No Strings__ - By Janelle Denison Page 0,60

regret, though he didn’t respond—and she didn’t want him to, anyway.

“It doesn’t matter, though, does it?” she said, hating the pain and sadness in her voice. “Because when it comes right down to it, you don’t trust me. You think I’m so focused on my career that I’d do whatever it takes to make it to the top, even steal an idea from my own colleague. From you. You want to believe that we’re opposites and not compatible in any other way but in the bedroom, but you couldn’t be more wrong. We have a lot in common, Aiden, if you’d just seen past the scars that your ex-wife left you with, instead of dwelling on them. I love my job, but I’d never be so underhanded. And just for the record, I’d never sacrifice a baby for the sake of my career. I’m the kind of woman who believes she can have a marriage, family and a profession, so do not lump me into the same category as your ex.”

He shifted in his seat, his gaze darkening with anguish, and she knew her words had struck a very sore spot for him. Tears choked her, and before the moisture could fill her eyes and she completely lost her composure she turned around and left his office.

She heard him curse, but he didn’t come after her, and honestly, she was glad because she was so close to falling apart. Back in her office, she picked up her phone and dialed Perry’s extension. Her call went to his voice mail, and she took advantage of that fact and left him a message, telling him she was exhausted and taking a few days off and would be in touch. With Aiden winning the St. Raphael account, it wasn’t as though she was needed at the office.

All she wanted was to be alone with her misery. She needed time and space to figure out what her next move was going to be, because one thing was certain. She could no longer work with Aiden, because seeing him day after day, loving him the way she did, would absolutely destroy her.

She’d have to resign from the firm, she realized, as she tossed a few things into her briefcase so she could work from home. She had a great résumé and it wasn’t as though it was the first time she’d started over with a new company. But she knew better than to make a rash decision in the heat of anger, not that she expected to change her mind—or calm down anytime soon.

She stilled when she caught sight of the piece of paper and the tagline for the resort she’d come up with on the spur of the moment and had written down after her presentation with Edward Luca, so she wouldn’t forget it.

As if she ever could.

Find Love in Paradise. The laugh that escaped Chloe held no humor at all. She might have found love in paradise, but her current reality was a nightmare.

* * *

AIDEN MET HIS brother Sam’s inquisitive gaze from across the table at McGann’s Pub, swallowed his pride, and confessed just how badly he’d botched things with the one woman who meant more to him than he ever could have imagined. “I screwed up with Chloe. Big-time.” And the worst of it was, he didn’t know if he’d be able to repair the damage he’d done.

He’d just finished telling Sam about what had happened between him and Chloe at the resort—from their agreed upon affair, to falling for her, to how he’d thought the worst of Chloe and her intentions when it came to pitching his campaign to Luca. He’d been miserable all day, wanting to apologize and make things right, but considering she’d taken the next few days off of work, Aiden knew she had nothing left to say to him, and no doubt wouldn’t listen to him, either. She’d made that abundantly clear in his office that morning.

Not that he could blame her for blasting him with her indignation, which he fully deserved. His behavior, and the conclusions he’d jumped to, were inexcusable, even if they’d been a knee-jerk reaction based on his past. In reality, that made his assumption even worse, because Chloe was nothing like Paige when it came to honesty, integrity and her sense of loyalty. Those were characteristics that mattered to him, and over the past two years of working with Chloe, she’d proved time and again that she was a woman who