Restrained (Sterling Family #3)

13. Hayden

13

HAYDEN

T hat was a strange turn . For once, I was enjoying having a conversation, but she has an issue with swimming. One she doesn’t want to talk about, which only piques my curiosity.

I need to leave it alone. She doesn’t want to talk about it. Great.

I told her way too much at the second hotel yesterday. Maybe today I should just shut the fuck up and go back to work.

Only I can’t . My obsession to know is festering as we sit here, and she goes over plans on her iPad. She must feel my eyes on hers because she lifts her head and takes a deep breath, the delicate silver necklace resting on her chest rising and falling with the movement. “My brother drowned, and ever since then, I hate to go swimming. I hate water.”

Well, fuck me. I knew her brother died, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t dig that deep. “I’m sorry.”

Her shoulders lift, but the gesture isn’t as nonchalant as she wants it to seem. It’s forced. “I’ll eventually get back in the water, I’m sure.”

I nod my head, trying to be encouraging, but I saw the fear in her eyes when I brought up swimming.

Her shoulders droop, and she sighs. “Or not.”

“I can’t imagine what you went through. He was only eighteen?”

She’s not surprised I know that. She knows I looked into her background. “Yes. He never made it to college.”

“I’m guessing you were close.” I need to shut up. I’m not supposed to be interested in Lola. It’s Penelope I need to learn more about.

Her gaze is thoughtful, and I see guilt in her eyes as she lowers her head, her chin nearly touching her chest. “I thought we were. I thought our whole family was, but as I look back, maybe we weren’t.”

“What do you mean?”

Her eyes lift slowly, meeting mine. “He was going through something. Something I should have seen coming, but I wasn’t paying attention.”

I don’t want to care, but I have to ask. I should pick up my phone and go back to work, but I can’t. “Was it intentional?”

“No. He just, he was feeling too much pressure. He cheated on his girlfriend.” She tucks her unruly bangs behind her ear again. “Penelope.”

What? Penelope? As in her partner? I try to keep calm, hearing this information. “I thought she was with your brother, Lincoln?”

Lincoln is very much alive and works in real estate. She nods her head and then puffs out air from between her very full lips. “She is now. Kind of then too.”

Now I'm lost. “What?”

She lightheartedly laughs at that even if her eyes are full of tears. “C-Co...” She clears her throat and shakes her head, struggling to say her brother’s name. Colt. “My brother dated Penelope first. It was young love and looking back, they weren’t a fit.”

“Lincoln and she are?”

She nods, wiping away a rogue tear with the back of her hand. “They are.”

“Colt cheated on Penelope?” She flinches when I say her brother’s name out loud, and I feel like an asshole.

“He did. Once.” She forces a smile. “The girl got pregnant.”

I try to hide my surprise. “You’re an aunt?”

Now her smile isn’t forced. And in that one grin on her pretty face, I see how much she loves that child. “I sure am. To a beautiful little boy who reminds me so much of my brother, it makes me ache. They actually just moved in with me.”

No. Please be vapid.

She let her dead brother’s mistress and son move in with her ? “And Penelope? How does she feel about all of it?”

“Penelope is an amazing person. She loves that little boy too. Her relationship with Linc was always kind of complicated. I think she loved them both from the start.”

“I see you guys are interesting.”

She laughs. “That’s a nice way of putting it. But still, not a reason not to work with us, right? I don’t think it’ll tarnish your reputation.”

I want to tell her everything. Why I really wanted to know about Penelope. Why I sought their small company out for my million-dollar contract.

And that is fucking terrifying.

“Nothing too unsavory. My clients aren’t all that conservative anyway.”

“Just wealthy.”

I study her. “You have a problem with the rich?”

“Not at all. I’ll gladly take their money.” Her grin is confident, and I fucking love it. “You?” She’s studying me intently.

“Same. I’ll take their money.”

“You don’t come from this life, do you?”

I swallow hard and realized I've moved closer to her on the bed. So close our thighs are touching as our legs hang over the edge of the bed. “What life is that, Lola?”

My voice is husky, the intensity between us thick and almost suffocating.

Her lips part, and she answers, her voice low, “Rich, privileged assholes. With big fancy homes and flashy cars.”

My mouth is in a straight line, knowing I’m showing my cards too soon and barely caring. “No. I didn’t come from any of that. I came from nothing.”

She’s not turned off by my confession, instead she seems to be intrigued as her fingers brush over my hand and the puffy pink scar there. “When we first met, I thought you were this entitled asshole like everyone I’ve always known.” I swallow again as I listen to her, transfixed by her full mouth and soulful eyes. “But something didn’t fit.”

Her eyes drop to the scar. “My scar threw you off?”

She traces it with her finger as she examines it. “Yes.”

“Rich people don’t have scars?” I don’t take my eyes off her finger on my hand.

“They do. But for some reason, it made you seem more real to me. Like you’ve experienced some type of hell in your life. But everything about you was so put together. Refined.” Her finger stops moving but stays on my skin as her eyes lift, as do mine. We meet each other’s gaze. “I wanted you to be like all of them, so I’d have a reason to stay far away.”

If only she would have. “I need you to be a spoiled little rich girl for the same reason.”

She doesn’t look hurt, her eyes dropping back to my scar. “I’m definitely that. Everything was handed to me, and I took it all for granted.”

I pull my hand away but only to use it to tip her chin up to meet my eyes. “You’ve worked your ass off to get where you are. You quit your job with your father and moved across the country.”

“And I'm failing. You’ve seen the finances.”

“It’s hard to get off the ground. It won’t be long before your business is successful.”

She smiles and shakes her head as I drop my hand from her chin, though I still want to touch her. “I’m not sure I can handle the nice, Hayden.”

I laugh. “I’m never nice.”

“What happened to your hand?” Her voice is low again, barely a whisper. I want to tell her everything. And I know that’s very, very dangerous.

“We should get back to work.”

Now she looks slightly hurt, but she nods her head curtly and picks up her iPad. “Alright.”

“I’m sorry about your brother,” I blurt out the awkward apology. She nods her head politely but doesn’t lift her eyes.

What the hell is the matter with me?