Love, Money, and Lies

by Olivia Saxton

  “Perhaps we can make it where you can work from home,” Neil Rolls said. “We can set up a secure server here and communicate through email.”

  “It could work,” Blanchette mused and sipped his tea.

  The doorbell rang.

  It must be Lana or Lacey. They are the only ones who know that I’m here with the exception of these two. Margo walked to the door and looked out the peephole. It was a good thing that she didn’t carry her glass with her because she would have dropped it. It was Bruce, the last person she wanted to see.

  Margo practically tipped-toed away from the door.

  “Why are you walking like that?” Rolls asked.

  “It’s Bruce. Did either one of you tell him I was here?”

  The men looked at each other and then looked back at her as they both shook their heads.

  “Let’s be quiet for a moment,” she whispered. “He might go away.”

  The doorbell rang again, and a loud banging followed. “Margo! I know you’re in there!” he yelled. He pounded on the door again.

  “The jig is up kid,” Rolls said sarcastically as he stood. “I’m letting him in. If anything, you two might be able to work something out, and I might get a seasoned hacker who is working on our side for a change.” He started walking to the door.

  Margo rolled her eyes with frustration.

  “Margo!” Bruce yelled.

  “Hold your horses, Styles!” Rolls barked. He was so loud and gruff that Margo and Blanchette jumped. “I’m not as young as I used to be!” He opened the door.

  Bruce looked positively shocked. “Sir?” He was holding a large bouquet of white roses.

  “Good, you brought her flowers. I don’t know what the hell happened, but considering the fact that she doesn’t want to lay eyes on you, it’s pretty bad. You’ll need all the stuff women like you can get your hands on. Come in,” Rolls stated.

  Bruce slowly stepped over the threshold. His lips parted when he saw Blanchette on the couch.

  “Hello, Styles,” Blanchette greeted nonchalantly.

  “Sir,” Bruce replied. “What–?”

  “I’ll let Margo explain,” Blanchette said as he stood. “We can continue to discuss this on Monday,” he said to Margo.

  “We can discuss it now,” Margo said. “I like the idea of working from home. And Special Agent Styles is an uninvited guest.”

  “Either way, you two need to . . . find some sort of common ground if this is going to work,” Rolls said.

  “For what to work?” Bruce asked with bewilderment.

  “It will give you a few more days to think about our offer,” Blanchette said to her.

  “What offer?” Bruce asked.

  “I’m sure you’ll be told after we leave, Styles,” Blanchette said as he walked past him.

  “Goodbye,” Rolls said.

  They walked out the door, closing it behind them.

  Margo turned her head away from Bruce.

  “I . . . I brought you white roses,” he stuttered.

  “I noticed.” She walked to the large balcony door and looked out at the view. It was a pretty decent view for being on the fourth floor.

  “Well, they did work for me once,” he mumbled.

  “Either put them on the table, or take them with you on your way out,” she said harshly.

  Bruce let a low whistle. “Ouch. I suppose I deserve that.”

  She whirled around. He sat the flowers on the coffee table. “You do. I take responsibility for what I did and how it hurt you. I understood and took your anger toward me. However, I did not deserve to be treated like your personal cum dumpster,” she stated louder than she meant to.

  “No, you didn’t. I’ve been sick with guilt ever since,” Bruce admitted as he looked down at his feet.

  Margo studied him. He had on a light-yellow polo shirt that was tight around his arms and shoulders, blue jeans, and tennis shoes. She could tell he needed a trim. “Bruce, I . . . I don’t know what you came here for, but there is nothing here for you.”

  His head popped up. “Yes, there is. You. Margo, I . . . I am sorry for how I treated you. I . . . I thought if I could make you feel the way you made me feel, it would make me feel better. It didn’t. It made me feel worse, and—”

  “Oh, I made you feel like a dumb whore who thought we still had a future together?” she asked sarcastically.

  “Not the whore part,” he said flatly. “But I did feel like a fool who you led to believe that we did have a future together.”

  She nodded. “I never meant to lead you on, but I do understand how you see it that way. I truly thought you would forget about me, Bruce. I didn’t think you’d try to hunt me down. Hell, I didn’t even think we would . . . get as close as we did.”

  “You mean fall love?” he asked as he took a few steps in her direction.

  “Yeah,” she mumbled. “But I made my choices, and you made yours.”

  “Give me a chance to make it right.”

  Margo turned her back on him and looked out the balcony door again. “Oh, Bruce. Don’t you see we’re back where we started? You bring me my favorite flowers and beg me to give you a chance and . . . I’m considering it despite my better judgment,” she said as she crossed her arms. “We’re not good for each other. It doesn’t work with us.” Margo felt hands on her shoulders. She didn’t even hear him come behind her.

  “It’s different this time. We had secrets between us in the past. We don’t anymore with the exception of . . . why was Blanchette and Rolls here?”

  She thought for a moment. “Tell me first how you found me?”

  He leaned his cheek against the top of her head. His nose nuzzled her hair. “Alec and I were at his house talking about where you might be. Little Keisha overheard us and said Mr. Blanch-it brought you to a fancy apartment. Lana was put in a position to tell all.”

  “Was Alec mad that his wife was hiding me right under his nose?”

  “He was angrier about the fact that Lana had purchased a condo and he didn’t know about it. In her defense, she bought it before they got married, but Alec didn’t quite see it that way. Once again, in her defense, it was her money she purchased it with. But–”

  “Alec didn’t see it that way. The last thing I wanted was to cause problems between the two of them,” she said with distress.

  Bruce started caressing her shoulders. “When I went home to change, I called Alec. Keisha was conveniently sent to a neighbor’s house to play, and Alec was in the middle of something and had to call me back later. Trust me, they patched it up.”

  “Well, that’s good,” she whispered. She wished he would stop massaging her shoulders. How was she supposed to stay mad at him while he was being so calm? How could she say no when he was touching her?

  “So what were the boss and the boss’s boss doing here?” he asked.

  “When I was about to leave the safe house, Blanchette was there. He offered me a job as a computer specialist for the field agents, working directly under him. He gave me a week to think about it. Today was supposed to be the day for me to give him an answer. I was surprised that he had Neil Rolls with him. Blanchette said that just in case my answer was no, he brought reinforcements. They were trying to convince me to take the position when you showed up.”

  “Makes sense. Your expertise would be invaluable to us, and if you’re working in our department, that would save us hours of time waiting for the IT department to process case requests. It would be a terrific opportunity for you,” he mumbled into her hair.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “We can make it work. I know we can,” he said as his hands smoothed down her arms. His arms wrapped around her waist. “Margo, please . . . I can’t go another day without you. I’m just going through the motions. I need you in my life because without you, I have no life.” He tightened his hold on her.

  Margo sighed as a tear dropped from her eye. “Bruce, I . . . I still care for you, but I don’t know
if we can . . . get past all the things that have transpired between us.”

  Bruce turned her around to face him. “We’ll take things slow – as slow as you want. There’s nothing standing between us now. Nothing is stopping us from being together and forgiving each other but us.”

  She looked down at his chest. She had missed him for the past three months even though she tried not to. “I have tried to forget you.”

  “And I have tried to forget you. Neither one of us could do it, so what do you say? One more try?”

  Margo looked up into his brown eyes. They were filled with longing and – love. He still loved her the way she still loved him. “Oh Bruce, I have missed you,” she confessed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She took a deep breath. “I’m willing if you are.”

  Bruce’s smile was so big and wide it could have lit up the night sky. He lowered his head and took her lips, gently claiming her for his own.

  Epilogue

  Margo St. John walked down the hall of the FBI Tampa Field Office. She had been working there for six weeks. She knocked on the door.

  “I know it’s you. Come in,” Bruce said.

  She opened the door.

  Alec was sitting in a chair across from Bruce’s desk.

  “Hey, I was able to trace the IP trail on the Elementary case,” she announced and placed the folder on Bruce’s desk. There was a hacker who had been hacking elementary school databases all over the country for five years. He would steal the identities of the children and use them to apply for credit cards to purchase electronics, computers, and various other things. Margo suspected that he would buy the goods and sell them. The kids who had their identities stolen had bad credit before their lives even really began. The hacker had been quiet for two years until recently. An elementary school system was hacked in Florida two months ago. The FBI suspected it was the same guy, but they weren’t sure. Blanchette had asked her to see if she could figure anything out.

  “The Elementary case has been cold for ages,” Alec stated.

  “Not anymore,” she said with a smirk. “For whatever reason, he’s at it again. It’s in the report. I suspect the name registered to the computer’s IP address is fake, but I believe the physical address is the real deal.”

  “Nice,” Alec complimented as he nodded at her. He stood. “I suspect once you show Blanchette, we’ll be off to . . .?”

  “Arizona,” she filled in.

  “Oh god, it’s hotter than hell out there this time of year,” Alec groaned. “Oh well, no rest or air conditioning for justice. I see you two at lunch.”

  They bid him goodbye as he left, closing the door behind him.

  “So you’re trying to wow everyone during your three-month interim period,” Bruce said as he stood.

  “I’m trying to prove myself. I have to justify my presence here somehow – and my salary,” she said. “I still can’t believe Blanchette and Rolls didn’t even try to get me to come down a little bit.”

  He laughed as he rounded the desk. “They knew you were worth it.” His arms wrapped around her.

  “Stop, you can’t kiss me here,” she said with wide eyes.

  “What is the point in having your girlfriend work at your job and you can’t get some . . . perks on the side?” he asked with a grin.

  She giggled. “Stop it. We’ve talked about this. We have to be professional when we are here.”

  “I can give you a professional kiss,” he countered innocently

  Margo laughed. “I don’t think we should tempt ourselves. Now let’s get back to work.”

  Bruce groaned like he was agony. “Yes, ma’am,” he said and released her.

  As she was turning around, he slapped her on the behind. Margo whirled around with her eyebrows raised.

  “What? That was a professional pat for a job well done. Pro football players do it to each other in the locker room when they win a game.”

  She laughed. “Well we’re not pro football players.”

  “It was worth a shot,” he said and winked at her.

  Thank You

  Thank you for purchasing Love, Money, and Lies. I hope you have enjoyed the journey to independence, truth, and love.

  If you wish to be notified when I release another book, sign up for my mailing list. You can also visit my website at OliviaSaxton.com

  Olivia

  Saxton

  Blank Slate

  Layla Miles lives in a posh upper middle-class neighborhood, married to a neurosurgeon, and has a beautiful three-year-old daughter. The only thing missing is Layla’s past memories.

  When Layla and Damien decide to host a charity event to raise their profiles in Tampa’s high society, two men from her past pop up out of nowhere.

  With no memory of her former life - or them, she sets out on a mission to finally discover who she is and what had happened on that fate changing night in New York City four years prior.

  One woman. Three men. What will be the outcome?

  Warning: This work of fiction contains sexual scenes and graphic language.

  The Rancher

  After saying goodbye to her demanding hotel job, Faith Roberts leaves Miami for a long deserved vacation. Her travels lead her to Texas and into the arms of a lonely rancher who is afraid of love.

  With patience and understanding, Faith breaks through Adrian’s walls. The happy times doesn’t last long when Adrian Matthews and his family are setup to lose the Lone Wolf Ranch and their freedom.

  By a twist of fate, Faith gets the upper hand to stop the troubles that has plagued the Matthews family. However, is she putting herself in danger for the rancher she loves?

  Warning: This work of fiction has explicit language and graphic sexual scenes.