AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Most of the ladies immediately got up and followed Brendan to the coffee table. Struggling not to roll my eyes, I started to fold the chairs. Jackie stopped by and squeezed my hand. “For a grief counselor, you certainly don’t seem to be accepting your own grief, my dear.”
I stared at her, shocked to my very core. “What?”
“You know what I’m talking about.” She glanced over to where Brendan stood in a sea of widows. “The handsome stud who’s about to be eaten alive. It’s obvious that he is very important to you. Maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to push him away. You never have as much time as you think.” She gave me a sad smile as she walked away.
Her words rattled me. I thought I’d been so professional. Was it really so easy to read my pain?
As I finished putting up the chairs, Brendan managed to extricate himself. “Is there somewhere we can talk?” he asked in a low voice.
“My cell phone number hasn’t changed. If you wanted to talk to me, you could have called.” I cleaned up the food and put the boxes in the cabinet overhead.
He made a snorting sound. “You would have ignored my call.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You didn’t know that.”
“I do now.”
My temper rose, and I struggled to keep it down. Whirling around, I gasped when I realized how close he was standing. Heat radiated from him, and his scent hit me like a brick wall. Memories assaulted me with each ragged inhalation.
The first night that we fell into bed together. I’d wrapped my body around him, slithering over him until we were both gasping with need.
“Brendan, I’m at work. I just started my shift. I have another five hours before I’m able to leave.”
“Then I’ll come back.”
I searched my mind, struggling for another excuse. “I’ve got to work on my dissertation tonight.”
His blue eyes bored into me, pinning me in place. “You need to make time for me, Jillian. This is important.”
I crossed my arms. “It’s been a thousand years, Brendan. What could be so important now?”
He leaned down until his lips hovered just inches from mine. I held my ground. “Still so full of fire. Aren’t you, Jillian?”
No, I wanted to tell him. No, I wasn’t full of so much as a spark. Not anymore.
I lifted my chin. “I have nothing to say to you.”
His eyes searched my face and lingered on my lips before lifting to meet mine again. “Not even to your husband.”
“Ex-husband,” I corrected.
“No.” He smirked and shook his head. “Not ex-husband. That’s what I came here to tell you. I just discovered that our divorce was a part of a scam, and you and I are still legally married.”
Well, damn.
CHAPTER FOUR
Brendan
By dropping the bomb on her like that, I wanted an honest reaction, and I got one. A look of horror crossed her face, and I stiffened. There was a time when she loved being married to me.
Who was I kidding? By the end of our marriage, we could barely even look at each other.
“Is this your idea of a sick joke?” she whispered.
“I’m afraid not, sweetheart.”
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. I was tempted to trace my fingers over those luscious lips like old times. Kiss her senseless while she was so open and inviting. Run my hands over her body, cup her ass, draw her closer to me and…
“Ms. Quinn…” A man who looked like he had a stick rammed up his ass interrupted in a clipped tone. “I have some reports I need transcribed.”
Clearly flustered, Jillian stepped back and tucked her golden blonde hair behind her ear. The man slammed the files on the table and whirled around on his heel before stalking out. When the door banged shut behind him, I shot her a look. “He’s a real gem, isn’t he?”
“He’s my boss, and I’m at work. So, you need to leave, and we’ll get together this evening and rectify the situation. Immediately.” A mask of calm had fallen over her face as she walked over and gathered the files. “If you’ll write your number down, I’ll call you when I’m finished.”
“My number is still the same,” I reminded her.
She cocked her head and stared at me. “I deleted your number a long time ago, Brendan. I thought that part of my life was behind me.”
It hurt more than I wanted to admit, but I wasn’t going to backtrack to the part of our lives where we only communicated by phone. That wouldn’t work for what I had planned. “You finish up at six? I’ll come pick you up. We’ll go to dinner.”
“No.” She picked up the files the asshole left and held them in front of her chest. “No dinner.”
I growled low in my throat. Damn, she was as frustrating as ever.
