Page 33 of Certified Heartthrob

“Audrey,” I gasped, feeling like someone had just stabbed me in the chest.

It had been a year since I last saw her, and that time hadn’t been kind to her. Or maybe I was just immune to her effect now. Her blonde waves and tall, slender body didn’t seem as appealing as they once had. That seemed impossible, though, because she was clearly the same knockout she had always been. I chuckled to myself at the memory of my friends warning me she was a maneater when we first got together. I should have listened to them.

“Mark.” She wore a worried, sort of apologetic look on her face.

“What are you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to you.” She smiled awkwardly. “I was going to knock, but I...I needed a minute to get my words together.”

“You mean to get your story straight,” I shot back. “To come up with whatever excuses or empty apologies you’re going to dump on me this time. No, thank you. We said everything we had to say to each other the last time we spoke.”

“I messed up,” she blurted out quickly. “I messed everything up. I should have never...ugh, Mark. Can I come inside? I don’t want to talk like this out here on your front step.”

I paused for a moment and looked her over. This was the moment I had been waiting for, and even praying for, all this time. For her to realize her mistake and come rushing back to try and make it all right again. My old feelings were long gone, but maybe she deserved a chance to say her piece. Maybe it would bring me some kind of closure.

“You look really good, Mark,” she offered.

“I was just on my way out to take care of something important,” I replied, adjusting my suit jacket.

“I won’t take up much of your time. If I could just come in for a minute...”

“It’s been a year, Audrey,” I scoffed. “And you’re just now seeing a reason to show up like this?”

“I wanted to come before. I’ve stopped myself a million times. If you would just hear what I have to say...then I’ll leave and you never have to see me again. If you don’t want to.”

A big part of me knew I should tell her off all over again, send her away without giving her a moment more of my time. But I had waited for this for so long. I couldn’t very well go off into this new chapter with Camille and expect it to work out if I was still harboring old resentments. Maybe this would be the last push I needed to finally let the past...be the past.

17

Camille

Icringed at the knock on my door. It’s not like it was distracting me from anything but staring blankly at my computer screen, trying not to think about Mark. But the last thing I wanted was another encounter with my siblings to send me off deeper into my bad mood.

“Sorry to bother you,” Joe said. “I just thought you’d like to know that all of Mark’s dating profiles have been deleted.”

“I thought I told you not to—”

“Not by us, ma’am,” he corrected. “Mark deleted them himself. They were disabled a few days ago, but now they’ve been permanently deleted.”

I nodded and sank back into my chair. “Are you sure? There were several different profiles…”

“All of them gone.” He smiled. “I guess he finally found someone to move on with.”

Joe then excused himself, which gave me the freedom to let loose the big goofy grin that was exploding out from inside of me. I knew the person he had found to move on with was me, and I was done caring about whatever the media had to say about it.

Shooting up from my desk, I snatched up my purse and headed out the door. On my way out, I told my assistant to push back all my meetings. I wouldn’t be back in the office until late the next day.

I could see my siblings glaring at me from their respective offices as I marched towards the elevator, but I kept going with my head held high and a big smile on my face. We’d all trusted Lucas while he was navigating his way through that disaster of a PR scandal and even bigger disaster of a relationship when he messed things up with Victoria, and he’d made it all right again. It was their turn to trust me, and I was far more worthy of that than either of my brothers combined.

Jada was the only one who ran after me. She seemed infected by my own giddiness.

“Are you going to see him?” she asked eagerly, sliding onto the elevator with me. She always was a hopeless romantic. Seeing me go against everyone’s better judgment to pursue the man I loved was exciting for her.

“Yes, but not without a little shopping and a trip to the salon first.” I grinned. “I never treat myself and this seems like the perfect occasion. Coming with?”

“Yes, please!”

I had an image in my mind of me showing up on Mark’s doorstep looking better than ever, declaring that I didn’t give a damn what my brothers or the media had to say about anything. With him, it felt...fresh...different...promising. And he was worth the risk.

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