AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I have to stop for gas,” said the driver, a young man named Ahmad.
Why did that fill her with relief? She directed him to the nearest gas station and they sped away.
Dominic scrolled on his phone, his perfect profile illuminated by its blue glow. “I changed our tickets and gave us an extra two hours to get there. Your little detour didn’t cost us too much.”
Little detour. As if that was all it amounted to, rather than supporting a young woman in a moment of crisis.
The “detour” had done something else, though. Kendra no longer felt swept up in the excitement of rushing off to catch a midnight plane.
At the East Lake gas station, which doubled as a video rental and convenience store, she got out of the car and drew in a deep breath of the September air. The sight of Jason’s house—the warm light spilling out the windows, the bicycles leaning under the shed, the brass flowerpot shaped like fireman’s boots—had shaken her up.
How could she leave town without talking to him first? She couldn’t. Why was Dominic rushing her like this?
Dominic emerged from the car, still scanning his phone.
“Is there some kind of deadline coming up?” she asked him. “Why do we have to go tonight? What if I’d needed more time to wrap things up?”
“It’s always best to strike while the iron is hot.” He closed his phone, putting his face into shadow. “Ancient business proverb. I don’t want them to change their minds before we close.”
That was true enough, she supposed. “Who am I going to be meeting with?”
“His name is Colin Atwood. I’ll email you his bio so you can brief yourself beforehand. I know you like to be prepared.”
That was also true. So again—why were they rushing off like this? “Why didn’t you call me, or have Colin Atwood call me, before you hopped on a plane?”
“Dramatic gesture, darling. Apology dinner, remember that?”
But he never had apologized. He’d never once said the words, “I’m sorry” or “I apologize.” Was booking a restaurant and whisking her off to London his version of an apology?
Kendra had fantasized about Dominic groveling many times since he’d dumped her. But in her imagination, there had been a lot more confessions of being an asshole.
“Can we circle back to the moment you picked up a phone and decided to call the Lake Bittersweet board?”
“That again?” He let out a sigh. “When Mark told me you were applying for that job, I was afraid you’d get stuck in Lake Bittersweet and that there’d be no chance for us in the future. No chance for our business partnership,” he added quickly.
“Why didn’t you just call me? Why go behind my back like a devious dickhead?”
“I’m sorry to say I am a bit of a devious dickhead.” He gave a disarming laugh, as if everyone was supposed to know that. “It’s one of my charms.”
“I’m going to need more than that. Were you too afraid to face me, even by phone?”
“I’m facing you now, aren’t I?”
“Why now, this particular point in time?” She snapped her fingers as the pieces fell into place. “You saw the fire livestream, and Jason. The news stories mentioned the boat rescue too, and you saw me talking to the news. You were threatened by Jason.”
Anger flashed across his face.
She sucked in a breath. For one brief moment, she’d glimpsed Dominic’s real feelings, and they had nothing to do with getting back together. He didn’t even want to work together again, not really.
Something had happened, and he needed her. She had to figure out what and why before she committed to anything in London.
As if trying to hide that raw moment of exposure, Dominic turned away and got back into the car. Good. She needed a moment to think before Ahmad came back from using the bathroom.
She pulled out her phone and searched for the name Colin Atwood. At least that part was real. He was one of the top executives in Global Solutions. Just out of curiosity, she searched for Dominic’s name and saw that his position was exactly as he’d described it.
At least he wasn’t lying about the company.
But what did it mean that she even questioned if he was lying? It meant she didn’t trust him and never would, and she was on her way to another country with someone with a hidden agenda.
