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“She threw a screaming fit. Broke a few priceless antiques.”
He’d been caught off guard at the violence of her reaction. Unlike many of the other tantrums he’d witnessed, that last one hadn’t been performative. Ekaterina had been genuinely upset.
“I still don’t know why she wanted to stay married to me. It wasn’t as if she respected me.”
Emma ran a hand down his bare chest, tracing the lines and ridges of his six-pack. “Gee, I wonder. What could it have been?”
He laughed while trying not to move, a surprisingly difficult task. “She didn’t regret me for long. Believe it or not, there’s a long line of handsome wannabe playboys eager to be at the beck and call of a rich heiress.”
“I doubt Andreas liked them as much. Do you ever hear from him?”
“We exchange Christmas cards, but that’s about it. He’s getting on in years, but he remains a powerful figure overseas. He’s not the type to dwell on past failures. If he learned anything from the experience, it was that Ekaterina needed help. I told him I wouldn’t suefor alimony if he sent her to rehab. It was a ploy, of course, and he saw right through it. But he acknowledged it was time to do something.”
“She went?”
“Twice actually, to avoid being cut off. She remarried after the second time, to a fellow patient. Needless to say, it didn’t last. But I have no doubt she’ll marry again.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“Mostly relieved. Also a bit guilty for feeling that way,” he admitted. “She was a mess. But I wasn’t qualified to help her. Not really. With addiction, you need to decide to help yourself.”
“No one could expect more from you than what you did,” she said, tightening her hold on him. “Tying yourself to that kind of selfish narcissist would have eaten you up inside. It’s good that you broke it off when you did. You would have been surrounded by vice and excess. Little by little, you would have ended up compromising more and more until you were at the bottom of the slippery slope, wondering how the hell you got there.”
“I’m afraid I didn’t learn my lesson on that score right away,” he confessed. “There was a hard partying phase after my divorce too, I’m afraid. But it passed on its own—no matter what Rainer says.”
“Okay, I’ll bite. What does Rainer say?”
“He thinks I was inspired to clean up my act by his grand romance with George. That it made me realize there was more to life than partying and making money. In truth, it was a phase I’d outgrown before they met. He was just too busy to notice.”
She shifted, her soft skin stroking his. Damn, he hoped her headache was gone because she was getting him too hot. He was supposed to be comforting her, damn it.
“I am glad you were done with that phase before I met you,” she said. “Especially all the women who were no doubt all over you during that period. I wouldn’t have liked the competition.”
Wow, she still had no idea.
Garrett pressed his lips to her hair, settling her more comfortably against him.
“Emma, baby,” he said, “you haveneverhad any competition.”
Chapter Forty-Six
EMMA
Emma adjusted theDe Ollaapron and hefted the coffee carrier higher so she could rebalance the weight of everything she was carrying.
Her overnight bag wasn’t heavy, but it was awkward with the carrier and the puffed sleeves of her wool coat.
She’d almost put on a trench coat. Thanks to Garrett’s penchant for buying her things, she now had three to choose from. But a trench would have been a dead giveaway.
Instead, she’d put on her apron and coat and grabbed a few empty recycled coffee cups that one of her bean suppliers had sent, stuffing them into the carrier to make it look legit.
Juggling everything, she pushed the button for the top floor, hoping the office was deserted. It should have been, but Next Chapter’s employees were too dedicated. Especially the boss.
Garrett had called her less than an hour ago to cancel their dinner plans. “I have at least two more hours of work ahead of me,” he said, sounding so despondent she’d started packing a bag as soon as he’d hung up.
Her body flashed hot and cold the entire elevator ride. This seemed like a great idea back at the house.
She wasn’t an impulsive person. Her condition tended to crushspontaneity. But now that her marriage was real, she felt freer to be a little crazy and act her age.