by Alexis Anne
I fought the urge to smile. “I don’t see how this is my problem.”
“Per our agreement, all things that put your name in the spotlight are everyone’s problem. We demand a plan of action.”
Every once in a while the amended agreement bit me in the ass. Mostly it kept me safe while providing clear lines that defined my complicated relationship with my family and our family legacy. It dictated that all publicity—intentional or not—triggered a meeting to handle the potential ramifications. It also outlined when and where my parents were allowed to see me. I’d agreed to the amendment for Lily and the relationship I wanted to maintain with my sister. But at the moment, I wanted to light the damn thing on fire.
“Well, per our agreement, I agree to stay out of the public eye until Adam leaves. Deal?” I knew it wouldn’t be good enough despite being perfectly reasonable.
Roger stared me down. I swear there was no feeling inside that man’s heart. His eyes were a testament to that. “We have a proposal for you,” he said just before Shirley plopped our plates down in front of us. It took her a minute to deliver all of Roger’s sizzling food and condiments.
“What kind of proposal?”
“One photo shoot and interview with your mother and we’ll look the other way on Adam Callaway for the rest of the week.”
I coughed on my French fry. What kind of crazy train was Roger on? “Why on earth would I agree to that?”
“Because,” he replied quietly, “if you don’t, we’ll release this.” He slid an envelope across the table.
I stared at it without picking it up. “Why?”
“Because he’s Adam Callaway,” Roger said Adam’s name like it was a sports car he wanted to possess. That was when I realized there was more going on.
“If we release the information in that envelope your relationship with him will be over.” Roger was betting that Adam meant something to me. “There is no way the McKinley’s will allow him to associate with you. It will smear his good name, his family, and everything they stand for. Adam won’t want to touch you.”
I struggled to keep my face neutral as realization finally dawned on me. Adam McKinley Callaway. Adam was a fucking McKinley. Senator Thad McKinley’s gorgeous grandson.
The McKinley’s were American political royalty. The Callaway’s owned one of the biggest restaurant chains in the country, not just Green Hills and three local restaurants. Thousands of restaurants. Adam was the sole heir and partner in a billion dollar corporation, and part of one of the most famous, rich, and brilliant political families in America.
Roger and Cybil had an unprecedented opportunity in front of them: they could finally make me pay for what I’d done to them, all while getting a level of publicity they hadn’t managed in years. It would mean ridding themselves of the pall I’d put on the family and line their pockets at the same time.
Adam was their golden ticket.
All because I couldn’t walk away from him.
I picked up the envelope and glanced inside. It was a single photograph from a night I’d tried to forget for the last twelve years. A stupid, desperate mistake I’d made in an attempt to feel like more than a pawn in someone else’s game. I thought it was private, I thought Max loved me. Shit, at the time I’d thought it was fun. But I was young and stupid. And very, very wrong.
“How did you get this?” No one should have that photograph. I didn’t have that photograph.
“I very recently came across it.” That was all Roger said, and I knew it was all he was ever going to say.
So I had two options. I could agree to their terms: do the photo shoot and interview in exchange for silence. Or I could take my chances. Play the publicity war games and hope I won in the end. I didn’t have the strength for another public war with my family. I didn’t know what I wanted from Adam, but I knew I wanted the chance to explore it.
“I pick the photographer, the location, and the reporter,” I said, sealing the envelope and putting it in my bag.
“Deal. We want it done by Friday.”
“And this stays between us?”
Roger nodded once. “If the photo shoot and interview go well, then Cybil and I will have no reason to seek any new publicity or to manage the existing bad publicity.”
“Fine,” I spat back. “I’ll have Edita send you the details. After this, we’re done. We’re even. I never want to see you again. Our agreement is off.”
Roger’s face was stone except for a tick in his left eye. No one would notice it, but I did. I knew the tick well. I was an expert at setting it off. “Goodbye, Elizabeth.”
I slid out of the booth, tucking my hair behind my ear to let Andres know I was leaving. And pissed. He met me at the door. “Everything ok?”
“I didn’t throw anything at him, did I?”
Andres chuckled. “You look like you should. Want to turn around and throw a fork? I can handle you both.”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to throw anything. I wanted to cry. A good long cry. That was what scared me. No matter what happened in the past, I always left in a ball of fire. The fight surging through my veins, the anger taking on a life of its own.
I didn’t feel any of that right then. I was deflated and very nearly broken. My fight was gone…and I didn’t know what that meant. Andres held open the heavy wood door and I slid on my sunglasses as I stepped into the burning bright September afternoon. “Thanks for flying down for such a short meeting.”
Andres shook his head. “My girl came with me. We decided to make it a vacation and rented a condo on the beach just down the road from your apartment.”
Vacation my ass. “Edita told you to stick around for a few days, didn’t she?”
Andres folded his strong arms over his wide chest and smiled. “Maybe. She thought there might be a need for me again this week. Sure beats the hell out of flying back and forth.”
I shrugged and kept walking toward my car, desperately wishing it were Adam’s AMG instead of my sensible Camry. The AMG would get me back to Calhoun Beach in a fraction of the time…as long as I didn’t attract any legal attention. “Well thanks. Looks like I’ll need you for a photo shoot on Friday.”
“Send me the details,” he paused and held open my door for me. “I’ll be five minutes away. You need anything, you call.” I hugged him. My affection caught him by surprise at first but then he hugged me back. “Go home, Elizabeth.”
I nodded quickly and slid into the driver’s seat. Good people were hard to find and I appreciated having Andres on my side. “Enjoy the beach with your girl,” I winked and slammed the door.
My drive home was eventful. It started with a phone call to Edita that involved a lot of arguing. She hated my decision to do the photo shoot. She quoted a lot of legal jargon from the modified agreement with my parents. She told me over and over the law was on my side. But I’d made up my mind. This was what I needed to do. I would give them one last crumb and I could walk away from it all with no regrets.
I didn’t want any more regrets.
Then I called my sister. She was very upset with me, as expected. She tried to talk me out of ending the agreement. You only get one family. Don’t throw us away all over again. She still didn’t understand and that hurt. It hurt more deeply than I was prepared to comprehend. But she agreed to skip her classes on Friday and fly down for the photo shoot.
After that I bribed my favorite photographer, Ronoldo, to fly in and deal with us. He was sad and excited. Then asked if I was really dating Adam and if he could meet him.
Then I called Adam. “Meet me at my apartment in ten minutes.”
“Long day?” he drawled. I could hear the chuckle in the background.
“Unbelievably.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
I finished the drive into town, parked my car in the little public lot down the block from my apartment, and practically ran up the sidewalk. Adam was waiting with the door open, nothing but his boxers on, and a wicked grin.
&nb
sp; A shiver of desire ran over my skin and heat surged between my legs. I was wet just at the sight of him. He must have seen something because his eyes narrowed, his smile fell away, and his jaw flexed.
“I need you,” I whispered as I threw my bag on the floor inside the door and yanked my shirt over my head.
Adam didn’t say a word. He just wrapped his strong, warm, comforting arm around my waist and pulled me inside.
Chapter 3
“Thank you,” I gasped as I collapsed against his chest. We hadn’t made it past the door. Adam’s feet were propped up against the base of the front door and his head was the only thing on the rug. The rest of his gloriously naked body was pressed against my cool (and hopefully clean) wood floor.
He was panting just as hard as I was. “You’re welcome.” He brushed my hair over my shoulder and began to massage away the knot I didn’t even realize was there. “You know, I seem to be noticing a pattern with us…”
“A pattern?”
“Mmmm…” he kissed the top of my head and I shifted a little as his cock began to recede. “We appear to be getting closer and closer to the door with each passing day.”
I looked up at him, grinning. “Are you upset by this fact?”
“Not at all. Just surprised. I thought we’d be slowing down by now.”
I froze. For some stupid reason his innocent comment made me feel weird. Slowing down? What was that supposed to mean? I sat up and pretended to brush off his comment. “I think we better get to the bathroom.”
Adam grinned. “On the count of three?”
I nodded and jumped off of him, running a few steps ahead, and into the shower. Adam went to the toilet and divested himself of the soiled condom. “I may need to start keeping these in my socks. I go through them like candy.”
Again, his comment made me feel weird. Maybe it was the day and everything that had happened. But my head was interpreting things far more deeply than normal. I was overanalyzing every comment out of his mouth.
I shook it off and stepped out of the shower, wrapping myself up in a towel as Adam kissed me on the cheek and took my place under the water. I’d let Roger into my head. Posturing and looking for meaning and angles in everything was his M.O. It was how he manipulated people and used them. It was constant—every single person was out to get him and Roger needed to know how and why. It had to be exhausting to constantly analyze everything everyone ever said. Move, countermove. Bait, switch.
I grew up with that being the norm and had to learn as an adult that it wasn’t common behavior. It had taken years of relearning how to view people and their motivations, and I still fell back into old habits from time to time. After my emancipation from my parents I acted just like them, except my motivation wasn’t to use and manipulate, it was to protect myself. I analyzed everything said to me. Every look. Every whisper. Were they talking about me? Were they going to use me? Pretend to be my friend and then ask me for favors? It was part of what led to my disastrous early friendship with Allison. She genuinely wanted to be my friend, but all I saw was danger. It was her unflagging friendship and patience than ultimately taught me that some people were good.
Like Adam. I knew he was good. I’d told myself that over and over during our time together and yet, all it took was one meeting with Roger to make me backtrack and question everything.
I really, really hated that man.
I was so lost in thought that I didn’t hear the shower turn off or see Adam, towel wrapped around his waist, come up behind me. Not until I felt his lips on my neck. “I didn’t mean anything,” he whispered, looking up at me in the foggy mirror. His hair was damp and wild.
“I know,” I whispered back. He was reading me again—sensing my moods and thoughts better than I could.
“I don’t think you do. All I meant was that after a week of daily sex I expected us both to feel satisfied.”
“You don’t?”
He shook his head slowly, his eyes locked onto mine. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you.”
My heart skipped a beat and my skin heated. “I’m trying to store up as much of you as I can before you’re gone.”
He kept his eyes on me as his hands rubbed up and down my bare arms. “Is the haunted look in your eyes because I put you back in the news?”
“You saw that, huh?”
He chuckled and pulled my back flush against his firm front, wrapping one arm around my chest and resting his chin on the top of my head. “It was a little hard to miss. My phone rang most of the day. And I had someone tailing me.”
I closed my eyes, remembering the jewelry Roger mentioned. “You can thank my parents for that one. Sorry.”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t bother me. I don’t have anything to hide.”
I swallowed and took a deep breath before saying what I knew needed to be said, but still scared the crap out of me anyway. I had bigger problems than how vulnerable the adoration of a wonderful man made me feel. I would deal with the consequences of letting Adam into my life after I was done managing the chaos of my past. “I think we need to talk.”
Adam nodded, moving my head along with his. “We do. But not naked, wet, and starving. Let’s get dinner and come back up here to get whatever we need out into the air.”
Part of me wanted to bare my soul while naked in the bathroom with Adam. It seemed right somehow, but I also knew these types of confessions changed things. It might be best if I were clothed when I offered Adam my heart—just in case he rejected it. “Downstairs?”
“I can go down and grab takeout. You look tired.”
I shook my head. If I stayed home in a t-shirt cuddled up on the couch I would get stuck in my head. The isolation and darkness would start to creep in on me. I needed to get dressed and get out. It always helped me bounce back from a day like this if I could see the world still moving. Seeing people, even strangers, somehow forced me to put one foot in front of the other and keep going.
I wouldn’t if I stayed here. Even with Adam. “No, let’s go eat. I could use the fresh air.”
He watched me carefully as I dressed. I could tell he was worried by the soft look in his eye and tick in his jaw, but he didn’t ask any questions.
My hunger got the best of me and I pulled Adam behind me on the way down the stairs. Apparently my half-eaten lunch, followed by exhausting phone calls and fabulous floor sex, wasn’t enough to get me through the day. At the landing I heard a strange sound. Something in the back of my mind went on alert. The sound wasn’t normal and I needed to pay attention. But I was hungry, so I ignored the quiet little warning.
It wasn’t until I opened the door to the street and was greeted by a wall of photographers that I fully registered the sounds of paparazzi. I, brilliantly, stood there like an idiot with my mouth hanging open and the door in my hand, before Adam stepped in front of me, removed my hand, and slammed the door before anyone could push their camera inside.
“What the fuck is that?” Adam ran his hand through his hair and then guided me backwards from the door.
I swallowed, still staring at the door, as I fumbled for my phone. Roger was making sure I followed through on my plans. He’d called in the press. He was going to make my life hell until the interview and photo shoot were done. “Andres, I have a situation at my apartment.”
“I’ll be there in five. Go back inside and stay there.” I slid the phone back into my pocket and looked at Adam.
“Who is Andres? What the hell is going on?” He looked so confused.
“My security.”
Adam jerked his head back. “Why do you have security in town?”
Only my eyes moved as I tracked Adam’s movements. “I told you we needed to talk.”
He stopped in front of me and put his hands lightly on my arms. “Elizabeth, I know we hit the news hard, but this… we shouldn’t have twenty photographers waiting outside your door. We’re not that big of a story.”
“Unfortunately we are, thanks to Cybil a
nd Roger.”
I swear I saw steam come off of Adam’s head. His eyes widened and lips thinned as he grappled with how to reply. “Your parents are doing this to you?”
I nodded once. It was a little easier confiding in Adam now that I knew who he was. His easy confidence with security and publicity came from a lifetime of his own experiences. I briefly wondered if anyone ever tried to drag his name through the papers and realized that being a McKinley and a Callaway was completely different from being a Hope or a Lawrence. Just as rich and famous, but totally different worlds.
Adam let go of me and pulled out his phone. “Hannah, this is Adam Callaway. I need dinner delivered to Elizabeth’s apartment…yes, I’m sorry about that crowd. You can use the service entrance at the back of the stock room. I’ll meet you there.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Service entrance? How do you know about that?”
He shrugged. “My mom’s restaurant, remember?”
Among many. “Still…”
Adam shuffled around the foyer and slid his hands into his jeans pockets. “Like you said, we have some things to talk about.” The shouting outside got louder and Adam grabbed my hand, pulling me back upstairs. “We need to get away from that door.”
Just as we reached the second floor the door below opened and the sounds of the crowd echoed through the building. It made my skin crawl and memories I didn’t enjoy or want came flooding back. Adam shuffled me behind him as I unlocked the door and Andres appeared on the stairs. “Is this your security?”
“It is,” I assured him. I felt Adam relax and a layer of tension seemed to dissipate from the air.
“Adam,” he said, putting out his hand.
Andres took it with a nod. “Andres.” He followed me into the apartment while Adam closed the door and locked it. “You’ve got quite a crowd out there. Roger is a piece of work.”
I walked directly into the kitchen, opened a cupboard and pulled out my favorite Templeton Rye whiskey. Situations like this called for hard liquor, straight so it burned on the way down. I poured a small glass and walked away, leaving the bottle open for either man to join me. “So what’s the plan? Move me?”
