Blown Away (12 page)

Ava couldn’t
remember the last time she’d taken off in the middle of a workday.
She was usually the first one into the office and the last one to
leave. She deserved a few hours of good food and relaxation in the
company of a handsome man. “If you’re sure you don’t mind.” She
stepped on to the elevator.

“Not at all.”
He punched the button for the lobby and stared at the overhead
numbers as the doors closed. “I was expecting to hear from you…
about the date.”

“Tara and I
were going through your options today.” She forced a smile. “I
think I’ve found someone who would be perfect for you. She’s a
personal trainer, owns her own gym in fact--”

“I really don’t
want to talk about that today.”

She frowned at
his stunning profile. “But you were the one who brought it up.”

“I know,” he
said, sticking his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “Just
forget I said anything.”

“Okay.” They
rode the rest of the way in silence, and she knew it would be one
of those times when she had to pry the truth out of him. “Is
everything okay, Brent?”

“Yeah.” He
closed his eyes. “It’s just been one of those days. I’m tired, bone
tired.”

Ava was tempted
to reach out and ease the tension from his shoulders. She’d never
seen him so forlorn. He was usually a dynamo, fixed on the next
challenge. She wanted to ask him what had happened, but she trusted
he would tell her when the time was right. “Where are we
going?”

He couldn’t
carry his heavy burden alone. He needed to talk to someone, and
he’d chosen her. She didn’t want to acknowledge the warmth that
spread through her at that realization, but it was difficult to
ignore. He reached for her hand and she would have pulled away, but
when she saw the uncertainty in his eyes, she couldn’t.

He said, “It’s
a place I fell in love with a long time ago. I haven’t been out
there in… too long.”

“Sounds
intriguing.” She squeezed his hand and hoped that would earn a
smile, but it didn’t.

They walked in
silence until they reached his sleek, polished black car. He opened
her door and waited until she was buckled in before he closed it
and rounded the front. Slipping his Versace sunglasses in place, he
said, “Thanks for coming with me today, Ava. I really needed a
friend.”

“My pleasure.”
She knew what needing someone felt like, and she wanted to be there
for him for reasons she couldn’t begin to understand. He turned the
music on and navigated the busy afternoon traffic. Within a few
minutes, they pulled into her parking lot.

“Do you want to
wait here?” she asked when he parked near the front doors. “I won’t
be more than a few minutes.”

“Are you sure
you don’t want me to come up?”

She smiled and
pointed to his phone in the cup holder. “I’m sure you’re dying to
check your messages by now. Have at it. I’ll be right back.”

Ava returned
less than ten minutes later wearing a summer dress and flip-flops.
Her hair was in a ponytail, and she felt younger and more carefree
than she had in ages.

Brent’s head
was tipped back against the headrest when she slid into the
passenger’s seat. She thought he may be sleeping, but he said, “You
look beautiful.”

“I hope I
didn’t keep you waiting too long.”

“No problem,”
he said, starting the car.

“Did you have a
chance to check in with the office?” She should probably do the
same.

“Whatever’s
going on there can wait until tomorrow. I just need time to
decompress.”

Whatever was
bothering him clearly wasn’t routine stress that came with managing
a large company. Ava believed it was personal. “You know you can
talk to me, right?”

He shifted to
face her. “I know. That’s why I brought you.” He slid his finger
down her cheek. “I just need a bit of time to think things through
first. Are you okay with that?”

“Of course,
whenever you’re ready to talk, I’m here to listen.”

They were stretched
out on a blanket, admiring the waves crashing into the shore, when
Brent popped a grape into Ava’s mouth. They’d only been there an
hour, and he already felt his problems drifting away. She’d always
had that effect on him. No matter how bad things seemed, she always
made him believe they would get better.

“This is such a
beautiful spot,” she said, looking out over the twenty acres of
waterfront land.

“I bought it
about seven years ago. It was the first big real estate investment
I made.”

“Will you build
a house here someday?” she asked, topping a cracker with smoked
salmon and cream cheese.

“That’s the
plan.” He leaned back and admired the view. He’d always been drawn
to the water, and he could hardly wait to dock his boat in his
little piece of paradise… when the time was right.

“What are you
waiting for?”

“My princess.”
He grinned when she looked surprised. “What? Didn’t I mention I’m a
hopeless romantic?”

“Yeah,
right.”

“I am, Ava.” He
slipped his sunglasses up so she could see his eyes. “I know how
important love is. It’s the foundation of everything. My love for
my brother and father is what motivated me to build my business, so
I could help them.”

She wiped her
hands on a napkin and said, “I really respect that. My family is so
important to me too. Did I ever tell you that I was adopted?” She
placed the fruit, cheese, crackers, bread, and cold meats back in
the basket before topping off their wine glasses.

“No, I don’t
think you did.”

“Probably
because I never think about it. My parents are my parents, that’s
all there is to it.”

“Do you ever
think about your birth parents?” he asked, shifting his weight to
one elbow so he could look up at her face. “Wonder what they’re
like?”

“Actually, I
know my birth mother. She and I are really close. She couldn’t tell
me much about my birth father. He was just passing through her
life.”

“Huh.” He
slipped his glasses back in place when the sun shone in his eyes
and impaired his view of her. “How’d you find her? Or did she find
you?”

“She was
friends with my adoptive parents. Lena was only fifteen when she
got pregnant with me. She couldn’t care for me, but she didn’t want
me to end up in the system like she did, so my parents decided to
adopt me.”

“Did she ever
have any more kids?”

“Yeah, she and
her husband Dom have two girls. Tweenies,” she said, smiling.

Brent had met
Jay and Victoria Cooper several times when he dropped Ava at home
after class. They obviously adored their only child. He’d often
wondered what it would be like to have a mother who felt that way
about him. That’s why he was so committed to choosing the right
life partner, a woman who understood the importance of family and
forever. “It sounds like things turned out the way they were
supposed to.”

“I think
so.”

He longed to
caress her smooth, bronzed skin, but they were getting along so
well, he didn’t want to risk ruining it. “You told me once that
you’re a black belt in karate. Is that true?”

She laughed.
“Yeah, why would you think it wasn’t?”

“I seem to
recall you had had a few drinks before you said it. I thought you
were imagining you had super powers.”

She threw her
head back and laughed. “No, I really am a black belt.”

“When did you
get into karate?” Martial arts had always been one of his passions,
but he hadn’t listed it as one of his interests on his intake
questionnaire because he didn’t want her to think he was trying too
hard to impress her.

“My dad got me
into it when I was about six. He and my mom have been crazy about
karate forever. In fact, that’s how they met. He hired her to
manage one of his studios.” She smiled. “Martial arts was kind of
non-negotiable for them. They wanted me to be able to defend
myself.”

“They were
right. It makes me feel better knowing you can take care of
yourself.” Not wanting to make her uncomfortable, he asked, “Do
your parents still have karate studios?”

“No, they sold
them last year. They were ready to retire. Managing twenty-five
studios was getting to be too much for them.”

“Smart. That’s
my plan. Retire and take the time to enjoy life while I’m still
young and healthy.”

Ava raised an
eyebrow. “You’ve thought about retiring?”

Brent chuckled.
“Not for a long time. I’ll know when the time’s right.”

Ava brought her
legs up and wrapped her arms around them. “When is enough going to
be enough for you? You’ve made more money than your grandchildren
could ever spend. What motivates you now?”

“Until today…
revenge.” He’d brought her out there because he needed to talk to
someone about his mother’s visit. He’d been waiting for years to
bring down his mother and stepfather, but with it on the verge of
happening, he wondered if it had all been worth it. Revenge hadn’t
given him the thrill he’d thought it would.

“Revenge?” she
asked, tucking her legs under her as she turned to face him.

“I’m taking
over my stepfather’s company. It’s been in the works for a long
time. I’ve been buying stock for years.” He thought back to the
first shares he bought nine years ago, when he put his plan in
motion. The company had gone public only three months prior, and
his mission was to buy as much stock as he could get his hands on,
no matter how long it took. “I’m making a deal that will make me
the majority shareholder. Then I plan to disassemble it. Whatever
shares he still owns won’t be worth anything.”

“Won’t a lot of
people lose their jobs if you do that?”

“That’s
business, Ava.” He smiled when she frowned. “Honey, I buy and sell
businesses. It’s what I do. Some have to be rebuilt from the ground
up so they can thrive, and that means restructuring. People get
laid off, but I create more jobs than I eliminate, so I can sleep
at night.”

In spite of
what she may think, he did have a conscience. He’d gone to bed
hungry too many nights, and he would never forget what that felt
like. Brent didn’t want to be the reason some other kid had to have
the same experience.

“You said
something happened today…”

“My mother came
to see me.”

Ava eased down
beside him so only a few inches separated them. “How long has it
been since you spoke to her?”

“Years.” He
picked a blade of grass and twirled it. “I see her and her husband
at charity events around town, but I always keep my distance.”

She took the
grass from his hand and let the wind carry it away, forcing his
attention back on her. “What did she want?”

He laid on his
back, staring up at the cloudless blue sky. It was a perfect day,
warm but not hot with a gentle breeze that made the trees whisper.
“I guess she wanted to plead their case. She doesn’t want me to
destroy their lives.” He clenched his jaw as a lifetime of
resentment bubbled up inside him. “But she never thought about what
she did to our lives when she walked out.”

Ava curled into
his side, resting her head on his chest. “Did you want her to
apologize for leaving you?”

“No.” He
stroked her hair, savoring the closeness he didn’t even know he
needed. “Even if she had, I wouldn’t have believed her.”

“It must be
painful having so much hatred toward your mother. You loved her
once. You must remember what that felt like.”

He’d tried so
hard to replace that love with anger and resentment, but he
couldn’t deny sometimes the odd memory drifted though his mind and
made him feel something he thought he’d obliterated. He would hear
her singing him and Keith a song as they drifted off to sleep or
the smell of chocolate chip cookies would assail him when he walked
into his favorite café and he was reminded of all the times she’d
baked them because they were his favorite. Her act of kindness
always earned her extra kisses before bed.

“You can’t turn
your feelings off,” Ava said softly. “No matter how much you might
wish you could.”

“Don’t I know
it.” If he could, he might have turned off his intense need to get
closer to Ava years ago. He hated rejection, and she was the only
woman in his life, other than his mother, who’d rejected him.

“If things
could be different with your mother, would you want a relationship
with her?”

He pulled her
ponytail holder out of her hair so he could slide his hands through
the silky strands. “No, too much time has passed. You just can’t
heal wounds that run that deep.”

“But if you
could, would you want to?”

He sighed. “I
don’t know, sweetheart. Maybe.”

“You can’t have
a healthy romantic relationship until you put this thing with your
mother to rest.”

Brent knew she
was right. He’d never had a functional relationship with a woman.
When he started to care and the feelings of jealousy and
possessiveness arose, he usually stepped back before his fear
suffocated the relationship. Jamie had been the only exception, and
he couldn’t forget how that turned out. “How can I put it to rest,
Ava? How can I forgive her or forget what she did to us? What kind
of woman just abandons her kids in favor of some rich guy?” His
hand drifted down to her waist.

“Maybe she
loved him,” Ava said quietly. “Maybe leaving you was the hardest
thing she’s ever had to do, but every day without him was hell for
her. Did you ever consider that?”

He sat up. “I
can’t sit here and listen to you defend her. There is no excuse for
what she did.”

“I’m not saying
there is, but I’m not a mother and I’ve never been in love like
that, so who am I to judge?”

Ava was being
so reasonable, so rational. He just wanted someone to agree that
his mother was a bitch for leaving them and that she deserved the
wrath of fury he was bringing down on her. He wanted to feel
justified, not torn and confused.