“If you did, then what color hair did he have?”
I bit my lip. Screw it, it was time to mess with him the way he was messing with me.
“Blond. He was tall and skinny. Last I checked, Mr. Diaz, you have dark brown hair and are muscular, and not skinny at all.”
“What clothes was he wearing?”
“Surfer shorts and a Hawaiian shirt.” I cringed; that didn’t even sound believable to me.
“Wow. No wonder you jumped his bones. He sounds like a winner. Showing up to an expensive ball in shorts.”
“He wasn’t a guest; he was working it. He played Santa. He was changing into his costume, so there, Mr. Smartypants.” I stuck out my tongue, even if he couldn’t see me.
“You mean the non-denominational-festive-season person.”
“Right, I meant that—” I sucked in a breath. “Wait. How did you know that?”
“Because that was me. And I wasn’t in shorts. I was naked.”
My mind raced at what I had told my sister. Perhaps he found out through Rock what I had told Laura. Was Monty really Wonder Dick?
No. He wasn’t. I told Laura the guy was naked in that closet. I remember bragging about it.
And as for the non-denominational-festive-season person, that information could easily be looked up online.
“I like how you’re trying, but I won’t be fooled that easily. There isn’t a thing you’ve told me I haven’t already told you or my sister.”
“Really? You’ve told your sister you had sex with a naked guy in a closet at a holiday ball?”
“What do you think?”
He chuckled. “Of course. I don’t know why I’m surprised. You told her you called me Wonder Dick?”
“No. My sister doesn’t want to hear the details. Besides, I’ve already called you Wonder Dick back in my bedroom. Try again.”
A smile crept up my lips. This was fun. I may not want to work for him, but I enjoyed the guessing game.
“What about the reason you were there? That your sister got you the job because she worked the catering that night.”
Memories of the time in the closet with that man were creeping back into my head. I smiled at the thoughts. It was fun, and the guy was hung, but I’d know it if he was Monty. Wouldn’t I?
“You know Laura works as a chef. I’m sure you heard she worked that night at some point. On my résumé, I put that coat check job. These are all things you could find out without having been there.”
He groaned, frustrated I was calling his bluff.
“Why are you so determined to be in my life?”
“Because you’re a breath of fresh air. The night I met you at the Ball. Whether you believe me, I remember thinking you weren’t like any of the women I knew. Most of them only wanted me for my money. You talked to me. And I kind of liked that you didn’t know who I was. You didn’t know if I drove a beat-up truck or an expensive car or took the bus. To you, I was a guy to get to know and have some fun with. I liked that. And now that you know me, who I really am, you still treat me like that. Just a guy to get to know and have fun with.”
I blinked. How do I respond to that? Nothing about that speech was shallow. Every guy I had been with only spoke about how sexy I was, never how I made them feel. Sometimes I felt like a play toy, and I guessed I gotten used to acting that way.
It was fun, frivolous, but went nowhere. Monty seemed different, not so frivolous.
“Wow, uh, thanks.”
We sat there in silence for a minute. He reminded me of the guy from the closet. The way they both spoke about life was so much alike.
“Then why didn’t you ever say anything? Why did it take you two weeks to tell me and after we had sex a few times?”
“I don’t know.” He paused with a sigh. “No, that’s not the truth. I know. I was afraid. At first, it was getting used to the fact that I was a father. Not only had the woman I dreamed about for months and months suddenly appeared, but she brought with her a baby. You had nine months to get used to that; I had minutes.”
“Fair point.”
I bit my lip. He had been dreaming of me.
“Then, as time went on, we grew closer. Physically closer, and I was afraid I’d lose you again. But it was worse this time because I wouldn’t just lose you, but Nathan too. I’d only seen him once on the interview, but it was enough to fall completely in love with my son.”
Tears pricked my eyes. He understood. I felt the same way when I first saw Nathan. The love in my heart bubbled over into tears when I heard my baby’s wail of life.
I wiped at my cheek. “Being in love with Nathan doesn’t prove you’re his father.”
“I don’t think anything I can say will prove it, Julia. I’m just going to have to show you.”
I waved my hands around to stop him from whipping out his dick or whatever he wanted to “show” me.
“That won’t be necessary, Monty. I think—” The words died on my lips.
He had opened a drawer to his desk and took something out. I thought at first it may be a condom since I thought that was where he was going with this, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Monty threw it to the ground. I reached over and lifted the wrinkled garments.
“My panties and tights.”
“The ones you wore to the Jingle Balls Ball. The same ones you took off before we had sex.”
I stared at them and shook my head. “But I went back for you, and you weren’t there. I found my shoes, but not these.”
“That’s because, right after Laura rescued you, James showed up and let me out. I grabbed your things, thinking I’d see you once I got out, but James dragged me away.”
I got onto my hands and knees and peeked my head out.
“You kept these all this time?” I frowned. “You haven’t been jerking off in them, have you?” I held them out by my fingertips.
Monty lowered his hand, helping me up, and chuckled. “No, Julia. I’m not sixteen.”
He got up from the table and placed his hands on my arms. “That’s why I’ve been acting weird ever since Nathan’s party. It took me some time to get used to everything.”
“Two weeks. It took you two weeks to get used to me having your baby?”
His eyes widened. “Not that long, but it was a shock.”
“You can say that again. Imagine for a moment you’re me. You’re single and don’t have lots of money in the bank that magically pays bills on time. Then you find out a man you never even saw or got the name of knocked you up. That was a shock.”
“I can’t begin to imagine.” He tried to wrap his arms around me, but I stopped him. Pressing my hand to his chest, I held him back.
“No, you can’t. You know how long it took me to accept I was pregnant? One minute. I stared at the pregnancy test thinking it was a mistake and reread the instructions five times before I realized it wasn’t a mistake. It was meant to be. Nathan was meant to be. But I was lucky. I had a loving family that surrounded me when I needed them. And now they surround Nathan.”
“I want to be there too. For the both of you.”
I took a step back. “That’s weird because you’re just telling me this now. Not last year when you could have tracked me down, found out who the coat check woman was. You’re rich enough to make that happen.”
He scratched the back of his head. “I didn’t know you were pregnant.”
“But you dreamed of me. Fine. Whatever. That was the past. Nathan’s birthday party was your chance, and you blew it. Then you had another chance that Monday when I showed up with Nathan in tow. Again, nada. Are you sensing a pattern here, because I am.”
“Look, Julia, I’m sorry. You do not understand how sorry I am for missing out on—”
I held up my hands as he stepped forward. “I can only imagine,” I said and turned, walking out of the office.
I made a mental note never to see that deadbeat again.
Chapter 22
Monty
&n
bsp; Two weeks later
“SHE’S NOT HERE,” ROCK said without lifting his head from his laptop.
My plane touched down in Richmond a few hours ago, and I came straight to The Blue Spot.
“Who are you referring to?” I lifted my chin, pretending I didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Don’t play this game with me. Today’s not the day for that.”
Rock sat back in his chair, clasping his hands behind his head. “The contest didn’t go as expected, and there is such a thing as bad press. The Blue Spot’s numbers reflect that. The last thing I need right now is drama from the baby daddy.”
I frowned and flopped onto the leather couch he had against his office wall.
“I’m past the drama.” Not really, but I liked to believe I would one day get over Julia.
“No, you’re not. It’s only been two weeks. And she’s loving her new job, by the way.”
I sat up on the couch and smiled for the first time in weeks. “Really? And she has a say in the work?”
He nodded. “Drake, the interior designer, has made her his assistant. She really has an eye for design. That Mother Care Room was an amazing addition to our resort. She did a great job helping to create those rooms.”
My shoulder fell. Some tension I had felt for a while floated away. “I’m glad.”
“Does she know it was you?”
I shook my head. “No, and I want to keep it that way. Julia needed a job that made her happy and paid her well. I had a feeling helping with the design department would intrigue her.”
“I’ll be sure never to tell her.” My brother frowned. “What about Nathan?”
The lightness I felt from the news of Julia’s new job instantly vanished.
“I want to see him, and I don’t know how to make that happen.”
Once I left for the West Coast to meet with investors and potential VR designers, I didn’t leave until I had the main crew hired.
During my absence, I reached out to Julia several times. She never took my calls or answered my texts. I even wrote to her by email, but at that point, I wasn’t expecting a response.
I was desperate and called Rock, asking him to talk with Laura about me getting to see my son.
“I tried. Even Laura thinks you should be able to see Nathan, but Julia won’t have it.”
I scrubbed my face with my hand. “I screwed up.”
“You did.”
Sliding my eyes to Rock, I said, “Gee, thanks for the support.”
Rock rose, walked over to the couch, and stood in front of me with his hands in his pants pockets. “We all screw up, Monty. I sided with Julia at the beginning. You lied to everyone. But it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be able to see your son.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You mean like how you lied about Mom’s ring, and how you told no one you popped the question to Laura?”
I knew I was being petty, but I wasn’t happy with the direction of our conversation.
He rubbed his forehead. “I wasn’t lying about the ring. I really kept it in my pocket for luck.” He sat on the couch. “I was desperate, okay? I was frightened I would lose Laura, and so I got down on one knee and produced the ring.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You only proposed so you wouldn’t lose her? Have you told her that?”
“No,” Rock mumbled, but I heard.
“And here I thought I was the terrible Diaz brother waiting two weeks to tell the mother of my child that I was the father. At least I finally said something.”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t desperation. The moment I did it wasn’t planned. That was me freaking out. But I had wanted to propose to her for weeks. I wanted to wait until the leaves changed in the autumn and take her on a picnic, but fear overrode those plans.”
“Fear screws up a lot of plans, doesn’t it?” I placed my hand on his shoulder.
“Yeah.”
We sat in silence for a moment, wallowing in our fear-based decisions.
“I have to head to Colorado tomorrow, but I was hoping you had made some headway with Julia. At least me getting to see Nathan.”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
My hand slipped from his shoulder as I stood. “I’ll head to my office and get some things done.”
“Maybe you should tell her. Let her know you talked to Sylvie about getting her the job in the interior design department. She might be willing to—”
“No. I’m done with that. You know how she feels about me trying to help her. I think it would make things worse.”
He nodded. “You’re probably right. Let’s get together for dinner tonight. Who knows when I’ll see you again.”
“Sure. I’ll call you—”
My phone vibrated in my pants pocket. I grabbed it and saw an unrecognizable number on my phone. Normally I never answered those calls, which were usually robo-calls, but this was a local number. Swiping to answer, I lifted it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Monty. You have to help me.”
“Hamish? Why aren’t you calling from your cell?”
“They confiscated it.”
My eyes widened. “Who confiscated it?”
“The police.”
My shoulders sank. It finally happened. They raided his place. I always suspected his father was shady, but Hamish wouldn’t tell me anything. Hamish wasn’t at all like his dad. Everything he did was by the law. But his father thought if a law existed, then he should break it. He was a billionaire, so it wasn’t like they would catch him.
As much as Hamish hated his father, he felt it necessary to keep up appearances and attend family functions. But now his association with his dad was affecting him.
“Do you need me to contact your lawyer?”
I glanced over at Rock, who turned his head toward me at the word lawyer.
“No, I’ll contact Jenner when I’m released. Just bail me out and don’t tell anyone what happened.”
Rock mouthed the words, “What’s going on?”
“Sure. But I don’t know what is going on.”
He groaned, “Look, all you need to know is a local cop pulled me over for speeding, and things took an unusual turn. And now I’m in jail.”
I let out a breath. “No raid? Just a speeding ticket.”
“What? You thought they raided my home? I’m not my father, you know that.”
I winced. “Right. Sorry. It’s just, life has been crazy lately.”
“Oh yeah, you’re a baby daddy. Have you seen him?”
“No, just arrived today and head back out tomorrow.”
“If you only used my idea of the dinner party, you’d have Nathan in your arms right now. And I’d be distracted by the third Nutters sister, whom I still haven’t had the pleasure of meeting, by the way.”
I smirked. “Perhaps you’re right. Anything would be better than what I did.”
“Enough talk. Come pick me up.”
The call ended, and I slipped my phone back into my pocket.
“What happened? Have they arrested Hamish?” Rock got up from the couch.
“Yes, but I think it had more to do with driving an expensive car in town. I get the impression some people around here don’t want us wealthy people around.”
“You mean Julia doesn’t want them around. Not everyone shares her feelings about money.”
I shrugged and said as I left, “I think it’s just Julia who doesn’t want me around.”
Chapter 23
Julia
“THANKS, SHERIFF LANA.” I smiled at the woman with weathered, light brown skin and warm eyes.
“Not a problem, Julia. And I’m sorry about Officer Kolsti. He’s new. A little too by the book, if you know what I mean.”
“Yes,” I responded as Jami said, “No.”
“At least she’s safe.” I reached for my sister but saw her stare at my hand and decided against a sisterly hug.
“The car isn’t. I have to tell Laura that it caught fire,” Jami men
tioned.
I reached down and grabbed the car seat that held Nathan.
“Why don’t we head home and have lunch first? Then we can think about how to break the news to Laura that you blew up her car.”
“Nothing exploded,” Jami said with a wince, and she rubbed Nancy’s wing with her thumb.
“Here’s the card to where it was towed.” Lana held out a crisp, white business card with a picture of a car in red on the front.
I plucked it from her fingers and tucked the card into the back pocket of my jeans.
“Thanks again, Sheriff.”
Sheriff Lana Holland had been the sheriff here in Castle Ridge for twenty years. She was one of the few people in this town who had treated my family with respect. My parents told us we were forever in her debt when Jami wandered off at eight years of age. She was alone and barefoot in the woods for hours as the temperature dropped on that cool spring evening.
My mother was frantic, and even though I was only seventeen, I was ready to search for her all night if I had to.
Thankfully, Lana found her near Sullivan’s Creek, about a mile from our house. My mom baked the sheriff cookies for the next month to thank her.
My sister used to wander off a lot before she got the help she needed after her diagnosis. Jami had grown so much since those early days. She was so responsible now and the one keeping me in line.
“What were you doing with Laura’s car?”
Laura never let me drive it, but she trusted Jami.
“Nathan had a doctor appointment.”
We moved into the hallway of the police station and headed toward the front entrance. Glancing down, I saw Nathan’s head wobble to the side as he slept.
“Crap. I forgot about that. Thanks.”
Like I said, she was more responsible than me.
“Have you been fired?” she asked as we got to the door.
I stopped and turned to her. “Why would you think that?”
“You’re here and not at work. When you aren’t at work during the day, it usually means you’re fired.”
“Well, I haven’t been fired. No more of that. I like the job I have now. I took a half day because I got a call from the police station saying they had my sister.” I side-eyed Jami.
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