Chapter Sixteen
Two weeks had passed since Holly had run home to daddy, but the heartbreak in her eyes—pain that he’d put there when she found out the truth—still haunted Josh. He couldn’t eat, sleep, or even attend his classes. He’d tried to call her numerous times, despite her warning never to speak to her again, but she refused to answer. His calls eventually went to voicemail, which meant she likely blocked him.
Yeah, sure, Josh had expected her to hate him, but deep down he never thought she’d throw it all in and give up so easily. She was stronger, tougher than that.
Completely miserable without her, he slapped the envelope full of cash against his palm, then stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans as he pushed through the mahogany double doors leading to his boss’s Manhattan office.
“Blair,” he said, the scent of leather reaching his nostrils as he entered.
His boss lifted his head and set down the pen he’d been holding. “Josh,” Blair greeted him, turning those astute eyes his way. “You haven’t been answering my calls.” He gestured toward the plush leather chair facing his desk, and Josh sank into it, taking in the view of downtown Manhattan through the floor-to-ceiling window behind Blair’s desk.
“That’s because the job’s done. Nothing left to say.”
“The job will be done when Holly is home,” Blair said, his voice hardening.
“What are you…?” His mind raced. Holly never came home? What the fuck?
Blair pushed back in his seat and folded his arms. “I thought you were the man for the job, but if you can’t get it done, then perhaps someone else can.”
Asshole.
How could Josh have thought for one minute that Holly would have run home? He wasn’t just an asshole. He was a stupid fucking asshole who needed a good beating.
He tossed the money onto Blair’s desk. “I’m out.” He leaned forward and leveled the man with a stare. “But don’t even think about sending another man for the job. If you do, you’ll be sorry.”
Blair stiffened. “That sounds like a threat.”
“Then you took it the right way.”
Blair might be a man of means, with an arsenal of bodyguards, but he could read a room, and with the way Josh was glaring at him from the other side of the table, ready to pounce if the man so much as said something he didn’t like, he knew when to push and when to back off.
“What’s going on?” Blair asked.
“What’s going on is that you’re going to leave your daughter alone. There was never a threat against her life, and this setup was all about getting her home and under your thumb.”
“I don’t—”
“She’s the smartest, toughest, kindest woman I know. She never backs away from a challenge, knows how to take care of herself, and all she wants is to get by on her own merit. Got it?”
“Josh—”
“I’m not done. If you want any kind of relationship with her, a relationship with your grandkids, you need to back the fuck off and let her live the life she wants. Otherwise you’re going to lose her and everything else. Is that what you really want?”
“Grandkids?”
“Yeah, grandkids.”
“She’s—”
“No, not yet, but I plan to give you plenty, and as long as you follow my rules you’ll get to see them.” Josh had grown up without a real family, and so had Holly, and he didn’t want his kids to do the same. “In fact, I want you to see them, and spoil them, and be there for them. But never to control them.”
“You…”
“I’m in love with your daughter, Blair. I want to marry her, and we both want you in our lives. Want the big happy family with Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
As confusion morphed into understanding, Blair stood so fast his chair spun backward. Josh stood, flattened his hands on the desk and met—if he got his way—his soon-to-be father-in-law eye-to-eye.
“From now on, it will be my job to take care of Holly, not yours. Understand?”
“I…you…”
“I love her,” he repeated.
The fine lines under Blair’s eyes deepened as he looked at the picture of his daughter on his desk. “And she loves you?”
“No, she hates me. But I’m going to fix that.”
Blair lifted his head, a ghost of a smile playing on his mouth. “You’re going to give me grandkids.”
“Yes.”
Something in the man’s face softened, and Josh’s heart squeezed. “I love her, too, which is why—”
“You’re going to let her live her own life, and stop trying to control her.”
“I just…I care so much. I worry. You know?”
Josh felt himself soften. “I know. She loves you, Blair. Wants you to be in her life, but you have to back off.”
He nodded. “I know you’re right.” A long pause and then he said, “You promise to take care of her. If anything ever happened to her—”
“Nothing will ever happen to her. You have my promise on that.”
They stood there staring at each other for a long-ass moment, then Blair exhaled a heavy sigh. “You love her?”
“I’m fucking crazy about her.” Josh pointed to the money he tossed onto the desk. “I don’t want the role of bodyguard anymore. I want the role of husband.”
“Josh, the money—”
“Don’t want it.” Yeah, he needed the money for the future he’d so carefully planned, but her happiness came above anything else. Besides, he had a band of brothers, men he’d bonded with who would always be there for him when he needed them. Unlike Holly, he didn’t always need to do everything alone. And if he got what he wanted, she’d never be doing anything alone again, either.
“You’ll let Holly live her life,” he said, a statement not a question.
Holly. Sweet and sexy Holly, who he was crazy in love with, who he was completely fucking miserable without.
“You need to go,” Blair said.
Josh straightened. No fucking way was he leaving here until the man agreed to his terms. “Listen—” he began, but Blair cut him off.
“I agree to everything, now go. Go make things right with my daughter.”
“Yes, sir,” he said and raked his hands through his hair as his heart sped up. He’d spent his whole life fighting for what he wanted. Now it was time to fight for what he needed.
…
Sitting in the break room of Today’s Tech, where she’d gotten a job selling software equipment to the general public, Holly took a big bite of her donut and washed it down with a drink of rich dark java. Working retail as she sent out resumes and interviewed for junior software jobs wasn’t as bad as she’d expected. The hours sucked, but at least management kept the staff room filled with coffee and donuts. Although, she should probably cut down on the sweets. Her pants were starting to tighten in all the wrong places. But standing on her feet all day, burying her pain in food, and serving customers was better than running home to daddy. No, her father and Josh had both betrayed her, but she’d rather live off sugar and caffeine than become the princess they both thought she was.
“Holly,” Alyssa said, poking her head into the break room. “Some guy on the floor is asking for you.”
She crinkled her nose and wiped sugar from her palms. “I’m on break.”
“I told him that, but he’s not budging.”
“What the hell—?” Over the last two weeks she’d gained some regular customers but couldn’t imagine any of them being so forceful. The only man who would do something like that was—
Oh God. No.
Every muscle in her body went tight. “What does he look like?”
“Like that delicious powder donut you just gobbled down.”
Had to be Josh.
Her breath caught in her throat, every nerve in her body hopping like a Mexican jumping bean. “Tell him I’m not here.”
Alyssa crinkled her nose and glanced over her shoulder. “Don’t think that’s going to work.”
Unease erupted inside her, and the scarf around her neck suddenly seemed to be cutting off her oxygen supply. “Why not?”
“Because he’s coming back here.”
Josh pushed past Alyssa, and the girl made a squealing noise and disappeared, closing the door and leaving her all alone with Josh.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.
A frown marred his rugged features. “We need to talk.”
She stiffened, sensing the tension in his body. “I told you I never wanted to see you again.”
“Holly, please. Can you listen for a second?”
She stood and squared off against him. “About what? How you lied to me, betrayed my trust, slept with me when you were working for my dad? Or maybe you want to talk about how you’re one of my father’s mouth-breathers who think they know what’s best for me.” She folded her arms and lifted her chin, even though her insides were shaking like a leaf in a windstorm. “Did I forget anything, Josh? Is there anything you wanted to add?”
He came closer, towered over her, and she hated the stupid way her body was reacting to his presence. “Yes. I was wrong. About everything. I thought I was doing what was best for you, when I had no idea who you really were and what you needed.”
“You lied to me, Josh,” she said, struggling to keep her voice steady. Dammit, she wanted to stay strong, wanted to get through this without a show of emotion. “I don’t even know who you are. Was anything that came out of your mouth real?”
“I didn’t tell you I was a SEAL, or that I worked for your father, but everything else was real, Holly. I am a software engineer and grew up in Brooklyn. I do want to open my own business. I have a sister and was raised by Mrs. J. I never lied about any of those things.” He grabbed a fistful of his hair, which had grown a lot in two weeks, and tugged. “And you know what? I’m sorry for not telling you who I was. It was wrong, but there was a part of me that liked you not knowing I was a former SEAL.” He drove his thumb into his chest. “You got to know me. The real me. I opened up to you in a way I’d never opened to any other woman. When most find out I’m a SEAL, I become no more than my job to them. Other than you, no woman had ever shown interest in me as a person. You never had an agenda.”
She certainly knew what it was like to be used. People befriending her because they had their own plan. But hadn’t Josh done the same? His knuckles brushed against hers, and as her traitorous body quivered, she flinched, pulling away.
“I’m sorry, Holly. I’m so fucking sorry. If I could do it again, I wouldn’t have taken the job.” He shook his head. “Wait, no that’s not true. I would have taken it because it meant meeting you.” He cupped her cheek, and this time she didn’t flinch. “I’m in love with you.”
As she blinked up at the man she’d fallen for, her heart crashed. He loved her? Tears pricked her eyes, and she struggled to fight them back. She might be in love with him, too, but he really hurt her. “Josh…I just…”
“Come with me.”
“What? No. I can’t just leave.”
“Please, just come with me.”
She stared at him for a long moment, but the pain in his eyes weakened her resolve. He seemed to be hurting as much as she was. Alyssa stared wide-eyed at the two of them as they left the store. He opened the door to his vehicle, and she slid in, folding her hands on her lap as she tried to figure out what was going on. He drove through the downtown core until he came to an office complex, with Power Play written on the door.
“What’s this?”
“Come see.”
He guided her inside the building, and she nodded as understanding dawned in small increments.
“So, this is what Daddy’s money bought.”
“No, I gave that back.”
She spun. “You did. Why?”
“I didn’t want it, and I quit.”
“You did?”
“Yes, right after I told your father to back off and leave you alone.” He scoffed. “Believe me, he won’t be sending any more mouth-breathers after you.”
He stood up for her? Josh Steele actually stood up to her father for her?
She blinked, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. “You really told him to back off?”
“Yes.”
“And he didn’t kill you?”
The muscles in his jaw gave a tic, and his eyes hardened. “I think he wanted to at first, but he knew I meant business. I’m not really the kind of guy you want to piss off, Holly.”
“Josh, I can’t believe—”
“Why not?” He took a step closer, the intensity in his eyes unlike anything she’d ever seen before. “You’re worth the fight, Holly.”
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Josh…”
His face softened, and his look turned sheepish, a bit worried as he briefly averted his gaze. “I also told him I’d give him grandkids, and as long as he played by our rules, we could become a big happy family.”
She stood there for one shocked moment then blurted out, “You did what?”
“Yeah, I told him I loved you and wanted to marry you and would always take care of you. So he could stop worrying about your safety.”
Josh wants to marry me?
With her head spinning a million miles an hour, she shot back, “I can take care of myself you know.”
“I know.” He laughed. “Believe me, I know. But it’s okay to let someone else help once in a while. It was our teamwork that helped us succeed on the island, and what’s going to help us build a prosperous business and provide us with an amazing future. You don’t always have to stand on your own two feet, or rely only on yourself.” He scooped her into his arms, and she yelped, his action catching her by surprise.
“Us?”
“Yeah, us.” As he carried her down the hall, she shook her head at this turn of events.
“I don’t understand. If you gave the money back, how did you afford this?”
“A bank loan and a little help from my friends. If the SEALs taught me anything, it’s that we operate more successfully as a team.”
He set her down in front of a door, and when she read “Holly Fairfax, Vice President,” she shook her head and backed away.
“What is this?”
“Your new office. You always said you wanted your own software firm someday.”
“Yeah, but it was something I wanted to do on my own.”
“Jesus, Holly. You still don’t get it. You don’t need to do everything alone. Teamwork is the key to success.”
Actually, she did know that. “You’re the one who doesn’t get it.”
Worry moved into his eyes, the strain of the last two weeks all over his face. “What am I missing here?”
Her stomach squeezed. “You told my dad to back off, now you want me to work for you?”
“Holly—”
“You’re making decisions for me.” She waved her hand toward the office door. “What makes you think I want this? That you know what’s best for me, Josh?”
“Believe it or not, I do know what’s best for you, because I know you Holly, and I’ve been listening because I care.” He pointed to her name on the door. “You told me this is what you wanted.”
“To work for you? For you to boss me around, control my future. I’ve had enough people trying to control me my whole life.”
He grinned, and she didn’t get it. Why was he grinning at her? Two big steps and he closed the distance between them. As he stood over her, he put both hands on her shoulders and turned her around until she was facing another door, which read, Josh Steel, Vice President.
“We’re equals, Holly.”
“Oh, I…”
“I don’t want to control you or boss you around.” He put his mouth near her ear, his hot breath teasing all her senses. “Unless we’re behind closed doors and you want me to.” His sexy words elicited a shiver from deep within. He spun her back around. “I love you, Holly. I want a future together. You and me, working together. Partners in everything.” His gaze moved over her face, his blue eyes deepening. “That is, if you can forgive me and see what a great team we make.”
She went quiet for a long time and considered everything that had happened since she’d met Josh Steele: hot, sexy, former SEAL who loved her and wanted to be partners in business and life.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“You really stood up to my father and promised him grandkids?”
“Yeah, I did.”
She shook her head. “I can’t believe that.” She pulled away from him and moved toward the office door with her name on it. “You had no right to speak on my behalf.”
“I know but—”
She held her hand up to stop him, unable to torture him any longer. He was the only man who’d ever fought for her, and he’d apologized. Everything he’d done here was for her, with her best interests at heart. How could she not love and forgive a man like that?
“Do you still want to know what I think?” she asked
Face tight, he nodded. Good God, he looked like he hadn’t drawn a breath in minutes.
She opened her door and glanced at the big mahogany desk. “I think we should start working on those grandkids you promised.”
He sucked in a sharp breath, relief written all over him. “Holly,” he murmured. His long legs ate up the hall as he rushed to her and scooped her up. “Have I ever told you how much I love the way you think?”
“You have.” She smiled up at the man she loved as he stepped into the office and kicked the door shut behind him. “One more thing,” she said.
“Anything. Anything at all, Holly.”
She reached up and removed the scarf from around her neck. “What was that you said about controlling me behind closed doors?”
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