She’d curled her wavy hair, worn her favorite dangling diamond earrings and heels that hurt her feet before she left the bedroom. Maybe it wasn’t going to be enough, but she wanted to do her best to show T.J. what he would never ever get.
He was already at the table, looking handsome and smooth in his custom suit. He rose when he saw her and seemed impressed with what he saw.
“You look great,” he told her. “Beautiful and killer sexy.”
“Thank you.”
She took the seat across from his and dropped her wrap. His eyes widened.
The low-cut dress was also tight. Her curves seemed seconds away from spilling out. Skye figured she might as well flaunt the assets she had.
“I’m not going to be able to think straight through dinner,” he muttered.
“Really?” she asked, smiling, then reached across the table and touched his hand.
“Seriously, Skye, you’re gorgeous enough to be deadly.” He glanced around the room as if trying to figure out what was going on. “Tell me again why we’re here and not at my place?”
“Because you didn’t ask me to your place.”
His mouth dropped slightly. He might have been playing before, but he looked plenty serious now. “Do you want to leave?” he asked.
She leaned toward him. “Will you take me home?” she whispered. “Make love with me?”
He swore under his breath. “In a heartbeat. I thought you’d want to go slow.”
“You thought wrong. Let’s go.”
He stood so fast, the chair went flying.
She rose and followed him out of the restaurant. She was pleased to see her car was still parked in front, as she’d asked the valet. Across the street she saw a flatbed truck pulling away with T.J.’s car on it. T.J. didn’t seem to notice. T.J. passed over his claim check, then put his arm around her. “I’m so ready for this,” he murmured in her ear.
She pushed him away. “I’ll just bet you are, you bastard. Did you really think you could sleep with my sister and then get me into bed? That’s disgusting. I don’t know what this is all about, but it stops now. You are nothing but a jerk and a loser. Were you going to keep Izzy on the side while you tried to talk me into marrying you? What did Jed promise you?” She threw up her hands. “You know what? I don’t care. You lost Izzy and you lost me. And by the time I’m done talking about you, you won’t be able to buy a dog, let alone get a date, in this town.”
He glared at her. “You think you’re something but you’re not. Without Jed, you’re nothing.”
“I’m still a Titan and I am somebody, with or without Jed.”
He flushed. “The next husband Daddy tries to buy for you won’t look as good as me.”
She looked him up and down. “I’m not sure I could do worse. You’re the kind of man who’s never happy with what he has. I’ll bet you cheat at cards, too. By the way, Izzy says you’re the size of a peanut and lasted about thirty seconds. How disappointing.”
Knowing she was going to regret her public tirade in the morning, but too happy with it now to care, Skye tossed the valet a twenty. He handed her her keys. She got in her car and drove away. As she turned at the corner, she pushed the button for her hands-free phone system, then spoke Lexi’s name.
Her sister picked up on the second ring. “Hi. What’s up?”
“I need to trash T. J. Boone all over town. Can you help with that?”
Lexi laughed. “You know I have a phone network that rivals the Pentagon. What do you want me to say?”
“I’m thinking we should start by mentioning an unfortunate lack of size in the male equipment department.”
SKYE STOOD in front of Ray’s grave and touched the impressive carved headstone. The quote, from Aristotle, had been one point of many she’d disagreed with. But Ray’s children had never accepted her, had never been happy about their father’s marriage to a much younger woman. No matter how she explained she wasn’t in it for the money, they didn’t believe her.
After his death, they’d discovered he’d left her only a few million which, from their perspective, had been practically nothing. Instead he’d divided his estate among all his children, including Erin. His children had never known that she had been the one to insist Ray write his will that way.
He’d wanted to leave her “taken care of,” which in his mind meant thirty or forty million dollars. But she didn’t need that. She still had a little money from her mother and she wasn’t a big spender.
Erin’s money had been left in trust for her. Skye had no idea what his other children had done with their shares. There was no contact, not even with their half sister.
She tried not to mind. Erin didn’t know much about them and couldn’t miss a relationship she’d never had. While Skye accepted they would always hate her, she was sad they would reject her child.
Ray had told her to give it time. She hadn’t realized how little they would have together.
“I know you loved me,” she whispered. Not that he could hear her, but it felt good to pretend he could. That she would get an answer and then he would laugh. That big laugh of his that always made her feel better no matter what was going on.
“Mitch got in the way, didn’t he? You knew he was in my heart, even when I didn’t. Even when I tried to forget him.”
Mitch had lived between them, a shadow they couldn’t escape.
“I didn’t love you enough,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “And now you’re gone. You would be so ashamed of me. T.J. turned out to be a real mess. Izzy tried to warn me about him and I wouldn’t listen. It’s my pride. I guess I’ve always had too much pride. Oh, Ray.”
She clutched the headstone, wishing she could go back and change things. If only she’d gotten over Mitch sooner. Or at all.
But that wasn’t her only regret. What she’d finally come to see was that she’d lost herself the day she’d chosen Ray over Mitch. She’d lost the essence of who and what she was and that might also be part of the reason she hadn’t been able to love him as much as he deserved.
Ray had been good to her. He’d always encouraged her to reach for something. He was the one who had suggested she start the foundation. He’d helped her with all the logistics and had offered to give her more seed money. He’d been a lot older, but his heart and spirit had been young and he’d treasured her and Erin.
Now he was gone and she didn’t know what was going to happen next. Except maybe it was time for her to take charge of her own life. To do what was right for herself and her daughter and not let every man around her tell her what to do.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SKYE WOKE to the sound of her cell phone. As she grabbed it, she looked at the clock. It wasn’t even five yet. No good calls came at this time.
“Hello?”
“It’s Dana. Sorry to wake you, but I wanted to give you a heads-up. They’re coming to arrest Jed. You’ve got less than an hour. And no, he shouldn’t run for it. He should call one of his five-hundred-dollar-an-hour attorneys. I wanted you to know because there will be press. Keep Erin away from them.”
Skye sat up. She couldn’t understand what her friend was saying. “Who’s arresting Jed?”
“The Feds. They’ll have local police assisting. It’s for the smuggling. Shipping military weapons overseas isn’t something that makes the government happy. They’ve pulled together some preliminary charges until they can make the big ones stick.”
“This is all Garth,” Skye breathed. “He made this happen. He did it all.”
“I agree, but until we can prove that, Daddy’s going to jail. You can’t tell anyone I called you.”
“I know. I don’t want you getting in trouble. Thanks, Dana.”
“You’re welcome.”
Skye scrambled out of bed. She grabbed a robe, then went down the hall and into Jed’s room.
Her father was already up, showered and dressed. He sat at a desk in the corner, working on his laptop.
