Unforgettable (15 page)

“
You don’t look happy about
it.”

“
Who is ever happy when a
relationship ends?” Krista slumped back in the chair. “Of course
I’m having doubts, but it’s gotta be for the best, right? Was it
ever going to work?”

Jamie shrugged. “You never know. It
might’ve.”

“
It wouldn’t.”

“
How do you
know?”

She didn’t, but she had to believe that
her decision was the best thing for her and EJ. “I’ve been over
this a million times. I feel like I’m repeating myself.”

Jamie held her hand up. “You’re right,
it never would’ve worked.”

Krista heard the irritation in her
friend’s voice. Jamie didn’t agree, but Jamie lived in fantasy land
and was so sure one day her own prince was going to swoop in and
whisk her away. Jamie wanted someone just like Neil. Krista
didn’t—or hadn’t—until recently.

Neil had never flashed his money around
her, except for the beginning. But when she’d made it clear to him
that wasn’t the life she wanted, he stopped. The more she thought
about, the more she realized how much he’d given up for her. Flashy
dates had gone out the window. In fact the last few dates they’d
been on had probably been the lowest key dates he’d had in years
and he seemed to enjoy them.

Whenever they were together, he seemed
genuinely happy, as was she. When with him, she never really
thought about the money and the things they could be doing. Hell,
if she wanted fresh Italian for dinner, he had the ability to whisk
her to Italy for dinner and back.

He was a successful man and could have
any super model he wanted, and yet he claimed he loved
her.

He loved her.

And she threw it away.

Krista smacked her forehead and
grunted.

“
Is it finally clicking?”
Jamie asked.

“
Don’t start. But it doesn’t
change one thing and that’s the fact that he has a lifestyle I’m
not sure I can accommodate.”

“
Oh yeah, and what’s
that?”

“
The going-out-to-clubs
thing.”

Jamie cleared her throat. “I know for a
fact, that the evening in question, he was celebrating.”

Good news from work? Why didn’t he tell
her? “Celebrating what? And why wasn’t it with me?”

“
He was celebrating you! He
went to the club and the club owner ordered drinks for everyone and
then Neil did the same. They were celebrating that he’d found love
in Ian’s club.”

She’d never even let Neil explain about
the night. “The woman—”

“
Is a regular there and Neil
made it clear to her he wasn’t interested.”

“
I still don’t know.” Krista
sighed. “How do you know all of this? Are you seeing someone you
haven’t told me about?”

Jamie grinned. “Not necessarily seeing
someone, just playing.”

Krista’s eyes lit up. “And you’re just
telling me?”

“
You’ve been a little
pre-occupied.”

She playfully hit her friend. “Jamie!
We’re best friends. And now I feel even more awful because I’ve
been so wrapped up in myself.”

She twirled a strand of hair around her
finger. “It’s fine. Like I said, right now it’s just playing. I
don’t know if it’ll go anywhere.”

“
Tell me about him, please.
Let’s talk about something other than me for once.”

“
Well, he’s older, rich, and
great in bed.”Jamie giggled. “What more could I ask
for?”

* * *

Neil looked over the contract he’d just
signed for another hotel opening. This one was down under in
Australia. He’d be traveling there soon and would probably stay
awhile. At the moment, he needed something to take his mind off of
Krista.

Years ago Rachel had torn his heart
into pieces when she’d betrayed him and he’d vowed to never love
again. And he’d done a damn good job until Krista came about. He’d
found a woman he wanted to love and give the world to and for some
reason, she didn’t want it. He could probably hand her his heart
and she’d give it back.

How had this happened? How had he
fallen for a woman who’d made it clear from the beginning she
didn’t think it would ever work? Mainly because of who he
was.

He was used to women wanting him
because of who he was.

Krista was upset about the night he
went to The Gentleman’s Club, but she never gave him a chance to
explain. She just assumed the worst and that was it. This whole
damn relationship had been in her control almost the entire time.
He’d been walking on eggshells to try and keep her
happy.

Perhaps in the beginning when she’d
asked him if he was a Dom, he should’ve said yes. He liked to be in
control and this woman had swept all of that from him.

Maybe he needed to take this
relationship by the reins and tell her how it was going to
be.

Neil couldn’t help but laugh as he
thought about that and how she’d react. Krista wouldn’t take kindly
to it, or would she? She thought everything through until she
couldn’t think anymore. Maybe she needed someone to tell her how it
was going to be.

His phone buzzed and Tana spoke through
the intercom, “Sir, you have a visitor here. A lady name
Jamie.”

“
Send her in.”

He hoped Jamie wasn’t here to tell him
off. He was doing a fine job putting himself down.

The door opened and she walked in,
closing the door behind her.“Hi, Neil. I hope you don’t mind me
stopping by.”

“
Have a seat,
please.”

Jamie sat down and pushed her blonde
locks to the side. “I’m here about Krista.”

He shrugged. “I figured as
much.”

“
She’s a mess and you don’t
look like you’ve been getting much sleep yourself.” Her gaze
traveled over his face.

Neil smiled. “It shows a lot more when
you’re my age.”

“
I’ll remember that.” She
grinned. “Anyway, do you really love her, or were you
playing?”

Why did no one see the way he felt
about her? “I love her.”

“
Then go get
her.”

He straightened a stack of papers.
“It’s not quite that simple. Your friend doesn’t think this will
ever work and I can’t keep trying to convince her. I feel like I’m
walking on hot coals all the time around her. I can’t do it
anymore. As much as I want to be with Krista, I’m halfway convinced
it isn’t going to work either.”

“
I think if you talk to her,
you’d be surprised at what she might say. She’s been doing a lot of
thinking.”

That could be a good thing…or bad. He
wanted Krista more than anything and really, he should tell her
friend this, but he didn’t want it to be that easy. A quick fix. He
wasn’t looking for that. If he ran to Krista’s door now, things
would be good, yes. But was it time?

“
Her biggest concern is your
lifestyle. And I’m a little concerned too.”

“
I can’t walk away from my
job or money. I’ve worked hard to get here and I wish I could
shower her with it.”

“
Neil, Krista doesn’t want
to be at home alone while you’re out on the town. That’s what this
is about.”

He’d only gone out once while seeing
her and would’ve gladly brought her along. “Why would I be out on
the town when I have her at home? I’d much rather spend my evenings
with her and EJ.”

“
She doesn’t know that.”
Jamie bit her bottom lip. “She wanted a family. A real one. She
deserves it after Todd. She needs to know what love is and a man
who can provide that.”

Neil picked up a pen and tapped it on
the desk. He could provide that, but he couldn’t quite understand
why no one thought he could.

Jamie stood. “My friend’s stubborn and
I wouldn’t expect her to come knock on your door anytime soon. As
I’ve told her, you really need to think about this and what you
want. It isn’t just both of your hearts that are involved. If you
take this step, you have EJ to consider too.”

Neil nodded. “I understand. Thank you
for coming by. I appreciate it.” He followed her to the door. “I’d
say tell Krista hi for me, but I have a feeling she doesn’t know
you’re here.”

“
She’d kill me.” Jamie
laughed. “See ya around, Neil. Just hopefully not at the
club.”

He closed the door behind her. A part
of him wanted to drive over to Krista’s house right now, but then
he decided not to. He needed to take what Jamie had said into
consideration and think a little more about it.

He opened the door. “Tana, call down
and have my jet fueled. I think I’ll deliver this contract to
Australia myself.”

“
Yes, sir.”

* * *

Krista walked like a penguin through
the parking lot to her car. She had hoped that pedicure would help,
but it hadn’t. She still missed Neil—and EJ, who was away at his
father’s for two whole weeks. Ugh! This summer sucked.

All she had was time on her hands and a
mind that was in overdrive.

As she climbed in the car, she nicked
her pinky toe. “Damn it!” She glanced down and saw the red polish
had a dent. “Crap.” To go back in or not? Not. She just wanted to
go home and open up a tub of ice cream.

It had been almost two weeks since
she’d seen or spoken to Neil. He hadn’t tried to contact her once.
Had he just brushed her to the side that easily? He’d said he loved
her, but now he was gone just as quick as he’d come in her life.
Only now there was a big void in her heart—one only Neil could
fill.

If she could go back, she’d do it over.
She still probably would’ve not gone to the game, but she wouldn’t
have shut her phone off to avoid all his calls.

Most of all, she would’ve listened to
him and talked about it like a grown-up would, and not just assumed
he was with another woman.

Jamie had talked to her about the club.
Like anywhere, some of the women were a little more hands on, and
this particular woman didn’t necessarily only want Neil, she wanted
a meal ticket.

Jamie had also told her that the few
times she’d been back at the club Neil hadn’t been there, and from
what she knew, no one had seen him. Krista was worried about where
he was and what he was doing.

Todd and she never communicated well.
Simply argued and stomped off. They’d never solved anything. Never
cared to. But with Neil, she wanted this fixed. She still wondered
how well a relationship could work between the two of them, but
right now she figured they could take it day by day. She didn’t
want to spend another day without him.

She pulled into her driveway and shut
the car off. Sitting there for a moment, she took a few shallow
breaths to suppress the tears that begged to release. She’d been
awfully weepy lately. A broken heart could do that.

*

The next morning, Krista
pulled herself up from bed feeling as though a truck had run her
over. Great, she was getting sick. This was
not
what she needed right now. She
grabbed her phone from her nightstand, unlocked it, and saw no
messages. She sighed. Each morning she had hoped to find something
from Neil, but once again, nothing.

If she wanted Neil back, she was going
to have to go to him. But not knowing any of the same people, she
had no idea if he even wanted her back. And she didn’t want to find
out he didn’t want her any more. But at this point, it looked like
she had no other choice. She was going to have to wear her heart on
her sleeve and pray it didn’t get hurt.

In the kitchen, she got the coffee
started. As she closed the cabinet that held the filters, she
thought she heard a knock from her front door. Maybe it was Jamie.
They had plans to go shopping, but she thought that would be later
today. Then again, it was almost eleven in the morning. She’d slept
late.

“
I’m coming,” she called out
as she went to the front door.

Pulling it open, she froze. She
expected to see Jamie, but instead Todd stood there with
EJ.

“
Hey.” She opened the door,
letting them in.

“
I meant to call. A meeting
came up at work and I need to go in for a few hours. Is it okay if
EJ stays here?”

Krista laughed. “I’ve missed him to
bits. Of course.”

“
Thanks. I’ll be back soon,
bud.”

“
See ya, Dad.”

Todd turned and left.

“
I’m so happy you’re here.
God, I’ve missed you! Let’s sit down and watch cartoons, because I
just got up.”

EJ laughed. “Lazy?”

She smiled, wrapped an arm around his
shoulder, and led him to the couch. She couldn’t think of any
better way to spend her morning than with her son. As soon as the
coffee maker beeped, she got a cup and texted Jamie.

EJ’s here for a few hours.
Want to put off shopping until later in the afternoon?

As she entered the living room, she
heard a knock on the door again.