The sensation brought about when two beings meld into one cannot be simulated or forged. What they had experienced was honest. She could question his professional agenda, but his personal one she could not. He had surrendered to her, the same as she had to him. She had danced with the denim-wearing devil and he had twirled her gracefully around the dance floor of absolute surrender.
Though they were lost in their own thoughts and words were left unspoken, neither of them wanted the night to end as they struggled to mentally salvage the pieces of what was, what shouldn't be and what could be.
On a back road in Arkansas was a driveway which led to the Fletcher family farm. It was there, that two battered souls shared an extended moment of silence. Though they were only inches apart, an ocean of regret created a cavernous divide.
Though neither said a word, they were both hesitant to walk away. As minutes turned to hours, the gentle thuds of wood against wood as chairs rocked back and forth through the night was the only sound to be heard.
As the sun kissed the horizon, Dean knew it was time. His night had come to an end. Rising from the cedar chair, he placed a kiss to the top of Angela's head. Allowing his lips to linger, he whispered the words that would never be enough to explain how he felt. "I love you."
Pivoting on his heel, he walked down the steps and away from the woman, who in just a few short weeks had miraculously made him whole again.
As she watched him walk down the long driveway, Angela felt as if there was an imaginary string stretching between them. He was holding her heart string and the further he got, the more it unraveled. As he disappeared from her line of sight, she closed her eyes, eager to imprint the image of him in her mind. "I love you, too," she whispered.
Chapter 20
"I am afraid of you." ~ Angela
"You really outdid yourself, Ang! The place looks great."
"Thanks," she yelled back over the music. The customer comments kept pouring in and she couldn't be more stoked that the renovations were being well received. Happy customers were paying customers and she had a lot of debt to pay off.
Five weeks had passed since the fire and though she had been a nervous wreck when she opened the doors for the first time tonight, she quickly found that it was like riding a bicycle and it hadn't taken long for her to find her groove. The grand re-opening was turning out better than anyone could have expected.
As she walked the floor to shake hands with the customers, she noticed swarms of new faces mingled in with the old. The employees' excited energy was off the charts and that good vibe was spilling over to the clients. The dancers appeared to be cashing in on tips and the drinks were flowing. Bare Assets was back in business.
After much deliberation, she had hired additional mixologists to work the bar so that she could focus more on being an owner rather than an employee. Not being behind the bar would take some getting used to, but she had a great team of dedicated staff members who had stuck with her through it all and they deserved a chance to shine. She also had a brother with a brain tumor and she'd be damned if she allowed anyone or anything to keep her from being able to visit him while he could still get around. She had enough regrets in her life. Not spending time with Buddy wouldn't be one of them.
Candy touched her elbow to get her attention. "Hey, Ang? There's a man at the bar asking for you," she said. "I think it's the fire marshal."
"Did he say want he wants?"
"Nope. He just said he needed to speak with you."
"Can you direct him to my office?" she asked.
"Sure thing." Pivoting around, Candy worked her way through the crowd as Angie made her way to her newly renovated office.
Pulling at the keys attached to her belt loop, she inserted the one to the door and entered. It was policy to always keep the office door locked so customers didn't accidently or purposely wander into a place they didn't belong. Before she could reach for the light, Angie was pulled inside. Screaming over the music was pointless, but she screamed anyway. As the door closed behind her, the light came on.
"Are you out of your freaking mind? You nearly scared the piss out of me!" she screamed.
Standing in front of the door to block her escape, the intruder smiled. "It's good to see you, too."
"Jesus," she exclaimed, still on edge over what she thought was a robbery in progress. "How did you get in here?"
"I promised not to tell," Dean said with a sly smirk.
"If Candy let you in, so help me…"
"So help you what, Angela? Would you fire your head waitress simply because she cares about you or would you fire her for being related to me?"
"Of course I wouldn't fire her for being related to you or she wouldn't still be working for me! What kind of a question is that?"
"Then why did you fire me from being your boyfriend just because of who I happen to be related to?"
Her jaw disconnected from her face, slid to the floor and landed with a boom. "That's different," she insisted, though she knew her argument held little weight.
"Is it?" Damn you look good enough to eat, he thought but didn't say. He could only assume she had dusted her hair and skin with glitter, because both were iridescently radiant. Her short bangs were held back with clips and though she was naturally beautiful, she had on the perfect amount of eye makeup to accentuate the hazel depths of her orbs. Tight, dark jeans hugged slim curves and the lavender stone washed V-neck tee was thin enough that he could see her black bra through the fabric. Even in a state of upset, she oozed sexiness and it was taking every fiber of his being to keep his body from responding to what his eyes were hungrily devouring.
The question drained her because she didn't like the answer. "Why are you here, Dean?"
Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out his partnership contract. "I have every right to be here or have you forgotten?"
"I haven't forgotten. As soon as I can get the funds together, I'll be buying back my debt," she stated.
"What if I don't want you to buy back the debt?"
"What? Now you're being silly. We made an agreement. You lent me the funds with the understanding that you get your money back with an additional ten percent return on your investment. It's in the contract and that contract is legally binding. Don't for one minute think that I am going to allow you to strong arm me into giving you more rights to my club than you have. You are a silent investor only."
Ripping the paper into tiny pieces, he let them fall to the floor.
Bewildered by his actions, she gasped. "What are you doing?"
He wrapped his hands behind his head and sighed with frustration before jutting them out to his sides "You still don't get it. Do you?"
"Get what? That you're not a good business man? No one throws away that type of money."
"I don't give a damn about the money, Angela. I swallow bad deals all the time and can make up what I lent to you in six months…tops. I do give a damn about you. I can replace that fucking money. I can't replace you!"
Still unable to wrap her head around the enormity of what he was saying, she took a step back and braced herself against the desk before her knees betrayed her.
Moving to stand between her legs, he placed his hands on her upper arms and leaned down until he could see into the eyes of her bowed head. "What can I do to make you understand? I love you, Angela. This was never about the club, or Mr. Benson, or my brother or anything else other than you. I didn't sit on a bar stool once a week for two years because I was concocting a way to weasel you out of your business. I sat there because you intrigued me and I saw something in you that spoke to a part of me I thought had died alongside of Aubrey."
Not trusting herself to believe him, she shook her head from side to side, silently disagreeing with what he was telling her.
"Yes," he said in answer to her head shake of denial. "I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work on me. I love you, and I will do whatever it takes to prove that to you. You pumped life into my dead hear
t and taught me how to live again. I didn't think it possible to love someone with as much passion as I do you."
"You can't possibly feel that way. People don't fall in love that fast," she whined. In an effort to hide the tears that were beginning to stream down her face, she turned away from him but he clipped his finger under her chin and held it firmly in place.
He wasn't about to let her ignore the truth of what they shared. "Do you really believe that I kept my brother's ties to Benson hidden because I harbored ill intentions?" he asked, hoping the odds were in his favor.
"No," she sniffed. Using the back of her hand, she swiped at the river of liquid spilling from her eyes. Just as she knew Candy hadn't known of her cousin Dan's intentions, she knew Dean couldn't have known either. She'd had a long talk with Candy after she had come back from Arkansas and Candy had told her the same story that Dean had concerning the estranged relative.
Dan was the black sheep in their family and no one had much to do with him because of his past history of thievery. As an accountant, Dan had apparently worked for the family's oil company until he was caught cooking the books. After that, he was basically cut off from the family fortune and disowned. Not even his own dad would talk to him.
"Please don't use the failure to reveal my brother's employment record against me. I swear I was going to tell you. Everything just happened so fast and I didn't want to taint our relationship without giving it a chance.
Stifling her tears, she chewed at her bottom lip. The muffled sound of the DJ's music continued to pound behind her office door and guests were drinking and enjoying their night but for the first time since purchasing Bare Assets, she forgot about the comings and goings of the people visiting her club. She only cared about the two individuals in her office, as she struggled to face the truth of what she already knew.
"Angela, please talk to me. Say something…anything. I can't go on this way. I miss you so much it hurts." He tapped his hand against his chest as he spoke. "Being away from you is tearing me up inside."
Gazing into his watery eyes, she saw the truth behind his admission but couldn't speak.
"Is there even the tiniest chance that you miss me at all?" he asked.
Unable to form the words, she nodded yes.
"Then there is hope?"
Her slumped shoulders lifted into the slightest shrug.
"You're afraid of me. Aren't you?"
Again she nodded yes.
Realizing that he had pushed her too far, he took a step back. "It was never my intention to scare you or hurt you. I hope you know that. I care enough about you to want better for you than that. I'm sorry for any role I played in causing you pain and hope one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
Deciding that he had inadvertently caused more harm than good, he walked to the door, determined to leave before he did more damage to her already bruised psyche. Pausing at the exit, he forced himself not to turn around. Seeing the anguish on her face would only add credence to the fact that he was the ultimate ass for having cornered her the way he had. "I want you to feel safe, Angela. If that means giving you a life without me in it, then I'm prepared to gift you that. I never want you to be afraid of any man. Especially me."
Before he could turn the knob, the feel of her hand against his back caused him to suck oxygen into his strangled lungs. Squeezing back the tears of his goodbye, he waited, afraid of what she would say.
"I am afraid of you," she breathed against his back.
"Why?" he demanded.
"Because you make me…feel." The whispered confession sent him spiraling into an abyss of abandonment.
Releasing the door knob, he turned to face her. The carefully painted makeup she had sported earlier tonight was ruined, but even with the dark smudges of mascara staining her face¸ she was the most beautiful catastrophe he had ever laid eyes upon. Without giving her time to take back the words, he cupped her face in his hands and possessively captured her mouth.
The hungry exploration of her tongue suggested she wanted more than just kisses. With a quick twist of their bodies, he passionately slammed her against the office door as his hands zealously re-discovered the curves of her body. He had hoped she would forgive him, but until now, he hadn't realized just how much she affected him. He had hardly eaten or slept in the weeks they'd been apart and his nights had been filled with haunting images of the time they had shared. Now that she had accepted him back, he would make damn sure nothing every got between them again. She was his drug.
"You're the ultimate con-man," she moaned against his hungry lips.
As his fingers fumbled with her jeans, he moved his mouth to her neck, lightly pulling the skin with his teeth. "I never conned you," he growled against her throat.
"You conned my heart into loving again," she moaned as his fingers found their way between her legs. Damn, she had missed him.
"In that case, you're guilty of conning mine." Lowering his mouth back to her neck, he returned to the salty taste of her flesh, deciding that he would devour her where she stood.
Twisting her fingers into his hair, she pulled his head back so that she could see the truth behind the answer to her next question. "Did you really mean what you said about absolving my debt? You really don't want to be a partner in Bare Assets?"
"The only bare assets I desire to partner up with are currently being held hostage beneath your clothes."
"Is sex all I'm good for?" she giggled, praying his answer was no. There was a time, when sex was the only thing she wanted from a man. Dean had changed that. The denim-wearing devil had changed everything.
"Your love is my biggest asset. The sex is just an added bonus."
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Bare Assets Page 18
