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I’d much rather have conducted my business in the privacy of my hotel room.
Unfortunately, as much as I hated to admit it, Jason was right. I could not conduct all of my meetings from the comfort and familiarity of a hotel room, not if I had any chance of expanding the company and making it into the empire I knew it could become. Since I was well on the way to achieving that and becoming the youngest businessman to do so, I was not about to let something as simple as discomfort get in my way.
Pretending I didn’t know Martha, on the other hand, was going to be far more challenging than I expected. I kept sneaking glances at her, taking in the subtle differences, from the way she held herself to the strands of brown in her hair. I kept comparing her to the woman I met in the woods, with dark circles and red-rimmed eyes, but she looked nothing at all like her.
I was tempted to reach out and touch her just to see if it was a dream.
However, I didn’t want to get her in trouble.
Even if the way her boss was looking at her made me want to punch him squarely in the face. She was glancing around the room, taking in the decorations and the uniformed staff, and pausing at the chandeliers. When she lowered her gaze and looked at me, a jolt of electricity raced up my spine.
Did she recognize me?
I couldn’t tell.
Banks was saying something when I turned to him and frowned. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’d like a moment alone with Ms. Auden.”
Banks glanced between the two of us and frowned. “Why?”
“It’s private.” I placed a hand on Martha’s arm and led her away without waiting for Banks to agree. When we were far enough away, I released her arm and took a step back. “I can’t believe it’s really you.”
Martha drew herself up to her full height and stared at me. “What?”
“It’s me. It’s Albin. We met on the side of the road during a snow-storm.”
Martha studied my face and said nothing.
I stepped closer to her. “You can’t tell me you don’t remember the lumber jack cabin in the woods. You were telling me about your boyfriend…he was cheating on you, and you were upset.”
Martha’s eyebrows furrowed together.
“When I woke up, I looked for you,” I continued, my eyes never leaving her face. “I looked for you for a while, actually, but I didn’t have your last name, so I couldn’t find you.”
Silence stretched between us.
Was it possible I had built up the entire night in my head?
Martha wasn’t giving any indication that she recognized me, much less that she held our night together in the same regard. On the contrary, she continued to stand there, staring at me as if I was some weird specimen she couldn’t understand.
And I didn’t like it one bit.
It had to have meant something to her.
All of the fire, all of the electricity, and all of those years of yearning couldn’t have been for nothing.
In the background, people went in and out of the banquet, live music playing behind them. Conversation rose and fell as we stood there while I waited for her to say something, anything to make me believe that it hadn’t all been in my head. After all this time, I refused to believe that fate had brought Martha back into my life, only to have her ripped away again.
Without even acknowledging what happened between us.
I couldn’t have imagined the spark between us, could I?
“Aren’t you going to say anything?”
Martha blinked and clasped her hands behind her back. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“What I want you to say? I don’t want you to say anything. I want the truth.”
“The truth?”
