My Guarded Valentine (Hope Peak’s Valentine’s Day)

14. Buck

Chapter 14

Buck

A s I walked downstairs, the next morning, I grabbed the flowers I bought her and placed them in a vase. Maybe the teen from town was right. Actually, maybe everyone was right. I glanced up the small flight of stairs in the direction she was in as I mixed more pancake mix. I needed to ask her later if there were other things she liked…which would imply somehow keeping her. Lost in my thoughts, I glanced at my phone. I could offer to take her to O’Brien Industries. If I scheduled the right people, she might not find out that I’m actually Connor O’Brien.

I sighed. Keeping that a secret wouldn’t be possible long term. What would her reaction be if I told her? Before I could ponder that problem anymore, a loud knocking broke me from my thoughts. I wasn’t sure who it could be on the weekend. Mitch wouldn’t really come this way without texting first. Hopefully, there wasn’t an emergency in town. My fingers gripped the knob, and I swung the door open.

Standing on the snow covered porch, my assistant, Tim, stood there in jeans and a tee shirt with a wool coat overtop. He sighed in relief as he brushed past me. “Why are you here, Tim? Is everything okay?”

“So a few days ago, a reporter started emailing various people in O’Brien Industries. Originally, she was set up to do a basic interview with Tammy that deals with the media. Except she was emailing other people in the company. And it was weird. I think you need to come into work on Monday. Maybe clean up a bit?” Tim said as he followed me to the kitchen.

“Why? Surely it shouldn’t matter much? How many times have they done stories on us?”

“It’s the type of questions she was asking. They weren’t quite right and sounded suspicious. One of the secretaries was saying it was like some dog whistle and she had bad vibes about it.” Tim’s eyes darted to the flowers, and he looked back at me. “Do you have company? That’s not like you.”

“I’m helping a friend,” I replied gruffly.

Tim’s face shifted with suspicion. “With flowers?”

“Yes, and I’m making her breakfast right now.” I beat the batter once more to make my point.

Tim’s eyes raised. “Wow. I guess it’s pretty serious, then.”

“It is what it is,” I replied as I placed the batter back down.

“Does she know?”

From the stairs, Mitzi’s voice rang out. “Know what?”

Tim and I both looked towards the other side of the room. Mitzi stood at the bottom with her head tilted. Mitzi was dressed in leggings and another tee shirt. Her jacket was wrapped around her and she hugged it closer to her body in a comforting position. I groaned. I wanted to surprise her with breakfast in bed and Tim ruined it.

“Sorry. He dropped in from work,” I said. I pointed to the raw pancake batter. “I was going to make you breakfast in bed.”

Mitzi smiled softly. “Wow. That would have been new.”

Tim cleared his throat and her attention left me. “I’m Tim, his assistant.”

Her eyes narrowed before looking down. “Nice to meet you, Tim,” she mumbled as she brushed her hair forward to hide her face.

His brows furrowed. “You look familiar. Have we met before?” Tim asked, as his eyes narrowed.

Mitzi shook her head as she sat on the couch, her back facing him. Mitzi wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and stared into the fireplace. She quickly shook her head like she was hiding behind her hair. “Nope. Don’t know you,” she replied.

My brows furrowed. “What do you mean? If you wanted to interview people at O’Brian industries, Tim is the guy you would have talked or emailed,” I said. I clenched my jaw as I realized I might have said too much. I never told her where I worked.

Tim gasped as he glanced at Mitzi, who looked like she was trying to be as small as possible inside my blanket. Tim pointed to her. “That’s the girl! She dyed her hair since her photo was put on the website of the paper, but that’s her. ”

I blinked. “What?”

“That’s the girl. She thinks something shady is going on at O’Brien Industries. How’d she come here?”

For the first time in years, I opened my heart to someone and now, Tim was telling me she had an ulterior motive. How’d she find me? I looked at him before returning my gaze to Mitzi. “Mitzi? Is this true?”

“I told you I was doing an article on O’Brien Industries,” she mumbled. “You didn’t tell me you had a connection with O’Brien.”

“Why did he come here, then?” I asked.

“Sounds like they are paranoid,” Mitzi said, ignoring my question.

“Mitzi!”

She turned around on her knees and glared at me from the couch. “I didn’t come here to find you. My car broke down and I needed help. I didn’t expect the stupid mountain man I would find was the billionaire I wanted to expose!” she exclaimed as she threw a pillow at me.

Tim winced and backed away from the kitchen. “Look, I think I’m going to go now. I’m probably canceling all those interviews, though.”

“Tim, leave,” I growled.

Tim lifted his hand up as he walked to the door. “I was already going,” he mumbled as he turned around. “Sounds like you need to figure this out without me.” I crossed my arms as I waited for Tim to walk out. Once the door was shut, I turned back to Mitzi. She had thrown herself back on the couch and resumed glaring at the fireplace. Leaving the kitchen, I walked to the living room and sat on the coffee table.

“Why are you here?”

Mitzi sighed and huffed. “I’m here for the same reason I was here this morning. I broke down. You were supposed to be a random mountain man. You’ve been lying to everyone in this entire place and me. I didn’t expect you to be Connor O’Brien. ”

I steeled my jaw as she narrowed her eyes at me in anger. “What were you asking all my employees? You must have tipped them off enough that they spooked. Tim wouldn’t come here in the winter from the goodness of his heart.”

Mitzi broke her eye contact with me as she paled. “I might have been insinuating since you left the public eye that you were dead and your brother replaced you. You two looked similar enough. If you kept a low profile, I guess it could have worked,” she whispered while she rubbed her hands. Her frown deepened. “I know I was wrong now. Yet you had sex with me like a damn liar.”

My mouth fell open. I wasn’t sure if it was her sudden switch that I was the bad guy or she tried to take down my company with her article. What she had been saying for days was completely different from the truth. On top of that, she started saying that she changed her mind on the subject of her article. “You don’t seem shocked that Tim was with O’Brien. And you sure haven’t asked who I was. Do you know who I am?”

Mitzi stopped fidgeting. “Yes. Curtis told me. But I was suspicious.” Her eyes darted to the fireplace, and I turned my head. The picture of Lance.

“Mitzi…”

“If it matters, I have changed my mind about doing a hard hitting article on you, by the way,” she whispered.

“Why? ‘Cause we had sex?”

She made a face and rolled her eyes. “No. It’s not that. I got to know you more. It doesn’t hurt anyone if you’re hiding in the mountains ‘cause you feel guilty. I still don’t know everything that happened with the wreck. Somehow, you’ve been able to keep that out of all the news and stuff. You’re living with your own prison.” Mitzi looked up. “By the way, it’s not too late to get therapy. Suvivor’s guilt is real and you don’t have to keep hurting yourself.”

My mouth fell open, and I shook my head. “I’m not hurt.”

She waved around the room. “How are you not hurting yourself? You have friends, but no love. You left your job. Really. Think about it. Would your brother be happy with this?”

A frown threatened to pull at my lips, but I closed my mouth quickly. “I…he’d be glad that I’m not fucking around anymore, but…I don’t think he’d like how I’ve shut everyone out. I’m friends with them, but only a few are close enough to know who I really am.”

She leaned forward and grabbed my hands. “Therapy. And stop doing this.”

My eyes narrowed. “And what about your job?”

“The article isn’t due for two weeks. Maybe I should do a profile on Ms. Dolly. Country advice givin’ auntie to everyone in town as she slings hamburgers all day. Who wouldn’t like that?”

I smiled. “People love stories like that. And I can tell you all the things you can ask. She does a lot for the community.”

“As long as she’s not starting a bachelor’s auction just for you,” Mitzi said, before laughing lightly.

“Do you not like that?”

She giggled as her face darkened with embarrassment. “Not really.”

“Good.” I reached out and held her cheek in my palm. My thumb traced along her plump lips before tugging her lower lip. Mitzi’s breaths came out in pants. I leaned in closer to her and our lips crashed together. Her fingers slid underneath my shirt and I wrapped my arms around her waist. Pulling her onto my lap, Mitzi moaned as she nipped at my bottom lip.

I broke the kiss and looked into her eyes. “What about this? You were just mad at me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I told you I knew since yesterday. I still had sex with you.”

I winked. “You could be a gold digger.”

“I’m gonna punch you. Kiss me. Or something.”

“That’s no way to talk to me,” I hissed.

She sucked in a quick breath, and her eyes lit up in glee. “Are you going to punish me?”

My hand wrapped around her and twisted through her messy hair. Her pelvis rocked against my rapidly rising cock. I licked the edge of her earlobe and she gasped. “Do you need to be punished?”

“I haven’t really been that bad, but I haven’t felt good pain in quite a while,” she said between gasps of pleasure as she rocked her body on top of mine.

“If we have sex again, you’re mine.”

Her breathing picked up even more and her eyes were lit with arousal. I loved seeing the effect I had on her.