She’s silent for a moment before she continues. “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 swallow and look 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.”
Carly sighs 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 say softly, looking up.
“He fired her.” Her lips twitch. “He forced her to sign the divorce papers in front of us and our lawyer. Then he signed the papers that transferred ownership of Stone to him while she watched. And he fired her.”
Smugness fills me. She was holding out for more, hoping he’d get the company before the divorce was settled, and he did it all right in front of her.
“She lost while she thought she was winning.”
“Couldn’t have put it better. She got the settlement she was after, but not what she truly wanted. She wanted some of the company, but my boy is smarter than that. He refused until it was done. That was something that was made more important when he met you again. She had to be out of his life completely.”
I pause before asking, “And is she?”
Carly tops up our glasses. “My son is no fool. When you have the best lawyer in the city, you can slip anything into a contract.”
“Like what?”
“Like if Naomi contacts him in any way, except in business situations which are unavoidable, the agreement will be null and void and she’ll have to pay him fifty percent of the settlement.”
My smile mirrors hers. “He really did cover everything, didn’t he?”
“When you left, all he was focused on was doing whatever he could to get you back. That meant rushing his business in Paris, canceling his London trip, and finalizing his divorce before coming to Seattle. He’s just taken control of a multimillion-dollar, worldwide company, but all he wanted was you.”
I open my mouth, but no words come out.
“He messed up. He messed up hugely, Dayton, but that doesn’t have an impact on the way he feels for you. As well as inheriting his stubbornness from his father, he also got his capacity and ability to love. I can see it in Aaron’s eyes when he looks at you. There isn’t a mountain he wouldn’t climb or a sea he wouldn’t cross if it meant making you happy. I don’t know where you two are now, but I can see how very much he loves you.”
“He could try telling me sometime. I might like him a little more then.”
She laughs. “I’ve loved Brandon for thirty-five years, but I’ve liked him for only a handful of those. It’s something you carry with you, I’m afraid.” She winks then drops her smile and takes my hand. “There’s a hollow kind of sadness in his eyes, but he’s still happier with you than I’ve seen him for seven years. If you can forgive him for keeping her from you, please do it.”
I squeeze her hand lightly. “I think I already have. I just don’t plan on telling him so anytime soon.”
***
Aaron takes the seat next to me when his mom joins his dad at the bar. He turns to me and rests his hand on my knee. Heat sears through the dark material of my dress, and I feel the resounding sparks as he trails his fingers up my thigh. They skim my hip, and I turn to him instinctively, raising my eyes from the table to meet his.
They’re startlingly blue. Clear and honest. I see how he feels. I see that guilt and remorse, but this time, they’re wrapped in hope. A hope that tugs at my stomach, because we’re hoping for the very same thing but in different ways.
He’s hoping I’ll forgive him, and I’m hoping he’ll tell me what I need to hear.
We’re both hoping for the kind of happiness that can only be found intricately threaded into love.
I lean forward and kiss him softly. It must surprise him because he stills for half a second before curving his hand around my hip and pulling me closer to him.
The satin of his jacket is soft beneath my fingers as I run them across his shoulder and down his body. His chest heaves beneath my touch, and he rests his forehead against mine, our noses next to the other’s, our breaths mingling in the whisper of space between our mouths.
He takes my hand in his and squeezes it tightly. “I’m sorry,” he whispers.
I close my eyes at the sound of those words. I told him that they were important, but I never realized just how much until now. With them hanging between us on a delicate thread, the words validate every ounce of regret I’ve felt in his touch and seen in his eyes.
“It nudged it,” I whisper back, tightening my own grip on his hand.
“Good.”
He pulls back and brings our hands to his mouth. Gently, he presses a kiss to each of my knuckles then flips my hand over and kisses my wrist on my pulse point. I can feel his lips soft against my skin and the way my pulse increases at the intimate touch. I can feel the way my heart speeds up, threatening to break through my ribs with the sheer force of it. With everything I feel for this infuriating man.
“Nice talk with my mom?” His smirk cuts through the intimate moment, and I’m almost glad as some of the heaviness lifts. I can breathe again. Only just.
“Oh yeah. What did you see in Naomi?” I raise my eyebrows.
He laughs, but it more closely resembles a growl. “She’s never going to let it go.”
“She won’t. She’s a woman. We hold our grudges, even when you think we’ve let go.”
“Good to know.” He grabs his drink from the table and sips the amber liquid. “We’ve already discussed her. I don’t want to talk about her anymore with you, Day. She’s my past, and right now, sitting here with you, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, she’s nothing. The time we spent together is a blur of nothing. She’s barely even a memory, but you? You’re everything.”
“I seem to remember you saying you were everything.”
“I am everything, but only to you. That doesn’t mean you’re not everything to me, because you are.”
I run my fingers down the lapel of his jacket. “Did you really rush your business to get back to the US?”