Page 44 of At Your Service
She was about to say something else but the car came to a stop. Minutes later they were climbing out and walking through the lobby to the elevators that would take them to his penthouse.
They walked in silence and, for the second time tonight, he wondered what she was thinking. Had what he just said been too much? Were they never going to talk about how this arrangement had changed both their lives?
It wasn’t until after they’d prepared dinner together, eaten and then moved to the couch in his living room, that he broached the subject again.
“We have a little over two weeks before the public breakup is scheduled.” He’d thought about this during the meal and wanted to see how she was feeling about it first. Then he’d drift into the muddy waters of feelings.
She tucked her legs under her and draped an arm over the back of the couch, tilting her head as she looked at him. “I was thinking about that earlier today. We could always say I caught you cheating. I saw a picture of you with another woman in a tabloid and decided this is not the life for me.”
“Wow, that’s all it would take? A picture and you’d walk out on me?”
He’d exaggerated his reaction on purpose but the insinuation that he’d cheat on her prickled.
She shrugged. “I mean, it plays right into your title, so at the end of the engagement you’d just go back to being the Fashion House Playboy again. We both walk away unscathed.”
That wasn’t likely. He was already feeling the effects of being with her and doubted that would get better when she was no longer in this city with him.
“What if it’s just a picture? And you’re overreacting?”
“But what if it’s not? What if settling down with one woman isn’t going to work for you?” She seemed so adamant about this, a little more than he liked. “I mean... Look, you’ve been scorned before, so I wouldn’t blame you. We’ve already gone over my trust issues, so if anybody understands, you know I do.”
But he didn’t want her to understand and, for the life of him, Major didn’t know how to best get that point across to her without possibly scaring both of them to death with some mushy declaration of love.
Washe in love with her?
“Look, it’s been a really long day. Can we talk about this tomorrow?” She uncurled her legs and stood. The nightshirt she wore was like a football jersey but it was hot-pink with double zeroes on the front and “Sexy” written on the back.
“Yeah, sure. We’ve got time.”
She nodded. “Right, seventeen days.”
So she was counting, too. Major stood and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. She hesitated but eventually gave in to the hug. He didn’t know how long they stood there like that, his face buried in her neck, hers buried in his, their arms holding on tight because the time to let go was getting close.
Too close and he had to do something about it.
After she’d gone to bed, he went into his office to think about how he could keep Nina in his life. Because suddenly the thought of her not being there was more important than anything else, including his new business.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“COMEIN!”MAJORcalled and straightened his tie seconds before the door to his office at RGF opened.
“Hey, what’s up man?” Maurice said as he walked in.
Major frowned.
“What’d I do? I just got here.”
“I was expecting someone else,” Major said, shaking his head.
The huge grin that immediately spread across Maurice’s face was annoying.
“Oh. Let me guess. Nina?” he asked because Maurice obviously couldn’t resist being in a position to pick on the older twin for a change.
“Yes, Nina. I sent her a text asking her to come down, so she should be on her way. What do you want?”
“Just checking on you. Is everything ready for the big launch? I’m ready to start passing out Brand Integrated cards.”
“Not quite,” he said. “And before you start, it has nothing to do with Dad. In fact, I’m going to talk to him tonight. I should have done this a long time ago, but better late than never.”
