by Lexi Ryan
“I’m considering staying in New Hope permanently,” I admit. “I just need to work out some details.”
“That would be amazing. You totally should. I’ll send a ton of business your way.”
“That would be wonderful.”
I see her out the back doors and decide to head down to the gallery for a little break between clients.
Maggie is chatting with a young woman in the back, and William isn’t around anywhere. I try to squelch my disappointment but I can’t help it. I’m becoming accustomed to his face, his laughter, his eyes on me as I walk through the room. But I make myself resist. I’ll see him tonight. Surely I can make it a few hours before setting eyes on him again.
“Cally?”
I turn to find the familiar voice. The smile falls from my face.
“I found you.” Hazel eyes, broad shoulders, enough silver peeking through his dark mop to make him look distinguished. Brandon McHugh is as handsome as the day he set out to make me his.
My stomach flips and my heart pounds so fast and hard I need to sit down. “Hello, Brandon.”
He runs his eyes over me, my ponytail, my mint green medical scrubs, my tennis shoes. “You’re working.” He’s smiling but the disapproval is in his eyes.
“I am.” Brandon doesn’t care to have his women work. If they work, how can they do his bidding? If they work, they may not rely on him. Not that I ever dared speak these thoughts to him. Four years out from under his control, and I’m only now daring to think them.
“God, I’ve missed you.”
“I—” I try to force the lie he wants to hear from my lips. I missed you too. That’s what he wants to hear—that I love him, that he broke my heart when he started screwing around with Quinn, that I miss him desperately and I need him. But love and heartbreak have nothing to do with the mess happening inside me. It’s fear.
I’m not ready for this. I wasn’t prepared for my worlds to collide—my world in Vegas creeping in to infect my New Hope world. I don’t want it here.
He frowns as he takes my hand. “Why are you shaking?”
To my horror, I realize I’m trembling. How did you find me? Not that I covered my tracks. I didn’t think I needed to. He’d only been back in Vegas a month or so before Mom died. I thought he’d get used to the idea that I’ve moved on. I thought he had already moved on. Had I really been so foolish? “What are you doing here?”
His eyes crinkle in the corner as he gives his bashful smile. “I came for you.”
CALLY IS on the showroom floor talking to a man who reeks of money. I watch from the loft, jealousy tearing through me, which is absurd because she’s not doing anything inappropriate. Hell, she’s still dressed in her massage scrubs. He could be a client for all I know. But there’s something almost proprietary about the way he positions his body by hers, the way he’s touching her hand.
After what happened this morning, I told myself I was going to give her some space today. I’m too damn tempted to touch her when we’re together, too damn tempted to beg her to stay in my house after the girls leave, to stay in New Hope indefinitely. To stay with me. She needs time to come to those decisions on her own. She doesn’t need me pressuring her.
Even before I realize what I’m doing, I’m headed down the stairs toward Cally, determined to put some space between her and this stranger.
“Good afternoon.” I offer my hand. “I’m William Bailey, the gallery owner and manager. Can I help you?”
The moment the man turns to face me fully, the force of recognition slams into me so hard, I stumble back a step. He carefully releases Cally’s hand and takes mine, his grip confident and strong. “Brandon McHugh.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Brandon,” I manage, but I can feel my jaw hardening. I know that face, those eyes. Could it really be? It may have been seven years ago, but I’ll never forget seeing those hands on my girl. It’s him. And now he’s here. “Is there anything I can help you with today? I’m sure Cally needs to get back to get clients upstairs.”
“Is it going well?” Brandon asks, that proprietary hand returning to her shoulder.
“Yes,” Cally says quickly. “Very well.” Then, to me, “Brandon is visiting from Las Vegas. He was just—”
“Just looking for some new artwork for my New York apartment,” he finishes for her.
They exchange a look, and I wonder what their relationship was. I never let Cally know I came to Vegas that summer. When I saw her with Brandon, his hand on her thigh under the table, I assumed they were together, despite how inappropriate—not to mention illegal—such an age match would have been. Was I right? Were they a couple? Her sixteen to his thirty-something? And what are they to each other now?
“Let me show you some of my favorite pieces,” I offer.
“I do need to go,” Cally tells Brandon. Her voice is softer, almost hesitant. She doesn’t sound like herself. “We’ll talk later.”
“I’d like that.” He runs his eyes over her until my fists are almost ready to fly at his face of their own volition. “I’d like that a lot.”
Cally scurries upstairs, and I do my best to hide my jealousy and a long-held resentment he wouldn’t understand. I won’t give in to my caveman need to drive my fist through his face. Not until I have a reason. Instead, I usher the man toward the most expensive pieces in the gallery.
Because I’m a spiteful dick, I suggest that he probably can’t afford the gorgeous glass mosaic bowl that Maggie priced at fourteen hundred dollars as a joke. And because this is obviously some sort of pissing contest to him, he buys it and an overpriced watercolor of the moonlight reflecting off the New Hope River. I ring him up with a smile and don’t bat a lash when he pays with cash.
Only when he’s gone do I feel like I can breathe again. But I’m plagued by questions about his visit and his relationship with Cally. This morning Cally suggested she may stay in town. Will his appearance here change that?
“You came.” He opens the door to his hotel room and runs his eyes over me as I step in.
The black dress and tall heels I purchased for this meeting cost me everything I made this week and more, but I didn’t dare show up in an outfit that would displease him. Brandon believes my appearance is for his pleasure alone, and he expects me to dress accordingly. When he finishes his visual tour and returns his eyes to mine, I know he approves. First hurdle, crossed.
I don’t bother asking how he can afford the swanky downtown Indy hotel. I’m sure he had cash reserves hidden somewhere. Besides, the question would insult him. Brandon will tolerate only the best; therefore, he’s in the top floor Presidential suite. He used to take me to hotels like this all over the country when he was traveling on business. He claimed to be an international jeweler. Though his business was certainly international in scope, it wasn’t the jewels the Feds were worried about when they caught up with him four years ago.
“Champagne?” he asks, but his servant hands me a glass before I can answer.
I haven’t stopped shaking all day. I never imagined he’d bother to come after me. I’m twenty-three now, after all, which might as well be fifty for all Brandon’s concerned. Even before he was caught and thrown in prison, he was starting to get bored with me, starting to find younger girls to fulfill his desires.
I used his incarceration as an opportunity to get away from him. The feds froze all his assets, so it wasn’t like I could have kept living the high life if I’d wanted to. So I found the apartment with my stoner roommates and hawked most of the jewelry and designer clothes Brandon had given me over the years. When I found out another girl had been visiting him at the prison, I had the perfect excuse to pull away. Not that I was jealous, but being a little too clingy and pretending I was hurt worked. Brandon likes the chase too much to tolerate a clingy woman. I had to work him like that. One doesn’t just leave Brandon McHugh.
When he was released from prison and I told him I’d moved on, he took it so well. I thought he’d let me go. But he
never would have showed up in New Hope if he had any intention of letting me live my life without him.
I should have known better.
I settle into the couch across from him, trying to calm my shaking hands. I need to convince him to go back to Vegas and let me finish my business in New Hope, but I have to be careful I don’t piss him off.
Thinking to take a sip for courage, I put my lips to the glass then think better of it. Brandon isn’t above slipping drugs in my drink to get his way. I settle my champagne on the glass-topped coffee table that sits between us.
“You’re working too hard,” he says, narrowing his eyes as he looks at my face. “You need more sleep. Those bags under your eyes don’t do you justice.”
“Maybe I’m just not as young as I used to be.” I stick out my lip in a pout, as if I’m desperate for his reassurance.
“You’re still beautiful, but you’re tired. You can’t hide that from me, sweetheart.”
I shrug. Hard work was always a dirty word to him—especially when it came to me. He wouldn’t even let me finish high school. I change the subject. “What made you decide to come?”
“You know I don’t like to wait for what’s mine.”
A chill steals through me at that old, determined tone of a man who gets what he wants. “You took me by surprise.” I force a smile and lean forward. “A nice surprise.”
“Our flight leaves tomorrow,” he says. “That should give you enough time to pack your things.”
I’m not going with you. It’s not lack of courage but presence of mind that keeps me from speaking the words. Instead, I say, “You’re really going to tease me with that when I already promised the girls I’d stay until after Christmas?”
“So break your promise. I’ll fly you back here with so many presents for the little rugrats that they’ll be glad to send you back to me and wait for more.” He comes to sit next to me and takes my face in his hands. “I need you more than they do.”
When his lips touch mine, I don’t try to move away. I put my hand on his sculpted shoulder and let him kiss me. When his tongue brushes my lips, I open to him, knowing the invasion will cost me far less than the consequences of denying him.
When he pulls away his eyes are smoky and he’s breathing heavily. “I’d missed those lips. Four years is too long.”
“It didn’t seem to bother you when you were with Quinn,” I pout. I hate playing this game, but I don’t have a choice.
He cups my face in his big hand. “Forget her. I’m here for you now.”
“Give me more time,” I whisper, stroking my thumb down the side of his face. “Please, Brandon?” Before he was arrested and sentenced, I’d gotten so good at manipulating him. His obsession with me was his weakness. But I got cocky. I never should have believed he would let me be.
“Stay with me tonight,” he growls. “It’s been too long since I fucked that hot little body.”
I lean forward and touch my lips to his, then, carefully, I reposition myself so I’m straddling him, and he’s leaning back. My body wants to recoil from his kiss, but I push forward. Only when he’s pulled the skirt of my dress to my waist and his hands are reaching for his belt do I pull away.
“Could I ask you for something?” I whisper.
“Of course.”
“Would you book a room at that hotel where we were together for the first time? You remember? With the view of the mountains? I want our first time being together again to be special.”
His hands still. “It will be.”
Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I cut my eyes away from his. “Yes, but I’m on my...my monthly,” I lie.
He growls and pushes me off his lap. “Why’d you go and get me all worked up then?”
Righting myself on the cushion next to him, I bow my head and look at him through my lashes. “I guess I was too anxious to touch you again. Not so long ago, I thought we were over.”
His fingers grab my wrist and wrap tight. “We will never be over. You can’t get rid of me.”
“You left me for four years,” I say, trying for a pout. “And then there was Quinn. I thought you wanted her now.”
He yanks me forward and the skin under his fingers burns. “How can I prove myself to you? She was a passing fancy. You are the only one I ever wanted as a permanent fixture in my life.”
Fixture. What an appropriate word choice. “Give me two months with the girls. Then I’ll be home and everything can go back to the way it was before.” I place my hand over the one he has wrapped painfully around my wrist. “You can stay with me.” The offer is a gamble, but one that I must take.
“I can’t stay,” he growls, and there’s something like anger in his eyes. “Damn parole officer doesn’t want me leaving Nevada at all. I have to get back before he realizes I’ve gone.”
“We’ll make up for lost time when I get home,” I promise.
“Stay my good girl. I’d hate to have to replace you.”
I couldn’t be so lucky.
He insists I let his driver take me back to New Hope, and I have him drop me off at Dad’s because I can’t risk Brandon finding out I’m staying with William.
I have two months of borrowed time. But I won’t be heading back to Vegas when it’s over. I won’t go back to Brandon. But I can’t be here when he comes back for me either. If I don’t want to be forced back into a life with him, I’ll have to hide.
IT’S NEARLY midnight when Cally walks in my door. The girls knew she’d be late and had dinner with their dad. Drew took care of all the necessary bedtime rituals with Gabby. But I didn’t get the memo, and I sat in my dark living room, watching the front door, willing her to come through it. I’m foolishly hoping she spent the evening with Lizzy and Hanna, but I know better.
She’s in a high heels and short black dress that shows off her long legs. Oblivious to my presence, she goes straight to the kitchen.
I catch her at the sink, splashing water on her face, and I spin her around and slide my hands into her hair, pressing my mouth to hers. She lets out a little squeak and lifts her hands to my chest as she opens her mouth under mine.
Her kiss is so sweet, so full of something that feels like love.
My hands go to her ass, and I pull her hard and fast against my body, needing to feel her close to me. When that’s not good enough for this raging need inside me, I draw her skirt up around her waist and lift her onto the counter. She spreads her legs and tugs me forward by my shirt. I break the kiss to trail my mouth to her neck. A sexy moan of protest slips from her lips as her hands slide into my hair.
Closer, something primal demands. I nearly forget everything but our bodies. Everything except this roaring need to own. To claim. To keep. Because that’s what’s there at the root of this desire—my fear that she’s going to leave me again.
I try to catch my breath and slow this down. Tracing her lips with my thumb, I skim my hand down the side of her neck before tangling it in her hair.
She tilts her head to the side to give me better access to her neck. I kiss and nip there as I find her zipper and peel the dress from her shoulders. I go to work on her bra, releasing it at the back and throwing it across the kitchen.
Her breasts are full, her nipples already hard. I take one into my hand and tease her nipple. With my other hand, I trace down the column of her spine and dip into the waistband of her panties.
She’s panting in my ear and tugging on my hair to pull me closer. Moaning, she wraps her legs around me. The stiletto points of her heels dig into my back.
“Be mine, Cally. You belong to me.”
She cools in my arms and presses me away. “What did you say?”
“I need to know you’re mine. The asshole in the gallery. He’s here for you. I can tell.”
Her whole body stiffens. “How did you know?”
“Aside from the fact that he was two seconds away from whipping it out and pissing on you to mark his territory?” I take her thumb between my teeth and bit
e gently before releasing it. Then I place my mouth to her earlobe and treat it to a similar torture until she’s pressing into me again. “You were with him tonight, weren’t you?”
“Let’s not do this, William,” she whispers. “Not now.”
She doesn’t deny it and that tears me apart, but I need her too much. “Forget about the past. Forget about the future. You’re here now, and what’s happening between us is inevitable. You’re mine.” I roll her nipple between my fingers and pinch until she cries softly, rocking her hips into me. “Say you’re mine.”
“No,” she says in a harsh whisper. She shoves away my hands. “I’m not.”
I stagger back. “I’m supposed to believe you belong to him? After last night?”
The sadness in her eyes makes a vice around my heart. “I’m not anyone’s. I’m a human being, not a possession.” She tugs off her heels and hops off the counter. Pulling her dress back up, she grabs her bra off the floor and is headed to the stairs when I stop her.
“Cally?”
She hangs her head but keeps her back to me. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you what you want to hear.”
Seven Years Ago
The Indianapolis Airport is buzzing with late Saturday morning traffic, and I wait for Cally at baggage claim, pacing, too nervous to sit.
Her plane from Las Vegas arrived twenty minutes ago, and I haven’t seen her yet, but I refuse to assume the worst.
I rented a little cabin for after prom, and I already have it set up with rose petals, candles, and strawberry wine. We’re going to be together tonight. For the first time.
But it’s not the sex I’m looking forward to the most. It’s having her in my arms again, smelling her hair, reassuring myself that I haven’t lost her.
The people around me reunite with their loved ones and I try to shake this sense of impending disappointment. A mom drops her bag as she sinks to her knees and gathers a little girl in her arms. A young woman with bright eyes wraps her arms around her pierced and tatted boyfriend. I scoot back to get out of the way, scanning the crowd for her face.
