I settle a hard stare on her. “If you want out of my life, say so, but don’t use Joe as an excuse. You don’t know the guy andyou have no idea how he would react. But I can tell you this, if you were my real girlfriend and he had a problem with what yourfamilydid, then, I’d walk away from the deal.”
“But it’s worth several millions of dollars and it would elevate your status in the craft beer industry.”
“If Joseph Kozinski has a problem with you, he can find another buyer.”
She blinks. “Didn’t you hear anything I said? I was born into a family without morals. Liars. Con artists. Grifters. Cunning minds. I’m?—”
“Despiteeverything you said, I still want you.”
A flicker of doubt remains in her eyes.
“There’s a reason it took me so long to get to you,” I say.
She frowns.
“The urgent meeting I couldn’t get out of that gave you an opportunity to run away.”
“Okay.” Her answer is cautious.
“Maybellynn was sleeping with my competitor’s stepson and mentioned her plan to steal company secrets and sell them to his stepdad. The young guy had the good sense and decency to record their conversations and passed along the damaging evidence to his stepfather.”
Her face falls. “Are you shitting me?”
“I wish I were,” I say. “After I met with the guy, I had to return to the office to take care of the traitor.”
“What’s going to happen to her?”
“The last thing I want to do right now is talk about that unscrupulous woman. One thing is certain, I have no intention of going easy on her. She was rude to you on your first day. She bitched about an officeIappointed to you. She dumped your phones in the toilet. She gives you attitude and talks down at you. And now, she elevated herself from having a terrible personality to plotting corporate espionage. I didn’t have grounds fortermination before, but you better believe she’s fired now,andI intend to sue her malicious ass. She loves throwing in people’s faces that she comes from money. Her MD father can foot her legal bill.”
“Whoa.”
I wave a hand in front of my face. “Enough about her. I brought that story up to drive a point,wehave the power to decide between right or wrong.”
“I get it.”
“Do you really?”
“If I didn’t before, I do now.”
“Good.” My eyes bore into hers. “I want this to be real.”
She brings her hands to her chest. “I have so many broken pieces?—”
“And I don’t have a problem loving all your broken pieces.”
She gasps. “You love me?”
“I’m so fucking tired of pretending I’m okay with us being in a fake relationship. I can’t keep pretending I don’t love you, Harley, because I do. I fucking love you.”
She shakes her head. “You can’t love me. I’m?—”
“An ogre? A monster? An alien? A fire-breathing dragon? A cranky Yeti?”
She laughs, easy and unguarded, and relief hits me harder than I expect.
“No, silly, I’m?—”
“You’re mine, Harley.” My declaration comes out sounding like a growl. “That’s what you are, Goldilocks.”
