Ivy groaned, then made her way out of the bedroom, slowly opening her door. It creaked a little, and so did the hardwood floors beneath her bare feet. She went into the hallway.
It was then that she heard murmurs, voices from somewhere in the house.
The voices were muffled, low, as she slowed down and listened.
Turning to her right, she saw the bathroom door was open and considered going in there. But she didn’t want to miss what was happening in the house. She wanted to know who was talking.
Her skin broke into goose bumps when she heard a woman speaking. The woman’s voice had a plaintive, sad tone to it. “Please Cullen, you’re the only one…” the woman said, but then her voice once more receded back into muffled inaudible sounds.
Moments later, the voices rose again, and this time she heard Cullen’s unmistakable baritone. “You can’t be here right now.”
“…If I could just do or say anything…anything…convince you…” the woman said, sounding like she might even be in tears.
Cullen, for his part, sounded even angrier now. “You need to leave me alone. You have to stop doing this.”
More muffled voices, what sounded like barely controlled arguing.
“Fine,” Ivy heard the woman say, a note of defeat clear in her tone.
A moment later, the front door slammed shut and then all was quiet again.
The conversation seemed to have ended and the mystery lady had departed, and Ivy dodged into the bathroom as the front door slammed.
Whoever had been talking to Cullen seemed to have left, as requested.
She had to be an ex-girlfriend, Ivy decided, as she opened the blinds on the window and peered outside.
She caught a brief glimpse of a beautiful, raven haired woman wearing a long coat and a scarf, running to her sleek black car and getting inside. Seconds later, the car drove away.
Or was the mystery woman perhaps a current girlfriend? A girlfriend that Cullen didn’t want snooping around his home when another woman was there?
She hated the thought that Cullen Sharpe might be seeing someone, but it only made sense. After all, he was an incredibly desirable bachelor who had everything a woman could want.
He didn’t seem like the type to be celibate, spending his nights alone with a good book and a glass of seltzer water.
Still, intense feelings of jealousy were tying her stomach in knots at the thought of Cullen and that mystery woman being together. She obviously had history with him.
But what kind of history?
Ivy turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror and thought: now there looks a woman hard done by life.
She frowned at herself.
And you’re not doing yourself any favors by getting drunk and out of control. You have a difficult enough time looking good at your very best.
This wouldn’t do at all. Her hair was frizzy as all get out, her eyes had dark circles under them, and her lips were dry and chapped.
She washed her face and then found a small bottle of mouthwash under the sink and used that too.
By the time she was done, she looked a little less worn and beaten up then she had a few minutes before.
When Ivy opened the bathroom door, she nearly screamed, so startled was she to see Cullen Sharpe standing right there in the hallway.
His jaw was set and his eyes were hard with something like anger—something she couldn’t totally identify.
“You scared me,” she laughed, gripping her chest.
“You’re awake,” he stated. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and gray sweats, no socks. He looked almost normal, except that his arms were so muscular and his body was so perfect that even in regular clothes, he was devastatingly handsome and sexy.
“I—I woke up,” she shrugged.
“Obviously,” he said.
If he cared that she’d overheard the conversation, he wasn’t showing it.
Ivy wanted to ask him who the woman was, but something held her back from doing it. “I used some of your mouthwash. Hope you don’t mind.” She tried to smile as if nothing weird had or was happening here.
“Feeling better now?” he asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively.
“Yes.” She felt her cheeks turn red. “Anyway,” she said, brushing an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “I guess I should make my way home now. I need to shower and change before work today.”
Cullen stepped to the side and gestured to the bedroom. “You’re not going anywhere until I say so.”
“I’m not?” she said, following his direction and walking back to the guest room where she’d spent the night. She was getting the distinct impression that the enigmatic CEO had something in store for her. “Are you going to yell at me for getting drunk?” she asked him with a little grin.
“Get in there,” Cullen told her, pointing into the bedroom.
Her insides grew weak from the nearness of him as she walked hesitantly across the threshold. The air felt suddenly thick with tension.
Ivy played with a strand of her hair nervously, waiting for Cullen as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.