Brazen

by M. Malone

  My father cleared his throat. “Sweetheart, I don’t mean to interfere, but we hired Blake Security for a reason. Let’s think this through.”

  “You’re siding with him?” I narrowed my gaze at my father, who, to his credit, didn’t back down.

  “Sweetheart, I care about this perfume. We’ve put a lot of money in it. You know I have believed in you every single step of the way. But keeping you safe is more important than any gala. The perfume will be a success either way. Quite frankly, we’ll seem more mysterious if we cancel. Everyone will be clamoring to know what happened and insist on trying it. So in a way, it will be more of a success if we don’t have a gala.”

  My father looked so pleased with his justification. I threw up my hands.

  More successful? All the work I’d put in, and everyone just wanted to scrap it and move on? No matter how my dad tried to spin this, it wouldn’t be more successful to skip the gala.

  Because then my mother wouldn’t see how hard I’d worked on it.

  I crossed my arms and glared at Oskar. All I wanted was one perfect night to show my mom how much I loved her. And no one was going to take that away from me.

  Oskar

  I couldn’t believe it. They were right. Telling her she couldn’t go to the gala had been the wrong move. As a matter of fact, I was pretty sure she was eyeing her letter opener to see if she could throw it at me.

  She glanced at Noah, who sat stoically. “It’s your call.”

  “Do you see that? Your boss says it’s my call.”

  I could barely contain the growl toward Noah. “I’m just saying it’s prudent for you not to have the gala.”

  Why was she being so stubborn? “Hailey, you now live at the penthouse because somebody sideswept us. Somebody scared you in your own apartment. Somebody tried to grab you at the boutique. Are you kidding me right now?”

  Her eyes sent daggers my way. From the corner, her brother scoffed. “Jesus Christ. Let her go to the damn gala. Even I can see how important this is to her.”

  I glared at him. “Really Evan? Now is the time for you to act like her brother?”

  Even Hailey was surprised. “You’re siding with me, Evan?”

  “Yeah, I’m siding with you. You and I don’t always get along, but at the end of the day, you work your ass off. You should get to celebrate it. Besides, you know I love a good party.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Look Hailey, it’s just safer if you don’t do this.”

  “Well, safer or not, I’ve put too much work into this. Blood, sweat, and tears. I have a whole team who worked to make this happen. This is for my mother—” She cut herself off midway through and then sniffed. “You know what, I’m having the gala. It’s your job to figure out how to make it safe.”

  And then she marched out, back stiff, pride stung. I hated seeing her like that.

  The meeting broke up then. Her father, presumably, was going to try and talk some sense into her. Evan was going to do whatever it was Evan did. Hopefully, not gamble away more money. Matthias pulled me aside as I walked everyone out.

  “Follow me.”

  I frowned as I followed the kid down the hall, and then to the left to his set of rooms.

  “What’s wrong?”

  If he pulled me aside here, it meant there was something I needed to see that he didn’t want anyone else knowing or overhearing.

  “Just something that you need to see.”

  I stared at his monitors. “I don’t know what I’m looking at here. Help me out.”

  He pointed at a spot. “These are the birth records for Hailey’s mother. See anything unusual?”

  I did. Holy shit. Things were going to get a whole lot worse before they got better.

  Hailey

  God, this one pinched.

  It just wasn’t made for a woman with curves. Any kind of ass was a problem with this silver-sequined number.

  “I don’t know. It doesn’t look right.”

  “Honey, this is the fourth gown you have tried on that you were like, ‘ahh, I don’t know, my butt looks weird.’ You are the one who left the sexy Viking out there. I’m sure he’d have all the opinions on these. Mostly, I’m like, ‘They look pretty. They make your tits look good.’”

  I scowled at her. “I need real opinions. I need to look regal, but beautiful, but also slightly reserved. And sexy.”

  Priya tossed up her hands. “That’s a tall order, baby. How about hot? Can I just say hot?”

  “How is it you don’t like shopping? I mean, everything else about you is so BFF.”

  Priya shrugged. “I’m just not patient. If you bring me a personal stylist who has picked everything up for me and I only have to make two choices, then I’m a happy camper. Otherwise, I’m just like, ‘I don’t know, the red one? As long as it makes my tits look good.’”

  “You’re impossible.”

  “Honey, you do realize that Oskar is the one who should be telling you how your ass looks in these dresses, right?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Well, you can have him if you need a big block of concrete to give you an opinion.”

  “Babes, I love you, I just—I don’t know. Maybe you’re being a little hard on him?”

  I pivoted slowly to glare at her, but she wasn’t having it. “No, you don’t. You don’t turn that cold stare on me. I’m not going to shrivel up and hope to die praying that maybe you’ll look away and won’t notice that I fucked something up. I’m telling you like it is. I love you, full stop. I also think you’re being too hard on him. He’s just saying what we’re all thinking.”

  I crossed my arms. “Oh, what we’re all thinking?”

  “Yeah, I’m on your side, babe. The side of you being safe and happy. Weren’t you just telling me how happy you’ve been the last few weeks with him and how sweet he is?”

  I hated that she was being rational. “Well now he’s just a jerk. Telling me what to do, disrupting my whole life without even asking. With not a single care to how much my life is upset by this.”

  “Then talk to him. You can’t just shut him out. Closing yourself off to feeling things doesn’t work, not when you want to be with someone.”

  I grumbled. “Well, I’m not sure I want to be with him, anyway.”

  Priya stared. “Please, girl. I see the way you vanish in the middle of the day. I came by the office the other day to see you. They said you were out for lunch, but your car was still there. Hunky bodyguard number seven was looking around, so I knew you were in the office. Imagine my surprise when I walked by what must have been a supply closet, and I could hear Oskar groaning your name. And all I could think was, ‘Yes, girl, yes, get you some,’ because you have spent too much of your life uptight. Never having any fun.”

  I flushed thinking about just what we’d gotten up to in that supply closet. I cleared my throat.

  “I do more than work, you know. I have fun.”

  Not really.

  It wasn’t my fault, exactly. Ever since I was a little girl, I’d been taught to focus on my studies because I’d be a part of running the family business one day. My father had always been very busy, but he’d made time to bring me to work. To me, that had been fun. Especially when he had new perfume samples that I could smell.

  For us, it was bonding time. And well, my mother wasn’t sober a lot of the time, so it hadn’t always been safe to leave me with her.

  “In the couple of days I’ve been here, I’ve seen how open you are and willing to have an adventure. One that’s not all completely planned out to the hilt. And you’ve been smiling a lot. I love to see that. For a long time, you’ve been sad. And I know you were sad when Oskar left, but you were even sadder with Steven. You were settling, and you knew it. But you were doing it anyway because you thought that’s all you deserved. But I’m watching you happy now. He makes you happy. So maybe cut him some slack so you guys can figure this out.”

  “I was happy before.”

  Priya gave me the are you serious look. �
�Okay, if you say so. I’m going to go get a drink, and I’ll also shake my ass in front of Tyse to see if I can entice him at all. Can you believe I have been walking around here in tight, skimpy clothing, and he hasn’t noticed?”

  “Oh, he’s noticed. He’s just showing a lot of restraint.”

  Priya rolled her eyes. “Well, I want to see if I can break that restraint. Do you need anything?”

  I shook my head and assessed myself and the gown again. Maybe I was being too rigid. My pride wasn’t really worth losing the way I’d felt for the last few weeks. I had felt more alive. Kind of like Vegas, like an awakening of this person inside I didn’t even know existed.

  Well, that and you can’t let a Viking club of that size go to waste. Yeah, I probably would feel better after a couple of orgasms, and then we could talk.

  20

  Hailey

  I was on edge.

  The past few days had been tumultuous, but tonight was the night. The moment where everything came together.

  Last night, after we’d fought and made love and fought again, I’d gone looking for him, but he’d been in some secret meeting with Matthias. I’d waited for him to come to bed, but he never did. Then, well, I’d been too irritated to sleep with him anyway.

  Pride goeth before the fall.

  Damn him. I was mad, so I didn’t want to want him. But I did. Luckily, I’d had my hands full most of the day, so there hadn’t been much free time for thinking about him. I’d been in full preparation for tonight, but I’d expected to hear something from Oskar. A word, a text—hell, a smoke signal—to tell me if he was really going to stop me or not.

  It had been Tyse who told me that I would be able to go to the gala, which was great because I planned to go anyway. If Oskar planned to stop me, he was going to have to do it physically.

  That could be fun.

  As a side note, I was still frustrated as hell. Like my whole body was one giant throb. After I’d finally decided that we could cure that last fight with some orgasms, going to bed without them had irritated me. But more importantly, I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to have his arms wrapped around me, and I wanted to be able to breathe. Because in his arms was the only place I felt like I could do that.

  It was time for the gala to begin, and I hadn’t seen him all day. I had finally settled on the low-cut silver dress that fluttered every time I moved. It wasn’t the most daring choice, just daring for me. It made me feel like a fairy princess.

  As I was leaving my room, Lucia came running down the stairs. “Hey, don’t forget these.”

  She handed me a pair of slim, silver earrings encrusted with diamonds. “Oh my God, they’re beautiful. I can’t.”

  “Of course you can. I grabbed them from the safe this morning. Put them on.”

  I took out the simple studs I was wearing and put them in before I turned to face the hall mirror. “Wow. Somehow it makes everything else pop.”

  She grinned. “Yep, that’s the idea. You look gorgeous. Why don’t you head on up front. Maybe I’ll get Noah to take pictures like it’s prom.”

  I groaned. “Oh my God, is this what it’s like to live with you guys all the time?”

  She chuckled. “Yeah, pretty much. You’re lucky JJ isn’t here deciding what underwear you need to wear under that dress. Spoiler alert: she’s team commando.”

  I coughed and laughed at the same time. “Okay, good to know.”

  Lucia gave me a shoulder squeeze and ran back out. A few minutes later, I could hear Izzy wailing.

  Oh, poor thing. It was probably close to bedtime for her. Careful not to fall in the insanely high heels I was wearing, I walked carefully toward the living room. Then I stopped short.

  Right at the end of the hallway, waiting for me, was Oskar.

  “Butterfly, you look beautiful.”

  I drank him in. Yeah, I was staring, but the man was something else in a tuxedo. Broad shoulders, tapered waist, Jesus Lord.

  He stepped forward. “I see Lucia found the earrings.” He held up a delicate, diamond-encrusted, silver butterfly brooch. Gently, he pinned it to the lapel of the dress. “I can’t take my eyes off of you.”

  I frowned. “I thought you didn’t want me to go.”

  “Only because I want you safe in my arms where I can protect you always. That’s the only reason. Otherwise, I want you to fly. I don’t want to hold you back from anything. You mean too much to me.”

  Tears welled, and I blinked them rapidly away.

  He pulled me close, and the scent of him wrapped around me, cocooning me in safety and love.

  Love? I quickly shoved that away. The emotion was too strong and too deep to examine too closely. Right now, I just wanted to enjoy being in his arms again.

  “You want to go to this gala. I want you to have what you want. So we’re going to go, and I’m going to keep you close. At least as best I can.” Then he reached down and slid my hand into his.

  As simple as that. That small gesture, more than anything else, branded me as his.

  Forty-five minutes later, we pulled up to the venue. Life-size versions of the perfume bottle lined the red carpet. God, it was so beautiful. Oskar opened the door for me, and my hand shook as I placed it in his. Gently, he squeezed it.

  “This is your show. To me, you’re already perfect. Everyone else can fuck off.”

  I couldn’t help the giggle. It was just what I needed to hear.

  We walked the red carpet, hand in hand. I wouldn’t let him leave me. I didn’t even give a shit what the rest of the world would think. I wanted to have my photograph taken with him. I wanted everyone to know that I was his and he was mine.

  We walked in, and it was better than I could have hoped. The crystal chandeliers were almost too sparkly as they lit the room with flashes of light and glittery rainbows. There was a flood of color as women in ball gowns strutted with their heels making a click-clack sound on the marble. Everywhere I turned, people were clinking champagne glasses. It was beautiful.

  My stomach instantly tied itself into a knot as my mother approached. I held my breath. “Mama, hi. What do you think?”

  She glanced around and tittered a little. Her smile was huge, but she seemed a little unsteady on her feet.

  “Mom, are you okay?”

  I slid my arm under hers to steady her. I could smell it, the scent of alcohol.

  It wasn’t just a hint of champagne but the stench of hours-old alcohol on her breath. She’d been drinking again. Today of all days, she’d been drinking.

  I’d spent weeks, months, over a year seeking approval. Love. Only to discover she didn’t care at all.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty. Where is the champagne?”

  “Mother,” I admonished gently.

  She shook me off. “It’s a celebration of my darling daughter.”

  The way she said that word was like an epithet. My heart squeezed, but then I felt Oskar’s hand on my lower back, rubbing gently. His brows furrowed. Then he mouthed the words, “Are you okay?”

  I realized that with him there with me, I would be okay. And I could do something about my mother’s drinking. And the first step was to get every waiter down here to cut her off. She wasn’t going to be drinking anymore at my event.

  She might not appreciate it now, but she would later. More importantly, I was finally looking out for my own feelings. This was my time to shine, and damn it, I was going to enjoy it to the fullest extent.

  Oskar

  I watched Hailey on the podium, speaking about her time at the company and the love and attention that went into Miriam, the new perfume she’d formulated. The warmth spread through my chest. God, she was absolutely incredible.

  You have got it bad.

  I did. I remembered what I’d said to her about our Vegas marriage. I could kick myself, honestly. I never should have said it. Divorce was the last thing on earth I wanted. Why on earth would someone like her choose someone like me? It made no sense. But after everything we’d been thr
ough, I wanted to be the person who deserved her. Or at the very least the person who could hold on to her, because I was never letting her go.

  I was so in love with her.

  The more I held onto that thought, more the tightness in my chest eased and warmth spread through my body. Once I stopped fighting it, it felt good. Loving her wasn’t a hard thing to do. I’d probably make her crazy. Hell, it was a constant state of being. If she would have me, we’d have a real fucking wedding, with the whole crazy crew. It just might take some convincing.

  Well, I’d just keep annoying her and wearing her down. She’d get there eventually. And while we waited, she could stay in my bed. I smiled to myself, thinking about the number of times I’d given her a wink or a smile, only to have her cornering me somewhere in the penthouse.

  Okay, okay. So, I cornered her more often than not, but that was not the point. The point was—suddenly the hairs on my neck stood up.

  I glanced over at the other guys. Rafe suddenly stood taller and had his hand on his concealed weapon more than usual. Tyse’s hand immediately went to the inside of his jacket.

  In my earpiece, Matthias’s voice was clear. “Anyone else’s spidey senses going off?”

  Something wasn’t right. I could feel it. My eyes tracked Hailey. She was in the middle of her speech, inviting women to come up to try a sample of Miriam. Where was her brother? Where the fuck was Evan? Her father? I pinpointed the old man easily enough. He was schmoozing. Her mother was decidedly tipsy.

  The first shot rang out, and I had to go on pure instinct.

  Into the com, I shouted, “Rafe! Hailey.”

  I was too far away, or I’d be covering her like a human shield. Luckily, Rafe was right there and dove for her onstage. He shielded her with his body and then dragged her off the stage to safety.

  Good. Because I was going after the shooter. I wanted to finally nail this motherfucker.