Hayden. He was the man she thought of late at night when she was alone.
“Then why are you here?”
“Um…” She couldn’t tell him the truth. Would he believe a part of it—that she needed some closure and to pay him back for what he’d unknowingly given her by asking her to marry him? If he hadn’t done that, Alan would never have paid her the money she’d needed to get started in business. Her exclusive line of boutiques turned a huge profit and were considered a value-added chain to many luxury resorts around the world. All of that was thanks to this man.
“I’m waiting, Shelby. Tell me why you’re here. Are you hoping to strike it rich again in Vegas?”
In ways he’d never understand.
He stood before her, seething with anger. But she couldn’t explain why she was back. Or that she couldn’t stay away once Alan had approached her.
She’d forgotten about the anger. Maybe because of the way she’d left. Their last meeting had been a joyous one. The night before their wedding. She swallowed hard. She’d forgotten about her own emotions and how hard they could be to deal with.
“When you say it like that—”
“You sound like the gold digger you are,” he finished for her.
“Not anymore, Hayden. I’m here because it’s a smart business move.” She’d left him at the altar. Called him from the airport with his father’s check in her hand. How was he ever going to forgive that?
“Nice touch with the boutique name,” he said after a few moments had passed.
A brief smile played at her lips. Naming the shop with the French word for “gold digger” had been her idea. After all, she’d always been unflinchingly honest when it came to what she was. She’d grown up too poor to pretend that money meant nothing to her. “At the time it seemed kind of tongue in cheek,” she explained. “I mean, you know how I started out.”
“With nothing,” he said. She realized some of the anger had faded from his eyes and he was looking at her with something akin to lust.
Passion had never been the problem between them. She’d always been the biggest obstacle in their relationship. Only after a few years of therapy was she able to see that they probably wouldn’t have lasted together even if she hadn’t taken the payoff his father had offered. Hayden had been more interested in having the most attractive woman on his arm, and she’d been too interested in having financial security. Their relationship had been very shallow.
“And now you have this,” he said.
His aftershave hadn’t changed in all the years they’d been apart. Still a spicy, masculine scent that she knew he had custom blended in France.
“What do you want from me, Hayden?” she asked when she realized he was staring down at her.
He lifted one of his hands and stroked down the side of her face. His touch was gentle. She stood still, fighting the urge to close her eyes and lean into that hand. Hayden had always been so gentle with her.
Something few other men ever had been.
He’d wanted a wife and she’d left him to deal with their friends. She’d always felt guilty about that. She doubted that Hayden wanted her back in his life. Though now that they were face to face, she was beginning to realize that was something she wanted.
“The wedding night we never had.”
“Sex?”
He nodded.
Shocked, she didn’t know what to say. The same sensual spell he’d always cast around her surrounded her now. She felt the force of his will and his desire. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth, leaning toward him before she realized what she was doing.
In Alan’s words she was supposed to bring some closure to Hayden and get him ready to find a nice girl and settle down. Now that he was feeling his age, Alan wanted grandkids and for his son to be happy. But Shelby knew Alan didn’t have her in mind.
She scooted away from Hayden but he reached out for her again. The years fell away and she was suddenly that trailer-park girl wanting the golden boy once again. And there was a part of her who still wanted that man.
Since leaving Hayden she’d had two other relationships—both with wealthy men—but things had never really heated up. Her fault. She was the first to admit she didn’t trust her passionate side. Because the one time she had, she’d lost her heart.
“Are you really looking for sex?”
He cocked his head to the side. “Yeah.”
“Is this only a revenge thing?” she asked. Because she realized she wanted to say yes. She’d like nothing better than to go to bed with Hayden, even with all the years and anger between them.
“I’m not sure.”
“Thanks for not lying.” But then Hayden never had. From the beginning he’d said he was the spoiled son of a wealthy man. He’d been kind of immature in those days but so had she. Hayden had also seemed like a knight in shining armor. Shelby had known that eventually he’d wake up and realize he’d made a mistake in marrying her.
“I’ll save that for you.”
This was more what she expected. She wrapped her arms around her waist and backed farther away from him. She bumped into one of the packing crates and almost lost her balance.
Hayden grabbed her arm and held her until she was steady on her feet. She swallowed hard and tried not to flinch from his touch. But there was nothing harsh in his touch. Just a gentle hold.
“Okay?” he asked in that low, raspy voice of his that never failed to send shivers down her spine.
“Yes. Thanks.”
They said nothing for a few minutes. Shelby tried to marshal her thoughts. Tried to find her balance in a world that was suddenly out of whack. She glanced around her boutique, her gaze falling on the poster advertising Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at the Met. Slowly she let the familiar world she’d created soothe her troubled soul.
She took a deep breath and stepped away from Hayden. As tempting as it was to fall into bed with the one man who’d made her feel really feminine, really alive, she knew she couldn’t. She’d changed from the girl she was. No MacKenzie man was ever again going to make her feel embarrassed about who she’d been.
She’d been afraid of being like her mom and in the end that was exactly what she’d become. Someone who traded on her looks for money…for security. But she was a different woman now. She made her own way in the world. She was Hayden’s equal in every way that mattered.
“We can’t be together if you treat me, like…well, like I suppose you have a right to. I’m really not into that kind of pain.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Shelby. I never wanted that.”
She believed him. Despite his seemingly shallow playboy attitude back then, he’d always treated her like a lady. She couldn’t really explain it to anyone who hadn’t grown
