Equity (Balance Sheet #3)

by Shannon Dermott

I nodded. “Anyway, it looks like Sandy might be behind the embezzlement. And yeah, it’s about the money, but I think it’s more than that. This is personal. I became King of the streets after that day and he’s wanted to get back at me for years. He’s been sleeping with Keely and I’m just not sure what she’s told him. He may know about you and try to get me through you.”

  “She betrayed you?” Bailey asked appalled, worried more about my feelings than her own safety.

  “I don’t want to think so. I think he used her.” I watched her accept what I said. “I need you to be safe.”

  “This is the reason for the two extra guards?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re only telling me now.”

  Shit. Her narrowed eyes said that nothing I might say would appease her. I didn’t bother with a yes. I jumped into my explanation. “You needed to hear the story and I wanted to do that in person.”

  Her exhalation of breath gave me some hope. “I need to think about. My job is here. I just started. My resume is going to look bad if I keep leaving jobs after a few months.”

  I didn’t bother with words like I’ll take care of you. I’d learned they wouldn’t work. “Fine, I’ll move to DC.”

  “You can’t. Your business is in New York.”

  “True. You are more important. Our wee babe is more important.”

  She shook her head and rolled on her side with her head propped up on her elbow. “Don’t. Just give me some time to figure it out.”

  Something told me I may have persuaded her to my side.

  “I still haven’t seen your place yet.”

  “Next weekend,” I promised. I could fly her there tomorrow. But that would mean an hour or two in travel time I couldn’t be inside her. I was too greedy for that. “At this moment, I want to feel you wrapped around me.”

  She giggled when I made a move to slide inside her again.

  Chapter Forty

  If I were to get paid by the number of orgasms I had, I would be rich. Kalen was insatiable. We didn’t leave the hotel the next day. Hell, I’d barely left the bed at all. The room was elegant, draped in crème’s and gold’s. Something I hadn’t noticed until late Sunday. Finally Kalen and I decided we needed to leave the room. He refused to drive me home and instead we stopped at a shop with me in my trench coat with nothing underneath.

  The boutique carried all designer clothing. After my protest about spending too much money on me, he managed to persuade me by explaining that there wasn’t another store in walking distance according to the concierge at the hotel. Not wanting to walk around practically naked, I tried on a few dresses. I ended up wearing a leaf green crepe number with cap sleeves and a deep V-neck that ended with a hidden zipper that trailed all the way to the hem a couple inches above the knee. The dress was worth more than my paycheck. I tried not to think about that.

  Kalen refused to buy me any undergarments. He liked the idea that the zipper was the only thing from exposing me to the world. I have to say I was thoroughly turned on. I could only hope my arousal wouldn’t stain the dress.

  We were sitting in a five star restaurant, eating food that was too good to be dreamed up. After I’d flinched at the prices in the menu, Kalen took over ordering for us. His choices turned out to be divine. Knowing his history, I marveled at how in four years or so under his father’s tutelage he’d come to be an expert at the finer things in life. Maybe it was in the genes.

  “Why are you staring at me, Lass?”

  Every time he called me lass my pussy clenched. His accent was incredibly sexy and his voice alone could probably get me off.

  “The way you’re licking that chocolate ganache off your fork is making me jealous.” It coated the cake his fork sank into.

  His emerald eyes sparkled with mischief. “You want me to eat you like this.” The way he put the cake in his mouth had me crossing my legs. “Because this cake has nothing on your pussy.”

  “Can we go?” I begged. Suddenly I hated that we’d talked each other out of our room. He would be headed home soon. And I was seriously considering calling out of work and following him to New York. The past two weeks had been torture without seeing him. And it was my own stubborn fault.

  “Just one more bite,” he said, teasing me all over again.

  Once he paid the bill, he was stopped by a business associate. His company was international, he had contact everywhere. After I’d been introduced I lost interest in their conversation. I drifted towards the window and wood paneled door, hoping to give Kalen the excuse to leave their conversation. I stood in the vestibule because Kalen had my coat. It was too cold to stand outside because of the dress I’d chosen.

  When a hand met the small of my back, I jerked and spun around. It wasn’t Kalen’s hand, I knew that by first touch. A blast so far from the past met my eye, I was speechless.

  “Hi, Bailey.”

  He was still handsome and clean cut, just like the last time I saw him. He smelled of the spicy cologne he liked to wear and I found myself wrinkling my nose. Kalen was a clean scent guy. He wore nothing more than deodorant. It was pleasing, this was overkill.

  “Scott,” I muttered.

  A few people entered the restaurant from the outer door, bringing with them a blast of cold air. I shivered.

  He started to shrug off his jacket. Before I stopped him with a hand raised. “I’m okay.”

  “You’re better than okay. You look… stunning.” His eyes roamed my body. “As always. I have to say I miss you.”

  Goosebumps erupted on my skin and not in a good way. I felt crawly things as his eyes traveled over me.

  “I can’t say the same.”

  Ignoring my comment, he said, “I tried to call you several times, but you didn’t return any of my voicemails. And that barmaid of a friend of yours wouldn’t pass on a message to you.”

  He hadn’t come for me either. I thought about what Kalen said to Turner. Scott wanted me when I was in his sight, but he didn’t love or need me. Honestly, I didn’t care. Seeing him made me feel nothing.

  He slithered forward crowding me in a corner as I retreated from his advance. “We still could be good for each other. I could forgive you for leaving me without a word.”

  In disgust, I shook my head. “Never going to happen.”

  His hand came up and I prepared myself to strike. “I wouldn’t touch my wife if I were you.”

  Kalen showed up in silence. He yanked Scott from touching distance. It all happened so fast, I didn’t bother correcting his use of the term wife. Who cared what Scott thought, as long as he left me alone?

  With bugged out eyes Scott nearly danced on his toes with Kalen still holding him by the collar. My ex wasn’t a short guy, but he was dwarfed by my current lover.

  “Wife,” Scott spluttered.

  “Wife,” Kalen confirmed.

  The two men glared at each other. Kalen let him loose and Scott tried to straighten his jacket when a blonde walked in.

  “Scott, I thought you said you’d be right back.” I didn’t want to hate the girl on sight even though she had bad taste in guys. Her voice, however, grated on my nerves. She spoke in a whiny nasally tone that added to the brainless expression she gave him.

  “Jane,” Scott said. “I’ll meet you back at the table in a minute.”

  Her head bobbed in a fashion that said she was used to the motion. When her left hand reached for the door something caught my interest and had me moving to intercept her.

  I took her cold hand in mine, not believing what I was seeing. “Wow, that looks just like the ring Scott gave me. I left it when I saw your picture flash on his phone several months ago. He was leaving our apartment to meet you. While I congratulate you for winning this prick, I mean prize, as a woman I have to tell you he re-gifted that engagement ring you’re wearing.”

  She looked stunned, but I wasn’t quite sure she’d gotten the message. Pity, I was in no mood to spell it out. Scott looked furious. He lunged. Kalen, who’
d moved to stand beside me in the middle of all of this, caught Scott with a hand around his neck.

  “I want you to think about your next move. If you hurt my wife or unborn child, I’ll be forced to end you.”

  Scott went limp in compliance.

  “Good lad,” Kalen said and released him.

  Scott scurried away with Jane in tow. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Scott had all but asked me to come back to him when he was engaged to her. Then again, he had been engaged to me when he was screwing her. Once a cheater, always a cheater, I hated to think.

  “That’s the prick you were going to marry?”

  I felt stupid for that decision, but I could do nothing about that now. I shrugged. “Clearly, the bright lights of the big city messed with my brain,” I joked. Not that Boston was any comparison to New York. But a girl like me from a small community with no outside influences, some small towns would have been a shock for me that first time away.

  He tucked me in my coat and we stepped out of the vestibule where he hailed a cab.

  On the ride back to the hotel, I said, “Wife, huh?”

  Kalen smirked. “It’s only a matter of time.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  By the time Kalen left to head back to New York, I was thoroughly sated. His professed words, marking me as his wife, played over and over in my mind. It was too soon to get married, I thought. Still, maybe I should move in with him. I didn’t want to give up my job, but I could find another. Sleep claimed me before I could call Lizzy and Violet to talk this through.

  Fate played its hand. I got a call from my supervisor from Boston. She’d left my old firm in favor of another and a promotion. She said they were ramping up staff. Many clients left our old firm because of the press and arrest of Kevin, one of their senior managers, who was directly involved in embezzlement from a client. It was sad for them. That, however, was how the business world worked.

  The important part of her call was an offer of a job. She was based in New York and wanted to bring me on.

  Violet became my sounding board because I couldn’t reach Lizzy.

  “She’s been out every night this week. She comes in late and sleeps even later. I haven’t seen her since I have class during the day.”

  I worried about Lizzy, which was another reason I felt like maybe I should make the move. We speculated more about what she was up to. She’d resorted to only texted me here and there not telling me much of what she was doing other than checking in to let us know she was safe. After beating that subject into the ground, we switched topics.

  “I don’t know what to do,” I groaned.

  “Okay, so let’s look at the good and bad things.” I’d already told her my dilemma.

  “The pros are I’d be close to you and Lizzy.”

  “I told you I would move to DC.”

  She had offered and I’d considered knowing I should have been the one to take care of her. “I know you would. Your school is great. No need to change on my account,” I said.

  “Fine, and don’t forget you’d be close to your man.”

  “True. But I kind of want to live on my own for a while.”

  “I get it,” Violet said.

  Something about how she said it had me suddenly sitting up in bed. “Do you hate living with Lizzy?”

  “No,” she replied. “She’s hardly here and when she is, she knows when I need space and when I need company.”

  That was so true and great when I’d lived under her roof. I never felt like I was a bother to her or she was a bother to me. “That’s good.”

  “What about cons?”

  Was there something else going on with Violet? She’d smoothly brought the conversation back to me. Violet wasn’t one to complain. I debated on whether to push. She wouldn’t tell me if she didn’t want to. This was probably another reason to move to NY, so I could be there for Lizzy and Violet as they had me.

  I found myself answering her question. “I just started my job a few weeks ago. The guy took me in on a favor from a friend. I feel bad to leave them. Although the audit season is winding down. It would be worse for me to stay and leave when audit season ramps up again in the fall.”

  “Isn’t that when you’re due?”

  Sighing, I said, “Yes.”

  “You would actually be doing them a favor to leave now so they find a replacement before it gets busy for them.”

  I groaned. She was right.

  “It sounds like work or family. Which do you choose?”

  When we hung up, I was closer to an answer than not. I just wasn’t quite there yet. I would decide this weekend when I went to stay at Kalen’s place. It would be interesting how he was around his things. How would he react with me in his domain?

  On the downside, Kalen’s calls at night became increasing agitated during the week.

  “Lass, please consider staying with me in New York, even if only temporary.” His near pleading almost broke me. “My team has unearthed several transactions that make the likely that Sandy’s the guy pulling the strings on the embezzlement. The FBI tracked him on a plane to the U.S. a couple of weeks ago. They don’t see an exit through Customs, which means he’s most likely still in the country.”

  He was beginning to really freak me out.

  “Keely allowed an agent to go pose for her at the meeting place in the Cayman Islands. He has yet to show. He’s called her a few times and she’s played along. Unfortunately, he was on a prepaid phone and never stayed on long enough to track.”

  “If he’s trying to get at you, wouldn’t it be better if I wasn’t near you?” It was a random thought, and a stupid one.

  “You’re safer with me.”

  “I’m surrounded by a security detail. He’s not going to make a move on me.”

  He exhaled a heavy breath, weary from my constant push back regarding moving. “Just get some sleep.”

  Each night was more of the same. By the time Friday came, I was jumping at my own shadow. When Kalen stepped into my office at five, I was shocked to see him. I knew he was against me taking a train. This, however, was extreme.

  “Are you done for the day?”

  I was so thrilled to see him I practically jumped into his arms. “Does that mean we’re staying here for the weekend?

  “No. I promised you’d get to see my place. And I mean for you to.”

  He set me on my toes and kissed me slowly at first before things got heated.

  “You blush beautifully,” he said with heavy lidded gaze. If I couldn’t see the desire on his face, I felt the stiffness in his pants against my body.

  “I think we should go before I shock my coworkers.”

  It was Friday and not tax or audit season. The office was emptying, which meant a lot of girls and a few guys stopped in their tracks as we passed by. My security team was outside, so it clearly was the man on my arm that had eyebrows raised. One girl gave me a thumbs up and I had to laugh.

  “I guess you’re used to being gawked at.”

  His smirk gave the answer. “I donnae noo whi yer going on about.”

  Don’t try and act like you don’t understand me. You know exactly what you do to women.” I winked. “And men too. That would be kind of hot if you kissed a boy.” I started singing a different version of Katy Perry’s hit song about kissing a girl. I switched out the word girl to boy.

  “Never going to happen.”

  “Lost your donnae speak,” I said, trying to mimic his accent.

  He rolled his eyes and I just laughed.

  As much as I wanted to be with Kalen and join the mile high club, I ended up napping on his chest after we boarded the plane.

  “We’re here,” he said in my ear.

  I opened my eyes to get a view of a large building with a glass front entrance. We weren’t in a plane. I’d slept the whole ride and all the way to his place. His driver open the door and held out a hand. On instinct, I looked back at Kalen. He nodded and I allowed the driver to help me
out of the car.

  “I like your submissive side,” Kalen whispered in my ear as he guided me to the front entrance of the building with a hand at the small of my back.

  “I guess you want to spank me now,” I flirted. The idea didn’t appall me.

  He sucked in a breath. “There are so many things I have planned for you.”

  The doorman held open the door and I strolled into the building. The lobby had a minimalistic appeal. There were a few paintings along the way that led to a bank of elevators behind a wall that obstructed the view of residents’ ins and outs from those walking by on the street.

  I took his hand, finding comfort being this close.

  “Why didn’t the security team follow us up?” I asked when we were alone in the elevator.

  He placed a kiss on my forehead. “You don’t think I can keep you safe?”

  “Of course I do. I just wondered, is all.”

  “My place is under constant surveillance.” He pointed to what looked like a blacked out panel. “Wave.”

  I did, even though I felt like an idiot.

  “The security team is for you, not for me. I want him to come at me. In fact, I dare him to. Besides, I needed a moment alone with you.”

  He pressed me against the wall with the panel. At our angle, we wouldn’t be seen. Again he kissed me breathless until the elevator dinged.

  We stepped out of the elevator into a long hall that held only two doors. One was on the right side at one end of the hall. And the other was on the left side at the opposite end of the hall. I followed him to the right.

  When he opened the door, I wasn’t sure what I’d expected. Whatever it was, this wasn’t it. Before me was an unobstructed view of Central Park with the city’s architectural skyline to either side. That wasn’t the confusing part.

  “It’s empty,” I said, stepping further into the space. To my left, there was a transition into a beautiful kitchen that also had floor to ceiling views. To my right was a staircase that curved up.

  “It’s yours.”

  I pivoted on my heels. He stayed back, watching me take it all in. “What?”