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Both men jerked in their seats as Abby, without knocking, opened the door to Brady’s office.
“I would apologize for interrupting, but I wouldn’t mean it.”
She walked over, plopped her bag in the only vacant club chair and waved both men to stay seated. “No need to get up.”
“Is something wrong?” Cade asked, ignoring her request and coming to his feet to study her face.
Abby laughed, propping her hands on her hips. “Wrong? Well, I don’t know, Cade. You tell me.”
Brady now came to his feet. “I think I’ll—”
“Sit back down,” Abby finished without taking her eyes off Cade. “This will only take a minute and you two can get back to your business.”
“Abby. What the hell happened?” Cade demanded. “I’ve never seen you this worked up.”
She didn’t hesitate. There was only one question she needed answered. “Did you tell Mona the wedding was off?”
“I—”
Holding up a hand, Abby repeated, “Did you?”
“No.”
Abby had to give herself credit for not crumbling to the floor—or slugging him in the gut, like he deserved.
She ignored the burning in her eyes. She’d be damned if she’d let him see her cry. And she’d be damned if she’d play the other woman for one more second.
“Consider this my resignation from the office.” She picked up her bag, slung it over her slightly burnt shoulder and added, “Oh, and you’ll need to find another wedding planner.”
Eighteen
Cade sat in his office. His lonely, quiet office.
He’d been back in San Francisco for two days and not a word from Abby. She’d left the hotel so fast, by the time he’d explained his actions to his nosy brother and gotten back up to the room, she was gone. Her luggage was still there, but she’d requested for everything to be sent to her home address.
She’d charged the shipping, an airline ticket and cab fare to the company credit card.
Not that he cared. He’d handled this whole situation in the worst possible way. Instead of saving her from dealing with the mess, he put her right smack-dab in the middle of it and ripped her heart out in the process.
The electronic ding sounded, indicating someone had walked into the lobby. Cade sighed and knew it was now also his job to greet new clients.
But, before he could get from behind his desk, Mona appeared in the doorway with a large, blue folder in hand.
“Busy?” she asked.
Other than the fact his office skills sucked, the temp replacement was late, he’d ruined the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he was trying to figure out how the hell to fix the mess?
“No,” he replied, gesturing to the burgundy wing-back chair across from his desk. “Have a seat.”
She laid the folder on his desk and sat down. “These are the legal papers from my father. He said you and Brady need to sign all five copies. One for each of you, one for me and one for each of our companies’ attorneys.”
Cade opened the folder and scanned the heading. “This can’t be.”
“There’s no mistake,” she assured him. “My father still wants to go into business with you and Brady. He’s actually thrilled about the endeavor.”
Cade looked back up. “Why? I called off the wedding.”
Mona smiled. “Before I could.”
“What?”
“I’ve fallen in love,” she explained. “I didn’t know who I was more afraid of upsetting, you or my father. And now that you’ve also fallen for someone, this will all be so much easier.”
How the hell did everyone know what he was feeling?
“You were going to call off the wedding? But you had a dress shipped here,” he reminded her, thinking he needed to give the thing back before she left. It was taking up way too much room in his coat closet.
She smiled and tucked a strand of ebony hair behind her ear. “I did. I figured I needed to keep up my end of the deal, but when I got your message that you needed to talk to me and it was urgent, I hoped that was the reason.”
“I hated to leave a voice mail, but I was running out of time,” Cade explained. “I hated having two women think they were the one in my life. It wasn’t fair to anyone.”
“Especially you,” Mona added.
Cade smiled. She really was a beautiful woman. But all her body-hugging business suits and perfectly placed hair were nothing compared to the beauty of Abby when she’d woken that morning he’d given her the pearls.
The signal from the front door chimed again and Cade came to his feet.
“Excuse me just a second.”
But, yet again, he was too slow to make it to the lobby before Abby entered his office.
