by Michele Hauf
She looked away. “Thank you,” she finally said. “For everything.”
“Goodbye,” he said, more for himself than for her. She was never going to be his. Never.
Emma considered stopping to throw the shredded report away at a mall, a service station, a fast-food restaurant. None seemed right, so she drove all the way to her apartment.
She was in shock, numb. She’d been so furious earlier this morning when she’d realized he’d used her. Furious with him for pointing out her deception with him. She considered her so-called spying assignment with Damien to be the lowest thing she’d ever done.
Then when she’d learned he had information he planned to use against Max, information she’d helped him find, she hadn’t known who she detested more, Damien or herself.
It had taken everything in her to show up for work. She had to stick to the agreement for her mother’s sake. She was fully prepared to despise him and resent him for the rest of her life.
But then he’d let her off the hook. No reprisals, no you-owe-me, nothing. On top of that, telling her to destroy the remnants of the report about Max totally boggled her mind. She didn’t know what to think or feel.
Parking her car in the paved parking lot, she walked inside her apartment to get some matches and a pitcher of water. She returned to the parking lot, dumped the contents of the bin onto the pavement and burned them. Staring into the fire, she wondered what had made Damien decide not to go after Max. She wondered what had changed his mind.
As Damien had instructed, she took off the rest of the day. She caught up on cleaning her apartment and doing laundry, turned on the television for a while, then turned it off. Fighting a bone-deep restlessness, she escaped her apartment and visited a park.
She saw a couple and thought of Damien. She saw a golden retriever and thought of Damien. Frustrated with herself, she went to a movie by herself, a foreign film, French. Surely that would distract her. Except midway through the movie, an Italian character was introduced. She began to feel haunted.
Bedtime finally arrived and Emma crawled into bed, craving escape from Damien. Instead, she dreamed of him. She dreamed he died and she woke up in a cold sweat, screaming.
Hugging her knees to her chest, she gasped for breath. Something had changed, she realized. Without really knowing it, some part of her had begun to count on him. She’d been so busy doubting him, but something inside her had made another determination about him.
Her heart? Somehow, someway, she had begun to love him.
Her stomach twisted with the realization and she laughed, the harsh, bitter sound breaking the silence of the night. How futile was that? she thought. If ever a man was incapable of love, it was Damien.
Damien missed his next shot. He was winning against his brother, but not by much.
Rafe downed a shot of tequila and made a hissing sound. “You’re off your game, bro,” he said and chalked the cue.
“I’m doing okay,” Damien said, taking a sip of scotch.
“Got something on your mind?” Rafe asked, banking a shot that just missed the pocket. “Damn,” he muttered and raked his hand through his hair. “What’s up? You’ve been walking around crabby and distracted since you got here.”
Damien shrugged. “This was a big contract. Sometimes it takes awhile to wind down.” He took a shot against another ball. And missed. He swore under his breath.
“Sounds like BS to me,” Rafe said. He took a shot and sank it into the pocket. “Score,” he said, then missed the next one.
Damien gritted his teeth and lined up his next shot.
“This wouldn’t have anything to do with that pretty assistant you brought onboard when you visited South Beach a few weeks ago, would it?”
Damien scratched the table with his cue and glared at his brother for his bad timing. “I wouldn’t go there if I were you.”
“Why not?” Rafe asked. “If I keep pushing on that raw place, I may win. Then I can hold it over your head for years.”
“In your dreams,” Damien said.
Rafe chuckled but missed his next shot.
Damien swallowed a growl and chalked his cue.
“She must not have liked you. Did she dump you?” Rafe taunted.
Damien clenched his jaw, then forced himself to relax.
“Did she decide she wanted a man with brains and a heart?”
Rafe’s words cut close, but Damien ruthlessly turned him off. He focused on his shot and sank the last ball into the pocket. Taking a deep breath, he heard Rafe swear and lifted his glass of scotch in salute.
“How do you do that? Even on an off day,” Rafe said.
“I’m hungrier than you are,” Damien said. He felt not an ounce of satisfaction at beating his brother. “I always have been.”
“Hungry enough to go after Miss Emma Weatherfield?” Rafe asked.
Damien met Rafe’s gaze. “I’ve been hungry to survive, to succeed. Women come and go. I’m usually glad when they go.”
“But not this time,” Rafe said with a knowing glance.
Damien sighed. “You can be a real pain in the butt.”
Rafe stretched his lips in a shark like smile. “Part of my charm.” His brother moved toward him and clapped him on the back. “I think you’ve met your waterloo.”
Damien shook his head, not wanting it to be true. But it was. “She despises me. I—” He paused. “I seduced information out of her. She’ll never forgive me.”
“If she surrendered to the seduction, then she can’t totally despise you,” Rafe said.
Damien threw him a sideways glance.
“Unless you blew it in some other way.”
Damien shifted from one foot to the other.
“Like omitting the four-letter word that starts with L,” Rafe said.
“What makes you an expert?” Damien asked, feeling as if he was being fried alive.
Rafe lifted his hand. “Nothing. I’ve just heard that women really want to hear the L word. For some of them, it’s a requirement. But if she’s not a keeper, then—”
“She’s a keeper,” Damien retorted.
Silence followed and he met Rafe’s gaze again.
Rafe lifted his eyebrows. “I think you just answered your question.”
Damien sank into a leather chair and exhaled. “It’s not that easy. I screwed it up.”
“That hasn’t stopped you from succeeding with your business or anything else you’ve wanted. Why would it stop you now?”
Damien raked his fingers through his hair. “You don’t know.”
“I don’t have to,” Rafe said. “I just know that if this woman makes you feel like you found home, then you better find a way to keep her or you’ll spend the rest of your life regretting it.”
Emma pulled her Tesla Roadster into a parking spot just outside her condominium and cut the engine. Sitting for a moment, she leaned against the steering wheel and stared out the window.
A familiar restlessness rippled through her. Maybe it was time for her to leave Las Vegas. Maybe it was time for her to leave Megalos-De Luca.
The mere notion was shocking. She’d thought she would stay at MD forever, but lately she’d felt dissatisfied and unhappy. She felt like Goldilocks, except there was no “just right.”
Sighing, she dismissed her ongoing dissatisfaction and rose from her car. She had a great job with excellent pay, a fabulous car and nice friends. She had no reason to whine.
Since Damien had completed his contract with MD, she’d been reassigned to a new VP, a nice older gentleman planning to retire in two years. Her stomach no longer knotted in apprehension as she arrived at the headquarters. Her heart didn’t race. Everything was back to normal.
Emma had never thought she’d want anything but a normal, stable life until now. She missed Damien. She missed his passion. She missed his strength. She even missed his flaws.
“You can’t have him,” she whispered to herself. “So stop thinking about him.”
St
epping inside her apartment, she closed the door behind her. She heard a scratching sound and—A bark? Seconds later, a small mass of fur with long floppy ears ran toward her barking and wagging its tail.
Emma gaped at the puppy and immediately kneeled to the floor. “Who are you? And how did you get in here?”
The white-and-caramel colored spaniel jumped into her lap. How had the dog gotten into her apartment? Emma laughed as the puppy licked her chin.
“Lucky dog,” said a low, familiar voice from the doorway.
Emma’s heart stuttered. She jerked her head upward and stared at Damien as he leaned against the doorjamb. She blinked to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.
“What are you—” Her chest squeezed so tightly that she couldn’t finish her question.
“Doing here?” he finished for her and pushed away from the doorjamb, walking toward her. “Some people would say I’m a glutton for punishment, but when I find something I want, I don’t like to quit.”
Emma bit the inside of her lip. “Something?” she said.
“Someone,” he said and extended his hand.
She slid her hand in his strong, warm palm and allowed him to help her stand.
“You like your new dog?” he asked, his lips lifting in a faint smile as the puppy danced at their feet.
“Mine?” she echoed. “I work all day. I shouldn’t have a dog. It’s not fair to him.” But how could she possibly resist those eyes? she thought.
“What if you didn’t need to work all day? Or what if you could bring your dog to work?”
“MD would never go for that,” she said, giving a short laugh at the idea.
“I would,” he said. “You could come to work for me. I’d double your salary.”
Emma dropped her jaw.
“Or,” he said, carefully watching her. “You could put me out of my misery and marry me.”
Emma’s head was spinning. It took her a full moment to find her voice. “Misery?” she said.
He stepped closer and slid his fingers through her hair, tilting her head so that she could see his face, the ruthless scar and dark gaze full of passion and something far deeper. “I’ve been missing a home most of my life. Being with you makes me feel like I finally found where I belong.”
Emma’s knees weakened and she felt her eyes well with tears. “Oh, Damien,” she whispered. “I never thought this was possible. I never thought you would let me into your heart.”
“Trust me, woman. You’re in,” he said in a rough voice.
Emma saw the love shining in his eyes and felt as if she needed to pinch herself.
“You think you can go the distance with me? You turned me away before.”
Emma shook her head. “I was afraid of how much I felt for you. And then you told me to leave.”
“That was pure hell. I didn’t want you to stay because I was forcing you.”
She studied his face. “And part of the reason you decided not to go after Max—”
“Was you,” he finished for her. “It just didn’t seem as important anymore.”
Emma shook her head. “We’ve both made mistakes.”
He took a deep breath and expelled it, looking away from her. “I thought you hated me.”
“I thought I should,” she said, feeling a deep stab of pain even as she said the words. “I hated myself for trying to deceive you.”
“I understood.”
Emma felt her throat knot and her eyes sting with unshed tears. If he’d come back after she’d turned him away, then she needed to bare her heart to him. It was only fair. “You’re an amazing man. I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the line, you became my soulmate, my rescuer. Somewhere along the line you made me belong to you.”
His nostrils flared as he drew in another breath. “Amazing, huh. Amazing enough for you to marry me?”
Her heart stopped. “Do you love me?”
He closed his eyes for a moment and her heart seemed to sink into the floor.
“I don’t know much about love, but I know I love you. More than my life. More than I ever thought possible.”
Emma couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. “Oh, Damien.” She slid her arms around the back of his neck, craving his closeness. “We could have given up on each other. The thought of it terrifies me.”
“It wouldn’t have happened. If I couldn’t convince you, then I hoped the dog would.” His gaze turned serious. “More than anything, I wanted to hear you say you believe in me.”
“I do,” she said, lifting her hand to his cheek. “I’ll believe in you for the rest of our lives.”
Damien pulled her off her feet against him. “And I love you. Lord, you feel good. How do you feel about getting married in Vegas?”
She smiled, feeling giddy. “Anywhere is good.”
“And how do you feel about a honeymoon in Italy?”
She drew back slightly to look into his face. His lips turned up at the edges and his eyes glinted with happiness. “I talked with Max. He did some research into the dirty deal his grandfather did with mine and he has set aside a cottage for the Medici family forever.”
Stunned, she stared at him. “You’re kidding.”
He shook his head. “He’s a stand-up guy just like you said.”
“You’re the most stand-up guy I’ve ever met,” she said, thinking of how many times he had already come through for her. She was the luckiest woman in the world.
“I love you,” he said simply. “And I’ll spend the rest of my life making your wishes come true.”
“I love you, too.” She knew, with all her heart, that he was telling the truth. She also knew, with all her heart, that her biggest wish had just come true.
The End
About the Author
LEANNE BANKS
is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author who is surprised every time she realizes how many books she has written. Leanne loves chocolate, the beach and new adventures. To name a few, Leanne has ridden on an elephant, stood on an ostrich egg (no, it didn’t break), gone parasailing and indoor skydiving. Leanne loves writing romance because she believes in the power and magic of love. She lives in Virginia with her family and her Pomeranian named Bijou. Visit her Web site at www.leannebanks.com.
Other books by Leanne Banks:
The Five-Minute Bride
We Need A Little Christmas
Sweet and Sassy: The Best Kind of Romance
Unforgettable Romances: Unforgettable Heroes
Color Me Yours By Jen Talty
Praise for Jen Talty
"Deadly Secrets is the best of romance and suspense in one hot read!" NYT Bestselling Author Jennifer Probst
"A charming setting and a steamy couple heat up the pages in an suspenseful story I couldn't put down!" NY Times and USA today Bestselling Author Donna Grant
"Jen Talty's books will grab your attention and pull you into a world of relatable characters, strong personalities, humor, and believable storylines. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll rush to get the next book she releases!" Natalie Ann USA Today Bestselling Author
"I positively loved In Two Weeks, and highly recommend it. The writing is wonderful, the story is fantastic, and the characters will keep you coming back for more. I can't wait to get my hands on future installments of the NYS Troopers series." Long and Short Reviews
"In Two Weeks hooks the reader from page one. This is a fast paced story where the development of the romance grabs you emotionally and the suspense keeps you sitting on the edge of your chair. Great characters, great writing, and a believable plot that can be a warning to all of us." Desiree Holt, USA Today Bestseller
"Dark Water delivers an engaging portrait of wounded hearts as the memorable characters take you on a healing journey of love. A mysterious death brings danger and intrigue into the drama, while sultry passions brew into a believable plot that melts the reader's heart. Jen Talty pens an entertaining romance that grips the heart as the colorful and
dangerous story unfolds into a chilling ending." Night Owl Reviews
"This is not the typical love story, nor is it the typical mystery. The characters are well rounded and interesting." You Gotta Read Reviews
"Murder in Paradise Bay is a fast-paced romantic thriller with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end. You won't want to miss this one..." USA Today bestselling author Janice Maynard
Book Description
Kennedy Monroe lost her boyfriend to her best friend. Or maybe her best friend to her boyfriend. It didn’t matter. All she had left was her job, and she’d be damned if she was going to lose that too. So when her boss asks her for a favor, she’s not about to say no.
Except, she didn’t know the favor included pretending to be his girlfriend in front of his parents.
Hawk Jefferson was tired of his parents constantly trying to marry him off to their rich friends’ daughters. He was nearly forty years old, and he was more than happy to spend the rest of his life as a bachelor. The last thing he wanted was a wife and a bunch of babies. In order to keep them off his back, he told them he’d been dating his assistant for the last six months. So, when they decided to take a last-minute trip to spend the weekend with him and his girlfriend, Hawk had to take drastic measures.
Except, he never anticipated he’d fall in love, much less want to settle down and give his parents the grandchild they’ve always wanted.
Only, getting Kennedy on board with that plan seems to be harder than anticipated.
Prologue