Tycoon Takedown (Lone Star Burn #2)

by Ruth Cardello

  “Just a dress? Have you looked in the mirror? You could be a model. I always knew you were pretty, but oh my God, you’re gorgeous.”

  Although Sarah’s words warmed Melanie, she’d never been comfortable accepting a compliment. “Is Jace there?”

  Sarah put the phone close to her face again and said confidentially. “Oh no. You’re not getting off that easily. Where are you going? Did you find Todd?”

  Melanie looked guiltily down at the paper in her other hand and threw it onto the counter. “No. His parents aren’t here. They’re in Greece.” Then she looked down at her dress again. “I should have flown back when I found out. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. You never take a vacation. You need this.”

  “Maybe.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  With an encouraging tone, Sarah said, “It looks like you’re going on a date.”

  Melanie shrugged, still not looking at the phone. “Charles asked me to attend a charity event with him.”

  Sarah made a happy whoop. “He is so into you. Wait until he sees you in that dress.”

  As if sensing Melanie was holding back, Sarah quieted and asked, “What’s the matter?”

  “I know you think Charles and I would be good together, but we have nothing in common. That is even more painfully clear now that I’m here with him.”

  “What did he do?” Melanie asked with a sigh.

  Melanie met her eyes and lied. “Nothing.”

  “You don’t have to lie to me. I love both of you. My brother can be a royal, bossy pain in the ass. I know that. But beneath that, he has a good heart. And he needs someone like you to help him remember that.”

  “Someone like me?”

  “You didn’t judge me when I told you about Phil. And you didn’t tell me the guilt I felt was wrong. You accepted me the way I was and Charles needs that. He needs someone he can be himself around.”

  Melanie shook her head. “Your brother doesn’t care what others think of him.”

  Sarah smiled sadly. “There is something I didn’t tell you about the day my brother drowned. Charles was there. He was supposed to be watching Phil. Charles was twelve. I was eight. We were playing by the lake the way we always did. He wanted to ask my parents something, so he asked me to watch Phil.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “It was only a few minutes. Phil was playing beside me and I was daydreaming about something. It happened so fast. I would give anything to be able to go back and not have let Charles down that day. He blames himself.”

  “It was clearly an accident.”

  “He calls it that. And he’s never blamed me. Ever. Not even that day. He just pulled away from us.”

  Melanie understood that reaction all too well. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I didn’t tell you about how it affected Charles because I felt it wasn’t my story to tell, but it’s still holding him captive. He won’t let anyone close to him anymore. It’s like he’s worried he’ll let us down again. He sends my parents money, but he rarely visits them. I’ve only started talking to him again because I’ve made it my mission to. I’m sure the fact that you have Jace terrifies him. He has avoided children since Phil’s death.”

  “I had no idea.” So much of what Sarah was saying made sense. It explained why Charles looked unhappy about his own declaration that they couldn’t have anything beyond that week.

  Her heart broke for him.

  Part of her regretted speaking to Sarah about Charles. The more she learned about him, the more she cared about him. And that wasn’t a good idea.

  Regardless of the reason, Charles wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship. Nor was she. At least, not with a man who wouldn’t want to be around her son.

  “I hear Jace in the background. Can I speak to him?”

  “Sure,” Sarah said. After a hesitation, she added, “Don’t tell Charles what I said. He doesn’t like to talk about the past and I don’t want to lose him again.”

  “I won’t say a word,” Melanie promised.

  Jace spent the next fifteen minutes telling her all about how Tony had taken him to a local rodeo and introduced him to everyone. “He got me a rodeo buckle. A real one,” Jace gushed. “And we sat right in the front. It was awesome.”

  In his enthusiasm, Jace didn’t ask why his mother was wearing makeup, but just before they hung up he did say, “I love you, Mama, and you sure look pretty today.”

  Melanie would have cried happy tears, but she was afraid to mess up what had taken hours to achieve. Her son was fine. Her week away wasn’t hurting him at all.

  After telling him she loved him and reminding him to be good, Melanie hung up. She caught her reflection in the mirror again.

  Charles would be back soon. What Sarah had revealed about him had changed everything and nothing. Melanie’s instincts had been right. Charles was as trapped by the past as she was.

  She just wasn’t sure either one of them had what it took to free the other.

  Dressed in a tuxedo, Charles stepped out of his limo and onto the sidewalk in front of Melanie’s hotel. The street was full of paparazzi. He scanned the area. No celebrity he knew would stay in the hotel Melanie had chosen. He assumed they weren’t there for him. He was wealthy, but that didn’t normally make him photoworthy.

  Photographers swarmed and took photos of him. Something had happened and he didn’t like that he was unprepared for it.

  He looked down at his phone. Six calls from June. Two from Mason. He’d turned his ringer off that morning while he was with Melanie and had forgotten to turn it back on. Instead of going to his office, he’d gone online at home and read reports he’d been putting off. Shit.

  “Are you here to pick up your cowgirl?” one reporter called out from back in the crowd.

  “Where are you taking her?”

  Some would have walked away, but Charles had never been one to back down. He walked up to one of the reporters and demanded, “Why is everyone so interested?”

  The young man was clearly surprised to be asked a question directly. He pulled out his own phone and after typing something in, held it up to show a video clip of Charles and Melanie right after she’d chased her assailant down. Her face glowed with that triumphant smile he remembered, then the footage showed him dashing through the crowd and kissing her. Music started and the scene replayed and looped in a video montage. The young photographer said enthusiastically, “It went viral, man. ‘Cowgirl ropes a criminal and a billionaire.’ Unleashed, Unchained put music to it, and you got four million hits since yesterday. You’re trending on Twitter and YouTube. You didn’t know? That’s wild.”

  Fuck.

  Charles looked around at the flashing cameras, put on a diplomatic smile, and walked through them into the hotel foyer. He knew better than to take on the paparazzi unprepared. Like rats or cockroaches, they weren’t foes one confronted alone. Dealing with them required hiring professionals and, luckily, Charles knew the best.

  As soon as he was inside the foyer, he was on the phone with his head of security. He wanted men on the street pronto and a decoy vehicle. No one would get close to Melanie.

  Satisfied that the immediate issue would be dealt with effectively, Charles called Mason next to address the root of the problem. Not wasting time with a greeting, Charles demanded, “What the hell can I do about this?”

  Mason laughed. “So you finally saw the news? Some would plan a whirlwind tour of all the national morning stations followed by some late-night talk shows. You could contact the person who posted because you’re likely due some of the profits, although that one doesn’t have nearly as many hits as the Unleashed, Unchained video. You should call them. Maybe you could do appearances on their next tour.”

  Charles rubbed one throbbing temple. “I mean how do I make it go away?”

  “Oh,” Mason said slowly, clearly not having considered that option. “Yeah, that’s probably not going to happen. People are eating it up.
You’re officially more popular than that angry cat video. How does it feel to be a star?”

  “This is not fucking funny. How do I get it taken down?”

  “I’d say you can’t. It’s everywhere now.”

  “What are my legal options?”

  “I’m sure you can have your lawyers call their lawyers—but it’s out there already. It’s not going away. Want my personal advice?”

  “Strangely, that’s why I called.” A sure sign that things have gotten out of control is seeking advice from Mason.

  “Put your own spin on this. Grab that bull by the horns. Name a charity, demand half the profits go toward it, and ride it out. A week from now, no one will remember anything but who you helped. Plus you look like an asshole in the video. Melanie wants to save the kid and you’re practically suggesting the death penalty. You could use the good PR.”

  “You saw what he did . . .”

  “I did.”

  Charles searched online on his phone until he found the version of the video that had been put to music. It was a remix of the other clip with parts of it looping. He groaned at the number of downloads listed below. Mason was right. There was no undoing this one.

  Charles thought he looked ridiculous in the video, and he couldn’t see the allure. “Why does anyone care about this? I don’t usually get this kind of press.”

  “It’s not for you. Well, not really. Everyone is talking about Melanie. She is fucking amazing. When she puts her foot on the mugger’s back and slams him into the cement, you can’t help but cheer her on. She did what every one of us would like to think we would do if we were mugged. She kicked some ass. Then you sweep in and talk like you’re reading lines from some B-rated chick flick and lay a kiss on her. Hell, even I couldn’t wait to share the video when I saw it. It left me all pumped up.”

  A second later Mason laughed again. “I’m looking at the newest photos of you getting out of your limo at her hotel. You look pissed.”

  “I don’t like surprises.”

  “You wouldn’t have had one if you’d answered my phone calls. I imagine you’ve been occupied, though. That was some street mauling you gave your cowgirl. I didn’t know you had that in you.”

  Charles hung up on Mason, which likely didn’t faze his friend in the least. He pulled the video up on his phone and groaned. The evening he had looked forward to all day had taken an unexpected and unwelcome turn. It was one thing to take Melanie to a charity event and let people speculate about their relationship. It was another to take her to one while weathering a scandal.

  He stood outside the door of her room and gritted his teeth angrily. I was supposed to keep her safe.

  I couldn’t have done a worse job had I set out to.

  She was no longer anonymous and, in the city, that could be a dangerous thing. He called his head of security again. He’d never needed or wanted a bodyguard, but Melanie was going to have one.

  Two if that’s what it took to keep her safe.

  “I’ll send someone right over. Is this for a night, sir? The week? What should I tell them?”

  “It’s a temporary job,” Charles snarled.

  Temporary.

  I said it.

  I meant it.

  Nothing has changed.

  After hanging up, he texted his lawyer, instructing him to contact any person who posted the video and inform them that half of the profit would be procured for . . . He thought of the various charities he donated to. He told his lawyer to pick one and get back to him. Giving in to a sudden impulse, he asked him to also check what had happened to the kid in the video. Where did he end up? Keep that final request between us, he wrote.

  The door to Melanie’s room opened. Dressed in a black gown that looked like it had been painted on her curves, she smiled up at him and Charles forgot everything else.

  “I thought I heard you out here. What are you doing?”

  Charles held out his phone wordlessly and shook his head, trying to remember what had been important enough to keep him from her. He stepped inside, pulled her into his arms, and gave in to his hunger for her.

  They’d be late to—

  Where the hell are we going?

  Chapter Nine

  “There is something we need to discuss before we go anywhere tonight,” Charles said later as he shrugged on the jacket of his tuxedo.

  Melanie was already back in her black dress and fixing her makeup in the bathroom mirror. He was tempted to tell her that he preferred her naked—bare of clothes and makeup. Her smooth as silk pussy had been an unexpected treat. Women spent hours covering and concealing their real beauty. The more she put on, the more he wanted to carry her back to his bed and strip it all off.

  He was smart enough to keep that thought to himself, though.

  “What is it?” she asked¸ her eyes round with concern.

  He considered not showing her their trending video. He already resented its intrusion on how he’d thought the evening would go. How would she react? Would she be too embarrassed to attend the event?

  He prepped his phone, then held it up facing her. She stepped closer and her eyebrows rose as she realized what she was watching. “We’re on YouTube?”

  He nodded and watched her expression closely.

  An embarrassed smile spread across her face. “Oh my God. I look crazy. I can’t believe I did that. I wasn’t thinking about anything except how angry I was. Oh, look, they have the part where you showed up.” A blush spread across her face as she watched their kiss. She took his phone and scrolled down. “Is this right? Have that many people seen the video?”

  “It looks that way. I’m trying to have it taken down.”

  “Can you do that?”

  “Probably not. We were in a public place. I don’t know, but I’m having my lawyer look into it.”

  “Did you see how many comments there are? Thousands.” She scanned them. “They think I’m a hero.” She smiled, then made a circle of surprise with her lips. “And they think you’re an ass.” She chuckled and met his eyes. “Sorry.”

  A reluctant smile pulled at Charles’s lips. “An ass, huh?”

  Melanie’s eyes lit with mischief, and she turned the phone and pointed to the comments below the video. “I didn’t say it. They did.”

  He pulled her to him, holding her by her hips against him, and kissed her smiling lips. “You just find it funny.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a quick kiss back. “I wouldn’t have last week. I probably would have been mortified. But being here with you . . . I can’t explain it. I’m realizing that I wasted way too much time worrying what other people think of me.”

  She looked up at him with two of the darkest brown eyes he’d ever seen and asked softly, “Are you okay with it?”

  “As long as it doesn’t make you regret your time here.”

  She touched just above his heart. “I don’t. I won’t.”

  Charles cleared his throat. “Celebrity status doesn’t come without a price. The paparazzi are downstairs. The way out to the car has been cleared, but anything could happen. You have two bodyguards. If we do encounter the press, let the bodyguards do their jobs. They’ll keep everyone away from you. Keep walking. The paparazzi will say anything to try to get a response out of you. Ignore them.”

  Melanie’s eyes darkened with emotion. She lowered her hand and turned away. “Are you afraid I’ll embarrass you?”

  Charles grabbed her hand and swung her back to him, pulling her flush against him and arching her backward over his arm. She struggled, but he held her immobile as he fought back a wave of emotion. Couldn’t she see that he was trying to protect her? “The public can be nasty. The same people who called you a hero today might call you my whore tomorrow . . .”

  Her chin rose defiantly. “Is that what I am?”

  “No. You’re . . .”

  He didn’t finish the sentence because he didn’t know what she was to him. This was all new. The civilized lov
er he’d always been slid away when he was with her. He wanted to do more than fuck her; he wanted to own her. An image of her, tied to his bed, completely under his control, filled his imagination and sent blood rushing down into his already half-erect cock. Desire thwarted his ability to engage in any verbal sparring match with her. He bent his head and claimed her mouth with his.

  Her gasp of surprise was all the invitation he needed. He thrust his tongue past her slightly parted lips and kissed her with all the emotions swirling within him. Mine.

  Melanie wrapped her arms around his neck, arching even more intimately against him. She opened her mouth wider to him, pulling him deeper into her until he couldn’t think past his need to sink into her again and again. The more he tried to claim her, the more of himself he gave to her and it shook him.

  He broke free of the kiss and unwrapped her arms from around his neck as he fought to regain control of the situation again. “Tonight you stay at my apartment,” he growled.

  Breathing as heavily as he was, she raised a hand to her kiss-swollen lips but didn’t protest. Confusion and desire warred in her eyes as strongly as they did within him.

  Charles grabbed her purse from the bed and handed it to her, then took her arm and guided her out of the hotel room. A security team met them in the hallway and escorted them out a back door to the car that awaited them. Charles gave them instructions to have her things brought over to his place while they were at the party. A party that would only get a cameo appearance from him.

  Once seated in the back of his limo a foot away from Melanie, Charles turned to her and said, “Stay one more week. I’ll fly you back next weekend.”

  She looked him in the eye and shook her head. “No. Don’t start changing the rules now. I’m flying home on Monday. That’s it. That’s all I agreed to.”

  Arms folded across her chest, Melanie kept her eyes focused on the limo’s dividing panel. For a long time she and Charles didn’t speak, even as the car left the packed buildings of Manhattan behind and entered the more upscale suburb of Westchester.

  “Why did you come to New York, Melanie?” Charles finally asked as if the question were wrung from him.