Remorseless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 3) (23 page)

They were leaving and then he could be alone with Julie. Assuming she didn’t kick him out. She’d already made her opinion of the two of them together clear. He tried to focus on anything else to distract him: Alex, the cops, looking out the windows. But his eyes kept going back to her. Her wrists were bruised. The sight killed him, and he wished he had hit the son of a bitch harder. Longer.

He scanned the table when a slip of paper caught his attention. Mainly because it had his name written in big letters on the top. He pulled it closer and stared in wonder at it. A pro and con list. About him.

And it was the sort of thing only Julie could write. A con was that he had too much money. He let out a laugh.
Fuck, who knew that would come back to bite him in the ass?
But it was the bottom pro that made him truly smile.

Julie loved him.

He was still staring at the paper as the cops filed out of the apartment.

Alex was collecting the paperwork given to him by the police. “I have a pile of things I need to take care of. Do you want a ride back, Logan?” The raised eyebrow told Logan that he was expecting him to say no.

“I’m good here.” Logan stood.

Alex nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll touch base with you tomorrow. I’m going to be talking to the detectives first thing in the morning so we’ll know if they’re going to bring in Tate Gallagher.”

Logan nodded this time, counting the moments until he was going to be alone with Julie. He loved Alex, but if his brother didn’t put some pep in his damn step, Logan was going to push him out the door...

“Charge your damn phone, Logan,” warned Alex. “I’ll take Beth her phone back if you still have it.”

Logan stared at him blankly as he tried to figure out what the hell he was talking about. Then it hit him. “Beth is the receptionist.”
Right.
He did have her phone. He tossed it to Alex, who caught it easily. “I’ll call you later tonight,” said Logan, the best way he could think of to dismiss his brother.

Alex took the hint, and after a quick good-bye with Julie, he left the apartment.

As soon as he was gone, Logan closed the distance between him and Julie and wrapped her in his arms, carefully avoiding her sore shoulder. She wrapped her good arm around him and leaned into the hug.

“Mmmm,” she murmured. “I can’t believe—”

“I love you too,” said Logan, unable to hold it back any longer.

Julie pulled back slightly. “You what?”

“Your list. The pros and cons.”

Her eyes went wide. “Stupid Psycho Guy. You were never supposed to see that.”

“I’m glad. Not about the psycho, but that I saw it. That I know. I thought you’d never want to see me again.”

Her mouth hooked up. “No. I’ve given it some thought, and I’m thinking I might want to see some more of you. Just a little bit.”

He smiled back even as doubt started to prick at the back of his mind. “And what happened today didn’t scare you?”

“Ummm... Psycho Guy scared the crap out of me.”

“He had a name, you know.”

“Yes, but Todd Schmaltzki just doesn’t strike fear into my heart, like the name I gave him. He’ll always be Psycho Guy to me.”

“Fair point. But I wasn’t talking about him.” He was silent for a moment. “Did I scare you?”

“You mean when you went all R-rated in the middle of my kitchen on Psycho Guy’s face?”

He shuddered at the memory of what she’d seen. “I was hoping you’d never see that side. That no one would. I knew that when I came back here, I’d have to be a Farrell. I didn’t think things would go south so fast.”

“Logan, that person, that rage, is a part of you. And, no, it didn’t scare me. You’ve never scared me once.” She paused as she averted her gaze. “There might be a slight, teensy part of me that liked it.”

It was his turn to be surprised. “You? Girl-next-door, goody-two-shoes Julie liked it?”

She swatted his arm with her good hand. “Logan! When have I ever given you the impression that I’m any of those things?”

“You’re always going to be my girl next door,” he promised as he bent in for a kiss. It was different from all the other times he’d kissed her. Because she was his now. He could do this whenever he wanted. When he was struggling through a shitty day or an interview that made him want to lose his mind, he could look forward to this. He pulled away as something occurred to him. “What do we tell the press?”

She blinked a few times, as though trying to clear her head. “The press?”

“They think we’re married.”

“Oh yeah. My job. Well, if we’re going to be seen together, I suppose we don’t say anything. They’ll think we’re happy, and happy people are boring.”

“That suddenly explains why they never left our family alone.” There were hundreds of things to sort through. He needed to talk to his brothers—and meet his sister—and finish getting established. He still needed a car. But all that could wait for now.

“What do you say we head back to my apartment? I think yours is too...”

“Small?”

“I think too much has happened here tonight.” He didn’t want her to have to see that man’s face every time she looked at her kitchen.

“You’re probably right. Let me just grab some things and we’ll go. Think of what food you want for dinner! I’m thinking this is an order in kind of day.”

He forced himself to let her go.
She’d be back soon enough.
Logan smiled at the thought.

Before he could even think about ordering food, Julie’s phone, at the far end of the table, started to ring. He was going to ignore it until he realized who was calling.
Alex.
Logan answered. “Forget something?” he asked.

“I assume that means things are going well?” said Alex.

“We’re going to get dinner. Ordering in.” Every badass bone in Logan’s body melted away as he grinned. Just saying it made him happier than he had been in the past ten years.

“Good. I think the two of you are idiots, but at least you’ll be happy idiots.”

At least one of his brothers had given his blessing. “Is that why you were calling?”

“No. I meant to say something earlier and I didn’t get a chance. Do you have a minute?”

He looked down the hall that Julie had disappeared down. “A quick minute. What’s going on?”

“It’s Ashley. She’s back. She showed up at my place a few days ago.”

Logan figured he was talking about Nadia’s daughter. Walter’s fourth wife and one he was smart enough not to father any children of his own with. Logan frowned as he tried to figure out where this was going. “Okay.”

He could hear Alex take a deep breath over the phone. “We’re getting married, Logan. I thought you should hear it from me first.”

Julie chose that moment to come out of her room. “Are you on my phone?”

“You’re busy,” said Alex. “I’ll let you get your girlfriend her phone back. Congratulations again!”

He hung up before Logan could say a thing, leaving him to stare in shock at the phone.

“What’s wrong?” said Julie. “Who was that?”

“That was Alex, and I have no idea what’s happening.”

“Does this mean we’re not going to your place?”

That snapped him out of his shock. “Nope. We’re definitely going to my place. And we’re getting Chinese.”

She still looked confused, but she seemed willing to go along with it. “Okay. Let’s get started on our first date.”

––––––––

(Sometime in the near future, at the wedding of one of Logan’s brothers)

J
ulie’s heart melted at the sight of Robert and Malia on the dance floor. “They’re so cute!” She leaned in to rest her head against Logan’s shoulder.

He adjusted so he could set his arm around her back. “Does this mean you’re going to make me dance?”

“Oh, I was going to make you dance no matter how cute your brother and sister-in-law are.”

“She’s not my sister-in-law.”

“Give it time. He’s looking at her the same way Colin looks at Jean.” And Colin looked at Jean as if he would go to the ends of the earth to keep her.

“Is that right? Well, how do I look at you?”

Julie leaned back. “Hmmm,” she said. “You look at me like I’m the first woman you’ve seen after being in prison for ten years.”

“You got me there.” He reached down with the hand that wasn’t around her back to run his fingers over hers. Something she’d grown accustomed to him doing ever since the wedding ring had gone on two months ago. “Do you regret it?”

She jerked back. “How could you even ask me that?”

The corner of his mouth hooked up. “Not marrying me. The small ceremony. It all seemed good at the time, but now that we’re here and everyone’s happy...”

“But we wouldn’t be married yet,” she reminded him. “The planning would go on for at least a year and once the baby comes, the honeymoon wouldn’t be the same.”

Logan leaned in and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “Bet you’ll never look at Costa Rica the same again.”

She snorted. “Are you kidding? We didn’t leave the room. We need a second honeymoon to actually see the islands.”

“Second honeymoon? I can get into that.”

“I can’t. I only have five more months to get the new hires competent enough to handle the workload once the baby comes. Once I know if they’re dependable, then we can talk future vacations.” She paused for a second before she brought up the topic she’d been avoiding. “You got a letter from Alecia Willis yesterday. I didn’t mean to open it. I was going through the mail and—”

Logan kissed her forehead. “We’re married, Julie. You’re allowed to open my mail.”

“I didn’t realize you set up a trust fund for Brandon's family.”

Logan shrugged. “Just a little guilt money.”

“You know you have nothing to feel guilty about, Logan.”

“I don’t mind the guilt. I think I’d feel worse if the guilt wasn’t there, you know?”

She took comfort in his arms around her and smiled up at him. “You’re a good man, Logan Farrell. I am sorry you couldn’t get the revenge you wanted on Tate Gallagher.”

Logan shrugged and smiled down at her. The corner of his mouth twisted up. “I’m okay with it. What Alex did to him was a hundred times worse than anything I could’ve come up with. Bastard got everything he had coming to him.”

~~~THE END~~~

––––––––

Want to get more FREE from Mallory?

Sign up for the author’s New Releases mailing list and get a free copy of all three parts of the Cross Falls Saga AND a bonus scene showing April and Sam’s first meeting years before the events in Teaching The Boss!

––––––––

Click here to get started:
mallorycrowe.com/free/

Coming in October 4th, 2016

He needs to escape his past.

She needs to jumpstart her future.

Together, they just might have the answer.

Alex Farrell has been the glue holding his unstable family together for as long as he can remember, but a volatile piece of his past is about to threaten the harmony he's been working to build.

Ashley is in desperate need of a husband. Her mother left her a fortune, but until she gets married, she's under complete control of a man who wants to lock her away. And when she thinks of men she can get to marry her, there's one that comes to mind. Alex Farrell, her former stepbrother, wanted her so many years ago. He has to still want her now.

Knowing Alex always loved her puts her plan in motion.  But Alex refuses to just pretend. Ashley's everything he's ever wanted, and this time, he won't let her slip through his fingers.  Taboo or not, Alex is all in, and completely in love with his ex-stepsister.  But sometimes, fighting for love isn't the hardest fight of all.

––––––––

To be notified when RESTLESS is released, sign up for Mallory's Mailing list at:
http://eepurl.com/bf2H4n