Dane's Storm(20)

My nerves were back, but I’d come this far. I could go a little farther. For a moment I simply stared at myself in the mirror, assessing what Dane might find different about me now. Last time he saw me I was twenty. I looked older, though my skin was still clear and smooth, and I wore my dark hair in a similar style—the straight strands just brushing my shoulder blades. I was pretty, not beautiful, and time hadn’t changed that. No, I didn’t think I’d changed that much at all really, though I saw myself every day and probably wasn’t the best judge.

What would he look like? That thought caused a shiver of trepidation to move down my spine. He’d been such a beautiful boy and I doubted even seventy years would take that from him. I pictured him as he’d been when I first met him—his eyes filled with laughter and a smile that played constantly across his beautifully shaped lips. He was a golden boy and he was very aware of that fact, but it was the humility in his eyes, the ability to laugh at himself, and his deep well of kindness that I’d fallen in love with. It was those things I’d seen in him before we’d ever spoken a word to one another. And as I remembered that first day I met him, the picture of his vibrant smile morphed into how he’d looked the last day I’d seen him in the lawyer’s office. His expression had been cold and hardened, his eyes moving away when our gazes clashed. I had deserved that hostile glare, but it had still burned like a blade slicing at the tender places inside of me.

Turning from the mirror, I sucked in a small breath. I could do this.

I didn’t have a choice.





CHAPTER TEN


Audra



I took a seat in the same chair I’d occupied the day before—the same one I’d been glued to for four tense hours, before Dane’s secretary had coldly broken the news that he wasn’t going to be back to the office after the meeting he was attending off-site after all. I recognized her voice from the phone. The gold nameplate on the edge of the counter above her desk read Valentina Bellamy, and she looked like a Bond girl. “Sorry,” she’d said with a condescending tilt of her red, glossy lips, her sleek, brunette ponytail sliding over one slim shoulder. “I’ll make sure to let him know you stopped by, hoping to meet with him.”

I wanted to scream.

I’d shown up again this morning, bright and early at nine, and though Valentina had looked startled at my repeat appearance, and I’d seen a flash of anger in her eyes, she smiled tightly and told me Dane was already in but was in a meeting and would likely be in meetings for the remainder of the day. I’d told her I would wait and had taken the same chair, ire blossoming in every cell in my body for every minute wasted. I’d spent money I didn’t have to be here and the asshole wouldn’t even take three minutes to see me?

I worked on stoking my anger because I knew just under that was an underground geyser of deep hurt, and if I didn’t stay in strict control, it would burst forth in an explosion of . . . well, I wasn’t sure because I’d never been one to explode. But I could feel it churning and the anger kept it well below the surface.

Across the room, the fish tank built into the wall bubbled and hummed in a way that would have been soothing under other circumstances. I looked at Valentina’s desk and saw her murmuring into the phone too low for me to make out what she was saying, darting a glance my way before turning her face to the side and lowering her voice even further. Was she talking to Dane?

I then heard male voices to my right where there was a hallway leading to the executive offices, I assumed. I froze as a deep laugh met my ears. Dane’s laugh. I knew it. Remembered it like an old misplaced treasure that was both beautiful but sharp, and brought a sudden surge of joy while simultaneously piercing me deeply.

I jumped to my feet at the same time Valentina rose to hers. Our eyes met—hers widened—and I rushed forward, easily able to reach the door to the hallway before she did since she had to round her desk.

Throwing the door open, I rushed into the hallway where three men were standing casually and chatting. Their conversation came to an abrupt halt and three pairs of eyes turned my way as I stopped in front of them, breathing harshly. But the only pair of eyes that I focused on were pale green and slowly filling with shock and recognition.

“Aud—”

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Townsend. She ran right past me,” Valentina said shrilly from directly behind me, shouldering me to the side as she stepped in front. I was unsteady with the impact of Dane standing right before me, so her slight bump caused me to falter and trip sideways.

Dane seemed to come out of a trance as he blinked and stepped toward me, grabbing my arms to hold me upright. For several frozen moments we simply stared at each other, his eyes washing over my face, mouth opening once as if to say something and then closing.

“I’ll call security, Mr. Townsend,” Valentina said, her voice both somehow far away, and overly shrill.

Dane broke eye contact and it caused me to release the pent-up breath I’d been holding. “What?” he asked dazedly.

“She ran right past—”

“It’s fine.” Dane’s hands dropped from my upper arms and I stepped back, looking at Valentina, whose cheeks were flushed with what I assumed was outrage. “You can go back to your desk, Tina.”

Her lips came together in a harsh line. The two men Dane had been talking to were both watching us curiously, but with Dane’s dismissal of Tina, they both muttered “see you laters” and headed for the door.