MISTAKEN - The Complete First Season

by Peak, Renna

  I looked up at the ceiling before looking back at him. “Damn it, Will. We’ve been over this. What is she really asking?”

  “Right.” He chewed on his bottom lip and tapped his fingers on the desk he was sitting behind. “She’s afraid.”

  My lips turned up into a small smile. “Good. Afraid of what?”

  “She’s afraid she won’t be able to take care of her children. So I reflect that back to her.” He took a deep breath, nodding. “I understand the fear of not being able to care for those we love. When I’m elected, I’ll do everything I can to ensure that people like my friend here are given the help they need to care for their families. As long as they’re working…”

  I cocked my head, narrowing my gaze a bit. “I’d leave that last little bit out.”

  He shrugged, a small grin coming to his lips. “Whatever.” He drummed his fingers on the desk again. “You know, you could come back to Iowa. I gained three points this week.”

  I lifted an eyebrow and feigned shock. “Wow, only seventeen more to go before you’re even with your opponent. Pick up a point a week until the election and you just might have a shot.”

  He tilted his head, his mouth still forming a small smile. “I’m serious. We make a good team.”

  I pressed my lips into a line and shook my head, trying to contain my own grin. “I don’t think so. I’m staying here in Cali, at least until something better comes along.”

  “And you’re still mooning over Richardson. That guy’s a douche.”

  I cocked my head to the side, lifting a single eyebrow toward him. “And you have room to talk?”

  He shrugged again, biting his lip to keep from laughing. “Whatever, Davis. Same time next week?”

  I nodded and reached to turn off the webcam. “See you then.” I pushed the button and closed the laptop. He may not have been worth much, but Will Howard was at least good for a little comic relief.

  Melissa came out of our bedroom with her phone to her ear. Her face was scrunched up and she was shaking her head. She pulled the phone from her ear and held it in front of her mouth, screaming into it. “You are a crazy person. Do you hear me? Crazy!” She pushed the button to hang up her phone. Her face was red and her whole body quivered.

  I stood up from the bar stool and walked around the island into our kitchen, trying to hide my amusement. “You know, some people would say you’re the crazy person for taking that job, Mel. What does she want this time?”

  She shook her head and rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. “She wants to throw her kid a birthday party. Today. His birthday was four weeks ago and he already had a party then, but she thought about it last night and decided they should have another one. Today. And she wants me to arrange it. Now.” She shook her head again. “Amanda Agostino is certifiable. What the fuck is that girl’s problem, anyway?”

  I shrugged. “You can quit, you know.”

  She shook her head. “Not with how much they’re paying me, I can’t. And…” She forced a fake smile on her face.

  I tilted my head at her, lifting an eyebrow. “And?”

  Her smile widened. “And they own an apartment building in Palo Alto. In one of her moments of clarity, she said I could have one. They’re beautiful, Jenna.”

  I nodded, chewing my lip to hide my momentary disappointment. It wasn’t as though I hadn’t seen this coming. Palo Alto was quite a commute, especially for how much Amanda was asking of her. “So you’re leaving me?”

  She winced. “You could move in with me if you want. It would be fun…”

  My lips tugged into a small smile. “No thanks. I was just teasing. You should definitely take the apartment.”

  She bit at her bottom lip. “You think?”

  I nodded, pressing my lips together. “Definitely. You’ll be closer to her highness when she comes calling for you. She can come to your door…”

  She clapped a palm to her forehead. “Christ, I didn’t even think about that. Maybe when her brother gets back in town she’ll mellow out a little.” She dropped her hands and motioned with her head toward the computer on the counter. “Was that ‘roid boy?”

  I nodded and took a mug down from the cabinet, pouring myself a cup of coffee.

  She shook her head, rolling her eyes again. “Why are you even giving that guy the time of day?”

  I shrugged and took a sip from my cup. “He’s not that bad. Misunderstood.”

  “I think you’re the nicest person on the face of the planet, Jenna.” She twisted her mouth around. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you today?”

  I gave my head a small shake. “I’ll be fine. Besides, it sounds like you have a birthday party to get planned.”

  She looked up at the ceiling with a scowl. “Aww, fuck. I forgot about that for a second.” She tilted her head back to face me. “If you change your mind…”

  I shook my head, forcing my mouth into a small smile. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Yeah, but will Marian have a freak out on live television again is the question.” Her lips turned into a pout. “You don’t have to do it, you know. Not on TV.”

  I shrugged and took a sip from my cup. “It’ll get the point across. Show everyone who the liar is.”

  She shook her head and narrowed her gaze at me. “You’re way too calm about this. If my dad…”

  I held up my palm to stop her, shaking my head again. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  She turned to face me, giving me a very pointed look. “You don’t have to pee into a cup on live television, right?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “No. No peeing on TV. Cheek swab.” I pointed to the side of my face. “It only takes a few minutes, I guess.”

  “Huh. Very CSI.” She stepped around the bar and came over to embrace me, pecking at my cheek. “Call me or text me if you change your mind. I can be there in a flash.”

  I nodded into her shoulder and returned her hug.

  She pulled away, crossing the room to the door before turning to face me again. “And don’t let them ask too many personal questions. Just cut them off.” She made a chopping motion with her arm. “Don’t even let them go there.”

  I lifted a brow. “It’ll be fine. I’ll call if I need help.”

  She pointed her index finger at me. “Good.” She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. “I have to go plan a kick ass birthday party for a spoiled little boy.”

  I bit on my bottom lip to contain my grin. “Have fun with that.”

  “I will.” She pulled on the door handle and opened the door. “Aww, fuck. What are you doing here?”

  “Hello to you, too, Melissa.”

  I recognized the rich tone of his voice immediately. My stomach fell to the floor as heat rushed into my face.

  “Is she here?”

  I saw Melissa point over at me and she lifted a brow in my direction before walking through the doorway. “You kids behave yourselves.”

  I rolled my eyes and turned to the coffee pot to refill my cup.

  “You haven’t returned my calls.” I turned around and saw Brandon leaning against the bar that separated the tiny kitchen from the rest of the apartment. He leaned his elbows onto the counter top and drummed his fingers against the granite. “No texts. No calls. If I didn’t see your picture on every magazine in town, I might think you were dead.”

  I avoided his gaze, instead staring out the window of the living room behind him. I tried to ignore the heat that I felt rising through my body. “Yeah. Sorry about that.” I licked my lips. “Things have been complicated.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “There’s nothing complicated going on here, Jen. You want to know what I think?” He raised his head to meet my gaze. “I think there’s a part of you that believes what your father said about me on that news show a few weeks ago.”

  I turned my head away, breaking our eye contact. My stomach twisted with the knowledge that he could still read me so well.

  “Let’s go grab some
breakfast, talk through whatever it is that’s going on inside that beautiful head of yours and talk about the terms of your offer.”

  I tilted my head, meeting his steely blue gaze. “What offer?”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “The one where you hire me to do your bidding. I think I’m uniquely qualified to meet your every need.” He deepened his gaze and his voice lowered into what almost sounded like a growl. “And I do mean every need.”

  I rolled my eyes. I could feel the crimson begin to stain my cheeks. “And if that didn’t sound downright pornographic, I might actually listen to you.” I set my coffee mug down on the counter, trying desperately to ignore the magnetic pull I still felt when he was anywhere near me. “Look, I have to go meet with my mom for brunch. Then we have to go shopping for a dress, because, you know, I don’t have anything in my closet that won’t look hideous on national television.”

  “You’re still calling her ‘mom’?”

  I lifted a shoulder into a shrug. “She’s the only mom I’ve ever known.” I bit on my lower lip. “Brandon, I just don’t have time for this right now. The games, the lies…”

  “I haven’t lied to you, Jen. Just give me a chance to talk about this with you. We have similar goals here, you and I. You want to know who your mother is and I want to know what happened to my parents. The two are linked; we both know it.”

  I shook my head and pressed my lips together. “I don’t know if I want to know, Brandon. I haven’t had much time to think about it. Things are just so crazy right now…”

  He shook his head, mirroring my movements. “You think too much, you know that?”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard.” I walked around the bar, being careful to avoid coming anywhere close to him. I crossed the room to the door and opened it, motioning him out. “I just can’t do this right now.”

  He crossed the room in only a few strides, pushing the door closed. He turned to face me, fishing into his pocket and pulling out a small black velvet box. He stared down into my eyes. “Jen, I can’t promise you everything.”

  I shook my head, wishing that the way he looked at me didn’t make me feel like I was going to have a heart attack. “I never asked you to promise me anything.”

  He shook his head at me, not releasing my gaze. “I know. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Neither do you.”

  I closed my eyes to break the hold he had on me. I opened them to stare at the floor.

  He placed the closed box in my hand. “This is yours. I had the clasp fixed.”

  The necklace. “Oh, right. Thanks.” I forced the corners of my lips into the prim smile my mother had made famous. I clutched the box in my hand and motioned toward it with my head. “Thanks for this.” I set the box down on the table next to me and took another step toward the door, trying to reopen it.

  He caught me by the wrist. I saw him fishing in his pocket with his other hand. “Jen, let me finish.” I saw a flash of silver as he pulled something from his pocket. “I can’t promise you everything. I can only promise you right now.” He held out his hand to show me an antique platinum ring with a single small diamond. “I’m not perfect. I don’t know how to make you believe me, Jen. I don’t know how to make you trust that I love you.” He knelt down on one knee and took my right hand into his. “I can’t promise you forever. It wouldn’t be fair. I have demons I still have to slay. So do you. But I can promise you right now. I can promise you that I love you.” He slid the ring onto my right ring finger.

  I stared down at my finger, realizing I still hadn’t even said the words to him. I could barely raise my voice above a whisper. I was acutely aware of the sound of my heart racing in my chest and the heat that was flooding my body at that moment. I didn’t know where I found my voice, a voice I barely recognized as it quivered with the words I knew we both wanted to hear. “I love you, Brandon.”

  He took my hands in his, his blue eyes boring into my soul once again. “That’s all I need to know.”

  He saw me the way no one else ever had. My stomach fluttered with the realization that it was enough. That ‘right now’ was all I needed. That it was enough.

  BROKEN #1 and the BROKEN Box Set is available now.

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  Bonus - Broken #1 - Chapter One

  Broken #1

  Two weeks of bliss.

  I looked over at him. The sweet smile on his sleeping face told me he felt the same. Bliss. An amazing word for an even more amazing feeling. How had I never known what it was like to feel this way? How had I not known how much I had been missing? Heat radiated to my chest just looking at him. He took my breath away, made me feel lighter than air. Everything was perfect. I should have known then that it was too perfect.

  I stretched my arms over my head and tried to move myself from under his arm without waking him up. The memory of our first night together, when I had done almost the same thing, floated through my mind. My life was so different now; I was almost a different person from the woman who had the one night stand with the man lying next to me. Well, what I had assumed would be a one night stand. I smiled to myself. If I hadn’t taken that risk, the one that scared me to death—going home with a man I didn’t know--I wouldn’t be here in his arms now. Thank God I had found my spontaneity streak; well, the little bit that I had.

  My breath caught when his arm moved over me, his touch sending a pulse thrumming through me again. His hand grazed over the side of my breast, caressing down to my waist where he stopped and pulled me closer to him.

  His blue eyes fluttered open. “Going somewhere?” He lifted his head and gazed down at me.

  I caught his hand as it began to slide down to my thigh. I was already a puddle of liquid heat, but I didn’t have time for it right then. I needed to get up. And somewhere inside of me, I knew it was going to piss him off.

  He stared down at me, his gaze burning into me like it always did. His eyes twinkled as he gave his wrist a gentle shake to try to free it from my grasp. He rested his head back down against his other hand, his eyes admiring me.

  My gaze flicked over him before returning to look into his eyes. God, he was perfect. It was all I could do to keep myself from running my tongue across his sculpted chest, to stop myself from tangling my fingers into his silky, black curls. I couldn’t let myself melt—I really did need to get out of bed. I tightened the grip on his wrist and tried to wriggle away again.

  He flashed a sly smile and caught my legs with his, his gaze never moving away from mine. He searched my eyes again.

  I found myself matching his silly grin. Our eyes locked for another sweet moment until I tore my gaze away. “Brandon, I need to get up.”

  He had me pinned underneath him in one swift movement, his legs straddling me. He pulled my other hand into his and lifted both over my head as he lowered his body onto mine.

  My neck bowed when his lips met the tender spot under my ear and a small sigh escaped my lips. My body almost cried in protest when my brain took over. I twisted my wrists free and pushed against his shoulders. “I really do have to get up.”

  His voice was a low growl against my neck. “Why do you get more beautiful every time I see you?” He pressed his lips against that spot beneath my ear again. “I can’t get enough.”

  I pushed harder and he rolled off to my side, sitting up. I pulled the covers up over my bare chest and sat up myself. “I’m sorry. I have to get up.”

  “That’s what you said. Something you need to tell me?”

  The smile fell from my face and I chewed on my lip for a moment before looking up to meet his gaze again. I picked at the cuticle on my thumb and my voice dropped. “I need to go to Sacramento.”

  “Mind telling me why?”

  I forced my mouth into a tiny smile, the one I knew he hated. The forced smile my mother always had on her face any time my father was around. The one that hides all emotions, the good, the bad and the really, really terrible. Considering the world now knew sh
e wasn’t really my mother, I knew it wasn’t genetic, just a learned response. And I had learned from the master, Marian Hennessey Davis, queen of the forced smiles. I had a brief thought that my life story would be perfect for some psychologist to study nature versus nurture. I gulped down the dry knot that had formed in my throat. I forced my lips up just a bit, just enough to make it not seem like that prim smile. “I have a meeting with the governor.”

  His eyebrow arched and I saw his lips twitch, but he didn’t say a word. He sat up on the side of the bed and pulled on his underwear. I couldn’t see his face, but I could see him shaking his head from side to side.

  “They called yesterday while you were out. They offered me a job in the communications office.” I pulled the covers more tightly across my chest and folded my arms to hold them in place. I picked again at my thumbnail and cleared my throat. “I couldn’t say no…”

  I heard a phone ring from inside my closet with an unfamiliar ring tone. I thought maybe it was Melissa’s, that maybe she had left a phone in there when she moved out, but I didn’t think hers sounded like that, either.

  Brandon stood up and crossed the room, opening the closet door. “Fuck.” He reached in and pulled a phone out from a jacket pocket. It wasn’t his phone, not the black one I had seen him use a thousand times before. He flipped it open and held it to his ear. “Yeah.” He paused for a few moments. “Yeah. Okay.” He flipped the phone closed and put it back into the jacket. He pulled a white dress shirt and a pair of pants from the closet before turning to face me.

  There was something different about the way he looked at me. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It was definitely there, a glint, maybe. I didn’t know what it was, but that feeling I had always had that told me I could trust him was gone. His eyes grew wild, searching mine before he looked back down at the floor. I watched him pull his pants on.

  “I can’t let you take that job, Jen.” He sat back down on the edge of the bed, buttoning his white dress shirt. His voice was different, almost threatening.