“It wasn’t planned.”
“Regardless. Sounds to me like Eden Tyson got under your skin.”
Drew frowned. “No woman can get under my skin. It’s too thick for that to happen.”
“If she didn’t get under your skin, she came damn close to it. You were involved with her for seven months, without sleeping with other women. That’s not normal for you.”
“You’re right. It’s not. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” He honestly thought ending things with Eden would restore his sense of self, but here it was four months later, and his obsession with her hadn’t gone away. That meant for eleven months she’d been the only woman he had shared a bed with. That was stone crazy.
“I think I know, Drew, but you’re not going to like my answer,” Harold said.
Drew lifted a brow. “What is it?”
“You’ve fallen in love.”
Drew rolled his eyes. Harold was right. He didn’t like his answer. “That’s utter nonsense. I’m above falling in love. Remember, I’m a man who loves women too much. I would never be happy with just one.”
“If that’s so, then why aren’t you happy now?”
“Who said I wasn’t happy?”
“Are you? If sleeping with different women makes you happy, then why aren’t you out there doing it? What’s stopping you?”
**
“Renard!” Eden exclaimed happily. She had just finished a photo shoot, and when she looked up, she saw the man she had considered a friend since childhood.
He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I happened to be in New York for a job interview and heard from Mark where you were. I guess you know you’re the talk of the Circle.”
The Circle was the name of the group that her parents, as well as Sophie’s, Mark’s, Renard’s, and two other couples, belonged to. The members, who had been good friends for years, ran in the same circles, thinking it was perfectly fine to plan their kids’ marriages to each other. Eden was to marry Mark, and Sophie was to marry Renard.
“So, have you done it?” she asked him. The last time Eden had spoken to Sophie, Renard was to announce to his parents that he was gay, and there was no way he could marry Sophie.
Renard, whom Eden had thought was very handsome, flashed a dimpled smile. “Yes, I did. This past weekend. The folks disowned me, so now I’m the talk of the Circle as well.”
“Welcome to the outcast club,” Eden said, smiling sadly. “Hopefully, one day our parents will accept that we are adults and can live our lives as we choose. Maybe then, they’ll regret their actions.”
“I don’t think mine will ever regret anything,” Renard said, “But I’ll be fine. I got access to the trust fund my grandparents left me, and I’ve accepted a job with a law firm in Manhattan. However, I won’t start work until the first of the year. In the meantime, I plan to travel for a while. Where are you headed next?”
“Back to Paris. I have a couple of photo shoots there. I had looked forward to spending the holidays in the States, but now I think I’ll stay in Paris.”
She thought about the reason she’d changed her mind. Not that she thought her and Drew’s paths would cross in New York,but she preferred not being in the same country as him. His final words to her had hurt, but they’d been what she needed to hear. She refused to hope for something that would never be, and that was what she had been doing. Drew had told her point-blank that he would not change, and she would never be enough.
“When are you leaving for Paris?” Renard broke into her thoughts to ask.
“I’m leaving in the morning.”
“Mind if I tag along?” Renard asked, grinning.
Eden’s smile widened. “Of course not. I would love the company.”
Renard returned her smile. “Then you shall have it.”
**
A week later, after his conversation with Harold, Drew sat on his patio drinking a beer. Whatever damage Elijah Tyson had tried to inflict on his company had come to a screeching halt thanks to Valerie and Ivory Axlewood. In fact, the Steele Trucking Company had acquired three new distribution centers. A part of him wished he could have been a fly on the wall when Axlewood had met with Eden’s father.
His thoughts shifted to Harold and what he had said during their last conversation.“If sleeping with different women makes you happy, then why aren’t you out there doing it? What’s stopping you?”
