misery.
And tell him that I need you with me.
It was still a few minutes before he replied.
I thought you were on personal business, not firm business.
I am. And I might not be coming back. You should come and see if you want to join me.
Are you serious?
She had to smile. This was crazy. But it felt right. She planned to leave the firm soon, even if she didn’t move to Summer Lake. She could take Donovan with her wherever she went. Bringing him up to the lake might kill a few birds with the same stone.
I’m serious. I pay your wages, not the firm. If I leave and you stay, you’ll probably be assigned to Anderson’s group. If that sounds like fun to you, fine. If not, get your ass up to Summer Lake.
She could picture his face as he thought it over. She didn’t think it would be a difficult decision. His reply confirmed it.
When do you need me there?
As soon as you can get there. Karen made all my bookings, get her to do the same for you.
When you say as soon as, do you mean Monday?
It was Friday now. Maybe he wanted a weekend to himself. She shouldn’t ask him to give that up.
Sure, if you want to wait until then.
I don’t! I didn’t want to appear overeager.
She laughed.
Be as eager as you like. I need you. She paused, wondering if Ryan would be sneak reading what she wrote. She added an oxo at the end just in case he was. Donovan would get the surprise of his life, but if he was going to move to the lake with her, then she probably needed to loosen up a bit with him anyway.
She had to laugh when his reply came in.
Err, oxo to you, too.
She put her phone away and looked out the window. She knew she shouldn’t have told Ryan that it was her boyfriend—that she had a boyfriend. But it had been an ego thing. The alternative would have been to admit that she didn’t have a boyfriend. That she hadn’t had a boyfriend since him. Sure, she’d dated. But nothing serious. She didn’t trust herself anymore.
Her childhood—hell, her whole life had taught her that it was better not to trust anyone, better not to get close to anyone because when you loved people they only hurt you and left you. She’d trusted Ryan—against her own better judgment. She wasn’t going to blame him, wasn’t going to claim that he’d made her trust him. It’d been her own choice and she’d gone willingly. She’d chosen to trust him even though she knew better. He’d said all the right things, made all the right promises, and then he’d destroyed her. She hated him for it, but it was her own damned fault.
But she didn’t want him to know just how badly being with him had destroyed her. Claiming to have a boyfriend would seem like she wasn’t such a total loser. She could get Donovan to play along. He wasn’t her type, but he was a good-looking guy. He was no Ryan, but … she blew out a sigh. No one was. And she shouldn’t even be thinking about him like that anyway.
He glanced at her when she sighed.
“Problems?”
She frowned, wondering what he meant. Oh! He thought there might be problems with her boyfriend? “No. Only that he’s not sure when he can get to the lake.”
She could see the little muscle in his jaw twitch.
“It should be before Monday, though,” she added with the sweetest smile she could muster.
~ ~ ~
Ryan’s hands balled into fists again. What was his problem? It was hardly surprising that she should be with someone. She was a beautiful woman. She was … He bit the inside of his cheek at the thought of her in bed with some other guy. And wasn’t that dumb?
What did it matter to him? It didn’t. It’d been seven years since he’d shared her bed. Of course, she’d had other men. He just couldn’t think about it. He’d worked his way through an army of female admirers in that time. But that was it—there had been many, but there’d never been a girlfriend, not someone he saw more than a handful of times.
What the hell was his problem anyway? It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. They’d agreed to close the door on the past. He had to see her, to treat her, as a polite stranger. Nothing more.
Chapter Twelve
Nine years earlier
“Are you going