Unfinished Business Read Online Free Page A

would be in town for a few more days, and although Christy might wish otherwise, she hadn’t seen the last of him. Before he returned to Houston, she would definitely know who she belonged to.
    Without saying anything else, he turned and walked out the door.
    Christy closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. How dare he? How dare Alex show up on her doorstep like this! After ignoring her for three years he thought they had a reason to talk?
    She inhaled again, calmly this time, as she tried to understand why on earth he assumed there was unfinished business between them. They had not only finished things between them, but he had let her know in no uncertain terms that things should never have escalated to that point anyway.
    She had felt as stupid as any one woman had a right to feel when he had looked into her face, after she’d reminded him that he had given her that pinkie ring as a promise of marriage on her thirteenth birthday and said, Christy, you know I was just kidding with you that day, don’t you ?
    No, she hadn’t known he’d only been kidding. Wearing his ring had meant everything to her, but he had looked her dead in the eye and said, It meant nothing ! She had found out the hard way that humiliation could make a person feel so awful, so low, that for as long as she lived she would never forgive him for making her feel that way. And tonight she couldn’t help but notice that the ring was back on his finger. She was surprised he hadn’t tossed it away when she gave it back to him.
    A sharp pain she had tried so hard to ignore for the past three years touched her heart, reminding her of the reason she had fallen in love with him at thirteen. In her mind he had been her soul mate. To her he had been Alexander the Great , just like the nickname she’d given him in her preteen years. Even when she had gotten old enough to know what she wanted, it had always been Alex Maxwell. Alex who’d always had an older, sophisticated, and mature air about him. Alex with his smooth, sure walk, articulate talk, tall, lean, well-built body, an impeccable dresser, sharp, intelligent, all the things she wanted in a man.
    There had always been this calm and collected spirit about him. He had always been a person in complete control, never showing any deep ingrained emotions. To her he had been Mr. Cool and she had admired that quality about him, but now she hated it with a vengeance. That night three years ago, she had seen just how ironclad that cool control was. She had seen him lose his anger but never his control. She would love pushing him to the limit, seeing him snap, but doubted such a thing was possible.
    Deciding she didn’t want to think about Alex any longer, she grabbed her purse off the table. More than anything, she intended to have fun tonight and was determined to erase the forever cool and in control Alex Maxwell from her mind once and for all.
    Alex had had a ton of messages waiting for him when he returned to his hotel room. Most of them, he figured, were from the Madaris brothers. He was too upset to talk to anyone tonight and decided to wait until morning to return their calls.
    He pinched the bridge of his nose, not believing how angry he was. He was like a man possessed. If he didn’t know better, he would think he was in love. He let out a frustrated sigh. Dammit, he knew better than that since he was incapable of loving anyone; unable to show that emotion . . . thanks to his poor excuse of a father.
    He walked over to the hotel’s window and looked out, and recalled just when he’d realized how Carl Maxwell’s disappearing act had left a scar on him. He hadn’t quite reached his first birthday when his father had walked out on his wife and two sons. But the child in Alex had loved the missing parent anyway, and had actually believed that because of that love, his father would one day miraculously return. No one, he had thought in his young, naïve mind, would not accept that much love. He was proven