational, but she still logged into the SBC software’s Messenger app and group-messaged Gerald, Bella, and Almera. For the past few weeks, she’d been spending her lunch breaks exclusively with them. Not surprisingly, they had their noses in everyone’s business.Elvie: Did you know why Kristal is back?Almera: NO! And really? The bitch is here in the building?Bella: Yes, I saw her go inside my boss's office.Bella: Elvie? Why did you let the bitch in?Gerald: You are the wife. Did you let her in?Elvie: Hey! Relax; I trust Zander, and yes, I think she wants to talk to him. No biggie.Gerald: Shit! You have no idea, but troubles followed her anywhere; be warned.Bella: Elvie, I don't like this...Gerald: The sweet part. I’ve seen them together enough to know the man likes her as much as I love getting my crotch waxed. (The results are far more aesthetically pleasing than shaving, if you’re wondering.)Elvie: We weren’t, but thanks for the mental image.Elvie:
“Lunch?” Zander asked as he slid his hand up between her shoulder blades and then under the curtain of her hair, cupping her nape. “I—” “I know, I can't force you, but I have to fly to Paris for a meeting later today. I got an email a few minutes ago about it. I won’t be back for a couple of days, so it’d be best for us to get some lunch while I'll video chat with our daughter. Is that okay? I’ll catch up with you mid-week.” Elvie thought, What the hell was wrong with him? One moment, he was being an ass, and the next? A—gigantic tease? But she refused to show her disappointment. It was unreasonable of her to expect his career to take a back seat when she had her own professional commitments that couldn’t be cancelled at short notice. It had been a logistical nightmare to take this week off as it was. But it worried her that this would be an on-going pattern in their future relationship. How long before his 'catch-ups' with her became not weekly but monthly, or even less frequent?
Love? Really? Elvie could feel her cheeks warming up like hotplates on a cooktop. “Yes, well, Zander certainly knows his way around a woman’s body. The thing is, am I going to be enough for him? He doesn’t love me. He cares about me and our child, but it wasn't enough.” I want more. She thought to herself. Bella did her cute little bunny twitch again. “Oh…” “Not exactly what a girl wants to hear on her honeymoon.” “No, but words aren’t everything,” Bella said. “Actions are what count, and it looks like you two have had plenty of that over the last week.” “He’s keeping things to himself. And you know I'm still not over how my brother left me with nothing but a wink.” Bella blinked. “So? Zander is rich and has a lot of connections. He can find Joey anytime if he wants. Besides, aren’t you asking him? I mean, they were once the best of friends, right?” “Why should I?” “Because that’s what brides do. They confide everything to their husbands.” Elvie sighed. “But I don’t want to
Elvie got back from the High Fashion department the following day to find a beautiful bouquet of flowers on her desk. She picked up the card and read the message.I miss you.From Zander.Her heart gave a leap, and she pressed the card against her chest just as the receptionist buzzed her on the intercom, “Mrs. Stanton, your brother is here. Have you got time to see him?”Joey?Elvie put the card down on her desk. Joey was here in Scotland. Why hadn’t Zander mentioned it? Or was it a spontaneous trip? But that didn’t seem like Joey at all. He was notoriously not a homebody through and through. He didn’t really enjoy travelling all that much and had said only recently how content he was to stay at home.“Sure. Thanks a lot," she replied, put down the phone, and turned her head to Bella. “Girl, I haven’t got anyone till four, have I?”“No, you’re all good. Should I send him to Zander's office? You can talk there in private.”Elvie nodded, stood, fixed herself, and went to Zander’s offic
Zander frowned. “Joey is here in Scotland?”Elvie nodded. “Yes, he flew over to talk to me face to face.”“About…?”“About something, um—he is going to visit his shrink again, he said he is sick again."“Is he using drugs again, Elvie?”“I'm not sure, but he said he didn't do drugs anymore.”“And you believe him?”“Yes.” Elvie groaned. “He is my brother, Zander, I can't let him down, and... Without the company to keep him busy, I don't know how he would survive—”Zander’s brows snapped together.“You gave him money?”Elvie slipped out of his hold and stood some distance from him with her arms crossed over her body, her hands cupping her elbows. “Yes. I gave him my ATM.”“Your savings? Really?”“Yes.”“Are you that crazy?”“Zander—”He shook his head as if the situation were beyond belief. “He’s a fool. A damn fool. What are you going to do now? He’ll empty it in a day. How can you be so naive?”“I—” Elvie groaned in silent anger, keeping her gaze steady on his. “He said he'd use it fo
Zander walked out of his own mansion as if he were on autopilot. His emotions were in lockdown.Confused, angry, and disappointed.Emotions he hadn’t known he had. He couldn’t think past the thought of her pulling the plug on their marriage. He’d been blindsided. Again. What sort of fool was he to have fallen for it? He’d thought it was going so well. Why was she doing this? Why now, after that wonderful week away together? All this talk of love... He hadn’t said those words to anyone since he’d said them to his ex, Kristal. He had been a fool once, and he swore to never be that sort of person again.He had sworn he would never say them in a subsequent relationship, and he had never needed to, much less wanted to. But Elvie hadn’t said it either. She didn't tell him she loved him.Somehow he had fooled himself into thinking she had, but then he’d been wrong about that sort of thing before. It was the same as all those years ago. NO! It was worse. Much worse. Back then, he’d been angry
That very same day, Zander was supposed to tell her that he loves her; he was supposed to confess his feelings, but what he heard from her mouth while answering Bellas’ questions in the lift made Zander halt on his way up. He heard Elvie clearly say, "Bella, what makes you think that I'm head over heels over Zander? Surely, the man cares so much more about his ego than caring over me. Besides, we both agree to end things before it's too late and he’ll end up hurting me. I'm not the woman he used to know. I'm different now. I don't love anymore.”To say that he was disappointed, hurt, and relieved at the same time was an understatement; he almost made himself a fool by telling her what he truly felt.Okay, if this is really what she wanted, then I'll give her war! He thought to himself as he left the hallway and went to his private elevator.Going up, he thought that life with Elvie was like handling his company full of issues and anomalies. If there was one thing he’d learned from pro