Forever Branded (Billionaire Love Series #1) (26 page)

“I can think of other ways to persuade you.”

“I’m sure you could. But I’m not interested in hearing about them.”

His face was inches from mine. “You’re free to leave at any time.”

I leaned back, out of his kissing range. “Sounds great. Just call off your dogs and I’ll be out of your hair.”

“Now why would I do that?”

“Because you’re putting me in a bad situation, and I don’t like being backed into a corner.”

“You’re willing to risk your salon?” he asked.

“I’ll build another.”

“I’ll shut that one down, too.”

“So it was you? Are you confessing to the crime?”

He smiled mysteriously. “I have no need to confess to anything.”

“So what are you asking? Am I supposed to be your mistress? Another notch in your bedpost?

“That could be arranged.”

“You don’t need sex from me, Beau. You’ve got girls lining up, waiting to spend the night with you.”

“You’re right. I have any woman I want eating out of my hand, except one.”

It was time to lay it on the line as I gazed into his cocky gaze. “That’s right. You may throw your big boy weight around, but you’ll never break me, Beau Shepard,” I said, leaning closer to his face. “I know you want to hurt me badly, but my salon isn’t just about me. You’d be hurting my sister, my clients, and you would take jobs away from my employees who use their salaries to feed their children. I have to believe some part of you is decent and you would never do anything to hurt those who are innocent. Don’t give in to your dark side. Be the good guy, Beau. Use your power for good.”

His glance flickered with the truth of my words. He obviously hadn’t thought of the consequences of his revenge. “You’ve thought this through.”

“It wasn’t hard to figure out what you wanted.”

Determination flashed in his blue eyes. “This isn’t over.”

“I would be disappointed if it were. Oh and here’s some food for thought, if you’d asked nicely, I would’ve gladly slept with you.” I sensually dragged my fingers down my chest and across my torso. “All this...yours. Just think, right now, we could be naked, rubbing up against each other as my mouth found its way around your delicious cock.”

His eyes tracked my lips, letting me know I had fired up his imagination. “That can still be arranged.”

I yawned and stretched. “The moment’s passed. I’m tired. Now get out of this limo, so I can go home.”

“I could force you to walk home from the middle of nowhere.”

“Yes, you could. But you won’t.”

“How do you know?”

I smiled warmly. “Because in your heart, you’ll always be a gentleman who couldn’t live with himself if he left a woman stranded on the side of the road.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Beau:

Damn it.

Marla left me in that cornfield, alone with my thoughts and a hard dick.

Being near her, looking that hot, almost brought me to my knees. Her dirty words were still running through my brain as I replayed all the hot times we used to have. Smearing that pretty mouth of hers across my body would keep me up tonight, dreaming of nailing her good.

The biggest surprise of the evening was the way she had anticipated my every move. She had an answer for everything. Her salon was supposed to be insurance, a sure way to keep leverage over her head and get her to agree to my demands.

But I hadn’t expected her to fight back so brilliantly.

Shit.

She still knew me well, pushing on my soft spots as she reminded me who I would be hurting. Damn it, I didn’t like that she made me think about other people.

Fuck, what the hell was I going to do now?

*****

Waking up after a fight was always painful. My body ached, no matter which way I moved in the sheets. I rolled out of bed, feeling stiff as a board as I walked toward the bathroom.

A hot shower would make a world of difference.

I let the water run over me, as hot as I could stand it. Steam filled the bathroom as my muscles gradually loosened up. When I could move again, I turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist.

I surveyed the damage as I cleaned the steam off the mirror.

I was getting too old for this shit.

I had several bruises on my mid-section, another right above my kidneys. I was also sporting a shiner and a busted lip.

There was no use hiding my fight.

But I didn’t really care.

Fighting made me feel alive in a way nothing had since I’d been with Marla.

Swallowing that thought, I grabbed a pair of blue sweats and put them on before heading out of my bedroom.

“Julie is here, sir,” Reeves informed me as I walked out into the great room.

“Great. Is she set up outside?”

“Yes, just as you requested.”

Massage was part of my recovery process, to rid my body of all the built up lactic acid.

“Thanks for coming over, Julie,” I said as I walked through the sliding glass doors onto the cedar wrap-around deck.

She gave me a friendly smile. “Sure thing, Beau. I’m happy to help.”

She was a pretty brunette with a nice body. I’d toyed with seducing her, but decided she looked too much like Marla. I definitely did not want to go there. For now, I was happy to let her work on me as I climbed onto the massage table and felt Julie’s talented hands knead my muscles, relieving more of my pain.

I sighed and settled in as my thoughts drifted to the previous night.

I didn’t want to admit that Marla was right.

She was still as feisty as ever, playing me on a tight string. I thought I had her, but my gut flinched when she brought up her employees.

She was right. I couldn’t let my need for revenge hurt other people.

I had already informed the Health Inspector to back off and rescind his investigation. I was just going to have to find another way to make her pay.

After my massage, I dressed and drove over to see Charly. He was always a nice diversion and I enjoyed his company.

“Hey, Bubba!” Charly said as he answered the door to his apartment.

“Hey, Pops!” I said, giving him a big hug.

Charly was approaching seventy-five. He had aged well over the years, his face craggy and kind, with the same twinkle in his blue eyes.

“Come in, come in!” he offered, opening the door wide into a sunny and bright apartment.

With high ceilings and lots of windows, it looked more like a luxury hotel suite than an assisted-living apartment with a state of the art kitchen he never used and a cheery tangerine color on the walls.

He shuffled toward his beige over-stuffed lazy boy and sat back down as I took a seat across from him in a yellow high back chair.

“What’s on the menu for lunch today?” I asked, knowing he was eager to tell me.

He grinned in excitement. “Stew, French bread, and rice pudding.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” He pointed at my face. “I see you had a fight last night. Did you win?”

“I did.”

“You don’t look very happy about it.”

“Just got a lot on my mind.”

“Like what?”

I plucked at a string on the arm of the chair I was sitting on. “I ran into Marla the other day.”

He sat forward in his chair. “Really?”

“Yeah, she was at a charity function I attended.” I wasn’t about to tell my granddad I’d seen her multiple times since, and was trying to make her pay for what she’d done to me.

“How did that go?”

“Not good.” I rubbed my face with my hands, trying to erase Marla’s face from my mind as I stared at the beige carpet.

“It’s okay to admit you still love her.” His voice was gentle.

My head shot up. “It’s not okay, Pops.”

“She’s the one for you. You’ve been running from that girl for too many years now.”

I scoffed. “Not true. I was ready to marry that girl when she broke up with me.”

“I know you were. But you can forgive her and build something new.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you still love her,” he pointed out.

“It’s not enough, Pops.”

“Maybe you should talk to her before you rule anything out.”

“Every time I talk to her, things just get twisted up and out of control.”

“She makes you feel, son. She moves you. I had that with your grandmother, God bless her soul.”

“You did?” I asked in surprise.

My memories of my grandma were fuzzy. She died when I was six.

“Your grandmother was a spitfire. But I loved her fiercely. I think that’s why your dad is so cold. He doesn’t want to feel anything that would make him lose control.”

I shrugged, playing it cool. “That’s an interesting thought.”

“Marla’s a good girl and she deserves to be treated better than whatever you’re doing to her. You should talk to her, son, and get the whole story.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because there are always two sides to every story and you don’t know her side. It might be worth knowin’ is all I’m saying.”

“I’ll think about it, Pops,” I said, trying to satisfy him. “But I doubt I’ll change my mind.”

“You never know, son. You just gotta open your mind a bit.”

“Since when have you been open-minded?”

“I always am when it comes to love, and I don’t want to see you suffer, son. You deserve a chance at happiness.”

“You think I could be happy with Marla?” I asked, trying to disguise my bitterness.

He studied me thoughtfully. “I do. If you’ll let yourself wade through the past to get her side of things, I think you’ll be very surprised.”

“No, Pops. I’m not wrong about what happened. She dumped me when she couldn’t hack the distance between Baltimore and Toronto. Simple. End of story.”

He just shook his head. “If it’s that simple, why are we talking about it twenty years later?”

What did he know that I didn’t?

Why was he on Marla’s side?

“I don’t know, Pops. I just don’t know.”

“You don’t have to know, you just have to be open to the possibility.”

“You need to stop taking all those new age classes that talk about this universe shit,” I teased.

He winked at me. “Now, why would I do that? There are lots of lovely ladies who love that I’m open minded.”

I couldn’t help but grin at his cheeky tone.

“Good, I’ve got you smiling. Now, let me see if I can make you to laugh. Have you heard the one about the Irishman, American, and Englishman who go into a bar?”

I laughed, thinking about the funny way he told the joke. “You told me that one last time.”

“Wanna hear it again?”

“Nope, I remember it well. It was a good joke, Pops.”

“You bet your patootie it is.”

I chuckled again, enjoying his colorful expression. We talked a little longer and I promised to visit him the following week.

I headed down to the first floor. As I got off the elevator and checked my phone for messages, my name was yelled across the quiet lobby.

“Beau Shepard!”

I turned, staring at a guy I hadn’t seen in a long time. Chad Chilton, the eternal frat boy, was waving at me.

“Hey, man! How are you?” I asked as we met at the front door and shook hands.

“I’m good. Been working out.” He smiled and patted his big belly.

I laughed. “I can tell.” He hadn’t changed much since high school, but his face and body were bloated by years of partying too hard.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I’m just visiting my granddad.  You?”

“Yeah, I come see my grandma every Sunday,” he confessed good-naturedly.

“That’s good, man. It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen you.”

“I know. Do you remember all those parties I used to throw at my parents’ house?” he asked.

“Oh god, man! We had some major parties back in the day.”

He wiggled his dark brows up and down. “From what I hear you still do.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I still know how to throw a good party.”

“Can you hook me up with tickets to a game sometime?” he asked, his brown eyes bright with excitement.

“Sure. Call the front office and they’ll get you squared away.”

“Cool. Thanks, dude. I always knew you would do awesome.”

“Thanks, man. I’ll see you around.” I walked out, thinking about the last time I’d gone to Chad’s house in high school.

It had been one of those awesome nights where I thought I was unstoppable.