Beneath This Man (This Man, #2)(86)

I glance at the bottle and notice it’s sealed and full, but it’s still there and something made him put it there…me. I’m the reason for his screwed up mind, his ridiculously ambitious objectives and his meltdowns. This is my entire fault. I’ve made him into a neurotic control freak.

We remain looking at each other for a few moments, my mind racing with all of the things we need to sort out, while he bites his bottom lip, clearly not knowing what to say to me. I’m not sure where to start either.

‘Why is it there?’ I ask.

He shrugs casually. It makes me mad. My fear was warranted, and now he expects me to let him brush it off and play it down with his vague answers and shoulder shrugs?

‘I wasn’t going to drink it, Ava.’ His voice is slightly irritated.

I’m staggered. ‘Would you drink it if I leave?’

His eyes fly to mine, panic invading his handsome face. ‘Are you going to leave me?’

‘You need to give me some answers.’ I’m threatening him, but I feel like it’s my only option. There are some things he needs to tell me. ‘Why is Mikael so interested in our relationship?’

‘His wife left him.’ he spits the words out quickly.

‘Because you slept with her.’

‘Yes.’

‘When?’

‘Months ago, Ava.’ He looks at me, sincerity in his eyes. ‘She was the woman who turned up at Lusso. I’ll tell you before you threaten to leave me again.’ His sarcasm is quite endearing.

‘She wasn’t worried about you, was she?’

‘Yes, probably, but she wants me too.’

‘Who wouldn’t?’ I feel incredibly calm.

He nods mildly. ‘I’ve made it clear, Ava. She’s gone back to Denmark, and I slept with her months ago. I don’t know why she’s decided to pursue me now.’

I believe him, and anyway, Mikael has been sorting his divorce out so it has to be some time ago. Divorcing someone takes time. It’s all becoming very clear. Mikael is the no one specific who will try to take me away from Jesse.

‘He wants to take me away from you, like you did his wife.’

He drops his head to his hands. ‘I didn’t take her away, Ava. She left of her own accord, but yes, he does want to take you away from me.’

‘But you were all friendly, you bought Lusso.’ My head is hurting.

‘It’s just a front, Ava – on his part. He had nothing on me, nothing he could hurt me with because I didn’t care about anything. But now I have you.’ He looks up at me. ‘Now, he knows where to stick the knife in.’

My eyes start to prickle, and I watch as his face falls, his own eyes glazing over. That’s as much as I can take being this far away from him. I walk over to his chair and he opens his arms to me. I ignore his swollen hand and crawl onto his lap, letting him swamp me in his arms and invade all of my senses. His touch and his smell settle me immediately, and the inevitable happens, as it always does when we unite with each other like this – all of the issues causing us turmoil seem inconsequential and of no importance. It’s just us in our own little sphere of contentment, soothing each other, settling each other. The rest of the world is getting in our way. Or, more to the point, Jesse’s history is getting in our way.

‘I’ll die loving you.’ he says with all of the emotion I know he truly feels. ‘I can’t let you go to Sweden.’

I sigh. ‘I know.’

‘And you should have let me deal with your things. I didn’t want you seeing him.’ he adds.

I’m just submitting to him now. ‘I know. He knows about you.’

I feel him stiffen under me. ‘Knows about me?’

‘He told me you’re a raving alcoholic.’

He relaxes and laughs. ‘I’m a raving alcoholic?’

I look up at him, shocked by his blasé reaction to something so detrimental. ‘It’s not funny. How does he know?’

‘Ava, I honestly have no idea.’ He sighs. ‘Anyway, he’s misinformed because I’m not an alcoholic.’ He raises his eyebrows at me.

‘Yes, I know.’ I relent, but I’m pretty sure that Jesse’s issue with drink would register somewhere on the alcoholic scale. ‘Jesse, what am I going to do? Mikael is an important client.’ I suddenly have a horribly unpleasant thought. ‘Did he re-hire me for The Life Building just because of you?’

He smiles. ‘No, Ava. He didn’t even know about us until yesterday. He hired you because you’re a talented designer. The fact that you’re also stunningly beautiful was an additional benefit. And the fact that I happened to fall in love with you was an even bigger bonus for him.’

‘You exposed yourself.’ I say quietly. If Jesse hadn’t trampled my meeting with Mikael, then he might never have made the connection.

‘I acted on impulse.’ He shrugs. ‘I panicked when I saw his name in your diary. I thought after Lusso you wouldn’t see him again. Anyway, he would have pursued you whether he knew you were mine or not. Like I said, he’s relentless.’

I remember his eyes bulging, his jaw ticking when he spotted my appointment in my diary. It wasn’t because I replaced the damn thing. It was because Mikael’s name was plastered all over it. ‘How do you know? He’s married. Well, was married.’