She turned around to face him. “Stay away from Roland DuBois. Let that phone call be the end of your contact with him.”
She opened her mouth as if to respond and then changed her mind. She walked out of his office, and after the door closed, Cyrus reclaimed his chair and looked at the disorder of his desk. He ran his hand over his hair and closed his eyes to relive the past few moments.
He had to get her back. He was in love with her. The realization had sneaked up on him unexpectedly three years ago when she left. The gut-wrenching pain he’d experienced when she’d walked away had been almost unbearable, but he’d thrown himself into work to get through it.
Once she came back, they could start over. She was the only woman he wanted, the only one he could imagine spending the rest of his life with, and the only one he wanted to be the mother of his children.
No matter how much acrimony existed between them, he didn’t want Daniella back for six months, for a year, not for any limited period of time.
As far as he was concerned, she was coming back for good.
Chapter Ten
“Thank you. It was a pleasure doing business with you.”
Daniella shook hands with the president and vice president of the software company she’d spent the last hour reviewing prints with. Today she was in Bellevue. The suburb had seen major growth in recent years as more and more start-ups and small businesses set up shop in the Seattle area. The city was emerging as a rival of Silicon Valley as tech companies took advantage of the affordable office space and attractive tax incentives.
The meeting had been successful. The company had recently leased office space in Bellevue and wanted the decor to reflect their young staff and the president’s love of music. She’d taken several catalogues, as well as some prints by local artists whose work she thought was a good fit. The president had liked one of the artists so much, they’d discussed framed originals for his own home. Once in the car, she called one of her salespersons, gave her the details, and instructed her to get in touch with the artist’s agent to get the ball rolling on brokering a deal.
Driving across the bridge that spanned Lake Washington, she was on her way back to Seattle. While she should be excited about the pending deal, tonight would not only be her first night back at home with Cyrus, they would attend his sister’s engagement party as a couple. Apprehension settled in her stomach and wouldn’t go away.
Packing up her belongings and moving them into the mansion hadn’t taken long at all with Shaun taking care of the details. He’d promised to have her unpacked by tonight, and she didn’t doubt he could do it.
She drove to Viva on Broadway Avenue, a popular coffee shop many Seattleites considered had the best coffee in Seattle. She didn’t pay much attention to the few patrons at the tables before walking up to the curved bar and placing an order for two one-pound bags of her favorite blend.
On her way back out the door she paused at the familiar stride of a man coming toward her wearing a golf shirt and tan slacks. At the sight of her father, Daniella’s lungs ceased to function. She hadn’t seen him in so long, she temporarily froze. Tall and handsome, with a dark bronze complexion—partly compliments of a Spanish mother and black father, and partly from being exposed to the sun’s rays year round at his home in Miami—he turned heads though well into his sixties.
Pretending not to see him, Daniella ducked her head and hurried to the door, but he’d seen her. “Daniella!”
She didn’t want to speak to him, but there was no way she could behave as if she hadn’t heard him call her name. Taking a deep breath, she swung around and transformed her face into an uninterested mask.