I barked out an angry laugh. Was he serious? Was this a last attempt to prove I was the greedy whore he’d always thought? I made a beeline for the papers and in front of his face, I ripped them in half. Ripped them in half again, then again, and shoved the shreds into the offensive bag.
He pressed his lips together through the whole show. “It was yours, no strings.”
“Oh, there are strings, Wes. I don’t want to give you my signature as proof that I’m willing to use men for personal gain.”
“I don’t think that,” he whispered. “I’ve changed—”
“I’ve changed, too. I know better than to trust a guy who wields his power over me.”
“Fair enough.” He withdrew another sheet of paper.
I envisioned burning that bag in a tiny bonfire. “Oh god. What now?”
“Have a seat.”
“No.”
“I talked to Jake Johannsen.”
The shock buckled my knees. I pivoted to land next to him on the sofa. I’d been struggling to move on and he’d been continuing his mission to ruin me. Wasn’t my store enough, he had to dredge up the humiliation of my past—again?
“I’m sure his side of the story differed from mine.” I couldn’t look at Wes.
“Not when I told him I could arrange for his entire career to be audited.”
That…wasn’t what I expected to hear. “What’d you do?” I breathed.
“I did what I’m best at—wielded my power. He confessed everything.” His smirk was the same one I’d seen on the plane when he’d thought he’d cornered me. “But I’m having him audited anyway.”
A laugh escaped, but I sobered. “He’ll just lose his job at the worst. It won’t save others.”
“I’m paying for the representation of any of his victims who want to take legal action.”
My world slowed. Wes championing me was different than him taking the word of women he’d never met. Paying their legal fees.
“Why would you do this?”
He adjusted until he faced me. His large, capable hands wrapped around mine and it was the first time in weeks I’d felt some of the stress of my life abate.
“I’d like to think it’s because it’s the right thing, but I wouldn’t have known about it if it weren’t for you. I want you back, Mara.”
My head was shaking and I didn’t realize it until he cupped my face.
“Your diploma should arrive in the next six weeks.”
He grew blurry as I gazed at him through a pool of tears. Stay strong. He’d lied to me, used me, dropped me in New York, and left. But he’d held me all night when I’d needed emotional support, he’d fixed my sink, and he was championing several women he’d never met. “I’ve been trying so hard to hate you.”
And it was hard when I’d recall how he’d pushed my mom around Comic-Con and treated her to dinner after, all while in costume. How he’d chewed me out for not accepting his private plane to get back to Minneapolis. Our laughing and silly competitions at the trampoline park. I’d wanted to hate him, but we’d had too many good times to let the hurt and lies reign supreme.
His lips touched mine briefly. “I gave up trying to hate you. Couldn’t do it. Don’t want to do it.”
“How can I trust you again? You used me.”
“I never used you,” he said gruffly. “I couldn’t get enough of you. But I understand. Take as long as you need, Mara, just don’t shut me out. I want you in my life. I want to come home to you. I want to tell you about my day. I want you to keep showing me what love really is.”
It sounded too good to be true. “No matter what, I was still friends with your dad.”
“I know and I was unfair. I’ve thought about it a lot. Other than you, it’s almost all I’ve thought about. I can’t pretend to know how he felt, and I don’t agree with what he did or my mom sending me off to school. I think she felt like she was protecting me when it just separated us more. But it happened and I can see now that he tried by teaching me how to run his business and acknowledging me in his will. And when I really thought about it, I realized, how awesome is that? You got to know him, too, and instead of being a resentful asshole, I can enjoy swapping Sam stories with you.”
Speechless. Still, I tried shaking my head between his palms.
“Come back to me, Mara. There’s been no one for me since the bartender first called to tell me a hot chick wanted to talk to me.”
“So we were exclusive?” I teased with a sniffle. I gripped his wrists, my nails digging in. Too good to be true.
“One hundred percent. But I confess, I may be homeless soon.”
I rubbed into his caress. A girl could get used to this. “Is there a story?”
“Only that I hated the house and I’m selling it. When you left, the emptiness was intolerable. I got it thinking Sam would approve.”
Lost in the pool of his blue gaze, I stroked his wrist with my thumb. “I wasn’t lying when I said how much he loved you. He called himself a coward because he couldn’t crawl back, begging for forgiveness.”
“Thank you for that.” His voice was ragged.
We met for another kiss. He pushed me back and I let him. His weight stretched out over me was a welcome relief.
“I missed this.” His lips seared a path down my neck.
Dry-cleaning number four for this suit, but if I wasn’t too late for Chris’s offer then it was back to leggings for me.
I worked Wes’s buttons as he wrestled me out of my pants. “I missed your leggings, too.”
Forget the shirt. I freed him from his trousers to direct him into me.
He laid his hand on mine that was wrapped around his erection. “That bag you hate has a new pack of protection.”
“Then I won’t burn it while you’re sleeping.”
His deep
