“What? When? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Relax. I fired her when I went back to the office to get your keys and laptop. I didn’t mention it because I had more important things to worry about. Namely you.”
“Why did you hire her in the first place? You seem smarter than that,” I teased, sort of.
He let out a heavy breath. “She introduced me to my ex-father-in-law and Marissa,” he growled, “they own a VC firm and their initial investment helped me launch IAG. On top of that, Alexa did a lot of design work for me at the beginning for free. She’s hit a rough patch lately, so I wanted to help her, like she helped me.”
“I’m pretty sure she only wanted to help herself to you.”
“Her advances were never welcome. That kiss you saw yesterday was all her, I swear. I never had feelings for her other than as a colleague.”
“What about your feelings for your wife?”
“Ex,” he was quick to add.
“Okay, your ex-wife.”
He stared out into the room, thinking about what to say before pulling me closer to him. “Marissa was a mistake. We mistook our business relationship for something it wasn’t, and it turned personal. I’m still paying for it. She’s the reason I had to return to Colorado. She’s suing me over the sale of my company.”
“Oh.”
“I’m not worried about it. The lawsuit has no merit. This is to spite me.”
“What reason does she have?”
“She’s mismanaged her father’s firm and she’s looking to blame someone. It’s a power play.” He stroked my hair. “Let’s not talk about it anymore. You need to rest.”
I snuggled into his chest. “Ian, maybe we shouldn’t mix business with pleasure. What if we’re mistaking this for something it’s not?”
He leaned away from me, his brow crinkled. “Kelli, I know you don’t agree with my professional approach, but I’m not going to make the same mistakes I made at IAG. Too much is on the line this time. If I have to, I’ll quit, but I think you and I together can take Chandler to the next level. But more importantly, I can’t imagine my life without you.”
“So, you’re admitting you came to Chandler because of me.” I flashed him a crooked smile.
He nuzzled my neck. “You are so infuriating sometimes.”
“The feeling is mutual, but you didn’t answer the question.”
“Yes, okay, you werepartof the reason I came to Chandler, but you arethereason I came to Nashville. You are my reason for everything.”
Oh. Wow. “That might be the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“It’s true.”
I rested my head back on his chest. “I still need time to think.”
“Take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Promise?”
“You have my word.”
I drifted back to sleep with that lovely thought.
THAT NIGHT AFTER DINNER WE curled up on my couch and watched a movie, you know, between making out. I figured while I was thinking about giving him a second chance I might as well test out the merchandise. Did he ever make me want to buy in. The man had a gift. My toes were going to be permanently curled.
While taking a breath between kisses, Ian reached into his pocket, pulled out a piece of paper, and placed it on my lap. “We need to talk about this list.”
I picked up the paper and laughed when I realized what it was. It was the husband list I had stuck to the refrigerator.
