Snatching his phone up, he puts it to his ear and answers, his voice completely calm and businesslike.
“Yes?” he walks out of the room without a single look back over his shoulder at me. “No, I’m not busy.”
I feel myself frowning.
Couldn’t he sound at least a little out of breath?
Or better yet, have turned his phone off?
Is it unreasonable to want to be the center of his world, at least some of the time?
I understand his job is demanding and I honestly don’t mind the long hours or frequent business trips.
But even when he’s with me, he’s only half with me.
If the phone had gone off while we were having sex, would he have just dropped me and answered it?
The fact that I don’t know the answer to that bothers me. I just submitted myself completely to him and he couldn’t even give me an hour of his precious time.
I get up on shaky legs, start to dress, and pack my things into a bag.
I can hear him laughing and chatting into the phone.
It doesn’t even sound like an important business call.
Bastard.
It is clear now that he doesn’t want me for me – he only wants me to fulfill his desires.
Bastard.
I swipe the tears on my cheeks and head for the door.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
What happened in that bed had been something new for me. I’d never experienced anything like that before - I’d never seen him like that, so wild and unrestrained.
But it clearly didn’t mean as much to him.
In the second after he finished, he was on the phone, talking and laughing like nothing had happened.
He did pull those handcuffs out of the bedside table drawer, so maybe that kind of sex was normal for him before he met me.
Submitting to him so completely had been mind-blowing for me, but as usual, he’s only half with me.
After being so close to him, I feel alone again.
I nearly make it to the door when Kaden spots me.
“Claire?” he calls after me, telling whoever was on the phone to wait. “Claire, where are you going?”
“Clearly, you’re on an important call,” I say, hearing my voice crack. “You’ve already gotten what you wanted out of me, so I’m just going to go now.”
I turn to open the door and hear him swear behind me, telling whoever’s on the phone that he has to go.
“Claire, wait.” He grabs the door before I can open it. “Let me explain. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to just leave you like that. I’ve been waiting for this call for a long time.”
I give him a look and he swears again, shaking his head.
“What can be more important than us?”
He doesn’t answer.
“I can’t be second all the time, Kaden. That’s not how I want to live my life. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I need to be with someone who cares about me.”
He stares at me blankly.
“I’m leaving,” I whisper as I turn away.
“I’ve sold the corporation.” His words stop me. “I’m not CEO anymore. I’ve been neck deep in negotiations these last six months, that’s why I’ve been so busy and stressed out. But that’s all over now. The phone call was to confirm that the deal has gone through.”
I just look at him. “You sold the corporation? Why didn’t you tell me that’s what you’ve been doing?”
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” he says. “I thought it would be romantic.”
“Romantic?” I almost spit the word at him. “How is it romantic?”
“I thought we could spend more time together.”
“You unbelievable bastard!”
His eyes get wide and whatever it is he sees in my face makes him back up a step. I don’t care. I can’t remember the last time I felt this angry.
“Six months!” the words explode from me. “For six months you’ve shut me out of your life. Working all hours, away on business for days on end, and when you are home you’re in your office or on the phone.”
He opens his mouth to interrupt but I hold up my hand, stopping his words.
“Six months of barely acknowledging my existence in your life unless you’re horny or unless you think someone else might take a second of my time away from worshiping at your perfect feet!”
“Claire, that’s not fair.”
“Not fair?” I might have laughed at that if I wasn’t so shattered. “Did you even notice how unhappy I’ve been these last few months, how empty and alone I’ve felt? I signed that No Contest contract because I thought I’d still have you. But then you were gone too and I didn’t have my passion to fall back.”
I take a breath and tears clog the back of my throat.
Somewhere deep down I never really believed this moment would come, but now it’s here. And as the words are coming out of my mouth, I swear I can feel my heart breaking.
“I’m done.”
The words are final.
I look at him and let him see the tears and the hurt.
“This – whatever this is... it’s over.”
I open the door and walk away.
The taxi is waiting in the driveway and I whisper a silent thank you to the sky. At least this is one moment that will be quick. Like pulling off a strip of hot wax…