“Their kids will take it over.”
He lifted the beer to his lips. “Even the daughter? Guess I’m surprised a steel company would interest a woman.”
“Oh, Ava. She’s had a rough time lately. She broke off her engagement to Matthew Brauer.”
Isaac’s throat tightened around a swallow of beer, and he choked.
“Are you okay?” his mother asked.
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat, but a fist remained clenched in his gut. “Engagement?”
“Yes. Your father and I received the invitation just last month. You’ve met Matthew, haven’t you?” his mother asked. “Wasn’t he with Jennings Steel when you worked with Dad?”
“Maybe, but I don’t know him.”
“Apparently, he was in management. It sounded like he was being groomed to take Ava’s place when she took over the company with her brothers. But I guess she caught him cheating.” Her mother tsked. “Have you seen her lately? Oh, she’s such a pretty thing. And so sweet. She was at the Mother’s Day luncheon with Marla last year. Men. They can be such idiots. What possible reason would a man have to cheat on a winner like Ava?” She smirked at Isaac. “I have to admit, I always wished chemistry would spark between you two when you were younger.”
Oh, our chemistry sparked all right. Just much later and more fleetingly than he preferred.
“I had it bad for her growing up. She just didn’t know I existed.” She also didn’t know he’d been the one to push all her boundaries and drive her to heights of pleasure. And that made their night together the best dirtiest little secret ever.
“It’s too bad she’s had to go through that shit,” he said.
“She seems to be faring all right. She fired him and broke off their engagement. You know I like a girl with grit.”
Isaac smiled. He liked girls with grit too. And this news heightened his respect for her.
“Marla says she’s been killing herself while they search for a replacement for Matthew. Out of all their children, I’ve always thought Ava was the most dedicated.”
She was mired in the very life Isaac had walked away from. That alone should squelch his interest. But he found himself hoping her pressures at work were what kept her from contacting him again, not disinterest.
“Have you ever considered going back?” His mother stopped fidgeting with the salad and met his gaze. “You know, to the firm, with your dad?”
Isaac understood her desire to have her family under the same corporate roof again. He understood his father’s desire to leave a legacy for his son. Isaac even missed the work sometimes. But it wasn’t the right place for him anymore.
“Life’s short, Mom,” he told her honestly. “I don’t want to live my life surrounded by all that bullshit.” And he shouldn’t be thinking about a woman whose life was steeped in it. “When did all this happen with Ava?”
His mother fluffed the lettuce leaves with her fingers. “Let’s see, I have a hair appointment next week, which means I was in Julie’s chair when I first heard. So that would put the breakup about a month ago.”
Which would have predated her appearance at Grind by a couple of weeks. And that meant Isaac hadn’t been a fuck on the wild side. He’d been a rebound fuck. And didn’t that just ruin the plans he’d come with to get Ava’s number from his mother and give her a call. Set up a real date.
For the best. He didn’t fit into her world, and he didn’t want to. Their erotic night boiled down to absolutely nothing. He’d known that going in, but the new weight in his gut told him his subconscious had been hoping for more.
His mother added the rest of the salad fixings onto the lettuce and smiled at Isaac. “Go say hi to your dad and bring him in. Dinner’s almost ready.”
Isaac pushed to his feet and shook off the disappointing news about Ava. Hell, she’d probably already forgotten all about him anyway.
7
Ava shouldn’t be doing this. She really shouldn’t. She knew that—logically. Emotionally… That was another story entirely. Which was exactly why she shouldn’t be letting her emotions direct this drive.
But she just kept following her iPhone’s GPS directions to Revival, Isaac’s bike shop in Devil’s Den, because, well, to get right down to it, Ava was damn sick and tired of doing what she should be doing—placating her father over the loss of employees, calming her mother over the canceled wedding, doing all her own work and the work of the three people she’d fired.
She was sick of being who she’d always been—the perfect daughter, the most loyal employee, the achiever, making her family proud.
But what could really come of this attempt to find Isaac? She didn’t know anything about him. Hadn’t even known he’d owned his own motorcycle repair shop until she’d stopped at Grind to ask where she might find him. Hell, he could have a girlfriend. Or worse, he could be married for all she knew.
He hadn’t asked for her number when he’d dropped her back at the bar after hours of sex by the lake. Hadn’t mentioned seeing her again. He’d just cupped her cheek and scanned her face with the strangest expression—a mix of intrigue, melancholy, and resignation—before he’d kissed her one last time and said, “Remember your promise.”