Page 137 of Destined To Fall

“Lead the way.”

We walk in silence for a few minutes, curious eyes following us as we navigate the hallways before Maxwell speaks again.

“You’re looking a little…peaked.” I swear his mouth twitches with the hint of a smirk.

“Bite me,” I mutter under my breath.“I’m fine,” I lie, casually wiping my clammy palms on Laura’s charcoal pencil skirt. It’s a little snug. I really need to get my ass back to the gym.

Maxwell rounds a corner, a light chuckle on his lips, only to stop abruptly, causing me to smack into him. Before I can ask what the hell, I freeze.

Jeremy.

My heart rate triples, the threat of a heart attack again sending my stomach skyrocketing into my throat, and I think I really might vomit.

God, I miss that face. The memories haunting me these past couple of weeks really did him a disservice, not quite capturing the way his hair always looks so perfectly tousled, the slight shadow on his jaw, or the exact shade of those gorgeous sapphire eyes currently staring at me with wide-eyed horror.

“What are you doing here?”

My tongue swells and my lungs constrict, making it impossible to speak. An agonizing twenty-seven seconds goes by without a word uttered by either Maxwell or myself.

“Seriously. Why are you here?”

“Oh, would you look at the time? I have a meeting in three minutes. I’ll, um, have to finish the tour later.”

“Tour? What the hell is going on?”

Somehow managing to look sheepish and amused at the same time, Max backs away from us, shrugs his shoulders, and scurries off in the direction we just came from.

Well, fuck.

“I, uh…um…”

Fuuuck.

Jeremy chooses that moment to look around,and realizing we have an audience, frowns. He takes a deep breath before shifting his head to indicate behind him. Without waiting for, well, anything, from me, he walks off. My heart constricts at his purposeful stride. His usual swagger is completely gone.

Jeremy pauses in front of an office, opens the door wide, and waits for me to go in first. I walk past him, and my senses ignite at the proximity. It’s a struggle to fight the urge to breathe him in, but I blessedly refrain and pause in the middle of the office. Jeremy’s office. Surprised I wasn’t shoved into some random empty space, I stare transfixed, taking in all the tiny details before the door shuts behind me with such force, I startle and spin around, finding Jeremy leaning against it with an unreadable mask on his face.

“I’ll ask you again.” The calm facade begins to crack.“What are you doing here? At my office? Because I sure don’t show up at yours”—I flinch. I can’t help it—“unexpectedly after no contact for…”

“Nineteen days,” I manage around the lump in my throat.

I could tell him the minutes if he asked, but the hurt that’sbleedingthrough the cracks tells me he knows exactly how long it’s been.Okay. Big girl panties on.

“I…I—”

“You panicked,” he cuts me off.

“Yes,and no.”

The mask slips completely before he has a chance to put it back in place.

“Please, let me explain, and then you can kick me out.”

He says nothing, so I take another deep breath and continue in a rush before I lose my nerve again.

“I’ve always been promiscuous, even in my teens. You could psychobabble me and say it had something to do with my parents. Never feeling good enough or loved, blah blah blah. In short, I suppose that might have played a small part, but I made the conscious decision because it was what I wanted.Marriage was never somethingIwanted. Tobe a good little wife and live unhappily ever after.No thanks.I liked sex too much, and my freedom.Plus, if I’m brutally honest, I likedthe attention and the money. Having complete control over my life and being selfish to a fault was exhilarating.”

“And I just didn’t fit in with all of that.”

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