Bound to You (21 page)

Today was a day to celebrate. After two months' worth of negotiations, Silver Sparrow Systems had a contract with Nakamura's company for the use of their research and development facilities.

I couldn't stop thinking about her.

This morning Ian was nagging me about the trip to Japan to meet with the development team. Ian had packed my bags and made all the arrangements, but I hadn't left Phoenix and had no plans to do so.

Sophie wouldn't let you drag your feet like this.

No, she wouldn't. She would've found a way to manipulate me so I showed up at the airport. The minute I got on that jet, though, I would be adding thousands of miles between us.

Instead of dwelling on the issue, I went through my business for the day. My first email was from Ian. A property I'd put up for sale had sold quickly. The next one made me smile. My director of operations planned to offer a bonus to everyone. I was happy for my staff, but I continued to stare out the window from my office out to the desert. I took in the rocky landscaping, somehow expecting to see a bay, to feel the salty breeze from the ocean.

My phone weighed heavy in my pocket.

Turning from the window, I sent a single text message to Marcus:

meet me at the creek.

I waited for him to text me back and complain that I needed to go to Japan, but I got back a quick “K” instead.

By the time I got to the compound, Marcus was waiting for me out at the creek. The place couldn't be called that anymore. The creek had dried up before we'd been born. My uncle talked about how he'd swum in the water as a kid with our dad, but I couldn't imagine this place back then.

All you could do now was sit at the end of the dock and contemplate things that were lost and would never come back.

“Want a beer?” Marcus asked me.

“Naw, I'm good.”

I didn't want alcohol to dull my senses. I was in pain and I accepted it.

“How you been holding up?” I asked. “Becca recovering all right?”

“Yeah, she's sleeping off the last chemo session.”

I nodded. “You don't have to worry about anything. I've got it all covered.”

Marcus patted my shoulder. “I know you do.”

The need to swing my legs was almost automatic, but I didn't.

“So what's on your mind? Aren't you supposed to be on a plane in a few hours?” Marcus asked.

I took a deep breath. “I need you to tell me to leave.”

Marcus chuckled. “You want me to tell you to forget about her like Rosalie. You're the smartest guy I know, but right now I feel like you're stupid as fuck.”

I threw a dark glance in his direction. Marcus rarely talked to me that way.

“For the first time ever, you bring home a girl I can see you're serious about and you just let her go.”

“She doesn't want me. Not in the way I want her.” And I needed to let her go somehow.

“Are you sure about that?” Marcus asked.

“She left, didn't she?”

Marcus chuckled. “I think you've forgotten how badass you can be. Look, I know a good woman when I see one, Xav. Get in that plane and fly to the U.K. if you have to.”

“It's not that simple.” Nothing in life ever was.

“Do you love her?”

I immediately nodded.

“Then don't let her go. What the hell are you doing here?”

He did have a point there.

I grabbed my bags not long after I got back to the house. The place seemed cavernous, practically empty when everyone wasn't gathered together. That was how I'd grown up, and I still didn't like it. That's why I had my own place in Phoenix.

One thing I had to do before leaving was say goodbye to Mom. If I was going after Sophie—and I wasn't coming back without her—Mom needed to know what I planned.

She wouldn't disrespect Sophie again, no matter how resentful she felt of me.

I found her in the sitting room reading a book.

“Hey, Mom,” I said.

She didn't look up. “Xavier, I thought you left for the day.”

“I'm about to go back to the East Coast.” I sat down directly in front of her and she looked up immediately.

“What about the company?”

“I'm not leaving for long. I'm going back to take care of some business.”

“The girl.”

I smiled. “Did Marcus call you?” They talked on the phone all the time. As much as I tried not to be jealous, sometimes I got that way.

“No, he didn't this time. I might be your mom, but I'm also a woman who walked away from the man who loved her.”

My eyebrow rose. “Dad always said you two had the perfect engagement and everything.”

She placed her book in her lap. Thinking about Dad always made her smile and the bitterness melted away a bit. “I sabotaged our relationship at every opportunity. Back when I was dating, most men would end everything before it began. I was never good-looking.”

“Oh, stop it, you're gorgeous.”

She rolled her eyes. “You're a good son, but even I knew that most men never treated me well. I was forced to live in the moment.”

Like my beautiful Sophie.

She continued. “After dating your father for a year, I left Phoenix for Georgetown. I'd never been with a man for so long.”

“And he went after you.”

“August Quinn didn't build companies only to have the woman he wanted walk away.” She examined me. “You and your dad are alike in so many ways. Driven to success but blind to matters of the heart.”

“That I agree.”

“I can't keep you from going—you're a Quinn, after all—but I just don't want you getting into something you're not prepared for.”

“I'm prepared to be happy. I've wanted to be happy even though you and Dad abandoned me after I stopped running. It was a lot harder without you.”

She looked away, her hands tightening on her book.

We'd walked into unknown territory. This particular conversation never had happened, unfortunately.

“Things never should have gone that way,” she admitted. “I have regrets.”

We were quiet for a while; the only sounds in the room came from the hum of the air-conditioning through the vents, and the light tick-tock from the clock on the wall.

I stood there for a bit, waiting, hoping.

Then she finally spoke. “Moving on is hard, you know,” she said gently.

The sigh I released was a heavy one. “Yes, it is. The past is dragging us down and even I will admit it's time for me to move on.”

I turned to leave, but not without saying goodbye. A bridge had been built today between my mother and me. The structure wasn't steady, but perhaps someday it would be.

Another day, another irate diva. Did I tell you that weekends had become my least favorite time of the week? My blissful yet tragic weekend with Xavier had been an exception, but as of right now, I wanted to jump into the bay and see how far I'd get swimming to the U.K. Even if Carlie wasn't there.

“Miss Ashton,” my customer Pearl Donahue began, “I thought, when I hired you, you'd be on top of things for my friends. All this waiting is boring.” Pearl, who was fifty-six going on twenty-nine based on the clothes she
didn't
have on, quirked a smile and adjusted her five-thousand-dollar sunglasses from Milan.

How did I know the price for those suckers? I'd made sure a pair was available for five ladies at the crack of dawn on the Donahue yacht. As well as gift baskets containing expensive soaps made of goat's milk from Sweden.

“Now, now, Miss Donahue.” Jesse returned to the deck to meet us. He stood next to her spot on her deck chair and patted her shoulder. She giggled uncontrollably. “I spoke with the captain and he said all the traffic from the regatta has made leaving the marina difficult.” His words were smooth with Southern silk.

“I told you, sweetheart.” Pearl turned to him with appreciation, batting her eyes with massive eyelash extensions that resembled little wiggling spider legs. “Call me Pearl.”

Pearl?
She'd been Miss Donahue to me since I made the arrangements for a girls' weekend in Boston for the America's Cup. The city was buzzing with the regatta going on right now. The America's Cup hadn't been here for the past five years, so the Who's Who in the Boston celebrity circle could be seen partying on other yachts close by. It took Jesse and me more than an hour to reach the Donahue yacht.

As much as I enjoyed the festive mood around me, a part of me wished I were relaxing in a hotel suite off the bay watching the events with someone in particular.

“Don't you agree, Miss Ashton?” someone on my left, one of Pearl's companions, asked me. “Boston was so overdue for a regatta.”

I shoved my moment of reverie overboard to smile at the guest. “Of course. Valencia is nice and all, but there's something special about the bay.”

Yep, there was something special about the bay. Briefly, I thought about eating fish tacos with Xavier. With his competitive spirit, he'd like seeing this scene with all these well-crafted sailboats with large corporate logos.

“Speaking of Spain,” Pearl's friend mentioned, “this fall, Pearl, you should come to Porto Cervo with Carl and me. We'll be spending the summer there while the kids enjoy Brussels.”

I kept smiling, not having the heart to remind her Sardinia was in Italy…

“If I have someone to enjoy the trip with, I might do that.” Pearl took in Jesse's ass while he spoke with someone on the phone—most likely the caterer she flew in from Miami. As Jesse's employer, I was horrified. As nice as his ass was, I was drawing the line if she grabbed it. Before my mouth opened to shift the cougar club meeting's attention elsewhere, one of the skippers from below crossed the expansive deck and approached me. “Are you Sophie Ashton?” he asked.

I nodded. “Is something the matter?”
Smile until your cheeks go numb, Sophie.

“We have a boat off the stern that has requested your presence.”

“Excuse me?”
From where we stood, with the tallest part of the yacht in the way, I couldn't see anything behind us.

After excusing myself, I followed the skipper around the side of the ship. As another yacht, a bit bigger, came into view, my heartbeat quickened along with my steps. Soon enough, I passed the skipper, practically running up to the back of the boat to see the most beautiful sight.

Across the deck of the other boat was a sea of moonflowers. Beautiful white and pink flowers swaying with the ocean's breeze.

And there he stood in the middle of them, waiting for me.

The skipper had caught up to me and he had a wry grin on his face. “I assumed you'd want to see this.”

“I hope it's for me. Would be awkward otherwise,” I murmured.

Xavier and I stared at each other for a bit, before the skipper tapped my shoulder. “Unless you plan to fly over there, Mr. Quinn has a boat waiting to take you.”

I nodded. While I headed over I sent Jesse a quick message:

Heading to see someone very special. Take good care of Miss Donahue. Keep your clothes on, please.

The small boat couldn't take me to see him fast enough. My whole body sang with excitement, but then as we approached the back of his yacht where I could board, fear and doubt crept up my spine. He'd finally come to see me, but what did he want this time? What demands would he make to upend my life?

Wave after wave of the wonderful scent flowed through my nostrils. The whole place was like heaven. I reached out and touched a few flowers. As expected, their petals were closed. Their time to bloom was coming soon.

As much as I wanted to put my arms around him, I kept my distance.

“Xavier.” For a couple of breaths we stared at each other. “What are you…?” I knew the obvious answer, but I wanted to hear it from him.

“I came for you.”

I briefly closed my eyes. Even though he was standing a few feet away, I could feel him. The breeze brought his scent to me, too, and my body immediately responded.

But I didn't know what to say.

He reached out to brush his fingertips against mine. “I'm not leaving until you agree to be with me.”

Then he glanced down and saw the hand he'd brushed against. “You're wearing them.”

He ran his hand over the brand-new leather cuffs I wore.
His
leather cuffs.

“Yes.” I wore his heart on me now—even before my little talk with Carlie. I had been for a while.

Nervously, I shifted from one foot to another.

“I sold my building in Phoenix,” he finally said.

“Why?” He'd spent so much time on making it a home.

“I did some thinking. It's just a place to lay my head. I had to let it go if I wanted to start fresh with you.”

I only nodded.

“I'm glad you didn't leave,” he added.

“But I left you and I said no to
us
, too. I distinctly remember you saying you never take no for an answer unless there is a
good
reason. There must've been a
very good
reason back then. So why now?” I asked.

I had to know. Missing me wasn't good enough.

“I always work to get what I want so that I hear yes.” He closed the gap even more. I wanted him to touch me so badly. “I wanted you to be happy and I didn't want to be the one to hold you back. I let you go because I love you, Ashley.”

Every time he used that name I came undone.

“So what are you saying?” I crossed my arms, pleased to hear he wanted me to carve out my own destiny, but why should I stay with him?

He quirked a grin that made my stomach flutter. His lips parted a bit. “I'm saying I'm not taking no for an answer this time unless you have a damn good enough reason why we shouldn't be together. You're not going to London and I'm willing to make things work—no matter the distance.”

I took in the perfect blue sky and chewed on how to reply. He waited for my reasons, but whatever I threw at him, he'd cast them all aside. Maybe that's because I didn't have any reasons to say no. Finally, I spoke.

“I always make sure my clients are satisfied,” I said quietly.

“I'm not a client anymore.” He closed in, effectively blocking my path back the way I'd come. It was all or nothing time.

“No, you're not.” I held in a groan. “You can't be right all the time, but in this particular instance, I've tried to think of something and I can't.”

He drew me close until our lips brushed. Having his arms around me felt right. Felt perfect. “Then stay with me tonight. Stay with me forever, Sophie.” He tilted his head toward the flowers. “There will be quite the show tonight when these beauties bloom.”

“I like this plan,” I agreed. “I do my best work in the moonlight.”

His dark smile left me without a doubt that I'd made the best decision. “Indeed you do.”