Chapter Thirteen #2
Ashley shook her head slowly. ‘Why…why are you being so cold?’ she asked in a low voice.
Surely at this point her honesty couldn’t make things worse?
‘I get that last night was last night,’ she continued.
‘Fine. I won’t be asking for a repeat, don’t worry.
But I thought… I thought we were…’ What—friends?
No, not that, but something. ‘I thought we’d got over all this animosity,’ she finished.
‘When we’d spoken…’ She found she couldn’t say anything more.
‘I don’t mean to be cold,’ he said in the same matter-of-fact voice he’d used along. It felt cold. ‘Just practical.’
‘Practical…’ She nodded slowly. Well, maybe she would have to be practical too.
If she could convince Nico of the importance of Infinite Innovations and the inventions it championed…
if these so-called photo ops would help the company and the employees she cared about, along with the people she was trying to help…
well, she would do it. And then, after today, she’d never see him again.
Why did that thought hurt so much?
Nico had told himself he was being cruel to be kind, but it didn’t feel that way.
After last night, he’d wanted to get this morning on the right footing.
Create a necessary distance and professionalism, because just remembering how intimate and honest he’d been last night had him mentally cringing in shame and anger.
Never trust a Woodward. Never be that na?ve again. Never let anyone close enough to hurt you.
Had he learned nothing from his five years in prison?
It had to be this way, for both their sakes, but he still didn’t like how wounded Ashley looked. Maybe he’d been too harsh.
‘Look, I’d like to have an enjoyable day together,’ he told her. ‘Show me the things you care about. Give me a tour of the city.’
‘A tour of the city?’ she scoffed, her voice wobbling. ‘You’re from Brooklyn.’
‘Pretend I’m a tourist,’ he cajoled with a smile.
‘Because this is all fake.’ She spat the words out like bitter seeds.
‘You can stop trying to convince me, not that you were doing a good job of it, because I’ll do it…
for the employees’ sakes. And I think you’re right.
It’s better if I don’t work for you.’ She bared her teeth in a smile.
‘I can already tell that would be a very bad idea.’
She turned on her heel, stalking back to her bedroom. ‘Now, if you don’t mind,’ she called over her shoulder, ‘I’m going to go home and take a shower and scrub the memory of last night from my mind. Then I’ll meet you wherever you choose so we can have our oh-so-important photo op.’
‘Ashley.’ He was caught between annoyance and guilt, even shame, that he’d so obviously hurt her. It had been the last thing he’d wanted last night. ‘A day of sparring remarks and hurt looks,’ he told her, ‘Is not going to help either of our causes.’
‘I’m not hurt,’ she snapped, her eyes flashing jade sparks as she pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling further.
‘I’m annoyed. There’s a difference.’ And then, her breath hitching audibly, she stalked into his bedroom, closing the door behind her with a sound somewhere between a firm click and a slam.
Nico sighed. This was not what he wanted at all. Another weary sigh escaped him as he turned to gaze out of the window. Last night…
He couldn’t stop thinking about last night, thinking how good and even right Ashley had felt in his arms. The way she’d touched him, how he’d felt moving inside her…
the sense of completion and wholeness that had suffused his whole being as he’d held her in his arms, as if he’d found a home when he hadn’t even been looking for one.
It was the stuff of fairy tales rather than real life, and God knew he had enough knowledge of what real life was like.
Enough hard-won experience of how trusting people was terrible, and believing people cared had only opened him to pain.
Not just with Chase Woodward, but with his own mother.
Sixteen years on, and she still wasn’t talking to him.
Still blamed him for Roberto, just as he blamed himself.
Another reason not to forgive. He might let go of his idea of revenge, but that didn’t mean he was going to let a Woodward into his life.
Ashley might not remember the way she’d turned away from him, but that one moment, if it had played out differently, could have changed his life… and saved his brother’s.
Ashley came out of his bedroom dressed in her evening dress, carrying her heels in one hand. To Nico’s dismay, he saw she was still limping a little. ‘Is your ankle still bothering you…?’ he began, and she shook her head.
‘I’m fine. I’ve called an Uber.’
‘I can have you taken in my car.’
‘Let’s keep this professional, all right? No favours.’ She gave him a steely smile. ‘And, after today, we don’t need to see each other ever again, which I imagine will suit you admirably, since you can’t want to involve yourself with a Woodward any more than necessary.’
She was saying the right things, Nico acknowledged, and falling in with the plan he’d come up with early that morning, when he’d slipped away from their bed and stared out at the chilly grey dawn, trying to figure out a way forward that kept his own sanity intact. So why didn’t he like her saying them?
‘Very well,’ he replied after a moment. ‘Since you’ll be showing me around, why don’t you set the itinerary? You can text it to my driver.’ He held up his phone. ‘I’ll give you his contact.’
‘Perfect.’ She stared at him for a moment longer, her green eyes going glassy, her hair tumbled about her shoulders, and for a heart-stopping moment Nico wanted to close the space between them, take her in his arms, and tell them both to stop being so ridiculous.
Yes, Ashley was a Woodward, but she wasn’t her father.
And, yes, she’d turned away from him in his greatest moment of need, but she’d been young and afraid.
He could forget all that, he could forgive it…
But for what purpose? What future did they have?
What future did he want? He wasn’t remotely ready or willing to let anyone into his life, his heart, never mind a Woodward.
And, no matter how practical Ashley was trying to be about the so-called protocols, he could tell from the way her lips had trembled, and her voice had shaken that she wanted more than he would ever have it in him to give.
It was better this way. It had to be.