Page 2 of Forget

And the last, as it turned out.

He didn’t need to emotionally invest in anyone. Coding, he understood; women, not so much.

He’d slept with his fair share since Jayda. Initially to eradicate her memory, later because he could: validation for how far he’d come from the poor geek.

Wealth certainly had its perks. Women noticed tailored clothes and handmade Italian shoes and a twenty-thousand-dollar watch. He enjoyed the spoils of his hard work, knowing with every million he made he’d done it all himself.

Wishing he’d never agreed to this meeting no matter how curious, he sat opposite and gestured to the waiter. ‘What will you have to drink?’

‘A diet soda and lime, please.’

She met his gaze and he hoped she couldn’t see the stab of annoyance. She’d guzzled diet sodas all through uni, evenat parties. He thought she didn’t like the taste of alcohol, not having a clue that her obsession with calories infiltrated all areas of her life.

She’d revealed so much that night of their graduation, making his chest ache until he had no option but to take her into his arms and prove exactly how spectacular her body was, the body he’d coveted for years.

It had been a gift taking off her clothes to finally see the lush curves he’d lusted after. But when he’d undressed her he’d switched from comfort mode to caveman, pleasuring her, worshipping her. The sex had been more than memorable for him: but not enough to make her stay.

He’d been glad initially. He didn’t do emotional entanglements. But when he couldn’t get that astounding night out of his head, he grew to resent her.

Had she been slumming it? Had she only turned to him out of desperation because of what that other prick had done? Had she regretted it?

‘What did you want to see me about?’ His curt question bordered on rudeness and her eyebrows rose.

‘I need your help,’ she said, annoyingly calm when a host of uncharacteristic emotions churned in his gut. ‘I’m setting up an online business, but I’ve been out of the IT game too long and my skills are rusty.’

The waiter placed her drink in front of her and she flashed a wide smile in thanks. Brock wanted to deck the guy.

‘You never forget what we learned at uni.’

Heat stole into her cheeks as he belatedly cursed his choice of words. They’d learned a lot more than HTML that one night they came together.

‘I’ve been working for my parents since I graduated, doing general marketing for their charities.’ Her nose wrinkled. ‘I ended up being a glorified party planner and I hated it.’

‘Why do you want to work at all?’

The snide question popped out before he could censor it and the hurt in her eyes made him feel like a bastard. It had been a bugbear of his back then, that she’d swanned through uni as if it meant little because she had the wealth of her parents to fall back on if she failed, while he’d had to work two part-time jobs to make ends meet.

‘Because I want to give something back. Because I want to help kids who need it.’ She tilted her head up, staring him down. ‘Because I’m not the rich bitch you wrongly thought I was all those years ago.’

He grimaced and swiped a hand across his face. ‘I was out of line. Sorry.’

‘Is it wealth that annoys you per se or is it me?’ She leaned forward, indignation pursing her plum-glossed lips. ‘Because I’ve researched you and you’re a millionaire ten times over these days.’

A fact he was infinitely proud of. He’d worked his ass off to prove he was nothing like his folks. With every dollar he saved he breathed a little easier. He would never, ever, be dependent on anyone for his livelihood.

‘I’ll admit I did resent you back then,’ he said, settling for partial truth. The rest, where he lusted after her so badly he could barely concentrate in lectures most days, he’d keep to himself. ‘You didn’t have to be there and it looked like you treated the whole thing as a joke.’

‘I studied. I passed.’ Anger glinted in her eyes, sparking indigo flecks amid the deep blue. ‘I didn’t get a free ride.’

Brock stiffened at the jibe, glaring at her with obvious distaste, so he saw the exact moment she realised her faux pas.

Crimson suffused her cheeks and she shook her head. ‘I didn’t mean it like that—’

‘Let’s skip the trip down memory lane and focus on your needs.’ He lowered his voice deliberately, emphasising “your needs”, wanting to make her as uncomfortable as she’d made him.

He hated being a scholarship kid in high school and that feeling of worthlessness hadn’t abated through four years of a university degree. Having Jayda fling it in his face…he didn’t like to admit it, but her opinion mattered now as much as it had back then. It shouldn’t. They didn’t know each other. They never had. Beyond an intimate knowledge of each other’s bodies that haunted him to this day.

‘You need my IT expertise on getting a new business started, correct?’

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