The Royals Series

by Bay, Louise

  “In love with him?” I snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous.” This wasn’t what love felt like. This was hurt, betrayal, anger. Wasn’t it?

  “And the fact that he pulled out of the JD Stanley pitch, well that’s—”

  “That’s what? He should have done that to start with.”

  “Are you crazy? Max was right; the client gets to choose their team. If you two were just banging, he would have told you to suck it up. He clearly cares about you.”

  Had I expected too much from him? I’d felt so strongly for him; I’d just wanted him to feel the same.

  “You were waiting for him to fail, to live down to who you thought your father was,” Grace said.

  I’d started off thinking Max King was an asshole but discovered someone very different was just below the surface, someone caring and generous and special. My heart squeezed as if it were stretching after a nap.

  I missed him.

  “He’s not my father.” But had I expected him to fail? Even looked for it?

  “So turn on your phone. Actually, no, I’ll do it.” Grace scrambled to the kitchen. I’d left my phone on top of the refrigerator. I knew if I had it in my room at night, I’d be tempted to switch it on.

  Grace wouldn’t dare turn it on without my say so, would she?

  Of course she would, and I didn’t have the energy to argue. I was sick of missing him. I longed for Max’s arms around me, his wise words telling me everything was going to be okay, for the way he didn’t have to do anything but hold me to make me feel better. My stomach churned.

  She tossed my beeping phone at me. “I guarantee you’ll have a hundred messages and voicemails from him. Not many men can break through that invisible force field you have around your heart, my beautiful friend. Don’t take it for granted. Make it right before it’s too late.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Max

  “You seem off,” Scarlett said as she popped an olive into her mouth. She was supposed to be helping me prepare dinner, while Amanda and Violet hung out in the living room. Instead, Scarlett sat at the breakfast bar, drinking and watching me cook. “What’s the matter with you?”

  “You always think I’m off,” I replied, but she was right. I hadn’t slept well since Harper walked out of King & Associates ten days ago. She’d just disappeared. Our doorman hadn’t seen her; she wasn’t answering her phone. She could be in a ditch, or just ignoring me.

  “True, but this is different. Tell your sister all about it. Is it work?” She gasped. “Have you become addicted to gambling? Lost all your money? Did you find out you have a horrible disease of the penis?”

  I sighed. “Stop it. I’m just busy at the office.” I started to slice the tomatoes, ignoring Scarlett. I was usually so good at hiding what I was feeling. Was my worry for Harper beginning to show?

  “That’s bullshit. I know busy-at-work off.”

  I glanced up. “It’s nothing. A girl at work disappeared and I’m just a little concerned. That’s all.”

  “What do you mean disappeared? Like kidnapped?”

  I rolled my eyes. “You always assume the most dramatic scenario possible, don’t you?”

  She slipped off her stool and grabbed the wine from the refrigerator. “Well, if it’s got you all somber and mopey with dark circles under your eyes, I’m assuming something really bad happened.”

  “I’m not somber and mopey,” I snapped. “Harper resigned and I can’t get ahold of her.”

  “Harper?” she asked.

  I could tell from the tone in her voice and the smile she wore that I’d just let open the gates of Troy. Fuck. I should have kept my mouth shut.

  “What’s up?” Violet asked as she set her glass on the counter. “Are we eating soon? I’m famished.”

  “Harper resigned and Max can’t get hold of her,” Scarlett said, slowing her words, trying to convey meaning to Violet. She was an idiot if she didn’t think I knew what she was doing.

  “It’s no big deal,” I said. “Do you want a refill?” I asked Violet.

  “Always. Where do you think she’s gone?” Violet asked.

  Her matter-of-fact tone flicked a switch. I was sick of keeping all this in.

  I released the knife onto the chopping board. “I have no idea.” I pushed the heels of my hands over my eyes. “I’ve called her a million times but she’s just not answering. I can only hope she’s mad and not, you know, hurting.” I found it hard to even think she’d be in pain because of anything I’d done. What was worse was I couldn’t do anything to make it right. That loss of power wasn’t something I was used to or comfortable with. Since Amanda, I’d worked hard to be the guy who had a solution—to everything. It was part of the reason I was so focused at work—I knew money solved a lot of problems.

  I ignored the glance that passed between my sisters. I was too frustrated to care. I hadn’t met any of Harper’s friends, didn’t know any of her hangouts. We’d existed in a perfect bubble together, and I was happy with that. Or had been. Now I just wish I’d known her better. Partly because I might know where she was, and partly because I realized now there was so much more to get to know. And I hated myself for fucking things up and missing out on it all.

  “What did you do?” Scarlett asked.

  “I fucked everything up. That’s what I did. I tossed her off a big pitch and she quit.” I explained everything that had happened with JD Stanley and that Charles Jayne was Harper’s father. I barely paused for breath—it felt good to get it out. How I hadn’t taken Harper’s feelings into account when I told her she was off the team. Whenever clients made team change requests, I’d never had to concern myself with the feelings of the person receiving the news. It was just business. But Charles Jayne’s decision to cut Harper was personal. And I should have realized that. The fact I’d accepted his ultimatum so easily made me feel uneasy—a little dirty. I was sure I didn’t want to do business with a man who made such cold decisions in relation to his daughter. To me, Amanda would come ahead of business, my pride. Everything. I’d never not put her first. Charles Jayne wasn’t a man to be trusted.

  “I feel like you’re missing an important part of the story,” Scarlett said. “I’m not sure, but you kicking an employee off the team and her quitting wouldn’t normally get you this ruffled.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I’d never discussed women with my sisters. Never talked about heartache or discussed a fight with a girlfriend—because I’d never experienced any of those things. I picked up the bottle of Pinot Noir Violet had left sitting on the counter and topped up my wine, impatient to get the glass as full as possible.

  “You like her?” Violet asked.

  I nodded.

  “Finally,” Scarlett said, almost to herself.

  “And was it reciprocated?” Violet asked.

  I took a deep breath. Was it? Things had been good between us, I thought. “How could I tell?”

  Violet’s smile lit up her face as if she’d been waiting for this conversation her whole life. “Well, does she maintain eye contact with you? Does she—”

  “Jesus, Violet, do you know our brother at all? The man’s not a monk; he knows when women want him. He’s asking how does he know if she has feelings. Am I right?” Scarlett asked.

  I nodded. “Yes.” This was excruciating. I was rarely in a position where Scarlett had more of a handle on the conversation than I did.

  “So you were sleeping together?” Violet asked.

  Scarlett slapped her hand on the counter. “Try to keep up.”

  “What?” Violet shrieked. “No one told me he was sleeping with her. You knew?”

  “I suspected.”

  “You did not,” I said. “You say that now, but you knew nothing.”

  “I could tell when I met her in the elevator that there was something between you two.” Scarlett shrugged. “I have a sixth sense for these things. Anyway, let’s get back to the fact that our brother has feelings for someone. I mean, this has never happen
ed before. We need to stay focused. How long has the sex been going on?”

  There was no point in suggesting I didn’t want to talk about it now—that ship had sailed. And anyway, I did want to talk about it. I needed to know if there was anything I could do. I wanted a chance to tell Harper how I felt, that I wanted her back.

  “It was casual; we didn’t go out.” Did she think it had been just sex? “I should have taken her on a date or something. I was planning to talk to her about what she wanted when she came up for Amanda’s dance.”

  “What, so it was a series of booty calls?” Violet asked.

  Is that what it had been? Not for me, but looking at it maybe that was all it had been for her. “I’ve never really done the dating thing,” I admitted. “We live in the same building and I’m here so much of the time . . .” From the outside it did look like convenient sex. But for me, since she’d started at King & Associates, she’d had my attention like no other woman.

  “Did you do things together? Cook? Hang out without the sex?” Violet asked.

  I winced. “We got takeout, does that count?”

  Apparently not, if my sisters’ faces were anything to go by.

  “We’d spend the evening together. Talk.” Take a bath, although I wasn’t admitting that to my sisters. I loved hearing her take on the world. She was ballsy mixed with a little bit of idealistic. It was a perfect combination.

  “Well, that’s good. And it was early days, right?”

  “Yeah,” I replied, but it had felt so good between us. When we were together it was as if I didn’t want to rush forward to the next part because the space we were in was so good and I wanted to squeeze out every last drop.

  “And she quit because you kicked her off the team pitching to her father?” Violet asked.

  “Yes. Her father called and said he didn’t want her involved in the account because he wanted to keep business and personal separate.”

  “And you thought that was fine because it’s how you like to operate too?” Scarlett asked.

  “Yeah. I saw him as a potential client asking for a simple team change, rather than a father who was not putting his daughter first.”

  “Honestly,” Violet said, “that doesn’t sound like anything you can’t come back from.”

  “I pulled out of the pitch,” I said.

  “You did?” Scarlett asked. “Wow. Does she know?”

  I shook my head. “No, I did it after I saw how upset she was and I realized how he just hadn’t given a shit about her. If he was prepared to do that to his daughter, what would he do to a business partner?” It wasn’t the first time I’d turned down a client because I didn’t like their approach to business. I just wished I could explain to her that I understood I’d made the wrong call. “Now she’s gone, just disappeared.”

  “You must really love this girl.” Scarlett grinned. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

  “Quit the dramatics. I’m not saying I love her, I . . .” I was lost. In new territory with no map. “But if she won’t speak to me, won’t answer the phone or the door, what do I do?”

  Scarlett tilted her head to the side. “Amanda!” she yelled.

  “Don’t say anything to her,” I whispered.

  “Just trust me” she said.

  Amanda wandered in, her stare fixed on her phone. How she didn’t break bones on a regular basis I had no idea. She never looked where she was going. “Put your phone down while you’re walking. One day you’re going to step out in front of a bus because you’re fixating over Snapchat.”

  Amanda rolled her eyes but slipped her phone into her jeans pocket. “Is dinner ready? I’m hungry.”

  “Are you looking forward to the dance tomorrow?” Scarlett asked. I wasn’t sure what she was up to, but I could tell she had a plan.

  Amanda’s eyes lit up. “Yes, it’s going to be perfect. Callum finally asked me yesterday. I told him I was going stag. I don’t need a man.”

  The King women shared a chorus of good for yous, absolutelys, and high fives. I could only hope it was the first step in a lifetime of celibacy for my daughter.

  “And your dress is all set?” Scarlett asked.

  Amanda slipped onto the barstool facing me. “Yes, you saw it right? The one Harper helped me pick out.”

  “Harper’s the girl your dad works with who you like to hang out with?” Violet asked. Christ, they were playing tag team.

  Amanda nodded, her eyes flickering from me to her two aunts. “You met her, right, Scarlett? She’s so cool and pretty. Isn’t she, Dad?”

  The sound of Harper’s name sped up my pulse. I smiled sadly. “Yes, she’s very pretty.”

  “You’ll get to meet her too, Violet. You’re coming to help me get ready for the dance, right?”

  Shit, how could I break it to my daughter that Harper wasn’t going to make it?

  “Of course. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” My daughter was the only person who could get my sisters to do anything.

  “I need to talk to you about Harper, sweetheart,” I said.

  “What? She doesn’t need a ride from the station because she’s driving.”

  What? I’d never talked to Harper about how she was getting to Connecticut.

  “I’m not sure if she’s still going to make it, peanut. But you’ll have your aunts. And we can put your mother on Skype the entire time you’re getting ready.”

  Amanda looked at me, her lips pursed. “What are you talking about? Of course Harper’s going to make it. She said this morning that she’d be here by four. She’s bringing her makeup.”

  My heart started to pound. Had I heard her right? Had Amanda been talking to Harper? I gripped the counter, trying to make sense of what she was saying.

  “You spoke to her?” Scarlett asked.

  “Of course I did. She’s my friend.” Amanda looked around at the three of us. “What’s the matter with you guys? You’re all acting weird.”

  Harper was coming here. I would get a chance to explain, tell her she was important to me. More than important. I wouldn’t let her go until she’d heard my arguments, understood I was sorry. I wouldn’t let her push me away. I was used to getting what I wanted and Harper Jayne would be no exception.

  * * *

  “Just because she’s agreed to come and help Amanda doesn’t mean she wants anything to do with me,” I reminded my sister a little after three thirty in the afternoon. “You don’t think this is a little bit much?” I looked around at the dining room, the table set with the china and glassware my mother had forced me to buy when I hit thirty and she decided I was finally an adult, despite having been a father for over a decade at that point.

  “No, it’s not too much,” Scarlett said. “And anyway, what have you got to lose? Worst case scenario you’re no worse off than you were before she walked in.”

  I had to keep reminding myself I knew how to go after what I wanted. I did it for a living. Winning Harper back had to be a possibility, didn’t it?

  “I polished all the silverware, just how Grandma King showed me,” Amanda said, joining Scarlett and I at the table. She patted me on the back. “It looks good. She won’t be able to resist your lasagna, Dad. It’s the best.”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell her I had no idea whether Harper would even hear me out.

  I had to admit, the table looked nice, but something was missing. “We forgot the flowers,” I said.

  Amanda had helped me pick some from the garden that we could use as a centerpiece. I couldn’t find a vase, so we’d improvised and used a water glass. Amanda disappeared to retrieve them

  “So what, you guys are going to take Amanda and then I just turn around and ask Harper if she’s hungry?” I asked Scarlett.

  “Jesus, did you lose your balls somewhere along the line?” Scarlett asked. “You ask her if you can talk for a few minutes. Then you apologize and admit you’re an idiot. See how she reacts—if you need to apologize again, do it and then tell her how you feel. Jesu
s, man, you run a multimillion-dollar company; it’s not that hard.”

  This was much harder than anything I’d ever done, but she was right; I needed to find my balls. I’d tell Harper how I felt. Tell her we shouldn’t let business get in the way.

  It was going to be easy, right?

  “You’re not wearing that, are you?” Violet asked as she wandered in.

  “Good point,” Scarlett said. “Go put on your best jeans and a blue button down. The slogan T-shirt isn’t working for you.”

  “Hey, this is vintage,” I said.

  “Go change,” Violet said.

  Did I have time for a shower? I looked at my watch and my stomach churned. Only twenty minutes until she’d be here. In my house. In the place I’d fantasied about fucking her. Harper was the only woman I’d ever wanted to bring here, into my home, into my life.

  I bounded upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. I needed to run through what I wanted to say and I didn’t want anyone disturbing me.

  It was the most important pitch of my life and I hadn’t rehearsed.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Harper

  “What did you make me do?” I yelled into the speaker of my phone as I pulled off the I-95. The GPS told me I was six minutes away. I hated driving, especially on routes I didn’t know, and this was my first time in Connecticut. “This is a terrible idea.”

  “It’s a great idea,” Grace said. “And anyway, whatever happens, you’ve done the right thing by Amanda.”

  I’d promised Amanda I’d help her get ready for her dance and I wasn’t about to let a fourteen-year-old girl down. I knew what it felt like to be disappointed by an adult, and I’d never knowingly inflict that feeling on someone else.