Billionaire Decoded (19 page)

At the moment, Heather didn't care
about Alyson. All she knew was that she couldn't go back to her apartment – not
now, not next week, not ever. She wanted to go home. She needed to get away
from Boston, reassess what direction she wanted her life to take.

"What can I do to make it up to
you, Heather?" he said quietly as they approached the FBI office.
"What can I do?"

"I want to go home," she
said. He gazed down at her with a question in his eyes. "Not to my
apartment. I can never go back there. I want to go home, to New
Hampshire."

"Heather-"

"Brecken," she sighed.
"I need to process this. I need to understand and process what's happened.
You’ll be busy with all these government officials. When you're finished and
when you're ready to tell me everything, and I mean everything, you let me
know. You come up and see me, and then we'll talk about any potential future
for us. Okay?"

He stared down at her for several
moments and then nodded. He leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips against
hers, so gentle, so caring, that she felt cherished. Still, it was too soon to
make a commitment to him. She needed to know everything, but not now. All she
wanted now was to go home, to be with her parents.

Later, she would deal with Brecken.

A month later, Heather received a
phone call from Brecken. She was sitting in the sand by the lakeside, enjoying
the crisp spring evening air. Her parents enjoyed having her back, and she had
to admit that the time away from Boston had done her good. She had talked with
Brecken several times over the past few weeks, had learned more about what
happened, and why. She had even received a phone call from FBI agent Carl Erickson,
confirming everything the Brecken admitted after the horrifying experience of
kidnapping and held in the warehouse.

He told her that Brecken was a good
man, a patriot, and a man who had risked his reputation, his company, and even
his life to fight corruption inside the US government and out of it. Eventually,
she overcame her anger, realizing that Brecken had never meant any of this to
happen. Alyson had been behind it all, driven by jealousy.

"You doing all right,
Heather?" Brecken asked.

She smiled, watching the setting sun
glint against the surface of the lake. "Yes," she said. "But
only one thing would make me feel even better."

A pause. "What can I do,
Heather? What can I do to make things right between us?"

Her smile broadened. "You can
get your butt up here,” she said. "We can talk. You can meet my
parents."

"I'll be there in a couple of
hours," he said.

She heard the relief, the happiness
in his voice.

"Shall I book a room at Mabel’s
Bed and Breakfast?"

Heather laughed. "No, you'll be
staying with us at our house. I think it's about time my parents met you, got
to know you a little better."

And so it was that within a couple
of hours, Heather watched as Brecken drove his rental car slowly up the gravel
path to her house. Her parents were inside, wanting to give her a moment of
privacy with him. When he stepped out of the car and looked up at her, she felt
her stomach clench. Her heart skipped a beat. Neither time nor distance had
dimmed her feelings for him.

She smiled as he walked around the
car and approached, not saying a word. Then, he stepped upon the porch steps
and pulled her into his embrace. His lips touched hers and for several moments,
she was lost in his embrace, reveling in the feelings that his kiss evoked
within her.

Only the clearing of the throat
behind her broke off the kiss. Laughing, she turned to find her father watching
both of them. He was trying to frown, but she saw the twinkle in his eye.
"Dad, I’d like you to meet Brecken Shaw."

Brecken extended his hand. Her
father looked at it for a moment, and then took it and shook it firmly.

"Nice to meet you sir,"
Brecken said.

Her father invited him in and he
followed her father into the house. When they entered the living room, her
mother appeared from the kitchen. She stared at Brecken a moment, and then looked
to Heather and nodded. Her mother approved.

Over dinner, Brecken related the
entire story to them. He apologized profusely for putting their daughter in any
danger. He told them that the last thing he had ever wanted was for Heather to
be in danger.

"So what you plan on doing
now?" her father asked.

"Well, it's time for my firm to
come out into the light. I'm proud that we've exposed government corruption,
not only domestically, but abroad. Nevertheless, there will be new problems.
Fighting the powerful is best done by other powerful people, and I'm going to
be working with some of those people."

He saw the look on her father's face
and lifted a hand. "I guarantee you that your daughter will not be in any
danger. Nothing like that will ever happen again. I'll make sure of it."

"And?" her mother asked.

Brecken smiled at her. "And, if
I have your permission, I'd like to officially date your daughter."

Heather stared at him in surprise,
and then at her parents. Such old-fashioned traditionalism from Brecken Shaw?
Her parents seemed just as surprised. He went on to explain.

"Your daughter is a wonderful,
warm, and kind-hearted woman. Together, we can do a lot of good. With my money
and her compassion, I have no doubt that we can help people. In all honesty, I
want to tell you that your daughter makes me very happy…happier than I can
remember being in a long time.” He looked down at her and winked. “Somehow,
Heather has managed to hack into my life, bit by bit, no pun intended."

Heather leaned closer to Brecken,
not even caring that her parents were watching. She wrapped her arm around his
and looked up into his eyes and smiled. She felt tears puddle in her eyes when
he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. She glanced at her mother; saw
her staring at them with open-mouthed dismay. And then, her mother smiled and
glanced at her father.

"I think this is the one,"
she heard her mother whisper to her father.

If Heather had anything to say about
it, her mother would be right. Whatever the future would bring, trouble or joy,
she knew that with Brecken at her side, they would be able to face it together.

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This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are
products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not
to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual
events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright
© 2015 Nella Tyler