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“My agency has your account now... So I kinda work for you now. The last thing I want is rumors going on about us. And you know how that rumor is going to go. Everyone will think I got the account because I was sleeping with you, and I have to think about myself and my career too. A rumor like that could ruin it, and I can't risk that... Also we live so far away from each other. The distance is a big barrier.... And I have never been a fan of long distance relationships.... I hope you understand the point I'm making here, but I don't think that I can give you what you want. "Timothy was quiet for a while.... Too quiet that it made Chloe extremely uncomfortable. She didn't say anything either, but she noticed that the longer she was silent, the more the hope faded in Timothy's eyes. He seemed resigned to her inevitable rejection, and she couldn’t help but feel horrible."Please say something, Timothy" she pleaded softly, "and please stop staring at me like that. I don't want you looki
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The movement opened his black jacket, offering a glimpse of his pristine white shirt stretched across his broad chest and flat abdomen. Everything was perfect. This was a great day for him and his agency. It was a party to celebrate the account Golden Gates promotions had with Packard Enterprises and a good number of people had been invited. Everything seemed like it was going to go well. It was all perfect.Well... Except the fact that Christina had refused to attend the party with him.. No matter how much he had asked her, she had simply insisted that she wasn't ready to be around a lot of people, and the last thing he wanted to do was to force her into situations she wasn't comfortable with.He turned away from the mirror and headed out of his bedroom to find his wife. He found her in her bedroom, working on her laptop.Well, at least she wasn't sitting and staring at the ceiling, Evan thought. She was making little progress, no matter how slowly. Christina lifted her head to stare
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"Hello," she said in a cheerful voice. "I'm so sorry I'm a bit late. Hope I didn't miss much""Oh not at all" Evan replied and gave her a hug, "You didn't miss much. I'm just glad you could make it. And oh, look who's here too... It's Bryce Collins. Timothy introduced us to each other after the last meeting we had""That's great. I'm glad you guys finally met each other" Chloe replied and smiled at Bryce who returned her smile and gave her one of his bear hugs.Chloe squealed as he finally let her go. "Hey watch it," she said to him. "You don't want to ruin my dress before the party begins, do you?"Bryce chuckled. "Of course I don't," he said. "You know I'm glad that I did this. The people I have met are amazing and I think it's going to be productive for all of us. And it's all because of you. Thank you Chloe" He planted a kiss on her cheek and beamed at her again. "And now, I am going to... You know... Mingle... Meet some other nice people... Preferably the ladies"Chloe shook her h
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Chloe decided to ignore the comment. "I didn't know that you were coming," she said. "And you didn't tell me that you were.""Evan didn't tell me about it until yesterday morning. And I decided to attend so I could surprise you."Chloe gave him a small smile. "Well, I don't mean to be rude, but your surprise kinda sucks.... No offense""Ouch. I'm taking offense" said Matthew and clutched his chest dramatically. "That hurt.. You're a mean girl...""Okay sorry about that" Chloe replied."Sorry can't fix it.""What can?"He appeared to give her question some thought before he replied."Well, for starters, you could dance with me," he said and extended his hand to her. Chloe chuckled and took it. Soon she felt her body against his as he wrapped his hand around her waist and began to move to the tune of the music."So, how have you been?" Matthew whispered in her ear. "I'm sorry I haven't really reached out to you. I have been super busy, but I sure have missed you... A lot""I completely
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“Thank you. I’m sorry about…that…” Her words dried up on her tongue as she met a unique gaze. Startling and beautiful.... The man she had been thinking about a few seconds ago was standing in front of her."Timothy!" she said.“I’ve heard of Cinderella showing up late to the ball dressed in a beautiful gown. But not running away from it... Well, except at midnight and it's not midnight yet.” He held the clutch out to her, arching an eyebrow.“I think you need an upgrade in fairy godmothers.” he added.“Yes, well, Cinderella was high-maintenance,” she murmured, accepting the clutch.A sharp bark of laughter escaped him, and from the slight widening of his eyes and the surprise flashing through the dark depths, it seemed the crack of amusement caught him off guard. “And you’re not high-maintenance?” he asked, slipping his hands into his tuxedo pants.The movement opened his black jacket, offering a glimpse of his white shirt stretched across a broad, powerful chest and flat abdomen. He
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Amidst her embarrassment, Chloe found herself blushing like a teenager. "Well, you didn't seem to notice all these while we have been standing here talking" she replied, and regretted the comment immediately, realizing that it sounded like she had wanted his compliment all along.... And the pitiable and annoying thing was that deep down, she knew that she had."Who said that I didn't notice." Timothy replied. He stepped closer... Too close... And enough for her to hold her breath. The action still didn't stop his perfume from drifting up her nostrils. Damn, Timothy could be annoying, but she couldn't deny the fact that he was sexy as hell."I did notice how beautiful you are." he continued. "It was the first thing I noticed when I saw you this evening. I couldn't ignore you even if I wanted to. I always notice you even when I don't want to. And with a dress like that, I have to admit that it's impossible to not notice you... I'm sure everyone out there did"Drat! Chloe thought. Damn t
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He took a quick glance around. No one was really watching him, he thought, and the most important parts of the party were already done. He was sure that no one would notice or miss his presence at the party since they all seemed to be engaged doing one thing or the other."Come with me" he said, gesturing with his head as he stood, and together, they made for the nearest exit door.___________They were walking through a glass-encased atrium at the very top of the building and neither of them spoke. Soon they arrived in front of a wall of glass with the city spread out below them. The view was simply breathtaking. Across the bay, the city sparkled like precious gems tossed on an endless blanket of black velvet. Dazzling and magnificent."Wow." said Dora."It’s something, isn’t it?" replied Evan. He knew exactly why they were there, but he couldn't seem to make a move. Dora noticed, because she suddenly took his hands and placed them on the glass above his head. With a smile, she slowl
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"Evan?" Dora called. "I asked if I did something wrong"Evan slowly raised his head, but he didn't turn to look at her. He just couldn't. "No you didn't" he replied stiffly. "This isn't about you""Then what is it about?" she pressed."We shouldn't have.... I shouldn't have" he paused, his shoulders heaving as he finally met her gaze. "I'm married Dora. I don't know if you were aware but I should have... I should have stopped you. I shouldn't have come up here with you in the first place"Dora shrugged. "So you are married... So what? If you are worried about people finding out, then don't worry. I'm not a snitch and I do not kiss and tell. No one will find out. I'm good at keeping secrets like that..."When he didn't reply, she added "You can come over to my place if you want... So you can spend the night. We both know it would do you some good. Besides, I know enough to know that if you were... Happily married, you wouldn't be at this party alone or up here with me for that matter..
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He pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh. I don’t want to hear that word cross your lips. It’s me who is sorry. I was an ass. I said despicable things to you.”Her eyes widened, and she felt the ridiculous urge to cry again, as if she hadn’t done enough of that in the last few days.“First, I want to talk about this,” he said as he drew out the dreaded newspaper clipping from his pocket. She froze, her stomach seizing with dread.“Don’t look like that. I don’t believe a word of it. But it’s obviously an important part of your past. It hurt you and it’s affected a good portion of our relationship. I want you to tell me what really happened.”Her lips trembled and she twisted her hands nervously in her lap. “I got out of college, intending to rule the world. I loved it…I loved my job. I was in a big, busy city, and I was away from home, away from my family. At the time that was important to me. I was stupid.”“I think we all go through the desperate need to get away from our family,” Timot
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It was written in the guise of an article announcing the deal brokered between Packard Enterprises and Golden Gates promotions. It detailed her job history, colorful as it was, to the present and hinted broadly about there being a relationship between her and Timothy. Nothing was left to the imagination. Everything she’d worked so hard to overcome had been splashed in excruciating detail.She should be angry. Furious even. But what she felt was…..resignation.She looked up into the worried eyes of Bryce as the realization hit her. It would always be something. Timothy was right to be angry that she’d placed more importance on what others thought of her than she did what he thought of her. As long as the people she loved knew the truth, it shouldn’t matter what some stranger thought. Evan believed in her and her abilities. She had the backing of her agency. She had people who loved her unconditionally. Timothy evidently didn’t care who knew they were involved, so why should she?For th
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Love was such a messy emotion. It was bound to be inconvenient. You sure couldn’t put it on a schedule and love never played by the rules. He liked rules. And schedules.. Ah, hell, he was absolutely in love with her.It was why he was sitting here in such a terrible mood that his usually easygoing office staff wouldn’t come near him for fear of being decapitated.He looked again at the article, and his chest utterly caved in. Chloe. God, he’d been such an idiot. A complete and utter, madly-in-love moron. He’d reacted just like a petulant child, furious that his favorite toy was being taken away. In this case, Chloe had wanted to put their relationship on hold and all he could see was that she was pushing him away, and sacred that she'd leave him again, he had panicked. He’d been a total ass.She needed him. Needed his support. And he’d told her to take a hike. Worse, he’d arrogantly told her not to bother changing her mind and come crawling back. He winced. Holy hell in a bucket but
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She sighed. “I’m in love with him. And now he hates me.”All four men’s mouths rounded into Os. There was marked silence, and she regretted having blurted out that fact. Love was girly stuff, and none of the men looked like they had a clue what to say or do next.“Look, I appreciate you guys. I love you all to pieces. I don’t know what I would do without you. I don’t expect you to fix this for me. I’m not a little girl anymore. I’ll figure out something. I just needed a place to lick my wounds and regroup.”Peter frowned. “Now, you wait just one damn minute. You’re family, Chloe. I don’t care how old or how big you are.”Even Darell scowled and nodded his agreement. Bryce merely squeezed her hand and told her bluntly to shut up.“You can always come to us when you need us and we'll be here for you,” Darell said in his soft, gravelly voice. “That doesn't and will never change. We love you and we’ll always be here for you to come running to. You got that?”“Yeah, I do.”“Now come here
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"Maybe you did… or maybe not," Chloe replied. "I think I did the same with Timothy, and I understand how you feel. But you and Tina are soul mates. You have been married for years. You have been been through so much together, and I believe that if any couple can pull through this, then the both of you can… just like you did before" "How is that supposed to happen when she won't even let me see her or speak to her? She fucking hates me" "I don't think she does. As a woman, I understand her perfectly. You screwed up, don't pressure her into forgiving you. That will only make her resent you even more. Give her some space. The truth is that you can't make her forgive you, so what you have to do now is stay away… even if it's for a while and let her decide if she wants you back""And if she doesn't?" Evan asked, dreading the reply. "Then you have to live with it. It's hard, but it's the consequences of your actions. That's life…" Evan felt dejected and stared at the closed door for a w
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There was a wary look in his eye that warned her this wouldn’t be easy. But then he didn’t give a damn about what people thought. He wasn’t ruled by the opinions of others. As she had so many times before, she wished she could be like him. Instead of answering him, she rummaged in her bag for the stupid gossip rag and then she thrust it at him as if it was self-explanatory. And it was in a way. He glanced over the paper and then looked back up at her. “So? What’s the problem?” he asked. She knew he’d react that way. Positively knew it, and it drove her crazy. She wanted to scream and rail at him, but she’d come across as some hysterical banshee, and then he’d never take her concerns seriously.“That’s not all,” she said stiffly. “It’s all over the Internet. An advertising community site has it on their blog along with some snotty little line about how I got the account after the announcement of you signing with golden gates.”He looked blankly at her. “I fail to see what the big dea
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With a sigh, she explained the whole sorry tale about her her history with Timothy, their reunion and their trip to the beach house. She left out the mushy details she’d shared with Ann. Evan was, after all, A. her boss and B. a man. He didn’t need to know that she’d stupidly fallen in love with a man she’d be working with for a long time to come. It made things entirely too messy. What if they broke up? Would Evan feel weird about continuing the relationship with Packard enterprises or would he take his business elsewhere?There were a million reasons why she should have never ever gotten involved with Timothy , and yet, she hadn’t heeded any of the warning signs.“I overheard what Ann said about how it shouldn’t matter to me how you got the account. I won’t lie. It doesn’t. Furthermore, it’s none of my business unless you broke the law or did something to damage the reputation of Golden Gates. I don’t think this qualifies. My concern is for you. I know how devastated you were by wha
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Chloe and Timothy returned from their trip as a couple, but he had to go back to his home and so did she. After a Sunday of fielding curious questions from Bryce and his brothers about where she had been the past week, Chloe was relieved to go into work on Monday. She wasn’t ready to admit to them that she and Timothy were anything more than business associates. She loved them for their undying loyalty and their absolute faith in her. But for some reason she was reluctant to confess to a relationship with Timothy.She was late, thanks to a traffic snarl that lasted an entire hour and an already late start from her apartment. By the time she made it off the elevator, it was closing in on noon, and her mood was in the toilet.When she saw Caroline, she knew something was wrong. The usually cheerful receptionist eyed Chloe with something that looked suspiciously like pity, and she refused to hold her gaze for long. Not even wanting to know what that was all about, Chloe bypassed her usua
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Evan Reese opened the front door of his house and headed straight to the kitchen. His wife, Christina stood at a table, frosting a cake. She looked up in surprise to see her husband and dropped the piping bag. "You are back, " she said. "Is something wrong? Did you forget something?" Evan shook his head. "No… I mean… yes." He scratched his head and then buried his face in his hands and sighed deeply, which made Christina even more concerned. She immediately washed her hands in the sink and came towards him, but when she reached out to touch him, he pulled away. "Please don't. Not right now please." said Evan. He was afraid that if he let her touch him, he would change his mind about doing the right thing. He wanted to keep his marriage, but he knew that secrets like this were of no use. They usually ended up coming to light, and he feared that the damage it might cause would be even worse. It was best to rip out the bad aid and face the consequences of his actions. "Tina, there's s
