Scandalizing the CEO

“Do you think he’s changed?”

Freddie lifted one shoulder. “Only you can decide.”

“I’m so afraid. I still love him. How can I say no to a chance to have him in my life? It’s what I’ve dreamed of.”

“There’s your answer,” Freddie said.

“When did this air?” she asked. “How did I not hear about it?”

“It hasn’t aired yet,” Cathy said holding up the envelope it had come in. “There’s a note from the producer saying that Steven asked for an advance copy to be sent to you.”

“Is there a note from Steven in there?”

She shook the envelope and nothing came out. “Nope.”

“What do I do?” she asked her two closest friends.

“I’d call him,” Cathy said. “Whatever happened between you, it’s obvious that he’s sorry. His part of the interview was all about you.”

She considered that but she’d made the last gesture, offered the last olive branch, and look how that had turned out. She wasn’t sure she had the confidence to do it again. She just couldn’t. She needed to see a sign from him.

What kind of sign?

“Freddie?”

“I’d wait, but then I’m not courageous when it comes to matters of the heart.”

He wasn’t and his track record was much longer than hers. Cathy and Freddie both looked at her as if they expected her to make a choice right then.

“I have to think about this. I’m scheduled to go to New York tomorrow. I’ll call him when I get back. I can’t jump back into that fire right now.”

“Great idea. If he loves you, it doesn’t come with an expiration date,” Freddie said.

That’s right. Was love forever? She hoped it would fade when it looked like she’d be heartbroken forever. But now? Should she jump in her MG and drive to find him? Though she missed him, she was going to have to wait until she was sure. Wait until the memory of the pain he’d inflicted on her subsided.

She worked until nine and went home to an empty house. She packed her carry-on bag and found the La Perla negligee that he’d given her still in the bag. She’d never had the chance to wear it for him. She held it up to herself and when it was time for bed she put it on.

She lay in her bed staring at the ceiling and thinking about Steven. She reached for her phone and almost called him but stopped herself. She wasn’t ready.

A part of her wanted him to come back to her because he had been the one to walk away. She rolled on her side and hugged the pillow that he’d slept on to her stomach. It smelled faintly of him but the scent was fading and she knew she should probably go ahead and wash it, but she hadn’t.

She’d just kept it here because she loved a man who was afraid to admit that he loved her. That interview intimated that he might have changed his mind, but she wasn’t going to risk her heart on a maybe.

Steven had hoped she’d call him when she’d seen the interview, but she hadn’t. He knew that he was going to have to show her that he loved her. That would take more than vague words on a taped interview. She needed and she deserved the big gesture.

He picked up his cell and called her friend Freddie.

“This is Steven Devonshire,” he said when Freddie answered the phone.

“What can I do for you?” Freddie asked.

“I need your help to surprise Ainsley.”

“Why? Do you just want her back in your bed or do you want her in your life for good?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Steven said. He wasn’t about to talk about his personal feelings with this guy.

“It is, because I had to pick up the pieces after you broke her heart—not once but twice. So you tell me that you aren’t going to hurt her again or you can just hang up.”

“I’m not going to hurt her again—you have my word.”

“Okay, so what do you need from me?” Freddie said.

“I need Ainsley to come back to the Leicester Square store today at 2:00 p.m.”

He hoped that Ainsley would be flattered that he remembered that the location was where they’d both met again. He wanted to go back to the beginning with her—not five years ago, but this time—and ask her to marry him.

“I’ll do it. But why don’t you just call her?”

“I want to surprise her,” he said.

He hung up a few minutes later and realized that he was going to be very disappointed if Ainsley didn’t show up. But he had a feeling she would. A woman like Ainsley didn’t fall in love easily and he was counting on the fact that she did care deeply for him.