Taming Her Tycoon

by Yahrah St. John

  Despite how much she hurt for Lucius, life had to go on. Naomi would soon find herself out of a job if Lucius bought Kelsey’s 25.5 percent. It would make him majority shareholder.

  Naomi wasn’t ready for that, and she most certainly wasn’t ready to have to work with him every day. It would be a reminder that he didn’t love her, and that she couldn’t abide.

  She needed to talk this out, so she called Kelsey, who was at a park near her home. Apparently, she’d been going stir-crazy in the house with Bella and had told Owen she had to take her out so she could run off some excess energy.

  Naomi found Kelsey seated on a park bench watching Bella play on the slide. “Hey, Kels.” She smiled when she saw her pregnant friend’s very large belly.

  “Wow! Have you blown up overnight.” Naomi couldn’t resist speaking her thoughts aloud.

  Kelsey’s brows pulled together. “Thanks a lot, Naomi. Don’t you know you’re not supposed to criticize a pregnant woman’s weight? We’re very sensitive.”

  “Oh, please, heifer,” Naomi laughed, “you have much too much confidence. Plus, you’re all belly anyway.” Kelsey’s cheeks were a touch round, but her biceps and legs were exactly the same.

  “That’s because I was working out up until Caden—” she rubbed her belly “—decided to give us a scare.”

  “You look fantastic and you know it.”

  “Two months to go.”

  Naomi smiled. “That’s right, you have to keep that bun in the oven. So no stress, all right?” She pointed her finger at her.

  “I’m not stressed.” Kelsey glanced at the slide her daughter was playing around. “Bella, stay where I can see you!”

  The blue-eyed blonde with the gorgeous ringlets was the spitting image of her mother and quickly complied thanks to the stern tone of Kelsey’s voice.

  Kelsey turned to her. “I’d be a lot less anxious if Adam would return my or my husband’s calls. I thought he wanted our shares.”

  “You’ve heard the news?”

  “That Lucius could be Arthur Knight’s son?” Kelsey inquired. “Yes, and it was pretty shocking. How’s he dealing with it?”

  Naomi shrugged. “Wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen or heard from him since the night he found out. He’s MIA.”

  “Oh, Naomi.” Kelsey reached across the short distance between them to pat her hand. “I’m sorry, honey. I told you to be careful about falling for that man.”

  “Too late.” Tears formed in Naomi’s eyes, “I already did. I’m in love with him, Kelsey, but he doesn’t want me.”

  “You can’t save him, Naomi,” Kelsey said. “He’s always been a loner. It’s the only way he knows how to be. Perhaps he doesn’t know what it’s like to have love in his life.”

  “That—” Naomi pointed her index finger “—that I could understand if he talked to me. Then we could maybe work through it, but he’s shut me out. He’d prefer to deal with this on his own.”

  “I’m sure it’s hard to break old habits, Naomi. Here’s a man who has never had a father, never known the kind of love that you and I have. He could be struggling to make sense of things. Maybe you can give him a little slack until he comes to grips with the situation.”

  Naomi stared back at Kelsey, stunned. “Where is all this compassion coming from? I thought you didn’t like Lucius.”

  “I’ve never disliked Lucius,” Kelsey replied. “I’ve just always been worried that you might love him more than he loves you. I worry that you’re more invested, because when you love, you love deeply and with your whole heart. And—and—” her voice broke as she fought back tears “—I just want you to find someone who’s worthy of that love, Naomi.”

  “Aw, Kelsey.” Naomi leaned in for a hug, but she didn’t make it very far with Kelsey’s belly between them.

  They both laughed. “I can’t even hug you right.” Kelsey chuckled. “I really have become big overnight.”

  “Big and beautiful,” Naomi said with a genuine smile. She would try to remember Kelsey’s words. Perhaps she was right. Maybe all Lucius needed was time to come to terms with his parentage in his own way. Naomi would give him all the time he needed. She just hoped that when he was ready, he would come back to her.

  * * *

  Dead. Arthur Knight was dead. Stunned, Lucius ended the call on his cell phone and sat back on the sofa in his living room. He’d suffered a second heart attack in the hospital and they’d been unable to revive him.

  He’d only just found out he had a father three days ago. He’d been trying to come to terms with the lot he’d been dealt in life, only to have Arthur suddenly ripped away.

  It wasn’t right.

  It wasn’t fair.

  How could this have happened? Why hadn’t he gone to him and tried to make some sort of peace when he had the chance? Instead, he’d wasted time and now it was too late. He was gone.

  Lucius would never know the truth. Were his suspicions right? Had Arthur known about him? How had he felt about Lucius? Lucius would never have the answers he so desperately needed.

  His mother was partially to blame for this travesty. She’d kept the truth from him when he could have had years getting to know the man. They might not have had a normal father-son relationship, but at least they would have had something.

  Instead, all he was left with was regret. Although, he’d only known of Arthur’s existence for a short time, he could have pushed past that she devil of a wife of his and made his presence known. Instead, he’d reverted back to his teenage years, sullen and withdrawn. It came easy to him, because it was his comfort zone. Heaven forbid he would ever do the unexpected.

  He bet the Knights had counted on that, counted on his cowardice, and he’d proven them right.

  Lucius needed to escape. Flee from the present. Run from the past and drown in his sorrows. And he knew just the place to go to make him forget.

  * * *

  “Tim, what are you doing here?” Naomi asked when her brother stopped by to visit her at work two days later. He was dressed in his usual office attire of trousers and a collared shirt as he approached her desk.

  She’d just finished listening to a pitch on some new products they were considering. They were all great ideas, but Naomi hesitated debuting any of them while she was unsure of her place in the company. Once Lucius purchased the lion’s share of Brooks and Johnson stock, he would have enough leverage to convince the board to replace her, the founding partner, if he wanted to.

  Not that she knew what was going on with Lucius. She’d seen reports that Arthur Knight had died on Wednesday. She’d been heartbroken for him, knowing now he would never get a chance to get to know the man with whom he shared a bloodline. Naomi had again reached out to him, calling repeatedly, but nothing.

  Lucius didn’t want to be found, and he sure as hell didn’t want to talk to her.

  Tim frowned, and Naomi became uneasy. She’d never seen this look on his face before, a mixture of sadness with a tinge of relief. “What’s going on?”

  “You haven’t heard?”

  “Heard what? I’ve been in a closed-door session all morning,” Naomi responded, rising from her chair and walking toward him.

  “Then it’s good I got here first.” Tim reached for her hand. “Come sit with me.”

  “Why?” Naomi asked as he led her to the sofa in her sitting area. “Tim, you’re scaring me.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to do that, but I thought you might need me after you see this.” He pulled a newspaper from behind his back and showed her the front page.

  Naomi stared in horror at the headline: Playboy vs. Heir Apparent—Who Will Win? But that wasn’t the worst offense. There, in color for the entire community to see, was Lucius, cuddled up with an unidentified half-dressed female who was darn near sitting in his lap.


  Naomi turned her head away. “I don’t want to see that.”

  Tim tossed the tabloid in the trash can nearest to him. “Better you see it now and know who you’re dealing with, Naomi. During lunch, when I saw everyone reading it, I knew I had to get to you.”

  “Why? To show me what a fool I’ve been for thinking that Lucius actually cared for me?” Naomi laughed derisively.

  “No.” Tim reached for her and pulled her into his embrace. “Because I know how much you care for him. That night when you brought him over to meet the family, I could see how besotted you were with the man. The same way you’d been when you were fifteen. And I knew this would hurt.”

  “It does.” Naomi nodded against the comfort of her brother’s chest. She wanted to cry, but instead all she felt was anger. “It helps me see how stupid I’ve been to think I matter to Lucius.”

  “You’re not stupid, Naomi.” Tim took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and forced her to look up at him. “You’re trusting and open. And it made you susceptible, given your former feelings for this man. He took advantage of that, and instead of appreciating the woman he had in front of him, he looked elsewhere.”

  Naomi blinked back tears that threatened to fall. “True, but I knew who he was, Tim. He never said he was going to change or offered me anything more than living in the moment. I was the one who was foolish to think we’d shared something special. Now I see I was wrong. Lucius has moved on.”

  She stood up.

  “What are you going to do?” Tim asked as he rose.

  “I’m going to move on, same as him.” Naomi knew saying the words were easier said than done. She was putting on a brave front with Tim because she didn’t want him to see how truly devastated she was. She wanted to fall apart in private.

  Tim caressed her arm. “All right, kid.” He pulled her into one last hug and kissed the top of her head. “Call me if you need anything.”

  Naomi breathed in heavily, holding on to her sorrow. “Will do.” She glanced up at Tim and gave him a brief smile as he left her office.

  Only once he’d gone did she clutch her hand to her mouth and release the sob she’d been holding inside.

  * * *

  “Well, well, well, I finally found you,” Adam said the next afternoon when on a whim he decided to check the gentleman’s club he and Lucius liked to frequent. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

  Lucius didn’t look up as he stared into his nearly empty scotch glass. He’d been at the club for nearly forty-eight hours drinking away his troubles. The barkeep hadn’t seemed to mind, because he knew it would be one helluva bill given Lucius only drank top-shelf liquor. He’d also ensured Lucius hadn’t lacked for company, and several women—including one waitress who’d been his favorite bedmate in the past—had been his companions for the entire evening.

  She knew the right words to say to stroke his ego, and they’d sat in a corner booth, drinking and smoking stogies for much of the night. However, when she’d suggested a private room upstairs, Lucius had declined. As beautiful as she was, he wasn’t interested. There was only one woman that lit his fire. Naomi.

  Adam snapped his fingers in front of Lucius’s face. “Are you listening to me?”

  Lucius greeted him with an icy stare. “Perhaps I didn’t want to be found. Did you ever think of that?”

  “Yeah, I did,” Adam replied, “because you’ve always been a sulker, even when we were teenagers, but I thought I’d weaned you off that habit.”

  His good-natured response caused Lucius to glance up, and a slight smile creased the corners of his mouth.

  “See, I can still make you laugh,” Adam said with a grin.

  “Yeah, well, I don’t have a lot to laugh about these days.”

  “That’s bull, Lucius. I’m not going to give in to your pity party.” He tried snatching the glass away, but Lucius held on to it with a death grip.

  “Don’t mess with my drink.”

  “I know you’re angry, man. Hurt, even, and I’m truly sorry Arthur passed away before you ever got a chance to know him, but that’s life, Lucius. Sometimes bad things happen. So what you didn’t get to have a daddy? You grew up just fine without one. You had your grandma Ruby, who has loved you unconditionally from the jump. And look at what you’ve been able to accomplish—I bet the old man secretly admired all you were able to do without him in your life. You used your past to inspire you to greatness. Not many men can say the same. So what Arthur Knight didn’t acknowledge you as his son. You’re a wealthy man in your own right. It should taste all the more sweet.”

  Lucius didn’t like hearing what Adam had to say, even though he knew there was some truth to his words. He needed time to think about his next move, to get his footing and figure out his place now that he was part of the Knight family and all that would entail. “I don’t need or want your pep talk, Adam. Can’t you just leave me in peace to drink?”

  “I could, but we have business to attend to. If you want to position yourself to be the majority shareholder of Brooks and Johnson, you have to act now and lock in Kelsey’s stock before she sells it to someone else.”

  “If that’s what you’re here to pester me about, just do it,” Lucius said. He motioned to the bartender to refill his drink.

  “Are you sure about this?” Adam asked leaning against the bar stool. “You don’t want to talk to Naomi first?”

  “Naomi?” Even saying her name caused an ache in his belly, but he couldn’t deal with that part of his life right now. He was too deep in his own misery to take someone else’s feelings into account.

  “Yeah, the woman you’ve been hitting the sheets with for weeks,” Adam responded. “And the very same woman who is ready to read you the riot act for this.” Adam threw down a tabloid.

  “What’s this?” Lucius snatched up a local tabloid magazine and saw the headline, Playboy vs. Heir Apparent—Who Will Win? There was a picture of Lucius slouched in a booth with a cigar in one hand and the waitress from last night in his lap, along with another picture of Maximus Knight, looking debonair in a business suit, standing in front of the Knight Shipping compound. “What the hell?” He turned to Adam. “When did this come out?”

  “This morning. It’s one—though not the only—reason I wanted to reach you. The press is really going to play you against your brother over who will run Knight Shipping.”

  “I couldn’t care less about Knight Shipping.”

  “You should. You could be entitled to a share of it.”

  “I care about Naomi. If she saw this—” he pointed to the paper on the bar “—she’ll think...” He couldn’t say the words aloud. She’d think he’d been with another woman after she’d been there for him. Comforted him. Made love to him. Loved him. “I have to go. Can you take care of the bill?” Lucius jumped off the bar stool and started toward the door.

  Adam nodded. “Sure thing. And the shares of Brooks and Johnson?”

  “I’ll take care of it.” Lucius waved him off as he rushed out the door and to Naomi’s.

  Chapter 18

  When Lucius arrived home to shower and change before he went to Naomi’s, the press was everywhere. He found his penthouse swarming with reporters, cameramen and television trucks. He barely made it into his garage through the throng. On his way out, he’d have to be stealthy if he didn’t want them following him to his intended destination.

  After a shave and an overdue long, hot shower to clear his head, Lucius dressed in trousers and a dress shirt sans tie. He hoped Naomi would believe him. Although he hadn’t clearly defined his feelings for her, he didn’t want her to think he was callous enough to jump from her bed into another woman’s with no regard for her feelings. He wished he could offer her more than that, but he was confused. The last several days had been a whirlwind for him. He hadn�
��t been prepared for the flood of emotions that had enveloped him upon learning his heritage only to have it so violently taken away from him.

  Arthur’s death had set him down a dangerous path. If Adam hadn’t gotten to him, he would have gone farther into the rabbit hole. Then there was his mother. Jocelyn wasn’t letting up on calling him, and she’d recruited his grandmother. He didn’t want his grandma upset and planned on going to see her after he’d cleared the air with Naomi.

  Lucius arranged with the apartment complex for one of the bellmen to take his place in the vehicle he’d arrived in, while Lucius would take a different car. His plan worked out perfectly. When he pulled out of his garage in his Porsche, the press had disappeared, having followed the bellman in his Bentley. He was free and clear.

  As he drove, Lucius reflected on what he was going to say Naomi. If she’d seen the tabloids, he would apologize and tell her that the press got it all wrong. He hoped that it would alleviate any qualms she might have, but deep down Lucius wondered exactly what Naomi’s reaction would be when he showed up to her door unannounced.

  * * *

  Naomi swung open the door and was surprised to find Lucius on her doorstep, given he’d systematically ignored her for the last five days, since he’d sneaked out of her bed. She didn’t speak to him; instead she closed the door in his face and walked away.

  “Naomi, wait!” Lucius caught the door before it shut and entered her bungalow.

  She turned around and gave him a hostile glare. “Did I ask you in?”

  “No,” he began, but she interrupted him.

  “Then perhaps you should leave,” Naomi replied. “Because there’s nothing for you here. That is, unless you want to hit it one more time for the road before you go back to being the playboy.”

  “I suppose I deserve that for how I left you the other night,” Lucius responded. “But I’d like to talk to you.” He reached for her arm.

  “Don’t touch me!” Naomi snatched her arm away. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

  Lucius held up his hands in the air. “All right, all right. I won’t touch you, but we have some unfinished business.”