Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Was it a sign that she wanted to try again? Or was she showing him what he’d thrown away so carelessly, showing him what he would never have again?
Because damn, how he’d wanted to reach across that booth in the Pancake House, wrap her up in his arms, drag her back to the motel, get one room with a massive bed.
And make love to her all day and long into the night.
He wasn’t sure what she’d do if he pushed it, if he made her admit aloud that she’d deliberately taunted him with that syrup.
That she still wanted him the way he wanted her.
But really, what would that get him? They might come out on the other side with far worse scars. And he did have scars. He hadn’t forgotten her, and there had never been anyone else like her. But losing her had hurt, badly, in a way he’d tried not to think about in years.
And now he sensed this contract between them could become something bigger and last longer than he’d originally planned. If it did, then exactly how did he want her to be in his life? As just a business partner? Or something more?
It had to be something more. Far more.
But she didn’t feel the same way. She hadn’t forgiven him. Maybe she never would.
And he wasn’t willing to make another mistake when he’d only just found her again.
* * *
“After you graduated from university, you were able to go directly into management?”
She nodded as if she were looking at him. “It was just lower-level management at first. Then I worked my way up.”
She couldn’t say why it annoyed her that he’d gone all business. Even though she was supposed to want it to be all business. And yet, between watching him sleep on her office sofa, hearing him take that shower in her en suite, visiting the care home, painting the ladies’ nails, the fun Supermart shopping trip and the night in Motel Y, things just seemed different. Not to mention sharing the pancakes the way they always had. And that sexy little thing she’d done? Yeah, things had definitely changed.
She didn’t want to think about how much they’d changed. Or what that meant.
God, she secretly wished they’d sprinted hand-in-hand from the Pancake House back to Motel Y, paid for another night, and spent the next twenty-four hours in bed.
But damn, she couldn’t think like that, could not allow herself to. She was torn between wanting… and knowing how badly wanting him could turn out for her. As bad as the last time. Maybe even worse. They were still the same two people, just further along in their careers, and she hadn’t seen any indications they’d be better at a relationship.
Suck it up, Ava. Keep it all business, and no more sexy finger-licking moves.
“I wanted to move up quickly.” She allowed herself a laugh. “Maybe too quickly for all the higher-ups. But when my boss retired, I lobbied to take her position. And I got it.”
She could barely hear his soft, “I’m sure you did.”
Was it belief in her? Or was it laced with sarcasm? She decided it was the latter, because that seemed safer. She liked his praise too much, reminding her again of how much she’d wanted to impress her parents and never could. Of how badly she’d wanted to please him, only to find out he regarded her as barely more than a mistress. She shouldn’t need Ransom’s approval, not anymore.
“I wanted to run things my way, without all the constraints put on me by owners who weren’t even on-site. I wanted all my residents to be treated kindly and with respect. It’s the number one thing I’ve instilled in my people.”
“That’s what you always gave my grandmother. Respect and caring. And you treated the other patients with equal kindness.”
All the time she’d worked at that convalescent home where Ransom’s grandmother had lived, she’d dreamed of the day when she could push her coworkers in the right direction, into treating everyone with the respect they deserved.
“I was able to finance buying that first care home, and I worked really hard to make it profitable so I could open another.”
“And another,” he added softly. “Until you opened them all over the country.”
He’d obviously talked to Dane. “Yes. Dane and I have a lot in common in the way we did things.” Her smile grew deeper. “Like I said, we’re sort of in the same business. He pampers people at his resorts, treats them with respect, then I get them thirty or forty years later. And they still receive that same respect.”
“Tell me a bit more about your subsidy program.”
She didn’t mind talking about it now that he knew. “I help those with less money to stay in the better places.” She’d always felt good about that and had started the practice almost right away. “The less expensive facilities are subsidized by the ones that have higher profits, so I can make them all better. And I also take donations to the fund as well. It feels like a win-win for everyone.”