High Stakes (16 page)

“What did you say to that?”

“I told him I was filing for divorce and
would have the papers to him by the end of the week.” An image of Liam and the
look of disappointment on his face when she made that announcement flashed
through her mind, and she wished she could rewrite those few minutes of their
history. She was surprised when she realized that was the only thing she would
change.

“Are you sure that’s what you want? Maybe
he has the right idea. Perhaps you should give it a little more time before you
decide where to go from here.”

“I don’t know.” She moaned. “I’m just so
confused.” She glanced out the huge window overlooking the expansive grounds.
Night fell hours ago, and she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened
between her father and Liam. Had he finally consented to the divorce, with her
father’s coaxing? The thought left a knot of tension in her stomach that told
her she wasn’t ready to make that decision yet.

Sierra admired the ring on her daughter’s
left hand. “It’s beautiful. It looks a lot like—”

“Nana’s ring, I know.” She smiled at the
memory. “Liam spotted me looking at it in the window of the jewelry store. I
told him how much I liked it and how much it reminded me of nana’s ring, and
next thing I know…” She held up her hand, unable to suppress the smile tugging
at her lips. “I’m wearing it. Clearly my husband knows nothing about
self-restraint.”

The word
husband
sounded so foreign
on her lips, but not distasteful. She rolled it around in her mind, trying to
get used to it. Liam Bryson was her husband. She wasn’t Alisa Turner anymore.
She was Mrs. Alisa Bryson now. She had to admit, it had a nice ring to it.

“It sounds like he’d do just about anything
to make you happy. Men like that are a rare find.”

“I know.”

Alisa couldn’t help but think of Nick. His
desires had always overshadowed hers. It was difficult to admit that she ever
thought she was in love with a man who’d proven to be so self-absorbed. Maybe
Liam was right; she was too inexperienced to think about forever when she met
Nick and agreed to be his wife. But a few years and a broken heart bought her
some valuable life experience that would serve her well this time around. She
wasn’t as trusting with Liam as she was with Nick, but was she forcing him to
pay for another man’s sins?

“Honey, I don’t want to get too personal,
but this could be a factor if you do decide to end the marriage. Was it…
consummated?”

Though she and her mother were close, they
hadn’t talked about sex since Alisa was a teenager and her mother warned her
about the importance of protection. “Um, yes.”

“Did you have too much to drink last night?
Did he take advantage of the situation to—”

“No! It was nothing like that.” She forced
herself to draw a breath to calm down. She hadn’t expected to instinctively need
to defend Liam. “If anything, he was trying to get me to slow down. He kept
asking me if I was sure it was what I wanted. He even tried to walk away.” She
thought about the panic she felt when she saw him preparing to step on the
elevator and she realized her chance to become his wife was slipping away.

She’d woken up that morning blaming Liam
for what happened, but in the hours since, she had to admit to herself that she
wanted it as much, maybe even more than he did. “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean
to snap at you. It’s just that I don’t want you guys to blame him. This wasn’t
his fault.” That morning, Alisa was so sure her marriage was a mistake, but the
more she thought about it, the more it began to feel like fate brought them
together for a reason.

The front door slammed and Alisa winced.

“Sounds like your father’s home,” Sierra
whispered. She got up and met Trey in the entrance to the family room. “Hey,
hon, how was your flight?”

“Uneventful, just the way I like it.” He
gave Sierra a hug and kiss before gesturing toward their daughter. “You mind if
I have a word with her? We still need to talk about a few things.”

“Of course. I’ll just be in the kitchen if
you need me.” Sierra turned toward her daughter. “
Grease
is on TV in a
few minutes. You wanna spend the night?”

The thought of doing something as mundane
as pigging out on junk food with her mother, watching one of their favorite old
movies, and curling up in her childhood bed was exactly what Alisa needed to
soothe her battered soul and aching head, but she needed to find out where
things stood with her father first. “Maybe.” She glanced at Trey out of the
corner of her eye, trying to read his mood. “Can I let you know in a bit?”

Sierra winked. “I’ll prepare the snack
tray, just in case.”

Trey settled in on the sectional beside
her. “So, I met your husband today…” He cringed dramatically. “Sorry, that’s
gonna take some gettin’ used to.”

She smiled. At least he seemed to be in
better spirits than he had earlier. “How did it go?”

“I went there determined to hate him. I was
gonna demand he agree to annul the marriage and leave you the hell alone.”

Alisa’s heart began to race. What if Liam
had conceded? In the face of her demands, coupled with her father’s, she could
hardly blame him. “What did he say to that?”

“We never really got that far.” Trey
smirked. “I couldn’t bring myself to hate him, as much as I wanted to.”

She allowed herself to breathe again as she
whispered, “Really?”

“Yeah, really.” Trey looked down at the
empty space on the couch between them. “This is so damn hard for me, baby. I
saw what you went through with Nick, and I don’t ever wanna see anyone hurt you
like that again.”

Alisa moved closer, settling into her
father’s arms as he stroked her hair. “I’m not five years old anymore. You
can’t threaten every bully on the playground.”

He chuckled. “Don’t I know it.” He rested
his chin on the top of her head. “I actually wanted this guy to be a bully. I
thought if he was, I’d just be able to shout him down ’til he gave in.”

“But it didn’t work out that way, huh?”

“Nah, he started talkin’ to me about his daughter,
and I knew he understood where I was comin’ from.” He drew a deep, shuddering
breath. “I don’t think he intends to hurt you, though I know there are no
guarantees. So I guess this is one of those times when I’m just gonna have to
trust you to make the right decision.”

Alisa tipped her head back, shocked that
her overbearing father actually seemed willing to wave the white flag. “Are you
serious? You’re gonna let me figure this out on my own?”

Trey smiled, but it was a smile filled with
sorrow. “You’re not a little girl anymore. You’re someone else’s wife now, and
whether you choose to stay with him or not, I couldn’t live with myself if I
knew I’d cost you a chance at happiness. I love you, baby. The only thing that
matters to me is your happiness, and if Liam’s the man you need, then I won’t
stand in your way.”

She kissed his cheek as she squeezed his
neck. “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you too, my angel. Always.”

Alisa’s week passed in a flurry of
activity. Between preparing the store and finalizing the details for the party,
she’d barely had time to think about Liam or be disappointed that he hadn’t
called since she left his hotel room six days ago. She told herself that he was
just respecting her wishes, giving her the space she claimed to need, but it
still stung. Especially late at night when she fell asleep staring at her
phone, willing it to ring. She hadn’t given him her numbers, but a man as
resourceful as Liam would find a way, if she was that important to him. It hurt
her to think he’d already resumed his busy life and relegated her to the back
of his mind.

Lena rushed through the door, her arms
overflowing with a colorful bouquet of fresh flowers.

“Honey, the florist is taking care of the
balloons and flowers. What are you doing with those?” Alisa asked, checking her
reflection in the mirror for the tenth time in the past hour. The soft blue and
lavender fabric gave the illusion of a kaleidoscope of subtle colors as it fell
in soft waves around her ankles. She thought the dress was perfect for her big
night, but now that she was less than an hour away from being placed under a
microscope by her friends, family, the press, and Tennessee’s elite, she
questioned everything from her hair to her heels.

“Some delivery guy thrust these into my
arms as I walked in,” Lena said through clenched teeth. “Apparently he couldn’t
be bothered to walk the extra few steps to do the job he’s bein’ paid to do.”
Lena turned her head to the side and sneezed. “You mind takin’ them? Something
in there’s triggering my allergies.”

“Of course,” Alisa said, rushing forward to
relieve her friend of the bouquet. Her stomach did a little flip as she
considered who the bouquet might be from. Her absentee husband, perhaps? She’d
mentioned the party to him in passing, but she hadn’t given him the details. At
least a few hastily scribbled words on a florist’s note card would let her know
he was thinking about her on her big night.

“Who’re they from?” Lena asked, reaching
for a tissue from the box behind the tall, glass sales counter. “Please tell me
they’re from that handsome hubby of yours.”

Lena, the hopeless romantic, had hassled
her friend every day about Liam, whether she’d heard from him or worked up the
nerve to call him.

“Um no, they’re not from Liam.” She tried
to quash the disappointment as she crinkled the embossed linen notecard in her
hand. “They’re from Nick. He said he’s looking forward to seeing me at the
party.”

Lena gagged. “Don’t tell me he’s gonna be
here. God, will that guy ever learn to take a hint?”

“Apparently not,” Alisa muttered. “It’s not
like I invited him. He’s probably just coming to try and rattle me. He knows I
can’t very well kick him out with press crawling all over the place, watching
our every move.”

“You think word might get back to Liam that
Nick was here with you?” Lena asked, propping her hip against the counter.

“He’s not going to be
with me
, but I
can’t very well ask him to leave, can I?”

“No, but your daddy can.” Lena laughed. “He
and Trey haven’t been in the same room together since…” Lena grimaced when she
saw the look on her friend’s face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to remind you of
that tonight of all nights.”

“It’s okay, it’s not like I can think of
him without remembering what he did.”

“I really thought being with someone new
would help you forget.”

“Maybe it would if Liam and I were actually
together. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not.”

Lena found a cleaning cloth behind the
counter and wiped away the smudge she’d created. “Have you made good on your
threat…?” She looked at Alisa out of the corner of her eye. “You know, about
the divorce papers.”

“No, I’ve been too busy to even think about
it this week.” If only that were true. As busy as she’d been, her last words to
him continued to haunt her. If he believed her when she told him she intended
to file for divorce, it was little wonder he hadn’t bothered to call. He
already assumed it was over. Why should a man as busy as Liam waste his time
fighting the inevitable?

“Maybe he hasn’t called because he was
waiting to see whether you would actually go through with the divorce. Now that
he knows you don’t intend to see it through, he might take it as a sign and
reach out to you.”

A girl could hope.
“Who knows what he’s thinking or how he’s
feeling.”

“I think the more important question is how
you’re feeling about him.”

“I don’t know.” Alisa busied herself
straightening hangers on waterfall racks as she spoke. “I hoped a little
distance would help me put things into perspective, but I’m more confused than
ever.”

“You said your dad went to see him. How did
that go?”

Lena had been as busy as Alisa all week,
preparing for the grand opening, so they had precious little time for girl
talk. “Believe it or not, I think he liked him.” She smiled. “Not that I’m
surprised. Liam can be very persuasive.”

“Obviously, he got you into bed on the
first night.” Lena snickered, but had the grace to cover her hand with her
mouth to hide her smile when Alisa glared at her. “Sorry, you know I’m only
kidding. I’ve seen his picture. I’d have done the same thing in your position.”

The night she spent with Liam still made
her feel too raw to tolerate her friend’s teasing. “His looks had nothing to do
with it.”

Lena rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

“Okay, maybe they had something to do with
it, but there’s so much more to him than that.”

“I noticed you’re still wearing your rings.
That’s got to count for something, right?”

Alisa had tried to take them off a time or
two, but it didn’t feel right. “I may, when I figure out where we stand.”

Lena propped her chin on the counter and
leaned in. “Did he agree to wear a wedding band?”