“I’m afraid not. She said she doesn’t want anything to do with me, or any man for that matter.” Maura wouldn’t appreciate me confiding in her father, but I needed all the help I could get. I wasn’t above using Eric’s greed to further my cause.
“Well that’s just ridiculous.” Eric frowned. “When is she going to get another chance with someone like you? Doesn’t she realize if she rejects you, she’ll be a distant memory to you by this time next week?”
I narrowed my eyes. Didn’t he realize how amazing his daughter was? “You underestimate my feelings for her, Eric. I’m not giving up just because she claims it’s a lost cause. I don’t give up that easily.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “So what’s the plan? What are you going to do to get her to come around to your way of thinking?”
“I don’t know yet. For now, I’m just going to bide my time. I have some business to tend to in town. It should keep me here for a few more days. Since she and I are living and working in the same buildings, we should run into each other from time to time.”
“That’s not good enough,” Eric said, shaking his head. “We need to create opportunities.”
“What are you talking about?” The whole situation was a little surreal to me. The same man who’d tried so hard to keep his daughter and me apart was playing our matchmaker.
What a difference money makes.
He tapped his index finger against his lips. “You said you’re living at the building?”
“Yeah, I’ll stay in that vacant unit you told me about.”
“That means you plan to come to town often?”
“If things with Maura and I work out the way I hope they will, yeah.” Even if they didn’t, I had my work cut out for me bringing her attacker to justice. I intended to be front and center every day of his trial to make sure he got what was coming to him. Besides, my parents were here, and when the truth came out, we would have a lot of lost time to make up for.
“Oh, things will work out for you two, I can promise you that.”
I rolled my eyes, not caring whether he was offended by the gesture. “You can’t convince her to feel something she doesn’t.”
“You underestimate my influence over my daughter. You forget I was the one who convinced her to give Jeff a chance.”
I was getting pissed. “Yeah, and look how well that turned out. I think you need to back off and let me handle this my own way.”
“Okay, so tell me what your plan is.”
“I don’t have one yet. I’m still working on it.”
“It’s not enough for you to simply be where she is. She’ll ignore you. She’s good at that.”
I could tell the wheels were already turning in that manipulative mind of his. While I suspected I may regret it, I asked, “What do you suggest I do, Eric?”
“You need to spend time with her.”
“No shit.”
He frowned at my response. “You need to furnish that apartment, you know. It’s empty right now.”
“I know. I’ve got a call into Rosen’s. They’re sending one of their consultants over to have a look at the place a little later. They said they should be able to fix me up within a day or two.”
“No, no, no,” Eric said, shaking his head. “That’s a missed opportunity.”
“What are you talking about?” I was tired of his games. I preferred my interactions to be direct, and if anyone played games, it was usually me.
“I’ll tell Maura to go with you to select furniture as a personal favor to me. She’s very good at that sort of thing.”
“What makes you think she’ll go along with it?”
“She doesn’t know that I know about the two of you, and she wouldn’t want to raise any red flags. She’ll go along with it.”
I felt a little guilty conspiring with Maura’s father, but all was fair in love and war, and she was the one who’d thrown down the gauntlet. “Okay, that could work. Later today?”
Eric looked at his watch. “Now. You can take her to lunch.”
“How do you know she doesn’t have any appointments booked?”
“I checked with her assistant before I came down here. I wanted to take her out for lunch, to get a feel for how she was handling the Jeff thing and let her know her mother and I would always be there to support her.”
“I’m sure she would appreciate that.” I knew how important family was to Maura. Her parents were probably the reason we weren’t married. Acknowledging that only renewed my dislike for the man sitting across from me, but I couldn’t deny I needed his help, so I’d just have to suck it up and let him work his magic with Maura.
“Good, I’ll go talk to her now. I’ll tell her to come down here when we’re done.” He paused with his hand on the doorknob. “You said you’re going to be in town for a few days at least?”
“Yeah, why?”
“My wife and I would love to have you to the house for dinner tomorrow night to celebrate the sale of our properties. Let’s make it casual, a barbeque, and bring your swim trunks. I’ll make sure Maura’s there too.”
The thought of going back to the house where it had all started was daunting. Could I really continue this façade with all those memories rushing back to the surface? I had no choice but to respond, “Sure, that sounds great, Eric. Thanks for the invite.”
***
Maura stood in the doorway of my office twenty minutes later, her arms crossed and her beautiful face twisted in annoyance. “You’re such an ass.”
I grinned as I laced my hands behind my head and tipped my swivel chair back. “Well, hello to you too, angel. Long time, no see.”
“My father just left my office. He tried to guilt me into taking you furniture shopping and to lunch!” She tapped her high heel on the hardwood floor. “I don’t appreciate being railroaded, Walsh.”
She was so cute when she was angry. “If it makes you feel better, lunch is on me.”
“It doesn’t make me feel better!” She stepped inside and closed the door when two men wearing suits halted their conversation to look at her. “I told you this morning how I feel. Why can’t you accept that?”
“I’m not very good at conceding defeat, angel. It’s not in my nature.” I scrolled through the messages on my phone, pretending I wasn’t fully engaged.
“So you admit you’re just doing this to prove a point?”
“I never said that.” I looked at her, smiling. “I just said I don’t like to lose. In this case, losing out on an opportunity to be with you… that would be hell.”
She closed her eyes. Her chest rose and fell when she took several deep breaths. “Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Say things… that…” She groaned. “Make me want to… kiss you.”
“I like the sound of that.” I wiggled my eyebrows as I patted my thighs. “Come, sit here.”
“I didn’t say I was going to kiss you,” she said, her lips quirking in amusement. “Just that sometimes you make it hard not to.”
“I’ll take it.” It sounded a hell of a lot better than where we’d started the day.
“Come on, let’s go pick out some furniture. If you’re determined to stick around and be a pain in the ass, you might as well do it in style.” She reached into her purse when her phone buzzed. “Though I’d like to go on record as saying I don’t care whether you sit on orange crates and sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor.”
I loved her spirit. It was adorable she didn’t intend to go down without a fight, but surrender she would, because one way or another, I intended to make her mine. I was just about to tell her so when I saw her expression. All trace of amusement from our playful banter was gone.
“What is it, sweetheart?”
“Apparently the word’s out that Jeff and I are through.”
“So?”
“People are saying it’s my fault, that I dumped him because I’m sleeping with you.”
I curled my hand into a fist. “You think he’s behind this?”
She covered her eyes with her free hand. “Who else? God, I don’t need this right now. My business was just getting on track. The last thing I need is negative publicity.”
“We warned that son of a bitch.” I leapt out of my chair, keys in hand. “I told him if he messed with you, there would be consequences. He’s about to find out I don’t make empty threats.”
Maura grabbed my arm as I walked past her. “Blaise, don’t. He’s not worth it. Honestly, I’m just glad to be rid of him.”
“You can’t let him get away with this. He was the one fucking around.”
“So was I.” She ran a hand down my chest before letting it fall to her side. “Am I really any better than him?”
“You weren’t out screwing male strippers every night.”
“I still cheated,” she said, looking at her shoes.
“Please don’t beat yourself up about that.” I hated to see her torturing herself when her douchebag ex had no regrets. “It was one night.” I tilted her chin with my thumb and index finger. “It’s not like you’d ever cheated on anyone before.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I know you.”
So well.
“I know you’re not the type to cheat.” I was ashamed that I’d once accused her of cheating. With the wisdom of years behind me, I could see how ridiculous that accusation was. She’d loved me. She would never have shared her body with anyone else.
“Why do you always see the best in me?” She gripped my wrists when I reached for her face. “You don’t even know me, yet you’re so sure you’ve got me all figured out.”
“I’m a good judge of character.”
She laughed as she let her hands drop to her sides. “I wish I could say the same. Right now, nothing in my life makes sense. I feel like everything is a lie. Jeff just reinforced my belief that this relationship thing isn’t going to work out for me.”
She was singing the same tune as last night, and I wanted to silence it once and for all. I captured her mouth with mine as I held her face. The kiss was slow and thorough, intimate and sexy. I licked the inside of her mouth until I felt her heat through her thin silk blouse.
“You can’t tell me that was a lie,” I whispered, skimming my moist lips over hers as she struggled to open her eyes. “That was the truth. The only truth that matters.”
Gripping my biceps as though she needed something solid to hold on to, she shook her head. “You’re wrong. That was just… chemistry. We’re attracted to each other.”
Open your eyes. We were fucking made for each other.
“If that were true, we’d have had our fill of each other by now. We’d have satisfied our curiosity, satiated that craving. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungrier for you now than I was before I got you into bed.”
“God,” she said, dropping her head onto my chest. “What the hell am I doing with you? I must be out of my mind.”
I kissed the crown of her head. She was letting me touch her, letting me kiss her, agreeing to spend time with me. For now, that was enough. “Let’s hit the stores, shall we? I have a black card burning a hole in my pocket.”
She smiled. “Hmmm, I’ve never shopped without a budget before. I hate to admit it, but this could be kind of fun.”
I wrapped her arm around mine as I led her out of the office. “Trust me, it will be fun. I’ll even let you drive.”
She grinned. “Now you’re talking.”
***
After a six-figure shopping spree at the most exclusive furniture store in town, we’d both worked up quite an appetite. We were sitting in a booth at a restaurant that was a fine dining staple in town, one I couldn’t have afforded to buy a soft drink at years ago. A table of silver-haired ladies turned to look at us, whispering and shaking their heads in disgust.
I threw them a dirty look before asking Maura, “What the hell is that about?”
“I told you, everyone thinks I’m to blame for our breakup. Those women represent gossip central. I’m sure by now they’ve told everyone Jeff is the victim and I’m—”
I got up, throwing my napkin on the chair.
Maura reached for my arm. “What are you doing? Please, Blaise, don’t embarrass me. I have to live in this town.”
“That’s exactly why I intend to put these rumors to rest once and for all.” No one was going to disrespect Maura in my presence.
I approached the women, smiling at each one of them. They gaped at me as though they couldn’t believe I had the nerve to approach them.
With one hand on my stomach and the other on the back of a chair, I said, “Allow me to introduce myself. My name’s Blaise Walsh—”
“We know who you are,” a lady with a red hat said, touching her napkin to the corners of her mouth. “And we know what you are—a home-wrecker. Jeff and Maura were perfectly happy together until you swept into town making all kinds of promises to her.”
I smiled. I’d long ago learned diplomacy would get me further than losing my temper, especially with people who deemed themselves superior to me. “I appreciate that you’re entitled to your opinion, but having all the facts might help you make an informed decision about the situation.”
“We’re listening,” Red Hat said, pursing her painted lips. “But you’d better make it quick. Our soup’s on the way.”
The only reason I was wasting my time on them was because they represented gossip central, and anything I said to them would make the rounds by dinner. “I met Maura when she planned an event for me. She”—I glanced at Maura, who was trying so hard to pretend she wasn’t eavesdropping as she scanned her phone—“literally took my breath away.” I chuckled. “Believe me, that was a first. I’ve been a bachelor a long time.” Touching the shoulder of the oldest lady in the group, I turned the charm up a notch. “Many would say too long.”
She smiled at her friends. “Sounds like my grandson. I’m always after him to find a nice girl and settle down.”
“Ah, but it’s not that easy. Sometimes you could search the world over and never find your soul mate.” When I knew I had them captivated, I pulled up a chair from a neighboring table. “I’ve been all over this world, ladies. Dated more women than I care to admit, but something about Maura drew me in from the first time I laid eyes on her.”
“Really?” Red Hat asked, propping her elbow on the table as she leaned in. “That’s so romantic.”
The other women giggled, nodding in agreement.
“I knew she was engaged and that it was wrong, but I couldn’t help myself. I had to see her again. That’s why I came to town. Still, she wanted nothing to do with me. She told me she intended to follow through with her plans to marry your district attorney.”