Chapter 22
Benji put his phone down on the table, showing them his open web browser and a zoomed-in phone photo of Nina and Maverick kissing on Zephyr’s back. The caption read: Nina Keller Ropes in Millionaire Cowboy.
Nina’s heart raced, pushing a flush of heat through her entire body. The panic began to creep into her previous calm.
Behind her, Maverick placed both his hands on her shoulders, massaging the tension there. ‘Breathe,’ he commanded.
Nina inhaled a deep breath, held it for three long seconds, and released it again.
Markus said, ‘It must have been someone from the shoot. A model or makeup artist who was watching … We could sue for breaching the NDA – if we found out who it was.’
‘It could have been anyone,’ Nina pointed out tiredly. ‘Even some of the guests stopped to watch the shoot. Honestly, I’m surprised I managed to stay out of the spotlight this long.’
In the chair opposite her, Sierra was pale-faced and quiet.
Mav had put Poppy in front of the TV in the next room with a few of the freshly baked cookies. Eddie Murphy’s distinct voice playing Mushu from Mulan trickling through to where the adults convened around the kitchen table.
Benji picked up his phone. ‘The article was released early this morning, so he must have come straight here once he found out.’
‘Which means he’s been looking for you,’ Maverick pointed out.
‘Yeah. You know how it is. Google any celebrity and the latest news pops up first.’ Benji leaned one hip against the kitchen counter. ‘I’m surprised more people haven’t shown up.’
Maverick paced away before spinning on his heel and coming right back.
‘They will,’ Nina could see the writing on the wall. She watched Maverick and all she could think was: I did this. I brought this here.
It didn’t matter that she hadn’t decided to go public, she had still brought trouble right to the Hunts’ door. To Poppy.
The thought made her nauseous.
‘We lock the gates.’ Sierra met Maverick’s eyes. ‘We keep the public amenities open to resort guests, but we close to the public and further reservations until this is sorted.’
‘No,’ Nina managed to argue through the suffocating weight pressing in on all sides. All eyes turned to her. ‘I won’t have him affecting your business. He’s taken enough from me already. He can’t have this.’
‘I respect that. I do,’ Sierra insisted when Nina opened her mouth to argue. ‘But it’s not only you. We can’t have the press hounding our guests. They come here to relax. It wouldn’t be fair to have the place crawling with media.’
‘It’ll only get worse once Nina goes to the police,’ Mav prophesied. ‘How long could we close for?’
‘Our financials are good. We can afford to close the restaurant and café to the public for a few weeks without hurting, maybe even a month. We keep the gates closed, cross-reference guest IDs with reservations at the gate.’
‘No.’ Nina pushed back from the table. ‘No.’
‘Nina, this isn’t just going to go away,’ Sierra said gently.
‘I know.’ She could already feel that panic and despair threatening to take her under, but she forged ahead, knowing what she had to do. ‘And it isn’t going to go away after a few weeks, or a month. This will be messy. The legal battle alone could last years.’
The patient acceptance on both the Hunts’ faces confounded her. Didn’t they realize what they were risking? Everything they had worked for. Everything Mav had worked for. Their family legacy – the one that he had worked so hard to build.
‘I’ll leave,’ she decided. ‘Tomorrow.’ Grasping ahold of the idea, she continued, ‘And then when I go in to talk to the police—’
‘We.’
She looked across the room at Maverick.
‘When we go in to talk to the police,’ he said again.
Markus shot one finger in Maverick’s direction. ‘What he said.’
She didn’t correct her statement. ‘Mav …’
‘Don’t do it,’ he said, and even though his voice was even, she could see the panic dancing in his blue eyes.
Nina’s despair rose, but this time she battled through it. ‘When I go to the police, the media storm will come to me in LA. It’ll redirect attention away from the ranch. And you.’ She looked at Mav. ‘But you need to steer clear of me for a while.’
‘That’s not going to work for me.’
‘Mav—’
‘No.’
In her panic, Nina tried to fight him. She turned around to face Markus. ‘You directed that shoot. You can call whoever wrote that article and inform them the kiss was staged. I can post something similar to Instagram.’
Markus looked deep into her eyes. ‘Nina—’
‘It’ll work,’ she insisted, through breaths that had started becoming erratic. ‘You know it’ll work.’
Nina’s edges, already so frayed, began to unravel in earnest, unspooling the control she had of her body. Her hands shook, and she clasped them beneath the table, refusing to break down.
‘I brought him here. I ran and I lied, and I brought him here.’ When the sob rose in her throat, she swallowed it. ‘To Poppy.’ Nina closed her eyes as the weight of her guilt momentarily overcame her.
‘But I can keep him away now,’ she insisted.
‘Okay. That’s it.’
She opened her eyes as Maverick marched over to where she sat.
Nina could see the rage in him, but she wasn’t scared.
Even when he hauled her up out of her seat and into his arms, she knew he would never hurt her.
And when he looked into her eyes and said, ‘Enough,’ in a voice that brooked no argument, she could only stare at him numbly.
‘Enough,’ he said again, gently this time.
His arms tightened around her. His lips touched her forehead for one fleeting moment that somehow still managed to be long enough to impart comfort.
‘Taking blame that is not yours to carry is not going to solve anything. We said we weren’t going to do that. ’
‘He was in the same room as Poppy today,’ she managed, her voice thick with tears. ‘God, Mav. If you and Markus hadn’t been there … If-if we had been alone …’
Because Nina knew what it was to be a child in a small room with a dangerous man, and she had brought Alex to Poppy’s home. She might not have welcomed him in, but she had lied by omission.
And the most terrifying truth of all was that if Alex hadn’t shown up at Hunt Ranch, Nina might never have found the courage to say anything.
‘But you weren’t alone,’ Maverick reminded her, and sent his own quick thanks heavenward. ‘And you won’t be alone going forward either.’ Turning slightly, he sat down in the chair he’d hauled Nina out of and then pulled her onto his lap.
He tried not to internalize the fact that she was distancing herself from him, tried to remind himself that she was panicking and scared. But he took her hand, linked her fingers with his. ‘Do you want this – us?’
It didn’t matter that there were three witnesses, and that he was putting his heart on a platter in front of them. He needed the words.
‘That has nothing to do with being rational—’
‘Do you want this?’ he repeated.
She nodded.
Mav felt some of that tension drain, even as he demanded, ‘Give me the words, Nina. Trust me with the words.’
‘I want this. You.’
When she blinked, dislodging fresh tears, Mav raised both hands to her cheeks and used his thumbs to brush them dry. ‘You don’t let people you care about face their demons alone. It’s not always that simple,’ he ceded with a small tip of his head, ‘but it should be. Let me—’
‘Us,’ Markus interjected.
‘Let us help,’ Mav finished.
Nina slumped against him and sighed. ‘It’s going to be rough, Mav. Imagine never being able to leave the ranch because the media are literally camped outside the gates. Or, having to tell Poppy to hide every time Jenna drives her to daycare so that her face doesn’t end up plastered in tabloids.’
He didn’t lie to her. He rubbed small, slow circles on her back, soothing in the only way he knew how. ‘I know.’
He looked across the room to his sister, asking her for permission because the resort was half hers, too.
Sierra nodded. ‘We look after our own.’
‘We’ll close to the public for a few weeks during the worst of it. Starting now, through the initial media frenzy. Take it day by day after that.’
‘And Poppy?’
If Maverick had had any doubts before that moment, they vanished completely when Nina asked about Poppy.
The simple question reminded him that he had finally found a woman who thought about his kid first. A woman who wanted his five-year-old along on a date with them, did fancy braids in her hair, and baked cookies for no other reason than to keep her entertained.
‘It’s summer. She’s only in daycare because of the ranch. We pull her out for a few weeks.’ He shrugged. ‘I’d prefer for her to be close anyway.’
‘If you’re okay with it, Nina, I would like to debrief the staff at the meeting tonight. The more eyes watching for media, the better.’
Nina nodded.
Sierra looked at her watch. ‘We have a few hours yet.’
‘I think I should tell you the full story.’ On his lap, Nina angled her face to look at him.
Mav’s heart broke at the devastation in her eyes. ‘If you need to, that’s fine,’ he said. ‘But we don’t have to know the details to believe you. We’re here for you regardless.’
‘I want to – to explain.’
He heard the guilt in her tone and wondered at it even as he nodded. ‘Here.’ He dislodged her from his lap and moved off the chair, offering her the seat again before he grabbed her a glass of water.
As much as he wanted to keep holding her, he knew his body wouldn’t be able to hide his rage as he listened to her story, and he didn’t want to scare her. Nina needed strength just then. Not the anger and violence he felt coursing through him.
‘I dated him – Alex.’
In the chair next to Sierra’s, Markus’s brows shot up.