A Million Guilty Pleasures: Million Dollar Duet (26 page)

“Turn it off,” I told Mason, who did so as quickly as he could, but not before the scene where I burst through the door and grabbed David to throw him off my girl.

“Kickboxing accident, huh?” Scott asked. “Dude, you’re sick. I can’t believe you did that.”

“Oh, don’t act all self-righteous with me, you prick!”

“What the bloody hell have you done now?” A new voice entered the conversation, and we all whipped around toward the sound. Harrison Stone stood in the doorway with that authoritative look that said we were all in trouble.

In front of his iconic father, David gaped like a fish out of water. “Pop, it’s not what it looks like.”

Harrison waved his cane at his son. “Oh, save it. I already saw everything. Drugs, whores, attempted rape … Jesus, son. What do you do for an encore?”

“I, um …” David paused for several seconds then finally closed his mouth. No way was he going to be able to talk his way out of this one.

I wished I could’ve claimed Harrison’s early arrival as part of my plan, but I couldn’t. As Robert Burns said, the best-laid schemes of mice and men often go awry. Sometimes we just need to leave it all up to the universe to right the wrongs.

Just then Harrison turned toward me, a wide smile on his face, and took my hand in a firm grip. “Noah, my boy! How the hell are ya?”

I couldn’t help the affection I felt for the man. He was my father’s partner, his best friend, and he was family. How he had spawned someone as devilish as David was beyond me.

“I’m good, Harry,” I answered, and because I just couldn’t resist, I added, “Finally met the woman of my dreams and somehow managed to convince her to be my wife.”

The look on David’s face was priceless. He hadn’t heard about our impending nuptials.

“Well, ain’t that a kick in the pants! Congratulations, son!” Harrison clapped me on the back a couple of times, and his strength would’ve knocked me on my ass had he not had a death grip on my hand still. “I damn sure better be on that guest list,” he warned.

Then he said more soberly, “It’s no secret my boy’s been trying to pry your parents’ legacy from your hands. I haven’t exactly been an avid supporter of that, but he’s got a thick skull,” he said, knocking on his own. “Can’t get a lick of sense through to him.”

David growled in frustration. “You founded this company. It’s my legacy, too.”

“Shut up, boy. Noah senior and I founded this company together. It was all
his
idea. And I can see you’re busting at the seams wanting to tattle something on Noah, but I think I’ll let him tell on himself.” He turned back to me. “What’s he got on you, kid?”

As embarrassed as I was to admit the truth, I knew it would eventually come out anyway. Better it be to Harrison than to the whole board, shaming the memory of my parents.

“I bought a virgin, and then I fell in love with her.” The admission was quick, like yanking off a Band-Aid. And you know what? It didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would.

Harrison didn’t look thrilled, but he didn’t look disappointed, either. Kind of indifferent, in fact. He shrugged.

“And?”

“And isn’t that enough?”

“Let me ask you something, son. Is she worth all this?” He waved his cane around, indicating the shit I was having to put up with from his son.

“Yes, sir, she is,” I said, meaning it. I’d endure David Stone on a daily basis for her if I had to. And then it clicked, as if I’d just put the last piece of the puzzle into place. I
didn’t
have to. Lanie was all that mattered. My happiness was the only thing my parents ever wanted for me. And it was probably something David Stone would never have. With that realization fresh in my mind, I turned to David. “You can have—”

“Hold on, now,” Harrison said, interrupting me. “Don’t be so quick to throw in the towel, Noah.”

“What are you doing, old man?” David asked, flabbergasted. “You don’t have a say in any of this.”

“The hell I don’t. I still control those shares when you get
right down to it. All it takes is an announcement from me to the board and you’re out of here. You’re an embarrassment to the company, and you’re an embarrassment to me. I won’t stand for your shenanigans any longer. Grow the hell up.”

Harrison leaned over the table and took the contract from a stunned David, who couldn’t react fast enough to stop him. He looked it over for only a second before handing it to me.

“Do you have any other copies?” he asked David, who did nothing but shake his head. “Good.” Then he turned toward Scott. “Why the hell are you still here?”

“I have a stake in all this, it seems.”

“And what would that be?”

Scott nodded toward Mason’s laptop. “A video that can never see the light of day. If it does, me and your son are dead.”

“If I can guarantee it won’t, will you swear not to ever have anything to do with my son again?”

“I can do that. I don’t want any trouble. I have my own business to tend to.”

Harrison turned to me with his brows raised in a question. I nodded my acquiescence. I wasn’t going to get everything I wanted out of the deal. As long as I had Lanie safe and sound, I’d let karma handle the rest.

“The video will be destroyed. Now get out of here, you’re stinking up the place.”

Scott wasted no time finding his way out. I didn’t blame him. Harrison had this Clint Eastwood type of way about him that dared you to overstay your welcome.

“It seems the scales are now all tipped in your favor, Noah,” he said, turning back to me. “What is it that you’d like to do now?”

“He bought a
whore
!” David yelled, clearly agitated by the turn of events.

Harrison lifted his cane to silence him. “One more word and I’ll disown you.” He turned back to me. “Noah?”

I looked up at the ceiling, seeing way past that to whatever great beyond was out there. This was for my parents. All of it. Because of the relationships they had forged in life, they were still looking out for me even in death. I would not allow their memory to be tainted, and that included their legacy.

I dropped my head to see David Stone in a whole new light. I almost felt sorry for him. Though his father was one of the greatest men I’d ever know, David had never seized the opportunity to learn from him. But he’d threatened everything I held most dear, so I couldn’t pity him.

“Listen to me, David,” I seethed quietly. “Not only do I have the ability to release your little personal porno to the public and destroy you, but that video shows evidence of drug
and
human trafficking, and let’s not forget the other video of an attempted rape. You could spend a very long time in prison.”

Dez leaned in and added, “And FYI, a big Mexican named Chavez already has you on reserve, bitch.”

Harrison had apparently just noticed her for the first time, but judging by the look on his face, he was impressed. Dez had that effect on people. No doubt he’d be asking her out.

The expression on David’s face reminded me of a cornered rat who had nowhere to run, no hole to dive into. “What do you want?” he spat through clenched teeth, clearly not liking the fact he had no other option than to admit defeat.

I gave him the same smug smile he had been wearing every
day since I’d found him in my bathroom with Julie. And then I metaphorically reached out and snatched the little bit of cheese his tiny paws had been clutching. “Not much, just your half of the company. Seems like a small price to pay for your freedom. Don’t you think?”

“How do I know you won’t expose the videos anyway?”

“You don’t,” I answered truthfully. “But as much as it pains me to do so, I give you my word. As long as you hold up your end of the bargain, I’ll hold up mine. You can thank Delaine for that. She’s far more forgiving than I could ever be.”

“Or me,” Dez interjected.

“What’s it going to be, Stone?” I asked.

“Fine. It’s yours. It’s all yours,” he conceded.

“Meeting adjourned,” I mumbled triumphantly, and then led Dez and Mason out of the boardroom so I could go collect my winnings.

David’s half of the company was only an added benefit. Delaine was the real prize—one I had every intention of savoring, and none whatsoever of squandering.

“I still can’t believe it’s really over,” Lanie said from the passenger seat of my Lamborghini as we drove down I-55 toward Hillsboro.

It had been nearly a week since the board meeting, and with all the drama we’d survived, we needed a break. Hillsboro was quiet enough to afford us that break while also allowing Lanie a visit with her parents. She thought we were going to get a hotel room. I didn’t make her think any differently.

“It’s over, kitten.” I brought our joined hands to my lips and kissed her bare left ring finger before giving her a crooked grin.

“Aw, there’s the cottage,” Lanie said when we came upon it.

When I released her hand so I could downshift and pull into the driveway, her brow furrowed—until she saw the expression on my face and knew I was remembering the last time we had been there.

“Noah, no. We’re not about to do that again.”

I said nothing as I opened my door and got out of the car. When I walked around to her side and opened the door, she had her arms crossed over her chest defiantly. “No, Noah. We can have all the sex you want at the hotel, but not here, not again. We almost got caught last time.”

“We won’t get caught,” I assured her, then took her hand, pulling her from the passenger seat.

She came with me reluctantly. Linking my fingers through hers, I walked her around to the back of the house and kept going toward the pond and the gazebo.

“What are you doing? Are you insane?” She was frantically searching our surroundings for any evidence that the neighbors had seen us.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.” I pulled her up onto the gazebo step and walked over to the swing. “And it’s your fault. You make me crazy.”

I turned her so that her back was to the swing and lightly pushed down on her shoulders, encouraging her to sit. The sun was setting over the horizon and the orange and pink glow cast by its rays spilled over the perfect features of her face. The little family of ducks swam in an S-shaped pattern to the other
side of the pond, their quiet quacks the only sound infiltrating our surroundings.

I kneeled in front of her, noting the confused look on her face. “I want to give you everything you desire, Lanie. Past, present, and future. And I will. I feel terrible for not doing this right in the first place,” I said as I pulled the navy-blue velvet box from my pocket.

She gasped and put her fingertips to her mouth. “Oh, Noah.”

“You know, for being the future Mrs. Noah Crawford, your ring finger sure does look bare.” I smiled up at her and then opened the box to reveal her engagement ring.

It was a one-of-a-kind original, designed for one woman, but handed down to the next in what I hoped would be a very long line of tradition. Three carats of diamond clusters were set in platinum that was intricately woven in loops and swirls around a central emerald-cut sapphire. Nothing too extravagant; simplicity was its allure.

I took it from the box and reached for her shaking hand with a smile. “It was my mother’s, and now I’d like for it to be yours.”

I slipped it onto her finger and looked into her eyes. Tears gathered and spilled down her cheeks. Her smile was the most beautiful I’d ever seen, and I wished I’d hired a fucking artist to be there to capture the moment in all its infinite glory, forever immortalizing it in time.

I gave her a tender kiss. “I love you, Delaine Talbot.”

“I know. I love you, too,” she whispered, and then she looked down at the ring on her finger. “It’s so beautiful. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, but there’s more,” I told her with a devilish grin as I stood.

Her head snapped up. “More? What more?”

“Come on,” I said, taking her hand and pulling her to stand as well.

I felt like I was dragging her along, and I probably should’ve slowed down some so that she could keep up better, but I was too damned excited to show her the next surprise. When we reached the Lamborghini, I turned and kept going toward the front door.

“Where are you going? Someone’s going to call the police on us!” She tugged on my arm to get me to go back toward the car.

I pulled a little harder on her hand, forcing her to collide with my chest as I wrapped my arm around her. “Calm down, woman. Nobody’s going to call the police on us,” I said with a chuckle, and then I brought my hand from behind her so that she could see what I held: the key to the cottage.

It only took a second for that to register. She looked toward the front yard, finally noticing that the For Sale sign now had a Sold banner over it. “Noah, you didn’t.”

I could feel the smile tug at my cheeks, unable to not show how proud I was of myself for giving the woman I had fallen madly in love with the home of her childhood dreams. “Welcome home, Lanie.” She stood there stunned while I put the key in the lock and opened the door.

As soon as I’d returned home from dropping Lanie off at her folks’ house all those weeks ago, I’d made the deal on the cottage. It had been as good as sold, but when I offered four times the asking price, the owner had practically fallen over
himself to accept my offer. Polly took over from there. I thought for sure she was going to spill the beans to Lanie, but I was damn proud of her for managing to keep her big mouth shut. And she didn’t even go overboard on the decorating.