“It’s a drop in the bucket for me. I want to.”
“I said, no.” She narrowed her good eye and her warm hazel gaze frosted over, hardening her face.
“But I want…”
“You want,youwant! Is that how you operate? By browbeating people to accept what you want? Well, I don’t work for you and I don’t have to listen to you. And I certainly don’t want you to give me money to pay off a crook.”
“And if that shit tries to hurt you again?”
“Look, Liam. I appreciate the gesture but all my life I’ve failed in distancing myself from my father’s addiction. I’ve fucked everything up and I need to be strong now. He’ll come up with the money. He always does. He may be down right now, but before you know it, he’ll be flashing the cash around again. I’ve seen it all before. And that man tonight was not the first person to demand money from me.”
Liam had to close his gaping mouth. “You’ve had creditors come after you before?”
“It’s not a big deal. They’ve shown up at my door many times. This was the first one to hit me, but others have made threats. They come to nothing. This guy will disappear like the rest once my father pays him back.”
“And if he doesn’t?” He knew he sounded angry but he couldn’t help it.
She didn’t reply.
“Kate, talk to me.”
She stared into the distance, as if recalling unhappy memories. When she spoke again, her voice was almost a whisper. “I don’t like going there. All my life, I’ve known my dad was no better than a thief and a cheat. But he’s never left me holding the ball. Sure, he’s played the blame game and begged for cash, but he’d never put me in real jeopardy.” Now she really did look like a little girl, one who still believed her dad would keep her safe, if only in this one, small way.
It made Liam sick to think about that kind of pain. “He put you in jeopardy tonight.”
“I’ve dealt with disappointment before,” she replied, still in that sad, quiet voice. “I’ll deal with it again.”
He reached for her hand, but the phone rang and stopped him short. She vaulted off the couch like a gymnast.
Thank God someone chose to call because he was on the verge of doing something stupid, like claiming her lips again. He could just envision his tongue coaxing her mouth open once more, tasting her. Dismissing his ridiculous fantasy, he watched as she answered the phone.
“Hello?” She paused and frowned. “Hello?” Liam could almost see the chills skittering down Kate’s spine now.
“Who’s there?” she cried, and then dropped the phone.
Liam jumped to his feet grabbed the handset. He shouted at the person on the other end. “You even think of terrorizing her again, Vaughan, and I’ll have you killed, you hear me, you sadistic asshole?”
As he slammed the phone back into its cradle he heard a man’s dark laughter. He turned to Kate, shocked his reaction would be so violent. It made no sense. They barely knew each other. But the shattered expression on her face was one he didn’t want to see ever again. For the first time that horrendous evening, she began to cry. And seeing those tears made his stomach pitch.
“I hate him,” she said on a breath.
“He’s a crazy fuck.”
“No, not him. My father. I hate him.”
His chest rattled with a strange pain. Her words broke his heart. And before he stopped himself to analyze exactly how much it bothered him to see her cry, he gathered her into his arms. At first, she stiffened as if to protest, but within seconds she let out a deep sigh and relaxed against him. Arms wrapped around her, he buried his face in the crook of her neck.
Home.
Her body yielded under his hands and he resisted the urge to explore her curves. God help him, he’d already memorized her shape but he wanted to learn it anew. He spread his fingers, loving the roundness of her hips and soft dip at her waist. She dressed like the girl-next-door, but he realized he’d gladly spend a great deal of money to dress her in a flowing gown or silky lingerie, something to compliment her offbeat beauty. She deserved it.
“I hate him so much,” she whispered against his collarbone.
Her words brought him out of his reverie. That was it. “Kate, you’re staying at Vice. I’ll put you up in a suite there.”
“Vice?” She pushed away, horrified. “I can’t stay there!”
He wanted to shake her and hug her at the same time. He settled for putting his hands on her shoulders so she had to look him in the eyes. “Look, I know how you feel about my casinos, but there you’ll have my security keeping an eye out for you. You’d be safer there than to stay here and take your chances with Scarface.”
