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but he stopped her.
    “Actually, I called you in here to discuss the prepar a tions for the open house.”
    Glancing back at him, she reluctantly returned to her chair. “Pretty much everything has been taken care of. All of the invitations went out two days ago,” she said.
    “I have some people I would like to add to the list. I’ll email them to you today.”
    “That’s fine. I’ll make sure that they go out as soon as possible,” she replied.
    For a moment, they both stared at each other. Melanie struggled to keep up the façade of professionalism, but i n side, she was starting to break.
    “Is that all?” she asked.
    Letting out a heavy sigh, he nodded. “For now.”
    Getting up, she hurried out of his office, practically running to the bathroom. Once she was safely inside the stall, she felt the tears slide down her cheeks. She didn’t know why she was so hurt. After all, the scene with Mira n da made things pretty clear. Maybe she had hoped that he would have some sort of explanation for his connection with the woman? Some reason that might absolve him?
    But there wasn’t.
    He had just proved it.
    And she hated him for it.
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
    Connor stared at his reflection in the mirror. His ey e brows crowded together in frustration as he tried in vain to get his tie straight. He’d been planning for this night for the last few weeks, and now all he wanted was for the damned thing to be over. Most of the employees were excited about the open house.
    However, the tension between him and Melanie was at a fever pitch.
    No matter how hard he tried, he would never unde r stand her. Despite what she said, he knew that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. Her body had given that i n formation away.
    So, why was she fighting it?
    Grabbing his jacket from the hanger, he pulled it over his shoulders.
    Miranda was an even bigger problem. When he began seeing her, the rules had been clear. Neither one of them was in it for a relationship. They had both agreed that this would be a casual arrangement.
    But, somehow, things had changed.
    Suddenly, the comfortable affair he had enjoyed was not enough for her anymore. And, if he was honest with himself, he knew that he couldn’t give her more.
    Not now.
    Not with things the way they were.
    Miranda was a beautiful woman. She could have any man she desired. She reminded him of that fact constantly. But it wasn’t just that. It was the fact that he was beginning to think that she was more interested in his bottom line than she was in who he was as a person. It wasn’t that he was rich, because he wasn’t. He had worked hard to get where he was. But more and more, Miranda was finding ways to spend his money.
    And more and more, he wanted to find a way out.
    He would be the first to admit that she would make some man happy.
    It just wasn’t him.
    The trouble was convincing her that splitting up was the best solution for both of them. For the past few weeks, he had tried to do exactly that with no success. Miranda was not a woman who accepted failure. Even if she didn’t truly love him, she refused to lose him. Appearances were ever y thing to Miranda. They mattered much more than what was real.
    That fact bothered him most.
    It also meant that tonight was going to be a powder keg waiting for a match.
    If Miranda found out that he was interested in someone else, she would declare war.
    Melanie was a different type of problem.
    She had already declared war, and unfortunately, she was using vigilante justice by giving him the cold shoulder. That meant that he might have not one upset woman but two to deal with tonight.
    Sighing deeply, he stared at himself in the mirror.
    One way or another, he was going to make Miranda understand that it was over.
    He just hoped he wasn’t too late.
    * * * *
    Tonight was the night.
    After thinking about it long and hard, there was only one solution to the predicament she had gotten herself into. Tonight,