California Secrets

by Jules Bennett

  There was no more time.

  Ethan made his way to his elevator, rehearsing in his head exactly how he’d break this news to her. Her reaction would likely be instant anger, but he needed to make her see his side of things. He needed to make her understand he’d truly had no clue who she was when he first approached her. But he should’ve, damn it. His investigators should’ve had Harper’s name, age, address, hell, her favorite breakfast cereal in their research. But they’d given him nothing but the fact Robert had a daughter he rarely had dealings with.

  A daughter Ethan was now engaged to and expecting a baby with.

  Would she listen to him? Would she see the parallel between herself and his own mother and understand that he never wanted her to be hurt?

  The elevator doors slid open, and Ethan was greeted by a bustling lobby. As he stepped out, he took in the well-dressed people he assumed belonged to a wedding party. The girls all wore pale pink dresses, and the men wore black pants and white button-down shirts. Ethan scanned a bit more until he spotted the beaming bride and groom near the fountain in the middle of the open lobby. The laughter and chatter were almost deafening to his ears.

  His gaze traveled through the crowd as he made his way across the open lobby. The breeze from the ocean wafted in, but while the scent was typically a comforting one, given his love of the water and the beach, even that couldn’t calm his nerves today.

  Ethan circled the fountain, and there she was. Harper had on a beautiful white sundress that grazed the floor; her hair was down and all wild and curly. The juxtaposition of calm and chaos had his heart beating wildly.

  This wasn’t the first time she’d stolen his breath, but this might be the first time he couldn’t ignore that niggle of something more stirring inside him. As much as he wanted to deny it, he was falling for her. How the hell had he let this happen?

  She was talking to a man whose back was to Ethan, so he made his way over. Harper laughed at something, but then glanced over the man’s shoulder and waved at Ethan.

  The man turned around, and in that moment, Ethan’s world came to a crashing halt as Robert Anderson met his gaze.

  Every noise, every person, every single thing happening around him ceased to exist.

  Ethan’s past and his future had just collided in front of his face like a ticking bomb, and there was nothing he could do to dodge the explosion.

  He was out of time.

  Thirteen

  Ethan clenched his fists at his sides as Robert Anderson had the audacity to not only hold his stare with all the confidence in the world, but to smile like the underhanded, devious bastard he was.

  What an arrogant jerk.

  “Ethan, come here. I want you to meet someone.”

  Harper extended her hand, inviting him over, but Ethan couldn’t take his eyes off the devil himself. Robert’s evil grin never faltered. It was like the man didn’t have a care in the world, and he didn’t seem one bit surprised to see his stepson.

  “Ethan, this is my dad, Robert,” Harper introduced them, oblivious to the tension. “Robert, this is Ethan. My fiancé.”

  Robert’s bushy brows rose up. “Fiancé? Well, let me shake your hand.”

  Oh, hell no. Ethan shifted out of reach and wrapped a protective arm around Harper’s waist. He wasn’t about to touch that bastard and play nice.

  “I had no idea Harper was dating,” Robert stated, dropping his hand.

  Clearly stepdaddy was going to pretend like he didn’t know Ethan. Fine by him...for now. Harper still deserved the truth, but since they were standing in a lobby full of people—including a wedding party snapping candid photos—this was neither the time nor the place.

  “We’ve been seeing each other for a while,” Ethan stated, daring Robert to say something crude toward Harper.

  Ethan might have lied by omission to her, but there was no way he’d let anyone treat her with anything less than respect.

  Damn it. He should’ve told her the truth before now. He had no clue how everything had spiraled out of control, but now that it had, there was no option for him other than to face the fallout.

  He didn’t deserve her forgiveness, but he would be asking for it later anyway. He’d never begged for a damn thing in his life, but Harper was the exception to all of his usual rules.

  “Robert owns Mirage,” Harper said, her voice full of pride. “That’s why this renovation project has been so important to me.”

  “He owns the resort?” Ethan questioned, feigning surprise. He wasn’t sure how else to act and being blindsided didn’t give him time to plan. “Well, that must be quite time-consuming.” He finally turned to focus on Robert. “It’s funny, though. I’ve been here over a month and this is the first I’ve seen you.”

  Robert’s eyes narrowed slightly, just like Ethan recalled him doing when he’d gotten angry years ago. Like when Dane and Ethan had played harmless pranks that Robert never found humor in.

  Apparently Robert wasn’t amused now, either.

  “I’m lucky that I’m free to come and go as I please,” Robert finally replied.

  Your luck is about to run out.

  “I didn’t know you would be here so soon,” Harper told Robert. “I mean, I knew you were coming, but I thought you still had another few days with work.”

  Yeah, so did I.

  Robert shrugged a shoulder. “Some things can wait. I wanted to see my daughter.”

  Ugh. The man dripped with a sliminess that Ethan didn’t want near Harper or their child.

  Robert hadn’t aged well, which elated Ethan. The sixtysomething man had gotten pudgy around the middle, weathered in his face, with dark circles beneath his eyes. Apparently lying and deceiving people for a living didn’t do good things for one’s health. Shame that.

  “Do you want to plan on dinner this evening?” Harper asked. “We have so much to catch up on, and I want you and Ethan to get to know each other.”

  Ethan literally had to bite back an instant refusal. A patient man was a smart man. That’s how he’d come so far in his line of work. He’d waited for the right opportunities for everything and let the payoff be his reward.

  He would wait and see what Robert said, because there was nowhere Harper would go in this resort that Ethan wouldn’t be right by her side now. No way would he let Robert be alone with her. There was no telling what lies the man would tell her.

  “Dinner sounds fabulous.” Robert’s eyes drifted to Ethan. “You’ll join us.”

  Ethan sneered. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

  Harper let out a little squeal of excitement. “This is great. I’ll show you around and you can get a better idea of my plans in person. The crew will start next week, so you’re just in time. How long will you be here?”

  Robert glanced between the two and quirked his lips. “Not sure yet. I’m open to sticking around awhile.”

  Not if Ethan had any say about it. Robert had better get his jet and pilot ready, because Ethan had every intention of getting this jerk out of here sooner rather than later.

  If Robert wasn’t ready to expose the fact they knew each other quite well, that might work to Ethan’s benefit. He needed to talk to Harper without another opinion weighing in. His time had run out.

  Every step from here on out would have to be more calculated than anything he’d ever done. Harper and this baby were his top priority, but he still had to get this resort.

  Anything less than all of that was failure. And Ethan never failed.

  * * *

  “You were a little rude,” Harper murmured as they stepped on to the elevator that would take them up to Ethan’s penthouse. “I thought you’d be more excited about meeting my father.”

  Hadn’t they discussed the importance of family? Surely he knew that she really wanted her family life to grow. She needed that comfort and stability in her l
ife now more than ever.

  “Was I?” Ethan questioned, lacing his hand in hers. “I wasn’t trying to be. Maybe I was just caught off guard. I knew you were anxious for this project, but I didn’t know your father was the owner.”

  The doors slid open to his penthouse...well, their penthouse, since her things were being moved in later today.

  “I didn’t want you to think I had this project simply because he took pity on me.”

  Ethan gripped her arm and pulled her to face him. Framing her face with his strong hands, he looked her directly in the eyes. A woman could so get lost in that dark gaze.

  “I never would have thought that. Never,” he repeated. “I’ve seen your samples. I’ve heard the passion in your voice when you discuss each detail. Maybe you had an advantage because he knew you, but if you weren’t any good, you wouldn’t be here. Robert wouldn’t offer a pity job.”

  Harper rested her hands on his wrists at either side of her face. “You sound like you know him.”

  Ethan stared for a second before he shrugged. “I know people like him. I’m a businessman myself. We don’t hire out mega jobs just to make someone feel good.”

  “I didn’t want you to think—”

  Ethan’s lips covered hers for the briefest of moments before he eased back. “Stop. I think you’re amazing. Your work ethic, your ideas, everything. Be proud of what you’re doing. Confidence will get you everywhere.”

  That sounded like something Carmen would say. Maybe Ethan coming into her life had happened for a reason. Maybe he was exactly what she needed, exactly when she needed it.

  Maybe she was falling too hard for him when she wasn’t completely sure if he could ever feel the same.

  “I assume you didn’t tell your dad about the baby.”

  Harper shook her head. “I thought I would wait. There was a lobby full of people, and it just didn’t seem like the right time. I will at dinner.”

  She didn’t know if her father would even care. She wanted him to take part in her child’s life, especially considering he’d missed out on the first two decades of hers. But would he even want to? That was the question and one she feared the answer to.

  “What’s on your mind?” Ethan asked. “You have those worry lines between your brows.”

  “How do you know I’m worried? Those are just wrinkles.”

  Ethan kissed her forehead. “I know because they were there when you were looking at those marble samples and muttering to them.”

  Harper couldn’t hold back her smile. “You think you know me so well.”

  His hands eased to her shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze. “I do know you. So, what are you worried about?”

  “I just want him to be part of this baby’s life,” she admitted. “I didn’t know who Robert was until I was twenty. I’d never met him. My mother was, and still is, quite the free spirit. She’d always told me my father wasn’t interested in being a dad, so I let it drop. But then I just wanted to know. I wanted to give him the chance to see me for himself. So, Mom told me his name, and I looked him up. He didn’t seem too thrilled to have a child when I met him, but we’ve been talking and getting together a few times a year ever since. I just wish...”

  “You want a relationship.”

  Harper nodded. “I’m probably being foolish, I know. What grown woman begs a man for attention? I guess all the time we lost can’t be made up, and I can’t make him want to be a parent—much less a grandparent. Some people just aren’t cut out for that job.”

  Ethan pulled her into his arms and wrapped her in his warmth, his strength. Harper rested her head against his chest, seeking his comfort, wanting so much more.

  There was such a fine line between being hopeful and being realistic. She teetered on the brink of falling over into foolishness.

  If Carmen were here, she’d be giving the best advice. Harper would give anything for one more conversation with her sister.

  “I don’t have the answers,” he murmured against her ear. “But know that I’m here. This baby will know both parents love her.”

  Harper eased back, smirking, her brows raised. “Her?”

  Ethan’s mouth quirked into a grin. “I have a feeling the baby is a girl. I see her with your smile, your eyes. She’s the most beautiful child.”

  Harper’s heart swelled at hearing him talk about their child. He’d thought about the baby—he’d thought so much that he’d pictured her.

  Stifling a yawn, Harper laid her head on his chest. Ethan’s hands roamed up and down her back as he kissed her head.

  “Go lie down,” he urged. “I’ll make sure you’re not disturbed. That way you’ll be refreshed for our dinner.”

  Harper smiled into his chest. “I don’t know the last time I took a nap.”

  “Then I’d say you’re long overdue.” Ethan cupped her shoulders and pulled back. “Rest for as long as you want. You’ve got to stay healthy for our baby.”

  The baby. Yes. Maybe he only cared for her because of the baby. After all, that’s the reason he proposed, right?

  He placed another kiss on her forehead. “I have a few business things to tend to, but I’ll make sure you’re up in time to get ready for dinner.”

  Harper nodded. She was too tired to argue. These long nights were catching up to her, not to mention working during the day and the fatigue from pregnancy. Everything she’d read said that the first trimester was rough with nausea and the need to sleep all the time. Too bad she didn’t have that luxury. Which was why she should take advantage of the opportunity to nap while she could.

  “Wake me if you need me before,” she told him.

  “Don’t worry about anything but getting some sleep.”

  As Ethan stepped back into the elevator and left her alone, part of her wondered if she should be completely open and honest with him. Should she tell him she was falling for him? If they were going to enter into marriage, she figured honesty was the best option.

  After dinner, she vowed on another yawn as she crawled into Ethan’s king-size canopy bed. Tonight would be one to remember with the two men in her life. She just wished she knew where she stood long term with both of them.

  Fourteen

  Ethan pounded on the wood door, clenching his other fist at his side.

  A snick of the lock came a second before the door swung open to reveal a spacious ocean-view suite.

  “Well, that took longer than I thought,” Robert reprimanded. “I’m disappointed.”

  Ethan shoved his way into the suite. “I don’t give a damn what you are. You’re not staying here.”

  Robert closed the door and turned to face Ethan. He’d changed into some tacky tropical shirt and a pair of khaki pants. Just the sight of him made Ethan sick to his stomach, and it took every bit of his willpower not to punch that smug look off his face.

  Spreading his arms out wide, Robert raised his brows. “Looks like I am.”

  Ethan had waited years for this moment. Years to make this bastard pay for everything he’d done—for destroying a legacy built by a single mother, for robbing two boys of their future.

  But the dynamics had completely changed, and now so much more was at stake. Once again, Ethan’s future and everything he’d come to care for were on the line.

  “You’re going to sign Mirage back to me.” Ethan widened his stance, matched Robert’s gaze and held his hands at his sides. “My attorney has the paperwork all drawn up. I have copies in my safe in my suite. I’ll email a copy to whichever assistant of yours you want. But we’re getting this deal done now. Today.”

  Silence settled heavy between them, but Robert made no move; he barely blinked. Ethan had no idea what reaction he’d expected. Perhaps mocking, arrogant laughter, but that’s not the response he got. Robert continued to stare, and Ethan didn’t know if the man was stunned speechless or weigh
ing his attack.

  Either way, Ethan was more than ready to tackle this beast.

  “Is that why you’re hanging all over my daughter?” Robert finally asked.

  Ethan ground his teeth. “Don’t act like you give a damn about her or anyone else. You care about yourself and your bank accounts, and that’s it.”

  Ethan hoped to keep Harper out of this conversation as much as possible. Before Harper ever entered his life, Ethan had had one goal in mind. He hadn’t lost sight of that—if anything he was more determined than ever to stake his claim and secure his mother’s legacy so he could hand it down to his own child one day.

  And Harper? She deserved to be rid of this piece of trash. She might not like that at first, because she had no clue who she was dealing with, but Ethan would protect her...at all costs.

  “Why the interest in Harper?” Robert asked, quirking one silver brow. “Were you just passing the time? Waiting on me to arrive? If you’re lying to her, deceiving her, that’s no better than what you accuse me of.”

  Robert was trying to goad Ethan, but he wasn’t having it. Guilt already laid a heavy blanket over him, and he was trying to make the right decisions from here on out. There were factors that were simply out of his control, much as he hated to admit it.

  Now more than ever, he had people relying on him to make sure the right thing happened. This situation wasn’t about him or Dane or even their mother right now. Harper and the baby were his future...his life.

  Damn it. He couldn’t lose her. He just...

  He couldn’t.

  “You don’t honestly think I’ll just give you this property, do you?” Robert mocked with a sharp bark of laughter. “You’re still a foolish kid. I did you and your brother a favor by taking these off your hands. What would kids have known about running a high-profile business like this?”

  Ethan took a step forward, clenching his fists at his sides. “Our mother raised us in these resorts, and we knew every in and out of her work. We also would’ve trusted the managers she hired to work with us as we grew into our roles. But that’s all in the past. Right here and now, I’m telling you that your time here is over. You’re not keeping this place.”