“Baby, we need to talk,” he said.
“Later. I’m going to take a nap. We can talk later.”
Chapter Thirteen
A loud pounding at the door woke Dustin from a sound sleep. At first, he wasn’t sure where he was, then he remembered he was at Savanna’s apartment. The doorbell rang, and Savanna jerked next to him. Her knee very nearly emasculated him.
“Hey, wake up. Someone’s at the door.” Dustin rolled out of the bed, searching for his clothes. Damn, they were in the living room.
“Mmm, who’s ringing the doorbell at this hour?” Savanna asked.
“It’s actually nine.”
“Oh, shit!” Savanna jumped up and ran for the door.
“Hey, wait! You don’t have any clothes on.” He grabbed her before she made it to the hall. “Put on a robe. I’ll get the door. My pants are in there.”
She nodded and retreated into the bathroom. He continued down the hall, picked up his pants, and jerked them on as he reached the door. The bell rang again. He unlocked the door and opened it. Ben and Karen stood outside. He stepped back to let them in. Ben looked at him with sympathy in his eyes and shook his head. Dustin had no idea what that was about.
“You are in so much trouble, Dustin Liguori. How dare you!” Karen shook a paper in front of his face.
Savanna walked down the hall toward them. Dustin had a bad feeling things were going to go downhill fast.
“What’s going on? Karen?” she asked.
“I couldn’t sleep last night, so I decided I’d go to the office early this morning before anyone would be up and around. I was going to call you, but Ben refused to let me go without him, so I thought, why get you out of bed if he was going to go anyway.”
“Okay, so why are you so upset? Did you figure out who the client was that Martin is screwing?” Savanna asked. She looked from Ben to Karen in confusion.
“Oh, I found out all right.” Karen shook some papers in his face.
“Did you say Martin?” Dustin asked. He had a sick feeling in his gut.
“Yes, Martin. Sound familiar to you? It should.” Karen turned back to Savanna.
“Ben watched the elevators for me while I went through his desk and files. I found the prospective that I created, and sure enough, he had edited parts of it so that the company I said wasn’t worth anything looked like a good deal.”
“So did you find out the client’s name? Have you contacted him yet?” Savanna asked.
“I have his name, and I’m contacting him right now.”
“Fuck!” Dustin ran a hand through his hair. “You’re the assistant that he said screwed up his prospectus, aren’t you?”
“I don’t understand,” Savanna said. “What is going on?”
“Yep, that’s me. And you’re his client that he is trying to ruin.”
Dustin turned to Savanna and knew he was screwed. She stared at him as if he were a stranger. He guessed he was.
“You’re Martin’s client? I thought you didn’t have a job. You told me you drive a truck sometimes. You lied to me.” Her voice got louder as she talked until she was yelling at him.
“Karen, we need to go now.” Ben wrapped his arms around her and tried pulling her toward the door.
“I’m not going anywhere until she tells me to.” Karen pointed at Savanna.
“Honey, this is between them. You’ve done your damage now.” Ben opened the door behind him and started dragging her outside.
“You bastard! You let me think you didn’t have a job all that time!” Savanna continued to yell at him.
Ben continued dragging Karen out the door. “Can you close the door behind us?”
Savanna kicked the door closed and grabbed his shoes off the floor. She threw them at him.
“Get your crap on, and get the hell out of my apartment!”
“Savanna, let me explain,” he began. She threw his shirt at him, and he managed to catch it.
“I don’t want to hear it. We weren’t supposed to have any secrets between us anymore. You should have told me then.”
“I know. I should have. I tried to tell you last night, but things got out of hand.”
“Last night was too late. You should have told me before you left,” she said.
“I know,” he said. “Please, let me explain.”
“Why? It’s too late. I can’t trust you anymore.”
“Because I want you to know why.” Dustin sighed.
“Talk, then get the hell out of my home.”
“I own a business, Liguori Consolidated Industries. I have managers and assistants who run the day-to-day parts of it. I handle the major decisions when needed and drive a truck when I want to. I like driving trucks. I told you the truth, Savanna. Some weeks I drive, and some weeks I work behind a desk.”
“You let me believe that you didn’t have a steady job. You knew how I felt about that and you let me angst over that until I finally admitted to you that I loved you. How could you?”
Savanna’s tears were tearing him apart inside. He knew he was losing her, all because of his pride.
“I wanted you to love me for who I am, not my money or my job or even my cock. I wanted you to love me for me,” he finally yelled back at her.
“And I did. I loved you for who you were,” she almost whispered. “But you’re not who I thought you were.”
“Don’t do this, Savanna. Give us a chance. I love you.” Dustin took a step toward her, but she backed up.
“Get your bag and your briefcase and get out.”
Dustin let out a long breath and then nodded. He slipped his feet into his shoes without tying them. He slipped his shirt on but didn’t bother trying to button it. Half of them were all over the floor anyway. He stuck his socks in his pockets and grabbed his luggage and briefcase. He started to say something but thought better of it. Instead, he opened the door and walked out.
He piled his stuff back in his truck and pulled a folder off the windshield of his truck. It was the prospectus Karen had been waving in his face. He threw it on the seat next to his briefcase and climbed into the truck. He could look at it when he got home. He would have plenty of time.
Dustin had just finished reading through the folder Karen had left on his truck when his cell phone rang. He checked the number but didn’t recognize it. He almost let it go but decided at the last minute to answer it.
“Dustin, it’s Karen.”
“What do you want? Don’t you think you’ve done enough damage?” Somehow, he couldn’t find it inside of him to be angry with her. It was ultimately his fault for not telling Savanna the truth sooner.
“You were wrong to not tell her, Dustin.”
“Yeah, I got that part.”
“Have you tried to call her?” Karen asked.
“No. She’ll see that it’s me and not answer. I thought I would let her cool off some before I tried calling. Maybe she’ll talk to me or at least listen to me then.
“Martin is working with a guy named Jason Barnes. Jason wants you ruined for some reason, but he’s paying Martin to feed you erroneous information so you do it to yourself,” Karen told him.
“So why are you telling me this? I would think you would want me to lose it all.”
“Two reasons,” she began. “One, he was using me to do his dirty work, and I don’t want my reputation ruined like that. So I’m telling you what’s going on.”
“And two?” he asked.
“Two, I think that, given some time, Savanna is going to forgive you, and I want to be sure you can take care of her. She deserves it.”
“Have you talked to her?” he asked, letting hope infuse his heart.
“No, she’s not speaking to me right now either.” Karen laughed.
“Thanks for telling me. I know Jason personally and will enjoy taking care of that bastard.” Dustin thought about it for a second then asked. “I don’t suppose you need a job, do you?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
>
“I need a new assistant. Mine quit to move to Germany with his wife. I think you would be perfect for the job. I need someone who isn’t scared to take care of business.”
“I’ll think about it and let you know. Got to go. Ben is making faces.”
Dustin heard her hang up. He closed his phone and tossed it on the couch. At least now he knew why Martin was trying to ruin him. Jason was actually the one behind it all. The bastard was still pissed that Dustin had outmaneuvered him on a bid for a large hotel chain. Why go to such lengths for something as petty as that he wondered? Well, he would find out. He had a meeting with Martin tomorrow morning at ten. He’d get to the bottom of it then. Martin wouldn’t go down alone, and Dustin planned to take him down hard. The little bastard had cost him the woman he loved.
* * * *
Savanna stripped the bed and threw the sheets in the washing machine. She wanted every reminder of Dustin out of her life. It had taken a good twenty minutes to locate all the damn buttons on the floor and throw them out. Not just in the garbage, but outside in the dumpster. She had believed in him, trusted him. Look where that had gotten her. He’d lied to her all along. She had bared her soul and begged him to give them a chance, and he’d been laughing at her all the time.
Well, maybe he hadn’t laughed. Still, she'd told him the reason behind her need for stability. He should have told her right then and there that he wasn’t jobless. That, in fact, he owned a business. Several, if what he said was true. It tore her heart apart thinking about it now. She’d finally found someone who didn’t bore her in bed and was financially stable only to learn he was a liar. How could she ever trust him to tell her the truth when he’d kept something that important from her?
The entire time she was making the bed, Savanna cried. Only a few hours ago, they had been making love in that bed. It just wasn’t fair. How would she be able to forget him now? Now that she knew she could have had it all, now that she knew what it felt like to get all hot just from a look.
The phone rang again. She checked to see who it was on caller ID. It was Karen again. She had called twice already. Dustin hadn’t even bothered to call once. Bastard. She stopped crying and got angry again. He said he loved her. Right, like she could believe that either. If he really loved her, he would be over here right now trying to win her back. No, he couldn’t love her, especially not like she did him. This brought back the tears. She gave up on trying to get the bed finished and collapsed on it instead.
Face it, Savanna, you lost him the minute you fell in love with him. There is no such thing as a perfect man for anyone. She’d proved that over and over again. She should have realized by now that she could have one or the other, but not both sex and stability. Savanna sat up and rubbed the tears from her eyes. She needed a shower. She could smell him on her. She would never be able to stop crying as long as any part of him remained behind. She got up and turned on the water for the shower, making it as hot as she could stand it. Then she stepped in and soaped up a bath cloth. It reminded her of when he had bathed her. She screamed and threw the bath cloth against the shower door. Would everything remind her of him?
* * * *
Karen stood on the other side of the door when Savanna opened it the next day.
“Why aren’t you at the spa? I went there first, and they said you’d called in sick.” Karen pushed past Savanna and walked into the apartment.
“I didn’t feel like going in today. I’m the owner. I can stay home if I want to.”
“Have you even slept? Honey, you look like death warmed over.”
Savanna huffed out a breath and ran a hand through her tousled hair. She hadn’t bothered to brush it since she hadn’t been in bed that much anyway.
“Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” Savanna asked. She plopped down on the couch and watched her friend walk around to the chair.
“I don’t work there anymore.”
“Karen! They didn’t fire you, did they? I mean, didn’t Dustin tell them what was going on? It is the least he could have done.”
“Oh, they didn’t fire me. I quit. I have a new job.” Karen sat down on the chair across from her.
“You got another job? That’s great! Where are you going to be working? When do you start?”
“I don’t start for another couple of weeks. I’m taking a vacation with Ben first,” Karen said.
Savanna noticed her friend wasn’t looking as excited as she should look considering she was getting everything she wanted—a new job and her boyfriend back. Something was up.
“Okay, Karen. What gives? You’re not telling me something.”
“I don’t want you to be mad at me anymore.”
“I’m not mad at you. I was upset yesterday. I think I was allowed to be upset,” Savanna explained.
“Well, you might be mad at me when I tell you who I’m working for.”
Savanna frowned. Why would it matter who she worked for?
“Who is it then?” she asked.
“Dustin.”
Savanna’s mouth fell open. “You’re going to work for him? He lied to me, and you’re going to work for him?”
“See. I told you. I didn’t want you to be mad at me anymore. You’re mad again.” Karen crossed her arms.
“Well, what do you expect? I fell in love with the asshole, and he lied to me. Now you are going to work for him. I think I’m entitled to be a little pissed, don’t you?” Savanna jumped up and paced back and forth in front of the couch.
“You’re my best friend, Karen. I can’t believe you would go over to his side.”
“I’m not going to his side. I’m still on your side. He should have told you the truth, but he offered me a really good job, Savanna.”
“I guess I can’t blame you. It’s just going to be awkward for me is all, I mean, ah, hell, Karen. What am I going to do? I love him.” Tears threatened to fall from her eyes.
“I know, honey. Have you talked to him at all?” Karen asked.
“He hasn’t bothered to call.”
“That’s because he thinks you won’t answer the phone and talk to him.” Karen stood up and crossed the room to hug Savanna.
“He told you that?”
“Yeah. I suggested he give you a few days to calm down before he tried to call you. I figured you wouldn’t want to talk to him right away anyway.” Karen looked her in the eye. “Was I wrong to tell him that?”
“No. I guess not. I wouldn’t have answered the phone if it had been him. I’m so angry at him, but I love him, too.”
“Give yourself time to be mad and get it out of your system. He loves you, Savanna. He tore Martin a new asshole and got him fired. I’m not even sure what he did to the other guy, but he blames them for losing you.”
“Really?” Savanna asked.
“Yeah. It was fun seeing Martin lose his job. They actually offered me his job right there, but I’d already told Dustin I would work for him.”
“Do you think I should take him back if he asks me to? I mean, is he going to lie to me again and again if I do?”
“That’s up to you, Savanna. I don’t think he will lie to you again, but I’m not you. You have to decide if you can trust him or not.”
“You’re right. I have to decide.”
“While you’re deciding, want to go for coffee and pie?” Karen asked with a mischievous smile on her face.
“I look like crap!” Savanna yelped.
“So go grab a quick shower and change clothes. I can wait on you.”
Savanna gave her friend a hug and ran toward the bedroom.
* * * *
Dustin sat in his truck outside Savanna’s apartment for ten minutes trying to get up the nerve to knock on her door. He missed her so much. Karen seemed to think that two days was long enough to give Savanna time to get past being angry at him. He hoped she was right. The thought of never holding Savanna again nearly brought him to his knees. The last few days had been hell for him.
The one bright spot out of all of it had been taking both Martin and Jason down. Jason blamed him for losing his business when he lost the bid on the hotel franchise. It had really been his poor investing practices that had actually done it. Still, none of it was worth the loss of Savanna. He didn’t know what he was going to do if she wouldn’t accept his apology and take him back.
He hit the steering wheel and opened the door. It wasn’t doing him any good sitting out here in the truck. He grabbed the box of long stemmed red roses he had picked up for her. He hoped they would help sway her to his way of thinking. He hesitated to knock. Instead, he decided to ring the doorbell.
He waited for what seemed like forever before the door cracked open and Savanna looked out at him.
“What do you want?”
“Can I come in? I’d like to talk to you,” he said.
“I don’t think we have anything to talk about.”
“Please. I want to apologize.”
She stared at him for a few seconds then opened the door wide for him to come in. Dustin handed her the box of roses. Her eyes widened then sparkled for a few seconds. She smiled and took the box into the kitchen. He supposed to find a vase. He wasn’t sure if he needed to follow her or stay where he was. He decided to follow her.
“I hope you like them. I remembered that you liked the first ones I gave you,” he said.
“Thank you. They’re gorgeous. I love roses.” She placed them in the vase she had used the last time he gave her flowers.
“Baby, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about my business when we first met. I should never have kept it from you at all.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. Being honest with each other is the only way a couple will ever be able to stay together,” she said as she smelled the blooms.
“I know. I wanted you to like me for who I am and not for what I could give you. It wasn’t the right thing to do, though. I know that.” Dustin took a step closer to her.
Monroe, Marla - Hot and Bothered (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 17