AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her groan was soft. He was everything she should have wanted in a man. The polar opposite to Caradoc, Anton was thoughtful and kind, polite and worthy.
“You’re a really great guy.”
“Ahhh,” he clasped his hands to his chest in a gesture of mock pain. “Don’t speak as though this is goodbye. I don’t want it to be.” He kissed her temple gently. “Take all the time you need.”
She nodded, but she was bleak. She knew that no time would get Caradoc out of her system. He was her other half. He didn’t want her, but she would always love him.
“I’ll get a cab.”
“Nonsense. Jason will drive you home.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Please. It’s no trouble.”
And because she felt like she was about to begin crying in earnest, she nodded and thanked him, apologised again, and then slipped out into the cold night air.
Her reality was a freaking mess, but she had to face it.
* * *
“What is it, Alexi? You’re hovering like a damn drone.”
His assistant had her hair up in a bun today, and she wore a steel grey suit that flattered the colour of her eyes, but Caradoc didn’t see these things. He rarely noticed anything about Alexi except her efficiency.
Which was why her current state of uncertainty was infuriating him.
“For fuck’s sake. What?” He tossed his pen down and gave her the full force of his attention.
His bad mood wasn’t her fault. And he wasn’t sure he could technically refer to it as a ‘mood’ given that he’d been feeling furious for months.
“I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Your job is to interrupt me when something’s important. So? Spit it out.”
“That’s the thing. I don’t even know if this is important.”
“Alexi Wild-Smyth, I’m this close to actually losing my patience altogether.” His eyes narrowed as he saw that she was holding a computer printout in her hands. “What’s on that?”
“It’s not …” She squeezed her eyes shut and her laugh was short and apologetic. “God, it’s none of my business, really, but I just … I wondered if you’d want to see this.” And she tossed the paper down in front of him as though it was now burning her fingers.
He scanned the headline, and the grainy pictures got a cursory look. “So? It’s some bank’s Christmas fundraiser. I don’t go to those if I can avoid it.”
“I know that,” she pursed her lips then jabbed her manicured finger down at the page. At one image in particular. “This just came up online. I was checking the news websites and … I gather this event is going on now.”
And the most fierce, sharp, throbbing ache spread from the pit of his stomach through his body.
How hadn’t he recognised her immediately? Her hair had been reduced to a motley shade of red, and her face was obscured by the man she was kissing, but God, it was Seraphina James, her arms wrapped around another man’s neck, her body pressed to his.
“Fuck,” he swore loudly and pushed back from his chair. “Get my plane ready. I’m going to London.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“I’m never drinking again.”
Connie eyed her sympathetically. “Have this. It’ll help.”
“I think it’s going to take more than Berocca.”
