McKenzie Cousins Box Set 1

“I’m sorry. It just got too warm with everyone around us.” I smile and opening my mouth to say what . . . when to my horror, Harry’s parents suddenly appear behind Garrett.

He notices my distraction and straightening, turns. He glances at me and back to Tina and Charles, offering his hand in introduction. “You’re friends of Sirena?”

Hearing his question snaps me out of my shock as I reach for his hand. “Help me up, please.” On my feet, I say with a nod of my head, “Tina, Charles.” To Garrett, I add, “Harry’s parents.”

“You’re looking very well, Sirena,” Charles observes while finding it difficult to keep his eyes from straying to my belly.

“I am well,” I smile up at Garrett, “and that’s because I have my love looking after me.”

“Harry never mentioned that you were pregnant?” Tina mentions, a single brow risen in question.

I grip Garrett’s hand. “Why would he?”

Tina frowns. “Surely you’re not saying that you had an affair whilst married to our son?”

Garrett opens his mouth to respond, but I beat him to it. “My marriage to your son should never have happened, which is something we both realized as soon as we said ‘I do’. I found my heart the moment I laid eyes on Garrett.” I snuggle into Garrett’s side, and say, “Let’s go.”

He looks worried and I know it’s because he’s worried about me.

“If you’ll excuse us, my fiancée needs to rest,” he says politely, however, I get the feeling that he’s angry on my behalf.

Ushering me away from the other couple as quickly as he can, I try to ignore the mumbling behind us. At the elevator Garrett rabidly prods the up button a few times as though that will make it arrive quicker.

“Garrett, honey,” a sticky sweet voice chirps.

I watch as his shoulders tense and he completely stills at the sound of the other voice. Curiosity getting the better of me, I turn and watch a beautiful woman with soft blonde hair and a figure that I’d kill for right now, drift up close and personal to my man.

“Clarissa,” he snaps, which draws my gaze to his face.

Most men would be taken by her beauty, but Garrett actually looks pissed to see her.

“What are you doing here? You weren’t invited, regardless of your endless attempts to obtain a ticket.”

“Is that any way to talk to a lover?” she says in a patronizing tone.

I’ve changed my opinion of her and she’s an ugly woman who sure as hell doesn’t know Garrett very well if she’s trying to upset me.

“You are not my lover,” he hisses, “nor have you ever been. I suggest you leave my hotel and go to another.” With those words, he waves over security. “Please escort Ms. Redford to the door, she isn’t welcome in this hotel. Ever.”

“You can’t do this,” she screeches, drawing everyone’s attention to us.

He nods at the security guards, and they start to move her away, as he ushers me into the elevator.

Garrett tugs me into his arms and leans against the wall of the moving elevator. My ear is pressed against his chest and I hear his heart pounding. “Do you believe me, Sirena? A

bout—”

“About the ugliness of Clarissa?” I interrupt and meet his gaze. “Yes, I believe you. I trust you Garrett, and as we discovered within five minutes of each other, we both have pasts . . . I do have to ask though, who was that woman?” I smirk, feeling slightly amused.

He tucks me under his arm as we move to our room.

19

Garrett

“I once did business with Clarissa’s father.” I kiss Sirena’s shoulder, and sit her down on the cream chaise lounge chair at the end of the bed. “She wanted more than I was interested in.” I smile at her as I slip my hands down her silky legs to her swollen ankles.

Removing her shoes gently, I take hold of one foot and start to massage. “I was interested in business with her father and that was all. When her father realized where his daughter’s affections lay, he gave me an ultimatum: he’d do business with me if I married his daughter. I walked away and I never once looked back, even when he came to me a few days later. I told him no. He wasn’t happy, in fact he was angry as hell. However, I pointed out that my personal life would never be a bargaining chip and that he’d crossed the line. There would never be any trust between us and I can’t work with someone that I don’t trust.”