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She saw him approach and straightened her spine as he grew closer, using her hand to shield her eyes from the sun behind him. “Perhaps I need to explain what stay the hell away from me means.”
He hadn’t expected this would be easy. “Let me say one thing, and then I’ll stay as far away from you as you want.”
She gave a dramatic sigh, slipped a piece of paper into her book, marking her place. “I’m listening.”
She might have been, but she wasn’t happy about doing so.
“I wanted to apologize for my actions in the past.” He didn’t want to beat around the bush with her. She deserved better. “I’ve always prided myself on being the best dominant possible, but I see now that I failed you. Failed you horribly. I’m so sorry.”
Surprise flashed in her eyes at his pronouncement, but was gone so quickly he wondered if he’d only imagined it had been there because he wanted to surprise her. He wanted to prove to her that he wasn’t the insensitive dick she thought he was. And he knew she had to think he was a dick. How could she think otherwise when her only interactions with him were that night five years ago and his coming into the office earlier in the day and threatening a spanking?
Why do I care so much about what she thinks of me anyway?
What Ronnie Lewis or Veronica Fair or whatever name she wanted to go by thought shouldn’t matter one bit to him.
But for some reason it did, and he’d be damned if he knew why.
If she’d been surprised at his words, that surprise wasn’t reflected in her voice. “Thank you,” she said. “But it was over five years ago. You really don’t need to apologize. I’m over it. It’s no big deal.”
Except it was, and they both knew it.
“Besides,” she continued. “None of us are the same people we were five years ago.”
“Just because I’m older and hopefully wiser now than I was then doesn’t make my actions any less wrong.”
“What can you do? It’s over and done with, and there’s no changing what happened.” She opened her book to the spotshe’d marked and turned her attention to the words on the page. “Again, I do appreciate you coming by.”
He’d been dismissed.
Just like that.
He stood there for a long minute, willing her to look up, to acknowledge him again. She turned the page she’d been reading. He got the message. He’d asked her to listen to him say one thing, and then he’d promised that he’d leave her alone. She’d done her part, and now it was time for him to do his and to stay away from her.
Why did it bother him? Again, why should he care what she thought of him?
But he did.
Chapter 7
VERONICA
“Tell me what you think of the job so far,” Andie asked Veronica about a week later as they sat at a small table outside the lighthouse where Andie lived with Fulton.
Veronica placed her coffee mug on the table. It was her first Saturday on the island, and Andie had asked her the day before if she’d like to come over for coffee and a lighthouse tour in the morning. Veronica suspected an alternative motive, even though she had mentioned to Andie that she’d never been in a lighthouse before. Or who knew? Maybe it was only a coincidence that Fulton had left hours earlier for a trip to the mainland, leaving the two women alone to chat.
“It’s definitely been a challenge trying to organize the office,” Veronica answered truthfully. “But like I told your husband, it’s a fun challenge. I know it sounds weird, but I love seeing the before pictures and comparing them to the after. It feels like such a sense of accomplishment, albeit a very small one.”
“I don’t think it’s weird at all,” Andie said. “It sounds similar to me and how I enjoy experimenting with food.”
When Fulton had told Veronica that Andie could have gotten a job at just about any restaurant she wanted, her assumption had been he was just a husband proud of his wife’s cooking. Thatassumption died hard and fast with the first bite of a cake the lively woman had baked on her Veronica’s day.
“Similar except that yours is edible,” she said. “What time did Fulton leave this morning?”
“A little after six,” Andie said. “He wanted to make sure he could take care of everything he needed to do on the mainland and make it home before dark.”
Veronica nodded. Andie had mentioned a few days ago how dangerous the boat ride could be at night.
“He’s wanting to pick up a few things in preparation for Lennox and Mariela’s visit,” Andie continued.
