by Sonya Weiss
“And if I agree to this plan of yours, how long do we have to pretend that we’re a couple?”
“I think six weeks should do it. By then, I’ll have convinced you to sell me the land.”
“And if I’m still not convinced?”
“You will be,” he said in a tone that oozed self-confidence.
“But if I’m not? Aside from not being outed for my lie right now, what do I gain out of this arrangement?” Olivia pressed.
“I’ll keep your secret—even if it means I have to go all the way to the altar to do so.”
…
When Olivia nipped her lower lip with her teeth, it took all of Mason’s restraint not to give in and put his mouth there to taste the fullness of her lips. As the police chief’s daughter, she’d been out of bounds. Chief Carter had taken great pains to make sure Mason understood that. His daughter wasn’t ever going to be with someone like him, he’d pointed out almost every time their paths had crossed. Hell, maybe one of the reasons he craved her the way he did was because she’d always been the forbidden fruit.
“Maybe I’ll take my chances that you won’t blow my cover. I don’t think you’re coldhearted enough to follow through on your threat.” She gave him an appraising look. “I saw you that day on the riverbank when you jumped in to save that drowning dog.”
He remembered that wet, shivering mongrel. He’d taken the dog home, intending to take care of it, and his father delivered the dog to the pound while Mason was at school the next day.
Mason lifted a sheet of card stock used to create custom wedding invitations and ran his fingers over it. “That was before my stint in the juvenile facility.” He put the card stock back on the pile with the others like it. “So when I tell you I want something and that I’ll do anything to make it happen, you can bank on it.”
“I’m sorry for what you went through.” Her beautiful eyes filled with pity.
Damn her. He didn’t need her pity. The thought that she would do so after her part in destroying his life galled him. “What I went through? That’s damned rich of you. You have no idea what I went through.”
“Given your reaction, I’m assuming it wasn’t good.”
How could she stand there like she didn’t know what the hell she’d done? She was a better actress than he’d given her credit for being. “Not good?” He took off his suit jacket and tossed it onto the sofa, then slowly began unbuttoning his shirt.
“What are you doing?” Olivia asked, taking a step back as he advanced.
Mason removed his tie and ripped the shirt from his body. He threw both on top of the suit jacket.
“I want you to see, Olivia.” Mason saw her swallow, saw her breathing quicken, and had to take a deep breath. He had to stay focused. He’d come too far to blow it all by giving in to his desire for the girl who’d haunted his teenage fantasies. The one who could have saved him and hadn’t. He’d never been able to put her out of his mind. Confined, bleeding, and bruised in a cell at the juvenile facility for a crime he hadn’t committed, he’d had plenty of time to think about her. To imagine how different his life would have been had he not played hero to the very girl he’d been warned to stay away from.
Because of that night, he’d endured more hell than any teenage boy should ever experience. Now it was payback time. Starting with the woman who’d always been off-limits. He had no intention of hurting her career or her heart, but he wanted—needed—justice for what happened.
“So you work out and have washboard abs.” She cleared her throat and said in a stronger voice, “Is this your way of bragging about how good your body looks?” She crossed her arms and stared at him.
He moved swiftly, presenting his bare back to her so she’d understand his point, and heard her cry of shock. When he turned to face her, she had her hand over her mouth.
“Courtesy of my stint in the facility. My friend wasn’t so lucky.”
“What…those scars…” Her voice shook.
“They’re whip marks.” Mason grabbed his shirt and slipped it on. He tucked it back into his pants and slid his arms into his jacket, pocketing the tie. When he was done, he took her chin in his hand and tilted it upward. “After living in hell, don’t make the mistake of believing there’s anything left in me but the drive for vengeance. You agree to this deal and it could work out well for the both of us.” If he had any qualms about what he intended to do, he only had to feel the scars on his back or remember the agony of watching the life drain from his friend. He’d sworn that was the last time his heart would ever break.
“Although I do appreciate your help in saving me from my lie, I don’t see how this could work out for you. Even on the wild chance that I agree to this fake relationship, I’ll never sell you the land. It means too much to my family and nothing could tempt me to part with it.”
Mason smirked. “Nothing? You always did underestimate how much you wanted me. You think I don’t know the way you used to look at me? The need I saw in your eyes kept me awake many nights, especially after you begged me to sleep with you.”
To his surprise, instead of heatedly denying it, Olivia shrugged. “I don’t remember ever saying that. But if I did, I was probably drunk at the time.” She eyed him suspiciously. “What do you plan to do now? Mount a full-out seduction as part of your revenge scheme? Trust me, your attempts would fall flat. I don’t appreciate what you’re trying to do, I don’t know you that well, and if I were completely honest, I’d have to say that I don’t even like you.”
“I don’t care that you don’t like me. Hell, I wouldn’t even care if you said you hated me.” Mason shook his head. “And for the record, I don’t plan to seduce you. You’ll be the one who comes to my bed without any persuasion from me.”
“Not likely.”
“Whatever you say.” He pulled a card out of his pocket and placed it on the counter. “That’s my cell number and the name of the hotel and room number of the suite where I’m staying. I’m leaving in the morning to head back to Chicago. You have until then to accept.”
Olivia picked up the card and tapped it against her palm. “Don’t hold your breath. I’ll think of something before I’ll agree to any of this.”
“If you come to the suite before eight tomorrow, we can have breakfast first.” He pushed open the door, hiding a smile at the curse she hurled at him, and stepped out into the sunlight, pausing for a moment to exhale.
The temperature hit ninety-three but the heat index made it feel closer to a hundred. Reaching into the pocket of his jacket, he grabbed his sunglasses and covered his eyes. By tonight, no doubt, Olivia’s father and the bastards he suspected were responsible for setting that fire would know he was back. He doubted the reception would be warm and fuzzy, but he was no longer a sixteen-year-old boy unable to make the police or the judge see the truth. This time, he was the one with all the control.
Leaving the rented red Ferrari 458 parked in front of Olivia’s business, he walked down the uneven sidewalk past the bookstore until he reached the redbrick building at the end that housed the flower shop. He walked in, purchased a bouquet, and then headed back toward his car. When he reached the driver’s door, he glanced toward the large window of Olivia’s shop.
She paused in the middle of talking on the phone, no doubt ranting to one of her friends about his visit. He smiled and inclined his head. Though her lips tightened, she boldly held his stare until he climbed in the Ferrari and backed the car onto the street. Her boldness didn’t surprise him. He’d always sensed a restlessness in her. A wildness held in check by the boundaries of her overbearing father and a society that said proper good girls didn’t get involved with troublemaking bad boys. Her wildness was something he looked forward to setting free in his bed.
His cell phone rang and he answered. Cole, his friend from high school who’d been sentenced with him that night, too, said, “Hey man, we’re waiting for you.”
“Be there in ten,” Mason said and disconnected.
Thick-limbed trees hung over the road as Mason drove away from the city toward the outskirts where the cemetery was located on a small patch of land a wealthy citizen had donated to use for burying those too poor to afford a plot.
The sign on the black iron fence surrounding the cemetery had long since rusted and weeds choked much of the grass. The heavy scent of honeysuckle perfumed the air, the white and yellow flowers of the plant twined in between the fence and metal bars around the land. Beauty amid the brokenness.
He hated the place. Hated what it represented. Adam hadn’t deserved what happened to him. He hadn’t made it to his eighteenth birthday. Mason’s fingers closed on the steering wheel. The juvenile facility carved hollow places inside all of them and only justice would fill them. Mason shut off the engine and lowered the window, allowing the warmth from the day to fill the interior. The sounds of birds chirping rang out, disrupting the stillness.
Shoving open the door, he grabbed the bouquet and stepped out, walking through the unkempt landscape to where Cole and Jake waited. Adam should have been the fourth man. They’d been inseparable until the juvenile facility had parted them. They’d gone in whole and come out fragmented.
“You ready?” Jake asked. He lifted a six-pack of beer in glass bottles. “Here’s to a promise kept.”
“Lead on.” Cole waved his hand and the three of them headed across the sloping grassy hill to the spot marked for Jake’s little brother, Adam.
After Adam’s death, once they’d been released, the three of them spent hours sitting with their backs against the fence, hearts aching, hatred eating a hole in them like acid. The hatred had taken years to overcome, especially after Jake shared the letters Adam had written in the facility—letters wishing for freedom. Letters hoping for a new life someday. Now all that was left was the retribution they’d bring to those who deserved to pay for what they’d done.
They settled around the simple marker that held Adam’s name and Jake pulled out a handful of weeds blocking the writing on the stone. Uncapping the beers, the three men touched the tips of the bottles together.
“For you, bro,” Jake said and downed a large swallow. He wiped his mouth and the three of them stared at the marker, each lost in his own thoughts.
They were quiet for a second, and then Cole looked at Jake. “You sure you can handle this?”
“Yeah,” Jake said gruffly, a muscle working along the side his jaw. “But the question is, can Mason handle Olivia? He always had a thing for her.”
“I can handle Olivia,” Mason said impatiently, watching as a bee landed on one of the flowers in the bouquet.
Jake shook his head. “Then why didn’t you tell her daddy the reason you couldn’t have been the one to set that fire was because you were busy making sure his passed-out drunk, half-naked daughter got home safely?”
Chapter Two
“You want to talk about it?” Beth asked after she had returned.
She tried to look casual, but Olivia knew her friend was dying to know what Mason wanted. It wasn’t every day that a man with his allure strode into the shop. Olivia felt hot all over thinking about him. His eyes were so dark, his face so incredibly handsome. She hated that she noticed his appeal. Hated that she felt drawn to him despite his high-handed attitude.
“Mason’s pretending to be my boyfriend because he wants revenge. There’s nothing more to say.” Olivia looked away from Beth’s astonished gaze and lifted her shoulders in a shrug, as if it didn’t matter. Truthfully, though, she battled sparks of anger and indignation over the whole situation. Over her foolish lie, over the way Mason assumed he could waltz into town and own her life.
“Revenge? Even after all the evidence, he’s still saying he was set up?” Beth moved to the thermostat on the wall and adjusted the setting. The aging air-conditioning unit clicked on and a blast of cool air erupted from the vents.
“Says that he and his friends didn’t start it. My guess is he believes my father didn’t do his job. Like Dad was to blame for Mason being sentenced, but he didn’t come right out and say that.”
Looking thoughtful, Beth said, “Your dad never liked Mason. Didn’t even want his name brought up around him. What was up with that?”
“He always said Mason was trouble. Any time something was vandalized or stolen, Dad questioned Mason first.” Olivia moved a stack of mail over to the left side of the counter so she’d remember to open and deal with it later.
Beth grabbed a box of supplies and cut the tape holding it shut. She opened the flaps and shot Olivia a grin. “He might have been right on the mark. I remember the rumors about Mason in high school. What I don’t remember is him looking so hot. Kind of like a Mr. Big, don’t you think so?” Beth wagged her eyebrows.
Pushing another box of supplies to one side, Olivia said grudgingly, “Mason has always looked good, but now, he’s positively breathtaking.” She dusted her hands off. “There’s something about him, you know. Like there’s all this strength just waiting to explode. I don’t like him, but I can’t recall ever feeling as pulled toward a man as I was when I was standing near Mason.”
Beth rolled her eyes and winked. “You’ve lived like a nun lately. I can tell you what the pull is.”
Olivia grimaced. “I know, but on the list of stupid things I’ve done in my life, getting involved with Mason would rank as the dumbest. He only wants to use me. My father’s the only family I have left now, and he hates him. I can smell the war brewing between them ten miles away.”
“Sounds like a match made in heaven,” Beth said. She shot Olivia a look, then added, “I did warn you that making up a fake boyfriend would come back to haunt you one day.”
“The shop was dying. Going belly-up faster than I could fix it. We were close to saying good-bye to my dream and both of our jobs. I had to do something, you know that. Besides, at the time, no one knew he was fake except for you and me.”
“Hmm,” Beth murmured.
“Hmm, what?” Olivia blew a puff of air upward to shift her hair out of her eyes and wished for the hundredth time she’d worn a cooler outfit. She hadn’t checked the weather before she’d left her house.
“I always felt like you and Mason were a match away from an explosion. The way he looked at you in high school and the way you looked at him whenever he wasn’t looking…the heat from it was intense,” Beth said. “You need to be careful around him, that’s all I’m saying.”
“That was a long time ago. Men, even ones who look as good as Mason, are not on my horizon. I think I can behave myself around him.” Her heart sped up at the thought of him. Not because of how good he looked but because beneath that civilized exterior of his, she’d sensed a warrior’s determination.
“Oh no,” Beth said, crossing her arms with a long sigh. “I see the look on your face. You’re thinking of agreeing to this foolish boyfriend scheme.”
“If I don’t, he’ll go public and tell the world that I created a fake boyfriend. Do you know what would happen to the business if word got out that I lied?”
“So to protect the lie you told, you actually have to live a lie.”
“Exactly,” Olivia said, remembering how her father had demanded, in his halting speech, to know who her mystery guy was when he’d seen the news. Thinking about it now, she could remember a flash of fear in his eyes. How odd.
“Liv, you know I’m your friend and we’ve always been up-front with each other.”
Olivia nodded, getting the sense she wasn’t going to like what Beth was about to say.
“You should just take your chances and publicly come clean about the boyfriend lie. I’m afraid that if you don’t, you’ll get caught up in Mason’s world and you’ll end up getting burned.”
“If I announce that I lied, I risk the business, and that’s not an option. The cost of Dad’s rehabilitation recovery after his stroke is astronomical. If I lose my livelihood, I can’t afford to pay for the care he still needs.” Her heart ached, remembering seeing her father struggle ph
ysically. He’d gone from being the strong, powerful man she knew from childhood to being a thin, helpless shadow of who he used to be. The memory of finding him unconscious and crumpled would forever haunt her.
She’d hated the despondency she’d seen in his eyes when the aides had to feed and dress him. Whatever it cost, she would pay it in an attempt to give her father back at least some of his independence.
“What’s in this for Mason?” Beth asked, interrupting Olivia’s thoughts.
Olivia exhaled. “He thinks it will give him time to convince me to sell him the land the correctional facility is on.”
Beth looked worried. “Maybe he’s counting on you falling for him or something like that. How long is the relationship supposed to last?”
“Falling for Mason? I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.” Olivia thought for a second. “He mentioned something about being together for six weeks. I suppose we’ll iron out the rest of the details when we meet tomorrow morning.”
“Then you’re going to agree to what he wants?”
“I’m still hoping a way out will come to me between now and tomorrow morning so I won’t have to, but if not, then yes.”
“Liv, you’ve got such a sweet heart and I know that you’ve given so much to help others. I wish there was something I could do. If I had a way to help you out of this situation, I would.”
Olivia gave her friend’s hand a squeeze. “I know. But I got myself into this mess and I’ll get myself out of it.”
“You know, it is okay to lean on others for help.”
“I’ve had to be strong for so long, I think I’ve forgotten how to not handle everything on my own.”
“Do you think that you can handle Mason? I can’t believe he’d blackmail you like this,” Beth said.
