Surrender to You by Shawntelle Madison

said something to comfort the other, but I got
nothing.
    “Goodbye, Aunt Lucia.”
    After the call ended, I sat there for the longest time, unsure what to do. The logical thing would be to wake up Carlie and get on a plane, but that was the easy way out.
    We’d made plans—now none of that meant a damn thing. I’d have to stay in London for who knew how long. Carlie had a life here. There was also no way in fucking hell I was exposing her to Aunt Lucia and the rest of the women who planned to assemble and bicker over a dead man’s fortune. That night in the study, I formed a plan: settle this mess and then come back for her. I got dressed and left Carlie a note that I had a business to handle.
    But I hadn’t returned for over a year.
    And now, eight years later, I was eating dinner with Kraven and not Carlie. I never gave her that promise ring, either. I was preparing to sell my hotel and move on to the next location and the next project.
    Her words bounced around in my head:
You walk away and leave me standing there trying to figure out what’s left of myself.
    Yes, I had done that.
    And I’d give anything to go back to that day so I could’ve stayed instead of leaving. For that day, I’d done the very thing that hurt her the most.
    I’d abandoned her.
    —
    A few days later, my mood was buoyed. The second meeting with the team from Hong Kong was going better than expected. If everything proceeded as planned, I’d not only have a buyer for the Goodfellow Tower but I might have a partner to provide an ideal location for the additional property I was looking at.
    “We’re seriously considering your fine property, Mr. Goodfellow,” the lead from the team in Hong Kong said. I scanned their eager faces, assessing their interest based on their reactions. So far, so good.
    This was just another meeting and another set of potential buyers, but as my gaze swept over the meeting room on the conference floor, the tension in my stomach increased a bit. Of all the hotels I’d constructed, this one in Boston was special.
    So why are you selling it?
I asked myself.
Because this is just another property.
    No matter how many extra touches I put into the building or how much I worked on the façade, this was only another multi-million-dollar investment that would pay off in the end.
Remember your goals,
I reminded myself.
    Since I was a kid, I’d dreamed of an ideal project. A place where I could do what I wanted to whomever I pleased. I created such a place as a whim here in Boston. The goal though had always been to go bigger and higher.
    I wanted the kind of investment property that could only be dreamt of and then brought to life through an architect’s drawing. In my mind, my resort would have beaches, entertainment spaces, and luxury shopping spaces.
    I’d thought my next project would be in Dubai or London, yet I’d ended up in Boston, even contemplated going back to NYC again.
    A smile filled my face.
You always come back to the U.S. because this place is where it all began.
Maybe I knew someday she’d come back. If not for me, then for something else.
    After the preliminary presentation, where I was all smiles and such, Kraven began the tour. Usually, I sat back and waited for them to finish the process, but I couldn’t resist going along this time.
    I told myself it wasn’t to see if I ran into her again. I had no desire to see the fiery look in her eyes after what happened between us, but one glimpse today would be enough to recharge me.
    During the whole tour, she hadn’t shown up once.
    My heartbeat sped up thinking about the moment we stole in the Darkness Suite. She’d been responsive like she always was, but the moment I expressed how I felt, she played her withdrawal act like a professional.
    I sucked in a deep breath. I shouldn’t have asked her to stay with me last night, but I did it anyway. As much as she liked to receive pain, I got a healthy dose of it myself.
    The tour ended and I had yet to