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How could it already be this hard to let him go? What was she going to do if he didn’t return to her? He’d never abandon Jayden, she knew that. She’d seen the love in his eyes when he looked at their son, love and an ache. Fear, too.
But her... What if she couldn’t have even the little of him she had now? What if, for all her talk that she was strong, that she had no expectations of him, she’d always be weak and vulnerable when it came to him? What if he walked away tomorrow from being her husband? What would she do then?
Could she survive the loss again? How could he have so much power over her heart already?
This was supposed to be about friendship, about being a source of strength for him. And yet it had become something so much more in just a few short weeks. The truth of that terrified her.
She nodded, somehow evading his eyes. Somehow breathing through it all. “Of course. That sounds like a very sensible idea. Where do you plan to go?”
One broad palm clasped her cheek with such infinite tenderness that she felt wet heat knocking behind her eyelids. “To the villa we own in the Caribbean. You’re going to be flaming mad, but I’ve already made arrangements for us to be gone for at least a month.”
Priya sprang from the bed. “You what? Us who?” She didn’t wait for his answer, as much as it wrecked her. “Taking Jayden with you isn’t a good idea, Christian. Not because I don’t trust you but...”
“Not just Jayden,” he said, pressing his fingers to her lips, “but you, too. I want you both with me. For as long as you can bear it.”
Priya was so relieved that he’d included her that she couldn’t even muster an ounce of outrage that he’d made the decision without even consulting her.
“We’ll leave in a few days.”
With that arrogant command, he reminded Priya of who he used to be.
“There’s a board meeting in three days. I know you’d prefer it if we kept your return quiet for a little longer, so I can’t really afford a vacation at this point, Christian. There are a lot of things I want to make sure get done before I hand over the reins to you. Before you...” She shrugged, not wanting to elaborate.
If he was curious about it, Christian didn’t let on. She still couldn’t believe how casual and easy he’d been about the company since his return. The ambitious twenty-four-year-old who had once devoted days and nights to building new technology systems, the drive that had led him and Jai to make their first million right out of college, was nowhere to be seen since he’d returned.
Not that Priya begrudged him the break.
“I know about the board meeting. You can meet us at the airstrip after.”
“How did you... Who did you talk to?”
“I called William Constantine. He was here yesterday, walking me through the company’s details over the last few years.” Ah, there was the man she’d just wondered about—the ambitious, brilliant CEO who’d taken the tech world by storm at such a young age. “I trust him to keep it quiet until I’m ready.”
Priya tried to sound casual. “You’ve been busy.”
“Did I step on your toes?”
She shrugged. “Of course not. I thought you’d ask me to go over everything with you when you were ready, but as chief financial officer, William was a good choice.”
“You have enough on your plate.” For once, Christian seemed oblivious to her dismay. “My point is it won’t be long before I take my share on again, okay?”
Priya nodded. “I’m ready whenever you are to do the transfer.”
And before she could betray her confusion, before his hawk-eyed gaze zeroed in on her growing distress, she walked out of the room.
Christian’s preferring to talk to the CFO instead of her didn’t mean he didn’t trust Priya or her handling of the company. Or that he wanted an outsider’s opinion on her performance. Neither did she understand this sudden reluctance she felt about handing back the reins of the company to Christian.
For all Mama continued to gripe that her job left her little time to be a mother, Priya had enjoyed the challenges of leading the company. Of making decisions that affected thousands of livelihoods, of seeing the fruits of her labor when again and again MMT had been hailed as one of the best companies to work for in the last decade.
Maybe because managing MMT had been her rite of fire, the vehicle through which she’d found her strength and her endurance. And now it was time to say goodbye to that role. It made sense that she’d have mixed feelings about it.
She stared at the closed door to his bedroom.
Christian wasn’t going to like some of the things she’d implemented as CEO since he’d been gone. In fact, he probably wasn’t going to like most of them. But what was done was done. She’d done her best to lead MMT and she’d make the same decisions all over again if she had to.
CHAPTER NINE
ITTURNEDOUTto be more than a week later when Christian carried a sleeping Jayden into the rear cabin of their private jet. Perching on the other side of the bed, Priya tucked him in carefully.
