Mistress to the Beast (17 page)

You know I’m an old man and I don’t mess with technology like you young people do, but I’m sharp enough to know about caller ID. When I saw that the call had come from an H. Jamison’s house, I began to suspect what the deal was.”

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She lowered her head in shame. How stupid could she have been? She’d called from Hunter’s house. Lila should have known her father would pick up on it, but she hadn’t been thinking clearly. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because by the time I realized what was going on, it was too late to do anything about it. I’d hoped I misread the situation and it wasn’t what I think it was.”

“It was,” she whispered, wishing she could have kept the details to herself, but she began to tell him everything, glossing over the most intimate of the details, but giving him a pretty fair picture of what had happened.

When she finished telling her tale, her father pounded his fist on the table, anger entering his eyes. “Dammit!”

“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you, but I didn’t know what else to do. Please don’t hate me.”

“Baby, I could never ever hate you.” He scooted his chair next to hers and engulfed Lila in his embrace. She had no more tears in her, but being in her father’s arms was a comfort.

“I shouldn’t have lied to you.”

“No. You shouldn’t have, but my anger was directed to myself. When you were gone, I realized how much I had depended on you. I’ve said this time and time again, you’re young, pretty and have a beautiful soul. You deserve a life of your own, not to have your world revolve around me. The very fact that you would do something like this shows me I should have been more firm about you getting out more and pursuing your own interests.”

“Dad, you haven’t been a burden to me. I love you.”

“And I love you. But we both have our own lives to live and it’s unfair of me to expect you to give yours up for me, and I won’t let you anymore.”

Lila finally found the courage to meet his eyes. “Are you disappointed in me, Daddy?”

“Honestly, I’m not happy about what you did. In the future, come to me before doing something that will affect me, okay?”

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“I promise.”

“Like I said, I’ve had a lot of time to put things into perspective. I’ve allowed my life to become stagnant. You and the shop have been my life and I don’t believe that’s been healthy. Lila, while you were away, Gloria and I have gotten close and I’m thinking about asking her to marry me. I know you may think I’m rushing things, but at my age, every day is a blessing.”

“That’s wonderful. I think you two are cute together.”

He grinned. “You’re not upset?”

“Not at all. She’s a very nice lady, and I know she’s been crushing on you for a while. At least one positive thing has come of this whole mess after all. If you two got married, would she move in here?”

“I haven’t thought that far yet, but it would make sense with the store downstairs.”

“Then I should probably start looking for another place to live.”

“Honey, you will always have a home here.”

“I know, but if or when you and Mrs. Perez get married, I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to be around. You two will need some time to yourself. I know if I were recently married, I wouldn’t want my grown daughter hanging around.”

“Is there no hope for you and Hunter?”

Lila brought her head up sharply. His question took her by surprise. “What do you mean? He used me. I don’t even want to talk about him.”

“Are you sure? From what you’ve just told me, something doesn’t quite add up. A man doesn’t go from the way you described him to a jerk with the snap of the finger without there being a reason. Us guys aren’t as complicated as you women.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s over.”

“But you still love him,” he said softly.

Lila sighed. “Dad, I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Okay, baby, but you’ve always been a fighter. You always stood up for the little guy. I remember getting a call from your teacher when you were ten, and she told me you’d punched some little boy in the nose. When I came to pick you up from school and 124

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asked you why you did it, you looked me square in the eye and said, ‘Because he was picking on the smaller kids’.”

Lila laughed at the memory. She had been a bit of a firecracker back in the day.

“What does that have to do with anything, Dad?”

“You seem ready to fight for anyone else, myself included, but when it comes down to you, you don’t fight for yourself.”

“Dad―”

He held up his hand. “Hear me out, baby girl. While I want to smash this Hunter character’s face in for making such an indecent offer to you in the first place, I don’t think he’s as indifferent to you as you claimed he was. Something doesn’t add up. And anyway, you still have feelings for him. Don’t you think you owe it to yourself to find out the real reason behind his sudden about face?”

Her father might be on to something, but did she have the courage to put her heart on the line?

***

“This is getting ridiculous. You haven’t heard a word I’ve said have you?” Thomas spoke loud enough to bring Hunter out of his daze.

Hunter tore his gaze away from the painting on the wall. He hadn’t really been paying attention to much lately because his mind randomly wandered. “Huh?”

“Exactly. You can’t go on like this.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think you know. You’re letting your personal life get in the way of business again and this shit is getting old fast.”

“What do you expect me to do about it?”

“Find someone else.”

“I don’t want anyone else.”

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Thomas rolled his eyes. “Then go to her, stupid. Get down on your hands and knees and grovel if you have to, but make things right. I’m tired of you sleepwalking through the office like the world is about to end.”

“For me it did, but there’s no going back. She wanted to go home. She was missing her father and what kind of bastard would I have been to make her stay somewhere she didn’t want to be?”

“Did she actually say she didn’t want to be with you?”

“No. She’s too nice for that, but I could see it in her eyes.”

“Is it possible you might have misinterpreted what you saw? She could have been missing her home, but it doesn’t necessarily mean she didn’t want to be with you.”

“I don’t know what to think anymore, but I know I shouldn’t have held her because of that stupid agreement I made. But…”

“But what?”

“I was afraid of what she’d say when I told her how I really felt. I’m not sure if I would have been able to handle the rejection if I laid my heart on the line with her. With the other women, I got over it…but Lila, she’s different.”

“Because you love her?” Thomas asked softly.

“More than you can know.”

“Obviously not enough.”

Hunter shot his friend a glare. “What do you mean? Not being with her is killing me.”

“If you really loved her, you would have taken that risk. That’s what love is. I made that mistake once before and now it’s too late for me, but it isn’t for you.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do? Go to her house and demand she love me back?”

“No, but you can go to her and tell her how you feel. At least you’ll know one way or the other of her feelings for you instead of dwelling on what ifs. If she rejects you, then maybe you can move on with your life. Anything is better than the way you’ve been lately. I think I’d prefer the angry ogre over this show of apathy on your part.”

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Hunter swiveled in his chair wondering at the validity of his friend’s words. Could he do it? Go to Lila? In all his life, he’d never met a woman worth laying everything on the line for, but Lila was well worth the fight. It was on the tip of his tongue to say so when they heard a commotion outside of his office.

“You can’t go in there!” his personal assistant cried out.

It was déjà vu. Hadn’t he lived this scene already?

His office door came crashing open, and Lila stood in the doorway looking so beautiful and as pissed as the first day he’d laid eyes on her.

“Mr. Jamison, I apologize for allowing this to happen again. She walked right past me. I’ll call the police right away,” Ann said from behind Lila.

“Call off your guard dog, Hunter.” Lila’s gazed was zoned on only him.

“Ann, that won’t be necessary. I’m always available to Miss Saunders.”

Ann looked as if she wanted to protest, but thought better of it. She shot Lila a glare before turning on her heel.

Hunter saw the smug expression on Thomas’s face and he barked, “What the hell are you standing there for? Can’t you see this is a private matter?”

Thomas grinned. “Of course. I trust you’ll be more yourself the next time I see you.”

He nodded in Lila’s direction before he left the two of them alone.

“And tell Ann to take messages for the next hour or so. I don’t want to be disturbed,”

Hunter growled.

Thomas’s smile widened. “Will do.” He practically skipped out of the office.

Lila closed the door behind her and strode over to his desk.

Hunter schooled his features, hoping she couldn’t read the turmoil raging within him.

He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her close, but held back to see what she did.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

She cocked her head to the side, her eyes narrowing to dark brown slits. “Is my showing up a pleasure?”

“Yes,” he answered honestly.

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She slammed her hand on his desk. “Then why the hell did you send me away the way you did? Were you telling me the truth when you said you were bored with me?”

“Lila, if I didn’t know better I would think you actually cared.” Hunter groaned inwardly. Now why the hell had he said that? He didn’t want to drive her away again.

“Look, I didn’t mean that how it must have sounded.”

“Then how did you mean it?”

“I don’t know. My words get all jumbled up when you’re around and I don’t quite know how to act.”

“Is that why you said those hurtful things to me? Because I’m not leaving here until I get the truth.”

This was as good time a as any to lay his heart on the line. “When I saw how happy you were at the mention of going home, I knew I couldn’t keep you with me anymore. It wouldn’t have been right. And because I was too much of a coward to tell you how I really felt.”

“And how is that?”

“I-I love you, Lila, I think I have since the moment I laid eyes on you, but I didn’t know it then. Maybe it was lust at first sight but our time spent together meant so much more to me.”

“You should have told me, Hunter.”

“I didn’t think someone like you would love someone like me back.”

She placed her hand over her chest. “Someone like me? I’m just a person and I really wish you wouldn’t place me on a pedestal. I’m not perfect. And someone like me would be honored if someone like you loved her.” She walked over to his desk to stand in front of him. “During our time together, I’d come to love you, too. And I’ve spent the last couple weeks in hell trying to figure out why you would hurt me the way you did, because the man I came to care about wouldn’t have done that.”

“What?” Hunter wasn’t sure if he’d heard her correctly.

Lila took a deep breath. “I said I love you, too.”

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Unable to contain himself any longer, he gathered her in his arms and ground his lips on hers, unleashing all the hunger that had been pent up over the last several weeks without her. Finally, he lifted his head. “Say it again.”

“I love you.”

Hunter rested his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry for the things I said. I thought I was doing the right thing by letting you go.”

She pulled back just enough to slap him on the chest. “Don’t you ever do that to me again! I will be the one to decide what’s right for me.”

He wrapped his arms tightly around her, not wanting to let go even if his life depended on it. “I won’t ever do anything so stupid again. Please tell me this isn’t a dream, my beautiful Lila.”

“I hope it’s not,” she laughed through the tears streaming down her cheeks, “because if it is, I’m going to be pretty pissed.”

Hunter grinned before burying his face against her neck, and inhaling her flowery scent. Having her in his arms again brought his body to life. His cock jumped to attention and he knew he couldn’t go another second without having her. Raising his head, he looked deep into her eyes. “I need you. I can’t wait.”

Lila pressed her body closer, winding her arms around his neck and kissed his jaw line. “Neither can I but is it a good idea to―”

“No one would dare disturb us now.” Not giving her a chance to say another word, he covered her mouth with his, relishing the way her soft welcoming lips seemed to fit so perfectly with his. Hunter had no idea how he’d managed to get through the past two weeks without her lying next to him.

He pushed his tongue past her lips to taste the heady flavor that was unique to only her. Lila returned his kiss with the enthusiasm of a woman starving. Good. That meant she wanted him just as badly as he wanted her. Too bad she was wearing so many clothes, but that could easily be remedied.

Breaking the tight seal of their lips, he fumbled with the buttons on her blouse until her top gapped open to expose her lace-covered breasts. Impatiently, Hunter pushed her www.samhainpublishing.com 129

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bra up. Her nipples were already hard and they looked ready to be sucked. The sight of the hard blackberry-colored tips made his mouth water. “Gorgeous. I’ve missed doing this.” Dipping his head, he took one hardened nub between his teeth and nibbled.