Her instant messenger chimed, a screen popping up in front of her. She saw her sister’s handle and smiled.
“Late night?” Ava entered.
“I could say the same to you. Are you just getting in?” Megan typed.
“It’s six in the morning here. I’m starting my day.”
Megan quirked a brow. “Since when do you get up at six?”
“Since I have a business to launch next week. No rest for the wicked.”
Megan laughed, and then jumped as her vibrating phone danced across the desktop. She’d silenced it earlier when Brandon had started calling incessantly, afraid he might hear it ring and realize how close she was. She checked the caller-ID to make sure it wasn’t him again before answering.
“Hey, sis,” Ava said before Megan could so much as hello. “I got a ton of calls about you yesterday.”
Megan walked deeper in to the penthouse and curled up on the stiff, patterned yellow camelback sofa which had obviously been designed for looking at and not sitting on. She pulled a tufted pillow onto her lap and sighed.
“People I haven’t heard from in months wanted to know what was going on with you and Brandon Knight, and since the jerk hunted me down two weeks ago, I’m starting to wonder myself.”
“When I figure it out, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I think I’ve hit the mother lode of handbags for you.”
“Don’t change the subject, though that was a nice try. You left a party last night with him.”
“Yes, I did.” Megan swallowed, wondering how much to tell. She didn’t want to hear how stupid she’d been.
“And? Come on, this is me. I know you had a major crush on him when you were younger, and then we came back from Europe and poof, you didn’t have the time of day for him or any other guy who looked your way. He’s the only guy I can remember you chasing, and then when he steals Daddy’s company all of the sudden he catches your eye again?”
“I caught him.” In so many ways.
“Doing what?”
Where to even begin? “You said I chased him, and I’m saying I caught him. I held on to him until the day you and I fought at the hotel, my birthday. When I came to get an explanation about what was happening with the hotels, I caught him kissing Gemma Ryan.” She choked on a sob and wished her sister were here instead of on the other side of the country.
Ava swore under her breath. “You’re not kidding.”
“I wish I was making up the last part.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“So, why were you with him last night?”
“It’s complicated.” She hadn’t wanted to worry her sisters about where she was living or working, and they were both so caught up in fixing their own lives they hadn’t asked. Megan hadn’t even mentioned the financial concerns at the Carlton Houses. She’d always been as positive and upbeat as possible. And private. She much preferred to fix other people’s problems than to share her own.
“Megan, after what he did to Dad—”
“He didn’t do anything to Dad. Our darling father stole from us too. Let’s not forget that.” She blinked as she realized she’d just defended Brandon. Again.
“You don’t know that. How do you know Brandon didn’t take the money from our trust funds? He ruined Dad, that’s why they had to leave the country.”
Except Megan did know differently. She’d met with the financial advisors who managed the funds and knew her father had been the one to deplete them. But she didn’t want to defend Brandon any more than she wanted to villainize her father.
Megan rubbed her forehead with her fingers, exhaustion catching up with her. “Have you heard from them?”
“No, have you?”
“Not a word.” She cleared her throat. “How did Mom seem to you the last time you saw her?”
“The same as always. I want to know why she went with him instead of staying with us. I’ve actually been thinking that maybe he told her it was a vacation, and then when they got to wherever, he told her they couldn’t go back.”
“But why wouldn’t she call us? Do you think maybe something has happened to her?”
“Like what? A tragic manicure accident?” Ava laughed. “I think our lovely parentals are basking on a beach, waiting for it all to blow over, or for Dad to figure out a way to get out of whatever tangle he’s gotten himself into. We’ll probably hear from them on Christmas as if nothing has happened.”
“I hope so,” Megan said, knowing they wouldn’t. “So you think they’re someplace warm?”
“I don’t have any idea. Is Brandon trying to get you to find them? Is that what’s making things so complicated?”
“No, it’s not that.” Though she did want to find them before he had a chance to. “I want to join them.”
“Me too! Work is hard.” Papers rustled in the background. “Well, it’s tedious. I’m up to my eyeballs in handbag rental legalities. It started to blur together last night, so I decided to get up early and tackle it when I’m fresh. But it’s still blurry.”
“Maybe you need glasses.”
“No, I just need Jack to come home and look it over.”
“So, you and Jack are…”
“Happy. We’ve been over this. Jack isn’t like the other guys I dated.”
“But you said he liked to play mind games, and that’s why you stopped seeing him.”
“Really, it was that he didn’t want to bend the rules for me. We’re good now, really good. He’s learning to be more flexible, I’m learning to stretch.”
“You two sound like a workout routine.”
“That’s another story entirely. Tell me about this handbag mother lode you tried to distract me with earlier.”
“Our closet at the penthouse is full. They didn’t sell any of it.”
“What about Mom’s shoe collection?”
“Those are gone.”
“Damn. Well, I’m going to have to hire you.”
“Hire me?”
“Yes, I have employees now. Well, just the one until next week, but I do. I’ll need you to take pictures of the handbags and email them to me with a cute description. I’ll shoot you over an example. Easy peasy, and I’ll have you make the initial shipments from there. Sound good?”
“Anything I can do to help.”
When the electronic lock on the front door clicked, Brandon froze in place. His body locked tight in the push-up position as he stared up from the hardwood floor. Sweat dripped off his nose and the muscles along his taut abdomen shook with the strain at having been used to the extreme for the last two hours. Time slowed to the beat of his pulse, loud and heavy in his ears as he waited breathlessly for the handle to turn.
Megan inched open the door, a collection of handbags threaded on each arm. She stepped inside and kicked the door shut with the heel of her shoe.
Brandon’s body sagged in relief for a moment before he propelled himself to standing.
“Where the hell have you been?” He wiped his slick brow with the back of his arm as he stalked towards her.
She barely had time to shoot him a haughty look before the dogs bounded down the stairs, their nails clicking along the marble floor of the entry. She knelt on the floor, greeting both animals with an affection he sorely missed.
She slipped Cash into one of the handbags, one so large he seemed to stand in it, and rose. Money followed her as she made her way towards the spare room.
“Aren’t you going to answer me?”
“I don’t have to,” she said in a sing-song tone meant to drive him crazy. It worked.
“It is four in the morning, Megan. Do you have any idea what has been running through my head?”
She spun on her stiletto heel and lifted her chin at him. “More lies, perhaps? Is that why you’ve been working out? Trying to get more blood to your brain to help you solve the problem of spinning a tale I’ll actually believe?”
“I haven’t lied to you.” But she was right on about the work out. A bout of
intense exercise usually helped him solve any problem that came his way.
But this time there were no options.
“Right,” she drew the word out. “Your definition of ‘nothing happened’ is just different than the one everyone else uses.” She turned back around and stormed into the guest room.
He followed, not about to let her get the last word, especially if it was one against him. “You’ve got to let this thing with Gemma go.”
“Wouldn’t that be convenient for you?” She set the bag with Cash on the bed and slid the others to the floor. Money jumped back as the waterfall of purses tumbled to the ground. “We’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one.”
“No.”
“You don’t get a vote.” She sat on the bed and Cash crawled out of the bag and over to her lap as she undid her strappy sandals.
Her bare legs were paler than he’d ever seen them, but they still held the sexy toned muscle and elegant curve of her calves that always distracted him. He’d love to spend an hour just running his hands up and down those legs. And after having her feet in heels that high, she’d do almost anything for a foot rub. It would be a great way to get her to sit down and listen for a change.
“Nice, Brandon.” She tilted her head towards him as she rose from the bed and went into the closet.
He blinked and looked down, realizing he’d risen to the occasion as well. He grit his teeth against the physical reaction and stalked into the closet. “Would you just be reasonable? You have to stop running away like this. You could be pregnant.”
She turned slowly, holding two tiny clutches in each hand. “I don’t want you to think you can hold that over me as some way around your indiscretions. I am not pregnant.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do. I haven’t had a period since this whole mess started. I’m not exactly the goddess of fertility right now.”
He felt his eyes widen at the shock. His mind spun back a year and a half to the only other time she’d been late. They’d both sat outside the bathroom, holding hands and waiting for the longest three minutes of his life. He knew they’d both been disappointed at the negative result.
His entire perception of Megan and their future together had changed that day. It was in that moment that he went from sure to absolutely certain he wanted to marry Megan, to have her be the mother of his children. He hadn’t wavered since.
The sweat still clinging to his body chilled his skin as he stared at her. “You’re three months late? My God, Megan, have you taken a pregnancy test?”
She closed her eyes and rolled her lips in as she huffed a breath out her nose. When she looked up at him, fire lit her blue eyes. “Four, thank you very much. I’m not pregnant, just under a lot of stress, and not sleeping or eating enough.”
“But now you could be.”
“I’m not.” She held his gaze with such determination it snuffed out the part of him that wanted to believe she was.
He held up his hands. “I give, Meg. I’m done.”
“Hallelujah.” She tossed the clutches out of the closet and grabbed more handbags from the shelf and did the same.
“What are you doing?”
“I thought you were done pestering me.” She continued until she’d cleared off all three shelves.
“I’m done fighting with you. I’ve spent all night trying to think of a way out of this hole, and the only thing I can think of is to stop digging it.”
She let out a bright peal of laughter before she swallowed her smile and gave him a serious look. “That is the smartest thing you’ve said in months. Now go take a shower and leave me alone.”
“You should get some sleep instead of playing with purses.”
“I’m organizing them.”
“Yeah, it looks like it.” He stepped out of the closet and had to duck to dodge a Berkin he knew had been meant for his head. “For what that bag cost, you shouldn’t toss it.”
“Crap, you bought that one.” She snatched it off the floor and stuck it on the highest shelf she could reach. “That was the only one, right?”
“What are you doing?” He leaned on the doorjamb and peered into the closet once more.
“I’m working. Since you had me fired, twice, I had to find a new job.”
“Purse throwing is lucrative?” She shot him a glare that should have made him turn tail and run, but he couldn’t help the grin. This spitfire was his Megan, and God help him, he found her determination and tenacity as sexy as ever.
“Ava really believes this handbag rental company she’s launching is going to hit big. But don’t worry your pretty little head, there aren’t any shares on the open market, so there’s nothing for you to buy up.” She emerged from the closet and placed her hands on her hips as she stared at the handbag mountain.
“So you’re selling these to Ava?”
“No, just adding them to her collection.” She wrinkled her brow like she was thinking hard about something. “I’m going to borrow your digital camera.”
His eyes widened as she marched out of the room as if he wasn’t even there. “Wait a minute.”
He caught up to her and grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face him. “We’ve been up all night, and I am willing to table this so we can sleep on it. But if you’re going to work, then we’re going to talk.”
“This is when I work, Brandon. My shift at the coffee shop starts at four in the morning. I am wide awake. If it bothers you, Cash and I can leave.”
“Not a chance.”
“Fine. You don’t have anything to say I want to hear, so leave me alone.”
“That’s not happening either.”
“Then you’ll have to launch your diatribe while I’m working.” She shook off his arm and climbed the stairs to his office with a determined sway to her hips.
He followed, more than happy to watch her climb the stairs. When they reached the top he held back, watching as she walked to the closet and opened it as if she knew everything inside. It seemed she did because she emerged with a pocket-sized camera moments later.
He cocked his head to the side and caught her gaze. “What are these pictures for?”
“The website.” Megan tried to move past him, but he stayed in her way.
“Then you’ll want a better camera, a tripod, and natural light if you’re not going to do them in a studio. Which means you need to wait until the sun comes out and normal people are awake.”
“I’ll make do.”
“Don’t be stubborn for sport. This is Ava’s chance. She needs every advantage she can get to make this work. Her website photos need to look as professional as possible, or this will flop, trust me.”
“I don’t trust you. You’re just trying to stall me so you can brainwash me into becoming some Stepford girlfriend. No thank you.”
“Megan, you know how many times I’ve been able to turn a company around with an image facelift. You can be as annoyed with me as you want, but my business instincts are spot on. The other images for her website were done professionally, so yours need to be on par or she’ll wind up having to redo them and you’ll be wasting your time and effort.”
She quirked a brow. “How do you know what her website looks like? It’s just a coming soon page.”
“I met with Jack when I was in New York.”
Her eyes widened and blazed with fury. “Tell me you are not invested in Ava’s business.”
Chapter Twelve
Brandon’s stomach muscles tensed as he fought the urge to tell Megan what he’d promised to say. It was a white lie that wasn’t supposed to hurt anyone, but white lies had turned their entire lives into a gray area.
He rolled his shoulders and decided to trust Megan with Jack’s secret. “I agreed to let Ava believe there were investors in her idea, and that I wanted to be one. She got to turn me down.”
“What do you mean, you agreed?”
“Jack asked that I not tell Ava he’s bankrolling her idea.”
Megan gasped, her mouth dropping open.
“It’s a good idea.” He moved his hand to reach for her, but clenched his fist and opted to talk faster. “After what she’s been through, he didn’t want her to be open to failure. This way, if it doesn’t work, she’s not ruined financially.”
“Just completely beholden to Jack Sullivan. No wonder you agreed to lie for him, you both think trapping a woman with money is the only way you can hold on to her.” Megan tried to push past him, but he held his ground.
“Jack has complete faith in Ava. He’s just trying to protect her. I get that.”
“He’s lying to her, making her think other people believed in her idea enough to put up their own money.”
“And it has bolstered her confidence, which is why you can’t tell her right now. When the business is running smoothly, he’ll tell her.”
Her shoulders sagged. “I’m not going to go running to her, but that doesn’t mean I agree with the tactic.”
“Good.” A breath of tension left his body. “As long as we’re agreeing, let’s talk about the real issue.” He moved past her, walked to the far side of the office loft and pulled open the drapes to see the twinkling lights of the city below. The dark haze of evening still clung to the sky.
“If you’ve thought up another story about Gemma Ryan you want to run past me to see if I’ll buy it, don’t waste your breath. I’m broke Brandon. I’m not buying any of your lies.” The tremor in her voice punched him in the gut.
He turned to face her. “You want a play-by-play of what happened with Gemma, fine. If you won’t throw it in her face, I don’t have a reason not to tell you.”
Megan stepped to the sofa and began straightening the golden fringe of a tapestry pillow. “I don’t want to keep rehashing this. I’m not going to change my mind. If nothing really did happen, it wouldn’t have done nearly so much damage if you and Gemma had been honest with Danny from the beginning.”
“There was nothing to tell, Megan.” He fisted his hands to keep from screaming. “If you promise you’re not going to use it to hurt Danny or Gemma, I will tell you every minute detail.”
Private Scandal Page 16