Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70180 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70180 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Better yet, I was getting the hell out of Savannah soon enough if all went to plan.
“Unless you’re just running back to Ash,” Mark said.
I winced.
I shouldn’t have, but I did.
When we’d first gotten together, I’d confessed everything to him. How I’d loved Ash Talmadge my entire life while he loved someone else. And how when I finally—finally—had my chance, we’d fucked it all up.
Mark knew enough to be dangerous. Enough to make it so that I’d barely seen Ash for the seven months Mark and I had dated. And when we had run into Ash, Mark’s jealousy had run so hot that I knew better than to ever bring him up.
“Thanks for my stuff,” I said calmly, knowing if I rose to the bait that it was his way of holding me hostage. Then, I turned on my heel and all but ran away from his house.
I slammed the box into the passenger seat of my car. I’d go through it when I got into work. I still had some time before my meeting. I was ninety percent sure that he’d purposely kept something else to lure me back to his doorstep. Certainly wouldn’t put it past him.
I ripped the ticket off of my front window with an irritated growl and dropped into the front seat. Great. Just great.
This was just icing on the cake of a terrible day. I revved the engine and shot out onto the Savannah streets. At least I had a reserved parking spot for my business, and I pulled into it with relief. I pocketed the ticket, hefted the box into my arms again, and crossed Broughton Street to Ballentine—the fashion boutique that was my entire life.
I’d graduated from Parsons with a degree in fashion design, and after spending a couple of years in high-end clothing in Manhattan, I’d left that world behind to open my own business. A business that was currently thriving. Doing so well in fact that I had a meeting that afternoon about opening another location. I was excited and terrified, but anything was better than thinking about Mark.
The bell chimed softly overhead as I toed open the door to the store. My assistant was at the register, and half a dozen women were browsing the selections. Normally, I’d have a smile and kind word for every one of them, but I couldn’t manage it. No amount of debutante and pageant work could force a smile out of me today.
“Rough day?” Sasha asked.
“Cancel everything I have this afternoon, except the Charleston meeting.”
My assistant winced. “Mark?” she guessed.
“The devil,” I growled.
Sasha shot me a sympathetic look, but I couldn’t handle sympathy today. I wanted to hold on to my anger. That fire was necessary to survive. I had a pageant dress to finish, a business plan to hone, and a life-or-death meeting for the success of my boutique.
“There’s one more thing,” Sasha began.
“Save it for later.”
I pushed past Sasha and into the back room. The door to my office was propped open. I frowned in confusion. Sasha was always careful about leaving it closed. If I had been robbed on top of the rest of today, I was going to fucking lose it.
But when I stepped into my office, there was already someone inside.
“Ash,” I whispered.
The man of my dreams turned slowly to face me. He was dressed in a tailored navy-blue suit that hugged his broad shoulders and tapered sharply to his trim waist. The white button-up underneath was crisp and paired with a charcoal tie. His dark hair had been cut short on the sides with just enough length on the top to gel it into an artful appearance. And those perfect crystal-clear blue eyes were looking straight into me.
My heart fluttered at the sight of him. The uninterrupted sight. When I’d been dating Mark, I couldn’t appreciate just how gorgeous he was. I wasn’t supposed to notice that he was the most attractive person I had ever laid eyes on. And in this moment, it was almost impossible to remember that I was furious with him.
“Hey, Mia,” he said with that heart-stopping smile.
“No,” was the only word that came out of my mouth.
His smile dimmed. “No?”
“I cannot do this today.” I dropped the box onto a chair and shook my arms out. “You should go.”
“What’s with the box?”
I glared at him. “I don’t owe you answers.”
“Mia …”
I closed my eyes against the pain of that nickname. Once upon a time, we’d been close enough that he could call me that. We’d been close enough that I thought we were finally going to get our happily ever after. But it wasn’t like that for us. It never had been, and it never would be.
“I’ve had a really shitty day already, and I can’t do whatever this is.”
“You don’t even know why I’m here.”