She could smell his cologne before she could see him. And the Scotch he ended every night with lingered in the air as well. Caroline was right, Mick was probably drunk. It didn’t happen often since he usually drank a steady stream of alcohol rather than overdoing it all at one time. But when he was stressed to the max he would put himself into a stupor. During their time together she’d made excuses to herself about his behavior. People didn’t understand the pressure a man like Mick was under. When you reached a certain level of success you were expected to maintain that success. Every slip, every blunder, felt like the end of the world. Getting blackout drunk was just a way to blow off steam.

“Mick,” Elaine said firmly as she rounded the back of his dented car. Because the world was full of irony, she realized he was standing on her curb. The place Davis had first found her when she’d run out of steam and had given up. “What are you doing here?”

“Elaine,” he gulped, his hands twisted up in his hair as he eyed his car. Each dent seemed to be sending his blood pressure higher and higher. “You came? I’ve been calling you for days. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I had your phone tracked last week but it was in New York. And you weren’t. I called your father. He had no idea where you were. Finally, I saw this picture of you posted online saying you were here. I got right in my car.”

“Why?” she asked, not bothering to hide the quizzical smirk on her lips. “I didn’t think we had much left to talk about. I don’t appreciate you going secret agent and trying to track me down. That’s an invasion of my privacy. You didn’t need to bring my family into this. You’ve embarrassed me enough.”

“What happened up there . . .” He rubbed the stubble on his cheek, and she realized how haggard he looked. In all the time she’d known him, even the years before they dated, there was never a day he’d gone without shaving. Wherever he went to get a shave they worked magic because his cheeks usually shimmered under the lights of the trading floor. Now his hair looked bushy and his lids drooped and fluttered randomly. “I still can’t believe Elizabeth would do something like that. But so much of it was out of context. You didn’t give me a chance to explain.”

“There is nothing to explain, Mick. Nothing to forgive. It’s behind us. Go back to New York. Go back to the firm. Just go.” She stepped back as though everything was settled and he could leave now.

“I’m not leaving,” he said, throwing up his arms and knocking himself off balance, the tell-tale sign that he’d had too much alcohol. Steading himself on the hood of his car he ground his teeth together. Fury rose in his face, and he unleashed his anger on the hood of his car in the way of two knuckle-breaking punches. But he was drunk enough not to wince.

“If it’s about the car, it looks fine to drive. I’m sure your insurance company can handle it there.” Elaine leaned away but didn’t give him the satisfaction of stepping back. He wouldn’t hit her. Of all the things Mick was, an abuser of women he was not. If anything they’d shared was true, then the stories he told of his youth, and the horrors suffered at the hands of his father, must have been real. No one was a good enough actor to fake the pain he had in his eyes as he retold the nightmares.

“I’m not leaving without you,” he said gently. There was a forced calm to his posture and expression. “Elaine, so much of what happened was just noise, but when I said I loved you, I meant it. I need you by my side in New York.”

“You manipulated me to exploit my clients. If things would have gone any further, punitive action could have been taken. You were dating Elizabeth at the same time. I’m not sure you know what loves means at all.” She propped her hands up on her hips and scolded him harshly. “You betrayed me, and now you expect me to leave with you?” The anger she thought was tethered to the ground was cut loose, and she was losing hold of it. Many hours had been spent imagining the moment she could fire every warranted bit of fury she could muster at Mick. But now, seeing him sway in the wind and lean on his dented car, it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as she’d hoped.

Mick scoffed at her reluctance. “You plan to stay here? There isn’t even a decent restaurant in this place. Where would you get sushi? I know you’re mad, and you have every right to be. But I’ll make it up to you. Just come back, and we’ll start over. I have plenty of connections. I can get you another job. This is all going to blow over. I’ve already heard from firms who would like to hire you.”

“And what? You and I just start dating again?” Elaine folded her arms across her chest and pursed her lips.

“Or we could get married,” he sputtered out, inching closer, his hands pressed together in mock prayer. “Why not?”

“Why not?” she asked through a chuckle. “The list is literally too long to even try to explain. I’ll just do the number one reason. You betrayed me.”

“That’s not fair,” he asserted, swiping a hand through the air like he was cutting her argument down. “When we met I was very clear about the priority of my career. You understood that better than anyone I’d ever met before. You were equally driven and ambitious. We both danced around in the gray area here and there. But only because we knew we’d get better results. I hit a rough patch and I needed to fire up my portfolio some. You were a rock star in your role. I figured you could spare a couple of wins. I needed one badly.”

“You should have talked to me,” she huffed, putting her hands up stiffly as he approached. “Just go back on the curb, will you? Or better yet get in the car, sleep it off, and then drive home.”

“I didn’t have any feelings at all for Elizabeth. I wanted to try to get a meeting with her father. I was just making an in. You can understand that.” He waved his hands animatedly as he pleaded his case.

“What is this really about?” Elaine asked, knowing that familiar look on Mick’s face. When he was mulling over an angle with a new client he’d always have the same expression. She’d just never noticed him using it on her before. Clearly she was the client he was trying to win over. But why?

“Come with me, and we can talk about it. We have a future together. You can’t actually want to stay here,” he said, gesturing around and rolling his eyes. “We can drive straight through the night and be at my place by morning.”

“There is literally nothing you can say that would have me leaving with you tonight. I can’t stress this enough. The answer is no.” She shot him an unwavering stern look, still so shocked he believed she would be naïve enough to leave with him.

“And I’m not leaving without you,” he said, taking another step forward.

“I’d bet against that,” Davis said, stepping out of the shadows. “My money says we’re going to do it her way.”

“Oh, come on,” Mick taunted. “The guy from the video? What, did you hire him to punch anyone you don’t like? I saw what he did to those guys in the coffee shop. Back off, meathead.”

“Don’t,” Elaine said, not sure which one of them she was directing it at. “Just stop. Mick, I am not going back to New York. That’s all I have to say. You’re too smart of a man to think I would.”

“I’m spinning out,” Mick cut in quickly, his voice cracking with emotion. “Lainie, please, you have to understand what’s happened. Over the last few months, before all this, I was losing a lot of clients. I took some risks, and they didn’t pan out. You know how that works.”

“It happens, Mick,” Elaine said, her voice noticeably softer now. “You’re good at what you do. You’ll bounce back.”

“I won’t. Not now. The reason I was meeting with some of your clients was because that was the only way I could stay afloat.”

“You can have them all now,” Elaine said with a breathy humorless laugh. “I’m not coming back so they are up for grabs. You’ve got a leg up on everyone, considering how I spilled my guts to you over all those dinners.”

“You don’t understand,” Mick continued, his hands twisted back up in his hair again. “They know what happened. I can’t even get a call back. Your clients loved you, and they think I hurt you.”

“You did,” she replied flatly.

“I know,” he said, his voice rising with urgency. “But my own clients, they’re leaving too. I’m losing everything.”

“You should have thought of that,” Elaine said, but the punch was gone from her voice now. She knew exactly what Mick’s job meant to him, and it was falling apart. In her time in the industry she’d seen good people fall prey to drug addictions. Gambling. Rash decisions. A failed marriage. The same rush that drew them to the world of trading made them susceptible to the lure of easy money or a quick high.

“Come back with me, and take a job at another firm. I’ll get you in. Let everyone see we’re all right. It’s my only hope.” Mick was running his words together like a freight train that couldn’t be stopped.

“I’m sorry, Mick.” She sighed, genuinely regretting the fact that she couldn’t easily solve his problem. “I’m not going back to New York. I’m not working at another firm. I’m done. I’m at peace with it all.”

“I completely understand you wanting to hurt me back,” Mick countered, nodding his head as though he was agreeing with his own point. “But this is more than that. This would be ruining the rest of my life. You know that. If I don’t get out of this tailspin, I’m done. No one understands better than you what that would do to me. I wouldn’t survive it. I know you. You’re too good of a person to let that happen. You have to help me. Even if I don’t deserve it.”

“I’m happy here,” she replied, a thread of apology knitting her words together. “There is no chance I’m going to go commit to some job I don’t want, just to help you. That’s not a reasonable thing to ask of me.”

“I think it’s time to go,” Davis said firmly, and Elaine felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. The moment felt like a balloon already over inflated, yet someone continued to add more air, just daring it to burst. “She’s not going to change her mind.”

“You let this meathead talk for you?” Mick asked, his eyes never leaving Elaine. “That’s not like you at all. No one was tougher than you. It’s what made you so good at your job. It would be a waste to throw it away just because I screwed up. You have a really bright future.”

“I do,” she smiled, closing her eyes for a long beat and breathing in the sea air. “Right here. As a matter of fact, my future is as clear and bright as it’s been in a long time. Indigo Bay is right where I belong. Nothing is going to change that. If you want, I can make some phone calls. I’ll spread the word that there is no bad blood between us and that you’re a solid choice for a broker. Both of those things are true. I’m not sitting in a corner somewhere crying over spilled milk, and you are still a powerhouse in the trading world. I would feel comfortable doing that for you.”

Mick set his jaw tightly as though he was running out of patience. “That won’t work. The rumors are flying. I need more than just a phone call. People need to see that we’re really on the same side, and we’ve worked things out.” Mick had his hands clamped together, pleading for her to reconsider.

“We haven’t worked things out,” Elaine refuted, her voice high and annoyed. “This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Do you realize five minutes ago you were proposing marriage solely based on the fact that you need me to ensure you don’t lose your career? You need to take a hard look at your priorities.”

“Marrying you would be the best choice I ever made,” Mick corrected, his eyes growing watery with the shadow of emotions. “Forget for a second how badly I need you for my career, and remember what it was like on those late nights out on the boat. Remember how we talked for hours. I’ve never had that with anyone. I’ve played a lot of games in my life. Screwed people over. I never lost an ounce of sleep over it. But you, I’ll never forgive myself for what I’ve done to you. We can make what we had real again. You’re all I think about. You’re all I want.”

“Someone told me once,” Elaine said, beginning in a whisper and then letting her voice grow, “the person who leaves you is always the one you long for. You think there’s nothing that will make you feel better than getting them back. The rejection morphs itself into a desire to prove something and get them back. That’s all that’s happening here. What we had was not real. It couldn’t be if you were trying to benefit from something that hurt me. And you wouldn’t be asking me for things I can’t give you.”

“That should tell you how important this is to me,” Mick said, lighting with recognition and snapping his fingers suddenly as though an idea had just come to him. “I know what we can do. The charity event. It’s in a couple days. I know you RSVP’d. You could fly up, we could make the rounds. Everyone would be there. It’s just one night.”

“You say that like she owes you something,” Davis bit out angrily. Elaine could practically feel him vibrating with the desire to forcibly remove Mick from town. She couldn’t blame him. Mick was a pitbull. He set his sights on something and never settled until it went his way.

“Listen guy,” Mick said, the arrogance instantly back in his voice, reminding Elaine how fake the sadness was. It was a faucet he could turn on and off. “I don’t expect you to understand what’s on the line here. What are you, a fisherman? A mechanic? You couldn’t possibly know what it’s like to handle what I do.”

“You’re right about that. Juggling women, stealing clients, that’s all too much for me to handle. I prefer the simpler life of not being a steaming hot pile of garbage to people who don’t deserve it. I don’t need to drive a flashy car to make up for how disgusting my personality is. Unlike you, who dresses to show off how much money you make, my suit is tucked in the closet for special occasions like funerals. And if you don’t get the hell out of here, maybe I’ll be dusting it off to wear to yours.”

“I’ll think about it,” Elaine interjected, and like a sail suddenly robbed of the steady wind, she could see Davis deflate and shrink back. “Just go sleep off whatever you’ve been drinking, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” She spun and headed away from both of them. Maybe one would follow, maybe both, maybe neither, but she couldn’t stand in that bubble for another second and wait for it to pop.

Without another word Davis was on her heels, then jogged past her and opened the passenger door to his truck for her. As he moved in front of the truck to get back to the driver side she no longer had to wonder what he was thinking of this. The expression on his face was as clear as a cloudless summer sky. This was not what he signed up for.