EXCERPT

You can do this. You can do this. You can do this. Valerie silently repeated the positive affirmation as she parked her new red corvette in the parking lot next to the towering office building that had been a big part of her life for five years. The nearly all glass structure was almost as cold looking as the January day itself. Another ice storm was predicted to hit Oklahoma City later in the day. She shivered, missing the far more comfortable weather in Maui. She was almost tempted to turn her car around, take the first flight back to her beloved island and abandon this crazy goal she’d set for the new year. Maybe she’d indulged in one too many Mai Tais. Maybe she was just being delusional.

No! Get your butt out of the car and go face the lion in his den. In truth, she’d probably be facing a whole pride of lions up in the prestigious law firm of Hart, Shelby and Wilson. She’d spent six agonizing months apart from the man she loved but hadn’t been able to live with, gone through two months of marriage counseling on her own, taken two months to come to terms with what she—not Jett or anyone else—wanted to do with her life, and survived two months of living through the horror of having filed for a divorce.

New year. New plan for the future. Focus, Valerie. Only you can make this happen. The next seven weeks were going to be among the toughest in her life. By Valentine’s Day she’d either win this battle, or move back to Maui with a permanently bruised heart. Not going to happen! She was a new woman, a more confident woman, and she knew exactly what she wanted now: Jett Hart, even with his flaws and annoying Alpha tendencies.

******

As she pushed open the door to the offices of Hart, Shelby and Wilson a few minutes later, Valerie fought the urge to wrinkle her nose in dislike for the horrible tastes of the firm’s interior decorator. Talk about cold and distancing! Okay, a local magazine had proclaimed their offices as “elegantly tasteful with a touch of modernism.” Whatever. She knew cold and uncomfortable when she saw it. Gray marble floors polished to a perfect shine, not a footprint to be seen. Ebony end tables and reception counter that could no doubt pass a “white glove” test. And black leather chairs with rigid backs and only a slim inch of padding on the seats. But the grim domain fit the lioness behind the reception counter and now glowering in Valerie’s direction.

“Mrs. Hart … Valerie…” Abigail, as always stylishly polished in a black suit, white blouse, and graying hair pulled tightly back into a bun at her neck, struggled with how to greet her.

Nerves were zapping like crazy in Valerie’s stomach. She fought the need to rub it in an attempt to soothe away the tension she felt. She refused to show weakness. Instead she stiffened her shoulders and casually asked, “Is my husband in a meeting now?”

Her use of my husband threw the other woman off. “He’s just finishing a meeting with his partners.” She glanced at the computer monitor in front of her and quickly added, “He has another meeting out of the office in an hour and a number of important phone calls to return before he can leave.” It was clear by her tone of voice that there was no way in hell Valerie had a chance of seeing her husband.

Want to bet on that, Sergeant Abigail? Valerie hadn’t spent the last two weeks stressing over her decision and flying all this way back to the land of ice and frigidly cold days to be put off so easily. She was not the same young woman who had left here all those months ago. “I intend to see Jett, so I’d better go to his office quickly then.” She could be equally determined.

The person who everyone appeared to be trying to shield from her stepped into his doorway. She froze less than ten feet away. Her knees had gone mushy, but she’d gone hot everywhere else. Sex-in-a-$1,000 suit immediately came to mind. She’d always thought he was delicious to look at, wickedly tempting. In the months since she’d last seen him, he’d only gotten sexier. His once carefully trimmed black hair was now worn in something barely longer than a buzz cut, clearly he’d given up attempting to hide the fact that his hairline was receding. He’d also adopted the sinfully sexy just past five-o’clock shadow look. Yummmmmmmy.  For having just turned forty… Well, wow! She wanted him more than her next breath. If Abigail and his partners weren’t in her way, she might have run those few feet more and jumped his bones right then and there.

“I’ve got about a minute,” Jett said in a tone meaning that was absolutely all he would give her.

It took him a second, but as she faced him, he said, “I signed the papers already.” He sounded grim and oddly hurt. “Didn’t your attorney get them to you?”

The hint of pain in his voice got to her, gave her hope that maybe—with a great deal of patience on her part, she was sure—her plan would work. She opened her satchel and pulled out the large envelope she’d stuffed inside. His expression was hard as he watched her, his jaw tight with tension. Her palms were sweating and her heart beating so rapidly she prayed she wouldn’t wimp out and have a heart attack.

You can do this. You can do this. You can do this.

“Valerie,” he prompted.

His impatience put her in action. She opened the envelope and dumped small bits of paper out onto his perfectly neat desk. “It seems the papers had a bit of a shredding accident.”

He reached out to finger some of the shredded divorce papers, and then lifted a frustrated face to look at her. “You wanted this.”

Valerie shrugged, although her stomach was knotted. “Woman, remember. We tend to change our minds.”

He’d looked vulnerable for a second, now he looked almost angry. “Men don’t. I signed the papers. You can’t—“

She shifted toe-to-toe with him, still being a good six inches shorter, cutting him off, “I’m not giving up on us just yet. On you.”

“You sure as hell did six months ago!” His expression had darkened even more. The hurt of her having walked out on him flamed in his eyes.

“You didn’t come after me,” she countered. She’d waited patiently for him to come to his senses and come get her, but he was stubborn bone deep. So she’d given up on waiting for him and come back on her own. “We can discuss it tonight at home.”

He stepped back, a frown furrowing his brow. Evidently he hadn’t known he was supposed to come after her. Men could be so dense sometimes.

“I’m not sure I can forgive you.” He gave her an all too familiar look, and then walked determinedly to the door and shut it.

She’d never feared that look, not exactly liked it…but never feared it. This was a part of who he was, of how he dealt with her. It was part of his love for her, he’d once explained. And because she loved him—had always loved him—she remained semi-calm and waiting.

“I don’t have time to do this properly.” He walked back, grim. “Believe me, if you’re at my home when I get there tonight, this will be done properly.”

“Our home,” Valerie corrected him.

Pain flashed in his eyes again, and she knew that she had a lot of making up to do before things would be right between them. And it would be. She’d discovered a stubborn streak in herself that she hadn’t known was there before.

“As I said, I don’t have much time now. And this isn’t the place for a spanking.” He took her purse and set it aside, and then turned her toward the desk. “You know I have to do this. At least once.”