by Reese Ryan
“Right.” He stepped away, creating space between them. As if he needed it as much as she did. “You might’ve noticed that I had a chance to chat with Nicolette Ryan, the lifestyle reporter for—”
“I know who Nicolette Ryan is, Liam.” She folded her arms, her jaw tight. “I issued her press pass.”
“Yes, of course,” he conceded with a little smirk. He seemed to be getting a kick out of her spurned-lover routine. “The reason Nicolette wanted to speak to me so urgently was because she wanted to warn me...us, really.”
“About?” Teresa raised an eyebrow.
“Nicolette doesn’t believe that the leaking of those photos and videos of us was just some random act by someone trying to make a buck.” Liam sat on the white sofa. “She thinks that someone has a calculated agenda to destroy one of us.”
“Or perhaps both.” Teresa sank onto the other end of the sofa and turned to him. “But who and why?”
“That’s what we need to put our heads together and figure out,” he said. “And soon. Preferably before they strike again and do more damage to our reputations and organizations. Christopher Corporation can easily ride out the current scandal, but if something else like this happens...”
“Limitless Events will be dead in the water.” Teresa raised her eyes to his. “What do we do? I’ve invested everything I own in this company. I can’t afford for it to fail. Too many people are counting on me. My staff, my family...”
“I know.” Liam placed his large hand over hers, resting on the sofa between them. “And I’ll do everything in my power to help keep that from happening. I hope you believe that.”
Teresa nodded. “I do. You’ve already done so much. Getting Jessie Humphrey to The Opulence despite the weather. Getting this place for us on such short notice. You didn’t have to do any of that.”
Liam gave her a reluctant nod. He stood, pacing the floor. “We both need to be aware that there are unethical reporters out there who’d do anything to get a big story and some of them don’t give a damn about the facts. They just want a juicy, salacious story, regardless of how fictitious it might be. I’m sure that people like that would think nothing of employing spies to get dirt on us or our companies. Perhaps even people we know and trust.” He stared at her pointedly.
“You think there’s a spy in my camp? Like one of my employees?” Teresa was incensed by Liam’s suggestion. “I handpicked each and every member of my team. I’d vouch for any of them.”
“I get it. They’re good people. Seemingly trustworthy. But people aren’t always who they seem.”
“Like the fact that I’m not the home-wrecking gold digger you believed me to be?” She folded her arms, one brow raised. “Or that you’re not the ogre I once thought you were?”
“Yes, people can surprise you for the better,” Liam admitted. “But they can also stun you in truly terrible ways. We can’t discount the probability of that.”
Teresa stood, too. “Why do you automatically assume it’s someone from my company? It could just as easily be someone from Christopher Corporation.”
“True.” He nodded sagely. “But aside from Duncan, I don’t have a relationship with my employees that’s quite as familiar as the one you have with yours. There’s some truth to the saying that familiarity breeds contempt.” He rubbed his jaw.
Teresa shook her head vehemently. “I still don’t believe it. Besides, why would they do something that’s jeopardizing their livelihood? I can see the fear in their eyes, Liam. They’re all just as concerned as I am about the impact these rumors will have on the future of the company. I’m telling you, no one at Limitless Events would’ve done this. No one,” she said again for emphasis.
Liam didn’t try to hide his exasperation over her unwillingness to believe one of her employees had sold her out for a quick payday.
“Maybe they are really honest, loyal, hardworking individuals.” Liam focused his gaze on hers. “But if someone has an agenda against one of us, it’s possible they’d stop at nothing to achieve their end. Even if it meant blackmailing someone close to us. Perhaps even threatening to harm a member of their family.”
“Joshua...” Teresa pressed a hand to her forehead.
“You think your brother might’ve been compromised?” Liam asked. “Could that be why he went missing when you got that crank call about him?”
When she’d gotten a mysterious call implying that her brother may have been kidnapped, she’d confided that to Liam. He’d offered to have his investigator check into it and it turned out to be a hoax.
“Josh would never do anything to hurt me. Certainly nothing like this.” Teresa didn’t believe for a minute that her brother would be party to destroying her career. “Besides, he doesn’t know about us. We haven’t spoken in a while, and I certainly wouldn’t tell my little brother that you and I...” Her eyes darted involuntarily to the bed in the other room. “It just couldn’t be him, that’s all.”
Teresa paced the floor, her back to him. As soon as she left Liam’s cottage, she needed to call her brother.
“Okay, if we can’t figure out who, let’s approach the other side of this.”
“Which is?” Teresa turned back to Liam, studying his face.
He ran his hands through his dark hair and his expression offered an unspoken apology. “I need you to be completely honest with me, Teresa. Is there more to the story about what happened between you and my father? Are there any more stories that are likely to come out?”
It hurt that Liam felt the need to ask the question again. That he still didn’t fully believe her though she’d told him the unvarnished truth. She was never romantically involved with his father. Linus Christopher had been nothing more than a friend and mentor to her.
“How many times and how many ways do I have to say it?” she seethed. “I did not have an affair with your father. I wouldn’t. And I never saw him as anything other than a mentor. I hadn’t seen Linus in years. I’m as shocked as you are that he’d leave me twenty-five percent of the company.”
Liam grimaced when she mentioned the portion of the company she held. “I believe you about my father,” he said quietly. He didn’t want to ask about her father’s connection to Christopher Corporation until Dutton gave him more to go on. “But is there anything else you might have to worry about? Anything that might cause a problem for your company or mine? Because, as you indicated, you now own a quarter of the company. So it’s not just Limitless that’s in jeopardy.”
“I do have secrets.” She shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone?”
Liam stepped closer. “But is there anything that could be damaging to the reputation of Christopher Corporation?”
“I already told you about my brother and his problems. That he got in trouble with some dangerous people in Vegas and owed them a lot of money.”
“The trouble that the Fixer helped you get him out of.” Liam folded his arms and frowned. “It isn’t ideal, of course. But we could probably find a way to spin the story. Everyone loves the story of a person who would go to bat for their family, at all costs.”
“It isn’t a story, Liam. It’s the truth. Maybe this is all just about bad press to you, but this is my life.” Her voice broke and tears burned her eyes. She swiped a finger beneath one eye, trying not to ruin her makeup. “Not that you’d understand.”
* * *
“Teresa, wait...”
Before he could stop himself, Liam had caught her hand in his. She turned back to look at him. Hurt and disappointment filled the lovely blue eyes he’d found himself drowning in just a few short weeks ago.
“I realize how difficult this must all be for you. I didn’t intend to come off as an insensitive, self-centered boor.” He rubbed his thumb over the soft skin on the back of her hand. “I’ve been groomed my entire life to think of Christopher Corporation first and everything second...including the peop
le in my life. I never much liked being on the receiving end of that treatment. That’s something I need to remember going forward.”
Teresa nodded, looking at him thoughtfully. The night the tree crashed on top of her, he’d told her about the rocky relationship he’d had with his parents. Had admitted how painful it was for him growing up. So he knew she understood what he meant. He appreciated the compassion in her eyes.
“There is one other thing I should tell you.” She dropped her gaze from his momentarily. “The only reason I didn’t reject your father’s gift of shares in the company is because the man who made the threatening phone call about my brother implied that Joshua owed someone money. A lot of it.”
“How much?”
“The caller said seven million dollars. I knew Joshua owed some money a long time ago, but I thought when the Fixer bailed Josh out, those debts were settled, too.”
It was all starting to become clear to Liam. “So you’d like to have the money on hand, just in case.”
“Yes.” More tears rolled down her face and her cheeks turned crimson, as if she was embarrassed by showing emotion in front of him. She swiped at the tears angrily with her free hand.
“You didn’t have to tell me that.” Liam couldn’t help staring at her firm, kissable lips. “Why did you?”
She looked at him squarely again. “Because I don’t want there to be any secrets between us.”
Liam cradled her cheek, wiping away her tears with his thumb. He stepped closer to this beautiful woman who had an uncanny gift for making him feel an array of emotions. Anger, frustration, lust, jealousy, pain and a deep, growing affection that seemed to squeeze his chest whenever he thought of her.
He leaned in so slowly it felt as if he could hear the seconds ticking in his head. Teresa didn’t object. Instead, she leaned closer, too. Her eyes drifted closed.
Liam pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her.
Teresa let go of his hand and relaxed into him, her hands pressed to his chest as she angled her head, giving him better access. He trailed kisses across her salty, tearstained cheeks. Then he pressed a soft kiss to her ear.
“Why is it that I can never resist kissing you?” he whispered.
“Maybe it’s the same reason I can’t help wanting you to kiss me.” Her breathy reply did things to him. “Or stop thinking about the nights we spent together.”
He kissed her again, and she parted her lips to him, inviting him to deepen the kiss. He obliged, his tongue gliding against hers. He reveled in the sweet, minty taste of her warm mouth.
The kiss that had started off slow and tentative escalated. The hunger in his kiss was matched by the eagerness in hers.
Her arms snaked around his waist, and her fingers pressed into his back, pulling their bodies closer. He wanted her. Hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. And he’d used nearly every excuse he could manufacture to spend time with her.
Everything he’d been taught from the time he was a boy told him he shouldn’t trust her. That he should resent her intrusion into his life and the way she’d insinuated herself into his family’s business.
But another part of him found Teresa to be a breath of fresh air in a world filled with self-important blowhards whose bank accounts were the most interesting thing about them.
She made him feel things he hadn’t felt before. Things he wanted to feel again. So despite the promise he’d made to himself, he wanted to taste her skin. To experience the passion they’d shared as they brought each other mind-blowing pleasure.
Liam broke their kiss, his eyes searching hers for permission. Teresa sank her teeth into her bottom lip, her breathing ragged as she removed her suit jacket and tossed it over the chair. She turned her back to him, giving him access to the zipper of her bustier.
He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her neck and shoulder as he unzipped the fabric, threaded with a metallic silver. He tossed it on top of her suit jacket in the chair. His hands glided up her belly as he kissed her shoulders. He palmed her breasts.
Teresa whimpered. Her knees buckled slightly and her curvy bottom pressed against him. He slid the zipper down the side of her slim gray pants. She kicked off her heels, standing in her bare feet and a silvery gray lace thong.
He turned her around, pressing another kiss to her mouth as he lifted her. She wrapped her lean legs around him as he carried her to the bed.
Liam stripped off his clothing, thankful the boutique hotel provided a welcome kit that included a handful of little foil packets. He sheathed himself, then tugged off the little scrap of lace and dropped it to the floor.
He kissed her. Savored the sensation as her body welcomed his. Her fingers dug into his back as he drove deep inside her. Their bodies moved together. Their murmurs of pleasure growing more intense as they each hurtled closer to their edge.
Teresa froze, her fingernails scraping his skin as she called his name. The contraction of the muscles deep in her core sent ripples of pleasure up his spine that brought him over the edge.
He cursed, his body trembling as he collapsed on the bed beside her, struggling to catch his breath.
Neither of them spoke.
Finally, he rolled over and propped his fist beneath his head as he lay facing her. He trailed a hand down her stomach. “That was...” He blew out a breath, words escaping him.
A smile lit her eyes. “It was, wasn’t it?”
“It always is between us.”
Teresa’s phone rang. She glanced at the clock on the wall, then cursed beneath her breath and climbed out of bed.
“I have to get back.” She gathered her clothing.
“Of course, but do you have to go this instant?” He hoped for an encore as soon as he recovered.
“Yes.” She rushed into the bathroom, but smiled over her shoulder at him. “But I’ll take a rain check for later tonight.”
He grinned, already counting the minutes.
Eighteen
Teresa smoothed the gorgeous blue floor-length Zac Posen fishtail gown she’d gotten for a steal down over her hips. She took one last look in the mirror as she carefully applied her matte red Dior lipstick. Then she dropped the tube in her clutch.
Today had been hectic. She’d handled several last-minute preparations, headed off potential problems and resolved a few unusual guest requests. But there were two events that had shaken her the most during the course of the day. Learning that someone may be acting on a calculated vendetta against her and...
Teresa’s body tingled with electricity as it seemed to relive the trail that Liam’s strong hand had taken as it moved across her skin. She’d allowed herself to be pulled under again by her attraction to him.
Not just because he was an incredibly sexy man. Though her eyes drifted closed briefly at the memory of Liam emerging from the pool in those swim shorts. She was attracted to him because, despite the distrust and bravado, at his core he was a sweet and thoughtful man. He’d come to her aid in countless ways in the past few months. Many of which he hadn’t even wanted her to know about. He’d done it simply because she needed the help.
Still, were their physical attraction, similar interests and the fact that they enjoyed spending time together enough to overcome Liam’s issues with trust and the nasty rumors out there about her?
Teresa pushed the disquieting thoughts from her mind. She had a gala to manage. And tonight would go off without a hitch.
She’d do whatever was necessary to ensure it.
* * *
“Teresa.”
Matt approached with Nadia on his arm.
Teresa had brought Nadia on at Limitless Events as a contractor when it became evident that she wouldn’t be able to keep her job as Matt’s assistant once they became involved. She was smart, resourceful, hardworking and trustworthy. Which made her the perfect fit. But this was her husband’s
event, so Nadia was a client, too, serving as Matt’s official cohost.
Nadia looked gorgeous in a strapless red gown with her blonde hair twisted in an elaborate updo. And despite his disdain for suits, the man wore an athletic-fit tuxedo that highlighted his muscular physique.
“This weekend has been fabulous. A wonderful way to celebrate Richmond Industries’ fifth anniversary. It was a great call having the retreat here. Almost makes the disaster we endured last month worthwhile.” He chuckled, his arm wrapped around Nadia’s waist.
“It truly has been a wonderful weekend.” Nadia’s gaze met Matt’s.
Her brown eyes glinted in the light and her cheeks flushed as her husband drank her in. As if he were seeing her for the very first time.
“You’ve honestly outdone yourself, Teresa.” Nadia finally turned to meet her gaze. “Thank you for all of your hard work. With such short notice for the rescheduled event, I know it wasn’t easy. Quite frankly, this was something of a miracle. Far more than we expected, given the timeline.”
She nudged Matt, who was looking at Nadia dreamily once again.
“You’ve done outstanding work, Teresa. We’ll be in touch to discuss the plans for our next retreat.”
Matt excused himself and he and Nadia walked away to greet their guests.
Teresa was thrilled that Matt was so pleased. Just a few more hours and she could put this event in the books as a phenomenal success.
“Teresa St. Claire, I’m Brooks Abbingdon.” A tall, handsome man with curly hair approached her. His wide smile gleamed. “We don’t know each other, but—”
“Of course I know who you are, Mr. Abbingdon.” Teresa smiled. “You’re the CEO of Abbingdon Airlines, one of the fastest-growing private airline companies in the country.” She shook the hand he’d extended.
“And you’re the woman who put this incredible event together in just two weeks.” Brooks grinned.
