by S. Layne
But he’s also not here, which means maybe he’s finally given up.
The thought sends another roll through my stomach. It’s what I want—a divorce.
I ignore my mother the rest of the meal, and when the plates are beginning to be cleared, I sit up straighter in my chair as my father excuses himself from the table. Once he’s gone, the strangest sensation tickles the tip of my spine.
It’s that eerie feeling, that fight-or-flight instinct when you walk down the street and know you’re being watched.
Assuming it’s James and he’s arrived, I twist my neck slowly until I see what is causing the prickles down my back.
My mouth drops and I barely contain a gasp.
Liam.
My eyes widen and I take him in, dressed in a tuxedo like the rest of the men, but even from a distance I can sense his power. His control.
My heart flutters seeing him, and before I know what I’m doing, I excuse myself from the table for the restroom and walk around the edges of the room, careful not to garner attention.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him when I reach the doorway to the ballroom where he’s stayed put.
Hands at his sides, hair perfectly done, jaw free of any unshaven scruff, his blue eyes pierce into my gray ones.
My knees wobble from his gaze as his eyes slowly rake down my body.
“You look beautiful, tonight.”
“That’s your answer?”
Liam shrugs, a barely there gesture and nods into the ballroom. “I was invited, and it’s rude to turn down an invitation to an event like this.”
Jealousy flickers low in my stomach and I recoil from him. Invited by a woman? He’s here on a date?
“You knew, didn’t you?” I ask, my head beginning to spin. “When I said I had to come here, you already knew you were coming.”
His silent swallow, the gentle dip of his Adam’s apple, is my answer.
“It’s not what you think,” he replies, and his hand reaches for me. A slight smirk appears on his lips when his hand wraps around my wrist. “But it’s nice to know you’re jealous.”
My eyes sting and my skin feels hot. “I’m not jealous.”
“Wild one,” he murmurs, leaning in and brushing his lips against the crook of my neck. “You’re on fire with the thought of another woman touching me.”
I shake my head, taking a step back.
This from the man who was cold and angry yesterday. He’s been secretive and he holds everything back, giving me nothing while I fight not to give him everything.
It’s too much: Liam at my father’s gala and knowing James is coming—or that he could.
My worlds are about to collide and it won’t be with beautiful and majestic fireworks.
It’ll be fire and brimstone, and I need an escape.
“Excuse me,” I tell Liam and wrench my hand out of his grip. “I need a few moments.”
My pulse flutters wildly in my wrists as I make my way out of the ladies’ restroom back to the ballroom. The cool water I splashed on my heated skin did little to cool the storm brewing inside me.
I’m met at the entryway to a standing ovation. I pause in my steps as my father regally makes his entrance with his hands clasped together.
His smile is wide and assessing when he takes his place at the podium. Before everyone sits, I make my way back to my seat, keeping my eyes forward.
The prickling sensation in my spine is gone, which tells me Liam isn’t watching me, but I don’t look around to see who he came with.
The tumultuous effect of his presence has my fingers trembling and my hands shaking when I finally return to my seat just as my father manages to calm the applause given for him.
Reaching my chair, I pull it out at the same time everyone else begins to take a seat. My mother shoots me a disapproving glance before she returns to watching my father. He’s powerful in his own right, and at fifty-nine he’s just beginning to show the first hints of gray in his black hair. His eyes are gray, like mine, but he’s able to command the entire room with a simple look.
He’s so much more powerful than I could ever imagine to be—or want to be, really.
My pulse calms as I listen to my father prattle on about the success of his company over the last year. His soothing and confident voice pulls me in and I clap when appropriate, proud of him.
I may have wanted to make a career by myself, but I owe a lot to the man in front of me. His drive encouraged me to search for more, and while I may have the job because of his referral, I’ve also earned it on my own.
He’s proud of me in his own way, for branching out, although the compliments are few and far between. Often I sit at the dinner table with them and feel as if I’m being searched for secrets to the products Anne and I have spent the last five years creating.
A small pinch in my chest hits me when I think of Anne and the way she left the company so quickly. I haven’t heard from her in the last several weeks and I wonder how she’s doing.
I’m lost in my wanderings, again, and I don’t notice the prickling sensation until it’s too late.
But the crowd is on their feet and my eyes are pulled to the man who has joined my father on stage, clasping each other’s hand in a firm grip and their other hands on the opposite shoulder.
Both are smiling widely. Proudly.
“Ladies and Gentleman, on behalf of Medline Technologies, allow me to introduce you to Mr. Liam Parker, former CEO of Parkorp and current CEO of ParaMed Industries. Together, with their ground-breaking technology in handheld medical devices, I’m certain the merger with Medline Technologies will be successful for generations to come…”
The applause roars, but it’s no match for the thundering in my ears.
My jaw drops and my hands grip the edge of the table.
I’ve been duped. Again. Lied to. Betrayed.
As if he can read my thoughts, Liam’s eyes search our table until they land on mine. From the sparkling lights above, his shimmering blue eyes meet mine and his celebratory grin falters.
My world crashes.
The deceit and trickery. The lies and the nights of bliss. Every moment I’ve spent with Liam, every whispered word and every moment he claimed to be trying for something more with me…every memory plays in my mind until it all explodes and my heart is shattered into a million jagged pieces.
During a quick stop at the coat-check, I tap my foot impatiently while I wait for the workers to cease their mindless gossip and take my ticket.
I should leave without it. I want to leave before the tears begin falling.
It will take a mountain of chocolate and a week of horror films to erase the emotions coursing through my veins.
One of the bored looking attendants slowly makes their way to me. My fingers shake as I hand over the claim ticket. My eyes flicker around the elegant entry room, which now seems cavernous and cold without the warmth of bodies and laughter.
“Thank you,” I mutter quickly when the attendant returns with my wrap, and I hand him a tip.
Turning, I’m halfway to the door when a warm hand seizes onto my elbow.
I’m spun around, falter on my feet, and smack straight into a warm body.
A body that I know with great intimacy and frenzy.
Another man who has betrayed me.
My stomach flops and I flinch in his grasp as Liam’s hands drop to my hips.
“Let me explain.”
“Get off me.” I stare at his chest, refusing to meet his eyes—they’re my undoing, and tonight I’m undone enough.
“No,” he says harshly and his hands tighten. He bends down, trying to get my attention, but I look away and at the floor.
My eyes focus on glitter that sparkles. Like stars in the moonlight. Like tears on a blank canvas. My own begin to swell in my eyes.
“Look at me,” Liam growls with that voice that is so husky and thick.
His anger is palpable.
So is his desire.
&n
bsp; “Why?” I ask, relinquishing the fight in me. I won’t get away until he wants to let me go, and I refuse to make a scene where anyone my parents know can see me.
My mother would have a fit.
“I didn’t know you were his daughter—not at first—and by then it was too late.”
I scoff. The man’s incredible.
“God.” I push him away from me. My hands land on his chest and he halts my escape. “You planned this. You knew…you swore you’d have this product rollout, you…” I can’t continue. “Jesus, Liam. Of all the things…selling to my dad’s company. You disgust me.”
“I wanted to tell you,” he says, and his voice drops an octave. “So many times.”
God. Even standing in front of him, so angry and so hurt, I still feel the area at the tops of my thighs grow slick from that voice.
I press my teeth together and use all my anger to glare at him.
“I was falling for you,” I tell him honestly, emotion choking my throat. “I didn’t even want to. I knew you’d hurt me, but I was doing it anyway. This…this is unforgivable.”
“It’s not,” he says and looks over my shoulder. His hands fall from my hips. I move to make my escape, but stop when my father’s jovial voice fills the air.
“Look at this,” he says when I step out of Liam’s grip. “Two of my favorite people.”
My mouth drops as I spin and see him headed our way, his hands clasped together in front of him before he spreads them wide to the sides, welcoming us into his fold…his kingdom.
I’m going to be sick.
“This is just like it always should have been: my daughter finally working for me.” He walks straight to us and grips Liam on the shoulder, shaking him playfully.
I flinch. His words and his victorious tone smack me in the cheek like a handful of rocks have been thrown at me.
“I…I need to leave,” I stutter and garner the attention of the two men. Voodoo dolls and sharp pins are in my future; I know it when they both turn surprised eyes on me. I shake my head and step away. “I can’t do this.”
I’m too stunned.
“Laurie,” my dad begins and reaches for me. “This is business and this is good for us. For your mom and I. Our family. It’s been a long time in the making, this deal—the way we were able to finesse this without Anne—”
“Oh my god. You worked this before Anne sold to Liam?”
My head is in shock. This simply isn’t done, and I can’t fathom his reason or his trickery. He has to be breaking some sort of corporate laws by this. Maybe. I have no idea. But I know what I’ll be researching as soon as I finish sticking a pin through a voodoo doll’s chest that will look suspiciously similar to Liam.
My dad waves me off, dismissing me. My fingers tighten around themselves as I imagine his neck in my hands.
“Business can wait. Tonight, we dance.” His eyes give no room for argument and I can’t believe I’m almost listening to him—being sucked in like a mindless minion even as he begins guiding me toward the dance floor. “The business discussion is done. The foundation has raised almost a million dollars tonight alone. It’s a night of celebrating good things to come, and you will be here with your family.”
His tone rings of finality, and I clench my teeth together.
I say nothing as he reads my silent acquiescence and somehow lithely hands me to Liam.
He gracefully takes me from my father and rests his hand on my lower back. When I meet his eyes, he’s smirking.
I resist the urge to smack him.
I walk stiff on my feet, anger and adrenaline and the pain in my chest fighting for first place. I can’t think of any of them when Liam shifts and spins me on the dance floor.
Oh my God.
“One dance,” Liam whispers in my ear, “for your family and then you can go. Do this for them.”
I glare over his shoulder, refusing to look at him or speak. I’m not light on my feet despite years of dance lessons as a child and teenager. I could be. Tonight I can’t get my brain to concentrate, and I step on his feet.
It almost makes me smile when he hisses in a breath.
“I deserve that,” he says, and I hear the tinge of a chuckle in his words.
I plaster on a fake smile when my eyes catch my mom’s. Hers are narrowed and already I know I will hear about me running out during my father’s announcement.
“Stop talking.”
“I can’t,” he says, and his lips brush my ear.
Rage pours through me when my body responds to him. I want to feel nothing around him. Ever again.
“I’ve played this scenario in my mind for the last week, and it’s killing me I couldn’t tell you. But that doesn’t mean what we had wasn’t something real.” He pauses in his step and lightly rolls his hips into me. God. He’s hard, wanting me, despite what he’s done.
“I hate you.”
One of his hands trails slowly up my back until his hand is at the back of my head. We’re no longer dancing in an appropriate fashion given our working relationship. I fight the pull when he presses against my neck, lifting my head so I’m looking at him.
“You wish you could. But I’ve taken you to places, made you feel things you never have, and I know…because you’ve done the same for me.”
His softened eyes are sincere.
Or he’s an excellent liar.
I decide it’s the latter and move to step away, to put space between us before I can run, when my past and my future collide.
“I would like for you to take your hands off my wife.”
My head snaps over my shoulder and my lips part when I see James standing behind me. His hands are balled into fists, and then I see his dark hair—perfectly done—his straight nose, his lips pulled into a line so thin they’ve almost disappeared.
“James.” I gasp, and Liam’s hand on my back twitches.
Liam stops moving, but I don’t look at him; I’m too focused on the predatory ownership flashing in James’s eye.
“I don’t believe she belongs to you anymore,” Liam says, and I hear the challenge in his voice. And the fact he just treated me like a possession.
It’s enough to make me sick.
That this man can twist my body and apparently make me lose my mind in the span of weeks.
And…God. I hate that his touch on my skin burns me.
Not enough, though, to cause a scene.
“Liam,” I whisper, only turning slightly back to look at him.
His smirk on his face is twisted and his eyes stay trained on James.
The whole thing makes a weight settle in my stomach like curdled milk.
“I’m done.” Both look at me and I step from Liam’s touch and nowhere near James. I can’t.
Shaking my head, I back up, looking at both of them. “Please excuse me.”
I’m halfway off the dance floor when James calls my name, but I don’t stop moving until I’m outside, and toss my wrap over my shoulder.
Searching for my original car and driver, my eyes trail across the line of black Town Cars that look completely similar. Not stopping, I immediately begin walking down the line toward the front until I spot the familiar driver.
His head is leaned against the headrest and his eyes are closed.
Crap.
My pulse thrums in my ears, and it’s at that moment I hear the footsteps behind me and know that James is following me and I won’t be able to get in the car and wake the driver fast enough.
I turn to face him and hold up my hands. “I’ve had a really bad night, James. Please…can we not do this now?”
His hands fly to his ebony hair and he pushes it back, panting. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You look hurt.”
He would know the expression.
“And scared, Laurie,” he continues, his voice softening. “And about ready to cry. Is it so horrible I’d come out to check on you?”
No. It’s not. Before I learned of James’s indiscretion, he w
as always able to read me so well—just like I can read him now and I can see the concern and worry lining his features and his stiff stance.
“Did that guy hurt you?” he asks, tossing a thumb back over his shoulder.
I don’t look. Just thinking of Liam makes me see red. The familiar tingle of his presence tells me he’s nearby—somewhere, watching—and I shiver.
“My dad, mostly.” I exhale a heavy breath and fight the urge to collapse. James knows. He’s always known. The unrealistic expectations, the coldness, the demanded perfection. “I just…I need to go, James. I’m sorry you came all this way.”
He takes a step forward and brushes his hand down my hair. “I’m sorry I was late. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. Not when you needed me.”
My lips twist into a frown and I suck my bottom lip into my mouth, fighting the sadness and the aching pain in my chest every time he looks at me.
I take a step back toward the car, and without looking I lightly tap on my driver’s window.
His door opens immediately.
Huh. Maybe he wasn’t sleeping.
“Mrs. Baker,” he says, and tips his hat toward James.
James steps back and allows him to open the door.
I don’t look at him as I walk around and slide into the seat. James says something to the driver and then his shadow covers the doorway as he leans down.
“I wish there was a way you could talk to me, although I understand why you can’t. Or won’t. I also want you to know that it’s killing me to send you away tonight, wanting to help you, and knowing that’s not wanted either.”
“James—”
He shakes his head. “I get it, Laurie, I really do. I’m not upset about anything, except my own actions and my own decisions I’ve made. I just want you to tell me you’re going to be getting home okay tonight.” His knees bend until he’s crouched down, his hand on the bench seat next to me. So close to me. I can’t pull my eyes away from his silhouette, which I can barely make out in the dark, but even without seeing him, I know his expressions. “Tell me you’ll be okay.”
“I’ll be fine.”
It’s a lie.
He knows it because he knows me. But slowly, he nods and stands up. Then he shuts the door and steps back to the sidewalk until my car pulls away.