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Grace frowned. “Surely you don’t think I care aboutthat, Roarkey.”
To be honest, I guess she didn’t. I’d insisted on paying for everything, buying the house and her car, but Grace came from a rich household and she had a trust fund much like Mrs. Martinez had. She could have paid for it herself, but I’d been in love and wanted to take care of her.
“Then why are you here?” I asked tiredly. I didn’t want to go through this again. I’d finally begun to move on from Grace and I didn’t want to go back down this road. I felt nothing when I looked at her, not even bitterness.
“I want us to go out to dinner and talk,” she said, looking at me from underneath her eyelashes. She had these big, brown doe eyes, and they used to really do something to me. Not so much anymore.
“Again, Grace, spit it out. What do you want to talk to me about?”
Grace huffed out a breath. “You know what I want to talk to you about.”
I stared at her blankly and she groaned.
“I want us to think about getting back together, Roarkey.”
I snorted out a laugh that I tried to hide at first. I cleared my throat, hoping that would help but I laughed again, unable to help myself.
Grace pouted at me. “You’re making fun of me.”
“I’m not making fun of you, Grace,” I said when I finally got it together. “I’m just wondering how much wine you had at lunch to consider asking me that.”
“I didn’t haveanywine at lunch. I’ve been cutting back, Roarkey. For you.”
“For me?” I snorted again, staring at her incredulously. “Did you also cut back on fucking other guys or…?”
Grace stood up, her face turning red with anger. “If you’re going to be like this, I’m going to leave.”
“Don’t let the door hit you,” I mumbled, and she stormed out of the office, slamming the door. It made my blinds shudder with the force of it. Grace had been another one of those strong women that had gotten under my skin.
This was exactly why I should avoid Magda, do the work myself. I didn’t want to go down that road again, because I knew where it ended.
I threw the box of things that Grace had brought into the corner, there was nothing there I couldn’t live without, and went back to the prenup. I had lied to Magda when I said I was three-quarters of the way through. I wasn’t even halfway, and I could have really used her help.
But I just couldn’t be in close proximity to her right now, not with the way I got butterflies in my stomach when she was near. That wasn’t going to work for me. I couldnotfall in love with Magda Riley, and I knew from past experience that I was the type of guy that didn’t fall easily, but when I did, I tended to fall quickly and hard.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t keep things casual, it was just that when I met someone that clicked with me emotionally and physically, it was hard for me not to go too fast. Grace and I had moved in together within three months, and gotten married within six.
I wasn’t stupid enough to think that I wasn’t on the verge of having feelings for Magda Riley. I had enough experience to know that I might already like her a lot more than I should.
Especially since I knew she didn’t like me or share any of those feelings, I had to stay away from her. Which was a real shame, because the sex had been phenomenal.
I just had to keep working with her and try not to want her anymore.
That might be harder than I imagined, but it was better than the alternative: heartache and rejection.
MAGDA
I feltawful after leaving Roarke’s office. I felt used and rejected, somehow, after he had started the prenup without me. I thought it was because the sex had been soimpersonal. He hadn’t looked at me, and I could have just been anybody to him. There was something hot at the moment about being used in that way, but I didn’t like the aftermath.
It seemed like he was avoiding me, and I decided that was fine with me. I didn’t have feelings for him anyway, right? I holed myself up in my office until nearly three, but my rumbling stomach called me down to the coffee shop downstairs to at least get a bagel. I’d barely eaten my lunch, too excited to get to the hotel and not wanting to seem bloated during the act.
That had turned out to be a bust. It wasn’t like the sex hadn’t been amazing, but it’d made me feel terrible, and I thought I didn’t want anything else to do with Roarke Brentwood. I was better off, really, not sleeping with anyone that I worked with.
So why did it feel so bad?
When I walked out of my office, I saw a woman storming out of Roarke’s office, slamming the door so hard it vibrated through the office. She was a redhead, her clothing and makeup immaculate, and instantly, jealousy bloomed in my stomach.
It was probably just a client, but I couldn’t help my heart lurch into my throat.
