“Who is it?” Sebastian asked as they walked through the lobby.
“A friend from home,” she said. Which wasn’t a lie. She just didn’t want to get into an argument with him over nothing. “I’m going to take it down here. Why don’t you go meet with Greg Munson.” They’d agreed the man would be more comfortable talking to Sebastian alone anyway.
“Sure.” He shot her a glance but kissed her lips and headed inside anyway.
She answered the cell, stepping toward an empty bench by a glass window overlooking the parking lot. “Hello?”
“Ashley, finally. I’ve been trying to reach you.”
And she’d been ignoring his calls. “Jonathan, I told you, I have a lot going on here … and we’re over. I don’t think we should be talking on the phone.”
She wasn’t a fan of men and women being friends after they broke up. She knew some of her girlfriends enjoyed keeping in touch with their exes, but she wasn’t one of them.
“That’s why I’m calling,” he said in his formal British accent. “Because I think, being in the States, you’re forgetting what we shared. And I wanted to remind you of the good times.”
She sighed and glanced out at the palm trees lining the parking lanes. “We did have good times,” she agreed with him. “But I explained to you, I don’t love you and you deserve that from someone. Goodbye, Jonathan,” she said before he could continue to try and talk her around to his way of thinking.
Her heart beat harder in her chest. She hated hurting him, but she’d been honest. Kindly honest, until he kept calling. She disliked having to explain her feelings over and over again. And the more he pushed, the harder it was going to be when she got home to London.
Having taken a call from her boss earlier in the day, she knew her time off was running out. At that thought, nausea filled her, which she attributed to the upsetting phone call. Clearly Jonathan had talked himself into believing they had something they could build a lifetime on, but she just didn’t feel that way about him.
She didn’t get flutters in her stomach when she thought about him, and never had. She didn’t have feelings of longing when they were apart. Nor did she look forward to seeing him in a way that had her insides flipping with excitement and joy. All things she felt when she thought about Sebastian.
She cared more for him than she had for Jonathan. More than she did for any man in her past. She liked waking up with him in the morning, knowing his face was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. He always made sure she ate lunch and dinner and he’d bought a stack of chocolate bars when they were at Ghirardelli and snuck one in her purse every day. There was something special about Sebastian Knight, and she would be a fool not to recognize that or the fact that she was falling for him.
He was showing her what a real relationship was all about, digging his way into her heart, slowly but surely. She was feeling things that were new to her, and she was afraid that what should have been a simple affair was becoming far more emotionally complicated, when she’d always kept things with men casual and easy.
But she also knew her entire life was in London. The flat she rented and had turned into her refuge, the plants her neighbor was watering for her, and the job she really did enjoy. One she’d had since graduating university. She couldn’t deny that the satisfaction she found working with Sebastian to save the Keystone contract was greater than any work-related success she’d had back home … but London was just that. Home.
And when this project with Sebastian was over and she knew Ethan was settled, she was headed back there.
For good.
Ignoring the pain in her stomach at the thought, she headed for the elevator to go meet up with Sebastian and get back to work.
* * *
Ashley was more subdued after her phone call, but she said she was fine, and he didn’t want to push her to open up if she didn’t want to. Instead, after finishing his meeting with Munson, where the engineer examined the bids and receipts from Sparrow Electronics and promised to look into those specific parts, he guided her back to the limousine.
He helped her into the back, then walked around to talk to the driver, where he found out his best bet for women’s dresses was the Filmore Street shops, and he instructed the man to take them to that shopping district.
He joined Ashley in the back of the limo, closing the door behind him.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Shopping, like I said earlier.” He slid a hand behind her back and pulled her close. “We’re going to dress you up for the evening on the company dime.”