“You left the company, didn’t you? I remembered Evelyn telling me you ended up working for Jace for a while.”
I nodded. “I did.”
“Can I ask why?”
Wasn’t that a fucking question? Only because the answer was so tied to everything I was keeping from her, I didn’t know how to answer.
“Remember that first night we met?” I asked instead.
“In London?” She blushed a little, and I was sure she was thinking about that stolen kiss. A stolen kiss I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about since. A kiss that had tied her to me in every irrevocable way, and the little innocent didn’t even know it.
“Yeah.”
“What about it?”
“I thought about you every day for two whole fucking years since that first kiss.”
At my confession, her eyes widened almost comically. “What?”
I shot her a smile and moved in closer to her. “Yeah. But at that time, I was getting ready to take on my role as CEO. My grandpa was planning on retiring soon, and you were—fuck, you were barely eighteen.”
“Is that why you stayed away?”
I nodded. “Mostly, yeah. I was biding my time. I wanted to give you the chance to see the world. To experience everything without my influence. And at the time, I was in no position to start anything with you.” I let out a humorless laugh. “You are the very definition of the right person, the wrong time.”
She frowned. “What about once I graduated? You never came for me.”
I looked off to the side. “Two years after we met, my grandpa died.”
“Oh, Jensen. I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “Don’t be. He might have had a hand in raising me to be the man that I am today, but he was a cold bastard.”
“Oh.” She paused. “I’m still sorry.”
I nodded in acknowledgement. “It wasn’t until his will reading that I found out there was a stipulation from him in order for me to take full rein of the company he had trained me my entire life to one day take over.”
“What is it?”
“I must have an heir.”
“What?”
I looked at her, a cynical smile taking over my face.
“Isn’t that a bit outdated?” she asked.
“Yeah. And absolutely legal. I decided then that I didn’t want to be controlled by the old bastard. So I left.”
“You left,” she repeated, and I didn’t know what the tone in her voice meant. “And you ended up working for Jace.”
“Yeah. Don’t get me wrong. I did love working for Jace. But it wasn’t my company, you know?”
She nodded, her eyes shrouded in understanding. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me. It was easier to talk to her about these things if I didn’t have to look directly into her eyes.
Surely, I would cave under the weight of them.
She set her pizza plate down on her other side and rested her head on my shoulder. I focused on her warm body pressed in on me, letting her comfort me, even if she didn’t know she was doing it.