Resisting the Bad Boy (16 page)

His hand closed tighter around hers. “I’ll stay home if you want.”

She shook her head vigorously. “No, don’t do that. You should go have a good time.” Wanting desperately to get some air, she stood up and looked around for a restroom.

He put his hands on her shoulders. “Talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to say. I just can’t go. But I really, truly want you to have fun. Charities are important. And despite her kissing you and offering you a member massage, Victoria does seem kind of nice.”

“You’re not upset?”

“No, just uncomfortable,” she replied honestly. “Give me a few minutes to collect myself and I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll give you five.” He gazed at her worriedly. “If you’re not back by then, I’m coming after you and we’ll leave. We can go to that little Chinese restaurant you said you love so much.” A genuine smile lit his face as he said it.

Alright, now she was upset. But not at him. At his world. At his father. At everything that kept Connor tethered to the toxic things that were poisoning his life.

She rushed off to the bathroom, knowing Connor would make good on his offer to whisk her out of there. But she didn’t want to give his father the satisfaction. Even now the evil man looked ready to laugh at her as she peered over at him on her way to the bathroom. How a man like that managed to father two of the best men she’d ever known was beyond her.

Running cold water on her wrists, Abby felt some of the tension wash down the drain. She could do this. She wasn’t going to let him win. She was going to go out there with her head high and have a great night.

And if she accidentally keyed his car enroute to her own, oh well.

She smiled wryly at her reflection, knowing she’d never actually do anything like that.

“You’re way too nice,” she accused her reflection.

The sound of a small commotion outside interrupted her conversation with herself.

Had her five minutes lapsed already?

“
HEY
!” she yelled, when she opened the door and saw that the scuffle going on out in the hall wasn’t Connor at all, but rather, a very large man shoving around a very small woman.

The second she saw the man start to rear back his arm, Abby set off on a dead sprint.

“
Leave her alone
!” She rammed herself right into the man’s side, effectively budging him about two inches. He was a big man.

“What the hell?” The man swayed on his feet and glared at Abby. “Who the hell are you?”

She ignored him but kept one eye trained his way as she checked on the woman—good lord, she was tiny. The man could’ve snapped her like a twig. “Are you okay?”

The woman spewed out a long hysterical sentence. In a foreign language.

Okay, that helped Abby not at all.

Sausage like fingers clamped onto her arm. “Hey,
nosy bitch
.” He spun her around like a top and Abby went flying against the wall. “Mind your own f—”

The loud crack of a fist connecting with his face stopped that f-bomb from landing.

Connor.

The man went down. But Connor wasn’t done. He laid in two more punches before Abby realized he was planning on beating the man to a pulp.

“
Connor! Stop!
”

He didn’t. And that’s when all hell broke loose.

Two managerial types came charging past to yank Connor off the man. Marcus swept in soon after spouting some legal jargon to a horrified restaurant employee while his ‘personal assistant’ started anxiously talking on two phones at the same time. Nearby, the tiny woman was still screeching something in her own language and throwing her stiletto heels at the sausage-finger asshole, who’d begun puking up all over his designer suit. And throughout it all, Abby saw that half the patrons in the dining area were still eating and carrying on like it was beneath them to even bother to look their way.

Abby shook her head. She so did
not
belong in this world.

C
HAPTER
N
INE

C
ONNOR HAD NEVER BEEN
more terrified in his life.

When he saw that man throw Abby like a ragdoll, Connor had just plain lost it. Even now, he barely remembered what happened; thank god for the half-dozen or so witnesses who’d filled in his rage-filled blanks for the police report. He’d been too hazy to answer most of the police questions definitively save one: Abby had bum-rushed a man easily twice her size to protect a woman she didn’t even know.

Who does that? Who is
that
good of a person?

Abby.

After he’d taken her home, he’d simply held her the entire night, not sleeping a wink, replaying the scene over and over in his head, imagining what could’ve happened had he not gotten there in time. As it was, Abby was sporting a bruise covering half her arm, outlined in the shape of each of the sonofabitch’s fingers.

Connor fisted his hands in reflex and winced—his right fist was scabbed ragged all across the knuckles, while the left was the one that was still swollen and bruised. A charming look with his tuxedo.

Flexing his fingers to ease the ache, he looked around the ballroom, still in disbelief that Abby had convinced him to attend. He hadn’t wanted to leave her side all week, let alone tonight. But she’d reminded him about her prior commitments for the evening and urged him to go.

So far, he was having a lousy time.

And reason number one was sitting right beside him.

“Poor baby, do you want me to ask the waiters to bring some ice for your hands?”

He rolled his eyes. Had Gabriella’s voice always been this annoying?

“No thanks, I’m fine.”

He couldn’t for the life of him remember why he’d slept with her, let alone dated her for an entire month. She was fake, vapid, and dull as dirt.

The polar opposite of Abby.

“Do you want me to kiss it and make it all better?”

Ugh. Baby talk? Really? “I’m going to get a drink.”

He stalked off, glad that she finally caught the hint and chose not to follow.

Seeing Victoria over at the other end of the bar, he cornered her with a scowl. “I can’t believe you abandoned me tonight.”

“Can you blame me?” She pointed out her date. “That is one fine specimen of a man.”

“The guy’s half your age, Victoria.”

“I
know
.” She beamed. “Thank Marcus again for me, will you?”

Wait, what? “My father arranged this date of yours?”

Her brows snapped together. “He told me you were fine with it.”

At Connor’s exasperated sigh, she thunked her drink on the counter. “Oh shit, you didn’t know, did you? I
thought
it was weird you and Gabriella both showed up dateless.” Now she looked genuinely apologetic. “Connor, you know I’d never knowingly play a part in one of your father’s schemes, right?”

No, Victoria was many things but a backstabber of friends wasn’t one of them. He should know, he was one of only two she actually had. “Don’t sweat it. My father’s up to something. There’s no way you could’ve known.”

Victoria’s eyes narrowed on the man in question at the other end of the room.

Connor smiled. If he wasn’t already planning his own confrontation, he’d be more than happy to sic Victoria on him. That was one woman you did not want to mess around with.

He took his drink over and sat down in the empty seat beside his father, shoving Lynn’s personal assistant crap—aka the purse with all the condoms and Viagra—to the side. “Why are you trying to surgically attach Gabriella to me?”

“She’s a lovely woman isn’t she?”

“Cut the crap. I asked you a question.”

“I’m doing you a favor. Embrace it. Gabriella is much more suited for you than that…girl you were with the other night.” He shot a reproachful glance at Connor’s injured fists.

Now he knew something was up.

“I’m going to ask you one more time. What the hell are you up to? You tell me right this instant or I’m going to go over to Gabriella and cause a scene that will make the fight at T. Cook’s look like a party.”

Ice cold irritation flitted across his father’s face. “The announcement hasn’t been made yet but I’m going to be retiring at the end of this month.”

“Congratulations. Now what’s that got to do with me?”

“It’s a forced retirement,” he bit out through his teeth. “And it’s all your mother’s fault.”

Connor stilled. “What’s she have to do with any of this?”

“The woman’s lost her mind. She’s coming after my throat. She’s threatening to expose all the married women I’ve had affairs with if I don’t give her everything she wants in the divorce.” He gave a disbelieving grunt, but Connor could hear the film of fear behind it.

“What are we talking? Judges? Politicians?
Clients
?” It had to be, for the firm to be forcing him to retire.

“It doesn’t matter. I have all our best lawyers on it. Thankfully, your mother’s legal counsel is subpar at best. We’re handling it.”

God, he really was a cold bastard.

“Why don’t you just give her what she wants? Lord knows she deserves it. You’ve been cheating on her and treating her like shit for over half her life.”

“What the hell do you know about any of it?!”

“I know enough,” replied Connor coolly.

“You just think you do. Because you’re still behaving like a fanciful child. We had a marriage arrangement, clear and simple. She’s being unreasonable. Perhaps you could talk some sense into her.”

Over his cold dead body. “Look, you’ve now wasted ten minutes of my time. Either tell me what you and Gabriella are up to or I’m going to go grab the mic and entertain the room with all the kinky shit she’s into.”

“This is all because of that college girl, isn’t it?” hissed Marcus.

“You dare say one negative thing about her, and this conversation is through.”

“I’m just looking out for your best interests!”

Since
when
?

“Connor, you have a chance to be name partner.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’ve been talking with Knight and Stern.”

“Knight as in Gabriella Knight?”

“Yes. They’re interested in my coming to join their firm because of my deep pocket clients.”

“None of whom you can take.”

“Yes, but
you
can. After my ‘retirement.’”

“Whoa, whoa. I’m not jumping ship. And even if I wanted to, I sure as hell wouldn’t jump into a new one with you.”

“Not even for a name partnership? I’ve worked it all out. By the time I’m through, Sullivan, Knight, and Stern will be—”

“Just stop! I’m not taking part in this scheme. If you’re going to join Knight and Stern, it’s going to be without me. And if your only leg in with Gabriella’s father was to promise me in the bargain, you better start thinking of a back-up plan because I don’t want anything to do with that woman.”

“Because you’re in
love
?” he sneered.

Connor remained silent.

“I knew it,” he spat out with contempt, “you’re chasing a girl who’s too nice to admit that she’s been in love with your brother for over a decade. Don’t you have any pride?”

Connor felt that blow clear to his gut.

“What’s more, your brother is in love with her too. He just hasn’t realized it yet because of everything that happened with Beth. But he will. And when he does, do you want to be the one standing in his way?” Marcus did an almost believable impression of a fatherly sigh. “Your brother is a good man. He stood by his wife through an awful disease and is now raising his daughter as a widower. He and Abby are perfect for each other. They’re both family oriented, both educators. If you really believe you’re falling for this girl, stop thinking with your dick for once and do the humane thing. Nip this in the bud. She’d never survive in your world and you know it. She’s a nice girl. Let her be happy with your brother. You’ll never be able to provide her what she needs, not the way Brian can.”

Connor tried to get up and walk away, tried to stop listening, but he couldn’t. Aside from the farce of fatherly concern for Brian, nothing his father said was untrue.

Not the least of which were his feelings for Abby.

At the sound of the doorbell, Abby checked the clock. 9:30 PM. There were only two people who could be standing outside of her house at this hour. And since both were well aware of her addiction to ice cream, she brought the pint along as she went to open the door.

She really shouldn’t have.

Because apparently, James freakin’ Bond had taken over Connor’s body. And she was rocking one of Brian’s old shirts and a messy half-ponytail/half-bun piled atop her head.

“Hi, beautiful.”

Her knees buckled.

“So this was the pressing engagement you couldn’t break to go to the charity ball tonight?” he asked, eyebrow raised.