THIRTY-SIX
HER GRANDFATHER. He was her agenda. She wasn’t nervous.
After waking at Crimson, the previous night’s events took a minute to come back. Boy, when they had, they’d hit her with purpose. On some things, she maybe hadn’t learned her lesson.
There was no rush, she wanted to be reasonable about this. Emotion wasn’t the best driver when it came to calling someone out. She wouldn’t be emotional, she’d be calm, clear, and maybe he’d get the message to butt out.
Would Truman understand? She had to find out why. In the past, when investigating her romantic interests, she’d never heard of her grandfather going so far as to force the guy into the black. What odd comeuppance.
Did it matter?
Baer gave up on her. More than that he judged and ousted her without a fair trial. What did that mean? That he wasn’t the stalwart she wanted him to be, that’s what it meant. He’d given up on them too easy. Almost like he wanted the excuse to get rid of her.
Descending in the Crimson elevator, the truth was sinking in. Baer didn’t want her, probably never had. She’d lost him. Was it even worth going to the house and demanding answers from Truman? What did she hope to achieve?
As expected, her car waited at the curb. What was unexpected? The man leaning against it talking to her driver. When they noticed her, both straightened and the driver went to open the back door.
She traversed a few steps toward Baer. “What are you doing here? How did you…? Why are you here?”
And why was he talking to her driver? How would he even know she was still there or when she’d be walking out?
“Truman,” he said, approaching to meet her midway on the sidewalk. “You’re going to talk to him.”
And that mattered to him… “Yes. How long have you been waiting out here?”
“You’re not the only one with connections.”
Whatever that meant.
“Okay.”
Weird kind of coincidence he’d be there at the same moment as her.
She got in the car, purse hooked around her forearm. It was ironic that Roxie was known for forgetting to charge her phone, yet there were charging docks on every nightstand. An addition Zairn introduced after getting with Roxie.
The car door didn’t close, which wasn’t a big deal until Baer got in to join her.
Only then was the door closed.
“Uh… what are you doing?”
“Coming with you.”
“I didn’t invite you.”
“You’re going to confront this guy about screwing with our relationship, you’re not doing it alone.”
“We don’t have a relationship.” This was unexpected and, these days, she didn’t like unexpected. How was she supposed to stay cool and reasoned with an interloper in tow? “We’ll drop you wherever—”
“No. Thanks for the offer, but I’m not going anywhere.”
“Yes, you are,” she said. “We are not doing this. I don’t need a chaperone with my own grandfather. This is Dere family business, nothing to do with you.”
“He came for me to get to you—”
“That’s not what happened.”
“So what did happen?”
Exactly the question. “That’s what I’m going to find out.”
“ We . That’s what we’re going to find.”
“Why would you want to be here? Yesterday you demanded I get out of your life. Now you’re in my car. I’m sorry for Roxie hiring you last night. If it interrupted things with your other client, I’ll call Conrad and apologize. Or was your client at the Crimson party?” Maybe Roxie got to him through the client. Few people would refuse an invitation from Roxie Kyst. She closed her eyes and shifted her purse. “Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.” She’d have to visit that building in future and did not want to carry the visual with her. “Would you like us to take you home or to Squires?”
“Neither. I’m coming to meet this Truman, find out why he got in my head.”
“Oh, and you think that attitude will encourage me to take you along? No. This is between me and my grandfather.”
“And me. I can talk to him alone—”
“This is none of your business. And you wouldn’t even get through the gate without me. You want me to leave your family alone? You leave mine alone.”
“We can fight about this from here until your grandfather’s doorstep, I’m coming either way.”
“No, you’re not.”
“What are you going to do? Wrestle me out of the car?”
Okay, what kind of gentleman was he? No, she couldn’t wrestle him out of the car. Well, she could, not personally, of course, she’d have someone do it for her. Except she was not that person and wouldn’t do that to him.
This wasn’t a simple request for information.
“You want to know if it’s true, don’t you? You still doubt me. That’s what this is, isn’t it? You want to watch me ask him, because you still believe it was me.”
“No, I want to stand next to you while you accuse him and ask him what the hell gives him the right to interfere with us. I almost lost you because of this. He’s got to know he crossed the line.”
Almost…? What was he saying? She was afraid to ask and fixed her eyes on the privacy screen between them and the driver. She couldn’t hope, couldn’t let her mind run away with daydreams again.
“What would Roxie do?” she whispered to herself.
“When we’re through here, we’re going back to yours.”
Who did he think he was? “You can’t dictate my day, you’re not coming back to mine. I don’t want you at mine.”
Because it was the only place they’d made love, and that was the memory of him there that she wanted to keep.
He took her hand to his lap. “I’m not insecure about you being worth more than me. The money thing screws with my head because we’ve had no one to rely on for a long time. Makes it difficult to trust someone would stick around, that someone might want to get involved with my messed-up family.”
Startled, she fixated on their united fingers. “Your family isn’t messed up,” she muttered before snapping from her daze and snatching back her hand. “And that doesn’t explain why you’d accuse me of being duplicitous. I was only ever interested in an equal partnership and we always communicated, we’ve never hidden things from each other.”
As far as she knew.
“That’s what I thought too, then soon as I got back, there was Abel asking what was going on. There’s a stack of mail showing every bill up to date, in credit, and I have no fucking idea what to tell him.”
“And you went straight to me trying to control you?”
“I’m sorry, baby, what else was I supposed to think? You’re the only one I know with that kind of power.”
Money wasn’t power, not if it took away the man she cared for most.
“Roxie thinks you’re threatened by the money.”
“I’m not.”
“That it diminishes your manhood.”
He actually smiled. “It doesn’t.”
“So why is it okay for a less affluent woman to be with a more affluent man? But it’s not okay the other way around? You shut me down when I tried to talk about it, which I only did because I wanted to be with you. To be together, we’d have to join our lives. We needed a plan and—it doesn’t matter.”
“It does,” he said, and grabbed her hand again. “It matters because I hurt you, and it matters because you’re right. The money stuff… when we were away… I’ve spent a lot of time these last five years focused on where our next meal is coming from. Money has been my life because I had the kids, everyone, relying on me. There wasn’t a day I woke up that I wasn’t prioritizing bills in my head, which one had we skipped last month, which one was likely to bring collectors to my door… In the shower, I’d worry what would happen if I slipped and cracked my skull open. How would they survive? What would my dad do? Where would the twins end up?”
In care, probably. And she had no idea what would happen to his mom. She’d known it was a burden on him, all of it. Though he loved his family, they were solely reliant on him. Yet she hadn’t been aware how it consumed every minute of his life. And he was right. Even a simple slip in the shower, on the stairs, on the sidewalk, could spiral everything out of control.
“I only ever wanted to be a part of your life,” she murmured. “Never to take it over.”
“And then there’s you…” He scooped both hands around her jaw to cradle her head. “This beautiful, incredible woman who lands on me from nowhere.” Not exactly accurate, but close. “And you’re not just smart, and kind, and funny, but you see beyond the—my life was never a problem for you.”
Not entirely true. “I was never wild about the other women, but I understand why you do what you do. That was never about control—”
“I know.”
“I wanted to be patient, not to rush you, but the idea of you…”
“I know,” he said again, his thumb moving in a slow caress. “I’d feel the same way. It was never about me wanting to go to them. But if I gave it up and we fell apart… When you’re living on a knife edge, it’s like the adrenaline’s going all the time. And you don’t want to let up because that’s when there’s a risk everything falls apart. And, come on, why would a woman like you want to be with me?”
“Money doesn’t matter to me.”
“Yeah, but I’m a—”
“Good, decent man, willing to do anything for the people he loves. Why wouldn’t I want to be with you?”
“Do you think we can get past this last twenty-four hours?”
“I don’t know.”
Being together in such a concentrated setting then losing each other as fast was jarring. Could they know it wouldn’t happen again? Could they trust?
“Lil’ Skit, I would never—”
“I can’t promise that Truman is done. We can go over there and talk to him, but that doesn’t mean he’ll accept us.”
“I can handle it.”
Of that she wasn’t so sure. “Can you? Because you were quick to jump ship yesterday. I need an equal who’ll fight these battles with me, not run away at the first sign of trouble.”
“I can be that guy.”
“There’s no guarantee he won’t push at you.”
“Let him push.”
When he tried to join their mouths, she pulled his hands away to lean back. “How do you see our future? If we were to have one, what would it look like?”
“How do you want it to look?”
“No, see, I don’t want that, I don’t want you deferring to me, putting the onus on me to develop a plan. I want an us future, not a me future with you as a passenger.”
“I want what most people want, freedom, security, love.”
“And you didn’t think we could have that?” God, in so many ways, he infuriated her. “You can’t be with me without dealing with my grandfather. Sometimes he’s the kindest man in the world, but he can be ruthless. And he thinks it’s his right to have an opinion on everything. I can’t be with you if you’ll be scared away at—”
“Then tell me this, will you support me?”
“Support you? In what? With Truman?”
“You know I come with the kids, my parents.”
“That was never an issue for me.” Maybe this was the moment to ask… “Though I have wondered…”
“Wondered what?”
“Would we live together?”
“Yes.”
His certainty was encouraging.
“All of us? You know we could get a place big enough for everyone. Your mom too. We could have full-time staff for her, and the boys could see her every day…” Stop. Stop. Slow it down. Talk about getting carried away too quickly. Again. “This is what you didn’t want, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t want to fall for you and lose you. I still don’t. Though there’s some part of me that… You bring so much to the relationship, what do I bring?”
“Your family,” she said. “I’ve never had kids around, parents, life in a household.”
“Well, we have that readymade.”
“And I… You could…”
“Don’t be hesitating.”
“I know you’ve had more than your share of responsibility to deal with but…” The pounding of her heart didn’t know whether it was nervous or excited. “Kids of our own, you could bring those.”
The slow curl of his lips calmed her heart. A little. At least it wasn’t trying to jump out of her chest anymore.
“That’s one responsibility I’m happy to have.”
The kids or the bringing of them?
“And I have a lot of work with the foundation. We have to make life or death decisions and work with families at the hardest times of their lives.” He was uniquely qualified for that. “I’ll share in your responsibility, but you have to share in mine too. It’s something we can… Abel could help too. Work as much as he wants or doesn’t want from home. We could do it together. Being with me means sharing in those heartaches and joys too. You’re great with kids and understand the importance of family. Don’t you want the chance to help others who could find themselves in situations like yours?”
“I do, actually.”
“I don’t want to do this on my own forever.”
“You don’t have to do anything alone, never again.”
“And if Truman cuts me off or blackballs me, well…” She sighed. “We’ll go into escorting together.”
“I already told you,” he said, cupping her jaw again. “Not a chance in hell.”
She didn’t resist his next kiss, she sank into it, into him. A weight of tension pressurized the air, forcing them close. They could lose this tomorrow; she could lose him. Through another misunderstanding or life tearing them apart, they’d both seen it.
Levying her weight back, she curled her lips into her mouth, steadying her breathing. “Any clients today?”
Though she wasn’t so sure she cared about the rules right then.
“No,” he said, unzipping her dress. “Only you, Little Skit.”
“Good,” she said, wriggling up her skirt to climb onto him. “Because I need something only my man can give.”