“The timing was bad. When I left him all those years ago, he wasn’t in a place in his life where he felt ready for a serious commitment.”
“And why would he want a serious commitment? He’s having lion sex with dozens of beautiful women. So much so, that he got in trouble with the press and had to hire you to clean up his act. He’s careless and reckless. Do you really think he’s ever going to change those bachelor ways of his?”
“What we had was different.”
“Oh, honey. Doesn’t every woman say that? You can’t change him!”
Bella looked away and held back the tears.
“Oh, honey. You know I love you. And you know I only want what’s best for my niece and nephew. I just don’t want you to get hurt again. Because I don’t think you can recover a second time from his sting.”
“We could’ve been so good together.”
“If he’d ever grow up. You shouldn’t plan a future with a man who doesn’t make you his first priority. Let’s face it. The man is terrified to commit.” She sipped her wine. “I literally hate all that messy, unrequited love bullshit.”
“He had a bad break up before me, and I think it left him scarred.”
“That’s nonsense. If you burned the roof of your mouth with some hot soup, do you stop eating? No. You don’t.”
“I’m not sure where I stand.”
“Well, let me help put things into perspective. There’s 1. No fucking. 2. Fucking. 3. Joined at the hip and in love. So where do you stand?”
“Obviously, number 2.”
“There you go.”
“I’m going to change it into number 3.”
“I’m not going to stand in the way of true love. If it’s meant to be, then it’ll happen.”
“But I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking he’s taking it slow because he thinks it’s okay to date me until someone better comes along. It’s kind of like renting an apartment instead of investing all your money into a condo. But I tell you what. I’m going to be his condo. Hell, I’m going to be his mansion.”
Madison raised her glass of wine. “Then best of luck to you.”
Smiling, they chimed glasses.
Chapter 7
The following day, they had a meeting with the Smith Gibbonses about the upcoming merger. While she had been the one to form a relationship with the two men whose business was coming under the umbrella of JS, she was uncertain of her footing. Because she’d been Harvey’s colleague-with-benefits when they started this deal. Now she was his out-of-favor baby mama, and that was an entirely different situation. The Smith Gibbonses were family oriented, wanting to foster a very personal connection to the management at JS and to preserve the legacy for their children.
She knew what Harvey wanted. He couldn’t commit like most men, so he wanted to embark on a casual, no-strings attached relationship. Just sex, no emotional commitment. He wasn’t looking for a long term relationship. And he had a game plan: Get in, get off, get out.
He didn’t want a future with her. She was just convenient.
He had cuddled her. And cuddling creates intimacy. She was sure that the sex they had shared had led to something deeper. But obviously not.
Why does spooning complicate everything?
I should’ve known I couldn’t have my cake and eat it too.
Children were a thorny topic just now with Harvey and Bella, not to mention the fact that they’d have to sit at a table and pretend everything was friendly between them, flirty even, not at all tense, not with arrows drawn. It exhausted her just thinking about it. She downed two coffees from the executive lounge, and then panicked because now she’d need to pee during the meeting. If she left the conference room to pee, it would give Harvey a chance to blackball her, to mention, oh, so casually that she had hidden his children from him. That wouldn’t exactly be professional but they were at armed neutrality at best just now.
Bella sat at the conference table and waited. She had not risen to the executive level by wa
iting quietly, but today at least, she was willing to follow Harvey’s lead. His demeanor would set the tone for the meeting. She, for one, wasn’t petty enough to act resentful toward him or let their personal situation bleed into their professional workspace, but she needed that sort of assurance from him, the civility if not friendliness.
So she sat and sipped her bottle of water and when he came in, he shook hands warmly with Smith and Gibbons, and gave her a curt nod. A few of the other executives were in on the meeting and he greeted them each by name. Without saying a single word to Bella. She stifled a sigh of resignation. If this was how he wanted to play it—chilly and borderline rude, she’d just have to be the bigger person.