“He’s having dinner at Chris’ tonight.”
Aaron nodded. “I remember.” He peered at his watch. “I need another hour, and then I’ll head home.” He pulled his wife to him.
I glanced away, letting them have their private moment to say good-bye. But also because seeing their intimacy reminded me of what I was lacking. Never before had seeing any of the couples I worked for embracing one another or spending time with their children caused me to ache in a way that I couldn’t explain.
Not before that moment.
Mia, a voice whispered in my mind. I curled my hands into fists at my side while mentally calculating the distance between her and me. It would be another few hours, at least, before I could even video chat with her. And those calls were becoming less satisfying by the day.
“Bye, Mr. Brutus.” Stasi waved while Patience held onto her other hand.
Andreas also said good-bye, but his twin, Thiers, stopped in front of me. He looked up at me with those earnest eyes of his. “Sorry for hitting you, Mr. Brutus. I didn’t mean it. I just wanted to practice.”
Even as I crouched down, I still loomed over him by a few inches. “No worries, little guy. You just need to learn when and where to harness what you’ve learned. Got it?”
He nodded and gave me a small smile before waving again to his dad and running to catch up with the rest of the family.
I stood and turned to face Aaron, who stared at the empty doorway. Pride filled his gaze, and while most people wouldn’t call his expression friendly, I knew the difference between a brooding Aaron Townsend and a satisfied one.
“Do they give your life a new purpose?” The question came out before I thought better of it.
I barely realized I’d even said it aloud until Aaron’s gaze settled on me like a weight on a stack of papers.
His eyes narrowed and he tilted his head to the side.
“Never—”
“You have a woman,” he responded, too damn perceptively for my liking.
Though his expression didn’t change much, his hazel eyes lit up a bit.
“What?”
“You’re seeing someone,” he continued as he approached. “And it’s serious.” His hands slid into his pockets. The same move I’d seen him do hundreds of times in business meetings when he knew he had a rival cornered.
“Aaron,” Joshua Townsend, his younger brother, suddenly interrupted with a knock on the open door. Josh paused, glancing between the two of us. “What’s happening?”
Aaron kept his attention on me but answered, “Brutus has a woman.”
“No shit.” I heard the laughter in Joshua’s voice without needing to look at him. “What’s her name?”
He barged into Aaron’s office and sat in one of the chairs across from his desk. He patted the other chair, presumably for me to sit.
I folded my arms across my chest and glared at both men. “We need to finalize the plan for the gala.”
For the first time since his family left, a slight smile tilted the corner of Aaron’s mouth.
“Hell no,” Joshua spoke up. “You’re not getting out of this conversation that easily. Who is she? What’s she like? Do you have a picture?”
I had literally hundreds of pictures in my phone from our time in Mexico. Not to mention the pictures she sent me almost daily from her days in Colombia. My fingers itched to pull my phone out of my pocket so that I could look at her smile.
“Is she the reason you extended your time in Mexico?” Aaron asked.
Fuck. He wasn’t the CEO of Townsend Industries by being anyone’s fool.
“Maybe.”
“Hell, yeah.” Joshua clapped his hands, his green eyes sparkling with interest. “Wait,” Josh said, turning to his brother. “He just told you he had a girlfriend?”
