by K. A. Linde
“You want to know why?” he asked, his eyes wild and manic. None of his manipulative sway held him in check. “Because I was in love with your mother from the day I met her, and your father always fucking won.”
I startled back a step at his answer. “You hate me because my mom didn’t love you?”
“That’s why I hate him. You,” he spat, jabbing his finger out at me, “you look like her, but you act just fucking like him. Evelyn in beauty and Ethan in brains. You are my nightmare.”
“Wow,” I said with a shake of my head. “That’s so depressing. You are trapped in the past. You clearly deserve what you’ve gotten in life if you are so hung up on this that you can’t even treat me like a human being because of something that happened more than thirty years ago. Get over it!”
“You’d never understand. I lost everything because of them. I even lost my wife!” He shook his head. “She left me the year Evelyn died. I was in mourning.”
I swallowed at his confession and glanced at his boys. They looked pissed. And how could I blame them? They’d just found out that their mother had left him because he had been in love with another woman his entire life.
“This isn’t love. It’s obsession. And it’s sick. You’ve ruined your life over something that could never be. And I don’t feel sorry for you. You could have had a wonderful life. You chose this instead,” I told him. “Now, get out of my building. You’re through with Wright Construction.”
Thirty-Three
Morgan
Owen threw a few obscene words in my face before storming out of the conference room. And, just like that, it was over.
I breathed out heavily, deflating from the showdown I hadn’t even anticipated having. I’d been ready for anything. I’d been prepared. But I hadn’t known what Patrick and Jensen were going to bring into this meeting. I hadn’t known what would come out of that. Or Owen’s confession about my parents. Something I absolutely couldn’t even process right now.
“Well, that was eventful,” Jensen said, standing in the back of the room. “I’d say this meeting is over.”
A round of grumbles came from around the table as everyone stirred from their shock at what had gone down. Each of the board members moseyed out of the room. Some gave me a sort of apologetic head tilt, others a grim smile, and at least one of them didn’t even look my way.
It was only Curt who stopped and looked me in the eye. “Sorry about all this, Morgan.”
“We got it cleared up and snuffed out the real culprit here.”
“I wish I’d seen what Owen was up to from the start. We hired you for a reason. It was clear that my judgment was misplaced in this scenario. Accept my apology.”
I nodded. “All right. Let’s drop the oversight committee, and we’ll call it even.”
Curt laughed. “I think that sounds reasonable.”
We shook hands, and then he departed. My cousins sidled up to me next. I hated the look of shock in their eyes. The realization that must have come over them at their father’s statement.
“Are y’all going to be okay?” I asked Jordan and Julian.
They glanced at each other.
Jordan spoke, “I think it’s time for us to get home, is all.”
“We should probably talk to our mom. I think we might have been unfair to her all these years,” Julian added.
Jordan sighed. “Yeah. It’s not going to be pleasant.”
“Well, you’re both welcome back anytime. There’s always a place for you here. It’s kind of nice to have more family around.”
They both smiled and promised to come visit again. I hoped they would. Now that I could disassociate them from Owen, I found I wanted to get to know them. I hoped it wasn’t too little, too late.
Once Jordan and Julian disappeared, I turned to find Jensen leaning against the wall. I was about to open my mouth to say something when the door burst back open, and the rest of my family walked in.
“What are you all doing here?” I asked with a laugh.
Austin nudged me as he walked in. “Had to come see your big day.”
“What he means is, he wanted to know if you’d gotten fired,” Landon said.
“Y’all are jerks,” Sutton grumbled, flopping into a seat.
“Yeah, listen to Sutton,” I muttered.
I turned to my sister. She still didn’t quite look like herself. Dressed in black instead of her signature pink, but her nails were done, and her hair had seen a curling iron recently, the ombré locks waving past her shoulders.
“Where’s Jason?”
“I got a nanny,” she admitted.
“That’s great!”
“It feels ridiculous because I’m not working, but I needed to get out of the house.”
“Well, if you need a job, we just fired someone,” I volunteered with a laugh.
Sutton shot me an incredulous look. “Pass.”
I felt more lighthearted in that moment than I had in weeks. Maybe months! Had I really been carrying all of this stress on my shoulders for that long? Had I completely forgotten what it was like not to be stressed?
“So, you kicked ass?” Austin asked.
“She did,” Jensen agreed.
“I did,” I said with a laugh. “Though Jensen and Patrick certainly helped with kicking Owen’s butt out of Lubbock.”
“We did what we could,” Jensen said.
“Thanks,” I said. “Now, hold that thought…”
Then, I turned around and found Patrick standing in the same spot where he’d stood to defend me against Owen. He hadn’t said a word. Just stoically stood there as I’d dealt with all my problems. A half-smile appeared on his face, unassuming and beautiful.
“You,” I said, pointing at him.
“Yeah?”
I ignored the rest of my family standing behind me, walked right up to Patrick, stood on my tiptoes, and pressed my lips against his. My hands moved to his chest, gripping his button-up. He hesitated for a split second, as if he couldn’t believe we were doing this right here, right now, in front of my entire family.
Then, he relaxed, wrapping his arms tight around my waist and dragging me closer. Everything around me quieted down to that moment. I couldn’t hear the catcalls behind me. Only my own heartbeat ringing in my ears. The feel of his heat pressing into my body. The taste of him on my lips.
I’d been an idiot, blaming Patrick for everything that had happened and pushing him away when I was distressed. It hadn’t been fair. It wasn’t even what I’d wanted. There was no reason that I couldn’t work and have a love life. Jensen did it. Millions of other people had done it before me. Patrick had tried to tell me that, but I’d been too stuck in my own head to see it. Too worried about my job and not seeing clearly.
This right here was what I needed. Patrick Young’s lips against my own and his body against mine and all the cares in the world dropping away.
Slowly, as if in a dream, Patrick pulled back, and I broke to the surface of the water I’d been under. His baby-blue eyes were lit up, and a cocky smile touched his lips.
“So, I guess we’re back together, huh?” he asked.
“What gives you that idea?” I teased.
“Pretty sure you just made out with my face.”
“I mean, if you beg, then maybe I’ll consider.”
“You’re a hellion.”
I winked. “And don’t ever forget it.”
Austin grumbled noisily behind us. “Is this ever going to stop? I’m getting sick to my stomach.”
“Oh, give it up,” Sutton muttered.
“We don’t want to watch this,” Austin protested.
“It’s just a kiss,” I told him, leaning back into Patrick’s arms. “I’ve seen you do worse with Julia in public.”
“Julia and I are totally innocent,” he said with a devious look in his eye. “We’re both virgins, you know? Saving ourselves for marriage and all that.”
“Does anal count as losing your virginity?” Landon
asked from the back of the room.
Everyone burst out laughing, and Austin just shook his head. “Dude, not cool.”
“Children,” Jensen said playfully.
“What did you think of Owen’s confession?” I asked Jensen.
He shrugged. “I don’t know what to make of it.”
“What did he say?” Landon asked.
I repeated Owen’s sordid story. It was particularly embarrassing for me to think that the whole reason he hated me was because I looked like his lost love. But, of course, I’d gotten my father’s temperament. Minus the alcoholism, thankfully. Though the rash temper had obviously come my way. I’d lashed out at Patrick with hardly any provocation. I’d need to be mindful of that in the future. As mindful as Austin was about drinking.
“Whoa,” Austin said when I finished.
“That’s fucked up,” Landon added.
Sutton bit her lip and looked away. It didn’t help mentioning that he’d ended up divorced because he had been mourning his brother’s wife. Mourning and death were not great topics around Sutton at the moment.
“I think the entire exchange was just sad,” Jensen finally concluded. “Obviously, our parents weren’t here to confirm or deny any of his claims. All we have is his very jaded word. What I do want to say about it is, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” I asked. “Why?”
“You told me over and over again that Owen was treating you like shit, and I told you to deal with it. That it was just business. What I should have done is listen to you. I didn’t know that he had ulterior motives. I thought he was treating you how he’d treated me when I became CEO. Pretty much like a dick.”
“Well, it’s okay. He had everyone under his spell. No one knew what he was doing.”
“And here I thought, I looked like Mom,” Sutton said sarcastically.
“Mom would never have gone blonde.”
“Hey!” Sutton said, fingering her hair. “It’s balayage.”
“Fancy word for blonde.”
“You’re keeping your job. You’re supposed to be happier than this and nicer to me.”
I laughed. “You’re right. I think I’m going to take the rest of the day off.”
“What?” all of the guys said in shock at the same time.
“Yeah. I’ve earned it.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Patrick said next to me.
“Thanks. Don’t you have work?”
“Well, I got the rest of the day off, too.”
“Great. Let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah?”
I nodded, offering him my hand. He entwined our fingers together. I smiled at my family as I walked out of the conference room without them. I appreciated them being there and how much they cared for me in my moment of need. I knew that I couldn’t live without them and was really lucky to have them.
But I had also fucked up something really great with a man who had never wavered in his feelings for me from the moment he made them known. While I was the one over here, who had claimed to have wanted him forever. Now, I needed to show him exactly what he had taught me was true. I could have it all.
Thirty-Four
Patrick
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I told Morgan against her lips.
“Believe it,” she said with the confidence I’d missed.
I reached up and tugged her long hair loose from its hold, so it could tumble down her back.
“I was never going to give up on you.”
“I shouldn’t have given up on us,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“It’s okay,” I reassured her. “We’re here now.”
“It’s not okay. I’m sorry.”
I silenced her protest with another kiss. I didn’t need to hear her apologies. I’d seen them firsthand when she confronted her uncle head-on. I’d seen them when our eyes met across the room. When her uncle stormed her and I intervened.
With Morgan, I never needed many words. I’d seen in a glance that she was sorry and so happy to see me in that conference room, knowing that she didn’t have to face that all alone…even though she clearly had.
That look was something I knew didn’t come easy to Morgan. She wasn’t one to ask for help. She never would have let someone else take the brunt of that meeting. She was the leader. She had been the one in trouble. She’d had to carry the weight. But knowing she had accepted my help, albeit without prior knowledge to what Jensen and I had planned, was apology enough.
“You’re taking this all really well,” she said with a shaky laugh.
“I’ve known you your entire life. You had to do this on your own. As much as I hated the idea of you pushing us to the side for work, I knew you had to do it for your own sanity.”
“Yeah,” she said, “but I hate that it hurt you. I don’t want to push you away for work. There will be times when work has to come first. That’s the nature of my job. But I was in over my head when I said I needed to be married to my work. I don’t want to work and forget to live anymore.”
“And you don’t have to.”
“When I was with Steph, looking at bridesmaid dresses—” she began.
“When do I get to see that?”
“At the wedding!” She shook her head at me, and I cracked a smile. “It was when I was with Steph that I was able to think clearly about the problem and find the solution. It was my downtime when my brain was able to function properly. I think that’s kind of what you’ve been saying all along. If I work all the time, I never have any time to rest and relax. I never have you time. And, when I have that…I’m better and more productive for it.”
“Sure, that sounds good. Also, I selfishly want you with me more.”
She giggled my favorite giggle.
“God…that’s my favorite laugh.”
She paused and stared up at me in confusion. “I have multiple kinds of laughs that you like?”
“So many,” I confirmed, pressing a kiss to her lips as I led her back to the bedroom. “You have this giggle when you’re flirty or drunk and a real boisterous laugh when something really gets you. There’s your sneaky laugh when you’re being cheeky and a snort laugh when you’re being sarcastic or don’t believe the idiocy of some people. I’ve also learned that you have this little breathy laugh.” I reached out and ran a finger across her lips. “That one is reserved for this.”
I dragged her close again. Her breath hitched, and her pupils dilated as my hands ran down her body. I teased her bottom lip with my tongue. She whimpered and tried to push her way into a kiss. I grinned devilishly and then gave in to her request.
Our lips touched. A feverish frenzy that transcended coherent thought and collided right into uninhibited need.
She jumped into my arms, and we both fell onto the bed, struggling to get out of our work clothes in our haste to be together again. I ignored the buttons on her shirt and ripped it open. She laughed at my impatience and stripped out of her bra while I pulled my shirt over my head.
Her body was a road map, and I wanted to trace every route. I wanted to learn every way to bring her pleasure. And revel in the moment as we came together.
A part of me had feared that maybe things wouldn’t work out. That maybe Morgan wouldn’t come to her senses. Even worse, I wondered what would happen if she did lose her job. But, even in the darkest moments, I’d known that she was what I wanted. Maybe I didn’t deserve her. Maybe she was way out of my league. But she was mine.
I threw her pants in a heap on the floor and slowly dragged her thong down her milky legs. Her eyes were heated on mine.
She hooked her finger at me. “Come here.”
I slipped out of my boxers and covered her body. “You know you’re all that I want,” I whispered as I stared deep into her dark eyes.
“I’ve wanted to hear that for so long,” she confided. “Actually having you is overwhelming.”
“In a good way?” I asked as I
slid my cock against her opening but going no further.
“Ye-yes,” she gasped. She closed her eyes and shivered at the touch. That amazing breathy laugh escaped her lips.
“Ah, there it is,” I said.
“I guess I do have that laugh.”
“Oh, it’s one of my favorites.”
I moved back and forth through her slicked skin, wanting nothing more than to take her right here, right now. But seeing her ache for me, seeing the tender affection in her face, and the need for my body only made my dick harder.
Morgan had claimed me back in that conference room. Not like before when we’d been caught, and we’d both had to defend our choices. This time, it had been perfect. Her entire family there, she’d kissed me, chosen me, left with me. No more hiding—not our relationship, not my intentions, not our affection.
That time had long passed. I had been accepted into her world. It might be a world that I’d always occupied, but this was a different plane of existence altogether. This was Morgan as my girlfriend, as my lover, as my forever.
“You know what’s my favorite?” she asked, gripping my hips.
“Hmm?”
“Your cock inside me.”
My cock jerked in response. “Fuck, Mor.”
She laughed. “I still like that nickname the best. The way it rolls off your tongue.”
“You can’t be Mini Wright anymore?” I teased.
“I just said I want your cock inside me. I don’t think there’s much mini about me.”
“You’re still pretty small. Maybe you can’t handle it.”
I pressed just the tip of my dick in her pussy. She moaned, and it took everything in me not to thrust inside her.
“I can handle anything,” she ground out.
I pushed her hair out of her face and brought my lips down to meet hers. She hungrily met me, pushing every stray emotion into that kiss. I knew it was a promise. The first of many to come. Whatever had come before us was in our past. Our future lay ahead, and in this kiss, these lips, I knew that nothing and no one would ever compare to this incredible woman.