Examined by the OB-GYN CEO novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Her Own Door

"No?" Ronan said.

"No to the penthouse," I said. "Not no to you."

"Explain the difference."

"I've lived in someone else's house for my whole adult life. My father's, then a dorm, then Preston's, with his mother down the hall."

He waited.

"I want one night in a place where the key is mine," I said. "Then I'll come to yours, and you'll know it was because I picked it."

He looked at me for a long moment.

Then the corner of his mouth moved.

"Bree," he said.

"What about her?"

"She's been texting me since six this morning."

"About what?"

"A one-bedroom, two floors below hers, with sunlight and a bathtub. She says you'll hate it and take it anyway."

"She's right," I said.

I signed the lease at noon, with Bree standing behind me eating a pretzel.

The Lisbon contract was signed at four.

The Portuguese delegation came up to the 46th floor in their best suits, and I sat at the head of the glass table with the pen in my hand.

Ronan sat at the far end as a guest.

He kept his hands folded and his mouth shut.

I read the last page.

My hand was steady.

When I put down the pen, the lead director looked at me across the table and said in careful English, "Your husband must be very proud."

"I don't have a husband," I said. "I have a signature."

Ronan made a small sound that was nearly a cough.

That night he carried the one box I owned up three flights of stairs, because the elevator was out.

My apartment was bare and smelled of paint.

There was a mattress on the floor, a lamp, and Bree's gift on the counter: a bottle of wine and a note that said, Use the bathtub. It's a hell of a tub.

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