Jake sputtered.
“I have a task for you.” Wes continued like he was telling Franklin what he wanted to get done for the week. “What you’re going to do is approach the administration. You’re going to tell them that you sabotaged Mara’s grade because you knew how desperate she was. Then you’ll tell them how you abused your position to take advantage of her. And here’s what I expect. A diploma awarding her the business degree she rightfully earned.”
“It’s not going to happen.”
Wes sat forward so abruptly, Jake jumped back. “It is and here’s why. Otherwise, I will arrange for a personal audit to comb through your career, every student you’ve been responsible for, and I can guarantee they’ll find patterns. Girls whose grades were too low to pass suddenly pulling through. Then we’re going to find those girls and we’re going to offer them the chance to press charges. I’ll pay for their representation.”
Jake clenched his teeth and balled his fists. “You’re bluffing.”
“I don’t know if you’ve heard of me, but my name is Wesley Robson.” He paused and watched the color drain from Jake’s already pale face. Jake might not have heard of Wes, but he knew the last name. “Since we’re sitting in Robson Hall, the building funded by my dad’s generous contributions to furthering the business education of students, I’m going to guess you know that I’m not bluffing. I want this done today.”
Jake almost looked relieved. “Not possible.”
“Because it’s Friday afternoon? It’s very much possible. I’ve arranged it and they’re waiting for you. I’ll walk you there.” Wes grinned.
Chapter Twenty-three
It’d been two weeks since Wes had tried to call her.
Mara didn’t get out of her car. Her head rested on the steering wheel. She killed the engine but stayed in the car.
No job offers. The damn cream-colored suit she wore was on its third dry cleaning. Maybe it was her unlucky charm.
She was only three weeks out of work with several interviews, but maybe she was rushing the process. Maybe the process didn’t like a girl with nothing beyond a high school diploma. Hindsight, donkey’s ass. She should’ve transferred to an online college and finished her degree.
Or maybe it was what she needed to email Chris. His proposal was solid and she’d need to come up with some capital, but not nearly as much as going into the venture on her own.
She could partner with Chris. She wasn’t going to let men like Jake and Wes tarnish her view for the rest of her life. Wasn’t going to lose herself in this stupid job search, where she was trading everything she was passionate about for dry clean only and rush hour.
She’d constructed her reply. Digging out her phone, she pulled up the draft in her email app and sent it.
Boom. Done. Time to get out of the car and face her new world.
Freezing rain pelted the window. Snow was forecasted. Good thing she’d gotten groceries. No interviews the next day and she had Netflix. She was ready to get snowed in while everyone forgot how to drive on slick streets for a few days.
Someone tapped on her window. She yelped and flung back in her seat.
She registered her door opening and her mind reeled through how to react. Start the engine and drive away. Yank the door shut and punch the locks. Lash out.
“I’m freezing my ass off out here.”
That voice. She squeezed her eyes shut.
“What are you doing here?”
“Since I don’t think your phone’s broken, I thought it’d work better than calling.”
“No. Greedy whores don’t always answer their phone.”
“Come on, Mara. Look at me.”
She opened one eye and glared at him through it.
Contrite Wes was not who she was expecting. Sleet peppered his face, but he didn’t flinch.
“Fine.” She gathered her things and got out. He closed the door behind her and ripped his J.Crew coat off to hold over her as a makeshift umbrella.
Why’d he have to go do something sweet?
She got them inside and took his coat. It didn’t get hung up with her coat. She draped it over the end table next to the front door.
Right eye twitch. She counted it as a win.
He went to the couch they’d had some amazing sex on and settled in. A briefcase she hadn’t noticed before rested at his feet.
She stayed standing and ordered her muscles not to fidget under his scrutiny.
“You look good. Where are you working?”
“I’m not.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shrugged and crossed her arms. “It is what it is.”
“No, I’m sorry for the way I treated you.”
“When?”
Another twitch. “Everything. No, I don’t regret our time together, but I’m sorry for how it began. For the lies, for the insults to your character.”
This conversation was going to destroy her later, but she’d hold it in until he left. Wes in her house scrambled her good sense. How right it felt shorted her you should know better wiring.
“Okay. You can go now.”
“A few more things, please.”
“Wes, I—”
He lifted the bag and grabbed some papers.
“I hate that bag,” she blurted.
“I don’t blame you.” He held them out to her.
“No offense, but this scenario didn’t go so well last time.”
He set them next to him on the couch. “It’s the same contract you were going to sign with Sam. I halted the demolition and the mall is yours for a dollar.”
She barked out an angry laugh. Was he serious? Was this a last attempt to prove she was the greedy whore he’d always thought? She made a beeline for the papers and in front of his face, she ripped them in half. Ripped them in half again, then again, and shoved the shreds into the offensive bag.
He pressed his lips together through the whole show. “It was yours, no strings.”
“Oh, there are strings, Wes. I don’t want to give you my signature as proof that I’m willing to use men for personal gain.”
“I don’t think that,” he whispered. “I’ve changed—”
“I’ve changed, too. I know better than to trust a guy who wields his power over me.”
“Fair enough.” He withdrew another sheet of paper.
She envisioned burning that bag in a tiny bonfire. “Oh god. What now?”
“Have a seat.”
“No.”
“I talked to Jake Johannsen.”
The shock buckled her knees. She pivoted to land next to him on the sofa. She’d been struggling to move on and he’d been continuing his mission to ruin her. Wasn’t her store enough, he had to dredge up the humiliation of her past?
“I’m sure his side of the story differed from mine.” She couldn’t look at Wes.
“Not when I told him I could arrange for his entire career to be audited.”
“What’d you do?” she breathed.
“I did what I’m best at—wielded my power. He confessed everything.” His smirk was the same one she’d seen on the plane when he’d thought he’d cornered her. “But I’m having him audited anyway.”
A laugh escaped, but she sobered. “He’ll just lose his job at the worst. It won’t save others.”
“I’m paying for the representation of any of his victims who want to take legal action.”
Her world slowed. Wes championing her was different than him taking the word of women he’d never met. Paying their legal fees.
“Why would you do this?”
He adjusted until he faced her. His large, capable hands wrapped around hers and it was the first time in weeks she’d felt some of the stress of her life abate.
“I’d like to think it’s because it’s the right thing, but I wouldn’t have known about it if it weren’t for you. I want you back, Mara.”
Her head was shaking and she didn’t realize it until he cupped her face.
“You
r diploma should arrive in the next six weeks.”
He grew blurry as she gazed at him through a pool of tears. Stay strong. He’d lied to her, used her, dropped her in New York, and left. But he’d held her all night when she’d needed emotional support, he’d fixed her sink, and he was championing several women he’d never met. “I’ve been trying so hard to hate you.”
And it was hard when she’d recall how he’d pushed her mom around comic con and treated her to dinner after, all while in costume. How he’d chewed her out for not accepting his private plane to get her back to Minneapolis. Their laughing and silly competitions at the trampoline park. She’d wanted to hate him, but they’d had too many good times to let the hurt and lies reign supreme.
His lips touched hers briefly. “I gave up trying to hate you. Couldn’t do it. Don’t want to do it.”
“How can I trust you again? You used me.”
“I never used you,” he said gruffly. “I couldn’t get enough of you. But I understand. Take as long as you need, Mara, just don’t shut me out. I want you in my life. I want to come home to you. I want to tell you about my day. I want you to keep showing me what love really is.”
“No matter what, I was still friends with your dad.”
“I know and I was unfair. I’ve thought about it a lot. Actually, other than you, it’s almost all I’ve thought about. I can’t pretend to know how he felt, and I don’t agree with what he did or my mom sending me off to school. I really think she felt like she was protecting me when it just separated us more. But it happened and I can see now that he tried by teaching me how to run his business and acknowledging me in his will. And when I really thought about it, I realized, how awesome is that? You got to know him, too, and instead of being a resentful asshole, I can enjoy swapping Sam stories with you.”
Speechless. Still, she tried shaking her head between his palms.
“Come back to me, Mara. There’s been no one for me since the bartender first called to tell me a hot chick wanted to talk to me.”
“So we were exclusive?” she teased with a sniffle. She gripped his wrists, her nails digging in. Too good to be true.
“One hundred percent. But I confess, I may be homeless soon.”
She rubbed into his caress. A girl could get used to this. “Is there a story?”
“Only that I hated the house and I’m selling it. When you left, the emptiness was intolerable. I got it thinking Sam would approve.”
Lost in the pool of his blue gaze, she stroked his wrist with her thumb. “I wasn’t lying when I said how much he loved you. He called himself a coward because he couldn’t crawl back, begging for forgiveness.”
“Thank you for that.” His voice was ragged.
They met for another kiss. He pushed her back and she let him. His weight stretched out over her was a welcome relief.
“I missed this.” His lips seared a path down her neck.
Dry cleaning number four for this suit. Unless Chris’s offer was still open, then it was back to leggings for her.
She worked his buttons as he wrestled her out of her pants. “I missed your leggings, too.”
Forget the shirt. She freed him from his trousers to direct him into her.
He laid his hand on hers that was wrapped around his erection. “That bag you hate has a new pack of protection.”
“Then I won’t burn it while you’re sleeping.”
His deep chuckle vibrated into her. Within seconds, he was positioned back between her legs. A roll of his hips and he pushed inside.
He didn’t thrust right away, but laid his forehead on hers. “The weather’s awful. I might get snowed in.”
He withdrew and pushed back in.
She moaned at the ecstasy of him stroking her. “I might make you shovel.”
“I’ll earn my keep.”
The tightness of his body matched hers. They both tried not to rush, to savor each other.
It was no use. She arched back and exploded over him. He roared her name and shook in her embrace.
In the warmth of the aftermath, Wes held her in a grip that a tornado couldn’t loosen. Hers was just as fierce.
***
One year later…
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” Wes eyed his reflection in the mirror.
“You look amazing.” Mara stood next to him and his eyes narrowed.
“I wasn’t talking about me.” But he rocked the Superman tights and cape, thank you very much. “It’s letting people see you in that Wonder Woman costume.”
She grinned and ran her hand over her purple-streaked hair. “I’m not really the Amazon she was, but if it’ll draw people to the booth…” She stepped back to examine him. “I think you’ll definitely attract a crowd.”
“I do what I can for Arcadia.”
Including making Arcadia’s new location the home of his Back to the Future pinball machine. Mara’s delight when he’d showed it to her made him wish he had ten more.
“Are you sure Chris doesn’t need help setting up the booth?” If Wes wanted to be selfish, and when it came to Mara he was, he’d admit to being grateful she’d partnered with Chris. It took some of the pressure off her, and that meant more time with him.
She had passed on his offer to help get Arcadia up and running. Her own venture, she’d said in the same breath used to refuse his dismissal of a prenup.
So fine, his team drew up a standard one to make her happy and he never planned on using it anyway.
It’d also mollified his mother, who was under strict orders to never call Mara a greedy whore again. Easy to do, since she lived in the Bahamas half the year.
“He said he’d take care of it if we tore it down at the end of the convention.” Mara slipped on the yellow tiara. “He also said he’d tear it down if we could use the jet to fly to Chicago and look at a location for a second store.”
“You know you don’t need to ask me.” He was glad to see it get use, not utilizing it much since he’d dropped his business in New York and donated the property he’d owned to the city’s housing authority. Then donated the money they’d need to build affordable housing. Not completely altruistic; he no longer had the urge to travel constantly.
“It makes him feel better to offer. Were you able to recruit Flynn for Captain America?”
“Yes, after I told him that there’d be plenty of women offering to be his Betsy Ross. And then I had to tell him who Betsy Ross was.”
They walked to the garage together in their new place. He’d sold the Bruce Wayne mansion, and he and Mara had settled in a place that was a quarter of the size, with no lake. But he’d kept his team of people, especially Chef.
The trip to Golden Meadows went by quickly; they’d made sure to find a place close to Wendy.
Breezing through the nursing home, they found Wendy with a smile on her face, breaking tradition and already dressed as Rey from the latest Star Wars movie. Every time they visited, he marveled at how much her color and tremors had improved. She’d never get fully better, but with the doctors Helen had found and the new treatment regimen, she wasn’t deteriorating as quickly and her quality of life was vastly improved.
“Look at you two. You look amazing.” Wendy used her new motorized wheelchair to start for the exit.
She called it a splurge, but to Wes it was a necessity. He’d even offered to move her in, but when Mara had asked, she’d passed; too isolating. So Wes spoiled the woman in any other way he could. He loved his mom in his own way, but Wendy was on a different level.
Kinda like Mara.
He grabbed Wonder Woman’s hand and walked with his family outside. A family he might’ve never had if Sam hadn’t tried to keep his memories with Wes alive in Mara’s store. He thanked the old man every time he visited the cemetery.
As if in tune with his thoughts, and she probably was, Mara smiled up at him.
He leaned in to whisper in her ear, “I’m so going to rip that costume off with my teeth tonight.�
��
A sultry smile curved her lips. “Funny. I was thinking the same thing.”
_____________________________
Thank you for reading. I’d love to know what you thought. Please consider leaving a review at the retailor the book was purchased from.
~Marie
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About the Author
Marie Johnston writes paranormal and contemporary romance and has collected several awards in both genres. Before she was a writer, she was a microbiologist. Depending on the situation, she can be oddly unconcerned about germs or weirdly phobic. She’s also a licensed medical technician and has worked as a public health microbiologist and as a lab tech in hospital and clinic labs. Marie’s been a volunteer EMT, a college instructor, a security guard, a phlebotomist, a hotel clerk, and a coffee pourer in a bingo hall. All fodder for a writer!! She has four kids, an old cat, and a puppy that’s bigger than half her kids.
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More Contemporary Romance—Coming Soon!
Fanboys:
Highest Bidder (Book 2)
The Walker Five:
Conflict of Interest (Book 1)
Mustang Summer (Book 2)
Long Hard Fall (Book 3)
Paranormal Romance by Marie Johnston
The Sigma Menace:
Fever Claim (Book 1)
Primal Claim (Book 2)
True Claim (Book 3)
Reclaim (Book 3.5)
Lawful Claim (Book 4)
Pure Claim (Book 5)
New Vampire Disorder:
Unmistaken Identity Page 17
