Deacon’s green-gold gaze flickered over her face, studying her as though he could see the truth there. His jaw tightened, and finally he looked away. “The head of your painting crew is looking for you. He’s waiting in the lobby.”
Cecelia watched as Deacon turned and disappeared from her doorway without another word. The warm, attentive Deacon from last night was gone, leaving only the cold businessman behind. She hated that it had to be that way, and she wished he could understand. Now, more than ever, she needed his warmth and his compassion. All too soon, the rest of Royal would be turning their backs on her. But there was too much history between them, too many memories and emotions to cloud the present. She knew she had to put up a wall to protect her business and her reputation.
And her heart.
He was a damn fool for thinking that their night together would go down any differently than it had.
Deacon knew better. He knew better than to just fall in the bed with Cecelia and think that things had changed. Just as before, he was good enough when they were alone, but not in public. He had thought that perhaps he had proved his worth, and that maybe things would go differently between them this time. Not so.
It had been a week since she’d shown up on his doorstep. They’d danced around each other at the hotel each day, both seemingly drawn to, and repelled by, each other. Cecelia avoided eye contact and stuck strictly to topics about work. But as hard as she tried to play it cool, it didn’t change the underlying energy that ran through all of their interactions.
He wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction of him chasing after her, however. The teenager whose heart she’d broken would’ve chased her anywhere if he thought he could have another chance. Real estate billionaire Deacon Chase didn’t follow women around like a lost puppy dog.
But if there was one thing Deacon had learned in the past week, it was that she didn’t regret that night. Not even one teensy, tiny, little bit. He’d seen the way her cheeks flushed when she’d looked up and seen him standing nearby. She had been hungry for the pleasure he happily gave her. That kind of hunger was nothing to be remorseful about. She’d come to him that night because she wanted to forget what a mess her life was for a little while, and he’d delivered in spades. More than likely, she regretted that she didn’t regret their encounter.
Deacon hadn’t lost too much sleep over it. They’d had sex. Amazing, mind-blowing sex, but just sex. It’d been thirteen years since they’d gotten together. They weren’t in love with one another, and it was ridiculous to think that they ever would be. It would’ve been nice if she had said goodbye as she crept naked from his bedroom, but he supposed it had saved them from an awkward morning together.
No, what had bothered him the most during the past week was seeing who Cecelia had become over the years. Despite his feelings about her and their breakup, he had still loved the girl Cecelia had been. She’d been the sweetest, most caring person he had ever known outside of his own family. When the rest of the school, and the rest of the town, had turned their back on Deacon, Cecelia had been there.
The woman he watched stomping back and forth through the lobby of his hotel in high heels and a tight hair bun was not the Cecelia he remembered. She was driven, focused, almost to the point of being emotionless. What happened to her? When they had shared their dreams for the future as teenagers, being a hard-nosed CEO had not been on Cecelia’s list of ambitions.
If he looked closely, every now and then Deacon could see a flicker of the girl he used to know. It was usually near the end of the day, when the stress and the worries started to wear her down. That was when her facade would start to crumble and he could see the real Cecelia underneath.
He was watching her like that when Shane approached him. “She’s quite a piece of work, isn’t she?”
Deacon turned to him, startled out of his thoughts. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve always thought that Cecelia was a victim of a contradictory modern society. If she were a man, everyone would applaud her for her success and uncompromising attitude in the boardroom. Since she’s a woman, she’s seen as cold and bitchy. Heck, I see her that way after the way she treated Brandee. But there’s no way she could’ve gotten this far in business if she wasn’t hard.”
“You make it sound like nobody likes her.” That surprised Deacon, since she’d been the most popular, outgoing person in high school. Everyone had loved her.
“Well, she has earned quite the reputation in Royal over the years. Aside from her few close friends, I’m not sure that anybody really likes her, especially inside the Texas Cattleman’s Club. Tell you what, though, it’s not for their lack of trying. She’s just not interested in being friends with most people. She and the rest of the mean girl trio tried to sabotage my relationship with Brandee. They thought it was a big joke. I don’t know if folks are just not good enough to be her friends or what.”
Deacon flinched. “That doesn’t sound like her at all. What the hell happened after I left town?”
“I don’t know, man.” Shane shrugged. “Maybe you broke her heart.”
Deacon swallowed a bitter chuckle. “Don’t you mean the other way around? She’s the one who broke up with me.”
“Yeah, well, maybe she regrets it. I certainly would rather date you over Chip Ashford any day.”
“Aw, that’s sweet of you, Shane.”
“You know what I mean,” Shane snapped. “I’d be a bitter, miserable woman if I were dating him, too. I’m curious as to what will happen to her socially, now that she’s broken it off with Chip, though. A lot of people in town tolerated her and her attitude just because she was his fiancée.”
The discussion of her broken engagement caught Deacon’s attention. “So do you know exactly what happened between her and Chip?”
Shane just shook his head. “I haven’t heard anything about it, aside from the fact that it’s over. It seems both of them are keeping fairly tight-lipped about the whole thing, which is unusual. I have heard that her parents are beside themselves about the breakup. They’ve been kissing the Ashfords’ asses for years to get in their good graces, and I’m sure they think Cecelia has ruined it for them.”
It grated on Deacon’s nerves that Cecelia’s parents were always more worried about appearances than they were about their own daughter. Couldn’t they see that she was miserable with Chip? Probably so. They just didn’t care. Deacon had never thought much of their family. They acted like they were better than everyone else. “Who cares about the Ashfords?” he asked.
“Everybody,” Shane said before turning and wandering off, disappearing as suddenly as he had arrived.
Deacon watched him go, and then he turned back to where Cecelia had been standing a moment before. She was barking orders at a crew of men hauling in rolls of carpeting. When she was finished, she turned and headed in his direction with her tablet clutched in her arms. He braced himself for a potentially tense conversation, but she didn’t even make eye contact. She breezed past him as though he were invisible and disappeared down the hallway.
A cold and indifferent bitch, indeed.
Looking down at his watch, Deacon realized he couldn’t spend all of his time staring at Cecelia. The hotel opening was in a little more than three weeks, and they had a ton of work ahead of them. That was why he had returned to Royal after all—well, the official reason anyway. He turned on his heel and headed back toward his office to get some work done before the end of the day arrived.
When he looked up from his computer next it was after seven. It was amazing how time could get away from him while he was working. He couldn’t imagine doing this job and having a family to go home to every night. He imagined he would have a very angry wife and very cold dinners. He