Oak, Sophie - Away From Me (Siren Publishing Classic) by Sophie Oak Read Free Book Online

favorite lasagna. I put on a French maid’s outfit and waited. Do you remember what happened?”
    His face flushed. “I called you from the airport on my way to New York.”
    “And my birthday?”
    “I’m sure I forgot that altogether.”
    She pushed her salad around on her plate, and he wished he’d never asked the original question. She’d been so happy talking about her work. “Your admin remembered. I should have known it was her. She sent me roses.”
    He would never have bought her roses. “You hate roses. You like lilies.”
    “I do,” she replied. “I guess your admin didn’t have a list of my favorite things.”
    Now he did what came naturally. He reached out and took her hand. It was time to open up to her. He’d hated the last ten months with a passion. He was more than willing to apologize if it bought him a second’s goodwill with her. Despite his earlier promise, he really wanted to end the evening buried deep inside her body.
    “I am so sorry about that, Gaby. Maybe I did pay too much attention to work, but you were always in my thoughts. I got flustered at that meeting in New York because I missed you. Sometimes, I had to force myself to focus, because if I didn’t, I would have called you just to say hello or to find out what you were doing and what you were wearing. If you look back at our relationship, you’ll remember that I actually did that often. I called you when I was away, just to hear your voice. Oh, I made up excuses. I gave you lists of things to do, but mostly, I just wanted to know you were there. And I wanted to pretend you were naked.”
    “I’m sure I was wearing very little at the time,” she said with a wistful smile.
    “That was my hope.” He squeezed her hand, a little afraid to let it go. “I know I didn’t show it, Gaby, but you were the center of my world. I thought I was building a life for us.”
    “But you didn’t want to marry me or have children with me,” she said quietly. Her eyes were soft as she shook her head. “There wasn’t a future in that for me.”
    He felt his mouth firm in frustration. He felt a little trapped, though, strangely, not by Gaby. Cal suddenly realized this was a trap of his own making. “Does it have to be mapped out? Why couldn’t we just be happy? Why do we have to bring a bunch of kids into the equation?” The very thought of children made his throat close up. Children were fragile. Children were small and vulnerable. Women still died giving birth. He couldn’t handle that.
    She pulled her hand out of his. Her posture became rigid, and he missed her previous comfort. “We don’t have to do anything, Cal. We aren’t together anymore. You don’t have to worry about me having your unwanted babies.”
    His fist hit the table. “Damn it, Gaby. I didn’t say that. You never once mentioned that you wanted kids before the night you left me. Can you let me catch up?”
    “Will you?” She seemed more curious than truly interested in his answer to the question.
    “I don’t know,” he muttered, irritated at the way the conversation had gone.
    “It’s okay.” Her hands came out to cover his. She was so quick to comfort him. “Forget I said anything, Cal. How long are you here?”
    “A week.” He loved the way her hands felt against his. He had one week to try to win her back.
    “Can we shelve the relationship stuff? Look, Cal, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about us. I’m not sure we were ever going to work. It’s just as much my fault as yours. I pretended to be something I’m not. I’m not as submissive as I played at. I like it for sex. I’m more independent now. I went through something that made me understand how strong I am. I’m not a slave anymore.”
    “I never thought of you that way.”
    She took a deep breath. “But a slave is what you seem to need. I should never have gotten involved with you. I wasn’t what you needed.”
    He was startled at the very thought. She had been everything he