Chapter 36
Marcus opened his front door and immediately Ava could feel some of her stress ebbing.
Just seeing him in the flesh always did that to her.
But… “Why did I just see Sloane Gala leaving here?” Ugh, did she sound shrill?
She didn’t like this odd sense of jealousy, but Marcus brought out a different side to her.
One where she barely recognized herself.
And now she’d seen Sloane leaving her husband and the man she was sleeping with all in the same day. Something was going on.
“Says the married woman.” His tone was edgy, off.
And his words hit their mark. She flinched and started to take a step back, but he moved fast and pulled her into his arms.
She was weak where he was concerned and melted against him, burying her face against his neck. He was tall, but so was she, and she loved the way their bodies fit together. Loved everything about him in a way she’d never loved her husband. Ryan had made sense on paper, but that was about it.
“I’ve already figured things out with my attorney.
Just let me get through this project and we’ll serve him papers.
” She pulled back so she could look at his face.
And god, what a face. He wasn’t handsome in a traditional sense, but then again, nothing about him was traditional.
She wasn’t sure that she’d ever done anything to deserve him, but she wasn’t going to screw things up and lose him.
“I swear. I’ve worked so hard for this and I don’t want to let him ruin anything.
” Ryan had already ruined so much in her life, stolen years from her.
She was ready for the next chapter. With Marcus.
Marcus’s jaw was still tight, but he nodded. “I’m sorry I’m in a shit mood.”
“Because of Sloane?” Ava genuinely liked the other woman.
“No. Not exclusively and…no, it’s not her. Hannah Brown stopped by earlier today.”
Ava rolled her eyes, then brushed her mouth against his before she ducked out of his embrace and headed straight for the bar. “That nanny is just a nuisance.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
She poured herself a chilled vodka because champagne wasn’t going to take the edge off tonight.
Not after the day she’d had. Her boss was a moron and their testing still wasn’t where it needed to be.
She’d already made so many sacrifices for this job, stayed in a marriage that made her miserable, so they could finish this project with no drama.
So they could all get a huge payout. Now she worried that things were unraveling.
That she’d made hard choices all for nothing.
“Sloane tells me that she’s missing.” He sat at his normal place on the couch that faced the fireplace and she joined him as she had so many times before.
“How would she know that?”
“I don’t know. Didn’t ask.” He looked stoic as usual. “How was work?”
“Long.” And frustrating. But she didn’t want to burden him with all the crap she’d had to deal with.
Like her boss acting weird, and the fact that the testing that was supposed to be finished was still not at the acceptable failure rate.
It worried her for multiple reasons. She couldn’t let this contract fail. Just couldn’t.
“Want to talk about it?” His deep voice was a murmur against her neck now.
And she didn’t even have to think about it. She set her drink down and straddled him. “Talking is the last thing on my mind.”
Tomorrow would be a new day, something she had to keep reminding herself. She would figure things out, she had to.
Too much depended on her getting the final touches of this launch right. And she refused to let her sacrifices be for naught.