I take a sip of coffee and keep my mouth shut.
“I like the new look.” Carrie presses a kiss to his cheek. “We need to talk.”
Nash’s crosses his arms over his muscular chest. “Do we though?”
“Somewhere private would be nice.”
“Right here is fine, and they stay,” says Nash.
“You’re not still mad at me, are you?” she asks. “What we had was real. I wanted us to be together. My allegiances are just a little complicated is all.”
“Yeah. I know. Capitalism has your heart.”
She laughs. “You always did know how to make me laugh.”
Nash’s smile is begrudging.
“Whatever message you were trying to get across with the disappearing act worked. You shocked the shit out of them…walking away from it all like that,” she says. “Now what will it take for you to come back?”
“Not happening.”
“Talk to me, Aaron.”
He shakes his head. Close friends and family call him Nash. It sounds sort of strange hearing his other name. The legal one. And it also makes me wonder how close they really were.
“I’m on your side, baby.” She smiles. “Stick it to them. It’s not like you haven’t been making money for them hand over fist for years. They’ve approved a fifteen-percent increase on the next contract. Though I’m pretty sure you could push it to twenty. Just don’t forget who told you when the money starts rolling in. You know me and my weakness for bling.”
“I’m not coming back, Carrie.”
She laughs and artfully tosses her hair. I wish I was so graceful and effortlessly cool. Like someone in a shampoo commercial. Odds are if I attempted a maneuver like that, I’d just whip myself in the face. Probably take out an eye or something gruesome.
“You can’t stay here. That can’t really be your plan. I know you…you’ll be bored out of your brain in no time.” And for the first time, she frowns. As if maybe this situation isn’t something she can control after all. “The haircut and debearding might work for now, but it’s not going to last. Someone will recognize you. You’re famous, baby.”
Nothing from him.
“Aaron,” she purrs. “If you need some down time, we can do that. How about Tanzania on the company’s dime? Just you and me on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I’ve got the private jet standing by.”
“Hmm. I do love beaches, but I don’t think so.”
“I could forget to pack my bikini.”
He winces like he’s in pain. “No thank you.”
“Farmer only sent me to make sure you had everything you need. Back thenandnow,” she says. “It was just as much a surprise to me as it was to you when we had chemistry. My boss isn’t a bad guy.”
“I really wish you hadn’t wasted your time coming out here.”
“Don’t say that. We can try again,” she says, her hand resting on his arm. “With no outside interference this time.”
“Holy shit,” I say, in a moment of sheer brilliance. “Is this Lady Caroline, who had you on a string?”
“He was mean to write that song about me.” Her gaze never shifts from Nash. I am beneath her notice, apparently. And the sudden curl of her lip could cut stone. “But you only said those things because you were hurt. Weren’t you, baby?”
“Yeah.” He cocks his head. “That and because they were true. It was kind of a mix of the two.”
Her hands fall back to her side. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do, actually.”
