Billionaire's Contract Engagement (Kings of the Boardroom #3)(50)

“If you change your mind, don’t bother to come crawling back. I think you’ve made it abundantly clear what I’m good for.”

The door slammed, and Celia’s heart shattered into tiny little pieces. She stared numbly, hoping, expecting that he’d come back and tell her they could work things out, that he’d wait.

Minutes passed, and the sickening realization hit her that he wasn’t coming back. Not only had she lost her reputation, and possibly her career, but she’d lost the one man she loved enough to have risked it all in the first place.

Eighteen

Tuesday morning, Celia took the coward’s way out and called Brock to schedule vacation time for the rest of the week. He didn’t like that she was hiding. It was no way to face the issue, but after hearing how horrible she sounded, he didn’t argue the matter further.

The rest of the day she spent moping around her apartment, alternating between anger and fits of upset.

Wednesday, she packed a bag and headed for the one place she knew she could lick her wounds in safety. Her dad’s house.

He took one look at her and held out his arms for a giant bear hug. She needed it. Never had the comfort of home felt so good to her than now.

He sat her down and cooked her a huge breakfast, because in his book, there wasn’t anything that couldn’t be cured by a big, home-cooked breakfast.

All the time she ate, he sat beside her, eating his own food in silence. He didn’t pry or demand answers.

It was what she loved most about him. He never intruded into his children’s lives. No, he didn’t have to.

He just waited for them to come to him, and then he’d move heaven and earth to make everything right again.

Only this time he couldn’t fix it.

She spent the afternoon on the couch, watching television with him. He babied her endlessly, fixing her a snack in the afternoon and even baking her favorite cookies. Chocolate chip with no nuts.

By the time evening rolled around, it was obvious her father had spent the afternoon on the phone with her brothers. They arrived, one at a time, and made it a point to shower her with lots of hugs and endless pampering. Or at least Adam and Dalton did.

When Noah showed up, he took one look at her and demanded to know what the hell had happened.

She burst into tears which prompted Adam, Dalton and her dad to threaten to dismember him for upsetting her.

“Well hell, Dad, I didn’t upset her. It’s obvious that someone did, but it sure as hell wasn’t me!” Noah protested. “Hasn’t anyone asked her what’s wrong yet?”

“We were waiting,” her father said gruffly.

“Waiting for what?” Noah asked in exasperation. “For her to cry?”

Celia wiped at her eyes and tried to stop the sniffling. She knew her brothers hated it when she cried.

Especially Noah.

Noah turned to her, his eyes softening at the signs of her distress. Then he sat down on the couch next to her.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Evan Reese, does it?”

Despite her vow to cease and desist, his question spurred another round of tears.

“Good going, bonehead,” Adam growled.

“Anyone ever tell you that your skill with the opposite sex sucks?” Dalton asked.

Noah put an arm around her and squeezed comfortingly. “What happened, Cece?”

“Oh God, Noah, it was awful. The paper printed these horrible pictures and this blog said horrible things. My career is shot to hell. My reputation is in shambles and Evan doesn’t want to see me anymore because I asked him to back off until the smoke cleared. He thinks I think he’s my dirty little secret, and he hates it. And me.”

She dug her palms into her eyes and rubbed until it felt like she was scraping her eyelids across sandpaper every time she blinked.

“Whoa,” Adam said. “Did any of that make sense to the rest of you?”

Dalton and her father exchanged helpless looks.

Noah sighed. “Maybe you should back up and start with what the newspaper printed and what the blog said and why your career and reputation have been dragged through the mud.”

“It’s a long story,” she muttered.

“We’ve got all night,” Dalton offered.

She sighed and once again poured out the whole story from start to finish, not leaving a single detail out.

Except for the sex. Her brothers had a hard time seeing their baby sister as anything other than their baby sister, and telling them about her sex life would only make them turn a sick shade of green. And then they’d probably go after Evan with one of Noah’s baseball bats.

“That’s crazy,” Adam huffed.

Dalton nodded his agreement. Noah, who was a lot more tuned in to just what bad press could do to a career and reputation, was a lot more subdued. Concern flared in his eyes when she got to the explanation of the article and blog.

“That sucks,” Noah said.

Celia nodded. “Tell me about it.”

“So where does this Evan person fit in?” her dad asked. “I mean, there seems to be a big piece missing here. You were pretending to be his fiancée and this paper prints stuff about you, and you said he’s angry because he thinks you think he’s your dirty little secret. Am I missing something?”

She sighed. “I’m in love with him, Dad. And now he hates me.”