Read Selective/Memory: The "Depth of Emotion" Book 2 (The Depth of Emotion) for Free Online

business didn’t suffer for it at all.
    The company was flourishing. Declan had thrown himself into his work. He was a driven man, arriving early and staying late. His personality was turned on and off like a light switch. The difference was frightening to Katherine. She was the one who truly saw him—well, her and his brother. Declan spoke mostly in grunts and barks to her, but when he picked up the phone or went into a meeting, he turned on the charm and behaved as he used to, when he was happy—when he was with Aria…
    He didn’t respond to her question when he walked through the door, so she attempted to get his attention once more.
    “Hey Declan…didn’t you hear me?”
    “What?!” he answered sharply, catching her completely off-guard. Declan realized how harshly his response was by her shocked look.
    Bewilderment showing in her face, she raised her hand with the paper messages and answered, “Calls…for you…while you were out.” She then handed the messages to him.
    Taking them from her, he mumbled, “Thank you.” He then retreated to his office.
    Katherine stared at the door once it was closed. Her intuition was telling her that something was off. This wasn’t the normal bad mood. He seemed somehow darker, edgier, and angrier. She couldn’t imagine what had gone wrong at the meeting.
    Looking back at the appointment book to confirm the content, she was even more perplexed. The man he was meeting with was always pleasant, and it was only a meeting with regard to advertising space.
    What could possibly have gone wrong to make him so angry?
     

     
    Throwing his overcoat off, he walked to the credenza and placed both hands on the rich wood to brace himself. His head hung down, and with his eyes closed, he shook it back and forth as if he could shake the image of her from his mind, but it was indelibly etched.
    As he raised his aching head, his eyes took in the beautiful view of the bay, and he was reminded that it was she that chose this space for him specifically for this particular pleasure. He couldn’t escape her, but as his eyes lowered, they focused on the bottle near his hand, sitting next to the crystal glasses. He snickered as he was reminded that they had also been a gift from her when The Studio had its grand opening.
    Turning the top of the bottle, he poured himself a liberal portion of his good friend, Jameson, and as he took the liquid in his mouth, he allowed the mixture of its many flavors to mull there, drowning out, if even momentarily, the memories that plagued him of the sweetness of her kiss. As it made its way down, it wasn’t having the desired effect of distracting his thoughts from her, but rather made him think more of her.
    Determined to ease some pain, he knocked back the remains of the glass with the thought that the alcohol would work more quickly to dull the memories once in his system. That, however, wasn’t to be, and after several glasses, the only purpose the whiskey had served was to dull his senses, allowing him to more fully embrace the bountiful recollections of the woman he knew could never be exorcised from his soul…
     

     
    The telephone intercom interrupted his thoughts as Katherine announced the next meeting.
    “Blake Matthews and Marisol Franzi are here for your 3:00,” she said cheerfully.
    “Shit!”
    Straightening in his chair, Declan came to the realization that though his eyes had closed for a few moments, his senses were still buzzing from the alcohol.
    “I’ll be with them in a minute,” he told her. “See if they want something to drink.”
    He surmised Katherine would buy him a few minutes to become presentable, and he pushed himself away from the desk. Returning the Jameson to the credenza, he made his way to the bathroom. Staring back at him in the mirror, Declan didn’t like what he saw. A hardened man with features that were no longer synonymous with youth and marketability, yet still bearing some semblance of the world’s