Giana gave her father a warning glance, but he didn’t heed it.
“I’ve always wanted to partner with the Cougars, Josiah, but the team and I—” Blaine glanced at Giana and then Roman “—have never been able to come to a deal.”
That’s because Giana thought Blaine was a slimy rat. She hadn’t liked the way he’d treated some of the other athletes who’d endorsed his products, and she certainly wasn’t going to foster a relationship with a man she didn’t trust. Her opinion of him hadn’t changed.
Why had her father done this? He had to have known she would never agree to this. Was he purposely trying to sabotage her relationship with Wynn? Because if Wynn saw her with Blaine, he would view this as a betrayal. She was ending this meeting, and she prayed he would never find out about it.
* * *
“I appreciate you meeting me, Silas,” Wynn said as they sat down at their table at the Tuxedo Park country club restaurant that afternoon.
“Of course, what’s going on?”
“When I was at the Boys & Girls Club with Giana yesterday, the director pulled me aside and told me, despite the charity event, they are still a little short for the next year. I was thinking you and I could subsidize the rest. I think it’s important for the kids in the community to have someplace to go.”
Silas nodded. “I couldn’t agree with you more. And I’ll give however much you think we need.”
Wynn reached across the table and shook his hand. “You’re a good man.”
“You knew I was going to agree,” Silas said. “Was that the only reason you called?”
Wynn shrugged. “Primarily, but I wanted to talk to you about a realization I’ve come to.”
Silas grinned. “I think I know what you’re about to say.”
“The speed of my and Giana’s relationship has been a bit jarring. Christine really messed me up, man. She made it hard to trust myself and my judgment. But I think I could be in love, Silas.”
For Giana, he wanted to be that man. He wanted to be a man she could count on for the long haul. He believed in love again, and it was all thanks to her. He was no longer hardened by the pain of his ex-wife’s betrayal. Wynn felt as if a burden had been lifted and he could finally breathe again.
“That’s wonderful, Wynn. I know you’re unsure of yourself, but it’s okay,” Silas responded. “It’s part of the process, but I’ve seen the change in you. You look happier. Content. Satisfied.”
Wynn grinned. “I am.”
“Then the best is yet to come,” Silas replied.
“I couldn’t agree with you more.” Wynn grinned from ear to ear. “Let’s toast. To a good thing.”
They held up their drinks and toasted to the future. They enjoyed a lively lunch talking about Silas and Janelle’s upcoming vow renewal and Wynn’s new sports drink, which had finally received the seal of approval from the focus group. When they were done with their meal, they started toward the exit. Wynn was feeling really good about his relationship with Giana, and she was very much on his mind. So much so that when he looked over and saw Giana at a table, he almost thought he was imagining things. But it was her.
And she wasn’t alone. Roman was sitting beside her, and Wynn heard Josiah’s bold laugh. But at first he couldn’t make out the man beside him until he turned to the side to say something to Josiah.
It was Blaine.
Blaine Smith.
Wynn stopped dead in his tracks and stared.
He understood why Blaine would be cozying up to the Locketts, but why would Giana be meeting with him? He’d told her about the animosity between them. Although he’d asked for exclusivity in the Cougars deal, Roman hadn’t promised it. But Giana had told him she wouldn’t actively pursue doing business with Blaine. She couldn’t be thinking of going back on her word, could she?
“Wynn...” He heard Silas calling his name, but Wynn couldn’t stop himself from walking toward the Locketts’ table. When he arrived, Giana glanced up at him, and the guilty look she gave him was telling. He’d trusted her, and she’d betrayed him.
* * *
“What’s going on here?” Giana heard Wynn’s question, but she couldn’t answer. Her stomach plummeted the moment she saw him standing behind her father.
What was he doing here?
Never in a million years would she have imagined seeing him here; in fact, she’d never seen him at the country club before.
Blaine turned around with a smug smile that Giana wanted to wipe off his face. “Wynn, what brings you to this neck of the woods? I thought you preferred your motorbike and wings to eating in polite society,” he said, taking in Wynn’s usual attire of motorcycle jacket, jeans and T-shirt.
Giana glared across the table at Blaine, but Wynn took the insult on the chin. “I thought I saw someone I knew,” Wynn stated, “but clearly I was wrong.”
His words hit their mark, because Giana shot to her feet. “Wynn, can I speak with you, please?”
His dark eyes bored into hers. “No need. It looks like you’re real busy here, so I’ll take my leave.”
“I would appreciate that,” Blaine responded. “I was in the middle of making a deal with the Locketts on having one of their boys endorse my drinks.”
“Is that right? Good for you,” Wynn replied. “Roman. Josiah.” He inclined his head and turned on his heel to leave, but Giana rushed after him, in the process knocking her chair to the floor with a loud thud.
“Wynn, please wait!” Giana cried. She trotted to keep up with him, finally reaching him in the lobby, where he was pacing the floor back and forth with his head hung low. “Wynn...”
He looked at her, and Giana saw hurt and betrayal lurking in the depths of those brown eyes. “What is it that you want, Giana? You got your deal. Starks Inc. is tied into a contract with Curtis for years and it would take a whole lot of lawyers to untangle the unholy mess, so what? What more do you want from me?”
“Don’t.” She shook her head. “Don’t do that. Don’t act as if the only thing between us is business and we mean nothing to each other.”
“I thought we meant more, but instead you go behind my back and take a meeting with Blaine Smith of all people? I told you my feelings about my rival and you promised you wouldn’t actively seek him out, yet here you are breaking bread with the man. How am I supposed to not feel betrayed? So why don’t you go back in there—” Wynn’s voice rose so he was almost yelling “—and enjoy your meal.”
“Is it really that easy for you to let me go?” Giana asked.
“What do you expect? I see you with my sworn nemesis and I’m supposed to be believe you were just having tea?” Wynn asked sarcastically. “What I believe—” he pointed his finger at her “—is that you’re an ambitious, power-hungry woman desperate to prove to her daddy she has the business chops to do whatever it takes to be like one of the boys. Well, guess what, Giana. You have it.” He clapped his hands in applause. “You can stab a man in the back just as good as any man.”
“That’s not true. I haven’t betrayed you, Wynn.”
Wynn began laughing uncontrollably. “Are you really going to stand there and lie to my face after I caught you red-handed?”
“I’m asking you to hear me out,” Giana pleaded. “To give me the benefit of the doubt. I know this looks bad, but given how close we’ve grown these last few weeks, don’t I deserve that much?”
“You deserve nothing but my back as I leave.” He turned to go, but Giana yelled after him.
“You’re a coward, Wynn Starks.”
He spun around, and his eyes were glittering with rage. Giana took a step backward. She’d never seen him this angry, this hurt. “How dare you call me a coward after what you’ve done?”
“I didn’t do anything, Wynn. I didn’t set up this meeting, my father did. I told him I wasn’t interested in meeting Blaine, but he went b
ehind my back and arranged it anyway. When I showed up and found him here, I was blindsided.”
“Are you seriously going to blame your father for your ambition, Giana? For God’s sake, at least own what you’ve done.”
“I won’t!” Giana folded her arms across her chest. “Not when I’ve done nothing wrong. Wynn, you have to believe me.”
“I have to believe nothing. I don’t know why I ever thought I could trust you. No, you’re not a spoiled, pampered princess, but you’re as bad as Christine. You used me to get what you want, and as soon as you had it, you’re on the next business deal. I don’t know why I keep falling for a pretty face and expecting a different result. It’s all about money, power and prestige with your type.”
“Why would I ask you to spend the holidays with me and my family if I was using you?”
“Because I amuse you, Giana. It’s like Christine said, a woman like you was never going to get serious about a guy like me. You need a guy who comes from the right family and has the right pedigree. I’ll leave you to go find him.”
He started to leave again, but Giana stamped her foot. “Damn it, Wynn. Don’t leave like this. Stay. Please fight for me. Fight for us.”
He cocked his head. “Us? There is no us. There never was.”
Wynn was claiming that she’d buried a dagger in his back, but the dagger was really lodged in her heart. Giana watched as Wynn strode out the door, hopped onto his MTT Turbine Streetfighter and roared away. Giana rushed out the front door and down the steps to see his retreating figure.
Then the reality of the situation hit her.
She’d lost the man she loved, and she’d never be whole again. Giana wanted to crumple to the floor, but instead she went back inside the country club and told Blaine the Locketts would not be doing business with him. She turned to Roman, and he rose to his feet, indicating he supported her. Seeing both his children turn against him, Giana got no further argument from her father.
It was only when Giana was in Roman’s Maserati and it was just the two of them that her face fell into her hands and she allowed herself to cry.
Twenty
“He hates me,” Giana sobbed into her pillow as Xavier rubbed her back and handed her a Kleenex. All she could see was the devastated look in Wynn’s eyes, and it gutted her.
Roman had been a rock. They hadn’t gone back to the office. Instead, he’d called Julian and Xavier and her brothers had rallied around her, even offering to go beat Wynn to a bloody pulp for hurting their sister. It had been Giana’s desperate plea that they leave it be that made them relent and promise her they wouldn’t retaliate. Roman and Julian stayed as long as they could, then they’d gone home to their wives, promising to call and check on her later. But Xavier stayed so she wouldn’t be alone.
Didn’t Wynn know she would never do anything to hurt him? Couldn’t he see how much she loved him? If he couldn’t, he was blind, because Giana felt as if she was wearing her heart on her sleeve. Instead, he’d railed at her, called her an opportunist. He thought she’d gone to bed with him, become his lover, all so she could get ahead.
How could he think so little of her? She had ethics and a moral code that would never allow her to do such a thing. But how well did they know each other? It had only been a few weeks since they’d struck up this affair. Yet she’d fallen so spectacularly in love with him in such a short time.
“He doesn’t hate you,” Xavier said. “But he’s having a tantrum and acting like a complete jerk. Perhaps it’s for the best, Giana. If he thinks so little of you, then clearly he’s not the one for you.”
Giana turned over to face her brother. “I don’t want to hear that, Xavier, not right now.”
“I’m sorry, Gigi, but Wynn hurt you after he promised us he wouldn’t.”
“Because he thinks I betrayed him.” Giana sniffed into the Kleenex.
“Are you defending him?”
Giana shook her head. “I’m so confused. I thought he believed in me and we were building a foundation for...” Her voice trailed off.
“Marriage?” Xavier offered.
Giana shrugged. “Maybe, but certainly a future. But I can see I was fooling myself. I’m not cut out for this love stuff, Xavier. I should stick to business, because at least it’s cut-and-dried and I know what to expect.”
“Don’t do that, Gigi. Any man would be lucky to have you in his life, and Wynn Starks is a fool if he doesn’t see he’s throwing away a good woman like you.”
A smile spread across her lips. “And you’re not the least bit partial?”
Xavier grinned. “Just a little.”
“Listen, you can go. I heard your phone vibrating several times. Your girl must be eager to get in touch with you. New Year’s Eve is tomorrow.”
“She can wait,” Xavier responded. “You need me more.”
“You’re a good baby brother, but I’m okay.”
“C’mon, at two hundred and seventy-five pounds, I’m far from a baby.”
“No matter how old you get, you’ll always be my baby brother,” Giana said, stroking his cheek. “But I appreciate you staying by my side.”
Giana was lucky, because she had an entire family to support her through this crisis. But Wynn? Who did he have? Silas? He and his estranged wife were getting reacquainted, which wouldn’t leave much time for Wynn. And his father? Well, Jeffrey Starks was off on an extended cruise, having a romance with a woman he’d met onboard the ship. So Wynn was alone. Giana lowered her head. What was wrong with her? She was still worrying about a man who obviously thought so little of her, who thought she’d betrayed him. Why, oh why hadn’t she just walked away when she’d seen Blaine at the table with her father?
All this could have been avoided if she’d taken a stand. Instead, she’d tried to do the professional thing—and tried to please her father. And she’d lost Wynn as a result.
Giana had never felt this way about another man before Wynn. It wasn’t just lust. She’d known after the first night they’d made love that being with him had intrinsically felt different. New. Special. For the first time, she’d thought about the future, marriage and having a family with Wynn.
And now, all Giana could envision was an image of herself alone. It broke her heart she hadn’t been able to hold on to Wynn and that dream just a little while longer. Was she ever going to find someone who loved her as much as she loved him?
* * *
Wynn was still in disbelief as he lay out on the chaise on his terrace later that night. The bottle of bourbon on the table next to him was nearly empty. He was ignoring Silas’s calls because his friend had witnessed his downfall and Wynn was embarrassed.
How could he have gotten it so spectacularly wrong again? He’d believed Giana. Thought she was different than Christine. And she was—she was ambitious with a capital A. She wasn’t going to let anyone best her, including him. She’d been conning him the entire time, making him think she truly cared for him, maybe even loved him. He’d thought of how she’d responded to him in bed. The sounds she made when she came apart in his arms. He’d been bamboozled because she was good in bed.
Wynn took a long sip of his bourbon. He was tying one on so he could block out the memory of Giana from his mind. Why had she included him in her family celebrations? That meant something to him—that their relationship was growing and developing into something more.
What a fool he was for believing in love again!
Was Giana laughing with her family about what a sucker he’d been? Was he so desperate for love and affection he would take it from anywhere he could get it? If he was, he blamed his mother for making him feel this way. She’d struck a match to their family and burned down their house of cards.
Wynn’s cell vibrated next to him. He was about to silence it when he noticed it was his father. He hadn’t heard from him in over a week, even at Christmas, but he had
n’t expected his dad to have great cell service while out to sea.
Wynn swept his thumb across the phone. “Dad?”
“Wynn, is that you?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t sound like yourself. Is everything okay?”
“No, Dad,” Wynn responded. “Everything’s all wrong.”
“Wynn, what’s happened?”
Wynn shook his head as if his father could see him. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does. Are you hurt?”
“Not physically.”
“Emotionally?” his father asked. “Is a woman involved?”
“Why would you ask?”
“Because the fairer sex always has a way of getting to us like no one else can,” his father replied. “Talk to me. Tell me what happened.”
“Your son is a fool. I was a duped by a woman I thought cared for me, but instead she was using me to gain my business.”
“I doubt it’s that simple. Why don’t you explain it to me.”
Wynn told his father about his initial refusal to meet with Giana, of her relentless pursuit of him and how the script was flipped on him when they were stuck in the elevator.
“Sounds like the attraction was mutual.”
“Or convenient,” Wynn replied, “helping ensure Giana got exactly what she wanted.”
“You think she planned it?”
“No, I wouldn’t go that far, but she took advantage of the situation.” Wynn went on to tell his father of the bet and how enamored he became with Giana after they became intimate. “Once we had sex, it was like I was addicted.”
“And your relationship progressed from there?”
“Yes. We’ve been pretty much inseparable since then, but the thing is, I wanted an entirely physical relationship. She was the one who pressed for more.”
“Do you think perhaps she was sincere about wanting to get to know you?”
“If she were, she wouldn’t stab me in the back by going to one of my competitors. Giana knew how I felt about Blaine Smith, but she didn’t give a damn. She wanted to prove to her father she has the killer spirit like he does, and she proved it. She’s willing to step over anyone, including me.”
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