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“Boone,” Camilla said with an icy smile. “We’ve met.”
Abena arched one perfect eyebrow. “Have you?”
“Yes. We dated a few years ago,” Camilla said.
Even if Boone didn’t have better than average hearing, he would have heard the hiss Camilla’s leopard made.
Fuck. Boone’s tiger hissed in return, and he barely managed to swallow the sound before it escaped.
Knock it off, he snarled at his tiger.
I hate her. She stinks, his tiger pouted.
She doesn’t stink. And it’s our fault she’s angry.
Me? What did I do? I didn’t do anything, his tiger snarled.
We’ll talk about this later. Boone cleared his throat as his tiger retreated again, very aware of how both Camilla and Abena stared at him.
“I see your tiger still has plenty to say to you,” Camilla said.
“Um, yeah,” Boone said. Sweat dripped down his back as Abena studied him and Camilla with a thoughtful look.
About a year after Derek’s death, Boone had met Camilla through a dating app. They’d hit it off and started dating. Unfortunately, he’d still been fucked up by Derek’s death, and Camilla had taken the brunt of it. They’d only dated for about nine months, but the last three months had been a nightmare of epic proportions, and it had been all Boone’s fault. Unable to process his grief or his chaotic emotions over Derek’s death, he’d put Camilla through hell before she’d finally left him.
Not long after that, Grayson and Cooper had practically dragged Boone to his first therapy session. The therapy had made a huge difference. Hell, it had saved his damn life. In a better head space emotionally and finally understanding the depth of how much he’d hurt Camilla, Boone had attempted to make contact with her. He’d texted and emailed asking if they could meet so he could apologize, but she’d never responded. Knowing it wasn’t her responsibility to make him feel better about his guilt for hurting her, he hadn’t reached out again.
“Are we going to have a problem, Camilla?” Abena asked.
Fuck. Boone would be fired before he even did a single shift.
Cooper was going to kill him. He was a dead tiger walking.
Before Camilla could reply, Frederick stepped into the room. “Ma’am, your daughter is calling. She says it’s urgent.”
“Excuse me, please,” Abena said. “I won’t be long.”
She left the room with Frederick. Sweat now beading at his temples. Boone said, “I’m sorry, Camilla.”
“For what? Treating me like shit until I finally left, or telling me you loved me when you didn’t?” she asked. Her caramel coloured eyes were narrowed in anger, and her slender body trembled minutely.
“Both,” he said. “You didn’t deserve any of that, and I’ve wanted to apologize to you for a long time now.”
She grimaced, running one hand over her long blonde hair in a familiar gesture. “Yeah, I’m sure you have.”
“I have,” he said, joining her by the bookshelves and ignoring his tiger’s grumble about the smell. “How I treated you was awful. I was still fucked up by Derek’s death, but that is zero excuse for the things I said and did. I was immature and a coward. I should never have let it get to the point it did. I should have been honest with you and admitted that I was too fucked up to be with anyone. I wish every goddamn day that I hadn’t been such a coward.”
“That makes two of us,” Camilla said, but he could smell the scent of her fury lessening. “I loved you, Boone. I mean, I really loved you, and you hurt me. Do you know how long it took me to get over that?”
“You were amazing and incredible and did nothing wrong,” Boone said. “What happened between us was completely my fault, and I am truly sorry for hurting you.”
He hoped she could both see and smell his sincerity. While he didn’t want to lose the assignment, the opportunity to finally apologize to Camilla was more important to him.
Camilla sighed. “Dammit, I hate that I can smell how terrible you feel.”
He stayed silent, and Camilla studied him before saying, “I accept your apology.”
Relief washed over him. “Thank you, Camilla.”
