Chapter Twenty-Four
What are you doing here, Viv?
Not exactly the warm, fuzzy greeting she’d imagined on the plane ride down here, but not a door slammed in her face, either. It was a little bit warmer than the reaction she’d gotten from the partners when she’d given them her letter of resignation this morning. It was a lot warmer than the look she’d gotten from the airline employee who helped her check her two oversize bags full of clothes and shoes she’d spent all night packing. The other three-quarters of her closet would arrive in a week or so.
Still, she’d hoped for at least a smile or something from him. Oh well. She was a woman on a mission and one bump in the road wasn’t going to stop her.
“I’m here because I was an idiot, and I made a mistake, and I don’t belong in New York.” The words came out all in a rush, before she lost her nerve.
His face remained impassable. Well, most of his face anyway. No matter how hard he tried, those eyes of his gave him away. The heat that she loved so much was still there, it was simply buried under a lot of confusion and hurt.
He shoved his hands in the pocket of his jeans, but Flynn didn’t hold back his joy at seeing her again. She leaned down to give the dog a hug, not caring about paw prints getting on the legs of her jeans; she’d missed his enthusiasm and puppy-ecstasy at every little thing. His master definitely didn’t look nearly as happy.
“You left without saying goodbye. You tossed us into the lion’s den and didn’t look back.”
“This is me looking back. And I promise you, I had a good reason for leaving. I just need a chance to explain.” All of the nerves she’d been holding back with sheer force of will for the last twenty-four hours came rushing in. “Please? I have so much I need to say that I should have said that night at your mom’s. I just…I want a…a do-over or whatever you call it in a video game.”
“What?”
She wrung her hands together. “You know, when you miss a step in defeating the—the boss or whatever it is you call it. Your character goes back to a certain spot and you have to start again.”
“You want to respawn?” A small smile tugged at his lips. Maybe she should have kissed him the second he opened the door. They always got along much better when they were kissing instead of talking.
“Yeah. That. Whatever you call it, I want one.”
His shoulders slumped a little and he stepped aside.
“Fine. You can come in. But only because you used a video game reference correctly. The Vivien Monroe I met that first day wouldn’t have known a single thing about losing a life in a game.”
Hope flickered. Maybe she had a chance. Maybe Faith was right about him needing her just as she needed him.
“Your sister and Eli are here. We were going over some things Eli’s guys found on your uncle.”
Or maybe she didn’t. She followed him into the living room, surprised to see Greer and Eli with their heads together. “I’m so sorry I left you guys with this mess. It was a really, really shitty thing for me to do.”
“We know why you did it,” Greer said quietly, not meeting her eyes.
Vivien’s stomach dropped to her feet. “What do you mean?”
“My guys found the pictures on Barton’s email server, Viv.” Sophia’s voice didn’t hold any judgment or recriminations. Neither had Greer’s come to think of it.
“We know you left to save your own skin,” Liam said, his voice flat.
Vivien’s eyes narrowed as she took a seat in the armchair next to the one he occupied. “That may have been part of it. But it wasn’t the whole reason. Yes, these pictures would have ruined my career back in New York. But they also would have ruined MT if I’d decided to stay. They would have ruined you.”
“What? How would they have ruined me?” Liam asked. “I know it’s a double standard, but nobody gives a damn about who a guy sleeps with, especially when the woman is as beautiful as you are.”
He still thought she was beautiful? Well, that was a good sign at least.
“If you were going to win against my uncle, you had to have a spotless history with the company. If he leaked those pictures, you would be in a position where the board couldn’t pick you to take over if I decided not to stay. Plus, Christopher’s wife would have raised holy hell in the papers about those pictures. I knew you guys would find a way to save the company, even if I wasn’t there, and I didn’t want to jeopardize that.”
“Why couldn’t you fill us in? Why did you leave without saying goodbye?” Greer asked, curling up into herself on the couch. Eli rubbed a soothing hand up and down the top part of her thigh.
“The snake made that part of the deal.” Vivien uncrossed her arms to let Flynn hop in her lap, then curled them around him like a kid with their favorite night-night toy. If Liam wasn’t going to sweep her up in his arms, at least she could have some doggy cuddles. “I had to make my decision and leave, no goodbyes, no disclosing the details of our agreement with anyone. If I did, the deal was off.”
They all sat in silence for several long moments, waiting for someone to say something. Finally, Liam spoke up. “What changed your mind?”
“That’s something you and I need to discuss later. In private.” She shifted uncomfortably in the chair, earning her an annoyed look from Flynn. “Have y’all made any progress yet? Uncle Richard made me delete the files from the forensic accountant, but I’m sure we can get the accountant to resend them.”
“Sophia’s guys stumbled across them when they found the pictures,” Eli said, dropping his hand from Greer’s leg, but sliding it along the back of the couch.
Vivien sat up, latching on to something besides her love life to talk about. “Were you able to make sense of them? I’m great with investments, but accounting was always a struggle for me.”
“Oh yeah, we made sense of them. And then some.” Sophia leaned forward, handing Vivien Greer’s small laptop. “Take a look.”
Quickly scanning the documents, Vivien took a few breaths to fight back the nausea.
“Wow. I knew he was slime, but this? It makes sense, though. I remembered something while I was away. When Grandpa Barton died, he left a bulk of his money to Mom and Dad so that they could start MT. He left enough to keep Grandma comfortable, but Uncle Richard only got a small trust. It’s why he stayed with the company for so long.”
“He felt it should have been his since his potential inheritance funded it. Shit. That explains it. He’s been planning this since your dad finalized his will almost a year ago.” Liam’s face turned down, the dark circles under his eyes looking almost identical to the ones under hers. It was mildly comforting that she wasn’t the only one tossing and turning since she left. “He’s got an IPO ready to go.”
Vivien tried to make sense of the information flying at her. “An initial public offering? The board would never allow it. I wouldn’t allow it. I’m still the majority shareholder, even if he is the CEO.”
“But he’s got something to hold over your head. You blinked once,” Greer pointed out, “who’s to say you won’t blink again.”
“Well, I won’t. I might have given in, but I didn’t give up.” Vivien fiddled with Flynn’s silky ears. “But I’d lay odds he’s going to try some underhanded tricks to get the IPO through. Knowing him, he’s got dirt on all the board members. Why else would so many of them have voted for him?”
Liam nodded. “He’s probably got investors lined up already, with him getting a healthy commission. Some of the biggest tech sharks in the business have been at us for years to go public. Jed would never allow it. Your uncle knew that, but he still pushed for it. Now that Jed’s gone, he saw his big chance—an IPO and get his inheritance back and then some in commission. You being an investment whiz, he probably thought he could get you to go along with it, even after he blackmailed you.”
“An IPO is great for some companies, but this is my family’s company. Being family owned is part of the MT brand. Going public would ruin that and put too many cooks in the kitchen.” Vivien laughed at the surprised look she got from the other three. “What? Okay, so I may have drunk the Kool-Aid somewhere along the way. Let’s not make a big deal about it.”
“I’m fresh out of Kool-Aid, but we’ll get you a beer and see if we can come up with a game plan.”
Greer looked thoughtful for a moment. “Uncle Richard’s already hired his replacement as CFO. Like, signed the papers and everything.”
“That was fast.” Liam grimaced. “I don’t know if I could trust someone Barton’s hired.”
“Barton’s judgment is questionable, but the guy he’s hired is solid.” Eli took a drink of water. “Nathan Fairchild. He works for one of the big banks in Chicago. We went to UT together.”
Vivien made note of the name. “We’ll give him a chance, but I want you to make sure you have as much info on him as possible. He’s about to land in the middle of one hot mess, and we don’t have time to replace him right now.”
“Well, I need to head out. I’ve got an early meeting with my superiors.” Sophia stood. “Now that Vivien’s back, we’ve got the company’s biggest shareholder who can vouch for our authorization to look into all of these files, and we can move forward with the case.”
Despite her early animosity for the FBI Agent, Vivien couldn’t help but respect her. She’d done more than a lot would have to help them figure out who was behind all of this.
“Thank you, Sophia.” Vivien stood up and shook the blonde’s hand. “We appreciate everything you’ve done.”
After Sophia left, the four of them stayed up talking until well after midnight. At some point, Greer fell asleep with her head pillowed on Eli’s shoulder. Eli himself looked a little droopy-eyed.
“We should probably call it a night,” Vivien said, keeping her voice soft so as not to wake her sister.
Liam nodded in agreement. “It’s too late for y’all to drive back to Haven tonight. Eli, do you want help moving Greer up to the guest room?”
Eli’s face stayed as neutral as ever, but Vivien didn’t miss the glow in his gray eyes when he looked at her little sister.
“Nah. I think we’ll just stay here. She’s been staying up late every night this week, helping with all this after work. I don’t want to wake her.”
Liam looked at Vivien, who shrugged. “Okay then. Viv, I’ll take you up to the guest room.”
The guest room. Shit. Well, that told her where she stood. She didn’t blame him, but it still twisted the knife. She barely heard him as he went through the polite host spiel about where spare towels were, as if she hadn’t spent the night here before. Where his room was warm and lived in, with Flynn’s toys in one corner and a stack of books in another, this room was cold and bare. Plain white comforter and sheets. Simple wooden headboard. A small dresser with a TV on it.
Vivien sat on the bed for several moments, trying to decide her next move. The lingerie she had on under her T-shirt and jeans might work, but that felt like playing dirty pool. Him wanting her body had never been the issue between them, and from the looks he gave her earlier, it wasn’t the issue now.
The issue was she hadn’t opened up to him, hadn’t let him know he’d brought down her walls and left them in a pile of rubble around her. Maybe it was time she sucked it up and told him just how much he made her feel.
…
For the second time that night, Liam opened a door and found the woman he couldn’t get out of his head on the other side. “Can I come in? I…I can’t sleep tonight unless we talk.”
Liam studied Vivien. What parts of his logical brain that were still functioning told him to tell her that it wasn’t a remotely good idea. Vivien anywhere near his bed would only lead to trouble. She’d wounded him when she left in a cloud of Ice Queen anger; hearing what she had to say could break him for good. But he also couldn’t live in this limbo land anymore. His heart ached for him to pull her into his arms; it had since he opened the door earlier that night. That also fell under the heading of a really bad idea. He wanted to let her back in, but old habits had him skittish at the thought.
So, instead, he stood aside and let her into his bedroom. She sat at the foot of the bed. Needing some distance, he closed the door and leaned back against it. He waited for her to say something, anything, to give him some clue as to what the hell she wanted from him.
Eventually, she took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “I missed this.”
“Missed what?”
“Missed that smell. The Liam smell. Well, the Liam and Flynn smell, I guess. Citrus and guy and dog and the night air from your evening runs.” She looked down at her lap where her hands were toying with the hem of her shirt, as if the Ice Queen couldn’t sit still. “I couldn’t sleep when I got back to New York, and now I know why.”
“Why?”
Her lips tilted up in that small, secret smile she wore toward the end of a good day, right before she was going to snuggle up and go to sleep. “Because it didn’t smell like this. It didn’t smell like home.”
His heart leaped at the thought, but he quickly tried to rein it in. He couldn’t let himself hope. Hope was what got him in trouble in the first place. Hope that he could change her.
“What do you mean? If any place is your home, it would be Haven.”
Vivien reached up to play with the ends of her hair. In keeping with the jeans she wore, she’d left it down to flow around her shoulders. He loved her hair loose and wavy. It reminded him of living flame. “My childhood home, yes, but that’s what I wanted to talk to you about, why I came back.”
When she didn’t look at him, he began to understand how nervous she was. Steeling himself against the floral scent of her hair and skin, he took a seat next to her on the bed. After hesitating a moment, he reached out with his free hand and tipped her chin up so she had to look him in the eyes.
“What did you want to tell me, Vivien? That you suddenly stopped being afraid of commitment? That you were giving up your fancy New York life to come back here?”
“Yes!” The words came out more forcefully than she probably intended, but it told him she spoke the truth. Again, hope flickered inside him, but this time he couldn’t tamp down on it.
“I… God, Liam, I was so miserable there. I couldn’t sleep. The parts of my job that used to make it bearable couldn’t make me like it anymore. At first, I was mad at you for keeping the accident investigation from me—and I’m still moderately pissed, working down toward annoyed, but I missed you, and Greer, and Eli, and Flynn. I felt so guilty for leaving the way I did. I never wanted to do that. I was just so…”
“Scared?” he supplied. She’d been as skittish as a newborn animal when it came to relationships. It hurt that for every one step forward, they seemed to take two steps back. That dance was exhausting, but he’d follow the beat if it meant he got the ultimate prize in the long run.
She shook her head, pressing her lips together. As beautiful as she was when she was all made up and put together, she looked so much lovelier to him right now. Vulnerable, honest, and real. Not a figment of his imagination. A real woman who wanted to be with him.
But could he trust her again?
“Confused.” She took a deep breath. “After our fight, I didn’t know what to think. When my uncle showed me those pictures, all I could think of doing was protecting you and my sister and MT. Then he told me about the investigation and all of it…”
“Gave you an out.” He couldn’t let up. Not now; it was too important.
Vivien started to release his hand, but he was the one who wouldn’t let go this time. He laced his fingers with hers, hoping it would let her know that he wasn’t backing away from her answer.
“Yes, damn it. It gave me an out. But I realized the second the plane took off that I was an idiot for taking it.”
He heard that catch in her voice, the one she tried so hard to hide. Slowly, his resistance started to falter. The urge to pull her close almost overwhelmed him, but he settled for giving her hand a small squeeze.
“Nobody is perfect, pretty girl, least of all you. You’re allowed to make a stupid decision every now and then. Lord knows I’ve made them.”
“But I’ve made so many of them.” The words came out on a sob that she tried to muffle by bringing their joined hands to her lips. Liam closes his eyes, savoring the feel of it.
“I spent so much time hating my dad for how he shut me out after Mom died. I let myself get wrapped up in a relationship with Christopher. I picked a fight with you when I realized how much you had come to mean to me.”
He brushed aside a tear, then another that escaped. “I shouldn’t have let you walk away that night. I should have held onto you until you understood that you have no reason to be scared. My gut told me to go after you when you left that board meeting, but my pride stopped me. And I should have told you about the investigation. I just wanted to protect you—you were grieving and already overwhelmed with so much.”
“Sounds like we both could have been saved a lot of trouble if we weren’t so damned stubborn.” She sniffled, still fighting back tears—a battle she was definitely losing.
If she could put herself out there, then so could he. No more armor between them. “Are you really here to stay? Because losing you once was hard enough. Losing you again might break me for good.”
“I might have to go back to New York to sell my apartment and pack up the rest of my things, but I’m here to stay.” She squeezed his hand. “No matter what happens with MT, I want to stay here with you.”
Giving in to the impulse, he pressed a firm kiss to her lips, savoring the sweet taste he’d dreamed of every night since they fought. Almost immediately, her tongue slid along the seam of his mouth, wanting more. He indulged her for a few blissful minutes before slowly pulling back. He should put up more of a fight, but it felt too good to have her back with him. Before she’d shown up at his door, he’d had some thoughts about taking things slow, easing back into things, but those went out the window. “And I want you here with me. But I think we should save this for some time when your little sister and her maybe-boyfriend aren’t sleeping on my couch.”
“Maybe-boyfriend? So, you don’t know what’s going on with them, either?” Vivien pursed her kiss-swollen lips together. “And are you saying that I can’t be quiet during sex? Because I’ll have you know—”
He stole a quick, but oh-so satisfying kiss to shut her up. “I have no clue what is going on with your sister. We’ve both been kind of doing our best hermit imitations since you left. And as for sex… Well, pretty girl, it’s been more than two weeks since I’ve had my hands on you. If you can be quiet, then I’m not doing my job right.”
She seemed to think on this for a minute, but he saw that she wasn’t going to fight him on it. As much as he wanted her, waiting would do them both some good. “Can I at least sleep in here with you? I… You see…”
“Spit it out,” he teased, tweaking a loose lock of fiery hair. “It’s not like you to be at a loss for words.”
“Fine, smart-ass. I can’t sleep without you anymore. I spent every night in New York tossing and turning, wishing you were beside me.”
“Funny thing that.” He feathered a kiss across her forehead. “Because I’ve got the same problem.”
A bright smile lit her face, making her eyes glow like emeralds. “Well then, nerd boy, why don’t you go get my bags from my car so I can get ready for bed and finally get some sleep.”
“I could do that,” he said, “but Flynn might get excited and wake up Greer. However, I do have a T-shirt that I happen to know looks pretty darn cute on you and a spare toothbrush someone left behind last time they stayed here.”
“That’s an offer I can’t refuse.” She gave him a saucy look before disappearing into the bathroom to change. He cursed whoever decided to put the walk-in closet in the bathroom instead of the bedroom. Even if he couldn’t enjoy them, he wanted at least a look at those delicious curves of hers.
By the time she came back, he’d stripped down to his boxers and crawled under the covers. Flynn, glad to have the status quo back, was already snoring in his doggy bed. God, she looked hot. His T-shirt skimmed her thighs just low enough to cover her (what he knew had to be sexy) underwear, and pulled tight against the fullness of her breasts. “Pretty girl, you sure fill out that shirt better than I ever could.”
“I may or may not have stolen one of your shirts and brought it with me to New York,” she confessed. “They’re much better to sleep in than any fancy negligee.”
She snuggled into the bed, but kept a respectable distance between them. He turned toward her, propping himself up on one elbow. “Afraid the preacher’s going to burst in on us, Ms. Monroe?”
“Hmm?” She looked over at him, a soft smile on her face.
“You’re getting closer to where you’re supposed to be, but you’re not quite there yet.”
She wrinkled her nose at him, closing her eyes like a little kid told to go to sleep. “And where might that be?”
“You belong,” he said, slipping an arm under her shoulders, “right here.”
With one quick tug, he pulled her snug against his side, her head cradled in the crook of his shoulder. As if by rote, her hand immediately settled itself on his heart. “Good night, nerd boy.”
“Good night, pretty girl.” He pressed a kiss to the soft curls that stopped shy of tickling his nose.
I love you, he thought. He couldn’t say the words tonight, but damn if he didn’t feel them. And for the first time, he was certain she did, too.