The company had been hired by the hospital, after all. Her best friend and pro bono attorney, Sophie, had given her sound advice. She’d suggested they go to the local media when the hospital had tried to brush her off. Within twenty-four hours of her interview with the press, the hospital’s legal team had phoned and told her they were hiring a third-party investigator to determine what had happened. Apparently they’d gotten a lot of flak, especially when the news station contacted them and they refused to comment.
That was a week ago. Things had changed quickly.
Jade went to answer the door, flinging it open in a rush, and then stopping short as she recognized the man standing on her porch. In an instant, her heart stuttered, her body stiffened. It was like she’d run straight into a brick wall she hadn’t seen coming.
“Hello, Jade.”
There was no way she could’ve seen this coming. Her mouth dropped open, the words dying on her lips. She couldn’t even manage to say hello. Not with her ex-boyfriend Harley Dalton standing on her front porch.
It had been forever since she’d seen him—her first semester of college, to be precise. A lot had changed about Harley since then. He was bigger now. Brawny, almost. She’d heard that he went into the navy after they’d broken up, and it showed as his broad shoulders strained against his expensive, tailored gray suit coat. He’d dwarfed her in high school and there was an even more pronounced size difference between them now.
A lot of things were still the same, however. The dark blue eyes with the wicked glint. The broken nose. The devilish smile that promised more than she could handle, then or now...
The way he looked at her was different, though. The heat in his eyes wasn’t stoked by desire today. It felt more like animosity. And close scrutiny. It was startling to see that, although Jade supposed he might still be mad at her for breaking up with him all those years ago.
“Jade?” He arched a brow, a questioning look on his face.
She clamped her jaw shut and nodded. “Hello, Harley,” she finally managed to say. “Sorry.”
“So you do remember me,” he said with a smirk.
As though she was ever likely to forget. He’d been her first love. Maybe her only real love, if she was honest with herself. She wasn’t about to let him know that. “Of course I remember you. What are you doing here?”
“St. Francis hired me—my company, rather—to look into your claims of staff misconduct at the hospital.”
Jade hadn’t kept tabs on Harley over the years, but that type of work seemed right up his alley. Maybe if she had paid more attention, she wouldn’t have been blindsided when the hospital hired him—the one man she’d managed to avoid successfully all these years. “Oh,” she said, trying not to sound disappointed or concerned. There wasn’t much she could do about it now. Even if she called the hospital and complained later, it wouldn’t get Harley Dalton off her front porch today.
“They didn’t tell me who to expect. I didn’t realize... Come in,” she offered, taking a step back from the door to let him inside her small rental house.
As he stepped over the threshold, the faint breeze blew in with him and brought the scent of him to her nose. The woodsy fragrance of his cologne mingled with his familiar manly musk immediately took her back to being eighteen again. To snuggling against him in his pickup truck. To fogging up the windows while he nibbled on her neck...
Whatever confidence and self-assurance she’d gained over the years faded to nothing when she looked at him. In their place was a flutter of butterflies in her stomach and a sudden awareness of parts of her body that she hadn’t noticed in a very long time. Maybe since the last time she’d touched Harley. Lance had been a lot of things, but an intensely sexual creature was not one of them.
Jade had been okay with that. She’d traded that intense passion for security and stability. Or so she’d thought. Being around Harley again had just reminded her of everything she’d passed up in her quest for a better life.
It was a high price to pay. She’d been in the same room with him for less than a minute now and was already almost overwhelmed by his presence. She needed a moment alone or wasn’t sure she could get through a half hour interview without making a fool of herself.
“Would you like something to drink? Some sweet tea?” she asked.
“Sure. Thank you.”
Jade gestured toward the couch. “Have a seat. I’ll be right back.”
She immediately turned on her heel and disappeared into the kitchen, trying to erase from her mind the image of him smiling at her. At one time, she’d lamented the closed-off floor plan of the older home she was renting, but now was relieved to have a barrier of wood and drywall between them.
Jade took her time pouring two glasses of sweet tea, and even put together a plate of cookies. She remembered that Harley had a sweet tooth, and that bought her a few more seconds to compose herself. But eventually she had to go back to the living room and face him again.
She wasn’t sure what to think of his sudden appearance, or the faint scowl on his face. Questions were swirling through her mind. Did he not believe her side of the story about being switched? He had been hired by the hospital, after all. Or was it because he was still angry with her? If so, why had he taken the case? Was it because he still found her attractive? If so, did she really care? She wasn’t really equipped to deal with something like that right now, what with everything else in her life spinning out of control.
“Do you need any help?”
Jade jerked her head up and saw Harley peeking around the corner. Trying not to look startled, she took the plate of cookies and handed it to him. “Here, take these. I’ll carry the tea.”
“Mmm, shortbread,” he said, appreciation lighting his eyes.
“Those were your favorites, weren’t they?” she asked, wishing immediately that she hadn’t. She didn’t want him to think she recalled things like that after all these years apart.
“They still are. I can’t believe you remember.” Harley popped a cookie into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, drawing Jade’s attention to his full lips.
A lot of time had passed, and yet it felt like almost none at all when she looked at Harley. She could almost feel those lips on hers as if it was yesterday. He might have been a bad boy, but he was a good kisser. A great one.
How long had it been since Jade had been kissed?
A real kiss. Not a peck. A long, slow, toe-curling kiss? She didn’t even know. A long time. Sadly, it had been long before her husband turned away from her and had taken up drugs instead.
Deep inside, a part of her wished to experience that thrill of attraction again. To feel wanted and desired. But she knew that Harley was not the one to relight those fires. Those flames would be all consuming and that was a risk she wasn’t willing to take. Not back then and not now.
Harley finished his cookie and smiled at her in a way that made her wonder if he knew exactly what she was thinking. Jade had never been very good at hiding her emotions, but she needed to do better. Especially when he was around. He was here to interview her about her claims against the hospital, but she could just as easily be a teenager again, helping him study French over tea and cookies, and fantasizing about making it to second base.
He turned and walked into the living room, and with no other choice, she followed him. Harley sat on the end of the couch and she opted for the chair to his right. She set the tea on the table, unsure of how to start this conversation. Did they go straight to the investigation and ignore the elephant in the room? Or should they take the time to catch up after more than a decade of not seeing each other?
“So how have you been?” he asked, making the decision for her.
“Good,” she said on reflex. Since her divorce, people were always asking her how she was. She found they didn’t really want to hear the truth. “Most days, at least. A lot has cha
nged since I saw you last, but I’m doing okay.”
Harley glanced down at her hand and his brows knitted together in confusion. Presumably he was looking for the wedding ring she’d taken off a long time ago. “I heard you married Lance, but I don’t see a ring.”
“I did marry him. My junior year of college,” Jade said. “It ended a couple years ago.”
Harley straightened, apparently unaware of what had happened. She was surprised the investigator hadn’t thoroughly looked into her past before he’d arrived. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he said.
Jade could only nod. She didn’t want to tell him about what had happened with Lance. It wasn’t a pretty story, but it had been in the news and anyone with a desire to could look it up. He could get all the details if he wanted to know.
“What about you? Any family?”
Harley chuckled and shook his head. “Oh, no. I spent eight years in the navy, traveling all over the world. There wasn’t much time for starting a family or even settling down in one spot. After I got out, I started my own business. That takes up every moment of your day for a while. Thankfully, things are running smoothly, without my constant supervision, now.”
Jade hadn’t been sure what Harley would do with his life. Some had bet their money he’d end up in jail. Others, that he’d accomplish nothing. She had seen more potential in him than that, and was pleased to hear he’d become an entrepreneur.
“So your company does private investigations? Like hired detectives?”
“Not entirely. Across our five locations, we do a lot of different work that falls in the security detail bucket. Personal security and protection, home security setup and monitoring, missing persons cases...lots of different things where the police can’t or won’t step in, for whatever reason. We specialize in government contracts and a higher end clientele who want to keep things quiet. Investigations are just one aspect of what we do at Dalton Security.”
Dalton Security? Now that he’d said it, Jade realized she’d heard of the company. Maybe in reference to the recent Bennett kidnapping case. That had been on every news channel she’d seen for weeks. Dalton Security had broken the case wide open and delivered the teen back to her parents.
It had never occurred to her that it was Harley’s business. It sounded like he was doing even better for himself than she had hoped. The nice suit and gold Rolex on his wrist were evidence enough of that. She was glad to hear it. Jade knew his mother had struggled to raise him on her own. The last she remembered, Harley’s mom had worked as a cashier at a grocery store and cleaned houses on the side.
“This seems like a pretty puny job in the scheme of things your company handles. Why would the CEO of Dalton Security—of all people—be working a case like this?”
Harley’s gaze met hers and she felt a shiver run through her whole body. When he looked at her that way, it was as though he could see straight through her, into her soul. There was nothing she could hide from him. She was an open book left out for him to read if he wanted to bother. It was unnerving and thrilling at the same time. For so long, she’d felt invisible.
Harley saw her.
“Isn’t that obvious, Jade? I took the case so I could see you again.”
Two
The sight of Jade was breathtaking.
Damn it.
Harley hadn’t known what to expect when he walked up to her door. She had been a pretty teenager. Pretty enough to headline in every one of his high school fantasies, and a couple of his grown-up ones. A part of him had hoped that she wouldn’t be as attractive as he remembered. That perhaps she’d aged poorly or had taken up chain smoking. That would make it easier for him to do his job and walk away from the whole situation as planned.
But when she opened her front door today...he had to brace himself for the impact of how stunningly beautiful a woman she’d become. She still had the kind of naturally platinum blond hair that women spent a fortune on in the salon. It was just pulled back into a sleek ponytail, but the ringlets that fell down her neck were captivating. With her pale complexion and large eyes, she was like a flawless porcelain doll.
It was an incredibly frustrating sight for Harley, making the situation infinitely more complicated. Curiosity and boredom had brought him to Jade’s door. Her beauty could keep him around longer than was necessary to wrap up this case. He was painfully aware that the attraction between the two of them was just as intense as it ever was. The look in her eyes when she marched off into the kitchen told him that much.
To be honest, that was the last thing he wanted to know. Being attracted to Jade hadn’t ended well for him the first time. Not because it wasn’t reciprocal; he could’ve taken that. No, his heartburn came from the fact that even though she’d wanted Harley, she’d chosen Lance. That spoke volumes. Just because her ex wasn’t in the picture any longer didn’t mean anything had changed. She might still prefer a stuffed shirt over a guy like Harley. Fate had brought them back together, but it didn’t mean this time would be any different for the two of them.
And yet the way that Jade had looked at him when he said he was here to see her made him realize she had no clue how beautiful she truly was, or how he could still be attracted to her after all this time. That was a damned shame. What had happened to her since the last time he saw her that she could ever doubt it? What had her suitable, respectable husband done to break Jade’s spirit?
“You took the case just to see me?” she asked in obvious confusion and doubt. Jade seemed baffled by the whole situation. In fairness, he’d had several days to prepare to see her again, and she’d been thrown a curveball without warning.
“Let me rephrase that.” He backtracked, realizing the implications of his words. “I wanted to make sure your case was handled by the best guy at my company, and that means by me.”
Harley didn’t want Jade to think he’d come here just to profess his undying love and pick up where they’d left off. He hadn’t. He’d gotten over her a long time ago, whether he’d wanted to or not. Going through navy boot camp was enough to push anything other than survival out of his mind. The quiet moments were another matter. Those were harder to get through. That’s probably why he’d opted to spend most of his service overseas in the thick of things.
He couldn’t help but notice there was a slight flicker of disappointment in her eyes before she smiled and nodded. The attraction seemed to be mutual, even if fleeting. She still seemed conflicted by her attraction to him. “Of course. I appreciate your help with all of this.”
There was something in her tone that struck Harley as disingenuous. Did she not want him here, or was it about why he was here? He wasn’t sure, but since he wasn’t going anywhere, he decided to do what he could to quell her concerns. “The hospital hired me, but I want to assure you that I’ll be an impartial third party as I investigate what happened. I’m being paid to find the truth, whether that reflects favorably on the hospital or not.”
Jade let out a ragged breath and the tension seemed to ease from her shoulders. “I’m relieved to hear you say that. There’s no way I could afford to hire my own investigators. And any attorneys I might hire would be more interested in suing the pants off the hospital to get a cut for themselves. I just want to find out the truth.”
Harley was surprised. He looked around the house, which was okay, but nothing special. The furniture was worn, and he’d noticed when he pulled up that her car was an older model. Financial security had certainly seemed to be a priority when she’d left him for the more successful Lance, and yet her ex didn’t seem to be contributing much to her way of life now. As a young divorcée, wouldn’t some kind of settlement from the hospital be important to her? “You’re not interested in suing the hospital?”
Jade shrugged. “If they’re at fault, I wouldn’t turn it down. I can put it toward buying a home or stick it in my retirement account. But what I’m really after...” S
he hesitated and shook her head. “The truth is that the results of my DNA tests just confirmed what I’ve always felt deep down inside.”
Harley frowned. “And what’s that?”
“That I’ve never belonged.” Her dark gaze fixed on him and he felt her raw emotions like a vise squeezing his chest. “I’ve always felt like a puzzle piece that got tossed into the wrong box. I was never going to fit in and now I know why. So, I want to know where I do come from.”
“What about Arthur and Carolyn?” Her folks hadn’t been particularly fond of Harley—he wasn’t the kind of boy any parents wanted dating their teenage daughter—but they’d always seemed like good people. Jade loved them dearly and he’d never suspected that they treated her like anything other than their little princess.
“The parents that raised me will always be my parents, but I want to know who my biological family really is. Where I come from. What my life should’ve been like, so that something about it can start to make sense.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. Harley had always thought that Jade had her life together. She was smart and ambitious. She made the most of her every opportunity. The framed certificate on the wall declared that she had her PhD in pharmacology. He’d always thought she was someone who knew who she was and what she wanted. To hear otherwise was unsettling. It made him want to question everything he felt was a fact. It also made him desperately want to uncover the truth for her so she could have some closure.
“Have you always felt so lost, Jade?”
She avoided his gaze for a moment, perhaps knowing instinctively that she couldn’t lie to him. He’d spent many years in the navy learning interrogation techniques. Even if she could’ve lied to him back in high school, she couldn’t now. He’d know the truth.
From Mistake to Millions Page 2
