Chapter Twelve
Zan stopped at the huddle of women, his eyes on Daisy who was staring at his brother with hate-filled eyes. He braced when those same eyes flew to him, then looked away, but not before he caught betrayal, pain, and fury. He bit back the need to reach out and touch her, but there would be time for that later when he’d explain why, and they’d move on.
Daisy turned her back and murmured something to her sisters, who both gave slight nods before they turned.
Rose was so much like her sister, but without the quiet beauty that made Daisy stand out from the crowd. Rose, with her scrunched up face, looked like she’d happily murder all three of them using a blunt Swiss Army knife. Poppy stared briefly at Brayden, her hands pressed together. He cast a quick glance at his brother who was pale, his gaze locked on the red-headed sister.
“We know why you’re here so if you lay it out promptly, we’d be grateful so you can leave,” Daisy said, her head held high, two high spots of red on her cheeks. She nodded to her distraught looking personal assistant who hovered by the door and an older man, staring at them open-mouthed.
“It’s okay, Rhonda. I’ll see you later, and you, too, Ben.” She gave them a ghost of a smile.
“Before we start, I want everyone in this room to know that this wasn’t personal, but a business decision.” Zan walked to the head of the table, opened his briefcase, and took out a stack of papers.
“Bullshit, this was always personal, but using Poppy like that? How do you sleep at night?” Rose’s hand landed on the table with a smack. Her chest heaved, and fire danced in her eyes.
“Easy,” Tristan said, stepping forward.
Dark eyes flew to his brother. “I am not above taking you out with a shoe.”
“Rose, let’s get this done, so they can go.” Daisy stepped forward.
Thanksgiving’s going to be fun.
Zan concentrated on Daisy. “As you may already have guessed, we have been buying Carter shares, and today, with Poppy signing a portion of her shares to Brayden, we now own the majority of the company making us the controlling body.”
Nothing moved on Daisy’s face, except for a vein beating at the column of her throat.
We will be talking this out later, beautiful, believe me.
“What about the staff?” Daisy said in a voice devoid of any emotion.
“All staff will be offered a position within our organization or a generous settlement.”
She nodded once.
“We hope you will stay on as advisors before you are offered positions at Gillard’s.”
“Stick your job up your ass.” Rose walked toward the door.
“You won’t even consider our proposal?” Tristan moved toward her.
She looked him up and down. “Shoe remember?” She walked out of the boardroom.
“For the record, I would never have betrayed you. I loved you. Biggest mistake of my life,” Poppy said to Brayden, then followed her sister.
“Could you give us a minute?” Zan asked his brothers, who nodded and walked out the door leaving him, Daisy, and an atmosphere so charged the room vibrated. If he touched her, she’d know what ran between them, and even though this had to be done, they’d come out of this.
“Well done, Alexander. You played me the whole time, and I didn’t see it coming.” She swatted at her cheeks. “You’re good, had me fooled.”
He walked toward her, but she flinched when he went to touch her. He hated it when she said his name, stiff and formal.
Shit.
“Don’t touch me,” she whispered. Her chest heaved, and she wiped the corner of her eye.
“We said that business wouldn’t come between us.” He folded his arms across his chest, getting ready for the long haul.
“Business has most definitely come between us.” She advanced. “Was the whole time we were together one giant ploy?”
“No,” he gritted out. “We said we’d talk shit out and that’s what we’re going to do.”
“You once told me you’d rather cut out your heart than hurt me.” She raised one hand. “Yet here you are, ripping out my heart and throwing it on the ground. Have you got a bus you can reverse over it?” She swatted at tears on her pale cheeks. “Damn it.”
He had to fix this and fix it fast before the best thing in his life walked away.
“This is a business decision only. It has nothing to do with us.” He dragged his hand through his hair.
“God, you are so arrogant. It has everything to do with us.” Her voice rising. “Do you think tonight we were going to meet and have a chat about our day.” She paced the office. “Hey, Alexander, how was your day? Mine was ordinary. The man I love took away my company. The company that has been in our family for generations. The business I was entrusted to look after.” She stopped. “Oh, could you please pass the salad and dressing of deceit.”
Sweat crawled across his body. Love? Shit.
“Daisy, stop. This is business.”
She again started pacing around the office, stopped, and turned to him. “So yesterday you weren’t away on business, you were plotting the demise of my company while sending sexy texts.”
“We were in a long meeting with our lawyers.”
“Well, I think that’s one truthful thing that’s come out of your mouth.” She walked toward the door, her head high, but he grabbed her arm.
He’d underestimated the level of betrayal in her eyes. He didn’t expect he’d be welcomed with open arms, but he didn’t figure this level of emotion.
“Hear me out. For everything we’ve had, give me five minutes.”
“You have two.”
Her beautiful dark eyes swam with passion.
He pushed his hands into his pockets. “It started out as a business decision when Brayden had information about Poppy. We shared a lot at St. Maarten, and I fell for you. What we have doesn’t have to change. I hope we can work together.”
She stared at him. “Did you smoke crack before walking in here?” Her eyes flashed. She stepped forward into his space in complete Daisy style. “This is deeply personal to me. I don’t trust a single word that comes out of your mouth. You’ve lied and deceived me, and here I was all the while thinking we were building something beautiful. You said you were all in.” She shook her head. “Well, baby, I’m all out.” She walked toward the door.
“Daisy, we need to stay and talk this shit out.”
She turned, her face blank. “Nothing to say. Contact me through our lawyers. We’re done.”
“We are not fucking done!” he yelled, pulling his hand through his hair in frustration.
Without another word, she closed the door with a soft click.
He stood sightlessly looking out at the Pacific Ocean, hands deep in his pockets. He had what he wanted, Carter Hotels, so why did it feel like someone had cracked his chest, performed open heart surgery without anesthetic? The look on Daisy’s face would forever be etched in his head. The betrayal, the heartache, the look of devastation. He figured now wasn’t the time to call her. He’d give her time to cool down, and he’d go to her house and make her understand.
And the icing on the cake was she loved him.
Had loved him.
Jesus, I sound like an arrogant bastard, but I have to fix this.
Yeah, he did, because he had, too. Not having Daisy in his life wasn’t something he’d contemplate. Blood roared in his ears when the door opened. He turned in relief, which melted away when his brothers walked in.
“I take it by the look on your face it didn’t go well with Daisy,” Tristan said, looking at him closer. “There is more going on here than buying the hotels, isn’t there?”
“We’ve been seeing each other. We are seeing each other.”
“Shit, bro, by the look on her face when she walked out of here, I’d check your relationship status.” Tristan shook his head. “Why am I the only one not in the know about both of you going after a Carter?”
“Because you would have said it was a terrible idea, that we wouldn’t have control of the situation,” Brayden said. “And you’d have been right.”
Zan looked at his youngest brother, the urge to protect him still fierce. He’d been seething over how Poppy deceived Brayden. He didn’t see the scars on his brother’s face, but Brayden was self-conscious to the point he was virtually a recluse until Zan had phoned him asking if he wanted to come to his place and have a beer. Zan had nearly fallen over when Brayden had been in a bar on a date.
“How deep are you with Poppy?”
Eyes so like his own flew to him. “I was deep in with her, but after what we all agreed on… We’re done.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned away.
“Well, I’m looking forward to working with Rose and her shoe fetish,” Tristan said. “I like them feisty.”
“Before we hit the basketball court, I’m going to give my woman a night to cool off then convince her what we have is real, and worth fighting for.”
“You think that by taking her company she’ll welcome you back with open arms?” Tristan stared at him like he’d swooped in from Mars.
“The boundary of business and pleasure doesn’t cross,” he said, already sick of this argument. “How many times have we had this discussion?”
“Way too many times, and up until now, I would have believed you because you’re a cold, heartless bastard whom I love, by the way, but this time the lines have blurred.”
“I’ll figure it out, she’ll be back in my life.”
“Good luck, bro.” Tristan clapped him on the shoulder. Zan nodded to a shattered looking Brayden who followed his brother out the door.
He had everything he wanted.
Except for one thing.
And that was going to change.
…
Daisy and her sisters sat on her couch. Virgil was on Poppy’s lap. Unopened containers of takeaway food on the coffee table.
Daisy cleared her throat. “This is my fault. I didn’t tell you that at St. Maarten I partnered with Zan. It didn’t start out as anything but us having to partner together. I think we both figured that keep your enemies closer was a scenario, which worked…”
“Until it became more,” Rose finished for her, her voice sharp. “Why all the running around behind our backs with this, Daisy?” Rose stood and started pacing. “Did you not think at least once he was using you?” Rose’s flashing eyes held hers.
She held her sister’s gaze. “I did, but I thought we had more.”
A spasm ripped through her chest. God, she couldn’t lose her sister, too.
“Dad entrusted you to keep the company safe, but instead you’ve all but handed it to Zan Gillard.”
“Rose, don’t,” Poppy said.
Silent tears ran down Daisy’s face.
“Don’t what? Don’t tell us what’s been happening? I understand your personal life is personal, but you’ve lost the company.”
“So did I,” Poppy said.
“But you tried to fix it. Daisy was running around with the enemy behind our backs while he quietly destroyed us. I can’t believe we’re in this position. Dad would be furious.” She turned to Daisy. “Dad wouldn’t let this happen.”
Daisy wrung her hands until pain shot up her wrists.
Virgil, as if sensing her despair, left Poppy and curled on her lap.
The image of Zan holding Virgil and chatting to her cat like he was human morphed into her mind, but after this afternoon’s meltdown it was going to take a lot more discipline on her part to push him out of her mind. But push she would.
“I can’t stand here and look at you.” Rose gathered her bag. “I’m going to be with our lawyer tomorrow.”
Daisy stood. “Please don’t leave.”
She fought the giant hand pressing her chest. They’d never had a fight like this. Squabbles as kids, and heated arguments as teens, but they shared the twin bond. She’d do anything for Rose. They’d been inseparable since before birth.
“Stop, please, both of you.”
Daisy’s heart took a sluggish beat at the anguish in her sister’s voice. Always the most fragile, Poppy took things to heart. Pain and heartache were evident in her eyes. Somehow, she had to fix this. She took a shaky breath. “Our father raised three strong women, so we will get through this, together.”
“Not with me you won’t.” Rose walked toward her front door.
“I’ll phone you tomorrow, both of you.” Daisy stood and stopped at the look on her twin’s face.
“I wouldn’t bother.” Her icy words hung between them.
Poppy stood and collected her bag. “I need to go.” She hugged Daisy. “She’ll come around.”
Car doors slammed, and Daisy was left in her living room.
She slid down to the floor, wrapped her arms around her knees, and let out the emotions of the day. She’d lost the company, been betrayed by the man she loved and thought had cared about her, and lost the other piece of herself that made up who she was.
What have I done?
Dawn cracked through the window. She’d stayed huddled on the floor the entire night. She reached into her bag and turned her phone to silent, unable and unwilling to talk to anyone except her sisters or her mom.
After the look of pain and rejection on Rose’s face last night, she wasn’t expecting a call, but Daisy wasn’t giving up on her sister. She tried to loosen her jaw, which ached from being clenched all night.
Virgil wasn’t complaining about his stomach being empty. He’d dragged a pair of black male briefs and lay them at her feet, which brought another round of uncontrollable tears. He’d previously brought home socks, underwear, a Tickle Me Elmo, bananas, a cooked pork chop, and a pink bra. She gave the toys back to the guys at the gate, and everything else went in the bin.
She hugged her cat who curled into her arms and stared up at her with his emerald eyes.
Must have a thing for males with green eyes. Correction. Must have had.
She looked up at the banging on her door.
“Come in.” Her voice grated like sandpaper out of a raw throat. She hoped it was Rose or Poppy. She didn’t care if they saw her like this, a crumpled emotional wreck wearing the same clothes, huddled on the floor, every muscle numb. If only she could numb her mind.
The door opened, and Zan strode into the room. He took one look at her and froze, the color bleached from his face.
“Are you sick?”
She blinked up at him. “Get out.”
“Shit, Daisy, I mean it, are you sick? Can you stand? I’m taking you to Emergency.”
She let her head fall back on her knees but flinched when he touched her shoulder.
“What do you want, Zan? There’s nothing more of me you can take. You’ve destroyed me. You’ve taken my company, my sister’s gone, my family, but hey, if you want to wander around the house and grab a souvenir, go at it.” Her voice flat, she couldn’t muster up the energy to care what she looked or sounded like.
He sat across from her, dark circles under his eyes, his hand between his knees. Unshaven. Creases around his mouth, his face pale, but his eyes bored into hers like a laser pointer.
She glanced around the room. “Your T-shirt’s upstairs, I stole it, grab it then go.”
“I came for you,” he said.
Even looking like he’d slept two minutes, he looked his signature delicious in a tight black T-shirt, faded jeans, and bare feet.
“There was too much emotion yesterday, but, Daisy, we can work this out.”
Tired she was so tired. Didn’t anyone see or care?
“There’s nothing to work out.” Her voice flat.
A tic jumped in his jaw. “I am getting so tired of saying it was a business deal only.”
Ah, that’s what this is.
“Life is a business deal to you. You said you loved the thrust of the boardroom before moving on, and you hate to lose, but I’m not a business deal. So, it may be business to you, but it wasn’t to me.”
“Yes, it was a business decision, but it changed, we changed. We can both sail over this hurdle if we both want this.”
“I don’t want this, so go.” She gripped her knees tighter. “Please be kind to the staff.” She shrugged. “But I guess you’re going to take what you want anyway, it’s what you do.”
He stalked to her, and before she had time to process what he was doing, she was pulled up. She cried out at the pain shooting through cramped muscles. He held her like a rag doll, his mouth crashing down on hers.
It took every fiber in her not to fall into his kiss.
Her mouth stayed closed, her eyes open.
The undeniable current passed between them.
He groaned then let her go. She swayed but held her stand.
He dug his hand through his hair. “You feel it, the connection we share.”
“I did, but I don’t anymore.” She tilted her chin and sucked back tears.
Of course, she felt their connection. It simmered like a live entity between them every time he walked into a room and knew where she was. Every time she walked into a room she didn’t have to turn to know where he stood. He walked out of her house and her life, slamming the door behind him.
…
Three weeks later Zan stared at his computer screen. He should be going over the Fiji deal, but every time he thought about Fiji, Daisy in a red bikini flashed into his brain. Or the day she’d ejected him from her life was on instant replay in his mind. He’d stood with his hand on the door listening to her anguished sobs, and he’d hated himself. The woman that he cared about deeply he’d shredded. In her words, destroyed.
For a business deal.
He’d inflicted so much damage on her that he’d had no choice but to walk away. He’d rather rip out his heart than hurt her further. The sounds of her sobbing were forever etched into the blackness of his soul.
If I have one.
There was that.
It should be getting easier. Isn’t that what people said? Time heals all wounds? Well, those fuckers lied.
Three weeks and it felt like yesterday he’d been holding her in his arms, inhaling her jasmine scent, looking down to find his hand tangled with hers and a secret smile on her face.
He couldn’t count the times he’d thumbed open his phone and stared at the picture she’d sent of her perfect ankle with a red bikini bottom dangling from her foot. Any sane man would have deleted the photo when the woman he’d fallen for had made it abundantly clear that she wanted nothing to do with him, but it was all he had left of them.
He was stuck in some weird no-man’s land. He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t concentrate, but he couldn’t erase Daisy from his mind. He closed his eyes and there she was. His body had gone silent and shut up shop on that front. He tried for an image of her in his mind, but it appeared his cock was only interested in the real deal. He’d taken to hitting the gym trying to punch, cycle, and lift weights to punish his body so he could sleep and focus. He was failing on both parts.
He’d had a lot of time to think and reflect.
Business meant the world to him. The cut and thrust in the boardroom, flying to a new city, taking on another hotel chain. Until it didn’t. He hadn’t left L.A. in three weeks. He should be climbing walls after staying in the same place for three days. He’d had three weeks to work out how he’d fucked up in such a spectacular fashion.
He had to make things right. Not for him, but for her. He knew they were done, but if he could give Daisy something back that meant the world to her, he’d do so and bow out of her life.
He turned when his brothers breezed through the door for the meeting he’d called. He had something to run past them. As CEO, he didn’t need their approval, but he wanted it.
“Jesus, man, you look like you’ve been dug up. Are you an extra on The Walking Dead? Give Rick my regards.” Tristan sat across from his usually tidy desk that was littered with papers. His personal assistant, Lori, had told him his attitude had better change, or she was taking her ten teapots and walking out the door.
“Fuck off,” Zan replied, good-naturedly.
He didn’t need his brother to tell him he looked like shit. He couldn’t sleep. Every time he closed his eyes a brunette with attitude and a smile that shut him down herded into his brain and wouldn’t leave.
“Are you okay?” Brayden sat across from Tristan, concern on his face.
“I’m going to be.”
He outlined his plan.
After a moment of deafening silence, Brayden smiled.
Tristan stared at him, his eyes narrow before he broke into a smile then laughed. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“You’re on board?” Zan sat forward, his heart pitching against his rib cage.
“Yeah, I’m on board. I hope it doesn’t blow up in your face.” Tristan shot him a look, still shaking his head. “Never thought I’d see the day. Blurred lines, my ass.” He clamped his hand on his shoulder, squeezed, then walked out his office.
“This is right,” Brayden said, nodding and following Tristan out his office.
Daisy wasn’t taking his calls or texts. He got it. She’d erased him from her life. Probably blocked him. He’d tried earlier today, brought up the name Clovista, and heard chirping crickets.
Change of plan.
That night he drove to Daisy’s house, had an intense conversation with the guard on the gate, that he and Daisy were back together. He pointed to the flowers and the pizza in the back seat of his car. The paper in his pocket was about to change both their lives.
His heart threw in a sluggish beat at her darkened house.
Shit.
She wasn’t at the office as he’d swung by earlier, but her Prius wasn’t here, either.
Christ, she’s out with Malibu_Man_Loves_Cats.
If the fucker so much as touched her or Virgil, he’d be wearing an orange jumpsuit for a long time. Contemplating his next move, he followed a set of lights that drove toward an opening garage door. He exited the car and waited until she did the same.
She was dressed in dark yoga pants, a soft pink camisole, and a matching cotton jacket, a yoga mat under her arm. She stopped and turned in his direction. “What do you want?”
“Daisy,” he murmured.
She faltered then walked toward her front door. “Alexander, we have nothing to say to each other.” She unlocked her front door.
Still the stiff and formal Alexander. Damnit.
“Two minutes of your time.”
She studied him for a beat, nodded, then deactivated her alarm. He followed. She stood in her living room with her chin jutted, arms crossed, the dark circles under her eyes matching his. He let his eyes stray down her body, frowning at the yoga pants that hung loosely on her body. It killed him that she’d lost weight. He was having an incredibly hard time not pulling her close to his body and kissing her until she melted against him. Then that broken organ in his chest could pulse into life.
The chemistry between them shimmered. She might deny the current that forever bound them together, but he knew she felt it, too. She knew where he’d stood tonight without him saying a word.
He handed her the large envelope he’d been carrying.
“What’s this?” She took the envelope, opened it, scanned the document before startled eyes flew to his.
“Wait, you didn’t sell Poppy’s shares?” The yoga mat dropped to the ground.
“No. What your holding is the document showing your sister relinquishing her shares to Brayden, which is now void.”
She walked to her sofa and sat, one hand at her throat. “I don’t understand.”
He sat across from her; not touching her was damn near killing him, but he had to do this right.
“The Levi deal is back on the table. We shifted it until next week. It appears Levi has a fondness for both our companies, and he particularly liked your father.”
“Why didn’t you buy the shares or Levi straight out?” She gnawed on her bottom lip in a way that made him want to pull her into his lap and nip hers.
“He was asking a ridiculous amount.” He shrugged. “I’m a businessman, not a fool.”
Fool for letting you get away.
As for the shares, he didn’t have an answer. They’d sat in his safe. It had cut Brayden doing what he’d done to Poppy, whereas Zan wouldn’t have thought twice about it until a bewitching woman walked into his life and changed his world.
“You’re giving us back controlling interest in our company?” She now looked at him, her face pale, but hope swimming in her eyes.
“I am. What I did wasn’t sitting right. It started out as business only, but a lot of people have been hurt by this.”
“They have.”
His pity party and him sitting down every night with his new best friend Johnnie Walker Blue had stopped when he’d thought of this idea.
She looked down and said nothing, but he caught the shimmer in her eyes.
They were not done.
“I’m a businessman and what I’m proposing is that we bid for the Levi resorts fair and square. You win the bid, they’re yours. If we do, the same thing. If you win, your share price will jump, and you’ll have enough funding to become solvent.”
“What’s the catch?” Wary eyes held his.
“When Gillard wins the bid, and we will win, you’ll go on a date with me. No family bullshit, just you and me.”
She stood, and sadness danced with determination in her chocolate eyes. “When Carter wins, and we will, the only interaction between our families will be on a business footing.”
He smiled.
“You won’t win, Zan.”
He’d already scored a point for her calling him Zan.
“Thinking of where I’ll be taking you. I’m thinking naked Twister, but not here, my place. I don’t want to corrupt Virgil.”
At her sharp intake of breath, he moved toward the door; it was killing him that he was walking away, but he stopped when she said his name. Her hands twisted in her lap; her lovely eyes shimmered with emotion. “Thank you,” she murmured a quiver in her voice.
There was something in her tone that touched a place deep inside of him. A place he hadn’t known existed until Daisy. “I want you in my life on an even playing field. No bullshit.”
Her face paled, but her voice rang clear. “I can’t do this again. I can’t be broken by you again. You have to promise you’ll stay away from me when I win.”
He ached to touch her, feel the softness of her hand in his, to bury his face in her hair and never come up for air, wanted to cross the widening chasm between them, hold her and never let her go. “I want you in my life.” He rubbed his hands across his face, the stone in his throat growing larger every minute he stood across from his woman. “I need you in my life. You’re my world, my everything. You make me want to be a better person.” At her sharp intake of breath, he looked her straight into eyes swimming with unshed tears. “I can’t stay away from you, Daisy, even if I tried.”
He had changed in the last three weeks. For starters, he’d never said the words that had flowed out of him, but coming home to an empty house at midnight and leaving the lights off so in his head he didn’t have to remember her butt on his kitchen counter, hear her throaty laugh, tuck her hand into his. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Summer to change the sheets. The only part of Daisy he had was her scent that clung to the cotton. He’d been working impossible hours to wipe his mind clear of her. Nothing worked. He wanted to come home to her, wanted her smile aimed at him, wanted his body curled around hers at night. He wanted everything about her, but she was as proud as she was stubborn. Handing her back her company was the right thing to do. He didn’t want her business. He wanted her.
“With you in my arms I’ve finally found my home.” Unshed tears slid down her face, before he could reach out and brush them from her cheeks, she turned and flew up the stairs.
He didn’t follow. He’d said and done what needed to be said and done. He walked out her front door and closed it on a quiet click.
If she didn’t want him in her life at the end of the Levi deal, it would hurt more than a slug to the chest. Yeah, he’d walk away, but he didn’t plan on losing.