“So, did you know right away?” He cleared his throat. “You know, that he was… the one.”
He linked his hand with hers, and she let him. He was trying to maintain the bond he believed they’d forged. “Evidently he wasn’t the one. If he was, we’d still be together.”
“Do you still…” He paused as though he was reconsidering his question. “Love him?”
Megan wished she had an easy way to explain her feelings for Brock. She’d loved him as much as she’d ever loved anyone. It wasn’t enough to prevent her from destroying the fragile foundation they’d built. She knew from the moment she’d accepted his proposal their engagement had no hope of ending in happily ever after. She was oil, and relationships were water. The two simply didn’t mix.
“Meg, I need to know. Do you still love him?”
“Yes.” Admitting that, even to herself, wasn’t easy. A part of her would always love the man who’d shown her love, which she’d always believed to be a myth, really did exist.
She felt every muscle in Nick’s body tighten, and she knew his heart had led him into their affair, despite her warnings it could never be more than a physical arrangement.
“Do you still want to be with him?”
“No.”
He relaxed marginally. “Why?”
“He deserves better. So do you.” She would never forgive herself if she left another man broken-hearted and trying to figure out what he’d done wrong. “That’s why we can’t do this again, Nick.”
“What are you talkin’ about?” He gripped her shoulder, forcing her to roll onto her back. “We agreed we would have s… Damn it, what happened between us was more than sex, and we both know it.” He swore softly, the frustration evident on his handsome face.
She reached up to caress the tell-tale crease on his forehead. “That’s the problem. What happened tonight was… too intense. I don’t want to get hurt, and I don’t want you to get hurt when I leave.”
“I can take care of myself. Don’t worry about what this might do to me.”
She ran a hand over his light dusting of chest hair, wishing she could commit the entire night to memory because she already knew it would be their one and only night together. “You say that now, but how will you feel in months, when it’s time for me to move back to L.A.?”
“Sweetheart, please…”
The endearment slipped from his lips effortlessly. Megan knew that was because he felt deeply and approached love fearlessly, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. He’d felt the depth of his parents’ love growing up. He’d been raised with healthy examples of how people in a committed relationship interacted. She’d never had that and knew she never would.
“Trust me,” she said, covering his lips with her fingertips. “This is for the best. You’ll thank me one day, when you find the woman who’ll make this night feel like the biggest mistake of your life.” The words felt like a dagger to her heart. She would remember it as the most perfect night of her life, but Nick would move on. He would find a woman who could love him with her whole heart, without the baggage of a loveless childhood and lifetime of mistakes.
“Don’t say that. Don’t even think that. I could never think of you that way.”
Believing he meant what he said would be easy, but Megan knew men often said things they didn’t mean before the sheets cooled off and reality set in. Megan sat up, reaching for her dress. “I thought we could keep things casual, have fun while I’m here, but I think we both know now that isn’t going to work. Tonight was too intense. If we continue, feelings will develop, and one or both of us will get hurt.”
“Damn it, don’t go. Just spend the night with me. Please.”
Another woman would have gladly accepted his proposition without a second thought, but Megan couldn’t give into the temptation to spend the night in his arms. Leaving him in the morning would just be harder. “I’m sorry, I can’t. Tonight was…” Unforgettable. “Great, but I think we should just try to be friends moving forward.”
He reached for her wrist. “Are you tellin’ me you can forget what just happened between us?”
If only. “It was one hour out of our lives, Nick. A year from now, hell, a few months from now, it won’t even warrant thinking about.”
His face hardened, and it was obvious her claim stung. “What the hell happened to make you so cynical? Who did this to you?”
“No one did anything to me.” Blaming others would be so easy, but that would make her a victim, and she refused to fall into that trap. As long as she kept fighting, she could get through anything. She only put herself at risk when she became weak or vulnerable.
“I don’t believe that. You’re runnin’ scared.”
She wasn’t a coward. She was a realist. Her relationship with Brock taught her good men deserved equally good women capable of loving and being loved. She didn’t fall into that category.
“I’ve never been afraid of anything.” She looked him in the eye. She knew he didn’t believe her, but the only person she had to convince was herself.
“We’re gonna run into each other at the ranch. You can’t avoid me.”
“I’ll be moving out just as soon as I can.”
“Why? My parents love havin’ you there. I want you to stay. Doesn’t that matter?”
She stood up and slipped into her dress without responding. She wouldn’t look for her missing panties with his eyes boring into her. They would have to be relegated to another casualty of their one-night stand. “Your family has been wonderful to me, and I’m very grateful, but it’s time for me to find a place of my own.”
“I asked Sela to stop lookin’ for an apartment for you.”
“You what?” When her dress started to slip, she zipped it up. Feigning modesty felt ridiculous though. “You had no right to do that. You don’t make my decisions. I do.”
He sighed as he threaded his hands through his hair. “You are the most maddening woman I think I’ve ever met. I did it because I want to spend more time with you, get to know you better. If you expect me to apologize, I won’t.”
She tried to ignore the play of muscles in his arms when he laced his hands behind his head. He was quite simply irresistible, and if she didn’t leave, she would damn the consequences and climb back into bed for another round.
“Just stay out of my business from now on,” she said, picking up her shoes and purse.
“You are my business,” he said just before she reached the door. “You may be tryin’ to convince me and yourself this is over, but we both know it isn’t. Tonight was the first time we made love, but I can promise you it won’t be the last.”
Chapter Eight
Nick walked into his parents’ the next morning and found Megan sitting at the kitchen table alone. He leaned in to kiss that sensitive spot he’d discovered on the back of her neck, and he noticed she was writing a check to Manny Moore.
She gasped when his mouth found the tender skin. “What are you doing?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing.” He braced his hands on either side of her.
He caressed her neck with his tongue until her breath came in short gasps and she gripped her pen so hard her knuckles turned white. “I thought I made myself… clear… last night.”
In spite of her protests, her eyes closed and her head lolled to the side to give him better access.
“Yeah… ” he said, between kisses. “I thought… I made myself… clear too. I want you. I’m not gonna stop wantin’ you just ‘cause you… tell me I should.”
“Nick…”
He loved everything about her, from her rare scent to her irrefutable beauty to the softness he knew lurked behind her tough shell.
His tongue traced the delicate shell of her ear, hoping he would feel tension drain from her body. “Let’s go back to my place, sweetheart.” He’d fallen asleep wanting her, woken up wanting her. If he wasn’t careful, she could become an addiction.
“I can’t.
I meant what I said last night.”
Nick knew she could only deny what she felt for so long. He could be patient.
Walking over to the coffee maker, he poured himself a cup before carrying the carafe to the table and topping up her mug. “Why are you writin’ him a check?”
She remained silent so long he expected her to finally tell him to mind his own business.
Instead, she said, “I’m repaying him for the financial support he provided while I was growing up.”
Nick’s mouth fell open. “He was your father. It was his responsibility to support you.” His heart broke when her eyes clouded over with a misery he knew she wouldn’t want him to see.
“He was a sperm donor, not a father. He told me he wished I’d never been born. I was his mistake. I don’t want to be indebted to him for anything. When I was growing up, we didn’t have a choice. I had to eat. My mother rarely worked, so his money was the difference between having a roof over our heads and living on the street.” She tore the check out of the leather bound book and slipped it into an envelope.
He claimed the seat beside her and covered her hand with his. “You’re an incredible woman, Meg. If he can’t see that, it’s his loss.”
Her bottom lip trembled as she withdrew her hand and reached for her coffee mug.
“How much do you feel you owe him?”
“With interest, $408,240.” She gestured to the envelope. “This is my first payment. I had to pay off my mother’s medical bills before I could tackle this debt.”
Nick was stunned by how much she’d accomplished on her own. He’d always had his family’s support behind him, but she’d literally been all alone to cope with problems an army of people would have trouble tackling. A wave of guilt hit him like a fist to the gut. He’d been so wrong about her.
“By my calculations, I should have the debt paid off in ten years, assuming my next contract is comparable to my current one.”
Nick wanted to convince her she didn’t owe that miserable excuse for a human being anything, but he knew trying would be pointless. “I was so wrong about you, Meg. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t blame you. You love your family. You want to protect them. I admire that.” Her lips tilted up at the corners.
He reached for her hand. “I admire you. You’re stronger than you realize, smarter than I ever gave you credit for, and you have an incredible spirit that makes me want to know everything about you. You’re a fighter. I get that, but you don’t have to fight me or what we could have.”
She removed her hand from his again and wrapped it around her coffee mug. “I can’t be the woman you need, Nick. Pretending I could would be cruel.”
Nick glanced at the envelope. The only way he could earn her trust was to prove he was unlike anyone she’d ever known. “I gotta get to work,” he said, standing up. He leaned over to kiss her cheek. “I’ll stop by tonight. Maybe we can hang out, watch TV.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” She sighed. “But it’s your parents’ house. I can’t stop you from coming over.”
He smiled. She wanted to spend time with him as much as he wanted it, but she was still determined to fight the inevitable. “We’ll make popcorn. I’ll even suffer through a girly movie if it’ll make you happy.”
She rolled her eyes, obviously trying to hide her smile. “Don’t do me any favors, cowboy.”
***
Nick rang Manny Moore’s doorbell. He knew controlling his temper with the man who had caused Megan so much pain wouldn’t be easy, but he owed it to her to try. The last thing she needed was more drama.
The aging man that answered the door was barely recognizable as the singer Nick remembered on Manny Moore’s album covers.
Manny’s eyes narrowed as though he was trying to place Nick’s face. Nick looked a lot like his father, so Ty McCall fans often made the connection immediately.
“Can I help you?” he asked finally.
“Name’s Nick McCall. I need to talk to you about your daughter.”
“My daughter?” He scowled and looked Nick up and down. “You’re too damn old for my daughters.”
The fact Megan hadn’t even entered his mind further incensed Nick. “I’m talkin’ about Megan.” Nick wedged his cowboy boot in the door in case the old fool thought he could close it in his face.
“I have nothin’ to say about her. Hell, I don’t even know her.”
“That’s the problem,” Nick muttered. He wasn’t there to try to convince the man to have a relationship with his daughter. He sensed Megan would be better off without him in her life. “Listen, this comes down to money. It would be in your best interest to listen.”
Manny’s eyes lit up, and he opened the door further. “Fine. Come in and say your piece, but make it quick.”
Nick followed him through a narrow hallway to a dated study.
Manny closed the door behind them. “You said your name was McCall. You any relation to Ty McCall?”
“He’s my father.”
“Huh,” he said, his eyes traveling over Nick. “I thought there was a resemblance. I’ll tell ya, your old man sure got into the business at the right time, boy. Back when I was at it, we were lucky to make a fraction of what these artists do today.”
“I’m not here to talk about the music business. I’m here to talk about Megan.”
“I don’t know what I could tell you about her. How do you know her anyways?” He raised a bushy silver eyebrow.
“My mother’s her publicist.” Nick didn’t feel obligated to define their relationship. Manny would deduce the obvious when he found out the reason for Nick’s visit.
“Your mother? Right, Avery McCall.” He smirked. “That little lady wouldn’t give me the time of day when I was lookin’ for a new publicist to put my career back on the right track.”
“My mother’s a smart woman. She’s very selective about the clients she takes on.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
Nick smiled. A few insults would take the edge of his anger. “She doesn’t work with has-beens, Moore. Last time I heard you sing, it was pretty obvious your best days are behind you.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Manny asked, stepping forward.
Nick chuckled. He withdrew a certified check from his pocket. His banker had questioned his reasons for writing such a large check, but he’d told him it was personal. If the check bought Megan peace of mind, it would be well worth the cost. “I’m the guy who’s gonna make your life a whole lot easier. This is a check for the money your daughter feels she owes you.”
Manny’s hand trembled as he gaped at the amount. “What are you talkin’ about? Is this some kind of joke?”
“Does it look like a joke?”
He reached for the check. “No, it looks real, but… why?”
“Megan feels indebted to you, though I can’t understand why. I refuse to let her spend the next ten years of her life repaying this money.” He glared at Manny, hoping he could see the contempt in his eyes.
“You don’t understand. I never loved her mama. She trapped me-”
“Your daughter shouldn’t have paid the price for that. All she wanted was someone to love her, someone she could count on.”
Manny sank into a distressed armchair and dropped his head into his hands. “I never meant to hurt her. I resented her mama for tryin’ to trap me.”
“Last time I had sex, I used a condom. You weren’t smart enough to do the same?” Nick was glad Manny hadn’t taken precautions. The old man’s mistake had given him the most incredible woman he’d ever met.
Manny winced. “It was different back then. Free love and all that shit. But you’re right. I wasn’t smart enough to protect myself. I was drinkin’ a lot, enjoyin’ the good life. I wasn’t thinkin’ about the consequences of my actions.”
“And Megan had to pay for that.”
“I know I was hard on her when she came to see me. It was just a shock.
I thought she was going to hit me up for more money. By the time I realized she wasn’t, it was too late to take back the things I said.”
Nick could never feel an ounce of sympathy for the man who’d hurt Megan so deeply, and he wouldn’t even pretend to try. Manny Moore deserved to be wracked with guilt. “Meg doesn’t need you in her life. She’s figured out how to take care of herself, no thanks to you.”
Manny held up the check. “But I guess now she has you to take care of her, huh? You don’t shell out this kind of cash for a woman unless you’re in love with her.”
Love. Nick hadn’t allowed himself to consider that possibility, but after last night, he knew he couldn’t rule it out. “Let’s just say I’m smart enough to recognize an incredible woman when I meet one, which is more than I can say for you.”
“Look, nobody’s perfect. We all make mistakes.”
Nick wondered if Manny Moore regretted never having a relationship with his first-born. “Yeah, we all make mistakes. But how we deal with them separates the men from the losers, Moore.”
***
Megan tried to hide her surprise when Manny Moore walked into her office later that day. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I was hopin’ we could talk?”
“I don’t have time for you.” She turned her chair and refreshed her computer screen, hoping he would take the hint and leave.
“Your boyfriend came to see me earlier today. He gave me this.” He set the check on her desk.
“Oh my God.” Megan reached for the paper. Her hands trembled and her eyes blurred with tears as she fixated on Nick McCall’s signature. “Why would he do this?”
“He obviously loves you.”
She shook her head in denial. “It’s not like that. We don’t have that kind of relationship.”
He sat down in the guest chair across from her desk and leaned forward. “He must think an awful lot of you to do somethin’ like this.”
No one had ever done anything even remotely close to that for her. She couldn’t even begin to process her feelings: anger that Nick had interfered in a situation that was none of his business, shock that he would give that kind of money to a complete stranger, and fear that he was trying to take care of her. The strongest emotion of all was awe. The knowledge that men like Nick really existed was mind-blowing.
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