Page 64 of The Wrong Boss

“Alba—”

“I can’t do this,” she repeated. “I can’t marry you.”

My thoughts spun out. A high keening rang in my ears as I stood before her, not understanding.

Fine. I was attracted to Carrie. There was some connection between us—but that didn’tmeananything! It didn’t mean as much as a promise. It wasn’t the binding of my family to Alba’s. It wasn’t my father’s pride, and Ted’s beaming smile.

For the first time in my life, I belonged somewhere. I could look at my father and know that I’d come from somewhere. Andnow Alba wanted to break things off? For the sake of a woman I’d slept with seven years ago?

“I’ll get rid of her,” I said, even though the words felt like broken glass as they tore up my throat. “I’ll fire her, Alba. Anything you need.”

Anything to keep her by my side, because marrying Alba meant truly being part of this family, this business, this life.

But Alba was shaking her head and avoiding my gaze. She put her hands on my chest and pushed me until I took a step back. “Stop, Cole. Just—stop.”

“Alba—”

“I’m in love with someone else!” The words burst from her, loud as gunshots in our apartment.

I gaped at her, breathing heavily, not understanding.

I watched my fiancée gulp, inhale deeply, and straighten her spine. Then she looked me square in the face and repeated, “I’m in love with someone else. I thought—I thought you weren’t capable of loving someone. And so our marriage could be like…like…like a business arrangement.”

There were a lot of things I wanted to say, but what came out was, “A fucking business arrangement?”

“I thought we understood each other. And you could get what you needed on the side, and I could…make things work with…”

“With who, Alba?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“The fuck it doesn’t.”

“Don’t talk to me like that,” she snapped.

“How am I supposed to react? You’re breaking up with me.You’re telling me you’re in love with someone else when you’ve made me feel like I’m the piece of shit for getting along with my employee.”

“Oh, ‘getting along,’” she repeated in finger quotes. “Right.”

We stared at each other. My mind was a hurricane. Nothing made sense.

Alba spoke first, and when she did, her voice was utterly calm. “I thought you were incapable of really loving a woman, Cole, and so I thought we could come to an understanding. I thought this marriage would be…simple. But I was wrong.”

Once again, a thousand different words crowded up my throat. The ones that came out were the worst of the lot: “I’m notin lovewith?—”

She held up her hand. “Please. Let’s just—leave it at that.”

“Leave it at that? A few weeks ago you were on my case about invitations and floral arrangements, and now you’ve just decided you’re done?”

The woman standing in front of me was a stranger. She looked at me through blue eyes I didn’t recognize, with her jaw set with a stubbornness I didn’t recognize. “Yes, Cole. I’ve decided I’m done.”

Then my fiancée—ex-fiancée—closed the distance between us in a single step, put her hands on either side of my face, and pressed a kiss to my mouth.

I didn’t kiss her back. I didn’t move. All I did was stand there as she stepped back from me, sadness and relief in her gaze, trying to understand where the hell I’d gone wrong.

“I’ll grab my stuff and get out of here before the retreat starts. We can announce the end of the engagement whenyou’re back in the city. I’ll give my father some excuse—I’ll come up with something.”

When no response came to me, Alba gave me a nod, sidestepped around me, and walked away. I stood in the kitchen, still gripping a bottle of water as condensation dripped off my fingers and down to the floor, while Alba gathered her things and left.

---