She’d already taken too many risks.
My only hope was that she would change her mind somewhere down the road, that she would realize my soul wasn’t capable of such a betrayal. We were both broken people with no one to trust. If only we could trust each other, we would have everything we needed.
I sat at my desk with my cheek propped against my fingertips. My computer screen went black twenty minutes ago from inactivity, and the messages sitting on my desk hadn’t received a response.
I was too distracted to do anything.
Natalie spoke through the intercom. “I have Mr. Hunt for you.”
This time, I knew it wasn’t Jax. It was my father, and this time, he would have a more concrete threat to throw at me. But he could do his worst. I didn’t give a damn anymore. “Put him through.”
“Yes, sir.”
I picked up the phone and pressed it to my ear. I leaned back in the leather chair and looked at the view of skyscrapers that surrounded my building. Since I already lost the one thing that mattered to me, it didn’t seem like my father could do any more damage. “How can I help you?” I sounded authoritative, as usual. But I didn’t show anger or hatred. It was unfortunate that my relationship with my father had turned into such a petty war. If only he knew I’d betrayed him to keep the woman I loved, things might be different. But then again, he was the least compassionate man I’ve ever known. He wouldn’t give a damn.
“I find it ironic that a man so disloyal has the loyalty of the most powerful woman in this city.”
It only took me two seconds to break that code. He was referring to Titan. But what exactly he was referring to was a mystery to me. I couldn’t ask too many questions. Otherwise, it would make me seem incompetent. Titan hadn’t mentioned my father, so I didn’t know what kind of interaction they had. “I am loyal—to the right people.”
“I raised you into the man you are today. I put you in the finest schools on the East Coast. I trained you to be smart, cunning, and powerful. I put food on the table to keep you full. Everything you ever needed, I provided. I deserve your loyalty more than anyone else.” I could feel the sparks from his heat, feel his tension as it rose. I could hear the rage—as well as the pain.
“You betrayed Mom the second you kicked Brett out. Now that’s disloyal.” We’d never spoken of it since the day I’d turned my back on him. The rare times we saw each other across the room there was only an exchange of hostile looks. After a decade of silence, we were finally talking about it. Although, I had no idea how it related to Titan.
“He was never my son.”
“You should have loved him like he was.” Defending Brett had cost me years of heartache with my father. I hated this animosity that we both felt for one another. But standing up for my brother was the right thing to do. My mother would have wanted me to be there for Brett. “And you shouldn’t have outcaste your oldest son for ten years because of it.”
“Outcaste you?” he asked coldly. “You’re the one who turned your back on me, Diesel. Let’s not rewrite history.”
“Because you forced my hand. You gave me no other choice.” When I woke up this morning, the last thing I’d expected was to have this conversation with my father. I didn’t expect to explore the underlying anger we both felt. “Titan is loyal because I’m loyal to her. That’s how it goes, Vincent. It’s a two-way street.” I still couldn’t figure out how she fit into the conversation, but asking bluntly would only make me look stupid.
“A businesswoman of her standing doesn’t say no to a deal like that out of loyalty. It has to be something far stronger. I’ll never figure out how you earned the love of an incredible woman like her. You’re a very lucky man.”
* * *
The conversation was too intimate for me to stop by her office. I could call her, but that didn’t seem right either. I waited in her living room, knowing it was the first place she would go once she was off work.
After five, she stepped inside the apartment. She removed her jacket and placed her satchel on the end table next to the door. When she realized I was there, she didn’t show a hint of a surprise.
I walked toward her and didn’t spot anything different on her face. She seemed to be exactly the same, a little tired after a long day at the office.
She didn’t need to look up as high because her heels gave her an extra five inches of height. She leaned into me and gave me a quick kiss on the lips, greeting me exactly the way I liked when no one was around. “You need to stop dropping by like this, Hunt.”
“I know. But I need to talk to you.”
“What’s up?” It still seemed like everything was the same, like she hadn’t spoken to my father recently.
“My father called me today.”
Once he was mentioned, her stoic expression softened. Her thoughts became more visible, more readable.
“He said I’m lucky to have your loyalty. What does that mean?”
She didn’t panic at the question, but she became uncomfortable. She shifted her weight to a different leg and crossed her arms over her chest, stalling as she considered a good response to the question. She clearly knew exactly what I was talking about.
“Titan.”
“He stopped by my office the other day and made me a business offer.”
Why didn’t it surprise me that he would do that? “What was the offer?”
“He said he would get me into stores all over the world and would only take five percent of my profits.”
That was a horrible deal for him, but he wasn’t after the money.
“I told him I needed to think about it for a day. He said if I turned it down, he would give it to Kyle Livingston instead.”
So he’d basically threatened her.
She sighed before she continued. “But I said no. I could tell he was angry, but he didn’t make a fuss about it.”
Expanding Illuminance was Titan’s biggest goal. She wanted to get her products everywhere, expand her already successful business. It’s what she needed Kyle Livingston for, and it would be easy for my father to make all her dreams come true. Saying no couldn’t have been easy. After what she thought I did to her, she would have been entitled to say yes. But she didn’t.
She said no.
“I know he was trying to take a swipe at you. Maybe he thought he could turn me against you. Maybe he thought it would hurt you. I’m not sure. But I didn’t want to go through with it, so I didn’t.” She downplayed it like her decision wasn’t a big deal, but it was a very big deal.
I was a man of few words, but now I had even less to say. Her actions left me speechless, and I couldn’t express a single emotion. Anyone else would have taken that deal, no matter how much it hurt me. Even my closest friends would be tempted by it. Titan was a powerful woman with high ambitions. The opportunity could have taken her to a new level. Instead, she cared more about me.
What could I possibly say to that?
“Titan…” I took a deep breath as I looked at her, overcome with pain and joy. The most amazing woman in the world loved me, and she would never understand how much I loved her. She was standing right in front of me, but I couldn’t really touch her. I could never really have her. “I…I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything, Hunt.”
“But I do need to say something. That was… There are no words. You could have taken that deal, and no one would have judged you for it. You chose to be loyal to me…even though you think I’m a liar.”
Her gaze shifted to the floor. “My love for you blinds me…I know.”
“It doesn’t blind you,” I whispered. “Your instincts are right, Titan. You don’t even realize how right you are.” I moved my hands to her arms, and I gently caressed her up and down.
She tilted her chin up and looked at me, her eyes full of the affection that never died away. “Thorn was so angry at me…”
“I don’t blame him. My father is an asshole, but he’s good at what he does.
It would have been a great opportunity.”
She nodded slightly. “I couldn’t live with the decision, knowing it would hurt you so much. I never want to hurt you.”
My hands automatically squeezed her, and I pressed my forehead to hers. I felt the passionate connection between us, the unbreakable hold that kept us close together. Nothing could tear us apart—not the lies, and not my father. “I know. I never want to hurt you either, baby.” I kissed her forehead, feeling my heart ache because of her pain. If only she understood just how loyal I was to her, how much I’d always been loyal. All of this pain she harbored would be gone. She would know I was the perfect partner to spend her life with, even better than Thorn.
She took a deep breath when she felt me kiss her. She suddenly slipped away, removing herself from my grasp like she didn’t want to be touched any longer. Something I said had pushed her away. Or something she felt made her put a wall between us. “Thorn is going to ask me to marry him on Saturday.”
Just when I felt a surge of hope, it was taken away from me. Just when I felt a connection with her, it was severed. I was in pain all over again, getting close to the fire but then being jerked back into the cold.
“I’m going to say yes. And there’s nothing you can do to change my mind.”
* * *
I was running out of options.
If she became engaged to Thorn, it wasn’t a death blow. But it would make it a lot harder for her to leave him and be with me—publicly. I’d already spoken to Titan about it countless times, and I couldn’t change her mind. Her heart believed me, but her brain wasn’t so understanding.
Thorn was my last chance.
I stopped by his office in the middle of the day, knowing he would see me despite what he was doing. Luckily, I caught him in between meetings, and I was able to get into his office without a fuss.
Thorn looked just as displeased as ever to see me. We were always on opposites sides of the battlefield. There was only a very short period where we were truly allies. He didn’t rise from his chair to greet me. He only looked thoroughly annoyed. “Because of you, I lost a great business opportunity. I’m not exactly thrilled to look at you.”
“It was Titan’s deal—so you didn’t lose out on anything.”
“She’s going to be my wife. So what’s hers is mine.” He left his chair and came around the desk. He leaned against it and crossed his ankles. His arms folded over his chest. There wasn’t a hint of friendliness in his eyes. “What the hell do you want, Hunt?”
This wasn’t getting off to a good start. I doubted he would help me out under any circumstances. “I’m sure Titan told you about our conversation with Bruce Carol.”
“Yes, the woman tells me everything,” he snapped. “You forget that I’ve been her rock for the past decade. You’ve only been around for six months.”
I ignored the insult. “I’ve done everything I can to convince her I never betrayed her. She won’t listen to me. She’s given up on me.”
“About damn time.”
Maybe this was a waste of time. “She told me you are going to propose on Saturday.”
“Yeah, I am.” He looked me right in the eye as he said it. “And if you do anything to interfere, I’m not going to hold back.”
“I’ve never tried to interfere with her life.”
“Hmm,” he said sarcastically. “Then what are you doing now?”
“Talking.”
“And what did you want to talk about?”
Judging from his attitude, this wasn’t going to go anywhere. I didn’t have a chance to make this right. I’d have to hope for some kind of miracle. “Don’t ask her to marry you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Unbelievable…”
“I can’t prove it, but I’ve been telling the truth. I know how important she is to you. So if I’m the man she’s supposed to be with, you would want her to be with me. Thorn, I’m that man.”
“No, you aren’t.” He left the front of the desk and circled back to his chair. “You should just disappear. You’ve caused us nothing but grief since you came into our lives. I miss her old lovers, the guys I’ve never met.”
I swallowed the jealousy all the way down my throat. Picturing her with anyone else but me made me sick.
“If you love the girl, just leave her alone. Call it off so she can move on.”
“It’s because I love her that I can’t leave, Thorn. This is all a huge mistake.”
He slipped his hands into his pockets and looked out the window. “I’m not having this conversation anymore, Hunt. I’m marrying Titan, and we’re going to have the lives we planned out. You had your chance, but you blew it. With me, she’ll never know pain. She’ll never know betrayal. The greatest heartache she’s ever known has been because of you.” He shook his head and didn’t turn around to look at me. “Get out of my office, Hunt. I never want to see your face again. Go back to being the dirty secret that you are.”
16
Titan
The next few days were long and lonely.
I didn’t hear from Hunt. When I told him I would say yes to Thorn’s proposal, he turned white. His usually tanned skin paled. The color of his eyes dulled. Instead of arguing with me, he walked out of my penthouse without saying a word to me.
I hadn’t heard from him since.
Maybe he didn’t want to continue our arrangement once I was engaged. Maybe it was too difficult for him, to see me wear another man’s ring. Or maybe his plan backfired, and now there was no reason to stay.
I really didn’t know.
When Saturday arrived and I still hadn’t heard from him, I knew he was gone. It was his quiet way of excusing himself from our arrangement. A conversation wasn’t necessary because his silence was enough.
I put on a navy blue gown that had arrived at my penthouse a few hours before. I did my hair in big curls, wore diamond earrings that would match the ring Thorn was about to give me, and I wore a diamond necklace with a circular pendant in the middle. We’d been planning this for a long time, and I should feel excited.
But I didn’t feel an ounce of joy.
When I fell in love with Hunt, I pictured the way he would ask me to marry him. I pictured the white dress I would wear to our wedding. I imagined myself pregnant with his child, heavy around the stomach as I waddled through the house. I picture a life full of laughter, good sex, and happiness.
But that was never going to happen.
I was marrying Thorn. We would love each other, but we would never love one another passionately. I would have my partners, and he would have his. We’d have sex, but it wouldn’t be often. He would be my best friend in the world, my closest confidant.
But he would never give me butterflies.
He would never make me weak.
I knew I had to accept that and move on.
The light over the elevator lit up, and the doors opened.
Thorn was here to pick me up.
Except it wasn’t Thorn. It was Hunt.
He walked into my apartment in jeans that hung low on his hips and a t-shirt that fit nicely against his chest. His eyes roamed over my appearance, taking in the diamonds in my ears and the curves of my tight dress. He walked up to me, his broad shoulders shifting with every step he took.
As always, I held my breath. Anytime he was near, I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t so confident, wasn’t so cold.
He stopped directly in front of me, invading my personal space like he owned all of it. He refrained from touching me, but I could feel his hands all over my body. I could feel his fingers in my hair, feel them at the back of my neck. “When he asks you to marry him, you’re going to think of me.”
The statement was so blunt that it took me a moment to digest.
“And if you’re going to think of me, then I should be the one asking you.”
When I looked into that unbelievably handsome face, it was hard to resist. There was nothing I wanted more than to see him give me a ring then return home t
o a night of kissing and touching. “I wish you were, Hunt…”
“Then let me be the one.”
I bowed my head, unable to look at the plea in his eyes. “It’s over. You didn’t give me enough to believe you, enough to trust you. I said no to your father because I couldn’t betray you. But now I need to do the best thing for me. If you can’t accept that, then we should stop seeing each other.”
A quiet sigh escaped his lips. “Baby…”
“I mean it, Hunt.”
“I don’t want to stop seeing you.”
“Then we need to stop talking about this. Can you do that?”
I didn’t get an answer, but he looked into my eyes as acknowledgment.
I stepped around him and grabbed my clutch. “You should go. He’s going to be here any minute…”
Hunt walked back to the elevators and hit the button with his finger. He turned his eyes back to me and watched me as he waited for the elevator. His eyes scanned over my face like they usually did, blanketing me with affection and love. The muscles of his throat shifted as he swallowed. The elevator doors opened, but he didn’t step inside right away.
He kissed me instead. It was a soft kiss, full of restrained passion that he couldn’t allow to break free. His fingers dug into my hair slightly so he wouldn’t mess up my curls. There was no tongue, but his lips felt perfect against my mouth. When he ended the embrace, he kept his face close to mine. “Thorn is a lucky man.” He dropped his hand and walked into the elevator. He hit the button for the lobby but wouldn’t make eye contact with me. He stared at the buttons as he waited for the doors to close.
Slowly, they came to the middle until he was gone from sight.
And then he left.
* * *
“You look beautiful.” Thorn smiled at me before he leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. It was a special embrace, affection that we never showed unless people were watching. It was nice, an ode to things to come.
Boss Woman Page 18