by Virna DePaul
“You want to know what I was thinking this morning, Cara? Why I probably seemed distant?”
“No.”
“Well, I’m going to tell you. I was dealing with the fact that what I told that bastard after I hit him was the complete and utter truth. I was dealing with the fact that my days as a single man are over. That you are my woman, Cara, whether you’re ready to admit it or not. I was thinking of how to do it—how to feel what I feel for you, yet give you the time to come to terms with it and sort your own feelings out, too.”
What he was saying caused joy and terror to soar through her. She was too wary of the transient nature of joy to hang on to it, so she grabbed on to the fear instead. The fear was what would keep her safe. “This was all a mistake. Whatever you feel for me, Branden, whatever I feel for you, it’s too complicated. I can’t continue seeing you. I can’t continue working for you.”
“Of course you can. You’re not a coward, Cara.”
“No. But what I have been—careless and reckless and stupid—ends today. You know what happened with my father, Branden. You know how he died. It’s horrible, but I think some part of me always blamed him for giving up. For having a heart that wasn’t strong enough to get past all the stress and shame that Davies caused him. But the truth is, I’m just as weak. You make me forget what’s important and risk things I can’t.”
“No, I’m not making you do that. You’ve finally allowed yourself to go for what you want. You said so yourself. I believed you when you first came to my penthouse and told me that, and I believe it now. Cara, life is about taking risks. About feeling. Enjoying. Allowing yourself to have the things—and people—you want. Things you haven’t let yourself have for a damn long time. And I’m telling you right now, you’re not quitting.”
“Not right away,” she conceded. “I have three weeks vacation time. I’m going to take that first while we try to track down the person responsible for this. But I can’t—I can’t be here, I can’t stand all the looks I’m going to get from people—”
Her voice broke and before she knew it, Branden pulled her into his arms. For a second, she leaned her head against his chest, wanting the comfort he so readily offered, but that just made her feel weak. “Please let me go,” she said, her voice brittle with tension.
Slowly, he did. “Maybe you’re right,” he said. “Maybe it is best if you take some time off while I look into this. It’s probably safer for you.”
She pulled back. “Safer? Really, you still think this is about personal safety? Because I think this must be about revenge. Someone is gunning for you and using me in the process.”
“You’re right. And I’m sorry about that, Cara. I really am.”
She stared at him, then sighed. Rubbed her temple. “I know you are, Branden. I’m not blaming you. I got myself into this situation with my careless actions. It’s just finally time for me to act like a mature adult for a change.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Which means denying yourself any kind of life, you mean? Any form of entertainment or pleasure as you take the world’s troubles on your shoulders?”
She shrugged those shoulders. “We can’t all be millionaires. Some of us have to live in the real world.”
“And your real world doesn’t include me, is that right?”
“No,” she said after taking a deep breath. “It doesn’t.”
“Cara.” Branden put a finger under her chin and tipped her face to his. Her lips parted as she drew in a breath.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
His dark eyes searched hers. Then he took a step back. “As I said, I agree that taking some time off is for the best. But things aren’t over between us, Cara. Not by a long shot.”
She swallowed hard, walked around him, and reached for the doorknob.
“You’ve been in here much too long. Doesn’t look good. So…”
She opened it.
“Hello, Cara.” Apparently, Deena Raj had been about to walk through the door. She smiled at her. And then at Branden. “There you are. I was looking for you. Do you have time to talk?”
“Yes,” he bit out. He turned to Cara. “I’m looking forward to the complete report on those collateralized debt obligations, Cara.” He walked past her but glanced back and stopped. “Your preliminary calculations look rock solid. I know how many hours went into them. It’s definitely time for you to take some vacation time. Enjoy yourself and I’ll see you soon.”
Deena’s finely arched eyebrows went up but she didn’t ask any questions. Just slid her arm through Branden’s and walked away with him down the hall.
Cara did the best she could to concentrate on work the rest of the day. She got a call from HR around 3 p.m. telling her Branden had approved her vacation request even though she hadn’t even put in for it yet. That was fine; she needed to get out of there, and the sooner the better. She left immediately, heading to Branden’s penthouse to get her things. When she got there, the doorman gave her an envelope. After slipping into the elevator, she read Branden’s message.
I asked the housekeeper to gather and pack your things for you. I’ll be staying at the mansion tonight if you need anything. You are welcome to stay at the penthouse tonight and I’ll have my driver take you and your things to your place in the morning.
—Branden
Cara had to wonder if she really was losing her mind. Reading that note made her feel like someone had kicked her in the stomach. It looked like his promise to see her later had been quickly forgotten.
She felt the tears rolling down her cheeks and couldn’t figure out why she was so upset. This was what she’d wanted. She’d needed to end things between them and get her life back to normal, whatever that meant, given she’d soon be unemployed. But to her amazement, it wasn’t her impending joblessness that had her so upset as much as the fact that she would no longer be seeing Branden.
She chastised herself as she got off the elevator. She was not staying at the penthouse one more night. She was going home.
She had a vacation to plan.
Chapter Twenty-two
“Dad, can I come home yet?”
Branden had Alex on speakerphone and Lee was in the room, as well.
“Dread’s still not talking?” Branden asked, ignoring Alex’s joke. Branden’s friend Ernest in Interpol had discovered the bonds in the picture had indeed been stolen. Dread and Surfer were in custody. Davies was still at large.
“No, and I doubt that Davies is stupid enough to still be hanging around.”
“He’s been untouchable for as long as I’ve known him, but his luck can’t possibly hold out forever. He’ll slip up enough to get caught eventually.”
“So that’s a yes, I can come home? I’ll be good, I promise. I miss my mother…”
Lee laughed and said, “Mom told me she was relieved that you were finally gone. She’s getting tired of taking care of a twenty-six-year-old infant.”
“That sounds more like she was talking about you,” Alex snapped back.
“Okay, I hate to break up this love fest between brothers,” Branden said, keeping his laughter to himself, “but I have a lot to get done today. Come home, Alex. Lee will have a list of things for you to do when you get back.”
“Thanks, boss. Hey, Lee, guess which finger I’m holding up.”
Branden disconnected the call with a shake of his head. He looked back at Lee and said, “Tell me what you found out about the latest emails and that video Cara received.”
After Cara had shown him the emails and videos, then told him she was going on vacation before handing in her resignation, it had taken everything Branden had to walk out of her office instead of doing what he really wanted to do—throw her over his shoulder and lock her in his apartment. Chain her to his bed. Chain her to him.
The only thing that had stopped him was how thoroughly freaked out she’d been. And how furious he was at whoever was playing games with them.
How furious he was at himself
.
He’d fucking promised to protect Cara, and instead he’d allowed someone to get close while they’d been dancing and endanger her yet again. As she’d pointed out before, she seemed to be the most vulnerable when she was with him, and as such, maybe if she went away for a while, she’d be off the madman’s radar long enough for Branden to figure out what the hell was going on. That was the only reason he’d arranged for her things to be packed and left her that note. He’d also arranged for Dexter Howe—a member of his security team and a former cop who was a tough-looking son of a bitch with deadly hand-to-hand skills, as well as sniper training—to watch over her, just in case. So far, Howe had spotted no threats to Cara.
“I checked interior security video,” Lee said. “You were right. Someone went through the company computers to send those emails. Either that, or we’re dealing with a freaking ghost or the Invisible Man, because the cameras picked up nothing.”
“What else?”
“Cara’s the only one who’s received the video so far.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Deena created a portal so we can view everything that comes in to Dubois servers when she’s not around. I can do that here or remotely. And that video hasn’t shown up.”
“Not anywhere?”
“No. She also set up auto-monitoring for Web mentions of your name, photos, things like that. The Gawker thing is permanently gone and the HotnSaucey clip is, too. There’s absolutely nothing new out there.”
“At least there’s that.” It was also a double-edged sword. Because it confirmed that whoever had made that video was focusing all his insanity on Cara.
Suddenly, keeping away from her didn’t seem the wisest course at all.
The thought of losing her…
God, when was he going to catch a break here?
“What about the DNA test? Any word yet from the lab Gaunt recommended?”
“Not yet. He told me he was going to rush it, but it would probably be the end of the week at best.”
“What about the background on Rafe Sampson?”
“That’s a little more interesting,” Lee told him. “He was raised in Scarsdale and both of his parents were in the home until he was four. At that time he got into an accident and he lost a lot of blood. As it turned out, his father, or at least the man who was on the birth certificate, didn’t have the right blood type. There was no way that his mother and stand-in-father’s combined blood types could have created his. Daddy left the nest not long after. When little Rafe was a teenager, he tracked his dad down. Apparently, Mom hadn’t told him that she was the one who broke up the marriage. She’d let him believe it was Dad. Dad was more than happy to tell him that he wasn’t his father. You were right about Sampson reminding you about Davies. His father was a man named Carl, who his mother worked for when she first got married.”
“So Davies is his father. I guess the DNA test will just confirm that. Do you know if he ever contacted him?”
“Rafe finished out high school, and then moved on to NYU on a full-ride scholarship. The summer of his senior year was when the scandal happened with Davies and Cara’s father. It’s possible that the press from that alerted him to where Davies was and who he was with at the time.”
“My mother,” Branden said.
“Do you want me to go get him and bring him in for a talk?”
“Not yet. All I can really do is accuse him of photographing me. We need more than that. I want to bring the bastard and his bastard of a father down. But right now, I need you to do something even more important for me, Lee. It involves Cara Michal.”
—
When Cara got to her own apartment, she called Iris.
“Hey, are you working tonight?” she asked.
“Just got off. How’s your big, strong, protective man doing? God, the way he laid that guy flat was so darn sexy.”
“Violence isn’t supposed to be sexy,” she said.
“Oh come on, Cara. You can be so uptight sometimes. It’s not about the violence. That blowhard needed to be popped in the mouth and Branden took care of it. That means something. Men don’t do that for women unless they care a lot about them.”
“Well, things are over between us.”
“Wait…what?”
“You heard me. And I’m taking a few weeks off work.”
“You’re taking time off? What the hell is going on?”
“I just…I need some time away.” She thought about telling Iris about the emails and the newest video, but somehow she just couldn’t muster the energy.
“You’re running,” Iris said flatly.
“What?”
“I saw how you looked at Branden yesterday, Cara. And I saw how he looked at you. There’s something crazy strong between you and that’s freaked you out. You’re running scared.”
“Maybe I am,” she cried. “What I feel for Branden isn’t healthy, Iris. He makes me forget common sense, for God’s sake.”
“That’s what passion and love is supposed to do.”
“I’m not in love with him,” she said flatly.
Iris’s silence said loud and clear that she didn’t believe her.
“I’m not, Iris. But…” She hesitated, then said, “But I could see myself falling in love with him. And that’s crazy. He doesn’t represent the real world.”
“Fuck the real world,” Iris snapped. “What has the real world gotten you besides losing your father and having to take on responsibility for your mother and brother? You deserve more than that, Cara, and if Branden’s willing to give that to you—”
“He’s not,” she said. “He had his housekeeper pack up my things and he approved my vacation, Iris.”
“That makes no sense.”
But it did, Cara thought. Sure, he said he wanted her gone to keep her safe and that things weren’t over between them, but Cara wasn’t a fool. After he’d left her office with Deena, he’d obviously come to the conclusion that her leaving was for the best. Why else would he have written that note? He sure as hell hadn’t come after her.
“It makes perfect sense, Iris,” she said quietly. “Now, can we stop talking about Mr. Branden Duke and focus on the first vacation I’m going to be taking in years? I’m sitting here with the laptop open, staring at deals for vacations. I don’t want to go out of state, in case something happens with Mom or Glenn, so I was thinking about Niagara Falls. I’ve lived in New York my entire life and I’ve never been up there.”
Iris didn’t speak for a while, and Cara knew she was struggling with dropping the subject of Branden. Cara gave that to her, thankful when Iris finally said, “That sounds like fun. I’m jealous.”
“I’d love to take you with me. Think of all the fun we’d have.”
“Yes, but I just started a new job. I’d have a blast and come home unemployed. You’ll have to just have fun for me. Send me lots of pictures and I’ll live vicariously.”
“I will,” she said. “I’m going to book my flight and try to leave by Wednesday if I can. I’ll go see Mom and Glenn tomorrow and make sure all is well there.”
“Have them call me if they need anything. I would be happy to check in on them, too,” Iris told her. “Have your vacation, Cara. You take care of everyone else; go take care of yourself for a change.”
Her friend’s support bolstered Cara in a way nothing else could. “Thanks, Iris. I love you.”
“I love you more,” Iris said before hanging up.
Cara booked the flight, got herself a hotel room, and then went to bed. She would get up early tomorrow and go visit Glenn and her mom, then spend Tuesday night at her apartment before catching her flight first thing Wednesday morning.
—
In his Long Island mansion, Branden prowled the room in which he’d first set eyes on Cara. His skin was itching with the need to call her. With the need to command her to come to him and forget going on vacation by herself.
He could only imagine how she’d react to that.
Despite his frustration, he smiled.
She had to be the most exasperating woman he’d ever met. She was also the strongest, softest, sexiest, smartest…He could go on and on, and he could even use different letters of the alphabet. The problem was, he didn’t know what to do about it.
She seemed scared by the fact that she was so uncharacteristically reckless around him, but the truth was he felt the same way about her. He’d never let his desires rule him to the point where he’d gotten involved with one of his employees. And he’d never, ever called a woman he was seeing “his.” Nor had he ever seen himself staying with one woman, but whenever he closed his eyes and thought about his future, he saw Cara by his side. The idea of spending the rest of his life with Cara filled him with joy.
What the hell was up with that?
A text from Jeannette caught him off guard. Big sis Deena says your balls are gone. Some woman has them. Do tell!
Before he could respond, another text came through. This time from his middle sister, Rachel. Cynic no more? Is love smacking you upside the head like a cold fish? Welcome to the real world, Big Bro!
Branden rolled his eyes. Deena shouldn’t have talked out of school, but the sisters had always been close. She never would have divulged information about work, but apparently had no problem informing their sisters he was seeing someone.
Two more texts flashed through, one from Bethany and the other from Leslie. The one from Bethany asked him to please invite his new girlfriend to the opening of her play, and the one from Leslie asked if she could be a bridesmaid.
Holy hell, what had Deena said in her texts to their sisters?
He’d always been deliriously happy in his bachelorhood. He’d never wanted a woman underfoot, telling him what he could and couldn’t do. He liked being completely in charge of his own life. He wasn’t looking for a partner. He needed women, sure, for sex and companionship, but anything beyond that reminded him too much of his mother’s fruitless search for love.
