My jaws clicked together. Did I look like I needed a reminder? “Why are you here, Fletcher?”
The predatory gleam intensified. “A friend can’t drop by?”
“You’re not my friend.Not anymore.”
He blinked, shaking his head, his expression wounded. “We were inseparable, Gabrielle. The three of us.”
I wanted to snort and then scream. “Then the second Jack died, you pounced like a filthy hyena to take everything that was his. Is that what friends do?”
His eyes returned to pierce me. “I honored Jack all his life. Always been there for the two of you. When he died, I offered you the merger with Fletcher House tosaveBrighton, not to take it.”
I cocked a brow. “You expect me to believe that? Fletcher House already has Romance and Mystery lines, which are the only genres Brighton publishes. You want toswallowBrighton with that merger, not save it.” I leaned forward, coldness sifting through the glass surface of my desk and into the softness of my sleeves. “You’ve always been jealous of him because he was a better man than you’ll ever be. He buys a Jag, you buy a newer model. He moves to a villa, you get a mansion. He starts an indie press, you monopolize your way into having a big house. Now that he’s out of the picture, you want to erase the last thing that still carries his name.”
He snorted. “Jack was my friend, and I loved him, but he was never a better man, and I was never jealous. All I’m doing here is trying to helpyoustay in business.”
“Is divorcing your wife to propose to me a part of helping out your friend’s widow, too?”
His composed, smug face dissolved in a split-second, and his palm banged on the glass. “You were supposed to be mine right from the start.Hetook you from me.”
I rolled my eyes, but I didn’t flinch. The true colors of Michael were never hidden, not from me. “I don’t have time for this delusional walk down memory lane. Say what you came here to say and get going.”
His elbows rested on the desk. “A smart woman like you knows, without Fletcher House, Brighton won’t stand a chance on its own.”
“The excellent past three years beg to differ.”
“Let me rephrase. A smart woman, who knows me as much as you do, understands that once I set my eyes on something, I don’t stop until I make it mine.” His gaze tracked over me in a thorough sweep. “Whatever it takes.”
I wished this had been one of those enemies-to-lovers novels where the hero was melting the heroine’s panties with his assholish sexual aggression even though she couldn’t stand him. Michael was doing nothing but flipping my stomach. “Get out.”
A sickening laugh burst out of his perfect jaws. “Do you have a plus one for the party tonight or are you still going solo?”
“None of your business.”
He locked his gaze with mine. “If you don’t have a date, come with me to the ceremony tonight.”
Death was a real bitch.Why take an awesome man like Jack and leave this Michael shit breathing?What if I did go with him only to get him naked by the end of the night, chop his dick off and stuff his disgusting mouth with it? The idea of revenge was tempting, but the guilt on my shoulders already felt as heavy as the weight of the world. I didn’t need to add more to it over a douchebag like him. “I’d rather be burned alive.”
Finally, he stood, buttoning his jacket. “That grieving widow façade worked well through the first year, but now, it’s bad for business.”
I flew off my chair and around the desk, chest heaving. I tried to keep my cool throughout this conversation, but he’d managed to get on my nerves as he obviously intended right from the start. “What the hell? You think mourning the love of my life is an act?”
“I’ve known you for twenty years, Gabrielle. I don’t think. I know it is.”
Why was I surprised? He made a pass at me at the fucking funeral. “What I feel because of the loss of my family isn’t a façade. It’s something someone like you can’t understand, but I can assure you no one, but you, expects me to move on this fast.”
“Trust me, everybody is tired of your crying for attention. They fake their compassion in your face, but behind your back…” He chuckled, heading for the door. “Friend to friend, find another act. This one has lost its appeal.”
My heels stalked after him, and I squeezed the door knob as I watched his—too perfect—ass leaving the floor.
A man as horrible as Michael Fletcher shouldn’t possess good genes. He reminded me of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, like he was about to singas a specimen yes I’m intimidatinganytime he opened his mouth. Why did everybody not look as beautiful or as ugly on the outside as they were on the inside?
Like my Jack. Michael with all his charm was nothing compared to my husband. Jack Brighton was the most attractive, beautiful and awesome man I’d ever met.
Well…until my fuming stare landed on the couch in the waiting area outside my office. I ignored the fact that Sadie was still here, drinking my wrong coffee on the purple two-seater, distracted by theman—is he really human?—in black sweats, gray tank and baseball cap next to her.
I had to blink and then adjust my glasses because it was much easier to believe I imagined him rather than believe he was real and sitting right in front of me. He couldn’t have been hotter if he’d been served up on a hot plate at an Indian restaurant, and suddenly, I was picturing him in a suit—my favorite on men—that I took my time to take off him.
A scowl hurt my forehead as I brutally reprimanded myself. What the hell? I didn’t do that. Not since I’d gotten married, and definitely not after Jack. I turned to the secretary counter, but the empty chair reminded me I’d already sent Zoey to Legal to finish the contracts for signing Rina Alpha, the author we were wooing to join us.
