Chapter Two
“I want to…find myself?” she finally says, adding inflection at the end.
Nice try.
Except she’s not trying.
She’s lying. She’s fucking lying to me.
“Really?” I say, not even attempting to disguise the doubt lacing my tone.
She inhales a deep breath. “To challenge myself,” she says, her tone even.
She’s still lying, and I’m not buying it. “And you think me choking you will challenge you?”
I keep my tone even, though I know my words are mocking. But I don’t regret them. I deserve an answer. A truthful one. And I’m not getting it.
She sighs. “Honestly? I don’t know. All I know is that I saw it in the scene, and I wanted it.”
I sense no hesitancy in her tone. This is the truth. She wants it. She just doesn’t know why.
“And do you still want it now?” I ask.
“Y-Yes. I still want it now.”
“I see.”
I stand and pace across the deep red Turkish rug. I rake my fingers through my already disheveled hair.
Fear grips me, even though I hate to admit it. I already know this can’t go on, but as I watch her—really look at her, see her —I realize just how far I’ve fallen. She’s stunning, yes. That unassuming beauty, the way she moves, her confidence wrapped in those curves, her eyes burning with passion and fire. She’s a vision, effortlessly magnetic.
But it wasn’t her beauty that captured me.
She’s driven. So incredibly determined.
But it wasn’t her ambition that made me fall in love with her.
I fell in love with the woman who challenges me at every turn, the woman who refuses to back down, who questions everything I thought I knew about myself.
I fell in love with the woman who sees through the image, who doesn’t care about my wealth or my status.
I fell in love with the woman who surprises me with her strength and compassion, the one who demands more from me than anyone ever has.
I fell in love with Skye, the woman who tests me, pushes me, and makes me better.
But I also need to keep her safe. And I can’t do that if she doesn’t know why she wants what I can’t give.
“I love you, Braden.”
I turn, feeling so much more than I want to feel. “I love you too. I wish I didn’t, but I do.”
Her lips tremble. “Then can’t we work this out?”
I shake my head slowly. “No. Not when you can’t be honest with me.”
“But I—”
“Skye, you’re not. And what’s more, you know you’re not. Look inside yourself. Figure yourself out, because until you do, you’ll always yearn for something I can’t give you. And I’m not just talking about the neck bondage.”
…
I let her sleep in my bedroom.
I slept in a guest room. Rather, I didn’t sleep. After an hour of tossing and turning, I got up, went to my computer, and did some work. Work is my escape, my constant. When everything else is spiraling out of control, I know I can lose myself in the familiarity of it, shutting out the thoughts that threaten to keep me awake.
In the morning we rode in silence to the airport. We boarded the jet, also in silence. Thank God it was a short flight. Christopher met us and dropped her off at her place. I walked her to the door.
I touched her cheek lightly. “Goodbye, Skye.”
She nodded. No words.
Just as well.
I was holding on by a thread.
This all happened mere hours ago, and it feels like a lifetime.
I’m back at the Boston office now, ready to head into a meeting.
I haven’t slept, but caffeine works wonders, and I’m good at compartmentalizing. I have to be.
The conference room is a buzz of activity as I walk in. The long, polished mahogany table gleams under the harsh fluorescent lights, and an array of papers, laptops, and coffee cups litters its surface. People are talking, their voices overlapping in a chaotic symphony of urgency.
I take a seat at the head of the table, and gradually, the room quiets down. My colleagues turn to face me, waiting for my lead. The air is thick with the scent of coffee and unspoken tension.
My brother, Ben, sits to my right and my father to my left.
I clear my throat, tap the screen of my laptop to wake it up from its sleep mode.
I pull up my notes and—
Then I rise and clear my throat again.
“Thank you all for being prompt today. My father and Ben are going to take the lead on this. I’m… I’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Bray?”
I ignore Ben’s voice.
Simply close my laptop, walk briskly out of the conference room, and then out of the office.
With no idea where I’m going.