by Timms, Lexy
I stared at her for a long moment, noticing the bitter twist to her smile. It shouldn’t be like this. If I had known that I was going to put her in a position like this, I never would have tried anything with her. But I supposed it was too late for all of that now.
I hated to think that I had hurt her, though. I hated to think that I had come between her and her family. I stared down at my hands as well. “I care about you too,” I admitted quietly. Then, even more quietly: “And to be honest, that scares me. I’m not a relationship kind of guy, not normally. But you’re different.”
When I looked up, Abby was grinning at me. There was still a hint of darkness to the way that she looked at me, but she seemed more relaxed after hearing that admission from me. “It should scare you,” she said jokingly, and when I chuckled, her sadness seemed to evaporate.
“So you still want to go on another date with me?” I couldn’t help it; I just had to ask.
Abby continued to smile at me, though. “What did you have in mind?” she asked.
Chapter 24
Abby
I WAS NERVOUS ABOUT going for drinks with Daniel’s best friend on Friday, but I was also flattered that he wanted me to meet his friend so soon into this relationship, or whatever it was. I was glad to hear that his friends were so supportive of his being with me. Unlike Matt and Leanne.
I felt a pang in my heart every time I thought about that. I wanted them to be excited for me. But instead, I hadn’t even told Leanne I was going for another date with Daniel. I hated keeping things from her, and I knew that I would tell her about this eventually. But I didn’t want to go into the date feeling all tangled up inside, and I knew that she wouldn’t approve, no matter how many stories I told her about the good things that Daniel had done that week.
I hadn’t even told her about Wednesday evening yet, when he had called me into his office just to make sure that I was okay. When he had told me that he cared about me.
I was nervous enough about this date with Daniel and his friend that I didn’t need my own drama stressing me out as well.
I shouldn’t have been so worried, though. Austin was great. He and I hit it off immediately. He was funny and charismatic, same as Daniel. And I had to think that if Daniel surrounded himself with people like Austin, then surely he couldn’t be such a terrible person. Right?
We got drinks and appetizers and chatted, getting to know one another.
“So you’re from around here?” Austin asked me.
“Born and raised,” I affirmed. “Actually, my brother and his wife live in my childhood home still.”
“Not unlike someone else I know,” Austin said, nudging Daniel, who rolled his eyes.
Austin told me all about his start-up company, which sounded like an incredible idea, and then we chatted about my role with McGregor Enterprises. But it didn’t sound like there was any judgment there with me sleeping with my boss. I appreciated that.
Daniel’s phone rang, and he grimaced down at it before looking over at me. “Would you mind if I leave you two alone for a minute?” he asked. “It’s Geoffrey.”
Geoffrey was one of our high-profile clients, and of course I couldn’t say no. Besides, I liked Austin. I wasn’t worried. “Go ahead,” I said, smiling at Daniel.
“It’ll just be a minute,” he promised us before stepping away from the table.
Austin smiled at me around the rim of his glass. “He likes you,” he commented.
I blushed but grinned in response. “He sure seems to, anyway.”
“And you?” Austin asked. He held up both hands. “Promise I won’t pass it on to Daniel just yet. Just want to know if I’m going to need to kick your ass for breaking my boy’s heart.”
I laughed and glanced outside, where Daniel’s silhouette was just visible as he paced back and forth, his phone pressed to his ear. “I like him,” I admitted to Austin. “Maybe more than I should this early on.”
“That’s good,” Austin said, nodding approvingly. He paused. “Just be careful with him, that’s all I ask you. Daniel’s been alone for a long time now. And he’s been hurt before too.”
“What do you mean?” I asked in surprise. I knew that he had been alone for a while, and that the mansion was way too big for just him. But hurt before? How so? The man was the epitome of confidence; it was hard to imagine him being vulnerable at all.
Austin shook his head, though. “It’s not my place to say,” he said. “Just, like I said. Be careful with him. He’s like a brother to me, and I don’t want to see him hurt again.”
I wanted to promise him that I wasn’t going to hurt Daniel. I wanted to make all sorts of promises, in fact. But I remembered how against this relationship Leanne and Matt were. And I remembered what Daniel had said to me in his office, about how I would have to choose my family. About how that was what he would do if he had any family left.
Was I going to end up hurting Daniel either way, regardless of what I wanted? I sure hoped not. But who could tell. Instead, I just nodded at Austin. “I’ll be careful,” I promised.
I just wished that I knew what I was up against. But I understood what Austin meant when he said that it wasn’t his place to say. If Daniel wanted me to know, then he would tell me. When he decided that he could trust me, then he would.
I remembered in his office how he had told me that he cared about me. I had to believe that he did trust me, at least a little. Maybe he would tell me about his past soon. I was already getting to the point where I was almost ready to tell him about mine.
Almost. I wasn’t quite there yet, but if things kept going the way they had been, if the weeks kept passing and feeling like months or more, who could say?
Were we getting in over our heads already? Probably. But I couldn’t seem to stop myself, and Austin seemed sure that Daniel liked me as well.
Fortunately, Daniel himself came back to the table just then. I couldn’t help looking at him with new eyes. Maybe the media hadn’t gotten it wrong when they said that Daniel was an arrogant asshole. Maybe not entirely, at least. That could be the front that he showed to the rest of the world so that they could never hurt him the way that he once had been hurt.
But somehow, I seemed to have gotten beyond that layer of his personality and gotten to really know him. I didn’t know how that had happened, but it made me wonder even more about him. What had messed him up? Was it a previous relationship?
I knew all too well how much love could hurt.
I had to put those thoughts aside, though, as Daniel suddenly caught my hands. “Come on, I love this song,” he said, dragging me toward the dance floor.
I laughed and shook my head. “I can’t dance!” I protested.
“Sure you can,” Daniel said. “Just follow my lead.”
I had never really been a fan of dancing, but I had to admit that dancing with Daniel was fun. Freeing. It let me forget about Leanne and Matt’s warnings. It let me forget about Austin’s cryptic words from before. It let me just focus my attention on Daniel—sexy-as-fuck Daniel.
My face felt as though it might split in half from the force of my grin. But Daniel looked just the same.
Chapter 25
Daniel
I HADN’T REALLY INTENDED for tonight to end with dancing, but I couldn’t stop myself from dragging Abby out onto the dance floor with me. She had changed after work, before meeting Austin, into something more fitting for the club. The low-cut green top and black jeans weren’t quite as sexy as the dress that she had worn the previous week, but I didn’t really care either way. She was Abby.
I had sat close to her as we sipped our beers, close enough that my knee was pressed against hers, my hand resting on her thigh. I could tell that she and Austin were getting along, and I couldn’t help feeling relief at that. I knew it was probably too early in our relationship for her to be meeting my friends, but I couldn’t help wanting her to know Austin and wanting Austin to meet her.
At the moment, as far as I was concern
ed, they were the two most important people in my life. If Austin hadn’t liked Abby or hadn’t thought that she was good enough for me, I would have had no choice but to listen to him. On the other hand, if Abby hadn’t liked Austin, I didn’t know if I would ever have been able to trust her business advice again, unfortunately.
I felt kind of bad dragging her out with me like this too, knowing that she was having such a difficult time convincing her brother and her friends that I was the right guy for her. I hoped she didn’t see this as a slap in the face, like my friends were better than hers. But she didn’t seem to think that at all. Instead, she seemed happy just to come along with me.
I was enjoying the evening with the two of them. I felt like I was learning more about Abby than I could possibly have learned on my own. He was asking questions that I never would have thought of. I filed away all the information in my head, already planning the next date with her based on what she liked and disliked.
I really hoped there would be a next date.
I hated that I’d had to take a work call in the middle of the evening, but it was with one of our high-profile clients, and I didn’t want to keep him waiting. Abby knew just how important that was to me. I had glanced back in through the window to see her and Austin laughing with each other anyway, so there was no reason to be so worried.
Something about knowing that she and my best friend got along with each other sealed the deal for me. It made me want to make things with Abby work out, even more so than before.
I dragged her out on the dance floor, ignoring her protests that she didn’t know how to dance. Anyone could dance if they were comfortable enough with the person they were dancing with, I was sure. And Abby didn’t let me down. We moved together, through one song and the next. My hands were all over her body, touching her curves, and I was aching to take her home again.
She spun away from me, shaking out her hair as she sang along to the lyrics. The way she swung those hips of hers had me unbelievably hard.
But suddenly, as we spun back toward each other, someone caught her arm and pulled her away from me. I stared in surprise when I saw who it was. “Get your fucking hands off her!” I snapped at Gerrard as he led Abby away from the dance floor.
He paused off to the side, where it was a little quieter, giving me a look of disgust before turning his full attention on Abby. “You don’t want to do this, trust me,” he said in a low, earnest voice.
Abby put her hands on her hips, looking back and forth between me and the newcomer. “Who the hell are you?” she asked Gerrard.
“I’m his former advisor,” Gerrard said, his mouth twisting. “And all I wanted to say was that you should be wary of him. He fired me without cause. He’ll do the same to you.” He looked her up and down. “Unless you give him a cause to fire him.”
Abby’s hands clenched into fists at her sides, but Gerrard had continued before she could say anything.
“Daniel here just uses people to get what he wants and to stay relevant. You’re nothing but a piece of ass to get Daniel back on the front pages of the papers. That’s his media ploy, didn’t you know? That’s how he keeps people interested in McGregor Enterprises, and how he makes sure that he stays at the top of the search results.” Gerrard smiled nastily at me.
I swallowed hard, my eyes only for Abby. Surely she couldn’t believe that was all she was to me, could she? She must have heard the truth in my voice when I told her I cared about her. She must have seen it in my eyes. I wouldn’t have brought her to meet Austin if I didn’t care about her.
But I could also remember the day she had first told me that her brother was worried about her working for me, the way I had joked about that. I had told her that I used the paparazzi to keep my business at the top of the search results, and I had told her that it was all just a game to me.
I had never intended to make her part of this, though. She had to believe that.
“Did you let him fuck you already?” Gerrard asked Abby, as though that was any of his business. “Because if you have, you’ve got, oh, maybe two weeks of his attention left before he starts looking for someone else.” He ran his eyes over Abby’s body again. “Maybe just one week,” he said cruelly.
Abby looked like she wanted to cry, and that was it for me. I hoped she couldn’t possibly think that I was only interested in her because of the stories the press would write about us. But more than that, I hoped she didn’t believe she was as unattractive as Gerrard seemed intent on making her feel she was. I pulled back my fist and decked Gerrard as hard as I could.
He came right back at me, fists flying, but I had the advantage of height on him, and I was blinded by anger. Distantly, I could hear Abby yelling at me to stop, but I just couldn’t let Gerrard get away with this. He had already spent so many years fucking up my life, making it so that I never had any sort of break from the paparazzi, and even though I had fired him, he was still trying to meddle in my life. He acted like I was the one who wanted the paparazzi following me all the time, when I knew that he was the one who had set it up so that they were always there around me.
I slammed my fists into him again and again, taking a couple shots in return but giving back better than what he could dish out. I only relented when I was pulled off Gerrard by none other than Austin.
The bouncers finally stepped in, grabbing Gerrard and hauling him out of there. But Gerrard was intent on making a scene, screaming back over his shoulder about how he was going to take me for all that I was worth and how someday I would regret the day I had fired him.
I sagged in Austin’s grip. The night had been going so well, but I felt like I could barely even look over at Abby. I needed to apologize to her, though. I needed to be sure that she understood that what Gerrard had said to her was all lies—that she wasn’t just some media ploy for the sake of the company.
I turned toward her, opening my mouth, but before I could say anything, she had backed up a couple of steps. “I need to go,” she said to me.
“Abby, wait,” I said, feeling a sort of hopelessness well up inside of me.
But she didn’t wait. Instead, she hurried out of the bar without a backward glance. I felt coldness seep through my whole body.
Chapter 26
Abby
I DIDN’T WANT TO LOOK at the news on Saturday morning, the night after the fight at the bar, but I knew that I had to. I had seen the flashbulbs going off, and I had to know what they were saying about me. Especially since I was no longer sure I would be going back to work for McGregor Enterprises.
Things had been going so well—that was the part that really killed me. I had hit it off with Austin, and I had honestly thought that maybe, just maybe, Daniel liked me as much as I liked him. I’d been so sure that he was one of the good guys.
I had danced with Daniel, and I never danced with anyone. But it had been fun and silly, and I could tell that Daniel really wanted me. It wasn’t just his hands all over my body but the look in his eyes. Lustful, sure. There had been something else there, though. Like he couldn’t believe how lucky he was. Like he felt as though he had won the lottery by getting to dance with me.
But Gerrard had called all of that into question. Now, I had to wonder whether Daniel had ever been interested in me at all or if it was all just part of his act for the paparazzi.
Silly me, but I had thought that he hated having the paparazzi around all the time. I remembered what he had said about using them, though, and I suddenly realized that if he didn’t tolerate their presence around his building, if he didn’t play up to the cameras, then they would never have had a single story on him. He was a billionaire. He could have easily gotten rid of a few pesky paparazzi, I was sure.
It all seemed so coincidental now, when I thought back on it. Seriously, why had I believed him when he said that the reason I had been accosted that day on my way into the building was because the security team for the building was short-staffed? That didn’t make any sense.
And then Dan
iel had just happened to be there, ready to swoop in and save me. Ready to make sure that the media got a decent photo of the two of us together.
It made me sick just thinking about it. He had orchestrated the whole thing, and I had gone along with it all because, what, he had been nice to me a couple of times? That was sickening.
The media stories about the fight were just as disheartening. They portrayed me as Daniel’s flavor of the week, his latest piece of eye candy. And they portrayed him as a dashing knight out of some fairy tale, swooping in to fight when my honor was called into question. Of course, they all knew who Gerrard was, and that was what made it all the worse. Daniel had been fighting his former employee for the sake of the leggy blonde he had hired in the man’s stead.
And here I was, caught up in the middle of it. No self-respecting business would ever hire me after this. I should never have been seen out at a bar with my boss, let alone been seen with him fighting over me.
I didn’t know what to do with myself. I knew I couldn’t spend the whole weekend wallowing on my own, but I also knew just how much it was going to hurt to admit to Leanne and Matt that I’d been wrong. Still, Leanne was my best friend, and if anyone was going to console me through this, or better yet have any advice for me, it was her.
I headed over to her house, pausing for just a moment to collect myself before I knocked on the door.
“Hey!” Leanne said brightly when she saw who it was. She pushed some hair back off her face. “I was just doing some cleaning because Matt took the kids off to the park, so you are a godsend. You know how much. I hate cleaning.”
I laughed hollowly as she let me in, and Leanne peered at me. “Uh-oh,” she said, shaking her head. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
She led the way into the kitchen while I trailed after her. The next thing I knew, she was setting tea and cookies in front of me. I smiled weakly at her, and she laughed. “Sorry, I don’t know what to do to comfort people anymore. I give the kids juice, but that seemed a little weird for you.”
