In the Firelight (24 page)

But now, knowing she was going to lose the very last of him. Of her life.

Buddy had a motherfucking check.
He’d been spouting off about it all over town. He’d sold his claim to the land. That son-of-a-bitch McHugh had bought it right out from under her.

Without a word, Shea had jumped in her truck and drove to Missoula, hopping on the very next flight to Portland. Five hours later, here she was.

She stopped only long enough to look at the building directory for McHugh’s office, and, growing angrier with every step, she barreled past the reception desk and through the intern pool until she found it. Throwing his door open, she unleashed.

“You son-of-a-bitch, how did you do it!?”

“Well, Ms. Madison… What an unexpected surprise,” McHugh leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, puffing out his chest. “Have you heard the latest? It looks as though I’ve got an injunction. The paperwork is filed. Mr. James is the true owner of that land, and he has agreed to sell…
to me
. Nothing you can do.”

“What the hell? You act like it isn’t already done? Do you think I’m a fucking idiot?”

“It isn’t done,” McHugh ground out slowly, as though he was speaking to a child, “but it may as well be…”

“Bullshit! Buddy’s already got the check!”

McHugh’s expression changed, and his eyes darted to the open door behind Shea with a furious glare. “What the hell did you do?”

Shea whirled around to see Rhys in the doorway, dressed in a dark grey pinstripe suit, clean shaven, his hair slicked back. He looked different in his business attire, yet the same… still breathtakingly handsome.

Heartbreaking.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said softly with a warm smile, and Shea’s heart contracted at the gentle endearment. Rhys turned his gaze to McHugh. “I’ve learned from the best, McHugh. I worked fast. You know, kind of like you did when you got into my email. I just, um… got a little contact information for a few key players. Made a few calls. And Shea’s right. Buddy James has no rights to the land anymore. He did get a check. It’s done.”

This final betrayal seemed to rip Shea’s heart clean out of her chest. “How could you?” she whispered with a sob and pointed at McHugh. “This motherfucker is going to destroy the only real home I’ve ever had.”

“Just listen for a minute, Shea,” Rhys said steadily. “You don’t—“

“Dammit, Rhys!” Shea looked around the room, spying a decanter of whiskey on the wet bar beside her. Reaching over, she grabbed it and hurled it at him. Rhys ducked out of the way, and it hit the wall behind him, fine shards of crystal spraying across the room as the tears began to pour from her eyes. “God, after everything… how could you?” she whispered as she turned to rush from the room.

Rhys brushed a few scattered shards of glass and drops of whiskey from his suit jacket before he started to follow Shea out the door. He stopped for a moment to look over at McHugh.

“I told you that you wouldn’t be able to touch her. Kiss your fucking plans goodbye, McHugh.”

“What did you do?” the older man’s face was mottled with rage.

Rhys took another step towards the door, and paused again. “Oh, and, um… by the way, I sold off all my stock, too. I wasn’t really that interested in owning a part of this piece-of-shit company anymore. And, besides, it gave me the money for Buddy.”

“You sold it? All of it? To who?”

“Um, to your friend, uh… Langley wasn’t it? If I remember correctly, he was the one that was opposed to this venture from the start.” Rhys smiled bitterly at the man who had once pulled his strings. “Huh… you know, I think my shares give him a controlling interest.”

“But, my investors… they’ve already given me funds…”

“Hope you didn’t spend it all. They’ll probably want it back.” Rhys shrugged. “See ya, McHugh,” he flippantly tossed over his shoulder as he left the room.
That had felt so very rewarding.
Karma was such a bitch… and McHugh had it coming in spades.

Stepping out of the old man’s office, Rhys saw Shea boarding the elevator and angrily punching the button to go down. Tears were streaming down her face and she looked wrecked, absolutely distraught. Quickly, he bolted to the elevator just as the doors began to close, placing his hand in between to pop them back open.

Seeing him there, Shea began to shake her head. “No… go away,” she breathed out with a broken gasp.

Rhys stepped inside, and elevator doors closed behind him. Shea stood against one wall of the small space, Rhys at the other.

“It’s not quite what you think,” Rhys tried once again to explain.

“What part, Rhys? The you-fucking-me-for-my-land, or the you-snooping-into-my-email-to betray me. Or would it be the you-expediting-the-sale?” Her voice grew angrier with each remuneration of his sins. “What part do I not understand?” Her hands flew up to her eyes, to try and stem the flow of furious tears. “I don’t stand a chance now. I’ve lost it…”

Rhys took a few steps closer to her, slowly, as though she would bolt even though there was no place to run to in the small confines of the elevator. “McHugh doesn’t own the land, Shea.”

Confusion knit her brow as she tried to make sense of what he’d just told her. “But you just said… Buddy got a check.”

“From Dennis… your lawyer.”

“Dennis? Why?”

Rhys shook his head sadly. “I’m probably somewhat guilty of the first thing you said, or at least that was the plan. I’m definitely guilty of the second. But not the third. McHugh didn’t give buddy the check. I paid him off. I paid off Buddy to sign over any claim the land. To you…”

She eyed him with a confused and frustrated stare. “You’re right, I don’t understand.”

“I’ve worked for McHugh for a long time, and I’ve done so much dishonest, truly shitty stuff before I met you. And you should hate me. Because I did go there with the intent of fucking you over.” One more step forward, and he was so close. “But I didn’t plan to feel the way I did when I held you… when I touched you. It kind of fucked me up. It even kind of pissed me off. I told myself you were just playing me, too, and it strengthened my resolve.”

“I wasn’t playing you. I would have never done that.”

“I know. I realized that right away. But the damage had already been done. After that, when I saw you again,” Rhys continued, “I knew I couldn’t do it. That’s why I quit my job. I called McHugh and told him it was off. He threatened and blustered, but I couldn’t… I couldn’t do that to you.” He exhaled forcefully. “That—that call—was a huge mistake. He immediately had IT go through my email. That’s how he found out about Buddy.”

“You didn’t sell me out?” she softly questioned.

Rhys shook his head slowly from side to side, eyes locked onto hers.

“In fact, you paid Buddy off? To keep the land out of McHugh’s hands?”

He nodded, still looking at her intently… still not saying a word.

“Good God, you must be fucking loaded…”

Rhys shrugged. “Not really, not now especially. Plus,” he choked a small laugh, “now I’m even unemployed. But I had a bunch of stock in a shitty company that I wanted to dump anyway.”

“McHugh Corporation?” Shea asked with a ghost of a sad smile.

“Yeah… He’s lost his voting edge on the board now, too. He used to count on me to swing the votes his way.” A wry smile touched his lips. “I sold it to a guy who can’t stand him, who sees what a snake that fucker really is. A guy who is completely opposed to putting the resort there. I give McHugh about six weeks before the investors start to pull their money. More than likely, the company will end up folding. Reorganization at the very least…” Rhys shut his eyes tightly and took a deep breath. “It was wrong,” he said without looking up. “All that shit McHugh wanted me to do, all that shit that I did do… it was all so wrong.” His broad shoulders hunched slightly as he lifted his gaze to meet hers. “And then you… You should hate me.”

Shea slid down the wall to sit on the floor of the elevator. Her fingers steepled over her nose, pinching slightly at the bridge in frustration. “I was so mad at you.”

“I know,” he whispered. He stepped closer and squatted down before her. “My intentions at the beginning were mercenary. I went into Snowcreek thinking I’d charm the land right out from under you and that you’d thank me for it. I didn’t count on you, though. How I’d feel about you. How you’d make me feel about myself. None of that was an act.”

She sat quietly for a moment, soaking in the quiet words he was saying. Her hands lowered as her eyes lifted to his. “I’m still pissed at you.”

He smiled wryly. “Rightfully so, sweetheart.”

“…but, I’ve gotta say… you look really fucking hot in that suit,” Shea grumbled.

Rhys cocked his eyebrow and slanted a pained smile at her.

Shea exhaled heavily and threw her head back to rest against the wall of the elevator.

"What's wrong now?" Rhys asked softly.

Shea eyed him grumpily. "I'm
not
pissed at you, that's what. I came here to yell and let you have it, and now I can't. You saved it… you saved my home."

Rhys furrowed his brow in confusion. "I don't get it... You just said you're not pissed, but you still look kind of pissed."

"I'm pissed that I don't have any reason to be mad at you anymore. It's easier to be angry with you.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “It's easier to keep you at arms’ length."

Rhys cupped her cheek, lifting her gaze to meet his. He stared at her for a long moment, watching as her expression slowly changed, morphing into a heavy-lidded, intense stare. Shea wet her lips as her breath caught in her throat, rushed out, then caught again.

With a slight smile, her hand rose to his jaw, the smooth, clean-shaven skin seemed a bit foreign to her after his rugged Montana appearance. Sliding her hand around to the back of his neck, she used his strength to pull herself up to him and lightly, softly kiss his lips. Rhys wrapped his arms around her, crushing her up against his chest as his tongue parted her lips to stroke up against hers.

She surged against him, knocking him off balance and he fell against the floor, flat on his back, with her sprawled out on top of him. He was astounded that she was back in his arms, thrilled and elated. Her lips set him on fire, the sweet little moans that she breathed into his mouth.

“Rhys?” she whispered.

“Yeah?” he murmured back.

“Take me somewhere.
Now
… please...”

“God, what a hot and nasty little girl you are,” he groaned and Shea responded with an almost-girly giggle. “Fucking hell, I’ve missed you, sweetheart. I don’t know if I can wait long enough to get you somewhere.” He rolled the two of them over and pressed his hardening length against her. “I’d like nothing more than to spread you wide open and plow into you right here in this damn elevator.”

Shea laughed softly into a deep kiss. “That might get us in a little trouble.”

“I don’t fucking care…” Rhys said, capturing her lips again and kissing her ferociously. Suddenly, the elevator coasted to a stop and the doors opened. Rhys helped her to stand as a few onlookers gaped at them, looking rather disheveled and pulling themselves up off the floor.

“Okay, so maybe we should go back to my apartment,” Rhys suggested as he brushed a wayward lock of hair from her eyes.

“Works for me,” she softly agreed.

Fuck, she was beautiful. She was sweet. She wanted him.
In that moment, Rhys felt like his cock was going to bust right out of his pants. He’d never in a million years wanted someone this badly. He leaned down to kiss her sweet lips once more, unable to resist their pull.

“Rhys?” Shea murmured again against his lips.

“Yeah, sweetheart?” he asked back.

“When we get there—when you fuck me,” she pulled hard on his tie, “I want you to wear the suit.”

Oh good God. He might just have to nail her in the damn car.

Chapter 20 ~ The Conscience

Rhys belted Shea into the passenger seat of his car, kissing her firmly with a promise of more. The tremble of her lips under his was heavenly.