California Secrets

by Jules Bennett

  Harper couldn’t believe the stunning ring he presented to her. Never in her life had she expected him to get an engagement ring. The thought hadn’t crossed her mind.

  “If you don’t like it, we can get something else,” he added. “This was my mother’s ring. I just figured since family was important to both of us—”

  “It’s perfect, but how did you get it here so fast? I assume you don’t travel with your mother’s jewelry.”

  Ethan smiled and shook his head. “I pay my assistant extremely well to go above and beyond.”

  She reached for the ring, but he pulled back and took it out. Ethan grabbed her hand and slid the ring on her finger. Harper felt the familiar sting of tears, and she didn’t even try to hold them back.

  “Are you sure you want to waste this on me?” she asked, admiring the ring and thankful it fit. “I mean, shouldn’t you save this for someone... I don’t know. Special?”

  Ethan squeezed her hand. “You’re the mother of my child. I’d say that makes you pretty damn special.”

  A tear slipped out, followed by another. Ethan swiped the pads of his thumbs across her cheeks and eased forward. Harper gripped his wrists as he framed her face and slid his lips over hers.

  Ethan eased her backward, farther into the suite, all the while slowly making love to her mouth.

  Harper’s body tingled with anticipation. The silky lining of the gown caressed her bare skin like a lover’s caress.

  They weren’t going to make it to the party downstairs...not while they were busy having their own private celebration.

  Harper’s dress hit the floor in seconds with a flitter of hands and lips working their way over her body. She stepped out of the puddled material as Ethan continued to walk her backward, leading her toward the bedroom.

  But then he turned her in the hall and pressed her back against the wall. Harper wasn’t about to have another repeat of the other night in the kitchen when she was bare and he remained clothed. She wanted him, all of him, and she wanted him now.

  While his mouth continued trailing up her neck and back to her lips, Harper reached between them and slid his jacket off his broad shoulders. Then she went to work on each little button of his tuxedo shirt until she rid him of that garment, too.

  Finally, she eased her fingertips over each taut muscle of his pecs and abs. Ethan growled and reached around to cup her backside as her hands ventured to the top of his pants. She hurriedly unfastened, unzipped and seesawed his pants down his hips.

  Ethan took a step back, releasing her as he toed off his shoes and stepped from his pants and boxer briefs. Then he was on her again, gripping her waist and lifting her to meet him.

  Instinctively, Harper wrapped her legs around him and was even more turned on by his strength, his hunger and his clear need to have her before they even reached the bedroom.

  “Harper,” he murmured in her ear as he joined their bodies.

  She clung to his shoulders, dropping her head back against the wall. One of his hands rested beside her head while the other held on to her backside. His hips jerked, making Harper cry out. Every single time with Ethan was magnificent and unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

  He whispered things to her, nothing she could make out, not when her entire mind and body were absorbing all of the tantalizing emotions.

  The swirl of her climax spiraled through her, hitting her fast and hard. Harper bit down on her lip and shut her eyes, wanting to hold every single moment of this bliss inside her without allowing any to escape.

  “Harper.”

  The demand had her jerking her attention to Ethan, whose face was a breath from hers. His body had stilled as hers ceased trembling. She’d shut her eyes, her lashes fanning over her cheeks.

  “Look at me,” he demanded.

  Harper stared into those captivating eyes. Only the light from the main living area filtered down the hallway, leaving half of his face in the dark.

  The intensity of his gaze had her wondering what his thoughts were. Was he feeling more for her than lust and camaraderie? Was he ready to take this beyond sex and a business-type marriage?

  The flash of vulnerability and emotions vanished from his expression just as quickly as she’d seen them. Ethan started moving once again, but he kept his attention all on her.

  Harper threaded her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck and jerked him in for a kiss. She wanted every part of him he was willing to give...and more.

  Ethan opened for her, inviting her lips, just as his body jerked and his hand on her tightened. She swallowed his cry of pleasure and gave a slight tug on his hair.

  When he lifted his head, Harper watched as the wave of passion swept over his face. There was something so intimate, so bonding about holding the stare of someone during their most vulnerable moment.

  Gradually, Ethan’s grip on her lessened as he leaned forward and dropped his head onto her shoulder. The warm breath that hit her bare skin had her shivering and trailing her fingertips up and down his back.

  If they could stay like this, maybe she could believe just for a moment that he cared for her the way she desired, the way she’d dreamed of someone loving her. Could he ever? Would he eventually want a deeper connection? She thought she’d seen a glimpse of something in his eyes earlier...but maybe it had just been wishful thinking.

  Slowly, Ethan released her. Harper straightened out her legs and dropped them to the floor. Her muscles protested, and she held on to his biceps.

  “Not too steady?” he asked.

  Harper shook her head. “Give me a second.”

  Ethan scooped her up in his arms. “I’ve got you.”

  Harper wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. No matter how independent, how strong-willed any woman was, when a man pulled the ultimate romantic move, it was time to settle in and enjoy the ride.

  She only hoped this would last longer and grow to mean more, because she couldn’t have a one-sided relationship. She deserved more.

  Twelve

  “You look good wearing that ring.”

  Ethan crossed his arms behind his head and admired Harper as she walked bare, save for the ruby ring and the gold bracelet she always wore, into the adjoining bath.

  “Do you think we missed the entire party?” she asked, grabbing a short red robe from the back of the door.

  That woman made the color red look damn good.

  Ethan laughed. “I’m pretty sure the party wound down a couple hours ago.”

  Harper pursed her lips as she knotted the tie at her waist. “Hmm... I was looking forward to the casino night. It sounded fun.”

  “There will be other fun theme nights,” he assured her. “I believe next week there will be a Mardi Gras party in the courtyard.”

  She adjusted the V on her robe and sighed. “I suppose I could order a mask to match my dress. It’s a shame to let it go to waste.”

  “Oh, it wasn’t wasted,” he affirmed. “I thoroughly enjoyed you in it.”

  With hands propped on her hips and head tipped to the side, Harper offered him a wide grin that hit him straight in the heart.

  But his heart couldn’t get involved. He hadn’t allowed his heart to get involved with anyone since he was a teenager. Whatever he was feeling had to do with the anticipation and anxiety surrounding the baby, the engagement and the reunion with Robert.

  But there was a moment in the hallway, a sliver of a second when he’d nearly let his guard down. He couldn’t risk letting Harper in completely. Not until this entire mess was sorted out and all the lies dealt with. She deserved better, and he would make damn sure she got it.

  He only prayed she didn’t want to completely leave him after this was all out in the open. Would she listen to his side? Would she understand why he’d gone to such great lengths for revenge and
why he’d kept the truth from her once he realized who she was?

  “Tell me about your mother.”

  Harper’s demand pulled him straight from his thoughts. “What brought that up?”

  With a shrug, she crossed to the side of the bed he lay on and eased down next to his hip. Ethan shifted and settled his hand on her lap.

  “You mentioned her passing, and you’re protective of me, of this baby. I just figure she must have been an amazing woman to raise such a caring son.”

  Ethan wasn’t sure how to put into words how amazing his mother had been. There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t miss her or wish he had her back.

  “She was a single mother who raised my brother, Dane, and me the best she could,” he started. “She inherited a good chunk of money from her father, and she invested it into opening two businesses. Her ultimate goal was to pass those down, one for Dane and one for me.”

  “Sounds like a smart woman.” Harper rested her hand over his. “So how did you end up with the nightclubs? That wasn’t her business, was it?”

  Looking back, his life was a complicated mess, and he couldn’t divulge the entire truth right now. Guilt pumped through him. He wanted to tell her, though. He wanted Harper to know the man Robert was.

  Ethan was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact Harper was involved at all—even if it was by default. He didn’t like it, he wanted to somehow remove her from the equation, but that was impossible.

  Robert would be here soon. He had to tell her.

  It was still such a mind-boggling fact that Robert could produce anything good, yet here Harper was—the best thing that had happened to him in a long, long time.

  “Ethan?” Harper patted his arm, pulling his thoughts back to the sexy woman at his side. “Are you going to tell me about your mysterious past?”

  Which part did he start with? There were so many layers to him, so much he hadn’t divulged to anyone. But he was coming to realize that Harper was special. He hadn’t lied when he’d told her as much. Something churned deep inside him. He couldn’t put a label on the emotion and was terrified to even try.

  “Like I told you before, after my mother passed, my stepfather stole our inheritance, and the businesses were transferred to his name by some slick, underhanded attorney. Dane and I had no idea until after all the legal paperwork had been signed.”

  “I still can’t believe anyone would do that,” she replied. “Especially to grieving kids.”

  If she only knew...

  Damn it. He absolutely hated every bit of this. She was a victim, just as much as he had been. Harper was too innocent, too sweet to be wrapped up in this mess, and she had no clue the explosion that was on the verge of blowing up in her face.

  Ethan didn’t know how, but he’d do everything in his power to block the pain from reaching her.

  “We were seniors in high school, so we were almost graduated,” he went on. “We both ended up enlisting in the army. Something shifted with us when Mom died. I take the blame for that.”

  Harper turned and lifted her knee up onto the bed as she leaned toward him. “You can’t take all the blame. Every failed relationship is two-sided.”

  “We didn’t exactly fail,” he amended. “But I closed in on myself. I didn’t know how to handle all that grief, so I turned to liquor and sex as an easy escape. It hurt to look at my brother, because I didn’t want to see that mirror image of pain.”

  Harper flatted her hand over his chest, the warmth of her tender touch giving him the courage to continue. Even nearly twenty years later, the ache of losing his mother and the tragic failure of his relationship with his brother all those years was almost unbearable.

  “We drifted apart and I let it happen,” he continued, swallowing the lump of emotion in his throat. “But as time passed, we agreed on one thing. We wanted to take down the bastard who stole everything from us when we were most vulnerable. It took time, it took patience, but we knew once we were powerful and wealthy enough, nothing would stand in our way.”

  “Good for you guys,” Harper cheered. “He deserves to pay. But how did you come to be a nightclub owner?”

  He let the conversation shift, but soon she would discover the truth...and it had to be him that revealed it to her. If she found out any other way, she’d hate him, and he couldn’t stand the thought of Harper looking at him with anything other than infatuation and desire in her eyes.

  “After the service, I was still lost. I had no clue what I was going to do with my life. I had little money, just what I’d saved from the army.”

  Harper’s fingertips scrolled an invisible pattern over his chest, but her eyes remained locked on his. Did she even know she was silently reassuring him to go on? Did she have a clue that she was the balm he needed to rehash all of this?

  “I was in San Diego and ended up at a bar.” Ethan slid his hand over the tie on her robe. “I’d been there before when I’d been home on leave. I’ve always loved that city. The bartender recognized me, we got to talking, sharing our veteran stories, and the next thing I knew, he was making me a partner in business. He had that bar and was looking to open another in LA and in Boston.”

  “That’s rather lucky,” she told him with a grin. “And you’re trying to distract me.”

  She glanced down to her waist, where her robe had come apart. Ethan smiled as he slid the material even farther from her lush body.

  “Did you ever think that you’re the one who distracts me?” he retorted. “You have some power over me that I can’t explain.”

  That was the truest thing he’d ever told her.

  Ethan’s hands grazed her belly, and the reality of a baby—his baby—being right there reminded him exactly what was at stake. Everything. His future was riding on Robert, on Harper, on himself.

  “So are we done with story time?” she asked, easing up to straddle his lap.

  “I’d say we’ve talked enough.”

  Because he still wasn’t ready to tell her the last piece of the puzzle. Tomorrow. He would tell her tomorrow. He wanted one more night in this fantasy land where everything was all right and there was no outside force that could potentially ruin the way she looked at him.

  Because something was happening between them that had nothing to do with the baby and nothing to do with sex. Now Ethan just needed to figure out what the hell to do with that knowledge and how he should deal with these raw feelings that could ultimately destroy this good thing.

  * * *

  Ethan slid the crucial documents back into the safe in the walk-in closet of his penthouse suite. He’d spent last night in Harper’s bed, but today she was moving all of her things into his space.

  Before that happened, he wanted to make sure everything was tucked away, out of her line of sight.

  Ethan had several statements he planned on using for blackmail against Robert should Robert not give up the property willingly. There were papers regarding tax fraud and money laundering—just a sampling of charges Ethan would threaten.

  He sincerely hoped Robert would just man up and do the right thing, but as that was highly unlikely, Ethan had a foolproof backup plan. He wouldn’t have come here and wouldn’t have collaborated with Dane if he wasn’t one hundred percent certain they were ready to take down Robert.

  Once the resort was rightfully signed over to Ethan, he had every intention of turning Robert in to the authorities. There were two other copies of all of these documents. Dane had a set and so did Ethan’s attorney.

  Robert should be arriving in the next few days. Ethan wanted everything put away and not a trace of the damning evidence for Harper to see. Not until he had a chance to tell her everything.

  Which would be today. He’d already told her he wanted to meet her around lunchtime to discuss something important. He hated having to be the one to tell her that her father was a mani
pulating bastard, but if he didn’t, she’d find out soon enough and likely the hard way...like when Robert duped her for his own selfish reasons.

  The thought of Robert stealing anything from Harper was an added layer of motivation for Ethan to take full control over all of this and get ahead of the game.

  Ethan punched in the code on the safe and stepped from the closet into his bedroom. He glanced at the time on his phone and blew out a sigh. He had about an hour to kill before meeting up with Harper.

  There was nothing with his clubs or potential investment property in France that he could focus on right now. Nerves were getting the best of him, and he needed somewhere to channel all this restless energy.

  He pulled up Dane’s messages and shot off a text telling his brother that he was about to tell Harper the truth. He wasn’t sure what sort of reply he was expecting from Dane, but Ethan wanted him to know what was going on. And he wished like hell his brother was here, but they would get together and celebrate once the deal was all done.

  Once all of this was behind them, once the resorts were fully theirs and Robert was out of their lives for good, Ethan vowed to spend more time with his brother. If that meant flying to cold-as-a-polar-bear’s-butt Montana, then so be it. He and Dane were both entering new chapters, important chapters, in their lives, and Ethan wanted them to grow together again. He wanted his child to know Dane. What better way to bridge their past and future relationships than with a fresh start and new life?

  His cell vibrated in his hand, but when he glanced down, the screen showed a message from Harper.

  Meet me in the lobby. I have a surprise.

  A surprise? Well, if it was in the lobby then their clothes wouldn’t be coming off. But what could she have for him? When did she have time to plan anything?

  Something warmed inside him. He didn’t know the last time anyone surprised him with anything. Certainly no woman. Harper was special, she was...

  In the dark.

  Ethan ignored the fear that crept up and threatened to strangle him. It was time to face her, and once she presented him with whatever surprise she had, he’d have to get her somewhere private and tell her the truth.