For Her Son's Sake Read Free Page B

That’s why he was standing in the stairwell debating something that he knew he should drop. It made no sense that just as he was finally reaching his life’s goal, he’d find time to pursue this. To pursue her. Her?
    Was he really doing this?
    “I don’t know. I have no idea what that was about. I haven’t been attracted to anyone since Helio.”
    With those few words she made Kell feel something for her. She was young, widowed and he’d recently outmaneuvered her in the corporate world. He understood that a gentleman would back away. There was no sense in chasing her.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be. I honestly thought I’d never feel anything for a man again.”
    “Silver lining?” he asked, sardonically.
    “In a way. I’m sorry I enticed you to kiss me,” she said. “I had been a little curious about you since we were interns together.”
    He arched one eyebrow at her. He liked Emma when she forgot to be all buttoned up and cool. He had a feeling she wasn’t going to ever be this honest with him again because it left her vulnerable. But he definitely liked seeing her this way.
    “Me too. But your grandfather was always watching us back then,” Kell said.
    “Yes, he was. I wanted to make a good impression and you were always Johnny-on-the-spot with everything. You were a very hard act to follow.”
    He felt a flush of pride at what she said. When he’d been an intern he’d still had a few dreams that the world wasn’t the bitter place his grandfather had always made it seem. Of course after his experience with Gregory Chandler his entire perspective had changed. It was odd to think of those days now. Kell had been a completely different man.
    “What can I say? I like to be the best at everything.”
    “You certainly are good at kissing,” she said, and then flushed and groaned. “I’m going home now. Don’t follow me.”
    He nodded. She was cute when she was flustered. Why was he just now seeing this? Probably because he’d taken over her company, his lethal focus on revenge had shifted somewhat.
    “I won’t. I’ll see you at the meeting in two days,” he said, pushing his hands into his pockets. He had another meeting of his own in twenty minutes; he needed to start thinking about that instead of how good she’d felt in his arms and the fact that he could still taste her on his lips.
    “Thank you,” she said, turning to walk down the stairs. Seeing the sway of her hips and the way the black Chanel dress clung to them made his breath catch.
    “Emma?”
    She paused but didn’t turn, just glanced over her shoulder at him. “Yes?”
    “I...I don’t know if I’ll be able to resist you if you fall into my arms again.”
    There. He’d said it. He felt better for having warned her. “I’m not saying that I want anything to develop between us. But I’m attracted to you and given how much time we spend together I wanted to be honest. If that happens again I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.”
    She gave him a smile that was at once the sweetest expression and the saddest. He’d have to analyze it later because right now he knew he was missing something really important in it.
    “Fair enough,” she said.
    “But then we both know that life isn’t fair, don’t we?” he asked.
    “Yes,” she said in the quietest of voices.
    He realized that she’d been hurt more than he wanted to acknowledge. Part of it no doubt had come from him and his hostile takeover but more of it had come from the personal tragedies in her life. And where she was right now.
    He wanted to apologize but he wasn’t truly sorry for anything. If that elevator door hadn’t opened, who knew how much further the embrace would have gone. He hadn’t wanted it to end when it had. He was still on fire for her. But earlier she’d pointed out that he was a man of his word in business and he knew he was going to have to be the same when it came to this area too. He wasn’t going to be able to just go after her