BooksBarbecue
Back First Comes Love
Chapters (92)
  1. First
  2. Love Connection
  3. Zero
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. One Month Later
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Six Months Later
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-one
  27. Twenty-two
  28. Twenty-three
  29. Twenty-four
  30. Six Months Later
  31. Twenty-five
  32. Twenty-six
  33. Twenty-seven
  34. Twenty-eight
  35. Twenty-nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-one
  38. Thirty-two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. I Have Never
  41. One
  42. Two
  43. Three
  44. Four
  45. Five
  46. Six
  47. Seven
  48. Eight
  49. Nine
  50. Ten
  51. Eleven
  52. Twelve
  53. Thirteen
  54. Fourteen
  55. Fifteen
  56. Sixteen
  57. Seventeen
  58. Eighteen
  59. Nineteen
  60. Twenty
  61. Twenty-one
  62. Twenty-two
  63. A Christmas Date
  64. One
  65. Two
  66. Three
  67. Four
  68. Five
  69. Six
  70. Seven
  71. Eight
  72. Nine
  73. Ten
  74. Eleven
  75. Twelve
  76. Thirteen
  77. Fourteen
  78. Fifteen
  79. Sixteen
  80. Seventeen
  81. Eighteen
  82. Nineteen
  83. Twenty
  84. Twenty-one
  85. Twenty-two
  86. Note from the Author
  87. Sneak Peek – To the Stars and Back
  88. Two
  89. Three
  90. Four
  91. Also by Camilla Isley
  92. About the Author

What now? Should I crawl back to Manhattan and beg Évoque for the job? It’s clear I can’t keep working here. I knew having a relationship with the boss was wrong. I knew commitment-phobic men don’t turn into commitment-happy boyfriends overnight. Despite all that, I gave it my best try, and now I’m back where I started. No job. No love life. Well, at least I have a loyal companion. I pat Chevron’s head, pick my dignity up off the floor, and turn back toward my desk. I need to collect my things and get ready to leave. For the day? Forever? I don’t know.

That’s when the office door bursts open again and there’s a collective gasp. Indira lifts her eyes from the screen, her expression changing from I’m-so-busy-pretending-you-don’t-exist to well-well-well-let’s-see-what-happens-now.

Very slowly, I turn and watch Richard storm back into the room.

Twenty-one

Never Wash Dirty Laundry in Public

“I can’t tell you that,” Richard says without preamble.

Storm and thunder are dancing in his brown irises, now almost black. The face I love so much is set in a look of determined anger, ferociously handsome and just plain fierce at the same time. Something lurches inside me and my throat constricts.

Richard shakes his head as if trying to sort conflicting thoughts. “I promised I wouldn’t be here, ever again.”

I drop the duffel bag and take a step forward. “Where’s here?”

Richard looks up again, his eyes wide, vulnerable, without a trace of cynicism—and as they meet mine, the world stops. That one look tells me more than a thousand words could; Richard’s expression tells me he loves me. But I can’t be the only one acknowledging her feelings. So I ask again, “Where’s here?”

“Here is where I’m about to make a fool of myself, again.”

“Why?”

“Because I do love you.”

Tears of relief spring to my eyes.

“There’s nothing foolish about that.”

“No?” He lets out a hysterical laugh. “Love has only ever brought me pain and humiliation. I tried to avoid it, suppress it, deny it.” Richard rubs his forehead and I wait patiently in silence. “But the burning just won’t go away. And I’ve never been more scared in my life. For years, I’ve managed just fine on my own. But then, no, you had to come along and ruin everything. So here is where my heart is again in the hands of a woman who can do whatever the hell she wants with it.”

“Richard, I’m not your ex.”

“No, you’re not.”

“You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”

“Because it is.”

“Why?”