Sadie grinned, the door opened and there he was...
Sadie, unable to help herself, flung herself into his arms, winding her arms around his neck and lifting her face for a kiss. But instead of ducking his head, Carrick placed his hands on her hips and lifted her off him to place her feet on the ground.
Sadie brushed her hair out of her eyes, looked up into his face and her smile faded. Something was wrong, she just knew it.
Sadie felt both boiling hot and icy cold, breathless and heartsore. Pain rolled through her body. She didn’t understand why, but she did know that her and Carrick’s relationship had taken a one-eighty and flipped upside down.
It was over. She knew that without him having to say one word.
But what could possibly have happened between now and his last text message at lunchtime? The words were burned into her brain she’d read it so often:
Hey, sweetheart, I’m going into a series of meetings this afternoon so might not respond immediately if you send me a message. But I’m thinking of you and can’t wait to see you later. Get some sleep on the plane. You’re going to need it because I intend keeping you awake for most of the night.
Sadie pulled a tremulous smile onto her face, hoping and praying she was wrong. She had to be wrong. “Hi.”
“Sadie.” Carrick shoved his hands into the pockets of his suit pants, and Sadie noted that he still wore his suit jacket and his tie was still perfectly knotted.
This was Carrick, the hard-assed CEO, not Carrick, her lover. “Everything okay?”
She knew it wasn’t, but she wasn’t going to go with her first impulse—to drop to her knees, wind her arms around his legs and beg him to tell him what she’d done wrong.
Because she hadn’t done anything wrong. She hadn’t had time to mess up.
“No.”
Sadie forced the words through her numb lips. “A little more information please.”
Carrick took his time answering her. “I think we are making a huge mistake continuing to sleep together. We’re not going to be a happy family. We’re not going to live together and raise our child together.”
Wow.
Sadie felt the punch of his words and she took a step back, trying to get away from the impact. His expression was implacable, but his eyes burned with fury. His hands, still in his pockets, were bunched into fists, and tension made the cords in his neck more prominent. Carrick was furious. Memories of another man’s face, and his vicious expression, tumbled over her. Falling back into that memory, she took another step back, needing to put space between her and the much bigger Carrick.
Which was ridiculous; this was Carrick, not Dennis. Carrick, no matter how angry he was, wouldn’t hurt her...knowing she was painting him by that other brush, she lowered her shoulders and told herself that she had nothing to fear—
“Jesus, you think I might hurt you?” Carrick roared.
Sadie winced. Of course, Carrick would pick up on her movements. He was an observant guy at the best of times and he paid her a lot of attention. “No—”
“I am not your ex!”
His words bounced off the walls of the hallway and echoed through the large house. Sadie lifted her hands, desperately looking for the right words. “I know you aren’t—”
“You haven’t changed your mind about me at all, have you?” Carrick demanded. It wasn’t a shout, but it wasn’t far off, either. Sadie stood up straighter and took a step closer, needing to show him that she wasn’t scared of him. She knew that he would never, ever hurt her physically.
Though he was doing a damn fine job of hurting her emotionally.
“Carrick, I—”
“You’re still judging me by what you heard from my ex-wife! And if that’s the case, why are you sleeping with me? What’s your angle?”
Sadie felt his verbal bullets piercing her heart. How had something so beautiful turned so ugly? What was happening here?
“I don’t have an angle! And I’m sleeping with you because I’m crazy about you. I can’t stop thinking about you. Hell, I think I’m in love with you!” Sadie shouted back. Okay, that was not the way she’d wanted to tell him that she loved him. She’d wanted it to be a tender moment, emotional, hot and sweet. A memory she’d carry with her for the rest of her life.
Well, she’d definitely remember this!
“How dare you tell me that you feel like that when I know you have no intention of sticking around, when you plan on taking my child away from me? I’m not going to let that happen, Sadie. I’ve lost too many people in my life for that to happen.”