Romancing My Love(40)

“Yeah, I’m sure. But you can go, Jake. I’m a big boy.”

Jake waved to another blonde across the room, and that small act rubbed Pierce the wrong way. Just because Pierce had become a one-woman man didn’t mean he had to thrust his behavior on Jake. He was too damn edgy with all the stuff going on between him and Rebecca. He’d only annoy Jake. He needed to go back to Jake’s, look over the documents for tomorrow’s meeting, and hopefully sleep the hours away so he could get back to Rebecca quicker.

It turned out that convincing Jake to go to the party was easy. Dude, what would you rather do, sit around with your boring older brother or hook up with some gorgeous chick? If he couldn’t change Jake’s mind about women, he might as well use it to his advantage. He also knew his brother well enough to understand that he wouldn’t come home before three in the morning—long after Pierce had gone to sleep. Pierce didn’t mind. He was too preoccupied to visit anyway. He took a cab back to Jake’s house and used the key his brother had given him to let himself inside.

Every floor in Jake’s house, with the exception of the bedrooms, was either hardwood or marble. The ceilings were all nine feet or higher, and Jake’s high-end taste in furniture gave his house a model home feel, so different from the feel of Pierce’s. Granted, like Pierce, Jake owned several homes. Real estate was a solid investment, and all of the Bradens were careful with their investments. But Pierce knew Jake preferred this particular residence. It suited his lifestyle perfectly—posh location, entertainment at his fingertips with a billiards room, the pool, and a large media room. It had all of the amenities that used to make Pierce feel at home and comfortable. Now it made him long to be back home with Rebecca.

He grabbed his bags and headed up to the guest room. He was toweling off from a shower when Rebecca called.

“Hey, babe.”

“Hi. I hope I’m not interrupting you and Jake. I went out to the store with Daphne and forgot my phone.”

It was so damn good to hear her voice. “You’re not interrupting. Jake’s at a party. I came back to prepare for tomorrow.”

“You skipped going to a party with Jake? I hope he didn’t mind.”

“I love how you worry about everyone else. He’s fine. He loves parties and I…” He sat down on the bed. He didn’t want small talk, and he didn’t want to minimize what he was feeling. “I used to love them, but, Rebecca, I can’t pretend that everything is fine. The whole scene up here is so far from where my head is now that we’re together that I just want to be with you. I miss you.”

Pierce grabbed his wallet from the dresser and took out the picture from the photo booth.

“I miss you, too.” Her voice softened, and he pictured her eyes warming and her cheeks lifting with her smile. “I’ve been thinking about things, and I think I need to bite the bullet and instead of taking my last classes in the fall, I’ll use that money to go to Punta Allen and spread my mom’s ashes. I think part of my trouble is that I haven’t had any closure with my mom’s death. Having that might help me move forward and see things more clearly.”

“God, I wish I was with you right now. I’ll support whatever you want. Whatever you need.” He set the picture on the nightstand by the bed, fighting the urge to tell her that he’d buy the tickets tonight and that she didn’t need to finish her last two classes or work another damn day in her life if she didn’t want to. Whatever she wanted, he would make happen. He had enough money for two lifetimes—for both of them. But if there was one thing he understood now more than ever, it was that until Rebecca believed—one hundred percent trusted—that what she saw in his eyes was love, all the gestures in the world wouldn’t change a damn thing.





Chapter Twenty-Five


JAKE ARRIVED HOME from a hard night of partying as Pierce was heading out Monday morning. Jake had called just after midnight to see if Pierce wanted him to head home, but Pierce had already crashed for the night and missed his call, retrieving the message only an hour ago. Now, as his brother sauntered through the living room with a sated grin on his face, Pierce shook his head. He knew he had no right to judge Jake. He’d joined his brother in carousing too many times to count.

Pierce dropped his bags and embraced Jake. “It was good to see you, Jake.”

“You, too. Call me next time; let me know you’re coming. We’ll make plans.” Jake rubbed the stubble that peppered his square jaw. “And despite me giving you shit, I’m happy about you and Rebecca.”

“Thanks. I know it’s gonna sound crazy coming from me, but I hope that one day you’ll allow yourself to settle down and be loved the way you deserve. Not everyone’s like Buddy.” Pierce saw Jake’s body stiffen and the muscle in his jaw bunch. Their father had done a number on all of them, and whether it was buried deep in their subconscious, as Pierce thought was the case with Jake, or they wore it on their sleeves, like Luke had, the scars ran deep. Pierce didn’t think for a second that he was above being counted among Buddy’s casualties. No, he’d been aware for more years than he’d care to admit that his need to control his environment and his need to earn enough money to be able to buy his family anything they could ever need both stemmed from Buddy’s abandonment. As the thought rose to the surface, he realized that while he’d never shared those thoughts with anyone, it was time he shared them with Rebecca.

An hour later, Pierce sat across from William Benson in Benson’s corporate office. Between worrying about today’s meeting and thinking about how much he wanted to help Rebecca accomplish all of the things she wanted to but feeling hamstrung by her pride, he hadn’t gotten much sleep. Running on just a few hours of sleep had been a way of life for Pierce for so long that whether or not he was rested, he remained a shrewd businessman. It was the ability to push past what most people stumbled through that gave him his edge.

“Are we going to cut to the chase, or shall we piddle around the issue?” William Benson was an elderly man with stark white hair, bushy eyebrows, and midnight-blue eyes. He wore eyeglasses with thick black frames and lenses too large for his narrow face and sat behind his large mahogany desk with his legs crossed and his hands folded in a relaxed fashion.

Pierce was an up-front guy, and he’d like nothing more than to nail the old bastard to the wall for misleading him about the value of the Grand. Maybe a team of lesser-skilled accountants would have overlooked the millions in accounts receivables that, for various reasons, should have been written off—renegotiations after the fact, businesses closed, delivery of goods and services deemed unacceptable. Pierce’s expert staff uncovered those misappropriated, uncollectible funds, as well as other issues.

“I’m not a piddler, William. Despite the inappropriate books you provided, I’m going to make you an offer, and then I’m going to get up and walk out that door. You’ll have twenty-four hours to make your decision. After twenty-four hours, the offer will be null and void.” Pierce leveled a narrow-eyed, serious stare on the old man. “I want to be very clear about the terms of the offer. They are written in stone. I will not negotiate, and I will not return with another offer should you turn it down.”

He pushed a file containing the offer across the wide desk. “Asking price, twenty-two million. Two-year earn out. You’ll find all of the details within the written offer.” He rose to his feet and extended a hand. Normally he’d say something akin to, It’s been a pleasure, but Pierce was still busy repressing the urge to tell the snake that he looked forward to taking over the business and leaving William Benson’s measly twenty-two million in the dust when he turned the Grand around and tripled the profits.

With a firm handshake and a silent nod, Pierce headed out the door—and back home to Rebecca a day early.





REBECCA RAN FASTER, lifted heavier weights, and did more sit-ups than she’d done in months. Working out usually cleared her mind, but today her mind seemed to be filled with quicksand. It held on to uncomfortable thoughts and wouldn’t let them go. How could she even think she saw pity in Pierce’s eyes? She knew it wasn’t real, but at the same time, it felt as real as the floor beneath her.

“Chin up, Rebecca.” Andy crouched beside her. “You know you’ll get better results if you go a little slower and use better form. What’s going on? You’re racing through your routine like a bat outta hell.”

She continued doing crunches. Even if they were too fast and too sloppy to do much good, the exertion felt great.

“Working out the kinks in my head.” She panted as she pushed her body through too many searing, painful crunches. She wasn’t scheduled to work today, and after working out, then going to her doctor appointment, she planned on stopping by Mr. Fralin’s to pick up her mother’s urn. She’d left it there under the premise that the urn was more secure in his wall safe than it would be in her car until she was settled. She had a feeling that leaving her mother’s ashes there was one of the niggling kinks in her head. She wouldn’t always be the woman whose mother recently died, and the faster she got her own head out of that position, the quicker she’d heal. She needed to put her mother in her final resting place. The sooner the better.