Sexy As Sin (Filthy Rich 2)

“I’ll tell you in a few days,” I said.

She nodded.

“What are you going to tell Aidan?” I asked her.

Samantha tucked a lock of loose hair behind her ear. “That you’re leaving town and you’re fine. That you’ll talk to him when you’re ready. That you’re stronger and more clear than I’ve ever seen you.”

I blinked. “I am?”

“Yes. But I want to know one thing. You say you think you’re in love with Dane. Are you or aren’t you? It’s a simple thing to know.”

I thought of Dane, of the night when I’d had margaritas and he’d kissed me, pushing down onto the bed with me, his weight on top of me as my blood pounded with happiness and excitement. He’d said You’re drunk, and I’d said Don’t go. I’d never meant two words more than I meant those two in that moment. Don’t go. I wondered if, given the chance, he’d have said them to me before I walked out the door of his penthouse.

“Yes, I’m in love with him,” I said to Samantha. “He’s the other half of me. Baby or not. He just is.”

“I know that feeling,” Samantha said. “Go do what you need to do. But if you want him, Ava, find a way to get him. Don’t live half a life.”

Twenty-Two

Dane

* * *

I hadn’t planned to leave Chicago and follow Ava to New York, but here I was, getting out of a cab in front of Tower VC’s SoHo office building. Kaito Okada had given me a week to make a decision, and as he’d predicted, I’d spent some time thinking. It was time to meet with the partners and discuss it.

Noah was flying in from L.A. and Alex was flying in from Dallas. None of them knew why I had called this meeting, and I knew they were all curious. But in the history of Tower, I had never called a meeting like this, so they knew it was something important. Noah had flown in late last night, Alex at some ungodly hour this morning. In half an hour, we’d all be here.

I nodded at the security guard at the front desk as I walked through the lobby. Tower only had a small number of employees, so we rented the top floor of this small-but-expensive building in Soho, away from the big egos of Madison Avenue or Wall Street. Aidan,

our real estate expert, had tried more than once to buy the entire building from the owner, but he’d failed every time, something that pissed him off whenever anyone mentioned it. If Aidan had his way, we’d own every building in New York. He was working on it.

The receptionist looked briefly surprised when she saw me—she didn’t know who I was at first—but she quickly collected herself. “Mr. Scotland,” she said. “Would you like to meet in the boardroom or in Mr. Winters’ office?”

“The office,” I said, walking toward Aidan’s office, the largest and most private in the trendy, open workspace. This conversation was too confidential to hold in the glass-walled boardroom. “And when the others get here, don’t let us be disturbed.”

Aidan must have heard my voice, because he came to his office door when I approached. He was wearing his customary black suit, black shirt, and black tie—the outfit that had gained him the nickname of the Man in Black. He claimed the sinister look helped him gain the edge in real estate deals. He looked surprised when he saw me, too—shocked, actually.

“Who the hell are you, and what have you done with Dane Scotland?” he asked when I got close enough.

“Go fuck yourself,” I replied. “I thought you wanted me to dress better.”

“I did.” He looked up and down my outfit of dark gray dress pants and white shirt, unbuttoned at the throat. He took in my expensive watch, belt, and shoes. “Jesus. I knew Ava would do a good job, but I didn’t think it would actually take.”

I shrugged. “You told me to wear whatever she buys. So I am. It isn’t so bad once you get used to it.”

“And the hair?” His gaze moved up to the top of my head. “The last time I talked to her, she couldn’t convince you to get rid of the man bun.”

“She convinced me.” I didn’t look in the mirror very often, so I sometimes forgot about the haircut. I was getting used to that, too.

What I wasn’t used to was Ava being gone. It weighed on me day and night. I missed her—and yet, on some strange level, I didn’t feel parted from her. Not completely, at least. Just a few hours ago, as I’d boarded the plane, my phone had given me an alert that someone had disarmed the security system at my beach house. I’d pulled up the live video and watched, unnoticed, as Ava opened the front door and came inside, dragging a suitcase behind her. Standing on the breezeway on the way to board my flight, I’d drunk in the sight of her: pale face, no makeup, hair piled roughly on top of her head. She looked tired, a little bedraggled, but she was in one piece and she was okay. I’d taken another long second to memorize every line of her, and then I’d shut the video feed off, unwilling to spy on her.

She needed time, she’d said. She was taking that time at my beach house, and I knew where she was, knew that she was okay. The question was, would I join her? Did she even want me to? Or would I take the opportunity with Okada and get on his expensive private jet to Japan?

I had no fucking idea about any of it.

“Sit down,” Aidan said, leading me into his office. I sat in one of the chairs and he rounded behind his desk. “Any news?”

I blinked, caught in a moment of panic that he knew about Ava and me, about the potential baby. “News?”