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)
Leaving behind only the memory of her broken heart.
If the love she and Ransom had once shared wasn’t real, then why had it hurt so badly to lose it? And why did it hurt her heart now? In answer to that, she’d tried to tell herself it was just she and Ransom that couldn’t work, that they both sucked at love, that they could never make it right, make it good.
But standing in her office, she couldn’t help closing her eyes and remembering the look in his gaze, as if he adored her. The touch of his fingertips, as if he revered her. The kiss of his lips on hers, as if he relished her. The climaxes he gave her, as if he savored every shudder and shiver of her body.
The way she’d savored his.
Could they work?
Her heart leaped at the thought.
It was that very leap that terrified her. He could be playing a game. It could be just for now. He could go on his merry way just as he had before. He could ghost her all over again. She knew, deep in her bones and like a fist wrapped around her heart, that this time she wouldn’t be able to pick up its broken pieces.
But the way he’d left her office, with such tenderness in his voice, in his words. We need to talk.
As if this time he wouldn’t ghost her.
But then she remembered the other thing he’d said. Before he’d kissed her. Before he’d made love to her.
Any other twenty-one-year-old woman would have jumped at the offer.
He’d tried to backpedal, tried to say he hadn’t meant it the way it sounded. But still, those words said it all. Any other woman. As though she’d been just one among many. Nothing special. Easily replaceable.
Her emotions were so mixed up. She was floundering in a way she hadn’t since he’d left her the first time. The one thing she could do was pick up the phone and call her sister. Gabby was the only one who would understand.
As her sister said, “Hell—” Ava cut her off. “I really need to talk to you.” Then she heard the echo of that one syllable: hell. That’s where Ava was right now. In hell.
“It’s about Ransom, right?”
Ava could only mutter, “Yeah.”
“I’m still in the Bay Area. I stayed in Woodside at Canyon Ranch because I needed time beforehand to make a masterpiece of the cake. Then I treated myself to a spa day.” Ava could hear the languor in Gabby’s voice. “I just checked out. You still in the city?”
“Yeah.” That was the only word she was capable of.
“Let’s meet at that steak and chophouse out by the water, the one near all the fancy airport hotels.”
Naomi had brought Ava a sandwich after the meeting, but she’d taken only a bite. “I need a drink. Even more than food.”
“You’ve got it, sis.” Gabby paused a couple of seconds, as though she was looking at the time on her phone. “I can be there in half an hour. Will that be good for you?”
Sighing, Ava said, “I’ll be there. Thank you.” The words wobbled, but she didn’t allow herself to cry.
After they hung up, Ava stood a moment longer. She couldn’t even think about driving herself. She’d probably have an accident. Naomi called her driver, and the Town Car was already waiting at the curb as she left the building. Ava slumped in the backseat as they made their way out of the city.
Beneath the portico of the chophouse, she stepped from the car just a little over thirty minutes later, delayed by traffic. Since it was between the lunch and dinner hours, thank goodness the restaurant was still open. She hadn’t even thought to check, she’d been so determined to get to her sister.
To the maître d’, she said, “My sister is probably already at a table. Gabby Harrington.”
After a slight bow, the man led her to a table by the windows overlooking the ocean.
And Ava stumbled, catching herself before the maître d’ could reach out.
Seated at the table with Gabby was none other than the inimitable Fernsby.
No. Oh no, no, no. She couldn’t do this in front of Fernsby. She couldn’t lay her heart bare with him looking on and judging her.
She remembered the look Fernsby had given her in Dane’s home theater, after they’d viewed him winning the top prize on Britain’s Greatest Bakers.
A look that said he had matchmaking plans for her.
Oh God, please don’t let him be here to matchmake for me and Ransom.
She almost turned around, but she needed to talk to someone. Now. Not later. Not over the phone either. If it couldn’t be Gabby alone, it would have to be Fernsby too.
Which didn’t stop her from death-glaring her sister as she approached the table.
Fernsby stood, holding out the chair by the window for her to slip into before he seated himself beside her. She was trapped now, Fernsby on one side, Gabby across from her.