Chapter 55 #2
She responds with a slow nod, as though she’s gathering her resolve.
“How do I explain to people I had no idea my family was rotten to the core, so greedy, they wouldn’t bat an eyelash at the devastation their scam was sure to cause in people’s lives?
How do I convince people I’m nothing like them?
” She blows out a shaky breath and her body tremors.
“I’ve been carrying a tremendous amount of guilt by association since talking to Agent Monte Cristo.
After he revealed the news my sister, aunt, and nephews had died, I didn’t cry.
I didn’t know if I was allowed to cry. After all, I would’ve been crying for bad people when I should’ve been crying for the victims or even crying for myself. I was disgusted for sharing their DNA.”
“It’s understandable you’d be… torn. They made unforgivable choices, but they were your family.”
“When I did allow myself to cry, it’s like the dam broke, and I couldn’t stop for three days. It was so bad, I had to call my assistant and tell him I couldn’t come in. I lied about having the flu.”
“And Agent Monte Cristo is still in touch with you?”
“When I met with him, he informed me my mother had collected information that could be useful for their investigation, and she would be testifying against the surviving partners. When he reached out a few weeks ago, it was to inform me my parents would be entering the witness protection program. And I will never see or talk to them again.”
No wonder she looked so dejected. “So, in essence, on that day, you became an orphan.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Does your best friend know?”
Alarm flashes in her gaze. “I hold too many secrets. Too many shadows. I didn’t have the courage to tell Ciara the truth because all my life I’ve been judged on my family’s actions.
Most people don’t—or can’t—disassociate who I am from them.
If one apple is rotten, the whole lot is.
Ciara is the longest friendship I’ve ever had.
It would kill me to lose her. I didn’t want her to look at me with contempt or disgust, which is why I kept it a secret. ”
I reach out and caress her cheek.
She closes her eyes. “I missed the strength and comfort in your touch—”
“Then why did you run away instead of talking to me, Harley?”
She bites against her quivering lower lip. “You looked at me like I had so much potential and that gave me wings. I didn’t want to sabotage that. I didn’t want you to push me away—” Her voice breaks.
I slide my chair back, stand, and round the kitchen table before dropping to my knees at her feet.
Her head rears back. “Kaz—”
“You’re right. You’ve been carrying enough baggage to sink the largest cruise ship in the world.
You have to shed the pounds that are weighing you down.
What your family did is despicable, but they made the decision to go down a dark road.
You didn’t follow. You made the right choice by not getting associated with heartless criminals.
Your family was seduced by fast money. Part of your family paid with their lives.
Your mother and father will pay with their freedom.
They’ll probably always have to look over their shoulders.
That’s not your cross to bear. You’re a good person. ”
“Thank God our arrangement was fake. I’m certain Joe would never have approached you had you been in an actual relationship with a woman associated with scumbags.”
I settle a hard stare on her. “If you want out of my life, say so, but don’t use Joe as an excuse.
You don’t know the guy and you have no idea how he would react.
But I can tell you this, if you were my real girlfriend and he had a problem with what your family did, then, I’d walk away from the deal. ”
“But it’s worth several millions of dollars and it would elevate your status in the craft beer industry.”
“If Joseph Kozinski has a problem with you, he can find another buyer.”
She blinks. “Didn’t you hear anything I said? I was born into a family without morals. Liars. Con artists. Grifters. Cunning minds. I’m—”
“Despite everything you said, I still want you.”
A flicker of doubt remains in her eyes.
“There’s a reason it took me so long to get to you,” I say.
She frowns.
“The urgent meeting I couldn’t get out of that gave you an opportunity to run away.”
“Okay.” Her answer is cautious.
“Maybellynn was sleeping with my competitor’s stepson and mentioned her plan to steal company secrets and sell them to his stepdad. The young guy had the good sense and decency to record their conversations and passed along the damaging evidence to his stepfather.”
“Are you shitting me?”
“I wish I were,” I say. “After I met with the guy, I had to return to the office to take care of the traitor.”
“What’s going to happen to her?”
“The last thing I want to do right now is talk about that unscrupulous woman. One thing is certain, I have no intention on going easy on her. She was rude to you on your first day. She bitched about an office I appointed to you. She dumped your phones in the toilet. She gives you attitude and talks down at you. And now, she elevated herself from having a terrible personality to plotting corporate espionage. I didn’t have grounds for termination before, but you better believe she’s fired now, and I intend to sue her malicious ass.
She loves throwing in people’s faces that she comes from money. Her MD father can foot her legal bill.”
“Whoa.”
I wave a hand in front of my face. “Enough about her. I brought that story up to drive a point, we have the power to decide between right or wrong.”
“I get it.”
“Do you really?”
“If I didn’t before, I do now.”
“Good.” My eyes bore into hers. “I want this to be real.”
She brings her hands over her chest. “I have so many broken pieces—”
“And I don’t have a problem loving all your broken pieces.”
She gasps. “You love me?”
“I’m so fucking tired of pretending I’m okay with us being in a fake relationship. I can’t keep pretending I don’t love you, Harley, because I do. I fucking love you.”
She shakes her head. “You can’t love me. I’m—”
“An ogre? A monster? An alien? A fire-breathing dragon?”
She laughs.
The sound is music to my ears.
“No, silly, I’m—”
“You’re mine, Harley.” My declaration comes out sounding like a growl. “That’s what you are, Goldilocks.”
“Oh, God, Kaz.” The way she says my name kindles a warmth in my stomach.
I brush my thumb across her cheekbone, wiping away her tears. “You’re the one I love, Britney Brown, aka Harley McKenzie Lancaster.”
More laughter bubbles out of her.
After not being on the receiving end of that radiant smile, I feel ten feet tall for bringing it back.
Her expression sombers. “It nearly killed me when I ran away because I knew I was in love with you…”
My pulse skyrockets at her confession.
“But given my family’s sins, I assumed you wouldn’t want anything to do with me.”
I grab her by the back of the neck and bring our foreheads together. “When you told me you wanted our relationship to remain fake, it was like sticking a dagger through my heart. But a part of me couldn’t give up on you. On us.”
“I didn’t want to bring you down.”
“That would never happen.”
She pulls away. “You’re sure?”
I give her a pointed look.
“Okay, okay.”
“By God, she got it.”
She rolls her eyes.
“I have an important question for you.”
She shimmies in her seat. “I’m ready.”
“Harley, will you be my real girlfriend?”
She bursts out laughing. “Yes, I’ll be your real girlfriend. But, for the record, that sounded like we’re in high school— Wait.” She lifts a hand up. “If we were still in high school, then you’d be my teacher.” Her eyes widen. “Oooohhh, forbidden teacher student romance—”
“Shut your pretty mouth and kiss me, Goldilocks.” I crush my lips against hers.
She opens for me with a soft moan, allowing our tongues to tangle and brush against one another. She laces her arms around my neck, and I deepen the kiss, savoring her.
I’ll never get enough of kissing her.
I break the kiss and pull away from her. “Bad girl for making me worry.”
“Sorry.” Her voice is breathy.
I shake my head, pinning her with a mock scornful look.
A glint flashes in her eyes.
“What?”
She tilts her head side to side as if debating with herself.
“Harley, no more secrets.”
“I’ve been a bad, bad girl.”
Recognition hits me like a freight train.
I arch a brow. “Yes, you have been.”
She licks her lips, and I zoom in on them, the yearning to pull them into my mouth again all-consuming.
My mind races. “You had me cross the border, the Hudson River, and the waters of New York Bay. To add insult to injury, you had me step into a place that made me want to bathe my body in bleach.” I narrow my gaze on her. “There are consequences to being a bad girl.”
She giggles. “That’s… only fair.”
My fingertips toy with the loose strand of blonde hair that escaped her ponytail. “Oh, you think that’s funny?”
She giggles even more.
I stand and lift her in my arms in one sweeping motion.
She squeals.
Holding her fireman style, I march towards the glass wall, slide it open, and stride towards the sunken fire pit, the exterior lights illuminating the way.
She wiggles in my arms.
“Knock yourself out, I’m not letting go.”
“Isn’t it a little warm to start a fire?”
“Who said anything about starting a fire?”
“Why are you going in the fire pit?”
I reach the last step, drop her to her feet, cross my arms over my chest, and adopt a military stance. “The punishment should fit the crime.”
She clasps her hands together. “Is it too late to beg for forgiveness?”
I shake my head. “There isn’t anything you could say that will change my mind.”
“What if I offer to suck your cock?” She bats her eyelashes.
“If you think that’s enough to sway me, think again. I have a one-track mind when it comes to teaching you a lesson you’ll never forget.”
Her shoulders slump. “All right, I’ll put my big girl panties on and face the music.” A small smile stretches her beautiful lips. “So, what’s my punishment?”
Ah, the eagerness in that innocent question. “Strip.”
Her eyebrows hit her forehead. “I must’ve misheard you.”
“Did I stutter?”
“Err… don’t you want to go upstairs to the bedroom? I’m easy. Yours or mine.”
“If the plan was for me to administer your punishment in the bedroom, don’t you think we would be standing there right now?”
She leans in. “Which book is this scene from?”
“I gave you an order, bad girl.”
Her head rears back. “Okay. Okay. Sheesh. I was making mental notes for later.”
“The more you keep stalling, the more I’ll show you no mercy.”
“But, we’re outside.”
“And your point?”
“Your neighbors? I’m a virgin when it comes to being an exhibitionist.”
“Don’t worry, your tits and ass won’t make the front page of the gossip rags tomorrow.”
She twists her lips.
She isn’t convinced.
“The fact the fire pit is sunken, it shields us from view. It’s early evening now, but it won’t take long for the sky to darken. So, unless my neighbors have x-ray vision or they’re flying a drone over my property, your sexy naked body is for my eyes only.”
“Damn, did you acquire a PhD in role playing?”
“You either stop talking and get undressed right the fuck now, or I’ll find a clever way to use your mouth.”