“Don’t you ever talk about her like that again. I don’t care how long I’ve known you.” David unclenched his hands and dropped Craig’s body. He turned, taking long strides until he reached the windows again. He didn’t trust himself. He needed physical distance from Craig right now.
“My God, man. I was kidding. What have you done?”
———
He was late. And Craig was never late. The man was as anal retentive about punctuality as he was about calorie counting. Sophie could tell it had Daphne on edge, and she was already exhausted. Sophie had carefully hidden the newspaper as she cleaned the aftermath of the party, tucking it deep in the Tupperware cabinet. Daphne and her belly couldn’t get back there if she tried.
“I told you to stay in bed,” Sophie scolded as Daphne came into the kitchen. “He’ll be here any second and if he finds you vertical we’re both going to get it. Scoot.”
Sophie gently pushed until Daphne again took her place on her bed. “He’s an hour late.”
“I know, which means he’ll have to pick up dinner on his way.” Sophie hoped she sounded cheerful, reassuring. The complete opposite of Daphne’s quiet somber tone. Sophie reached for the phone. “I’m going to try him again, and this time I’m putting in our dinner order. He should let us eat pizza for being late.”
Daphne’s eyes stayed on her as she left a third message on Craig’s cell phone. Sophie actually thought about lying, pretending Craig had answered. Anything to take that look from her sister’s eyes.
As Sophie set the receiver back on its cradle Daphne chewed her lip. “I know I’m being hormonal, but maybe I should call David. Craig was going to meet with him. Maybe they’re still together.”
Sophie nodded. It was a good idea, because if they weren’t together David could find Craig. Before she could pick up the receiver the phone rang. Finally. “Craig?”
“No, it’s me. Thank goodness you answered. We have a problem.”
Sophie knit her eyebrows together, recognizing the breathy voice. “Tessa?”
The color drained from Daphne’s face and she reached for the phone. Sophie jumped from the bed, taking the cordless with her. As different as Sophie and Daphne looked, their voices were almost identical, especially over the phone.
“Yes. There will be some pictures in tomorrow’s paper from the retirement party, all completely innocent. Well, except the one of him with Sophie, but that’s to be expected. Is she the jealous type? Maybe you could run interference.”
“I’ve seen the pictures.” Sophie kept her voice slow and calm. Just what the hell was going on here?
“Has she seen them? Was she upset?”
“She’s fine.” Sophie didn’t know Tessa and Daphne knew each other, but with the way this conversation seemed to be going, it was obvious Daphne knew something was going on with her and David.
“Good. Lance will handle David.”
Sophie felt her face contort. She didn’t like the idea of David being handled anymore than she liked what this conversation might mean. “So everything is going according to plan.” That’s what they said in detective books, right?
“Amazingly smooth. If she keeps working her magic Lance should have his grandbaby by next Christmas. I had my doubts, but Lance knew if he cleared the way with the business, David would be forced to reexamine his personal life. Sophie coming along when she did was the lucky break we needed to make this work.”
Sophie’s jaw dropped open and she stared hard at her sister. Baby?
“Did he accept Craig’s offer to buy Working It Out?”
Craig was in on this too? “Craig hasn’t come home yet.”
“I’m sure he will. We got him to buy the building last week, so it’s a sure thing. He obviously wants the club.”
“Obviously.” David bought her building? Last week? Craig was selling her club? Sophie plopped down on the bed at Daphne’s feet. The room was spinning.
“He still hasn’t asked her about December?”
“December?” Sophie turned her body as Daphne grabbed for the phone.
“He will. You should have seen them last night. They were magic. They just need a little push.”
“A little push.” Sophie echoed the words and rose from the bed. She made her way to the kitchen, snatching the newspaper from its hiding place. No point in sparing Daphne’s feelings. She obviously knew more about what was going on than Sophie did.
“It’s the only way with David. The man is committed to being miserable. If not for Lance’s pushes he’d stay that way.”
“How so?” Sophie asked, making her way back to Daphne’s room and plopping the open newspaper in front of her.
“You know, becoming CEO, gaining controlling interest. Back when he was bodybuilding, Lance even had his scores lowered to make sure David would stay focused on his studies.”
Sophie’s jaw dropped open, mirroring her sister’s slack-jawed expression. She didn’t know who to be angry at. This is where lies took you.
———
Daphne had only wanted to make something go right for her baby sister. Sophie gave so much of herself to make other people comfortable and happy. She deserved a little happiness for herself.
When Daphne learned Sophie was leading the Sensational Sex class with David Strong, she hadn’t been thrilled. After all, David was the man who told Craig not to get married the morning of their wedding. But Craig had sworn for the last five years that was nothing personal. David was just worried because of his father’s failed marriages. And if David and Sophie were together, he would stop trying to pull Craig away from her.
The pairing sparked an idea that had snowballed out of control. Sophie had been fantasizing about David for a decade. She deserved to have a couple of dreams come true.
After the first class, Daphne had tried to get Craig to help push David in Sophie’s direction. But he’d staunchly refused. And talking with Sophie it was obvious she was hiding something. So Daphne had moved on to plan B.
She and Tessa had worked at the same Strong Gym years ago. A few phone conversations and Daphne had learned more about David Strong’s manipulating family than she ever cared to know. No wonder the guy had such issues with marriage. But by then it was obvious something was going on between David and Sophie, so she just played along. Dropping hints, relaying information to Tessa, even helping to pick out a house.
Selling the club seemed like the right thing to do. She didn’t want to work as much after the baby came, and to be able to do that she would have to ask Sophie to keep running the club. Daphne had promised Sophie she’d be free to go back to her life once the baby was here.
Daphne only wanted to help, to smooth the way for her sister to live out a few dreams the way Sophie always did for her. But watching Sophie rub her temples, Daphne knew she’d blown it.
“Let me explain.”
Sophie didn’t stop the slow circles she was rubbing on the sides of her head.
“I just wanted to help, to make things easier for you.”
“I’m not thinking about me right now, Daphne.” Sophie spoke without opening her eyes or slowing the pace of her fingers.
“You promised Tessa that you would let Lance tell him.”
“And I will.” Sophie’s body seemed to rock with each press of her fingers.
Both sisters jumped as the front door slammed shut and footsteps pounded their way through the house. Craig’s angry expression was barely masked as he forced a smile. What had happened to him?
“Sorry I ran late. You must be tired from the party. Sophie and I will talk in the other room.” He jerked his head fiercely toward the living room but Sophie stayed rooted.
“You are not telling me what to do,” Sophie said between clenched teeth, finally dropping her hands from her head.
“He didn’t know.” Daphne tried her best to break the glare Sophie and Craig were giving each other, but given her vantage point on the bed it was impossible.
“How could he not kno
w?” Sophie asked.
“What didn’t I know?” Craig narrowed his eyes.
Daphne knew the truth was the only thing that 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 Sophie 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 David 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. It was impossible not to rub her scalp and try to ease the pain.
“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!” Sophie argued.
“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. David 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, Sophie. 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? Daphne’s head was pounding now. Before her meddling David was just a fascination for Sophie, a harmless fantasy. Now, Sophie was obviously in love with him, and headed for a long fall. Tessa had sworn David could be the man Sophie needed, could give her the family and security she craved.
“Daphne, are you all right?” Craig asked.
Daphne could feel the blood pressure monitor being attached to her wrist, but she 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 tired eyes 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 call and cancel, and just crawl under the covers of her bed and hide for the next millennia. But he might need some help getting through what his father had done. And he had some explaining to do.
She was tired of him putting her on project status, treating her as a problem that needed to be fixed. How could he buy the building without telling her? Buy the club without asking her opinion? Unless it was just the club he was after all along.
She shook her head hard to dispel the thought. That was always Daphne’s fear, but Daphne had obviously had a change of heart about David. Sophie 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 was finishing the remaining weeks of her pregnancy in the hospital.
With a flash of fingers on the keyboard, Sophie brought up her planner. No Megan McTavish. Probably a sales call, but on a Sunday? Lifting the receiver of her phone she 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. Next month.”
Her blood was icy cold as it sped through her veins. David had bought her building, her club, and replaced her. Without saying a word. He had a lot of explaining to do.
———
Sophie had been the one to find the old man out, again. How was he supposed to handle learning that his father was a master of manipulation, Tessa’s willing pawn in her plan to control everyone’s life? David hadn’t slept at all the previous night, even skipping 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 just 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 still he wondered. Craig had set him up to teach the class, and Sophie had been relentless in her pursuit. Irresistible.
More than that, Sophie had found the financial problems at SGI so quickly. Tessa said she bought that house months ago. And the financial issues with Working It Out were 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 that was going somewhere. And David couldn’t really argue with that. She deserved better, but she wanted him.
Or did she? Maybe she had pursued him so hard because she was after something. She’d done a good job of deflecting his suspicions, fighting his offers to pay for things at every turn. Maybe she was just waiting for a bigger payoff. A reward from Lance, owning the club free and clear, the house, alimony payments for life.
As much as he hated doubting her, it made sense. More sense than any of the rest of it. Except she didn’t lie, and she’d been the one who forced them into telling him their sordid scheme. Threatened they tell him everything, or she would.
He could have lived without knowing how far back it all started. Tessa and his dad ought to write a soap opera. They had concocted some crazy ploys over the years. David was forced to realize she and his father were better matched than he 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. Lance even admitted to creating an emergency to get David out of town every time he had a vasectomy scheduled.
David didn’t really care if he spoke to the old man for a very long time. Every break he thought he 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. Things he could accomplish and 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 whom? When he died, the company would be splintered again. His goal of unifying SGI shattered. Unless Kelly had a child who was interested in the business.
David 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 inflicted didn’t drive Sophie away now, something would later. He had no choice but to protect himself. Have the surgery on Friday and tell Sophie he was out of town for a week. The class would be over, she’d never have to know. And his heart would be safer.
Chapter Sixteen
Sophie sized him up, his head was contorted by the convex glass in the peephole. 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, blonde, toned behind into her office and prattled on about what a great opportunity it was to manage a club outside the SG
I norm.
Sophie had been polite. Megan obviously had no idea what she was walking into. 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 for December and January. Megan was under the impression she was filling in temporarily.
There were a lot of unanswered questions, demands Sophie wanted to make of him as soon as she heard his footsteps up 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 could feel metal sliding as the doorknob turned beneath her hand. Who gave him a key?
Sophie 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 was going to stand up for her, and so she had to do it herself.
“Should I call and push back the reservation?”
Sophie 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 five minutes into 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.”
David closed the door behind him but leaned against it instead of taking a seat on the sofa, letting out a long sigh. “That’s an understatement.”
Crossing to the living room, Sophie slumped down onto the couch, tucking her legs beneath her and pulling 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.”
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