I pulled the sheet around my body as Davis’s grandfather burst into the bungalow, followed by a uniformed staffer. “Oh my God, I—”
This is not the way I want to reintroduce myself to him. Not after all these years…
“I’d ask you what you are doing here, but I already know, Miss Green.” Leaning on his cane, Davis’s grandfather shuffled farther into the bungalow. When he got to the sofa, he stopped and glared at me. “Whatever questions I have about you, I’m getting all the answers I need right now.”
“Grandfather, what the hell?” Davis shut the front door. “Samantha is my guest.”
Mr. Armstrong placed a hand on his hip. “Guest? I’d say she looks like more than a guest to me.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Davis walked over to the bed, placing himself between his grandfather and me. “The point is, you should be kinder to her.”
The old man scoffed. “This is my property, son. I can go where I please.”
“It’s okay.” I tightened the top sheet across my chest and scrambled off the mattress. “I was…I was just leaving.” I tossed Davis a reassuring smile, even though I felt anything but reassured. I just wanted to get out there. Leave. Get back to what mattered—my mom. “You…you don’t have to defend me. I can take care of myself. I’m sure your grandfather—”
“Mr. Armstrong, to you,” the old man interjected.
“Mr. Armstrong,” I said. “I’m sure the two of you have a lot to talk about.” I glanced at Davis’s grandfather. “It sounds like something very pressing.”
“It is,” Mr. Armstrong said, and I heard sarcasm in his voice. “And right now it does not include you.”
I nodded and suppressed the annoyance I felt building in my veins. I hated the way he was talking to me. Hated it. I had a million comebacks and a thousand statements I wanted to send his way as a reply. But I also saw the stricken expression on Davis’s face—one of wide eyes and a hangdog jaw. I didn’t know what to say to him. What do to.
Better to just make an exit.
Quickly.
I gathered my clothing from the floor around the bed. “I’ll just need a few minutes to get dressed.” I clutched the mess of underwear, shoes, and my dress to my body. “Please excuse me.”
Once in the bathroom, I let out a few deep sighs and forced myself to pull it together. Seeing Davis’s grandfather again pulled everything out of balance and forced me to consider the reality of the situation.
The night before had been wonderful. Magical. One of the most romantic and satisfying nights of my life. But I had to get back to the real world. I couldn’t stay in this fantasy forever, no matter what Davis had said to me, and how I felt about him.
I yanked on my clothing and stumbled out of the bathroom.
“I’m parked in the back of the house,” I said after a few seconds of awkward silence. Even the nameless staffer lurking behind Davis’s grandfather seemed embarrassed to be in the room. “I’ll show myself out.”
“No, I’ll walk with you,” Davis replied. “I insist.”
The three men followed me from the beach bungalow to the main property, past the garden, and toward the parking spaces along the back of the garage. None of us said anything as we made the walk, and if there was a more awkward and embarrassed walk of shame, I wouldn’t know it.
I am so humiliated.
“I am so sorry about this,” Davis said when we reached my car. “This is not how…I’m truly confused. I have no idea what my grandfather’s deal is. I’m so sorry.”
“No. It’s…I’m sorry too.”
And then it hit me. I was more than sorry. I was mortified. I was twenty-six and that man made me feel as though I was a common whore who tricked his grandson into sleeping with him.
What is his deal?
Maybe Senior and Junior were cut from the same judgmental, arrogant cloth. I wanted to be anywhere else in the world but there. I glanced at Mr. Armstrong, who stood a few dozen feet behind Davis with his arms crossed and a stony, blank expression across his face.
“I’ll sort this out and talk to you later, okay? Please don’t let him upset you.”
“Upset me? Davis, you’re kidding, aren’t you?”
“He doesn’t understand—”
“Understand what?” Because I’m completely lost here.
“He doesn’t get it. He really doesn’t.” Davis shook his head a little. “But I’m going to make him understand. I promise.”
“Understand what, exactly?” Then a realization twisted my stomach. “You didn’t officially nullify the contract my mom signed with him, did you? It’s still intact, isn’t it?”
His face fell. “It is.”
I studied his grandfather, who stared right back at us, waiting for me to leave. “I knew it,” I said with the heaviness of realization. “I knew it.”
“No wait, please.” Davis kept his tone quiet but gestured in the space between us. “Let me fix this. I can. I will. Don’t let this affect what we have.”
“And what’s that?”
“Something new. Something I want to hold on to.” He glanced at his grandfather then back at me. “I should have told him about this. About you. I made a mistake, and I know that.”
Yes, you did.
“I need to go.”
“I’m going to fix this,” he pleaded. “I promise.”
I wavered for a second, considering the implication of his words. Yes, he sounded sincere. He looked it too. But then I thought about my mom again. “I have to go, Davis.”
I also knew I wouldn’t cash the check. It wasn’t my style. And after the night we’d shared, I didn’t want to take the money. I didn’t want to be indebted to him. It didn’t feel right and would complicate things far too much. Instead of elaborating on that point, I unlocked my car door.
“Maybe I’ll see you later, Davis,” I finally managed.
“Yes, you will,” he replied.
I was never more uncertain of anything in my life.
In many ways, this woman was out of my league, and she couldn’t have picked a better way to show it. She was more than I deserved, and moments after she drove out of the driveway, I turned to my grandfather, determined to convey that to him.
“There’s no excuse for the way that you treated her. No excuse for just barging into the bungalow like that. I don’t care what you think you know,” I said, finally letting some of the anger I’d felt build inside me unleash. I was seething. Screw breeding. Propriety. How my grandfather wanted me to act. This was Sam we were talking about, not some plastic princess I’d just met off the street. “That was bullshit. Plain and simple.”
“Watch your language,” he replied. “You’re on very shaky ground, even if you don’t know it.”
“I don’t see how. You’re the one who should be apologizing, not me.”
“Shortsightedness.” My grandfather let out a heave of exasperation. “That’s your biggest problem. You’re so blinded by your…lust, you can’t see the truth.”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
He sighed again. “Gregory, if you don’t mind excusing us for a moment, I’d like to talk to my grandson alone.”
“Of course,” Gregory murmured. “I’ll be in the main house if you need anything.” My grandfather’s longtime attorney gave us both a curt nod and walked away toward the main house.
One we were both alone, my grandad turned back to me. “What have I told you so many times? As an Armstrong, you must be careful. This must be paramount. You can’t afford to do things the way everyone else does them. Is that understood?”
“I’ve heard it my entire life.”
I clenched my teeth. God, I was so fucking tired of being Davis Armstrong III, a person who had everything except the chance to take control of his own destiny. My whole life had been spent playing the part my family wanted, first for my father, and now for my grandfather. Finally, I’d done something for myself—I’d reconnected with the only woman who ever meant anything to me. I’d be damned if I’d let him take that away.
“You don’t have to remind me.”
“Obviously, I do.” His jaw hardened, and he narrowed his eyes. “As did the emergency meeting I had with Gregory this morning. He had a few interesting things he wanted me to see.”
My stomach flipped at the implication. “Like what?”
“Like the three quarters of a million that went missing from a certain bank account.” He stepped closer to me. “What do you know about that?”