Blown Away (14 page)

“You didn’t
have to leave your friends,” Brent said as they moved toward the
door.

“I didn’t mind.
I’m kind of tired anyhow.” She slipped her hand into his and smiled
at his look of surprise. “It must have been all that fresh air out
at the lake. I’m not used to it.” She squeezed his hand. “That’s
not to say I couldn’t get used to it.”

Brent knew she
was trying to make him feel better by taking his mind off his
problems, but the questions racing around inside his head were
making him crazy. The biggest one was: Where did he go from here?
Accumulating more wealth was starting to seem less appealing, and
sticking it to his mother wasn’t giving him the thrill he thought
it would.

He needed to be
alone, to try to process his thoughts, but he needed Ava more.
Taking her to bed would surely obliterate the madness and give him
clarity, but he wouldn’t use her to make himself feel better. “Do
you have an early morning too?” he asked, unlocking his car.

“Always. But
I’m still up for a nightcap, if you are?”

He wanted
nothing more than to talk to her about everything he was feeling,
but he’d already unloaded on her once. He didn’t want to burden her
with his problems.

“I know
something’s bothering you,” she said, facing him when he opened her
door. “I’m a pretty good listener.”

She was the
best listener he knew, the only woman who’d ever really understood
him, but he wouldn’t take advantage of that. “Don’t worry about
me.” He kissed her forehead.

“What if I want
to worry about you?” she asked, sliding her arms around his
waist.

“I’m just going
through some things right now. I’ll sort it out.”

“Maybe I could
help?”

“You don’t have
to.” He winced when he saw how affronted she looked. “I’m sorry,
sweetheart. I’d love it if you came home with me… to talk.” He
leaned his forehead against hers, drinking in her light floral
scent. He hoped he could trust himself to let it end there. He’d
messed things up so badly the last time they were together, he knew
she wouldn’t give him another pass. “I have a guest room. If we
stay up late and you’re tired…”

“Why don’t we
just go back to your place?” she asked, placing her palm over her
heart. “We’ll just take the rest of the evening as it comes.”

***

Silence filled
the car on the way to Brent’s penthouse, and Ava wished she could
read his mind. She thought about their talk on the dance floor,
trying to determine whether she might have said or done something
to upset him, but she couldn’t think of anything that might have
set him off.

She’d thought
he was relaxing, enjoying her friends’ company, and forgetting
about his mother’s visit, but it obviously still weighed heavily on
his mind. She knew of one sure fire way to help him forget, but she
didn’t know if he was interested in making love to her again. He
hadn’t even attempted to kiss her all day.

Brent pulled
into one of three underground spots reserved for his vehicles. She
couldn’t help but be impressed by his Hummer and Bugatti. He had
everything, yet the empty look she sometimes saw in his eyes made
it seem as though he had nothing.

After a long
ride to the top floor of the luxury high rise, Ava couldn’t stand
the silence another second. “If you’d rather be alone, I can call a
cab to take me home.”

“No!” He raked
a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Ava. I know I’ve been lousy
company today, but I really don’t want to be alone tonight.” He
grasped her hand and brought it to his lips. “Stay with me?”

He was
irresistible. No woman in her right mind could look into those big
brown eyes and deny him the chance to make her forget the outside
world for a while, preferably a long while. “Sure, if that’s what
you want.”

“It is.” He
smiled. “Thanks for being so great today. I know I didn’t deserve
it after the way I acted, barging in on your business dinner--”

“With another
woman on your arm,” she cut in. “Let’s not forget that part.”

He grimaced as
they stepped off the elevator. “That definitely wasn’t one of my
finer moments.”

“Why did you
bring her to the restaurant? I understand you felt the need to
check up on me, not that I think you were justified. What I don’t
understand is why you brought her.”

He fit his key
in the lock. “I guess part of me was afraid of what I might walk in
on. I thought it may be more than a business dinner. If it was, I
didn’t want to look like a fool.”

“Have you ever
trusted anyone to remain faithful to you?” she asked, preceding him
into the apartment when he gestured for her to enter first.

“You never
promised to be faithful to me.”

Ava was too
stunned to speak. The penthouse was enormous. Windows stretched the
length of one wall and provided an incredible view of the city
skyline. “My God, this place is huge!”

Brent laughed.
“It’s actually three units. I wanted a lot of space, don’t ask me
why.”

She peeked into
the gourmet kitchen, which was equally impressive. The finishings
and furniture were sleek, contemporary, and obviously expensive. It
was professionally decorated, but they’d failed to include any
warmth. Ava couldn’t picture herself spending a lot of time there.
“I guess you didn’t like the idea of having neighbors.”

“When I was a
kid, we had these upstairs neighbors who would always pound on the
floor when the music or TV was turned up too loud. Maybe that’s why
I hate the thought of people living around me.”

“I guess you
won’t have to worry about that in the house Tucker’s going to build
for you,” she said, wandering into the open space. The sofas were
stark white with clean lines. The walls were a soft gray that
reflected the light in the room. “Is this what you have planned for
your new house, something modern, contemporary?”

“God, no!” He
laughed at her surprised expression. “I hate this place.”

“You do?”

“Hell, yeah.”
He led her into the living room and gestured to one of the sofas
facing the window.

“Then why’d you
buy it?”

He shrugged.
“It was close to my office. That’s the only thing that mattered to
me at the time. Let me grab us a glass of wine. Do you prefer red
or white?”

“Whatever
you’re having is fine.”

Ava glanced
around. There was a digital panel controlling everything from the
lights to the phone. She would have liked to listen to music, but
she was afraid to touch it in case she accidentally called
emergency response.

Brent returned
with two glasses of white wine and handed one to Ava before he
claimed the seat next to her. He tucked one leg under the other.
“You hate my home, don’t you?”

Ava blushed.
She’d never intended to give him that impression. She wouldn’t have
chosen to live there, but she could appreciate the austere beauty.
“Why would you say that?”

“It’s written
all over your face.” He grinned. “I imagine I had the same
expression when I did the walk through with the interior designer.
It’s my own damn fault for giving her free rein. I told her I
didn’t have any preferences.”

“Didn’t you
want to personalize it at all?”

“To be honest,
I just told her I wanted the best of everything.” He looked around,
his eyes devoid of any of the pride or arrogance that should have
accompanied that statement. “I guess that’s what she gave me.”

“Why didn’t you
just ask her to create a space where you would feel at home?” She
knew that issue was at the heart of what made Brent so driven, so
she couldn’t let it go.

“I’ve never
really had a home.” He fixated on the wine swirling around in his
glass. “When I was a kid, I used to have this vision of getting out
of the slums and living in a mansion. I held on to that vision. It
drove me. When things got tough and I wanted to give up, I knew I
couldn’t or I’d end up right back where I started and so would my
family.”

Ava placed her
hand on his thigh. “You must know there’s no risk of that happening
now. You’re wealthy beyond most people’s wildest dreams.”

“I know.” He
spoke so quietly she barely heard him.

“Yet that
doesn’t make you happy.” It wasn’t a question. She saw in his eyes
that, despite the wealth, he still felt empty.

“No, I guess it
doesn’t.” He sighed. “I thought it would.” He set his glass down on
the side table and kicked his feet up on a table that wasn’t
intended to bear scuff marks.

Ava reached for
his hand when he closed his eyes and tipped his head back. “You
should be proud of your accomplishments.”

“I’ve never
really taken the time to appreciate it.” He rubbed his thumb over
her wrist. “I was always so fixated on the next deal…”

Ava knew what
having a dream felt like, but she’d never let it take over her
life. Her family and friends would never have allowed her to get so
wrapped up in work that she forgot them. “Is Keith as driven as you
are?” She’d always appreciated Brent’s younger brother’s sense of
humor. He loved to laugh, and his mission was to convince everyone
around him to share the joke. The Armstrong brothers seemed as
different as two men could be.

“Not even
close.” Brent’s lips tipped up on one side. “That’s not to say he
doesn’t work hard, he does, but he plays hard too.”

“You’ve made
him a wealthy man.” When she’d run into Keith at a fundraiser, he
spoke of Brent as though he owed him everything.

“That was
always my goal. I didn’t want the two people I loved most to have
to struggle any more. I know what not being able to give us the
things we needed growing up did to my dad. It damn near killed him.
I vowed to do whatever it took to take care of the people I
loved.”

“And you
have.”

“I guess.”

Ava’s eyes
widened when she took a sip of her wine. Who knew a glass of
crushed grapes could taste so good? She wasn’t a connoisseur, but
even a layperson could tell the bottle must have cost thousands of
dollars. “The wine is lovely. It must have cost a fortune.” She
wasn’t usually so blunt, but wine like that deserved praise.

He opened his
eyes and rolled his head toward her. He lowered his gaze to her
lips. “You’re worth every penny.” He closed his eyes for a fraction
of a second and drew a deep breath. “Ever since I became
successful, I could have my pick of women, but I knew they didn’t
want me for me.”

In Ava’s
opinion, Brent’s money was the last on the list of a hundred
reasons why a woman would want him.

“The only woman
I’ve ever wanted, I mean really wanted, doesn’t give a damn about
my money. How’s that for irony?”

Ava couldn’t
breathe as she waited for him to continue. Was he telling her she
was the only woman he’d ever really wanted? Was it even possible
for a man who’d traveled the world, dated models, actresses, and
socialites, to have carried a torch for a naïve girl he’d
befriended a decade ago?

“I’ll give you
anything and everything you ever wanted,” he whispered. “More
importantly, I’ll give you my heart… if you’ll have it?”

Ava knew she
couldn’t take his offer lightly. A man like Brent played for keeps.
“Given everything that’s happened between us, I know what you’re
like.” She smiled. “You had a private investigator follow me around
Europe after a one-night stand, for God’s sake.”

He shook his
head. “That’s just it. It wasn’t a one-night stand to me. It was
the beginning of something that could have changed my life.”

Wow.
Ava
was stunned that she’d had that kind of impact without even
realizing it.

“I fell in love
with you before we slept together.” He kissed the pulse point on
the back of her wrist. “I fell for you during those chats in the
hallway, at the café on campus… We had a hundred chance meetings
because I’d go out of my way every day just to see your beautiful
smile. It always made my day.”

Ava could
scarcely believe the boy who’d captured the attention of every girl
in school secretly wanted her and she hadn’t realized it. “Why
didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to. I
was going to, but you were so damn young. You were just starting
school, and I was getting ready to start a business I knew would
require my full commitment.” He stared straight ahead, as though he
was recalling that time in their lives. “When you propositioned me
at the party, I knew I had to have you. I didn’t care what it cost
or how hard making a relationship work with the other demands on
our time would be. I knew you were
the one.”

Ava sucked in a
breath. How could he have known that? How could she have denied it
for so long? “That’s why you had me followed, because you wanted to
tell me?”

“I had to tell
you. It was driving me crazy, not knowing where you were or whether
you were safe. I knew I crossed the line hiring that guy to follow
you, but I couldn’t help myself. I’ve always been fiercely
protective of the people I love.”

“I never meant
to hurt you.” She’d never had anyone go to those lengths to ensure
her safety, and the fact that he’d been willing to should have
given her some hint as to the depth of his feelings. But at the
time, she was just intimated by his intensity, his single-minded
purpose, his fierce possessiveness… which still, apparently, was a
problem.

“Why did you
decide to stay in Germany?”

“I guess I
needed to get away for a while, to figure out who I was and what I
wanted to do with my life.” She smiled. “I know how lucky I am to
have such great family and friends, but they were a little
suffocating too. They all had opinions about what I should do with
my life, and I just wanted the freedom to decide for myself.”

“I can respect
that.” He sat upright and faced her. “The timing wasn’t right for
us then, but it could be now. What do you say, Ava? Are you willing
to give me a chance?”