13. Amber
Ichat with Leon as I pour myself a coffee in the staff room; he’s asked me out on a couple of occasions, but I’ve refused. He’s handsome, intelligent, and a thoroughly nice guy, but I’m back on my single-minded track of my career coming before a man.
“See you later,” I say, walking away from him and down the corridor toward my office, pushing the handle of my door, and striding inside.
I stop and stare at the dark-haired, tall figure dressed in a knee-length coat over charcoal trousers. He stands with his back to me, but the delicious shiver that runs down my spine, landing at my core, tells me who it is.
I blink hard for a moment, inhaling in his masculine, woody scent as he looks at the picture of the million dollar check on the wall—his check. I’ve blanked out his bank details, name, and signature. It’s not on my wall to gloat that I turned down that much money; it’s there to show me I can live my life without a man’s help.
He knows I’m here; he senses me; I know that when his shoulders tense and spine straightens. He points to the copy of the check on the wall and then turns and locks eyes with me. My heart is thumping so strongly it resonates in my ears.
“Why didn’t you take the check?” he asks.
I smile. “Writing a check like that is nothing to you... but for me, cashing it is everything. I didn’t marry you for your money; I did it to help you out. And yes, I won the bet.”
He swallows and nods.
“Why didn’t answer my email,” he says as his eyes roam down my blouse, to my pencil skirt and my high-heeled shoes, taking in my smart office attire. Now standing in front of him is a powerful, successful lawyer. I look so different from the girl he left behind.
As his gaze rises back to my face, my heart thudding so hard it’s like it’s trying to crack open my rib cage.
“There was nothing to answer, unless it was divorce papers,” I say. “The email wasn’t to catch up.”
“I needed to talk to you,” he grunts.
“You can talk now that you’re here?”
He glances at my hand. “Where’s your wedding ring?” he growls a little louder than I would expect him to.
My eyebrows furrow as I give him a look that says, “Are you for real?” It turns out the words come out too.
“You should be wearing it.”
I laugh out loud, rearing my head back before looking back at him and shaking my head. “We’re not married in the true sense of the word, Jack. I have a legal agreement with you, which will end once you send the divorce papers through. You made it very clear that was all it was, so don’t be a hypocrite now.”
There’s a knock at my door; it creaks open, and Leon stands at the entrance. “Are you okay, Amber?”
I nod. “This is Jack; he’s a friend.”
“I’m her husband,” Jack growls, his eyes glaring at Leon.
I can feel Leon’s gaze on me, likely pondering why I haven’t uttered a word to him about being married.
“On paper,” I hiss. “Again, why are you here?”
“Are you sure everything is okay?” Leon asks.
“I’m trying to have a conversation with my wife,” Jack says, exhaling loudly behind my back.
Leon stares at me one last time before he gives me a quick nod of understanding of why I keep turning him down.
The door clicks shut.
I spin to Jack. “Why. Are. You. Here,” I spit.
I’m still in the process of moving on from him. If he thinks he can keep turning up and disrupting my life, he’s sadly mistaken.
“He looks interested in you,” he says, ignoring me.
“He is,” I say. “But that’s not your problem.”
There’s visible tension in Jack’s face as his jaw tightens and a vein bulges in his neck. “I need you to move to the US,” he says.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You have nothing keeping you here,” he says, walking to my chair, pulling it out, and taking a seat.
I raise an eyebrow in disbelief at the sheer absurdity of what he now expects from me. “And I have nothing in the US that would take me there.”
His eyes fixate on mine, almost pleadingly, as he says, “Me.”
No. No. No. Less than three weeks ago, he wanted nothing from me.
“I want to us to give us a try,” he adds.
“No.” I shake my head. Despite my strong desire for this to be real and my urge to walk up to him and kiss him, I must prioritize protecting my heart. I know this can’t be real.
And that is the only thing I want. For him to feel for me the same way I feel for him. But he doesn’t. This is still a transaction for Jack.
I step back and press my back against the wall as I take him in. “You chose me because I conveniently lived in another country and you could get your inheritance.”
“I didn’t choose you; we chose each other like two magnets, drawn together. The only thing that kept us from meeting each other before was an ocean. But that wasn’t enough in the end,” he says, not taking his eyes from me.
“But you can’t love. And I need that—” He goes to open his mouth, but I gesture with my hand to halt his words. “No Jack, let me finish. You told me that’s why you married me, because it didn’t matter. We didn’t matter,” I choke out.
His words haunted me for weeks, and I’m not disrupting my life so he can play happy families for his grandfather’s benefit. I’m not a fool; I know what this is about. He needs to do something for his inheritance; I suspect.
“I married you because I was attracted to you.” He pauses for a moment, tapping his fingers over my desk. “Had it never occurred to you I’m thirty-four years old, but I didn’t get married before for my inheritance?”
I shake my head, undeterred. “You didn’t marry me because you were attracted to me. You admitted it. I was suitable because you could get on with your life, inherit and forget about me.”
“I was attracted to you from the moment I saw you,” he grunts, his eyes piercing mine. “And regarding everything else, the only thing I’ve managed to do is inherit the business.”
My head tilts to one side as I consider what he’s saying. “Has anyone ever told you that you expect far too much,” I say, noticing his sudden caveman act; he’d throw me over his shoulder and carry me off if I didn’t rein him in.
“I expect nothing. But I need you in my life.” He exhales a deep, long breath. “Please have dinner with me tonight. My hotel, I’ll send a driver for you.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
My shoulders sag as I sigh. “Because you told me you couldn’t love me,” I say, my voice trembling.
“And that was a lie, Amber. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you.”