by Thalia Eames
She’d had enough of being batted back and forth between the two men like some curly-haired tennis ball who’d scored zero on the love.
“That’s on the agenda,” he said. “I spoke with Dillon this morning. He said as fast as you heal you should be fine to drive. But, we’ve got a stop to make first and I want to talk to you about a few things. One of those things might piss you off. You in?”
Chapter Thirteen
“Do you know the story behind why Paolo came to America and ended up in LuPines?”
Garrett didn’t waste any time. They got into his Tesla roadster, their seat belts slid into place, and he got down to business. She wished she had the skills to handle things so expeditiously, but Lennox Averdeen never decided on anything quickly.
“Yeah, I know the story,” she said. “He’s following his father’s journey from the States to Italy but doing it backwards. Paolo was born in La Morra and came to LuPines, his father’s hometown.” She paused. “How do you know about it?”
Reaching back, Garrett pulled something off the floor behind her seat. He handed off her handbag as he spoke. “I’ve been helping out in the kitchen at the Peach Pit when I can. Paolo and I talk.”
Lennox stared down at her handbag, up at Garrett, and back to her bag. Whenever she thought he’d shown her the depths of jerk side he did something thoughtful. “Thank you, Garrett.” She meant that for so many reasons.
Their gazes met and held for a long, wistful moment. They both looked away. The deal they’d made felt a lot different without anger and lust fueling it. She might not be able to keep her end of the bargain now that she’d had some time to think.
To hide her embarrassment she teased him. “Too bad you didn’t bring my toothbrush. Then I’d kiss you.”
“Really? Would I get to pick the spot?” he asked as he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.
“Oh, definitely.” She nodded in the most dishonest way possible.
“Nice. What do I get for your toothbrush and a change of clothes? Because I’ve got both.”
She did a double take and glanced in the rearview mirror. A manuscript, a couple of blueprints and, most importantly, her overnight bag sat in the custom built backseat. Guess she’d better put her lip balm on and get to smooching. She just hoped he didn’t offer up his ass to kiss. He had far better parts.
Garrett nodded toward the items in the backseat. “Grabbing that stuff is why I got to the police station late. You should’ve waited for me.”
His eyes darkened. He almost seemed hurt she’d gone to breakfast with Ian before he could pick her up. Guilt burned the tips of her ears. He’d been running around doing something nice for her and she’d called him a eunuch. Time for a subject change.
“We were talking about Paolo,” she said.
Garrett gave her a sidelong glance. “Were we talking about Paolo?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded more.
“I thought we were talking about your lips on my—”
“Nuh-uh. That’s not what we were talking about at all.”
The vibrato of his answering chuckle sent a throb of desire through her core. Her legs went boneless and she sucked in one corner of her lower lip.
Garrett glanced over. “If things like that embarrass you, how are you going to fulfill your end of our deal?”
She blew her lip from between her teeth and straightened. “Can you please tell me why we’re talking about Paolo?”
His second chuckle did as much damage as the first. Lennox slammed her knees together and crossed her arms over her hardened nipples.
After inhaling deeply, Garrett pinned her with his honeyed gaze. She’d thought Ian’s blue eyes were intense. Nothing compared to the way Garrett singed her to ashes. “I’m going to take good care of you, Elle,” he said. “You have no idea.”
“Garrett!”
“What?”
“Paolo.”
He gave her one last smoldering once-over before he picked up their real discussion. “I want to send Paolo to Camp Big Bad with Nox. I spoke with him already. All I need is the go-ahead from you.”
“Why?” She fished out a hairbrush and dropped her handbag to the floor between her feet. “Wait? Don’t tell me Paolo is a member of your fraternity.”
“He is. And Ian has been trying to get him to come on as a counselor.”
Lennox shook her head. She didn’t want to deal with the barrage of questions floating through her mind. Instead she focused on what she needed to know most. “Why do you want Paolo and how am I supposed to get along without him? I planned to take a little time off to figure out my next move.”
“Paolo is the only member of my fraternity both Ian and I trust. I need eyes on my son at all times, Elle. If Paolo escorts Nox to camp, I’ll be able to let Nox go.” His words held so much feeling she didn’t doubt him. His long fingers gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles whitened. Garrett hated not being in control. Allowing him to feel powerless for too long would be a very bad thing.
“Cash and I will work your diner until camp is over,” he added.
Her dubious look kept him talking. “Trust me. I’m going to need the stress relief and Cash is almost as good as I am.”
Lennox sighed. She brushed her hair off her face and twisted the mass into a bun at the nape of her neck. “Okay,” she said.
“Yes?”
“Honestly, I’d feel better with Paolo watching over Nox too.”
Garrett grinned. “Done.”
“You’re going to run your studio out of my diner?”
Garrett turned down a road leading into the woods.
“Why not? A man does what he has to. Running my studio out of the Peach Pit shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve done it on a private jet for twenty-two hours, on the back of a camel, and from a Tibetan meditation camp where I wasn’t supposed to have a phone.”
She rolled her eyes. She couldn’t help it. “Don’t flaunt your fabulous life at me.”
He moistened his bottom lip. The quick flicker of his tongue mesmerized her. Oh, sweet damn.
“It is an extraordinarily good life,” he teased by putting emphasis on extra.
“Shut up.”
“If I do that, I can’t show you the blueprints in the backseat.”
Lennox didn’t wait for further taunting. She took matters into her own hands and grabbed the blueprints for a look-see. When she unfurled them her heart stuttered.
Garrett’s voice softened. “It turns out Averdeen Manor was a city landmark. They had the plans for it on file at the historic registry.”
She couldn’t believe it. Her fingers trailed over the series of lines that somehow came together to form an image of her home. From the foundation up every floor and elevation could be rebuilt from these drawings.
Garrett’s fingers slowly traced the curve of her thigh and squeezed. “I know it won’t be the same but I’m going make it as close as possible. We’ll start the rebuilding process this week.”
Her shaking hands barely covered her face in time to press her palms into her eyes. If she looked at him right now, he’d know she still loved him like she loved good food, craved him like a crack fiend who’d been forced off the rock. Needed him so bad it gave her the shakes to rival an addict.
If her state of mind weren’t so pitiful, she’d laugh. Because when she looked at him, she remembered she wasn’t the one for him. He would never change his mind. In place of all the things she wanted to say one tiny speck of truth escaped. “You’re one of my favorite people on the planet.”
Silence filled the car. After a while he cleared his throat. “Can you do me a favor?”
Lennox nodded. “Anything.”
He handed her the manuscript she’d seen earlier. The title alone excited her enough to bring out a grin. “You got the rights to adapt A Theft o
f Shadows?”
He mocked puffing out his chest. “You doubted I would?”
“No, I just…” She flipped to the first page and read the opening. “This is good, Garrett.”
“Will you read it for me? Give me notes? You know, you’d make a phenomenal producer if you ever decide to go back into film.”
She read a bit more, enjoying the flow of the words and the way the descriptions evoked emotional darkness. “I’ll read it for you, but my moviemaking dreams faded when I left school. Those days are over.”
A flash of hurt crossed Garrett’s face. The unexpected emotion caught Lennox off guard. Why had her refusal to reawaken their college dreams hurt him? He’d gotten the best out of the deal.
He drove in silence from then on, allowing her to do a reader’s pass of the script. She scanned the first ten pages, then read twenty-five in the middle, and finished with the climax and ending.
Staunton Bridge crested on the dirt road in front of them. Beyond the bridge they came to a crossroad. Instead of taking the left to Camp Big Bad’s campgrounds Garrett steered them right.
Lennox took her time to organize her thoughts. You could never tell how receptive to criticism Garrett would be at any moment. She closed the script and tapped a finger on the cover. “This is great, Garrett. I can’t think of a better way to take the story from page to screen.”
He breathed out as though he’d been holding his breath. It felt good to know her opinion mattered to him. Especially since she had more to say. “The only thing I’d change is the ending.”
He looked askance. “I pulled the ending directly from the book.”
“I caught that. I think your literal translation is the problem. Screenplays don’t typically have room for internal dialog the way books do. Without the extra insight into the characters’ motivations the ending doesn’t work.”
Garrett’s jaw hardened. “I’m not changing it.”
Lennox rolled her eyes before she thought better of it. Her annoyance would only make him dig his heels in deeper. Garrett hadn’t changed much since college. Other than getter taller and more mind-warpingly sexy—which she absolutely would not think about. His rampant deliciousness wouldn’t sway her, mostly because he’d never been sunshine and roses. Then again she had her own thorns. If Garrett didn’t watch it, she’d shove the pointy toes of her shoes right up his—
“Ass,” she mumbled. “Why did you ask me to read this?” She shook the script in his face. “If you don’t want my opinion?”
“First off, I’m driving. Don’t wave shit in my face. Second, I still want your opinion. You can continue at any time you’re ready. Third, you’ve already told me what you think of the ending. I disagree and I’ve made my decision.”
“That’s it? No discussion? No, ‘what were you thinking would work better?’”
“No. I know what you mean and I’ve thought about it several times before. I don’t agree.”
“Of course not.”
She flung the script into his lap. He threw a flickering amber glower at her. Taken aback she nearly backed down. She shook with the effort of standing her ground, knowing her flaring emotions hadn’t been ignited by his latest feat of stubbornness. He’d sliced an old wound open and made her bleed.
Acid anger rose in her throat. Lennox chewed the lining of her cheek but only hurt herself as she bit down. Once again Garrett’s decisions took precedence over anything she thought or felt. He’d snuck into her life again and his choices changed it all. Once again he’d left her hurt simply because he’d decided to. He’d chosen Tina and damn him for a bad cough she just couldn’t get over it.
She shook her head, scoffing as she punched the button to roll the window down. She needed air. At the edge of her vision Garrett turned the air conditioning off. He paused, curled his lip at her, switched it on again, and thumbed the button to roll her window up.
They fought back and forth, her punching the window down with a stiff finger, him thumbing it up and scowling.
Anger boiled over to the point she thought her hairline would burst into flames. She already knew how red the skin around her face got when someone pissed her off to this degree. The pulse in her neck throbbed too.
“Fuck you, Garrett.”
He smiled. Amber flickered in his irises as his eyes narrowed. He spoke slowly, each word a deliberate taunt. “Who should I call in to get that done? The TV star, the hot older actress. Maybe the makeup artist?”
Lennox seethed, gritting her teeth.
Garrett lowered his voice into a purr. “I’ve got an infinite playlist of women willing to fuck me. You wanna watch?”
She sneered.
“No. You want it to be you. And it will be.” Arrogance added edge to his expression, making him sexier. “You’ll be the one fucking me, Elle. I can promise you that.”
Had he lost it or had she?
“I don’t think so. Unlike you, I know how to change my mind. I don’t make up a bunch of crazy-ass rules and stick to them despite good sense.” She flicked her hands in the air, trying to shake off her rage. “I’m not mired in some ridiculous fairytale of loving only once. A choice that can only end in loneliness.”
Garrett pulled up in front of a rental cabin flanked by a wide wooden porch and equally wide steps leading to it. He parked the car with a stiff flourish that didn’t bode well for her hurt feelings.
In a series of quick movements he manually undid both their seat belts. The buckles glinted in the sun as they whipped across their fronts and retracted.
Garrett stared down at the space between them. His shoulders flexed with each breath. Then his gaze rolled up to meet hers. His irises had gone from cognac cool to solid amber. Lennox couldn’t move. The car had become a cage. As though she’d been locked in with a big dog. Rottweilers, pit bulls, Dobermans, German shepherds, they all made the scar on her hip ache as though she’d begun to bleed again. As though she’d never left the woods on her thirteenth birthday. There was no difference between those animals and this one. Garrett had become a predator.
“No,” he said in a voice more growl than words. “You don’t have any problem changing your mind. But you’re going to end up as old and alone as me.” Instead of rising in volume his tone lowered, becoming rougher as he spoke. “The difference is my old age will be my choice. You’ll be alone because you’ll never choose. You didn’t fight for me then. You won’t say yes to Ian now.”
Indecipherably fast, he stuck his face into hers. She scrambled backward until her head hit the window. Garrett closed the distance. The knuckles on his right hand glided along her rib cage, slid tantalizingly over her breasts, stroked the column of her throat, and wrapped around it to catch the curls at her nape in an unyielding grip.
“You never make the hard decisions,” he growled, pressing his lips to her earlobe.
Her body trembled more than her voice did. “I’ve made hard decisions, Garrett.”
“Nuh-uh.” He nuzzled her neck. “You’ve been backed into corners and you’ve come out swinging.” He nipped her neck. The scrape of his teeth simultaneously scared a gasp out of her and made her wet with need. “You don’t make choices. You either react or do nothing. It’s not the same thing.”
She shook her head, unable to voice her dissent. He nipped her earlobe. This time a shiver pulsed along her spine.
“I’ll prove it to you,” he whispered across her skin. “I’m going to get out of the car and take my time coming around to the other side.” His other hand came up to stroke her cheek. “If you choose to walk away, I won’t stop you.”
Reaching behind him, he popped the latch. The Tesla’s door glided silently open. Lennox closed her eyes unable to meet the burning amber of his stare. The sensual warmth he’d surrounded her with receded, leaving her alone in the car with only the sound of her heaving breaths to keep her company.
In the eternity afterward she imagined getting out of the car and strutting down the road, never to think of Garrett again. She envisioned taking action so well it seemed real, and she nearly fell out of the car when Garrett opened the passenger-side door. He caught her and lifted her up into his arms. His chuckle was positively wicked as his lips grazed her temple. “I told you.”
She made a weak attempt to push away. “I chose to stay,” she said but the words had no oomph.
He squeezed her tighter. “No. You did nothing. It’s not the same thing.” Air rushed past her as he turned on his heel, carrying her into the cabin. “So, once again, my decision stands.”
They made it inside. She knew this because Garrett kicked the door in. Then his mouth slashed over hers. Stars burst behind her eyelids. The unbound passion of his kiss seared her to the bone as his tongue plunged between her lips. He tasted her, leaving her breathless and hungry for more. She returned his fervor. Grasping his nape she opened up to take his tongue in deeper, reveling in feel of him. In between deep kisses he sucked her bottom lip. She moaned, closing her eyes and surrendering to the sensuous play of his mouth. Butterflies with liquid fire wings fluttered in her belly.
Each round of claiming and suckling left her panting. Breaking the kiss, he pulled away to stare down at her. She moaned her frustration and grabbed the sides of his face to pull him back in. She wanted more. The sweet ache building in her core made her crazy with need. He didn’t budge. Instead Garrett chuckled more wickedly than before. Then he carried her past the living room, and around the dining room table.
What was he doing? They didn’t need to go anywhere. The floor would serve their purposes just fine. She wanted him inside her. She wanted his body to pound into hers until she came so hard she lost her mind. Her body felt fevered and ready. A hot, wet wave of need translated into a whimper as she ground her hips against his hard length.
They didn’t make it past the kitchen. Garrett groaned. Lifting her onto the countertop, he pinned her with his molten gaze. She froze, unafraid. Anticipation hummed across her skin and turned frenetic when he reached for the buttons on her shirt. To his credit he didn’t rip the vintage garment off her. He knew how much she loved her classic clothes. His hands shook as she watched them work their way down her body. It must’ve taken all the patience he had in reserve. When he undid the last button she shrugged out of the shirt and flung it away.
