Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“Because we have history.” She almost spat the word at him. “And history can get in the way of business.”
For her, their history was all bad. But to him, he’d made a mistake—yeah, a big one—and then they’d simply ended. She hadn’t liked what he said, and she’d stalked out. With another business trip in the way like always, he’d lost the chance to run after her. Back then, everything had been about his career. He hadn’t called her while he was away, which was a jerk thing to do, but he’d told himself he was giving her time to cool off and that they’d talk it through when he got home.
But he returned to an empty apartment, all evidence of her erased as if she’d never been in his life at all.
It was clear she’d never forgiven him for that last fight. Yet they’d been so good together in every other aspect. Yes, they’d been like ships passing in the night—maybe he should say planes—but she’d given up after one fight. He couldn’t remember them fighting before that other than in the minor disagreements every couple had. Mostly, they argued about his travel. But she had her job at the nursing home and her education. It wasn’t like she had any more time than he did.
Yet he realized now that he had screwed up. That he was the one at fault. That if he’d given her dreams the value they deserved, things would have been different. It was seeing her again. The confident woman. The elegant woman. The totally sexy woman. It was the clarity that came after fifteen years of absence.
And Christ, she was sexy in tight leggings and an oversized sweater that made him ache to find out exactly what she was wearing under it. Which did he love most? The suit she’d worn earlier? Or the leggings and sweater? His heart pumped faster and harder no matter how she was dressed.
But she was still not giving him a full answer, saying instead, “I’m willing to put our history aside because my residents are more important.”
He couldn’t say why those words in particular cut through him. Maybe because she was bending over backward to do anything and everything she could for her people… but when he’d asked for something, she’d walked out and never looked back.
As if their history had been satisfactorily dealt with, at least in her mind, she sat on the sofa, pulled a pillow across her stomach, and settled in. “Let me tell you about my residents.”
Even as his insides felt sliced and diced around her, he admired her empathy, her compassion. It wasn’t simply catering. These people she took care of were hers.
She leaned over and patted the other end of the sofa, or at least as far she could stretch, inviting him to sit. He wanted to crowd her, sit right in the middle, right next to her, his thigh pressed against hers, her scent filling his head.
Yet he took the seat she indicated. Coming on too strong right now wouldn’t get him the answers he wanted. Nor would pushing for those answers succeed until she was ready to give them. “All right, tell me all about it.”
Passion took over her features, glittering in her eyes. Not the same passion she’d once shown him, but passion nonetheless.
“I visited our San Juan Bautista facility and witnessed one of the servers abusing my resident, Mrs. Greeley. He told her to her face that she ate like a pig.” Her hands came up in an angry gesture, her fingers fluttering, as if she wanted to strangle the man. “He actually said she should be ashamed of herself.”
Ransom had to admit that shocked him. If he ever heard one of his servers speak that way, they’d be gone before he could snap his fingers. “That’s pretty damned reprehensible. But one server isn’t the whole bunch.”
The glitter in her eyes could have been tears, and her voice came out with a slight tremor. “Mrs. Greeley was beside herself. She was in tears. It took me ages to calm her down. And yes, I fired him on the spot—or tried to. But honestly, if that had been the only incident, I would simply have called up the president and jumped all over him for hiring someone like that.”
“I assume there were more.”
She nodded, her hair shimmering in waves against her shoulders. The bun she’d worn earlier today had been brushed out. He’d always loved running his fingers through her hair, loved its shampoo scent, loved the silkiness of it falling over his skin when she kissed his chest or his stomach.
When she’d—
She went on as though she had no idea of the effect she had on him. “When I got back to the office, my assistant, Naomi, showed me reports from other facilities. They were all about the same kind of disrespect.” Disgust laced her words. “The disrespect the lovely men and women who live in my homes received. I understand that the company has recently undergone a massive management change, but there was never anything like this before. And when I talked to their president—” She gritted her teeth. “—he actually implied that my people were too touchy.” She looked at him, her eyes almost caramel in the room’s low lighting. Or that might have been her emotion shining through. “My people deserve the best.”