“You’re not telling me what to do,” Sophie said between clenched teeth, finally dropping her hands from her head.
“He doesn’t know.” Daphne tried her best to break the glare Sophie and Craig were giving each other, but given her position on the bed, she couldn’t get between them.
“How can he not know?” Sophie demanded.
“What don’t I know?” Craig furrowed his brow, glancing between them both.
Daphne knew only the truth could help her now. “Tessa, Lance, and I have been trying to get Sophie and David together.”
“You what?” Craig’s voice roared through the room as his face turned as red as his hair. “Why would you do that?”
“I wanted to help. I wanted her to be happy.”
“I can’t believe you, Daphne,” Sophie yelled, rising from the bed. “You know how much I hate lies. I don’t want him to be manipulated into being with me. And I don’t want you selling the club without talking to me first.”
“I’m sorry,” Daphne pleaded, her own head beginning to ache the way Sophie’s must be. She pressed on her scalp, trying to keep the pain from growing.
“Why would you try and push together two people who are so wrong for each other?” Craig took Sophie’s seat on the bed.
“We are not wrong for each other!”
“Not you, too. You need to keep a level head about this, Sophie. You and David want very different things from life. When we met with the therapist, you said you wanted six kids. He will never have one.”
“You can’t predict the future. He feels something for me—maybe not as deeply as I feel for him, but in time—”
“It’s not love he’s afraid of. If he loves you now, he’ll love you forever. But he won’t marry you, and he won’t let you have his children. He’s terrified of divorce, of death, even more afraid of visitation agreements. He knows his limitations. It would break him, and so he won’t risk it. Ever.”
What had she done? The beating in her head pounded like a stampede. Before her meddling David had been just a fascination for Sophie, a harmless fantasy. Tessa had sworn David could be the man Sophie needed, could give her the family and security she craved. It had seemed to be working, but now everything had gone dark and bleak.
“Daphne, are you okay?” Craig’s voice seemed scared and far away.
She felt the blood pressure monitor being attached to her wrist but couldn’t see it. Her field of vision seemed too narrow. The only thing she could see was Craig. But it hurt her head to open her eyes.
…
Sophie rubbed her aching neck and checked the clock on the monitor of her laptop. Two hours until David was supposed to pick her up for dinner. She wanted nothing more than to cancel, go home, and crawl under the covers of her bed and hide for the next few millennia. She didn’t want to know if he blamed her, if he’d bought the club without so much as a head’s up. The entire situation made her brain hurt. But he might need some help getting through what his father had done. And she wouldn’t be able to process the enormity of what had happened without an explanation from him.
She had no desire to play helpless so he could save her from the potholes of life. He had to stop putting her on project status, treating her as a problem that needed to be fixed. She deserved more respect. How could he buy the building without telling her? Buy the club without asking her opinion? Unless he had been after the club all along.
She shook her head hard to dispel the thought. That had always been Daphne’s fear, but Daphne had obviously had a change of heart about David. She was just bothered by the way he took charge of everything, as if what she wanted didn’t matter to him. She needed to matter.
Sorting the papers into file folders, she let out an exhausted yawn. She hadn’t been to bed since Friday night, and there hadn’t been much sleeping going on.
“Megan McTavish is here to see you,” the intercom squawked.
Who was that? Sophie had only come in to work to distract herself from Daphne’s medical problems. Her blood pressure had gotten so high the doctors had almost delivered the baby Saturday night. Luckily, the drugs had brought it back under control, but Daphne needed to finish the remaining weeks of her pregnancy in the hospital.
With a flash of fingers on the keyboard, she brought up her planner. No Megan McTavish. Probably a sales call, but on a Sunday? She lifted the receiver of her phone and dialed the receptionist.
“I’m on my way out. Make her an appointment for next week.”
“Sophie, she says she’s going to be managing the club starting next month.”
Her blood went icy cold as it sped through her veins. He’d bought the building, her club, and replaced her, all without saying a word. He was more like his father than she’d ever imagined.
…
Sophie had been the one to find the old man out again. He didn’t know the right way to react to learning that his father was a master of manipulation, Tessa’s willing pawn in her plan to control everyone’s life. He hadn’t slept at all the previous night, had even skipped out on Kelly’s birthday dinner. He’d made it up to her by having the car he’d bought for Sophie delivered to her apartment.
He needed to think. To figure out if anything that ever happened to him was real. Lance swore Sophie hadn’t known a thing about the scheme to rework his life. That even Craig was clueless. But he still wondered. Craig had set him up to teach the class, and she’d been relentless in her pursuit. Irresistible.
More than that, she’d found the financial problems at SGI so quickly. Tessa said she’d bought that house months ago. And the financial issues with Working It Out had been perfectly timed.
But Craig had seemed genuinely surprised when David had told him he and Sophie were together. Not in any way he could define, or on any path he could chart, but together. Craig hadn’t liked it one bit, because Sophie deserved to be in a relationship with a future. And he couldn’t argue with that. She deserved better, but she wanted him.
Or did she? Maybe she’d pursued him so hard because she wanted something. She’d done a good job of deflecting his suspicions, at every turn fighting his offers to pay for things. Maybe she was waiting for a bigger payoff. A reward from Lance, owning the club free and clear, the house, alimony payments for life, or all of the above.
As much as he hated doubting her, it made sense. More sense than any of the rest of it. He didn’t think he could handle it being true. He needed to know she’d been as much as a pawn in the scheme as he’d been.
He could have lived without knowing how far back it had all started. Tessa and his dad ought to write a soap opera. They had concocted some crazy ploys over the years. David had been forced to realize Tessa and his father were better matched than he’d thought. All that drama created to propel David’s life down the path they thought he wanted to take.
Even though he’d been adamant he didn’t want children, Lance never believed him. His father had even admitted to creating an emergency to get David out of town every time he had a vasectomy scheduled.
He didn’t really care if he spoke to the old man for a very long time. Every break he’d thought he’d made for himself had been designed by Lance. School, bodybuilding, work. He had succeeded at everything, but he’d never gotten there on his own.
It was time for a new set of goals. Things Lance would have no knowledge of or control over. Accomplishments he would know were his alone. Something more than building the real estate side of SGI and expanding Deliver-Ease. A whole new product, a new direction for the company. A legacy that would be his.
A legacy, but for who? When he died, the company would be splintered again. His goal of unifying SGI had shattered. Unless Kelly had a child who was interested in the business?
He shook his head and pulled the keys from the ignition. Needing an heir was no reason to have a child. A child who, like Kelly, might be raised to call another man daddy, to want little to do with him or the company.
Pulling himself out of the car, he
decided to keep the appointment he’d made for tomorrow. If the craziness his father had inflicted didn’t drive her away now, something would later. He had no choice but to protect himself. He’d have the surgery on Friday and tell Sophie he was out of town for a week. The class would be over, and she’d never have to know. And his heart would be safer.
Chapter Sixteen
Sophie sized him up. The convex glass in the peephole contorted his head like a funhouse mirror. It would serve him right to leave him out there in the rain. She wanted to strangle him, had ever since Megan McTavish had walked her tall, blond, toned behind into her office and prattled on about how much fun it would be to manage a club outside the SGI norm.
Sophie had been polite. Megan obviously had no idea what she’d been thrust in the middle of. But just like the conversation with Tessa, Sophie had been sure to get more information than she gave. Megan currently managed a Strong Gym in the suburbs. David had contacted her personally and asked her to step in at Working It Out during December and January. There were a lot of unanswered questions, demands she wanted to make of him as soon as she heard his footsteps on the stairs. Instead, she took a few deep breaths, calming herself. If she got too worked up, she’d never get the answers she needed. Her hand vibrated on the handle as he pounded the door again. She felt metal sliding as the doorknob turned beneath her hand. Who gave him a key?
She stood her ground, blocking the entry as best she could, trying desperately to ignore the flutter in her stomach at seeing the pain in his eyes. Yes, he’d had to face some hard truths, but so had she, damn it. No one else would stand up for her, and so she had to do it herself.
“Should I call and push back the reservation?”
She followed his gaze as it swept over her body, still clad in the jeans and sweater she’d thrown on this morning. She’d only gotten home a few minutes before he arrived, but she’d decided against dinner during her conversation with Megan. Squaring her shoulders, she stepped out of the doorway.
“I’m not going anywhere with you tonight. You need to sit down. Things between us are about to get real complicated, and you don’t do complicated.”
He closed the door behind him but leaned against it instead of taking a seat on the sofa. “That’s an understatement.”
She crossed to the living room, slumped down onto the couch, tucked her legs beneath her, and pulled the red afghan over them. Why is it so cold in here? “Do you want to talk first?”
Cocking his head to the side, he met her gaze. “I don’t want to talk at all.”
Sophie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming at him. “There is nothing you want to tell me? Are you sure? This is your one shot at explaining.”
He shook his head and sucked in a slow breath. “If you have something to say, Sophie, say it.”
Where could she even begin? “Why did you buy my building?”
David’s eyes widened and then narrowed. “Because it’s a good investment. And your rent was so high it was extortion.”
She pounded her fist on the cushion. “How do you know how much my rent is?”
“The management company offered the information as a selling point. Why are you upset about this?”
“Were you going to tell me?”
“I made the offer on Wednesday. We’re not even in escrow yet.”
“And I suppose escrow closes February first.”
David actually rolled his eyes. “Sounds about right.”
“By then, you’ll own Working It Out, and Megan can help make the transition run smoothly.” Sophie pelted him with her words, trying to paint him a picture of just what he’d done.
“Would you calm down?” He shrugged out of his coat and draped it across a kitchen chair. He looked like he’d stepped out of a magazine, walking toward her in his charcoal suit, the gray shirt and silvery tie doing nothing to lighten the ensemble.
He stopped at the edge of the couch and loomed over her. “I’m buying Daphne’s share personally. If you want to sell, you can. If not, I’ll be a silent partner.” He joined her on the couch. “Megan is going to cover for you while we’re gone.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I make site visits during December and January. It’s a great chance for you to see the country.”
Emotions bubbled over inside of her. Relief, rage, anxiety, gratitude. She couldn’t keep any of them straight. “You are as bad as them. Do you even think of me as a person? Or am I just a trinket to you?”
“For God’s sake, Sophie, don’t do this.”
“What am I doing?”
“That slanty thing with your eyes, for one.” David rose from the couch and walked to the kitchen. “And trying to pick a fight with me, for another. Do you have any alcohol at all? Because if you keep this up, I’m going to need a drink.”
“I’m not trying to fight with you, but any emotional response from you would be nice. Do you care about me at all?”
He stepped out from behind the open refrigerator door and leveled his gaze at her. “Sophie.”
She sprang from the couch. “That’s right. In order to speak to me you have to be inebriated.” Once she was in the kitchen, she pushed herself onto the counter and stood on it to reach the cupboard over the fridge. She grabbed the box inside and made her way to the floor again. She thrust the box into David’s chest and then spun and pulled a glass bottle from another cabinet.
“What’s this?” He had the nerve to laugh.
“Liqueur filled chocolates and vanilla extract. I think the vanilla is eighty proof.”
“God, you’re cute.” He wore a get-over-it grin as he sat at the kitchen table and opened the box of candy.
She stomped her foot in frustration. “I’m not trying to be cute. I’m trying to figure out what is happening in my life. Why are you smiling?”
“I’m waiting for you to get over it, like that day with the door.”
The swarm of people he’d had in her apartment that day still irked. She’d seen his side of things and chosen not to fight about it. That had obviously been a mistake, because he expected to get away with murder—again. “I’m not going to let this go. I need to be an active participant in my own life, not some puppet on a string you and your family can jerk around for thrills.”
David’s face fell. “I don’t do that.”
“Like hell you don’t. You are constantly telling me what to do, bulldozing over my life, making decisions for me. I can’t take it. If we are going to be together, I need to be a partner in it.”
“I’m not going to consult with you before I make a business decision.”
“If it concerns me, I expect you to respect me enough to care about my opinion.”
“Sophie, you’re overreacting.”
“At least I’m having a reaction. I can’t be as indifferent as you. I actually have emotions.”
He stood and peered down at her. “Are you trying to hurt me?”
“I’m trying to get any reaction at all. What am I supposed to think? You buy the building and my club and hire someone to replace me, all without a word. You had no right to do that. What were you trying to accomplish? Giving me a reason to throw your ass out the door?”
…
There was nothing he could say, no magic answer that would satisfy her right now. She needed to cool off and come to her senses. To realize his quick actions had saved her business.
Her pale blue eyes opened wide and seemed to peer straight to his soul. Like she could read his mind, and with as well as she read him, it might be possible.
She pulled in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Are you in love with me?”
She really didn’t know, which actually kind of stung. How could she not know? That he’d never said the words was beside the point. If her question hadn’t sounded like an accusation, he might have answered.
“Well then.” Her normally smooth voice shook as she nodded her head furiously. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I
must be completely deluded.”
He stepped closer, still unsure how they had gotten to this point. “Where is this coming from?”
She threw her hands up and stepped back. “I know, you never promised me anything. Hell, I agreed to play by the rules that applied to me. I wanted so badly for there to be more from you. I made it up. I made myself believe that just like I was waiting for you, you were waiting for me, waiting for me to be ready to have our own life.”
“Sophie, I—”
“Don’t. Please don’t.” She stepped away, retreating into the living room. “I need some space. I have some decisions to make about the club, my career…us. And since you don’t feel the need to consult me on any of your decisions, I’m not going to ask your opinion, either.”
“What is it you want me to say? Tell me, and I’ll say it.”
She sank onto the couch, wrapping that tattered red blanket around herself as she stared blankly out the window. “I need a break, some time to get my thoughts together.”
“A break?” He might be new to the whole relationship game, but he knew “taking a break” was a breakup.
“Lance and Tessa are coming to the class on Thursday. They can demonstrate the positions.”
“You’re still going to let them work for you after the way they played us?”
“Kind of like the way you played me? You’re just like him, rearranging my life and feeling justified in it. But we wouldn’t have gotten together if we didn’t want to. We were pushed in a direction, but not forced. You’re running right over me and taking away my choices. Everything has to be your way. I am not that accommodating. I really need some space from you right now.”
Space. He’d known she’d end things, but he’d thought he’d have more time before it all ran out. “You’re ending it? Because I made a real estate investment? Because Daphne decided to sell? Because I want to take you with me when I travel?”
She shook her head slowly, incessantly, as if she would never stop. Finally, she spoke again. “The only thing I want to end is not being in control of my own life. I’ve spent my whole life reacting to everyone else’s needs.”
Compromising Positions (Invested in Love) Page 23