“I don’t think you’ve heard me at all.”
“You don’t mean that,” he insisted.
Her lips thinned. “I do.”
“We’re not going back to the way things were,” he warned. “We’re not going back to pretending that things haven’t been said. You’re not going to hold me at arm’s length anymore.”
“You held me at arm’s length for ten years.” Without another word she set her coffee cup down on the front desk and marched out of the gallery, leaving him behind.
Part of him wanted to go after her, but everything was too raw right now. Going after her with tensions this high wasn’t going to solve anything. In fact, it would probably make things worse.
But at least now he could finally understand why Heather might want to spy on him to help a rival company. Now after their heated argument, he knew something that he hadn’t known before. Heather was a woman scorned. Which meant that she had a motive. The oldest reason of all. Revenge.
Chapter 16
Simon knew Heather needed time to sort through her feelings. Which was why when he showed up to work the next day, he did his best to keep his distance.
The familiar routine frustrated him. It was like they were locked in the steps of a dance they couldn’t get out of. There was always this push and pull between them. The routine drove him insane. But it also thrilled him. Made his desire for her even worse. He felt like an addict with no way to kick his habit.
After a late-morning meeting in one of the conference rooms Heather lingered while the engineers filed out of the room, and Simon couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Don’t go,” he said from his seat at the table, once they were alone.
She approached the door and shut it firmly. Then she turned around to face him. “It’s almost lunch time.”
“I know. So I’ll make try to make it quick.”
Heather crossed her arms and leaned against the door. “Well, what is it?”
“I hurt you.” He sighed. “I didn’t see it. And I’m sorry that I didn’t see how much pain I caused you.”
“You’re not a mind reader,” she murmured.
“No, I’m not. But I could have asked how the breakup made you feel,” he said.
“It was so out of the blue,” she said. “I think that’s why it hurt so much. We decided to be together, but then you blindsided me. I know you thought you were freeing me, but it still hurt.”
He searched her eyes, trying to see if what she was saying was genuine. Trying to see if she was just playing him. “If I had known that’s why you ended up with Gary, I would have handled things better.”
“Gary.” Her voice was laced with bitterness. “At this point, I’m so angry with him I hope I never see him again. Which is so unfair to Finn.”
“What you’re feeling is normal,” he said gently. “Gary didn’t deserve you.”
“He always said I’d never do better than him,” she murmured. “That nobody would want me. I was too uptight. Too reserved for a real man.”
“That’s nonsense.” Simon surged to his feet, fury making him ball his hands. “I want you.”
Damn it. He did. Even though his trust in her was slipping away, he still wanted her.
Simon crossed the conference room and stopped in front of her. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he said, “I’ve always wanted you. Even after I left, I missed you, Heather. I never meant to cause you all this pain. I broke up with you because I wanted the best for you. I thought I was helping you move on from me.”
She sighed. “I don’t blame you for leaving. You were going after your dream. There’s no way I would have been happy if you had stayed behind for me. You had every right to have ambitions. I’m sorry if I made you feel otherwise.”
“After yesterday, I thought you’d never talk to me again,” he said, releasing her.
“I needed time to cool down,” she said. “I’ve kept things bottled up inside for so long that I kind of just exploded.”
“I’m sorry if I made you feel like you were overreacting, because you weren’t.” It felt like a lie, because he didn’t truly know what Heather’s reaction to their breakup was. If Heather was heartbroken, he understood her pain and her right to feel angry. But if her pain and anger had led her down a path to destroy Dover, he’d never forgive her. It was one thing to take her anger out on him but taking it out on Dover was inexcusable. Thousands of employees were counting on the company to do well.