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Nadia didn’t say anything for a minute and then she said in a soft voice, “Whether or not I wanted him to pursue me or not, the moment I pushed back he moved on. That meant he wasn’t serious about a future with me anyway.”
Rissa smiled. “You like him, don’t you?”
Nadia shrugged. “He was moving too fast. He was talking marriage and didn’t even know me.”
“Then you should have told him to slow down. Instead, you sent him away. Do you know what I think?”
Nadia didn’t want to ask but figured her best friend would tell her anyway. “No, what?”
“That you like Jaxon more than you want to admit, and that you’ll give anything for another kiss, another taste of his mouth, his tongue, the opportunity to be your first rumple between the sheets and—”
“Rissa!”
“Just keeping it real, my friend.”
“I refuse to involve myself with a man who only wanted to connect himself with me because...”
Rissa lifted a brow. “Because of what?”
Nadia ran a hand down her face. “I honestly don’t know.”
Rissa stood after checking her watch. “Then maybe it’s time you stop assuming and find out the answers. The real answers, Nadia. And how about taking a look in the mirror. You’re beautiful. That’s why he wanted to connect with you. You’re not a bad catch and Jaxon Ravnel isn’t either. Just so you know, the word is out and he’s already at the top of every single woman’s hit list in town.”
After draining the last of her coffee and tossing the cup in a nearby trash can, Rissa smiled over at her and said, “See you tomorrow. Same place. Same time. However, I certainly hope you have a different attitude.”
By the end of the day, Nadia was clearing off her desk and getting ready to leave when her cell phone rang. She smiled upon recognizing the caller. “Hello, Pammie.” Calling her oldest sister by her nickname whenever they spoke was something Nadia hadn’t outgrown.
“Nadia, I just heard the good news. I understand Jaxon will replace the Dunnings Financial Group as the sponsor of this year’s holiday play. That’s wonderful!”
Pam was the second person to sing Jaxon’s praises. Rissa had been the first. Nadia figured there would be others tomorrow when news of his company expansion to Gamble, as well as his being sponsor of the play, appeared in tomorrow’s newspaper. His personal assistant, Langley Easton, had called and introduced herself. The woman sounded very professional and young.
That had prompted Nadia, out of curiosity, to check out Ravnel Technologies’ website. Now she wished she hadn’t. Not only was Miss Easton professional and young. She was also attractive and single. It said she had been Jaxon’s personal assistant for a few years. Had the two ever dated? Been romantically involved? Why on earth did Nadia care if they had?
“Nadia?”
“Yes?”
“You are glad about it, too, aren’t you? I’m sure you had everything under control as far as getting a replacement, but Jaxon has made your job easier.”
“Yes, and I appreciate him doing so. But...”
“But what?”
Pam was the last person Nadia needed to tell about her complex relationship with Jaxon. But then, to be honest, she and Jaxon didn’t have a relationship. That thought made her ask her sister something she had wondered about for years. “Pammie, at the time you met Dillon you were engaged to marry Fletcher. What made you fall in love with Dillon when you were promised to another man?”
Pam didn’t say anything for a moment, and then said, “I didn’t love Fletcher. Our marriage was to be one of convenience. However, I’d agreed to a sexual relationship since we both wanted kids. But I looked at my engagement to Fletcher as a business deal, which is why I wouldn’t sleep with him before the wedding.”
Pam paused and Nadia figured she was remembering that time fifteen years ago. “That day when you, Jill and Paige called me outside to let me know a man was there to see me, and I saw Dillon for myself, engaged or not engaged, the moment I gazed into his eyes I was not only attracted to him, but knew, if given the chance, I could feel more.”
If given the chance she could feel more...
Nadia wondered if it could it be that way for her with Jaxon. “Why didn’t you fight it? After all, you were engaged.”
“Trust me, I tried. But there are some things you aren’t equipped to fight. An attraction that could lead to falling in love is one of them.”
“Did it scare you? Your inability to resist your attraction?” Nadia asked.
Pam chuckled. “It petrified me because I didn’t know Dillon. I had just met him and he certainly didn’t know me. Yet I felt things for him that I hadn’t felt for Fletcher. I wasn’t even physically attracted to Fletcher. With Dillon it was another story altogether. The sexual chemistry between us was strong.”
