Jasmine waited until Aven disappeared around the corner before letting out a low whistle. “Well, that was certainly dramatic. Congratulations seem to be in order, though your fiancée doesn’t appear to have gotten the memo,” she said, with her perfectly manicured fingers tapping against her tablet.
“We’re still working out the details,” I replied, straightening my tie for something to do with my hands. Keeping them busymeant I wouldn’t reach across the table and snatch the smug look off Jasmine’s face.
“Details like whether she wants to marry you? Or details like whether she knows you well enough to tie her future to yours after what? A couple of months back in town?” Jasmine’s eyebrow arched perfectly, skepticism dripping from every syllable.
I forced a smile, though it was more like baring my teeth. “Seems like you’ve got a lot of opinions about my personal life, Torres.”
“Professional concern. I make it a point to learn what I’m walking into, and this… wasn’t on my research brief.” She gestured to the water pooled on the table from Aven’s spilled glass.
“Your research brief? Let me guess. Your daddy sent you to poach my newest employee because he thinks it’ll give him leverage over my client list. Am I warm?” I let out a humorless laugh.
A flash of irritation, maybe respect, crossed her face before she masked it. “You think this is about you? Aven Compton has an impressive résumé. The fact she’s currently working for you is incidental.”
I leaned forward, voice dropping so the nearby tables wouldn’t hear. “Like hell it is. I’m familiar with your father’s playbook, Jasmine. He’s been trying to undermine my business since I refused to sell to him three years ago. Let’s not pretend this is about Aven’s talents, impressive as they are.”
Jasmine stood, smoothing her cream suit with the kind of deliberate grace that spoke of old money and expensive finishing schools. “Well, when your fiancée decides if she actually wants to marry you, tell her to give me a call. Our offer stands. And Langston? For what it’s worth, I think you’re making a mistake.Mixing business and pleasure rarely ends well.” She slid a business card across the table.
I watched her walk away. Only when she disappeared through the restaurant’s main entrance did I let my shoulders drop, exhaling a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. What the hell had I done? One moment I’d been sitting in my office, stewing over the thought of Aven interviewing with Torres, and the next I was sliding into a booth at Savoy announcing we were getting married.
I glanced at my watch, realizing Aven had been gone too long for a bathroom break.Shit.
I threw a fifty on the table to cover the untouched waters. As I exited the restaurant, I nodded at the hostess. The impending rain in the evening air hit, and dark clouds gathered like my own mounting anxiety.
“Sir, can I get your car?” the valet asked, reaching for his ticket pad.
“I’m good,” I replied, scanning the parking lot. I found Aven standing beside her blue sedan, keys in hand.
I approached carefully, not wanting to startle her, though I was sure she’d spotted me. There was a determined set to her mouth, the same expression she’d worn when she told me she was leaving for college. This town was too small to contain her dreams.
“Going somewhere?” I asked, stopping a few feet away, giving her space even as everything in me screamed to close the distance.
Her fingers trembled as she fumbled with her keys. “I don’t know what I’m doing, but I can’t go back in there,” she admitted, not looking at me.
A gust of wind swept through the lot before the approaching storm. It lifted tendrils of her hair around her face. She lookedbeautiful, wild, and terrified, ready to bolt at the slightest provocation.
“Aven.” I stopped, unsure what to say that wouldn’t send her running. I’d already unleashed a tsunami with a marriage announcement. One wrong word now might wash away any chance of salvaging the moment.
“What the actual fuck, Langston? Marrying you? Partner track? Have you lost your entire mind?” Aven hissed, turning to face me fully.
I didn’t flinch at her tone. “Torres has been trying to undermine my business for three years. I’m not letting him use you to do it.”
“Use me? I’m not some pawn in your corporate chess game! I’m a grown woman making a career decision!”
“A career decision which happens to involve the man who’s tried to steal my clients, poach my employees, and spread rumors about my company’s financial stability. Did you think it was a coincidence, Aven? Of all the companies in the state, Torres just happened to want you?” My voice remained low but intense.
I knew the implication stung, and I hated bringing it to her attention. Yet, I believed the timing of the offer was suspicious.
“Barging in on my interview, announcing we’re engaged? In front of Jasmine Torres, of all people? Do you have any idea how humiliating that was?”
I stepped closer, moving my hands to my pockets. My control was crumbling under the possibility of losing her again.
“I wasn’t thinking. I just knew I couldn’t let you walk away again without fighting for us,” I admitted the truth was more straightforward and more painful than any excuse I could manufacture.
Her keys slipped from her fingers, clattering against the asphalt. We both stared at them for a moment. I knelt to pick upher keys and closed my fingers around them, a physical barrier between Aven and her escape route.
The storm clouds overhead mirrored the turbulence in my chest. Everything I’d built, everything I’d become, suddenly felt meaningless if it meant watching her drive away again.
“You want to leave? Fine, but you’re taking me with you. Europe, Asia, anywhere. I’ll sell the business. I can’t do another fifteen years without you.” My voice came out rougher than I intended.
