Yet she could hardly blame her friend. She'd kept Anna in the dark—shed kept everyone in the dark—about the debacle in her life four years ago.
Stephens lips twisted sardonically. "If you wanted your return to Miami to remain a secret, you should have sewn up that hole with the brand-new Mrs. Parker Garrison."
He was right, of course, but it didn't make the pill any easier to swallow.
"You know, it’s funny." Stephen went on his tone implying it was anything but humorous, "there we were sitting around Sunday dinner at my parents estate in Bal Harbour a few weeks ago when I happened to mention I was looking for an interior design firm to update the Garrison Grand." He paused. "One guess as to what Anna said."
Megan compressed her lips, but Stephen apparently wasn't looking for a response.
"She mentioned her friend Megan Simmons had just moved back to Miami to be a partner at Elkind. Ross." Stephen rubbed his jaw. then paused as his eyes focused on her again. "I didn't even know you and Anna were friends."
"That's how Anna got her start at Garrison. Inc. four years ago." she said tightly. "I'd gotten to know people in the HR department at Garrison headquarters when I was working on the redesign there, and I recommended her for a job. She was ready to leave Indianapolis."
She braced her fingertips against the top of her desk. Her legs felt rubbery, but since Stephen had yet to mention Jade, she guessed Anna had left out she had a daughter now.
"Right." Stephen said, sauntering even closer. "Four years ago would be right about the time you skipped town."
"I decided to leave Miami, yes." Shed fled, but these days she'd learned when to run and when to stand her ground.
"Of course." Stephen went on seeming not to have heard her. "If you hadn't run off like a scared rabbit when I headed your way at Anna and Parkers wedding reception recently, we could have had this conversation elsewhere."
Shed hoped he hadn't spotted her mingling among the guests at Anna and Parkers lavish beach wedding, but clearly it had been a false hope despite her quick departure.
Her fear of coming face-to-face with him had almost kept her from attending, even without Jade, but loyalty to Anna had ultimately won out.
Still, she wasn't about to concede an inch. "I did not run away."
He quirked a brow disbelievingly.
"I just refused to sully Anna and Parkers wedding day with an unpleasant conversation."
He laughed humorlessly. "Spare me the drama."
“Is it so hard to believe there are women who don't want to flirt with you?" she retorted, her temper igniting.
"I haven't found any who've turned down an invitation to my bed. sweetheart." he shot back. "Including you."
"Yes. but I was the one who ultimately walked away." she countered, then went on the offensive. "Does it bother you Stephen? Did I ruin your perfect record with women when I dumped you?"
A muscle ticked in his jaw.
She tilted her head. "You know. I promise not to tell...."
His eyes narrowed, his lips becoming a thin line, and for a moment, she worried she'd gone too far.
They'd always been good at pressing each other's buttons. It was what had added an element of exhilarating excitement to their short-lived affair.
She reminded herself, however, that nothing she could do now could match his betrayal at the end of their affair.
He searched her face. "Did you run because I was getting under your skin?" he mused, his voice lowering. "Were things getting too hot in the bedroom for you? Was your cool facade in danger of melting?"
She sucked in a breath.
"You know it was good." he murmured.
"Don't flatter yourself!" She hadn't wanted an ugly confrontation four years ago so she’d walked away without an explanation—without a goodbye. Shed been afraid that if she faced him with her knowledge of his betrayal, he’d convince her to stay.
Because she knew she was weak where he was concerned. Because she was intimately acquainted with just how charmingly persuasive he could be.
He shifted a step back suddenly, laying off some of the pressure. "Why did you leave?" he asked bluntly.
"I told you in the last conversation—"
"A phone message."
"I wanted a clean break." she lied again.
"After dodging my calls for days." he accused.
"You were out of town on business."
"Yeah, and then you were—supposedly."
"I was never good at breaking up." she countered, "and it was clear to me our fling was coming to an end."
As clear as the woman whom she’d seen leaving his yacht, she added silently.
His jaw clenched. Evidently, he didn't like her response, but he also wasn't going to dispute her belief.
She read his silence as confirmation, and her stomach dropped sickeningly. Obviously, if she hadn't called it quits first. Stephen would soon have been giving her his "it was good while it lasted, babe" talk.
"There, that wasn't so bad was it?" he taunted finally. "A simple explanation for why you ended the affair. You could have given it to me at Anna's wedding without an ugly scene."
Perversely, she felt her temper rise again. "Are you suggesting that if you'd had a chance to talk to me before now you wouldn't be here today with a brand-new project for Elkind. Ross?" she demanded. "Because if so. I don't believe it. I know you too well. Stephen."
"You used to know me well, sweetheart." he responded silkily. “About as well as any woman who's shared my bed."
She was just one in a crowd. Megan thought bitterly. As if she could ever forget.
Yet one more reason Stephen must never, ever know about Jade.
She could bear working for him if she had to. She just couldn't bear having him jeopardize what mattered most.
Stephen stared at the woman who'd walked away from him four years ago without a second glance.
He'd wanted her from the moment he'd seen her coming out of a conference room at Garrison Inc. right after her firm had inked a deal with his older brother. Parker, to refurbish the offices at Garrison headquarters.
Shed been laughing at something Parker had said, and the laugh, combined with everything else, had hit him like fine aged whiskey burning a path to an empty stomach.
Shed been intoxicating. A tall redhead with legs that went on forever, and a body that was all curves. A Jessica Rabbit come to life in all her bombshell glory.
He'd pictured her beneath him in bed those long legs wrapped around him as he lost himself inside her.