Chapter Eight

Emma was sitting at her desk, trying and failing to focus on the financial reports in front of her.

There was a knock at her office door. "Come in," she called out irritably.

The door opened and Mark sauntered in, shutting it behind him with a self-assured click. "Hello, Emma."

Emma felt her blood pressure spike instantly at the sight of him. She shot up from her chair, sending it clattering to the floor. How dare he come to her office!

"You...what are you doing here?" she spat out through gritted teeth, fists clenched at her sides.

Mark gave her that insufferable charming smile that used to make her knees weak. "Now, now. Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

"We were never friends!" Emma raged, storming around the desk until they were face to face, close enough for her to smell his spicy cologne. It was the same scent that used to linger on his shirts when she'd bury her face in them after making love.

She ruthlessly shoved that traitorous thought aside, focusing on the white-hot anger coursing through her veins. "You lying, cheating snake!"

"Emma, please, just let me explain…"

"Explain what?" she cut him off with a harsh laugh, the sound devoid of any mirth. "That you saw an opportunity for a meaningless fling and Amanda was convenient? That you're an arrogant prick who only cares about getting what you want, no matter who you hurt in the process?"

Mark sighed heavily, running a hand through his neatly coiffed hair. "Sweetheart, I know I screwed up big time. But we belong together, you and me. Deep down, you know that's true."

"Belong together?" Emma's voice dripped with derision, her eyes blazing with a mix of anguish and fury. "After the devastation you caused me? The utter humiliation of being cheated on by the man I gave everything to?"

A flicker of regret flickered across Mark's chiseled features before his expression hardened again. "I was a fool, a stupid fool who didn't see how amazing you are until I lost you. But I've learned my lesson, I swear it. Just give me a chance to prove it to you."

As he tried to take her hand, Emma wrenched it away violently. "Your perpetual lies are worthless to me."

"Emma, please just hear me out," Mark pleaded, his lips forming that irresistible pout she used to find so endearing. "I'm still in love with you. You're the only one for me, you have to know that."

Emma barked out another mirthless laugh that reverberated off the walls of her spacious office. "Love? You don't know the meaning of the word! How dare you think you can just pick up where we left off like you didn't utterly demolish my heart with your callous infidelity?"

"Because I mean it this time!" Mark's voice rose in desperation, his eyes wild and imploring. "I'll spend every day proving my worth if you'd just give me another chance. Please, Emma...I'm begging you."

"Another chance?" Emma stepped closer until they were nearly chest-to-chest, her eyes blazing with a scorching mix of anger, lust, and something she refused to identify as longing. "Listen very carefully, because I'm only saying this once. We are over. Finished. Done."

"Emma, don't say that, please," Mark tried to cup her face but she smacked his hand away with stinging force.

"If I never lay eyes on your cheating face again it'll be too soon," she hissed, poking him hard in the chest and relishing the flare of pain in his expression. "There is no 'we' anymore. No reconciliation, no second chances. You need to move on with your pathetic life and leave me alone, do you understand?"

Mark opened his mouth as if to protest, then seemed to think better of it as Emma glared daggers at him. After a tense moment, he spoke again, his tone softer and tinged with resignation.

"Emma, this isn't about me anymore, it's about you..."

Her eyebrows shot up incredulously. "Since when did you begin to care about me? There is nothing that's going to happen between us anymore, not now or ever," she said bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Mark ran a hand over his face wearily. "I know, and I get it, you're furious with me over what I did. I was unforgivably stupid and selfish. I took you for granted, and you can throw all the shades at me that you want. I deserve far worse, to be honest."

He paused, worrying his lower lip as he seemed to carefully consider his next words. "But if you're going to choose someone else, it should be someone worthier than that arrogant prick James."

Emma inhaled sharply, stung by both his audacity and the faint tendril of truth in his words that she didn't want to acknowledge. "You have no right to tell me how to live my life. You made your choices, reprehensible as they were, and I've made mine."

"I know, and if I could turn back the hands of time, I would in a heartbeat," Mark said, his voice thick with remorse. "I've regretted everything I did to you, Emma. I truly do."

His raw emotion was like a battering ram against the walls she'd built up to guard her heart. Emma swallowed hard, fighting to maintain her steely composure. "You can't fool me with that line anymore. It's an old hat."

Mark took a step closer, his eyes boring into hers with startling intensity. "You can't just throw away what we shared, Emma. Didn't those years together mean anything to you at all?"

A lump formed in Emma's throat as memories bombarded her - passionate nights tangled in the sheets, lazy Sundays cuddled on the couch, and the way Mark's laugh used to make her heart swell. She viciously tamped down the nostalgia threatening to overwhelm her.

"There is no 'us' anymore," she said, the waver in her voice betraying the turmoil roiling inside her. She had to get him out of there before he utterly obliterated her resolve. "I'm engaged to James now. You need to accept that and move on with your life."

But Mark continued advancing until he was standing directly in front of her, near enough for her to feel the warmth radiating from his body. She could smell that damn cologne again, the scent she'd once found so alluring and comforting now searing into her senses like a brand.

"You don't love him, Emma," Mark murmured huskily, reaching out to tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "I know you still have feelings for me. I can see it burning in your eyes whenever you look at me."

Emma shivered involuntarily at his touch, hating herself for her body's instinctive reaction. "You're delusional," she scoffed, fighting to keep her voice steady as her heart raced.

"Am I?" Mark brushed the backs of his fingers along her flushed cheek, his touch feather-light yet scorching her skin.

He leaned in closer, his lips a hairsbreadth away from hers. Emma's eyelids fluttered closed despite her mind screaming at her to push him away. Part of her, the foolish, naïve part, wanted nothing more than to surrender to his intoxicating embrace one last time.

"Just one kiss, Emma," he murmured, his warm breath fanning across her lips. "Let me remind you what we could have together. One kiss and I promise that will be all, then I'll leave you be."

Emma was powerless to resist as his mouth brushed ever so softly against hers, sending an electric current zinging through her veins. All her anger and heartbreak receded in that singular moment, ousted by a consuming desire she could no longer deny.

Just as their lips were about to crash together in a searing kiss, there was a sharp rap on the door. "Ms. Montgomery? Your 2 o'clock appointment is here," Nelly's voice rang out.

The spell was instantly shattered. Emma's eyes flew open and she quickly took a jerky step back, putting some much-needed distance between herself and the man who had almost unraveled her with his nearness.

Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest as she tried to collect herself, hair askew and cheeks flushed. What had she almost done? She was getting married to James, wasn't she? Yet even now, after so much pain and betrayal, Mark's presence still managed to shake her to her core like no one else could.

She opened her mouth, fully intent on unleashing another blistering tirade to banish him from her office, from her life, once and for all. But Mark spoke first, his expression a mix of longing and resignation.

"I'm not giving up on you, Emma," he said softly yet firmly. "Not until you convince me you've truly let go of the incredible bond we once shared."

His words landed like a sucker punch to her gut. Emma stared at him, stunned into momentary silence. She wanted to rail at him, to hurl venomous denials, but something held her back. A tiny flicker of doubt, perhaps, or a begrudging acknowledgment that their history couldn't be erased, no matter how much she wished it could be.

Mark seemed to take her silence as a small victory. Holding her gaze, he nodded once before turning on his heel and exiting her office, leaving the door ajar.