More Than He Expected (12 page)

Not once in his life had he ever ended a relationship and
worried later about forgetting a woman’s kisses. But remembering Gwen’s seemed
important. Too important.

“She left early this morning.”

Alex’s head snapped to the doorway, where Adrienne was
standing, watching him. Her arms were crossed over her chest, but she didn’t
seem angry. Somehow he expected that Adrienne would lay the blame at his feet
for hurting Gwen and driving her away. But there was only sadness in her green
eyes.

“Why? I don’t understand.”

“I think Gwen decided it was for the best. She knew that you
two didn’t have a future together, and prolonging it was just too painful for
her. She’s got a bad habit of falling in love with the wrong kind of guy.”

“Love?” Alex perked up at Adrienne’s choice of words. He hadn’t
expected to hear that at all. “She’s in love with me?”

Her eyes widened as she stumbled for a moment to take back what
she’d said. “I…that, I mean…that was just a generalization. I don’t know if she
loves you or not.”

Will was right. He’d said once that Adrienne was a terrible
liar. The truth was painted across her face. She’d let her best friend’s secret
slip. Alex had slowly regained the ability to breathe over the last few minutes,
but suddenly the air caught in his lungs, and his heart stilled in his chest.
Gwen was in love with him. In love. With him.

And yet, she was gone just the same.

Alex had heard a few women tell him that in his lifetime.
Usually as part of a plea to make him reconsider staying. It never worked,
because he knew their words were as authentic as their hair color.

But he wanted to hear Gwen say the words to him. And he’d lost
his chance.

“Why would she leave if she loved me?”

Adrienne walked into the room and sat down on the bed beside
Alex. “She finally decided she wants a real, loving relationship and to start
her own family. You and I both know that you’re not willing to give her the life
she wants. And she knows it, too. So as much as it hurt, she knew she needed to
leave before it just got worse.”

Alex understood. But usually he was the one to see it in the
woman, and he would be the one to leave.

“She asked me to give you this.” Adrienne reached out and
placed Gwen’s silver charm bracelet in his hand.

He closed his fist around the cold metal. The one thing Alex
understood about being with Gwen was that he never knew where he stood with her.
She was unlike any woman he’d ever met, and her mere existence challenged him
every day. It made sense that she would be the first to leave him feeling like
crap when it was over.

“Are you going to be okay, Alex?” Adrienne looked at him with
concern in her eyes that he wasn’t used to seeing. At least, not directed at
him.

“Me? Oh yeah,” he assured her, although the words sounded
hollow to his ears. “You know me.”

She nodded and patted his knee, but he could tell there was a
part of her that was just humoring him. “I’m making buttermilk waffles with
strawberries for brunch, so don’t stay in here too long or Will and Jack will
eat them all.”

Alex pasted on one of his smiles. “I’ll be out in just a
minute.”

Adrienne slipped from the room, pulling the door closed to give
him some privacy with his thoughts. It didn’t take much time for him to realize
he didn’t want to be alone in Gwen’s room any longer. He got up quickly, heading
up the stairs to return to his own private sanctuary.

Alone in his room, he felt a bit of the tightness in his chest
ease up. The air in here didn’t smell like her, which helped. At least until he
spied the bundle of dried-up roses sitting on his dresser. When Gwen had
returned them, he hadn’t known what to do with the flowers, so he’d let them
sit. Just as he didn’t know what to do with the bracelet she no longer
wanted.

Without hesitation, Alex swung his arm across the dresser top,
forcefully clearing it and flinging the flowers, the charm bracelet and anything
else sitting up there scattering across the floor. Now he wouldn’t have to look
at it and think of her.

He expected to feel better when everything crashed to the
ground, but he didn’t. Fortunately, he had an idea of what would help.

If Alex knew anything, it was how to bounce back after a
breakup. Playing for the “dumped” team didn’t change what happened next.

He’d enjoy the rest of his holiday with his friends. Drink some
beers, shoot some fireworks. He would drive back to the city with the top down
and soak in the warm summer sunshine. In Manhattan, he’d get a new haircut, buy
a new suit and spend a few nights on the town in his favorite haunts. Maybe he’d
meet a nice lady to distract him from thinking of Gwen. Perhaps he’d meet a
couple ladies. Whatever it took.

Either way, life would get back to normal once he returned to
the city. He could focus on work, racquetball, everything, anything, but Gwen.
And before too long, she would be a distant memory, just like the others.

Eleven

“N
urse Wright?”

Gwen snapped out of her fog to see one of the doctors on
rotation looking at her curiously. “I’m sorry. What did you need?”

Dr. Ellis grinned. “Still in a vacation haze, eh, Gwen?”

She forced a smile and shrugged. “Something like that.”

He proceeded to rattle off a list of things she needed to do
for one of the patients he’d just checked on. She pulled the woman’s file and
made a note of it on her chart. “Consider it done.”

Pleased, he turned and headed down the hallway. Gwen watched
him walk away, thinking about how Dr. Ellis had a smile that reminded her of
Alex. The simple thought brought tentative tears to her eyes that she refused to
shed.

By the time he’d disappeared around the corner, there was
nothing left in her memory but Alex’s crooked, sly grin. Unfortunately, that
wouldn’t help her treat Mrs. Maghee. She glanced down at her notes, relieved.
She didn’t remember a thing Dr. Ellis had told her, but she’d copied down every
word.

Gwen sat back in her rolling office chair behind the nurses’
station, disgusted. She needed to get it together. She left him. She needed to
stop moping and focus. Her job was important. Her patients depended on her. She
couldn’t wander around in a lovesick daze.

It had been nearly two weeks since she’d returned home from the
Hamptons. Life had gone back to normal. At least, as close as it could be to how
life was before she’d gone on vacation. But even in her old routines, something
was different.

She was different.

Gwen had always told herself that she lived and breathed her
job because she loved it so much. That she didn’t need love and family, because
her work was so important and fulfilling. Her patients were her family. Her
relationship was with the hospital.

As she looked around the sterile halls with the
mint-green-and-white tile floors, it was clear the honeymoon of this marriage
was over. It wasn’t enough for her anymore. She wasn’t about to abandon her
work, but her universe wasn’t going to revolve around it any longer.

When she’d made the decision to leave early and put her
relationship with Alex behind her, she’d made a choice to start her life anew.
At first, she’d thought packing her bags and walking out would be the hardest
part. Once she’d arrived back in Manhattan, she’d realized that was just the
first of many difficult steps ahead of her. She had a lifetime of bad habits to
break if she wanted to be happy.

But she would do it. The one thing Gwen was determined to do
was carry on. She might be the emotional equivalent of a tin man right now, but
that wasn’t going to stop her. Sabine was right. Gwen deserved a man who would
love her and give her all the things she wanted in life, without having to
settle.

The last few months carrying Peanut and the few days in the
Hamptons with Alex had made it clear that what she wanted was a family of her
own. She couldn’t keep Alex, and she couldn’t keep this baby, but she could have
that and more with someone who cared enough to stick around.

Being open to love didn’t make her like her mother. And every
guy out there was not like her father. Or Alex. There were good men out there
who would stay. Like Will. And Robert. She needed to put her issues in a box at
the top of the closet and find the right kind of man for her.

A twinge of pain seized Gwen’s back. She winced and tried to
soothe it with her hand, but it didn’t do much good. It was doubtful that even
yoga would help. It really had been bothering her the last few hours. Every ten
minutes or so, it would flare up something fierce. She must’ve slept wrong last
night. She hadn’t slept very well since she’d gotten home. Suddenly the sounds
of the city kept her awake, when they’d never bothered her before. Or maybe it
was the vacant spot in the bed beside her.

Gwen sighed and moved her hand to her belly. The back pain was
a reminder that she had some time to kill—about four months—before she would be
ready to put herself back on the market. She hadn’t officially resumed her
man-break, but if her time in the Hamptons had taught her nothing else, it was
that pregnancy made relationships infinitely more complicated. It brought up all
these confusing feelings that didn’t help an already tricky situation.

But she was determined. She was going to see this surrogacy
through and start her new life as the new Gwen. Open, terrified, but unwavering
Gwen. She could do this.

“Mama Gwen, are you feeling okay? You look a little pale.” The
head nurse, a large and nurturing grandmother type named Wilma, approached the
nurses’ station, a frown lining her plump face.

Once again, Gwen pasted on a smile to cover up the pain. She
wasn’t about to worry Wilma with her sad tales of heartache and back pain. “I’m
fine. Just a little tired. I think I got used to regular hours while I was on
vacation.”

“Daylight is overrated. Are you sure you’re all right?”

Gwen started to nod but was interrupted by a sharp pain that
radiated across her abdomen. This one put the backache to shame. She couldn’t
help the gasp as she clutched her stomach and looked up at Wilma with wide,
confused eyes. “Maybe not. Wow, that hurts.”

Wilma frowned, coming around the counter faster than one
would’ve expected of a woman of her age and size. She knelt down in front of
Gwen to examine her more closely. “Have you had a backache?”

Gwen nodded, biting her lip to keep from yelping and waking up
her patients.

“Any spotting?”

“A little at my last lunch break. But that’s normal, isn’t
it?”

“It can be. But not when you add it all together. How many
weeks are you now?”

“Almost twenty-five.”

Wilma frowned again. “That’s about twelve weeks fewer than I’d
like. I haven’t worked in L and D for about twenty years, but this kind of stuff
doesn’t change. Mama, I hate to say this, but I think you’re going into
premature labor.”

* * *

Alex strode into the temporary office space he leased as
the headquarters for his latest building project. It was about a block away from
the actual build site of the apartment high-rise, so it was both convenient and
spacious for their needs. A local office supply had rented them the furniture,
and a temp agency provided a receptionist for the front desk and janitorial
staff.

Their temporary admin, Lisa, looked up as he came through the
doors, placing a call on hold. “Good morning, Mr. Stanton. I wasn’t expecting to
see you this morning. Does Miss Jacobs know you’re here?”

Alex chuckled softly to himself. “No, I don’t believe Tabitha
is expecting me.” Actually, he knew she wasn’t. He’d deliberately not told his
project manager he was coming to New Orleans. She was competent, driven,
successful… All the things he wanted in an employee. Normally, this meant he
could get engaged with the fun, creative parts of starting a new real estate
project, then leave her to actually execute the details. That was how he liked
it.

Of course, normally, he wasn’t hell-bent on getting out of
Manhattan before he did something stupid he would regret. He already had enough
regrets as it was; he didn’t need any more. Especially where Gwen was
concerned.

In the weeks since he’d left the Hamptons, he’d tried to
continue on with his life as usual, but everything felt wrong somehow. The women
were disinteresting, the jokes flat, the drinks bitter or tasteless. Will even
beat him at racquetball for the first time. He found himself wandering through
his empty penthouse without purpose. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, his
life didn’t seem to work without Gwen in it anymore.

He kept finding himself dialing her number but unable to hit
the call button. Instead he would just hang up. Gwen had left him out of
self-preservation. Calling her was the worst thing he could do. Especially if he
wasn’t willing to offer her what she wanted.

And yet, he’d find the phone in his hand again, or ask his
driver to cruise past her apartment or the hospital in the hope he’d catch a
glimpse of her walking outside.

No luck, so far.

But he was playing with fire. The last time he’d needed to get
Gwen out of his head, he’d flown to New Orleans and started this project. It
seemed like the best course of action now as well. So he’d gotten on a plane and
headed down here unannounced.

“Shall I call and let her know you’re here?”

“That won’t be necessary, Lisa. I’d like to surprise her.”

The look on Lisa’s face made it painfully obvious that she knew
Tabitha very well. Surprises were not on the top of the list of things she
enjoyed. Even a good surprise could piss her off because it messed with her
schedule.

That just made it all the more fun.

Although he normally was not involved much past the planning
stage, he still maintained an office of his own at each site. He buzzed past
Lisa and headed straight for his long-abandoned desk. Flipping on the light, he
set down his laptop bag, threw his coat over his chair and headed to the
kitchen. He poured a cup of coffee into one of the paper cups and snatched an
apple fritter from a pink bakery box on the counter.

Alex took the fritter and carried it down the hall with his
coffee. Without ceremony, he walked into Tabitha’s office and sat down in her
guest chair to eat his breakfast.

She was busily typing at her computer, her pale red-gold hair
pulled into a tight bun and her curves stuffed into one of her favorite,
unflattering business suits. He could tell by her pinched expression that she
knew someone was there, but she hadn’t torn her eyes from the screen to see
who.

The moment she did look, her expression was a jolt of pure joy
he was in sore need of. He’d felt like hell since he’d left the Hamptons.
Harassing his project manager was one of his small pleasures in life.

“Alex? I mean, Mr. Stanton? What are you doing here? Is there a
problem?”

“Yes,” he said, trying to maintain a straight face. “I am very
concerned to report a severe shortage of cream-filled doughnuts in this office.
It’s shameful.”

Tabitha’s wide violet-blue eyes narrowed at him as her initial
panic faded to irritation. “What are you doing here, Alex? In the last six years
and seven projects I’ve executed for you, not once have you shown up during the
build phase.”

“Can’t I come check on how things are going?”

Tabitha sighed and pushed an imaginary loose strand of hair
behind her ear. “Of course. And everything is fine. Great. We’re ahead of
schedule. Under budget. We’ve secured contracts for over half the units already,
and we’re on track to being completely sold out before the last inch of drywall
is painted.”

Alex nodded, pleased with the progress. “You’re worth every
penny I pay you, Tabitha.”

“I’m probably worth a few more than you pay me.”

He had to admit he liked her sass. He’d date her if it wouldn’t
ruin their perfect work situation. Even a man with a reputation like his had
boundaries. No ex-anythings of friends, no sisters of friends, no employees and
no nurses. That last one was a new addition.

“Remind me to give you a raise when this project is done,
then.”

Tabitha opened up her calendar software, typed a note into her
computer and nodded. “Done. Now, tell me why you’re really here. Who is she? Is
it the same woman you were down here hiding from last time?”

“I was not hiding,” Alex said, setting his coffee cup
forcefully on the edge of her desk.

Tabitha shrugged off his display of male aggression, picking
her smartphone up off the desk as it started to buzz. Her eyes never left the
small screen as she spoke to her boss. “Call it what you like. You were
completely unfocused when you were here before. I assumed it was a woman.”

Defeated, Alex took a bite of his fritter. “It was.”

“And this time?”

“Same one.”

This finally caught Tabitha’s attention. Her eyebrow arched
curiously at him. “Sounds serious.”

“It’s not. I don’t
do
serious.”

“Which explains why you’re here with me instead of there with
her.”

Damn his ability to hire smart, capable women. They saw far
more than he wanted them to see. “Possibly.”

Tabitha sighed and pushed up from her chair. “I’ve got an
on-site meeting with the head contractor in ten minutes. Are you going to walk
down there with me?”

Alex drank the last of his coffee and tossed his napkin into
her trash can. “Yes,” he said with the last mouthful of apple fritter garbling
his words.

She nodded and marched out the door. He followed behind
Tabitha, finding her waiting impatiently at the elevator. “So how long are you
going to be around?” she asked as they waited for the car to arrive at their
floor.

Honestly, Alex wasn’t really sure. How long did it take to get
over a woman? He’d never been involved enough with one to know. But he rounded
up to goad his project manager. “A couple weeks at least.”

Tabitha didn’t even have the decency to muffle the groan of
displeasure as the elevator doors opened.

There were no more discussions once they reached the street.
The central business district was busy and loud this time of day, reminding Alex
of Manhattan. Part of their building design centered around heavily insulated
walls and double-paned windows specifically crafted for soundproofing. You could
close your eyes and convince yourself you were in the country, it was so quiet.
No sirens, no honking, no neighbors’ music or arguing.

The people buying his apartments wanted to be at the center of
the New Orleans excitement and energy but wanted to keep the luxury and security
they were accustomed to. Stanton Towers would provide all of that for an
astronomical fee, and yet, he usually had waiting lists of well-off clients
chomping at the bit to get into one of his facilities.