One Last Mistake: A Billionaire Romance (The Ironwood Billionaire Series Book 3)

by Ellie Danes

  Ever since Kyle and I had slept together – again – I had been finding it hard to focus at work. Even my day off filled with fun, relaxation, and catching up with Ella hadn't been enough to get him off my mind. It was unnerving, because guys rarely got under my skin like this. It seemed the more I tried to get him off my mind, the more persistently he would pop into my thoughts.

  I was fairly certain the last thing Kyle wanted was a relationship. Every now and then, it seemed there was something more to the way he was looking at me and talking to me than mere physical and sexual attraction, but the odds were that was just my mind playing tricks on me. Kyle was not the kind of guy who wanted to settle down.

  It was crazy to even think about such possibilities, wasn't it? I mean, this guy was a serious playboy. He and I had met and immediately enjoyed a drunken one-night stand. What evidence was there that he had any desire whatsoever to be in a relationship? With me, or anyone else. And even if he did, how could I totally trust a guy like him? He was rumored to be a playboy; I’d looked him up the other day and seen the articles.

  And, of course, there was the fact that I didn't want a relationship. I was enjoying being single and had been for quite some time. I had my own things that I enjoyed doing, my own time, and I didn't have to answer to anyone. I liked that, and it worked for me. On top of that, I had this really demanding, challenging new job that took up a lot of my time and energy. I didn't think that there was any point in being in a relationship, not at this stage of my life.

  Despite all this, though, here I was, thinking about being in a relationship.

  He walked back into the restaurant. I immediately had to wonder what he had been talking about on the phone, because he looked upset. He pulled out his chair and sat down across from me, scowling.

  “Something wrong?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “No, nothing. Just, uh...some company stuff. Nothing to worry about though. Let's forget it and enjoy our evening.”

  He was hiding something, but I didn't think this was the time to push him to tell me about it. If he wanted to tell me, he could. If not, that was fine.

  “Okay,” I agreed.

  “More wine?” he asked as he finished his glass.

  “Sounds good,” I said.

  He topped off both of our glasses and then drank a long sip of his.

  “I hope you're not planning on getting wasted tonight,” I said, “because I'm going to stop drinking after this bottle is finished.”

  He nodded. “That's fine. I just needed a drink after that phone call.”

  Ah, so maybe he was going to tell me.

  “Are you going to tell me what it was about?” I asked. “I mean, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. But you seemed kind of upset when you came back inside and it’s clearly still bothering you.”

  He sighed and shook his head. “It's my father. He's stepping on my toes, you know? He's always been like that. Overbearing, really pushy. Sometimes, I feel like I'm not even living my own life, like my life is some weird extension of his.”

  I nodded. “I can see how that must be frustrating.”

  “Frustrating doesn't even begin to cover it. I know people think I’m a lucky guy. This whole big, successful company was just handed to me on a silver platter, right? Well, if you knew half of it, you’d want to run away and never come back. I mean, I’ve thought of just that a few times myself.”

  “You can tell me about it if you want,” I said in as gentle a tone as I could.

  He looked up at me, and his eyes were full of pain. It was a deep, lasting pain that seemed to come from a place deep within him.

  “I don't know why,” he said, “but I have this gut feeling that I can trust you. And I felt that the very first time we met. I told you things that night, things that I hadn't told anyone, thoughts that had never passed between my lips. So, I guess I can tell you. But you can keep a secret, right?”

  I nodded, being as sincere as possible. “I can definitely keep a secret.”

  He gave me a wry smile. “Well, you've kept a few of my secrets already, haven't you? So, I guess I should already know that I can trust you.”

  I smiled. “I have kept those secrets.”

  “How do I know that you have kept my secrets, though?” he asked, narrowing his eyes with suspicion.

  “If I'd told anyone about your plans to sell of part of the company and let a bunch of people go, do you really think we'd be here having this conversation, Kyle? I don't. I think that, instead, you'd be trying to pick up the wreckage of what was left of your company after it imploded.”

  His face paled as he realized just how much he had told me when we were drunk – and how much of it I remembered.

  “I...I guess I really told you everything, huh?” he managed to stammer.

  I nodded slowly. “It probably wasn't very wise of you – but don't worry, your secrets are safe with me.”

  “Thank you.” He looked away and took another long, slow sip of wine. “There's something else,” he said, still looking away. “Did I tell you anything else? Anything about my brother?”

  “You did, actually,” I acknowledged.

  His face grew more pallid.

  “But to be honest, I don't remember the details,” I added.

  I figured I had to at least admit that much. Whatever this secret was about his brother, it was enough to make him very nervous. I could easily have bluffed and pretended I knew what this secret was and used it as leverage against him, but that wasn’t me and it sure as hell wouldn't be the right thing to do.

  He immediately looked relieved.

  “You can tell me, though, if it's something that really bothers you,” I said. “I mean, sometimes it's better to let this stuff out than to keep it in. Talking about these things can help.”

  “You don't know what kind of secret it is, though,” he half-whispered. “And if you did, you wouldn't be saying that to me.”

  “I'm not saying you have to tell me. Not at all. I'm not even saying I want you to tell me. What I am saying, though, is that if this secret is eating away at you inside, talking about it can help. It can help you move on and heal. And you know what? You don't even have to tell me the secret. You can go to a therapist, someone who is legally bound to keep your confidences – heck, a priest even. You know, go to confession or something... if you're Catholic. I don't know. I mean, do you get what I'm saying? Holding stuff in isn’t good for you.”

  He looked down, staring at the table in silence. After a deep swig of his wine, he looked up at me again. “Like I said before, I don't know why but I feel like I can trust you.”

  “You really can.”

  “Well, I think I told you before, when we were both totally wasted, so I guess I may as well tell you again. But please, what I'm about to tell you stays strictly between you and me, okay?”

  I nodded. “Absolutely. I will never tell another soul. Not unless you tell me I can.”

  He breathed in deeply. “My older brother was my only sibling. James was his name, but we all called him Jimmy. He was older than me by six years, and he was your typical guardian older brother. You know, a guy who you can look up to. He never pushed me around, never picked on me – and God have mercy on any kids at school who did try to bully me. If any kid laid a finger on me at school, Jimmy would kick his ass. But he didn't just protect me, he taught me to protect myself. Our dad, he was busy when we were growing up. I mean, he was running this company, you know, building it up and growing it constantly. He would almost always come home late; sometimes he wouldn't come home for days, because he was doing so much work that he found it easier to sleep in his office. And yeah, that made him rich. It made us rich. But it meant that I grew up almost without a father. So, Jimmy became my best friend, my role model, my guardian.”

  “He sounds like an amazing older brother,” I remarked.

  Kyle smiled sadly. “He really was. I still miss him, even though it's been years since he passed. The woun
ds still sting like they’re fresh.”

  “I know exactly how you feel. My dad was very close to me, and obviously it wasn't anything like this relationship you had with your brother, but it was nonetheless very powerful. He was my role model, my hero... And like you said about your brother, I still miss my dad every day.”

  Kyle seemed a little taken aback. I guess he hadn't quite been expecting that sort of response from me.

  “Oh, wow,” he remarked. “I didn't realize you had lost your father. I'm sorry to hear that.”

  “I'm sorry, too. And thank you. He died in a motorcycle wreck.”

  “That's tragic. I'm really sorry for your loss, Meredith.”

  “He at least died doing something he enjoyed. He loved riding motorcycles, working on them, and fixing them up. I guess he knew the risks involved in riding, and he was prepared to take them. Maybe he would still be alive today if he had given up riding, but that would have killed his soul, and he would have been miserable. I'm glad he got to live such a full life, and that he got to watch me grow up and graduate and see me become successful. I just wish he'd been around long enough to see me get this job. His last words to me were 'make me proud.' And I'm working on that. I believe he's watching over me, and that he is proud.”

  A sob began rising in my throat, and tears started burning at the corners of my eyes. Kyle noticed and reached across the table and took my hands in his. He squeezed them gently and looked into my eyes and smiled.

  “That was beautiful,” he said softly. “And it makes what you're doing for us, for my company, I mean, that much more meaningful and profound. And you know what, I bet that he is watching you, and that he is proud. I would be if I were him.”

  “Thank you,” I said, only barely managing to fight back the tears.

  He nodded. “You know, I think Jimmy is looking down on me, too. And hopefully, he's proud as well. Because I wanted that, too. I wanted to impress my hero – my older brother.”

  “It looks like we both understand each other pretty well, at least in this area. We have more in common than we first realized, don't we?”

  “We do, Meredith. And that's why I now know that I have to tell you about my brother.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I’d be honored to listen.”

  He sighed deeply and looked away for a few moments, staring at some unseen sight in the distance.

  “I'm ready,” he eventually said. “So, like I told you, my brother was my hero, the person I most looked up to in the world. But not only that, he was my dad's favorite, too. And my dad had planned his future out for him completely. Half of the reason my dad worked so hard on his company was so that it would be something huge for Jimmy to take over when he came of age. He loved Jimmy, loved him more than life itself it seemed.”

  “But then something happened...”

  He nodded sadly. “Not something. I happened.”

  “How? What did you do?”

  He laughed softly and humorlessly. “I took Jimmy's silly dreams seriously.”

  “And that was what ended up causing his passing?”

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  “But...how?”

  “Jimmy didn't want to take over the company. He didn't care about business at all. He had no desire whatsoever to live the life of a CEO and climb the corporate ladder. The older he got – toward the end of his teenage years – the more he started to rebel against everything my dad believed in. He tried to major in art and drama, but my dad wasn't having it. He still learned to play guitar in his own time, and joined a theater troupe, too. But one of his main passions was the ocean. He had always loved it, from the time we were kids. He wanted to learn to scuba dive, and to become a dive instructor, so that he could work and live all over the world in the best dive spots, doing what he loved doing. My father, of course, absolutely refused to indulge any of this. Jimmy was going to take over the company, and that was the end of the story. Jimmy was going to be the next CEO, even though it was the last thing in the world he wanted.

  “I saw how this tore him up inside, how it was hurting him, that my dad refused to let him pursue his dream. So, I figured that I'd help him to pursue his dream if my dad wouldn't. I had a friend whose dad had some diving equipment and asked my friend if he could take us out with it and show us the basics. I didn't know that you were supposed to do your training in a swimming pool... I just... I was a kid, I didn't know. Neither did my friend.”

  “Oh, no... I think I can see where this is going,” I murmured.

  “So, one day when my friend's dad was out, he got the diving equipment out of the garage, called me up and said we could go to the ocean and give it a try. I told Jimmy, and he was up for it, of course. So, we drove out to the ocean, found what we thought was a good, safe spot. And then Jimmy put on the diving stuff and went into the water. His last words to me... his last words were... 'Thank you, Kyle. Thank you for doing this for me. I'm so happy now. You're the best brother ever.’ The best brother ever...”

  I could see tears forming in his eyes – something I had never thought I would see on his face.

  “He never came out of the water. At first, we thought he was just really enjoying himself but then an hour passed. And then another. That was when we called the police. They found his body the next day.”

  “Oh, my God, Kyle,” I whispered. “I'm so sorry.”

  “I'm sorry, too,” he murmured. “I've never really gotten over it. And neither has my dad.”

  “But you realize, surely, that it wasn't your fault. I really hope that you haven't been blaming yourself for what happened to him.”

  “Of course, it was my fault,” he said. “If I hadn't gotten this kid to lend us the scuba gear, it would never have happened. He would still be alive today if I hadn't done that.”

  “No, you can't blame yourself. It was a tragedy, but it was an accident. It wasn't anyone's fault, Kyle. It certainly wasn't yours. You were just a kid. Just a kid who loved his brother so much that he wanted to help him realize his dream.”

  “And that love, it cost him his life,” he said, standing up. “That's what love does. It kills.”

  And with that, he got up and walked out of the restaurant, leaving me alone at the table.

  Chapter 14

  Kyle

  I had to get out. Everything had suddenly become overwhelming, and all sorts of memories and emotions were crashing through my mind in a mad cascade. The day my brother had died suddenly seemed so recent, so real, as if it had been just yesterday – and all the terrible emotions associated with it came thundering back.

  As soon as I got outside and could breathe a little fresh air, I felt a little better.

  I couldn't believe how the words had started tumbling out of my mouth as soon as I had started telling Meredith about my brother. It was as if a dam had broken, and the water contained within had gushed out with a mad fury.

  I still didn't know what it was that had made me trust her so much, what it was about her that made me feel as if I could totally open up to her, but there was definitely something. That, I had always found, was rare for me – to have a connection like that with another human being. I couldn't decide whether this excited me or terrified me.

  I stared up at the sky, bright with the lights of New York City.

  “Are you up there, Jimmy, looking down?” I whispered to the sky. “Are you proud of me? I hope you are. And I hope you know how sorry I am about everything. Not a day goes by where I don't think of you, where I don't regret what happened. And where I don't wish that you were still here with us.”

  The few stars visible in the sky twinkled gently. I suddenly felt an eerie sensation – not a bad one, just a weird one – as if someone was watching me. Maybe it was Jimmy.

  I stood quietly for a while, my hands in my pockets, just breathing and thinking. After a while, I heard some footsteps approaching. I turned around and saw that Meredith was walking toward me.

  “Hey,” she said gently. “How are you doin
g?”

  “I'm all right,” I replied.

  “I waited a few minutes before coming out here because I figured that you'd need some time alone.”

  “Thanks,” I replied. “I did. And I'm feeling a little better. I uh, I had a little chat with Jimmy. And it almost felt like he was here.”

  She nodded. “I understand. I talk to my dad all the time as well, and when I do, I also get that feeling, like he's near me. It's a strange feeling but it's comforting.”

  “Comforting, that's the word I was looking for. I did feel comforted after speaking to him and feeling his presence, if you want to call it that.”

  “Presence is definitely how I would describe it. But anyway, are you okay now? Do you want to go back inside?”

  “Yeah, let's do that.”

  “Wait a second,” she said suddenly, stepping up to me and staring right into my eyes. I felt the surging electricity of a powerful connection flowing between us.

  “Yeah?” I asked.

  “Thank you for telling me about Jimmy,” she said. “I realize how deeply personal that was, and how painful those memories were, and how vulnerable you must have felt opening up to me like that. I really appreciate the fact that you put enough trust in me. Seriously. And if there's anything else you want to discuss, or if you just need a sympathetic ear, I'm here. Anytime.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “Thank you for being here.”

  “Come, let's go back inside,” she said. “The main courses should be arriving soon.”

  “Yeah, let's do that,” I said, and together we walked back into the restaurant. I felt an impulse to hold her hand but decided that perhaps it wasn't quite the right time for that.

  We headed inside and went back to the table, where the waiter was busy placing our main courses on the table.

  “Ah, you guys are back,” he said. “For a minute, I thought that you were gonna do a dine and dash – although usually when that happens, it's after the customer has finished the main course.”