Roman heard the soft sound of the door closing as he walked back to the kitchen and let out the breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding.
Step two was done.
She was here, breathing the same air as him after so long.
But she was still looking at him like the piece of shit that he was. He deserved that. He’d expected it. He just hadn’t expected it to stab him in the chest like that.
He walked to the coffee maker without looking back and pulled out two mugs. As he was stirring the hot liquid, he heard the shuffling behind him indicating Evelyn had returned to her seat.
When he turned back to her, she was gripping her car keys so tightly her knuckles were white. She looked ready to run if he even looked at her wrong.
This chase was going to be harder than anything he had ever done.
As it should be.
He ignored her knuckles as he placed her coffee in front of her. In all their time together he’d made her a drink only a handful of times, but it was funny how he still remembered how she liked her coffee. He remembered every detail about Evelyn.
“Aren’t you going to take your coat off?”
“I’m fine.”
Or she didn’t want to get too comfortable.
“I’m sure they’ll be back by the time we finish our drinks,” he lied.
They would be back only when he told them to. Desperate situations called for desperate measures. He just needed a few minutes with her, just a conversation, the first of many. Everything had to go right.
“You can go back to whatever you were doing before I came,” Evelyn said quietly.
“I wasn’t doing anything. I was waiting for you,” he said truthfully.
Evelyn looked down at the coffee in front of her as if it was the most interesting thing in the room. He took the chance to study her face. She was still too pale, and that smile he had seen on all the photos was not on her face now. But she was still exactly as he remembered. Flawless skin. The longest eyelashes. The fullest lips.
It was the lips that held him captive. They used to drive him wild when they kissed him. When they tasted him. When they wrapped around his dick.
He forced his mind away from that and cleared his throat. This wasn’t about sex, he was fighting for his life.
“I was surprised to be told you hadn’t gone back to university,” he said.
“Because I don’t want anything from you,” Evelyn said straight away.
He knew that, too. How he’d ever compared her to Esther was beyond him. Evelyn had been right, he was the one who had played games. He was the one who’d let his jealousy and ego get in the way of his rational thoughts. He was the one who’d brought all his emotional baggage into this.
“I understand. I should have listened to you when you told me that you’d arrange it yourself. I’m sorry.”
Evelyn’s gaze flew up to meet his, and there was surprise in those beautiful green eyes.
“What?” he asked, even though he already knew.
“I’ve never heard you apologise for anything,” Evelyn answered.
“I’m sorry about a lot of things, Evelyn. I’m just grateful you’ve come today so I can apologise to your face.”
“Why?”
Because he was a dick who didn’t deserve her but he wanted her anyway. Because every day she’d been gone had been hell. Because he wanted to rewind time to the day she’d told him she loved him, and tell her he felt the same.
“Because I’m ashamed of what I did to you,” he said instead. “I’m sorry, Evelyn.”
Evelyn looked towards the hallway, clearly trying to listen if the workmen were back.
“It doesn’t matter. If you… If you tell your lawyers to get in touch with me then we can just settle things once and for all,” Evelyn said. “I can give you back everything.”
“I don’t want your money.”
He didn’t say anything about the lawyers. As much as he now loathed those pieces of paper, the contract was still the only excuse he had to see her.
“Or send me your bank details and I’ll just transfer it back,” she continued, completely ignoring what he had said.
So he ignored what she said, too.
“Do you want something to eat while we wait,” he said instead.
“No. Thank you.”
She was so polite, even after that last night together. But then again, she had never been one for arguments or big displays. All she’d ever wanted was to spend more time with him. It had scared him shitless then, but he was here now.
She looked again towards the hallway, and she was bouncing her leg as well. Nothing he had said had eased her, she was still terrified of him.
This was so far removed from how they used to be that an unwelcome thought filtered through his mind. What if she never came back to him? What if he’d completely ruined it?
But he pushed that out of his mind. He had to take baby steps. This was a long game, he was there for as long as it took.
“I have to go,” Evelyn said. “I have things to do before work.”
“Let me find out if they’re on their way back,” he said as he pulled his phone from his pocket and sent a message.
He told them they could come back and his phone vibrated almost instantly with the reply.
“They’re only five minutes away,” he said.
“I’ll go and wait outside,” Evelyn said quickly as she stood up.
He followed behind her, watching the way her jeans hugged her ass as she rushed to leave him. If everything went according to plan, he wouldn’t have to fantasise about it anymore. He would touch it all he wanted.
“I’ll be here for a while, I have a big project I have taken on,” he said when she reached the door. A very big project. “If you need anything at all, just call me or come over.”
Evelyn paused as she opened the door and looked back at him.
“I will never need anything from you, Mr. Ashfield,” she said to him firmly.
And he believed that. He watched her walk over to her car, unlock it and then get in. She didn’t look back at him even once.
How his father has gone through this so many times with the women he’d claimed to love was a mystery to him. Evelyn had rooted herself so deeply in every part of him that if she walked away for good, he knew there would be no one else.
It had been a terrifying revelation. He’d been too busy trying not to get attached but it had already been too late. Evelyn Bright had caught him with her first smile before he had even made her sign the first contract, and her leaving had broken every part of him. She was the only one who could put him back together.
The truck returned with his men, and they parked it on the other end of the driveway. One of the guys came out and carefully backed up the truck that was blocking Evelyn’s car.
Evelyn had already started her car, and she reversed out of the driveway the moment she had enough room. Again, she didn’t look at him.
He let out a breath and walked back into the house before he pulled his phone out. Phillip answered after only a couple of rings.
“Is it done?” he asked as he walked up the stairs.
“Yes, sir. Tomorrow night.”
Tomorrow. That was when everything changed. It couldn’t come quick enough.