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“Because I could never choose the damn company over you, you daft yank!” He pushed my hair away from my face and offered a tender smile. “And to think, David claimed I am the one who’s going mad! Are you insane? Of course I choose you, Della! I always will.”
My mouth fell open in pure, unadulterated shock, a rather poor response to such a beautiful proclamation, but it was the best I could do. I saw my fingers tightly clasp the front of his shirt, and I felt a tiny surge of hope sweep through me. “But I... You really don’t have to choose anything,” I insisted earnestly, all the while refusing to let go of him, even for an instant. “James, you don’t have to choose—”
“Actually, I do.” He hesitated for just a moment before he looked at me with a sudden flash of clarity in his eyes. “I love you,” he said simply.
A radiant smile flashed across his face as he said those three precious words, but it dimmed slightly at the thought of their consequence. When his eyes flicked again to the window, I realized he wasn’t blankly staring at all; he was considering Cross Enterprises, weighing his options, making a decision as he stared in the direction of my competition. For a split second, a look of bittersweet nostalgia washed across his face, and just like that, it was decided.
“I love you, Della, so, yes, I do need to choose...and I already have.”
And just like that, I won the heart of a billionaire.
“Now whatever happened to a wish that was promised to me?” he purred in my ear with that sexy tone of his.
“I’m not a genie. But your wish is my command.”
Chapter 13
“ARABELLA PENELOPE HUNTER!” Abby’s voice rang out angrily through the kitchen the next morning as a peanut butter-covered blur raced past her. “You will wash your hands at once, or you’ll wish you had!”
“I got it.” James scooped her up as she streaked past and carried the sticky child dutifully over to the sink. “Come, Hells Bells. We must get you cleaned up.”
“Thanks,” Abby said, then stared at him for a second longer before turning conspiratorially to me as the two of us cleared the breakfast dishes away. “I don’t get it. He just decided to choose you over the company? Really?”
I glanced at James as he cheerfully water-boarded his little captive, and then I looked at Abby again. “Yeah, that’s about it. He said he saw what it did to you and Nick when company pressures were put on your relationship. He doesn’t want to do that to me, to us.”
Her face tightened empathetically as she placed a hand over her heart. “While that’s incredibly sweet, it shouldn’t be some kind of all-or-nothing ultimatum. If Nick had any interest whatsoever in taking over his father’s company, I’m sure the two of us could make it work.”
“I tried to tell him that, that he really doesn’t have to choose, but he just won’t listen.”
“Well...” She trailed off hopelessly, watching the two children in her life play by the sink. “Does he have to make that decision right now? Can’t he wait a little while before endorsing Robert? Sleep on it a few days?”
I bowed my head and sighed. “He wouldn’t listen to that either. In fact, he’s already scheduled a press conference for this morning. He says he just wants to put the whole thing behind him and get on with our life together, whatever that means.”
“That’s fucking ridiculous,” she countered, shaking her head in frustration. “Cross Enterprises is his family legacy, Ben’s life work! He can’t just put it behind...” She stopped when he moved within earshot. “Oh, hey, James!” She changed her tone immediately and cleared her face with a bright smile. “Thanks for handling Ari, although it’s your furniture you spared, not mine.”
He laughed lightly and leaned down to give me a kiss on the cheek. For all intents and purposes, he looked like a man just set free, not one who was on the verge of giving up everything that was dear to him and his recently departed father.
A whiff of that delicious honey scent washed over me, and I grabbed his collar to pull him back for another lip-lock. “Abby and I were just talking about you.”
“You were now?”
“Of course. For the life of us, we can’t figure out why you want to throw your life away and heap mountains of misplaced guilt on me. Would you mind explaining that?”
Abby blanched, then turned back to the dishes. “Della was saying, uh... Well, I said... I need to go make more coffee,” she said, then vanished into the kitchen without another word, taking her daughter with her and leaving the two of us to fight it out as we pleased.
“Darling,” James said, looking down with a sweet smile, cupping his hands over my shoulders, “we talked about this.”
I pulled deliberately away. “No, we didn’t talk about anything, James!” I said, not appreciating his patronizing tone one bit. “You made the unilateral decision to call a press conference and hand your father’s beloved company to your evil twin. I disagree with that decision, but that doesn’t seem to matter.”
“You know it’s not that simple. I need to—”
“Hey, traitor.” Nick said as he breezed into the kitchen and clapped James on the back with a great deal of extra force, nearly spilling his mug of coffee. “How’s the unemployed life? Have you had to resort to panhandling yet?”
I fought back a grimace as James turned to him in surprise. Of all the people to condemn him for turning his back on the family company, Nick was the last who should have thrown stones, and we all knew it.
“I don’t know,” James replied sharply, hurtling a packet of cream at him. “Maybe you can show me how it’s done, what with your lifetime of experience doing nothing but shit.”
Nick didn’t even flinch. He simply dropped some cream into his coffee, packet and all, followed by far too many sugar cubes.
