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"It's not about you Matthew" she began, toying with her glass. "Please believe me when I say that this has absolutely nothing to do with you." she sighed deeply. "It's just.. It's me, Matthew. I can't date you because... I don't know how to put this the right way and I don't want to bore you with the details, but let's just say that my head isn't in the right place. I have a lot of things to figure out when it comes to this topic and I just feel like it wouldn't be fair to you if I led you on."Matthew frowned. "I don't understand," he said. "You agreed to this last night and I have been asking you out for a while now. Why are you suddenly changing your mind?""Yes. I know, and I'm sor..."Matthew didn't let her finish. "Are you seeing someone else? Probably Timothy Packard. I saw you both last night at the party and you both seemed so... I don't know... Attached. I saw you leave the hall with him too but I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to look controlling and all
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Jensen began tapping his finger tips on the table. He didn't even look surprised. "Okay, so you love her... Why is that such a bad thing?""Why? Because I can barely concentrate on anything else, I asked her out. I asked her to be mine, and she turned me down dad" Timothy replied angrily. Angry at himself for being in this kind of situation. This wasn't him. He wasn't the guy who stayed around waiting for a girl, but yet here he was, unable to think straight."I told I wanted to be with her, dad," he continued. "She turned me down. Gave me a bunch of reasons about working together, and distance and all that shit... I thought I would feel better when I came home, but that's not the case. It feels even worse not being able to see her."He buried his head in his hands and sighed. "You shouldn't have chosen her agency dad. I told you.. We should have just gone for another agency but damn it you insisted." He paused before he added in a calmer voice. "I know I shouldn't have gotten involve
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She lifted her phone again and tried to ignore the ache of loneliness that had settled in her stomach. She’d done it. Pursued her dream career and made it in a workforce mostly dominated by males. It had been her goal for so long. Things were going well for her agency, and the future looked promising. But it seemed that in her pursuit of her goal she’d lost a little of her life along the way.Her phone buzzed again and she looked at the response on the dating app. She had stopped using the app years ago but now that she was desperately trying to get over Timothy, she thought maybe it was time to go back to it. Maybe she would meet someone she would like, and maybe start a relationship.Most guys she’d met—mainly very nice— weren’t interested in a woman who often ended up working for hours, surrounded by other men. Chloe had never mixed business with pleasure... Well until Timothy, and she had always refused to date a work colleague. Too complicated. Too much hassle.. And the drama wit
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Chloe : We said goodbye to each other. Why are you bringing it up again?Timothy : As much as I loved the amazing way we said goodbye to each other, it doesn't change the fact that we made a mistake. The silence and distance is killing me. I can't seem to stop thinking about you. I know I want more from this and you do too. Don't you think that we missed out on the years we should have been together? Now we have another chance. Somehow we have found our way back to each other. Are you really willing to let this opportunity go too? You want me too, Chloe. You know you should be with me.Chloe : I'm not going to deny the fact that I do want you. I have been thinking about you a lot too and it's not been easy for me either. I have my reservations and I don't know what else to tell you.Timothy : I want to see you.Chloe : What? You just left a week ago. What are you going to do? Abandon everything you have to do and fly down here again just to be with me?Timothy : If you say you want to
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Ann chuckled. "You are the one who is making things hard. Just pack what you can. You can always buy stuff that you need. By the way, you haven't said anything about this place you're going to.. Or who you're going with. I know you are not going alone so why don't you just spill. I know it's none of my business but I'm entitled to a little detail... I will be handling stuff at the office for you when you are gone, am I not? So tell me what's going on…I need the gist"Chloe smiled, but she said, "I can't““I think I already know who it is," said Ann. "I'm guessing it's Timothy Packard. You once told me about him, and honestly he's the only one you would be so secretive about"Chloe gritted her teeth. She had wanted to keep this to herself because she didn't know how it would go, but a part of her was glad that she told someone about it."Do you think that I'm making a mistake by going with him?" she asked. "I know that I shouldn't. It’s unethical, and I have tried to end things, but I
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“To where?” she asked with a blink of surprise, then decided with a flashing smile when Timothy introduced her to Anthony. “Oh that's nice. Thank you then.”They ordered drinks. Chloe asked for pálinka, the Hungarian fruit brandy and while Anthony went to get them, Timothy took her to the living room upstairs.“Beautiful.” Chloe said as she moved into the center of the room and turned a slow circle, taking in the white walls with gilded trim, blue velvet curtains over the leaded windows and the chandeliers dripping with crystal. “What a dizzying place to be on”“It’s an expensive obligation... It's Dad's hand work. I'd be fine with a modest apartment.” said Timothy. "But I'm glad that you like it"Anthony brought their drinks and left immediately, while they walked into a hallway of pictures and vases that were so colorful and ornate they should have been gaudy but were perfectly tasteful in this surrounding. There was a chill in the air, though, and a faint scent of disuse.She moved
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"What do you think? I stayed the hell out of it. What can I say.... Deanie is the one who always gets on my parents' nerves. They can't stay mad at her for long anyways so I guess it always works out well for her"She laughed and leaned against the rails. "I can't wait to take a walk barefoot on the beach. It's been a while since I let myself do anything else apart from work"When she turned back to him, he reached out and brushed his fingertip against the tip of her nose. Such a jolt of electricity went through her, she drew back sharply, tucking her chin and touching the spot herself to soothe the lingering burn. A myriad of feelings swirled through her. Self-consciousness, sheepish amusement, something uncertain and shy as she reacted to the most innocuous of caresses from him. His shrewd gaze seemed to delve all the way to her soul."Am I invited to that walk?" he asked softly.Chloe gave him a small smile. "Sure you are," she said.Her entire body was still tingling from the brus
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“That bad, huh?” said Timothy as his brow went up."Yup. I got really sick of it too so I just visit them separately. There was nothing I could do so I just stopped trying. I'm not sure how, but I guess somehow along the line they just stopped loving each other and that gave way to hate. I mean, they were never the lovey dovey kind of couple but things just seemed to get worse. Makes me wonder what's the point of all this anyways""Point of what?"She shrugged. "You know... Meeting someone... Falling in love... Getting married... Having kids... Only to end up hating each other and getting separated. Is it really worth all the trouble?"There was a pause, then Timothy said, "You know it's not that way for all couples. Some marriages are still working out. Like mom and dad... Sometimes I wonder how they do it. They have been together for years and still going strong. They might have had their bad times, but they are still very much in love with each other, and that's the kind of relatio
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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
