Saint James, Elle - Unbridled and Untangled [The Double Rider Men's Club 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (21 page)

Laurel put her hand up like she was about to swear an oath on a bible in court. “I promise I didn’t. I would have warned you.” She leaned closer. “The scuttlebutt from the whispers I heard earlier say that Dalton’s sort of like me. He’s the bad boy, black sheep in
this
family. But his grandmamma adores him and no one has the balls to stand up to her.”

“He doesn’t seem to have a very good opinion of anyone here. Unfortunately, that includes me.”

Laurel’s eyebrows lifted. “Really? Given the ‘connection’ that I saw between the two of you in the closet, I’d challenge that.”

Olivia didn’t respond. She shrugged, but she allowed a brief smile to shape her lips in memory.

“He seems like a good guy to me, Olivia. So did the other man you were with at the DRMC property. Give them a chance to make you happy.”

Olivia snorted. “Like that would ever happen. Can you imagine Grandfather’s reaction if I decided to marry not one man, but two?”

“It’s not up to him. It’s your life. I think you should give them a chance if
you
want to live that way.” Laurel put a hand on her arm. “Trust me. Don’t throw a good thing away because it isn’t proper. Not for our family or for running the business. They’re all a bunch of hypocrites anyway. You can’t tell me there’s never been a member of the family that didn’t do whatever the hell they wanted to at any given moment. You deserve the same rights, if you get put in charge.”

Olivia knew there had been some scandals in their family in the past. Laurel, in fact, had been the talk of the family for years when she’d turned eighteen and gone rogue like a wild child several years before. Grandfather still refused to help support her in any way. That was something else Olivia planned to change once she was fully in charge. If that ever happened. Bradford wasted the stipend from the family trust every month in the form of booze, and possibly hookers. Laurel would at least use it for rent.

“Thanks, Laurel.” She didn’t have time to say more before the bathroom door opened.

Dalton exited the hall bathroom still tucking his shirt into the waistband of his pants, as if he had to hurry back or she’d be gone like the wind. He looked surprised to still see her standing there.

“Thanks for waiting.”

Laurel edged away. “I’m going to see if they’re serving cake. Good to see you, Dalton.”

“Likewise. Thanks for the timely rescue.”

She waved, turned her back, and disappeared around a corner.

They stared at each other for a minute without speaking.

“So what happens now?” she asked.

“Not sure.” He looked baffled at what might possibly come next.

“Do you still disdain my very existence?”

He pushed out a long breath and grabbed her shoulders. “You know I don’t.”

“I don’t know anything of the sort. We had sex. It was great. Not a surprise, but it doesn’t change anything.”

His gaze drilled into her very soul. “It changes everything for me,” he said quietly.

She rolled her eyes. “That’s because now you know who I am and where I am.”

He squeezed her shoulders and moved closer. “I apologize sincerely for what I said to you. We had absolutely no word from you. After missing you these past two weeks and then suddenly seeing you pop up in a crowd of people I usually loath, well, let me just say, it was a surprise.”

She nodded. “I forgive you.” But in her mind, nothing had changed. Her life was here. His and Wade’s was out in Colorado.

“I can’t wait to tell Wade that I found you.” His growing smile touched a place deeply inside, but this conversation wasn’t going in the proper direction. They couldn’t be together.

She shook her head. “Don’t tell him.”

He frowned. “Why not?”

“I can’t be with the two of you. Not in public. And if I go the private route and only meet occasionally route, someone will find out. I expect Bradford to have it all figured out before too long.”

“I don’t care about him.”

Olivia crossed her arms and backed out of his loose embrace. “Well, I don’t have that luxury.”

“Just wait…” he paused and searched for words.

“Just wait for what? What is it you expect me to do, Dalton? Leave all this wealth and responsibility behind so I can live happily ever after with you and Wade in a big house facing the mountains? I’m not denying that it would be nice, but I have an important job to do. And it’s here, not out West.”

Olivia took a step toward the hallway where Laurel had disappeared moments before.

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know. I guess I don’t want to be discovered alone with you when we smell like we just fucked in the butler’s pantry.”

He inhaled a deep breath. “I think you smell fantastic.”

“Of course you do.” She shrugged.

“Go with me to eat some cake then we’ll go to my hotel and figure things out.”

“Why didn’t Wade come with you tonight?”

“My grandmother’s friends always make him feel like a low-class hillbilly freak because he actually works for a living and has the calluses to prove it. So he opted to have dinner with friends.”

She nodded. Before she could tell Dalton in no uncertain terms that she was
not
going back into the party tonight, a man dressed in a suit with a security badge rounded the corner. When he saw Dalton, he raised a small hand-sized walkie-talkie to his mouth. “I found him. I’ll accompany him personally.”

“Mr. Rourke, sir, your grandmother requests your presence in the dining room. Immediately.”

He turned to Olivia and held out his hand as if in unspoken command.

“You go on a head.” She nodded her head at the bathroom door. “I need to freshen up.”

Dalton reached out and kissed her mouth gently while the security guard got a good view.

“I’ll save you a piece of cake.”

She nodded, and the two of them disappeared around the corner.

Olivia intended to clean up in the bathroom as best as she could, but before she even opened the door, her foolish fears kicked her in the heart and then in the stomach. She could not face that room of people again. Dalton was right about one thing. The crowd assembled for tonight’s party were vapid, horrible creatures with a bloodlust-level craving for gossip and scandal.

While she hated to leave Dalton, she wanted to escape this night and these circumstances even more. Her grandfather might not forgive her for this faux pas, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t want to be the sudden center of attention.

Olivia released her breath, turned, and escaped the same way they’d hustled Bradford out. She was in a taxi and on her way home in less than ten minutes. Dalton would hate her. Her grandfather would lecture her. Bradford would likely benefit most when this sudden getaway blew up in her face. And it would.

If the cab driver saw her crying silently over her broken heart all the way to her home, he had the good graces not to say anything to her about it.

Chapter Fourteen

Wade stabbed his finger against the elevator button several times before the doors opened to whisk him to the penthouse suite of Stanton Industries. He often acted without thinking, but today’s journey had been rehearsed repeatedly and on his mind for many hours last night.

He was on a mission to speak to Olivia. He had a few things to say to her. He hoped he’d have the courage once he saw her in person.

“Can I help you, sir?” a well-dressed receptionist asked as he stepped off the elevator directly into the front office area.

“No. Thanks anyway.” Wade took a chance and headed toward the right. It looked like the corner office might be in that direction.

“Sir, you can’t just barge in anywhere you like…”

Wade didn’t look back. He strode quickly down the lengthy hallway reading the titles and names on the doors along the way. He finally found the one he was looking for on the last door. Behind him, the receptionist stopped following, but certainly was calling security. That was okay. Once he had his say, he’d leave peacefully.

He’d only been to Dalton’s family gatherings a couple of times and hated every minute. He relished not going this time, then kicked himself when Dalton came home with the surprising news of Olivia being there. His heart had soared at first only to come crashing down when Dalton related what had happened during the evening.

Olivia’s defection from the party last night had hurt Dalton almost beyond his capacity for words. He’d never seen his friend so distant or upset. Already a man of few words, his rendition of events as he’d related the evening came only in a few succinct sentences. It ended with her failure to show up for cake. His search of the house for her after and the valet telling him she’d taken a cab probably before he’d made it to the dining room.

Dalton then retreated to his private room and canceled his breakfast meeting with old friends, citing a coming cold.

Wade figured out where Olivia worked and decided to stage his own two-person breakfast get-together. He needed to see her. Needed for her to tell him she no longer wanted a relationship. And he needed her to say it to his face.

He turned the handle of her office. It was unlocked. He barged in, closed and locked the door behind him.

Wade was unprepared to see her. Seated at a massive mahogany desk across a plush dated room, Olivia was dwarfed by the furniture. Head down as if in quiet contemplation, she ignored the buzzing of her phone. It was probably her receptionist trying to warn her of his unexpected arrival.

“I’d like to talk to you,” he said quietly.

Her head shot up in shock. “Wade?”

“Were you expecting Dalton instead?”

She stood, rounded her desk quickly and crossed the room. He didn’t notice her swollen, red rimmed eyes until she was nearly upon him. God help him, he loved her as deeply as he had before she left Colorado. And even though he’d come here today to give her a piece of his mind for hurting Dalton, Wade opened his arms, and hugged her close when she slammed against his body sobbing. He squeezed her tight and let her babble muffled words against his shoulder that he couldn’t understand.

The scent of her hair prompted him to kiss her forehead and reevaluate his purpose here today. He still had a few things to clear up. “I hear you caused quite a dustup at the party last night,” he said quietly. It was the most neutral thing he could think of.

She mumbled something against his chest that he didn’t understand. He needed to hear what she had to say. He dropped his arms and grabbed her shoulders. Pulling her away from him gently, he caught her eye with his softening gaze. “I didn’t hear you. I need to know what’s going on in your head.”

“I did a horrible thing. I ran out of the party. I betrayed Dalton’s trust. He hates me now. He has to. But no more than I hate myself.”

Wade didn’t think Dalton hated her. “He was definitely surprised, equally worried, and a little bit hurt by your actions.”

She cleared her throat. “Is that why you’re here? To avenge him?”

He shrugged. “Maybe at first. But I didn’t expect you to be so upset.”

She extracted herself from his hands and took a step back. “Wow. Both of you must really hate me if you didn’t think I’d be upset over what happened.”

“Why did you run?”

Her gaze went to the ceiling. A fresh set of tears spilled over her lower lids and splashed down her face. “It will sound foolish, and you likely won’t believe it. But I didn’t want anyone in that room to see us together after we’d been in the butler’s pantry.” She lowered her gaze to his face. “I assume he told you about the butler’s pantry.”