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“I’m not trying to rush you, darling, but I’d like to bounce a grandchild or two on my knees while I’m able to.”
“It might not happen for a while.”
He gave her hand a squeeze. “I just want you to be happy.”
She felt the tears burning the back of her eyes.
“I will be. I am. I can feel the effects of the painkillers I took coming on.”
“That’s my cue to leave you along to get some sleep.” Leaning over, he kissed her on the forehead like he did when she was a little girl.
“I love you pumpkin.”
“Love you too daddy.”
She could hardly wait for him to leave before she burst into tears.
*****
He should have invited her to come back to his place, he thought as he paced the length of his living room. Now, he was here and couldn’t settle. He kept picturing the haunted beauty of her face, and the way she had stared at him.
He’d felt the shock and longing rushing through his system when her eyes met his. He wasn’t over her. Damn her to hell, he was still unable to get her out of his head. She hadn’t been in his bedroom for over a month and he could still smell her perfume.
He’d started sleeping in the guest room. She’d spoiled everything for him. He’d seen her with that guy and had wanted to punch his lights out. But then again, he’d been with someone else. Was she sleeping with the prick? Even the thought of him touching her was driving him crazy. Why hadn’t she fought for him? For them?
She’d said she was in love with him, but that had to be a lie. How could she feel that way and not want to tell her old man about him? Because she was ashamed of you, the voice whispered inside his head, and that was the point.
He was rich and had assets worldwide. He had money in the bank, the media lauded him as achieving and accomplishing the seemingly impossible, but that wasn’t enough for her. He didn’t have a pedigree. He was from a single parent home.
His father had high-tailed it and had later died in assisted living. He hadn’t descended from royalty and apparently that mattered to her and her old man. Well to hell with both of them. If she was ashamed of him- He felt his twist in his gut at the thought of it. If she was ashamed of him and obviously, she was, she didn’t deserve his love.
Telling himself that was not making the pain up go away. He couldn’t stop yearning for her. At night, when he went to bed, it was her body he was feeling next to his. He couldn’t stop wanting to feel her slender curves against him. The scent of her perfume was as familiar to him as his own cologne.
She’d left a pair of panties on the bed and he’d taken to sleeping with them. Every now and then, he’d smell them, taking in the scent of her.
The muskiness of her when she came in his mouth was still with him. Her laughter, that exposed her tiny dimple, was etched on his brain, everything about her was always with him. Seeing her tonight had brought it all back to the forefront of his mind.
He’d fallen like a ton of bricks for a woman who didn’t love him enough to fight for him. That was the reality of it.
*****
She deserved the spa day, she decided, and was glad she’d been persuaded to accept the invitation of her friends to come and pamper herself. It’d been a week since the disaster at the Opera. She’d been out with Mark a couple of times and was beginning to like him.
Perhaps she would come to more than like him. She couldn’t bear for him to touch her and even an innocent peck on her cheek made her skin crawl. She couldn’t bear to be touched.
"I recommend the seaweed wrap. It opens up the pores and leave your skin looking gorgeous."
Alessia stiffened at the sound of the familiar voice. Turning her head, she watched as Annie, the woman she’d slaughtered several times in her dreams settled on the table next to her.
"Fancy seeing you here. Thanks, darling." She gave the woman a dazzling smile as she was handed a glass of champagne. "I see you chose the milk and honey wrap. Not as effective, but it’ll do."
Settling back against the piles of cushions, she sipped her champagne and eyed Alessia. "Now I really see the appeal. I also see you don’t need the wrap. Your skin is flawless."
"What are you doing here?" Alessia couldn’t believe it. Of all the exclusive spas in the world, this had to be the one where this woman had come at this precise time. Her friends had already finished up and had gone back to their rooms or the lounge.
"I needed a beauty treatment." She gestured towards Alessia. "Same as you, apparently. Maxwell and I are attending the gala on Saturday and I have to look my best. You’re seeing Mark Anders, quite a step down, isn't it?"
"Go to hell." Alessia could feel the rage surging through her body and had to rein it in. It wouldn’t do to cause a scene here where the staff were milling around. People had a way of gossiping. "I apologize-"
