Two
Two months later...
“Paxton. You there, big brother?”
Paxton snapped to attention to find Sierra frowning at him. She had every right. He’d stepped in to take her to the obstetrician today, toddler in tow, while her husband was out of town. He should be present in mind and body, but thoughts of Ivy and all that had happened since his return home yesterday kept distracting him.
Marshalling his powers of concentration, he stepped out of the car and circled around to free his niece from her car seat in the back.
Just when he’d thought he and Ivy would be okay, that their professional life would move forward just as he’d wanted it to, she’d sent him her resignation via email. It had arrived while he’d been on the plane home, so it had been the first thing to catch his eye when he’d landed.
“So, what kept you away so long?” his sister asked.
“I was only supposed to be gone a few days. A week, tops.” The reality had been a nightmare. “One mechanical problem led to another, then another. At one point we actually had to shut down production for over twenty-four hours.”
“I bet Grandmother was thrilled,” Sierra said with a conspiratorial smile.
Oh, she’d been none too happy to hear it, reminding him she wasn’t cutting him any slack just because he was her grandson. He still had to justify every expense and setback.
At least it had distracted him from thoughts of Ivy. And as the days rolled into weeks, neither of them had mentioned their night together, even though they spoke on the phone almost every day and emailed even more than that. Their conversations had been strictly business, and Paxton had been perfectly happy with that.
He’d thought Ivy had been, too.
By the time he’d made it back to his house and dropped his luggage in the master suite, Paxton had convinced himself her resignation was for the best. Obviously she hadn’t wanted to face him in person. He could understand that. Their night together had been a bigger mistake on his part. As her boss, he bore the weight of responsibility and should be grateful she hadn’t accused him of sexual harassment, despite their intimacy being mutual. He should probably reach out with a severance package to keep her from bearing any burdens while she looked for another job. Would she accept? Or was she angry that he’d stuck strictly to business all this time?
Still he couldn’t stop thinking about her. A woman he should be grateful was gone.
He needed his head examined.
“You must be living on another planet today. Did you leave your brain in Virginia?” his sister demanded, her normally calm demeanor showing strain as she pulled her daughter from his arms.
Paxton took a deep breath, trying to regain his equilibrium. “I just have a lot on my mind.”
Sierra led the way across the parking lot, toward the office building. “Just so long as it’s work and not a woman. Grandmother would have a fit if you didn’t keep your priorities straight.”
The bitterness in her voice immediately caught Paxton’s attention. He stared at her in surprise.
His family members were founders and high-ranking business leaders of Savannah society. They’d been taught to marry well, aim high and value family over all else. He’d grown up looking forward to starting one of his own, and he’d been groomed to marry the woman who would best enhance his professional and personal profile. Just like his sisters, who’d chosen their husbands from elite Savannah families.
That was the plan—one that didn’t include Ivy. Yet he’d wanted her since he’d first laid eyes on her. And nothing had prepared him for the ecstasy of actually having her.
Except, according to the map he’d laid out for his life, he couldn’t keep her. He’d stepped out of his comfort zone in the name of romance and knew it was a mistake.
But that wasn’t something you said to a woman over the phone.
“What?” Sierra demanded.
Her sharp tone had him looking closer. Paxton couldn’t miss the strain in his sister’s expression. Some people might attribute it to the fatigue of her being in the second trimester of pregnancy while taking care of his very active niece, but Paxton knew better. The tight muscles around her eyes and tart tone weren’t normal for her.
He slowed her down with a hand on her arm, easing her over to one side of the hallway outside of the doctor’s office. His niece had gotten sleepy, laying her heavy head on her mom’s shoulder.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a quiet tone, pulling himself forcibly back to the here and now. “What’s up?”
As if realizing just how much she’d revealed, Sierra glanced away. But Paxton didn’t miss the rapid blinking of her eyes against the sudden tears. “Nothing. It’s probably just the hormones.”
While that could definitely play a part, his big-brother instincts told him something more was going on. “Is everything okay?” He thought back over her words. “Is there a problem between you and Jason?”
“I wouldn’t know,” she sniffed, then reached up to stroke her sleepy daughter’s hair. “He’s always at work. Though I guess that’s what I married him for...right?”
She turned back to him after only a few steps. “Take it from me, Paxton,” she said in a low tone. “Just because the whole business-before-pleasure thing worked for our parents and grandparents doesn’t mean it’s the wonderful life they told us it would be. Marrying for money is just as complicated as marrying for love.”
Then she quickly changed the subject. “Let’s check in,” she said, almost too nonchalantly. He knew she was trying to hide from him as she reached for the door.
He’d never known her to keep secrets, but her stoic facade worried him.
Following Sierra and his niece into the doctor’s waiting room, Paxton felt that familiar surge of protectiveness that he often got by just hanging out with his siblings. They’d always been close. Add in the gaggle of girl children his sisters had given birth to, and Paxton found himself to be a hands-on uncle. His grandmother often prophesied that Paxton would be the first to give the family a male heir, something he definitely looked forward to. But until then he would protect and love the women in his life as much as possible.
If he only knew what Sierra needed protecting from...
“Here,” he said, reaching out for his niece, “let me take her while you sign in.”
He snuggled the droopy toddler in his arms and stood behind his sister as the receptionist opened the window that separated her from the waiting room. Small talk floated around him as Sierra signed the check-in list; he wasn’t really paying attention. He glanced over the women’s heads, farther into the little box the receptionist occupied. Behind her, at the exit window, a woman in scrubs was speaking to a patient who was checking out. At first Paxton couldn’t see her. Then she turned toward him.
Ivy.
Without a thought, Paxton leaned
