by Davis, Alexa
Then I walked her home, and we shared a cheeky kiss outside her front door. I wanted more to happen, my whole body buzzed for it, but she had to let Drea go. I half expected her to pop round in the middle of the night for another steamy session, but actually, I was glad that she didn’t. It made it feel more like a real first date, and it proved that we were both taking things seriously. We wouldn’t just randomly hook up anymore, what we had was going to be so much better.
“You okay, son?” Dad finally dragged me out of my thought bubble. “You seem a little out of it?”
“Oh no, not at all.” I shifted in my seat. “I’m just excited about what’s to come. I’m glad that we’re really getting things on the road now.”
“Is that it?” Perceptive as ever, my dad saw right through me. “Are you sure there isn’t anything else going on?”
“Oh well, there is something else.” I figured I might as well be honest. This was what Dad wanted for me anyway. “I’ve met someone. A girl...we’re dating.”
His eyes it up excitedly. “You have? Tell me more. I’m interested in learning about the woman who's finally thawed your heart.”
“Her name is Olivia.” I couldn’t say it without my face breaking into a big, beaming grin. “She lives across the hall from me, and she’s also my physical therapist...”
“What?” He sounded shocked, and actually a little angry. “Are you serious? Do you know how stupid that sounds?”
Well, that was unexpected. I thought he might be cautious when he learned that she was a single mom, but I hadn’t even got to that point yet. This was bad news. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, how crazy is that? She lives in the same building as you, and she’s working with you. What if her boss finds out? Won’t she lose her job for fooling around with a client?”
I gulped. I’d done my best not to think about it too much because I didn’t want to accept the possible consequences, but with Dad saying it so blatantly I couldn’t think about anything else.
“Plus what happens if you break up? You’ll have to see each other every damn day. It’s ridiculous. Did you even think about that before you started hooking up with her? Did you even consider what might happen afterward?”
“I...” I didn’t know what to say to that. I was starting to wish that I hadn’t said anything. “I don’t know; it doesn’t matter. It is what it is.” I shrugged trying to act as blasé as possible. “Anyway, we’re here.”
I jumped out of the cab quickly, tossing some dollar bills the driver’s way. Dad had zapped all the happiness out of me, and I just wanted to get this over and done with. I felt so disappointed...until I looked up at the building that was about to become mine. I had to be proud about that, and Dad was too. Even if he didn’t like what I was doing with my personal life, he liked what was going on with the charity.
“Right,” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else. “Let’s do this.”
I stalked up the steps to my office with a surge of determination. This was the first day of the rest of my life, and I couldn’t wait for it. As we reached the top of the stairs, a woman with long legs and platinum blonde hair hanging down her back smiled at me. She had a royal blue suit jacket and skirt on and bright red lips. She had that typical real estate agent look about her.
“Hello there, Mr. Taylor,” she cooed at me. “It’s good to see you.”
“Yeah, it’s great to see you, too,” I replied brightly. I took her hand and shook it. “I’m glad to get this started.”
“Well, all the paperwork has already been drawn up for you, so all you need to do is read through and check it.” She handed me a stack of papers. “And, I’m here, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them.”
“Thank you.”
I scanned my eyes over the papers, feeling a little unsure of what I was supposed to be looking for. I didn’t know much about all of this, which was why it felt good to have my dad by my side. I had no doubt whatsoever that if there were anything to see, he would find it. As I read, I continually glanced my eyes over to him, but he didn’t seem to give me any warning sign whatsoever, so when it came to writing the check, I had absolutely no issues doing so.
“Here we go,” I proudly said as I handed my money over to the real estate agent. “Thank you for sorting this.”
She couldn’t help herself – the woman’s eyes bulged out of her head as she saw the amount that I’d written. My breath caught in my throat as I expected her to question me about it. If I didn’t want to share my financial details with my girlfriend, then I sure as hell didn’t want to tell this woman I didn’t know. Luckily for me, she gathered herself together, and she returned to professional status.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Taylor. Here are the keys; I hope you enjoy your new building.”
“I’m sure I will.”
We all left the building together with a celebratory feel around us. That warm positivity crept through my veins and made my face break with happiness. I’d done it; I finally had things started. I was now on my way to creating what I hoped would be a very successful charity.
“What do you want to do now?” Dad asked me, sounding happier and freer than before. It seemed that the charity had given him a fresh new purpose, too. “Did you want to go out for a drink to celebrate?”
“Yeah, why not? That sounds nice, actually.”
Dad paused for a second before he spoke once more. “Why don’t you invite your girlfriend? Sorry I was a bit harsh earlier. I just don’t want things to be complicated for you after all you’ve been through.”
I bit down guiltily on my bottom lip. He was making it incredibly challenging for me to tell him that everything was even more complex than he thought. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Why not? Is it because of what I said earlier? Because I am sorry. I would still like to meet her...”
I couldn’t let Dad believe it was his fault; I had to be honest. “No, it’s because she doesn’t know.”
“About the charity?” His eyes narrowed at me. “Or about the money?”
“All of it,” I admitted, feeling more than a little foolish as I did.
“What? Why not?”
“It just... It hasn’t come up, that’s all.”
Dad sighed and shook his head at me. He seemed disappointed in me, which was probably well justified. I should have told Olivia about it; it was only fair. I’d had opportunities to, and I just hadn’t done it. I was foolish, and now I was more than a little scared that I’d accidentally ruin everything with my stupidity.
“You have to tell her if you want to keep her,” he warned me. “If you’re serious and think she’s the right one, then you need to be honest with her; you can’t build your relationship on a lie.”
“But what if she looks at me differently? What if it changes her opinion of me?”
“Then she isn’t the one.” He placed a comforting arm on my shoulder and stared deeply at me. “Trust me, son, telling the truth is the only way you can make this work.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Dad loudly sighed before he spoke again. “You know, I kept a secret from your mom once.” My eyes snapped up to him, he hardly ever spoke about Mom, so I knew that this had to be something serious. My heart pounded just a little bit as I waited for him to continue.
“When we first started dating, I got my acceptance into the military, and I didn’t tell her about it. I was proud of it, don’t get me wrong, but I was scared that it’d end things for us. I thought she’d grow bored if I was likely to be away for long periods of time.”
“Why?” This story had me gripped; it made me feel closer to my mom that I had done in a very long time.
“Because she was so beautiful, and she had a lot of guys interested in her.” He chuckled at the memory. I could easily imagine what he was saying was true; I could remember my mother’s pretty face well. “I assumed if I went, one of the others would get her, so I kept it a secret. The date of me leaving kept looming, and still
, I kept it inside. It was stupid – I couldn’t avoid the inevitability, but I tried to ignore it anyway.”
“When did she find out?”
“The day I left,” he said gravely. “She came to see me as I was loading my things into the car.” I could only imagine what heartbreak that caused. “She went crazy, obviously…screamed at me for being a coward. Yelled at me for leaving without telling her. My secret caught up with me, and the consequences were terrible.”
“So, what happened?”
“She broke it off with me as any smart woman would.”
“She broke up with you?” My heart shattered as I realized this story had no happy ending...except it had to because I was born.
“Yes. And it took me three long years to get her back. I was distracted the whole time I went through my army training; all I could think about was her. I plotted and planned my way to get her back, and after a very long time, I did.” He patted my shoulder and grinned. “So, I guess what I’m saying is if you don’t want three wasted years as I had, then be honest. Don’t make the same mistakes that I did.”
Yeah, I didn’t really want to wait for three years to be with Olivia – I wanted to be with her now. Just like Dad, my secret would catch up with me, too. She was already starting to suspect. I had to find a way to let her know that I had the money, then I’d pray that she’d still act the same around me afterward. I couldn’t lose her… I just couldn’t.
She was the first person to make me smile in a very long time. I wasn’t ready to let that happiness slip through my fingers so easily, over one silly mistake. The next time I saw her, I would tell her everything. I vowed to myself that she’d know the truth about me, one way or another.
“So, did you want to go for that drink?” Dad asked. “Celebrate?”
“I do. Let’s do this.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Olivia
Monday
“Your leg feels great,” I told Zack encouragingly. “You’ve made real progress since you started coming to me, you know.”
“Hmmm.” He really wasn’t giving me much today. I kept getting grunts and noises as replies. Since the last thing we did together was spend the work party dancing and having a good time, I’d assumed that today was going to be a lot of fun. I had thought that we were pretty much dating now, but since he was so weird with me, I couldn’t be sure.
Please tell me Zack isn’t someone who only wants the chase! If I discovered he got bored because I’d caved to him, I didn’t think I’d ever been able to trust a man again.
“I know you said you did well with your old physiotherapist, Rebecca, but I think you’ve come further with me, don’t you?” I had to keep trying; I couldn’t give up just yet. “You’d never have been able to move your leg with this much flexibility before.”
“Yeah.” His eyes were so glazed over; it felt like he wasn’t even listening to me. I decided to test him,
“So that’s why it’s a shame that I’m quitting the business. I’ve been offered a job as a trapeze artist for the circus, which I’m going to take. It’s always been a lifelong dream of mine; you know how it is. So yeah, I’m leaving next week. Meghan wants to be a lion tamer, so of course, I’m going to let her because what that girl wants, she gets...”
“Hmmm.”
“Okay, that’s it.” I lost my temper, dropping Zack’s leg as I stood up. I would not be fucked around by him, I already warned him not to break me and my daughter’s heart, and it seemed that was already happening. If he was already done, then I needed to know. “What the hell is going on with you, Zack?”
“Huh?” He glanced up at me as if I’d gone insane. As if I was the one acting out of character. I wanted to scream. “What?”
“You aren’t giving me anything today. I just told you that I’m joining the circus and you said nothing.”
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “You aren’t, though, are you?”
“Urgh, that isn’t the point!” I threw my hands angrily above my head. “I feel like you’ve been pursuing me for ages, and now that you think you have me, you’re backing off. I get that you have secrets, even though you want me to be totally honest with you. I’ve tried to be really cool about it, but now... Well, now I don’t know what’s happening, and it’s pissing me off.”
Instead of yelling back like I half expected him to, he gave me sorrowful eyes and asked me quietly, “Olivia, can I ask you something?”
“Erm.” I was thrown completely off kilter. “Sure.”
My heart hammered, my mouth ran dry, my thighs trembled so powerfully that I had to take a seat to stop myself from falling. Everything that Zack had been keeping from me was about to be revealed, and I could barely stand the tension.
“How would you feel if I told you that I was very wealthy?”
Huh? That was not what I’d been expecting at all. I’m an old Hollywood actor, or I’m a notorious criminal would’ve made more sense from what I’d learned. “I guess... Well, it wouldn’t matter, would it? It wouldn’t change who you are.”
Tell me who you are!
When Zack didn’t say anything else, I felt the anticipation getting to boiling point. That couldn’t be all that he had to say; he needed to tell me more.
“What do you mean wealthy , anyway?” I felt compelled to ask.
“Really wealthy.” Again, that told me nothing; I didn’t know what to say about that. “How do you feel about really wealthy?”
I wasn’t totally sure that this wasn’t a weird hypothetical thing. There didn’t seem to be much logic about what he was telling me...only the fact that he’d donated to the company and paid for the party. I shrugged and repeated that it still wouldn’t matter.
“Right.” He paused thoughtfully. “Good.”
He leaned forward with his lips pursed as if he wanted to kiss me, which had my walls shooting up around me. “No, we can’t do that. Not here.” I glanced around rapidly, but luckily there wasn’t anyone in the room to see. Still, I couldn’t kiss Zack at work – it was all kinds of wrong.
“Would you get fired?”
I thought about Tess and Ant, and the way she didn’t care that everyone now knew that they were finally dating. No one had even commented on the fact that they used to work together, but maybe the fact that he wasn’t her patient anymore was key. Either way, I didn’t want to risk it.
“I don’t think it’s written in the rules not to date a patient, but I’m sure it’s frowned upon. I don’t want to risk either of us by making things public at work if that’s okay with you?”
“Sure.” He smiled thinly. “I understand. Are we done for the day? Do you want to walk me outside?”
“Sure, I can do that.”
I took Zack’s arm as we left, and he leaned into me a little more than he really needed to. It was a pointless cover-up; if people were going to find out, then they would like either way. But it made me feel better to act like it was all strictly professional.
Once we stepped outside the building, a grin exploded on Zack’s cheeks. He tugged me around the corner into the little alleyway there, and he kissed me hard in the shadows. His arms wrapped tightly around me, my hips inadvertently rolled into his, I lost myself so much in the power of his lips that I almost forgot myself completely and jumped his bones there and then. I was so lusty that I wouldn’t have cared who saw us...
But then Zack pulled back and gave me a look filled with desire and promise. While we couldn’t actually have sex here, the image was in both of our minds, and it was something that we’d get to do later on. With a pounding heart and knees like jelly, I took a step back to I run my eyes up and down him. God, he was a sexy man . Even if he was secretive and drove me crazy, I felt lucky to have him.
“I better get a cab,” he rasped at me. “Before I really make you lose your job.”
“Yeah, I suppose. I have another patient in a moment,” I pouted. “I don’t want to let you go, but I will.”
Zack gave me
one last, chaste kiss before moving back out into the sunlight. When he did, I couldn’t stop my mouth from wildly running away from me. I should’ve let it go, especially if I didn’t want to come across as some gold digger that was really interested in his alluded-to wealth, but I had to know more. I desperately wanted to work out if he was serious or playing a game, and if it was the latter, then what was the point of it?
“Zack, when you say really wealthy, what do you mean?”
He didn’t fully turn around to face me and continued moving his body towards the cab, but it didn’t truly matter. I got enough of his answer to understand exactly what he was trying to tell me…even if it didn’t make too much sense.
“Wealthier than some small countries.”
He slid into the car, leaving me on the side of the road with my mouth wide open in shock. He seemed to be serious; he hadn’t yet collapsed into laughter and told me the punch line…which maybe meant that he was some sort of millionaire. Or billionaire, if that was what he meant by that remark.
Either way, something crazy had just happened. Zack Taylor wasn’t who I thought he was. Not at all.
***
“Olivia? You there?” Tess waved her hand in front of my face, bringing me back to the present moment. “You okay?”
Yep, just found out my boyfriend is super rich. Wealthier than some small countries!
“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, I’m distracted, just a bit tired today.”
But if he’s so rich, then why does he live in the same apartment block as me? Why doesn’t he have a fancy place with fancy stuff?
“Okay, well, I was just telling you that Ant and I finally had sex last night, and it was mind-blowing!” Tess rolled on with her story, ignoring my blatant distracted face. “I think all the waiting made it so much better.”
And, why does Zack act like he has no money if he does? There are so many things that don’t make sense.
“And then in the morning, he told me that he is falling in love with me.”
But he did pay for the party... That’s the one thing that makes me think that he might actually be telling the truth, however crazy it sounds.
