She smiled and looked down. Apparently it had been too long since she’d gotten laid, because she’d completely forgotten how to banter. Maybe because some part of her knew that she’d made a mistake and another part didn’t care. She wasn’t supposed to sleep with him before the deal was done. How many times had she told herself that?
But when he’d come in and literally swept her off her feet, all of that logic had flown out the window.
It was more than just a crush, though. This was the two of them finishing something that had started years ago. From the second she’d steered her Porsche in this direction, she’d known where this was leading.
Hell, she’d probably known when she’d put that dress on.
“Want to sit down?” he asked, and she realized that she’d been standing there silently for too long.
“Sure.” Ashley crossed the room to sit down. She was mostly dry by this point from the quick shower. If she’d washed her hair, that would be another story, but she’d focused on areas that had gotten the most use lately.
She sat on the side of the bed closest to the large set of glass doors overlooking the water. The master suite had a private balcony with a table and chairs, where the owner of the house could relax and listen to the waves. The room was a different feel than the rest of the house. Although most of the estate was white with brown trim, this room was dark and opulent. The walls were navy with white trim on the doors and white crown molding. The bed and furniture were all simple. The main focus of the room was the few pieces of art on the wall. Abstract pieces of modern art that were deceptively simple with the swashes of blues and whites.
Ashley couldn’t help but wonder whether Alex had picked them out himself or whether it was a remnant from Walter.
“So, um, welcome back,” she started. She needed to tell him about the unwelcome guest, but that seemed like a bad first thing to say after sex.
Alex sat on his side of the bed, and suddenly they felt too far apart. He handed her the bottle of water he’d brought for her, and she took the opportunity to scooch a bit closer. “Good to be back.” He looked over to meet her eyes.
Banter. This would be such a great moment for banter. “How’s Logan?” No. Bringing up family is the opposite of banter.
“He’s good. Surprisingly good. The PR rep we sent to help with his release apparently got a little too close and personal.”
“Well, that’s unprofessional.”
“Yeah, but I’m getting the feeling it wasn’t a casual thing for anyone involved. Did you keep busy while I was gone?”
“I didn’t go out much.”
“Bored, huh?”
Bored wasn’t the right word, but she didn’t want Alex to know how scared she was. How much she really didn’t want to face Geoff or anything he had planned for her. “I had books.”
“You read now?”
“I read back then.”
“Yeah but—”
“I read more often now,” she said with a crooked grin. No matter how bad things got with Nadia’s drama-filled life, and especially in the hard times after her death, it was nice to have the escape of a good book. Particularly a romance that she knew was going to have a happy ending.
“So...” he finally said. “I suppose we should talk about the next steps.”
Her back straightened as she waited to hear what he was going to say. Was he going to change his mind? She’d heard that stupid milk and cow saying a million times, and if he proved that right, she might go crazy.
“The next step is that we get married, right?” She didn’t see there being a full list of items they needed to go through. Go to city hall, get a license, get a judge to sign that license, get her inheritance. Done deal.
“The marriage part isn’t what I’m worried about. I have a company to run and the family to think about.”
Ashley bit her lip and looked down. That was what she was worried about too. Alex finding excuses to push things off. Once the excuses started, who knew when they would end? “So when do you think we should do this?” she asked.
Alex glanced over at her. “The marriage thing? That we can get done this week, but we can’t let the tabloids run away with this. I want to be smart about it and not make this a scandal. I have too many enemies right now who would like to see me fall or use any excuse to convince the investors that the company is falling apart.”
Ashley let out a sigh of relief she didn’t realize she was holding. He was still going to marry her right away. She supposed until it actually happened, she’d always just be waiting for the other shoe to drop and for him to change his mind. “Well, if you had your choice, how would you like to introduce me to the investors?”
“My choice?” he asked. “If it were up to me, I’d send them an email and then move on, but you know how these people are. They’re going to want pomp and circumstance. I’m probably going to have to throw some party to show you off and offer you up to the masses like a sacrificial lamb.”
Ashley let out a little laugh. She’d been to her fair share of parties like that over the years. Luckily she had never been the subject of interest during those parties, but she knew the drill. Rich people loved their gossip. If Alex Farrell was going to suddenly get married to a woman who hadn’t been on the social scene since her mother’s highly publicized death, the elite of New York City were going to eat that up. She would have to be prepared for a lot of questions from a lot of people she didn’t care to talk to. “I know the drill, Alex. You don’t have to send out an email to protect me. I can handle all the questions I need to handle to make sure that Farrell Enterprises looks good.”
He smiled and reached out for her hand. He intertwined his fingers with hers and met her eyes. “This could actually work,” he said.
“That’s what I’ve been telling you.”
“I know. I’m just not used to things that are good for me coinciding with things I—never mind. Why don’t you tell me what you did while I was gone?”
Ashley thought about asking him to finish his sentence but thought better of it. They had only slept together once, and even though they were getting married, they weren’t exactly boyfriend and girlfriend. She didn’t have a right to ask him his feelings or pry into the inner workings of his mind. He was doing her a favor, and in return, she had to play the role of perfect wife.
Maybe, if they worked hard at it, they could have something more. But for right now, she wasn’t fooling herself. “My week was nice. Jones gave me your credit card to use. That was very thoughtful of you.”
“Well, if we’re married, you’re going to be using my credit card anyway.”
“If we’re married, I’m using my own credit card, remember? Besides, when Jones gave me that credit card, you didn’t know you were going to marry me. It’s still nice, so take the thank-you, damn it.”
“All right, all right. You’re welcome. I’m glad it helped.”
As much as Ashley was enjoying their time in bed, she needed to let Alex know about her strange encounter at the gate earlier that morning. “Alex, I have to tell you something. Some guy stopped by earlier to see you. He wanted me to let him in the gate, but I refused to. You weren’t around, so I don’t think that he was invited.”
“I’d rather you piss off someone I like than to let someone in I don’t. Who was it?”
“That’s the thing. It was Tate Gallagher.”
Alex shot up in the bed, pulling his hand from hers in the process. “Tate Gallagher was here? Right here talking to you?”
Ashley tentatively sat up. “Yeah, I mean he was at the gate. He said he was looking for you.”
“And he saw you were here? What did he say to you? What did he want?”
Ashley let out a sigh and knew her answer wasn’t going to make him happy. “He recognized me, okay. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t know he was going to be here.”
“We’re going to get out of here for a little bit.” Alex stood and rummaged through his drawers as though he was looking for something
. “Why don’t you go pack your bags? We’re leaving within the hour.”
Ashley wanted to ask him why he was so worried, but he was already out of the room and headed down the stairs. Instead, she stood, towel still wrapped around her, and walked back to her bedroom. Was it still her bedroom? Would they be one of those couples who slept in separate rooms? It kind of made sense. It wasn’t as if they knew each other all that well. Though somehow Alex didn’t seem like the type to have his wife farther than arm’s reach from him. She supposed she would find out soon enough.
She got to work putting all of her new clothes into her new suitcase. The clothes would last her a while, but if he was planning to show her off, she would need to get some more designer clothes. Trophy wives spot off-the-rack clothes faster than anybody should. Ashley would know. She was rather skilled at that herself. One more skill her mother had passed down to her.
Once she had all the drawers empty, she moved onto the new boxes that arrived that day. Jones had brought them in and set them on top of the dresser. There were only three boxes. One nightgown, one workout shirt, and one more box wrapped in brown paper with her name handwritten on the front.
That gave Ashley pause. Everything she had ordered was from large corporations. Nothing should’ve been personally mailed. She picked up the package, a thin box that looked to be about shirt size. It was so light she knew that whatever was inside didn’t take up much space. There was no return address, so besides her name and Alex’s address, the entire package was blank. Not even any postal stamps, which probably meant it was hand delivered.
She gently tilted it on its side and worked a finger under the tape holding the brown paper down. The tape easily came off and she was able to slide the box out of the packaging. The box was nondescript and white. Once again, nothing giving her any indication of where the package came from. Except once she opened it, there was no doubt who was behind the strange delivery.
The box fell to the floor and out tumbled five pictures. All of her. All candid shots when she was in various states of undress while at Geoff’s house. The son of a bitch had been filming her. The wave of nausea took over her stomach and she held a hand over her mouth to keep herself from vomiting. God. With all the times he’d violated her privacy, she thought she should be used to it by now. This reminder that she’d never been safe, not even for one second, while under his roof was just too much.
But the pictures themselves weren’t the only concerning thing. Because on top of each and all of the pictures, in bright red marker, was one word written over and over again. Mine.
9 Years Ago
Ashley flipped through the channels. No matter how many times she had hit that little up arrow, nothing caught her attention. Though it wasn’t the TV’s fault. She knew on some level she was much too distracted to actually watch a program.
Because if she actually settled on one and let it play, she knew her mind would wander to places she didn’t want to go. And then she’d be thinking about Alex again.
She winced at the memories. How stupid she’d been. How he kicked her out of his room. Of course he kicked her out. She knew what he thought about her. What he thought about her family. What would he think after she randomly started coming on to him? She was lucky he didn’t call Walter and have both her and her mother kicked out on their asses.
It took Nadia half the night to convince Walter to let them stay as it was. If he found out what Ashley had done, it probably wouldn’t help her mother’s case.
She hit the up arrow harder. What were the chances she could find a show good enough to take her mind off all this drama? But she already knew the answer. Not that good.
To make matters worse, she heard footsteps approach. It had only been about two months, but she knew the sounds in this house pretty well. So when Alex appeared in the doorway to the living room, she was already completely tense and waiting for what he was about to say.
Instead of immediately starting to yell at her or lecture her, he sat down. Well, not next to her. He sat at the other end, as far away as he could get with still being on the same sofa. “Anything good on?”
Ashley looked straight ahead and kept flipping. “Nothing good,” she said simply, trying to figure out why he was there. It wasn’t as if he wanted to watch TV with her. They’d never watched TV together. Not once since she moved in. Not even last night when they meant to watch a movie together but then other things happened...
“So I heard Walter and Nadia went out to the Hamptons,” he said.
“I think they wanted some time alone. Some time away.” Was that why he was here? Because they were alone?
“I was hoping to clear up a few things,” he finally said.
Ashley winced at the somber tone. Talking. Why couldn’t he just go into denial like a normal person? But she didn’t have to humor him. She’d already made a fool of herself once. She didn’t have to do it again. She turned off the TV and set the remote down while standing up. “Yesterday was a mistake. I’m sorry I ever bothered you, and now I’m going to pretend that never happened and I’m going back to my room.”
“Wait.” He got off the couch. “I’m leaving.”
Ashley stopped in her tracks as a fear she never expected spread through her. She turned around to face Alex. “You’re leaving?”
He nodded and studied her carefully. She tried to keep her emotions from showing. To be fair, she had no idea what her emotions should be. She shouldn’t feel anything, right? Sure, she’d lived with Alex for over a month, but she barely knew him. He was leaving. No big deal. She’d probably be moving out soon enough anyway. So why did it feel like something worse? Like a betrayal of some sort?
“I’m sure you’ll enjoy being away from all of our parents’ drama,” she said.
“I’m not leaving because of that.”
Ashley’s jaw dropped and she met his eyes. “If you’re not leaving because of them, you’re leaving because—”
“I’m leaving because it’s for the best.”
“Best for who?” she asked.
“Best for both of us. Don’t tell me you don’t know that.”
She supposed on some level she did agree that whatever they had between them was never going to be a good thing. But that didn’t make her hurt less. The idea of him leaving her alone with Walter and Nadia seemed like too much, especially on top of everything that happened last week. “You need to stay,” she said confidently. “If you don’t, I’ll tell.”
Alex raised a brow. “You’ll tell who what?”
“I’ll tell everyone everything. About you watching me in the shower. About yesterday. Anyone who will listen. I’ll tell the press. I’ll tell our parents. I’ll tell everyone.”
Ashley saw a muscle tick his jaw as his hands bunched into fists. She waited for the explosion. For him to tell her she’d never get away with this or that he’d make sure no one would ever touch her mom again. But instead, he just took steadying breaths before he unclenched his fingers and looked at her with an expression that could only be read as pitiful. He pitied her.
“I am sorry, Ashley. I didn’t want—”
“Don’t worry, Alex. I know. You never wanted me. I was so stupid and I—”
Alex was across the room in a heartbeat, now standing right in front of her. His hand cupped the back of her neck, and she was certain he was about to kiss her, but their lips never touched. He rested his forehead against hers. For a long moment, they stood like that: just touching but not fully embracing. “I do want you. Never think that I don’t want you. If I had my way, I—” He pulled away and shook his head. “Good luck, Ashley.” And then he was gone.
Ashley stood there. She didn’t know how long, but her body seemed incapable of moving from that one spot. She just stood there alone as his words sunk deeper and deeper. Good luck. But he was never going to see her again.
Her mother was gone. Alex was gone. She was really alone.
“I’m sorry, sir, you don’t have an appointment
. I—”
“Mr. Cameron will see me now.” Alex wasn’t about to leave this building without making sure Geoff Cameron knew exactly how protected Ashley was from now on. Those pictures she showed him still burned in his mind, and for once not because of how good she looked. It was because of the utter terror in her eyes when she ran downstairs to show him what had arrived. To show him that even in their safe haven in Connecticut, they weren’t safe.
Tate Gallagher and Geoff Cameron had found them. So much for the happy honeymoon phase.
Since Ashley had come back to stay with him, Alex had done his research on the last man Nadia ever married. He could see why Ashley would view him as a threat. The man had enough money that he probably always got what he wanted, but he didn’t have Farrell money. He didn’t have Farrell attitude. And he sure as hell wasn’t as pissed off as Alex was at the moment.
He already had to put up with Tate Gallagher. He wasn’t going to take shit from Geoff Cameron. The secretary started to stutter through another polite rejection, but he wasn’t in the mood for polite. He pushed past her and through the glass doors leading into Cameron’s offices. He had never been in this building before, let alone on this floor, but he knew where Cameron would be. He passed numerous small cubicles and conference rooms, but it was the corner office he was interested in.
Without knocking, he pushed the door to Cameron’s office. Cameron stood and his wide eyes told Alex that the man knew exactly why Alex was there. Without preamble, Alex said, “Is there something you want to say to me?”
Cameron’s eyes bounced between Alex and the door, undoubtedly thinking of ways to blame his secretary for this. But it wasn’t her fault. Cameron had brought this on himself. “I’m busy right now, but if you’d like to make an appointment—”
“I’m not making a fucking appointment to talk to you,” bit out Alex. “You wanted Ashley’s attention? Now you got mine. So say what you have to say.”
Cameron tensed, and for a moment Alex wasn’t sure whether the man was going to take a swing at him. Alex wished he would. Cameron was older, but he was in shape and looked as though he worked out. Alex would love a chance for a fair fight with the son of a bitch.
Restless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series, #4) Page 9