AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nah,” I said. “Everything’s fine, I just gotta go see my girl.”
It felt good to call her that. To call her mine. I certainly had felt that way for months now, although it was hard to say it. I knew I had the tendency to be a little possessive and go overboard, so I was afraid of how I felt for Katie.
It was too intense. Too much.
But I wasn’t backing down. I was facing what I felt head on because I was never going to leave her. I’d already done enough of that.
I hadn’t taken my private jet, wanting the opportunity to show my clients how well our airline worked, how it was always on time.
On the airplane, a blonde sat next to me and smiled at me brightly. We were in first class, of course, and they were offering champagne. I declined. The stewardesses were friendly and cheerful, all whispering about how the owner was a passenger on the flight. They needn’t have worried because I wasn’t working. I wasn’t evaluating how good their service was, how exquisite the cuisine was or how impeccable the first class cabin was. I was just a man, desperate to get home to his girl.My girl.
I didn’t smile back at the blond. In another life, I’d have had her imagining what I’d do to her in the bedroom just with my gaze and sexy talk. I’d have offered to take her home, and in the back of my car, I’d have had my way with her before dropping her off, never to see her again.
But this time, I just glanced out the window, hearing the sound of rejection in her huff. It made me want to laugh. Women were always trying to talk to me, flirt with me, but I just wasn’t interested anymore. I was faithful to whatever it was that Katie and I had, even if we didn’t have a label on it.
I thought that I might find Katie at my house, visiting Colin. So I told my driver to go straight home.
“Step on it,” I told him. He was driving like my grandmother and the traffic didn’t help. "Is there a quicker route?"
I was all but hanging out the window by the time I arrived. I ran up the stairs of the front porch and pushed the door open so hard it thudded against the wall with a bang.
“Katie? Colin?”
I mindlessly tossed my briefcase on the entrance floor and darted to the living room. Empty.Were they in the kitchen?No one there either.So they must be upstairs.I called out to them again from the bottom of the staircase.
“Daddy! You’re home!” Colin shouted, running down toward me, Alice slowly following behind him.
I took him into my arms and kissed his nose. “Happy to be back, kiddo,” I said gently, taking in his boyish scent of milk and honey. “Have you seen Katie?”
“She was here a couple of days ago, playing superhero and trains,” he said simply. “When Uncle Toby came.”
What?I blinked. “Alice?”
Alice wasn’t good at concealing her opinions and I could tell she wasn’t happy about Toby’s visit. “He was only here for a few minutes,” she said quietly. “And Katie told him to leave.”
“What did he say to her?” I growled, placing Colin back down on his feet.
“You’ll have to talk to her about that,” Alice said softly.
Godammit.I could only imagine what Toby had said to Katie, how awful he’d probably made her feel. No wonder she hadn’t answered my calls.
I couldn’t get to her fast enough so I drove myself, speeding to her townhouse and parking illegally directly out front.
I knocked on her door for what seemed like forever before I finally heard shuffled footsteps from the other side of the door. I was finally going to see her. When she answered it I just wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her hello.
The door finally opened. And there she was. In front of me. She was dressed in a robe, her hair in a messy bun. She looked tired, exhausted, even, with bags under her eyes and my first thought was that she might be sick.
I took a step forward to take her in my arms. But she took a step back and hid her body behind the door, putting distance between us.
My heart leapt up into my throat. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re home early,” was all she said, her words tight and cold. She didn’t look at me, just turned around and walked into the house.
I followed her. "Does this have to do with Toby? What did he say to you?”
She went into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. “Oh, he just told me the truth,” she said calmly.
The truth?
