“What is it?”
“What. It. Is. Nothing more, nothing less,” Alex said shortly. His tone was dull, devoid of absolutely all emotion.
She pursed her lips and looked at the floor, nodding her head slightly. “I guess I’ll leave it then. I want to get married and have kids. I wanted that with you.” She let out a shaky breath. “I know. Who would have thought it? Me. Wanting to be a mother?”
Alex moved across the room and set his glass down on the end table so he could pull her lightly into his arms, and she laid her head down on his shoulder and cried softly. Children weren’t something he considered, but he did know that if he ever did, it wouldn’t be with this woman.
“Alex, I love you.”
Instantly he stiffened, her words reminding him that she was not what he wanted, and he couldn’t give her what she needed.
“Stop. I know you think saying that will change my mind, but it won’t. It has the opposite result.” All these months of her demanding money and incessantly hissing in his ear had left him with no emotions for her. It showed in how he spoke to her, his cold demeanor, and his stiffness as he pushed her gently away. “I’m sorry, but this is over. You can stay in the apartment. I’ll keep paying for it until you tell me you’re settled or… whatever.”
He pulled her arms from around him and left her standing in the middle of the room. She followed after him, wrapping her hands around his body and pulling his unresponsive form as close to her as she possibly could. “Don’t go. Make love to me, just once. Just one more time. Then you can leave—” she begged, desperation hanging heavily on her words, “—if you still want to.”
Alex inwardly cringed. As virile as he was, as much as he loved sex, the thought of it with Whitney in this circumstance left him cold. He stilled and pulled her arms from around his body once again. “I’m not trying to hurt you, Whitney. But I’m just… not into this anymore. I’m sorry if that sounds harsh, but I don’t want to drag this shit out. Just let it go.”
Her face became hard and filled with anger. “So this is it? Just like that?”
“Hardly just like that. Be honest. It hasn’t been exciting for months. We want different things out of relationships, and you’re materialism has killed the desire for me.” He turned and picked up his tie and jacket as he made his way toward the door. “Call Mrs. Dane if you need anything and she’ll make sure you are taken care of.” Alex wanted nothing more than to be done with her but felt a certain responsibility. His personal assistant could take care of any loose ends. That was her job and she was excellent at it.
“You dick! I hate you!” She picked up the glass he had left on the table and flung it at him. “I hate you! Do you hear me? You’re a fucking bastard, Alex!” she screamed after him, but he kept walking as if she hadn’t uttered a word.
“So you’ve said.” He always hated this part of it, but it was inevitable. Every woman he’d ever dated had ended up wanting more, and the more they wanted, the more he pulled away. He didn’t just get bored and lose interest, he felt suffocated.
The door shut quietly behind him. His usual pattern was repeating itself yet again.
No emotion, no anxiety, no remorse—just relief.
2
Phone Sex
Alex pinched the bridge of his nose. His head ached, and he was exhausted from the week. Avery Enterprises had been losing money on one of its hotels in Munich, and his father sent him to audit the books when a couple million dollars went missing. This wasn’t a big concern in the big scheme of the business as a whole, but it was the principle of the thing. Even a company the size of this one couldn’t afford to have employees who were skimming off the top.
Several food and liquor expenditures from the restaurant couldn’t be substantiated with the appropriate receipts, and Alex was able to find the discrepancy easily. Both the CFO and the executive chef of the property had been fired as a result. It was the chef that was padding his pockets, but if the CFO had been doing his job, it wouldn’t have been Alex who found the error from half a world away during a semi-annual audit. He wasn’t even angry when shit like this happened anymore, but he was fucking sick of all he traveling.
The first class cabin was dark as the Boeing 737 taxied onto the tarmac toward the terminal at O’Hare International, which sometimes felt like it literally took hours. So many planes waiting to take off on the numerous runways made Alex impatient. He leaned back in his seat and checked his watch for what seemed like the hundredth time; 9:45 PM on Friday night. Cole and Darian had both called asking him to meet them at a local club. He pulled his tie off and shoved it in the front pocket of his laptop case, before running a hand through his hair. Between the two of them, and Whitney’s unending attempts to get him to call her back, it left 20 unheard messages on his cell phone. All since he’d taken off from his connection in London.
He sighed heavily. Really, all he wanted was a drink, a hot shower, and his bed. The question was should he go to his apartment downtown or his estate? Either one was about the same distance from the airport, but at least he’d be able to hang with his Golden Retriever at the house.
His phone rang again, and he reached for it from the front pocket of his dress pants, glancing at the faceplate as he did so.
“Yeah? Miss me bad, huh, D?”
“Save it, asshole. Where are you?”
The plane was just pulling up to the terminal, and the jet walk was moving into place. “Just got in. I’m gonna have serious jet lag, man. I’m out for tonight.”
“Okay. I probably should go to the station anyway, unless you need a ride?”
“No. I’m having a car pick me up.” Alex stood up and pulled his laptop case from under the seat with one hand and slung it over his shoulder. “I’m good.”
“Maybe we can get together to play racquetball or something next week?”
“Sure, sounds like a plan.” Alex made his way to the front of the jet, and the flight attendant gave him a warm smile, her eyes roaming over him in slow appreciation. His lips twitched slightly in amusement, but he kept walking through the jetway and into the terminal with casual purpose.
“I sent you something, Alex. Are you going to the apartment tonight?”
“I was considering going to the house. Max will be missing me, and my housekeeper has earned some time off after this week. Why?”
“Uh, well, I sent you one of the promos from the show,” Darian said with a chuckle. “Thought you might like to see how fucked your perception of the lovely doctor really is, but it can wait. Just let me know if you’ve changed your mind after you see it.”
Alex smiled tiredly. His curiosity was piqued despite his insistence that he was totally indifferent to Darian’s continued baiting about this woman. It had become something of a game between them, and he chuckled. “Well, it won’t make any difference. She’s probably frigid. And, Whitney has been damn relentless this week. It’s enough to make my dick shrivel up in defiance so I’m useless to the opposite sex. Why are you on my ass about her, anyway?”
“Because you won’t believe how unbelievably hot she is, man. Despite the fact that the radio show is doing well and it’s really helping me professionally, I’m waiting with baited breath until she doesn’t work for me anymore. Then I can make a move on her myself.”
“Mmmm… Well, if I’m to believe what you say, she’ll bite your dick off for you.” Alex laughed as his driver pulled up and took his bags from him. “Then where would you be? You won’t be able to show her who’s boss.”