Counting the Kisses (Counting the Billions 3)

Chapter 1

Daniel

There was no good way to tell Abby.

All day, I’d been trying to figure out some way to broach the subject with her, to tell her that Gerrard was taking me to court for assault. But I just didn’t want to lose this.

This, right now, being dinner with her at my house. She smiled across the table at me as she took a sip of her wine. “What are you thinking about?” she asked. “You’ve been quiet all evening.”

I shook my head, but I couldn’t think of any way to respond to that. It was now or never. I slowly reached over to the side table and grabbed the envelope full of documents. Then, just as carefully, I slid it across the table toward her.

Abby frowned at me and then lifted the envelope, sliding the documents out of it. I watched her emotions flicker across her face as she read through them. First, there was shock. Then, grim acceptance of it. I wondered what was going through her mind right now. I knew that fight had been part of what screwed things up between us the first time. Things had been going great, but she hadn’t liked the anger she’d seen burst out of me that night, with that stupid confrontation.

I hadn’t been able to help it. Gerrard had told Abby that basically the only reason I had hired her was so that I could sleep with her. That I would fire her as soon as I was done with her. And not only that, but he had said I had done that before with other women in the office. The worst part, though, was definitely the look on Abby’s face when he told her all of this. That hurt and surprise. The resigned look she got as though she should have expected that all along.

I hadn’t been able to handle it. And in retrospect, what I should have done was just steer Abby out of there, take her away from Gerrard and his lies, make sure that she understood the truth.

I hadn’t hired her for her looks. No, she was amazing at her job, and I had realized she would be, right from the start of the interview. She was smart and she was witty, and she did her research. She was thorough.

Sure, I was attracted to her. But that wasn’t why I had hired her.

Beyond that, she wasn’t just some fling to me. Even then, even though our relationship had been pretty new at the time, I knew that she was special to me. I thought that she would know that, and it hurt to realize that she really thought Gerrard was telling her the truth.

Another reason to punch Gerrard. But now, it was the biggest regret of my life.

Abby finally looked up at me, sliding the papers back across the table towards me. She didn’t

say a word, and I could tell from the way that she was looking at me that she was expecting me to say something. I fumbled for the words.

“I don’t want to open this can of worms again any more than you do,” I finally managed to say, my voice grim. “If I could go back and make it so that night never happened, believe me, I would do it in an heartbeat.”

“But you can’t,” Abby said flatly. She shrugged, looking unhappy. “I hate to say it, but you do deserve to face the consequences for your actions.”

“I never said I didn’t.” I sighed. “And I am sorry for what I did. I hope you realize that. I completely overreacted. But I have to admit that if I were to go back and do that night all over again, I probably would do things exactly the same way. I just couldn’t stand the way he was talking to you, as though you were just trash. As though you were nothing at all to me. He had no right to talk to you that way, and I believe in standing up for the people I care about.”

“I know you do,” Abby said quietly, much to my surprise. She sighed. “So what does this mean? How are you going to juggle this on top of everything else?”

“I don’t really know,” I admitted. “I’ve never been to court before. I do have a feeling that things are probably going to get messy once the media catches wind of what’s happening.” I paused. “I’m already thinking that I’ll have to take some time off work. This is going to eat up a lot of my time, I’m sure, plus I don’t exactly want to drag the company’s reputation through the mud with me. Better that the company keep moving along in the background as much as it can.”

“Right,” Abby said, nodding.

That was one of the things I had been thinking about all afternoon. Who could I possibly put in charge of McGregor Enterprises while I was fighting this court case? The only person really qualified to step in for me was Abby. And I knew that she had dreams of one day becoming CEO of a company. She was definitely bright enough, and I trusted her to make all the right decisions for the company.

The trouble was that she was still so new to working for me. If she had been there for even a year, it would have been different. She would have known all the major players, and more importantly, they all would have known her. But as things stood, I wasn’t sure if reactions would be particularly favorable to her taking over the company right now, and I didn’t want her to get frustrated by stodgy old men refusing to do business with her like they would with me, all because they had misperceptions of her business acumen due to her gender.

Not only that, but I knew she wasn’t keen on being right in the middle of a media maelstrom. There had already been so much press about our relationship in the short amount of time since we had gone public that I knew this trial would be tricky enough as it was. Put her in charge of the business while I was off at a trial facing assault charges over something Gerrard had said to her? That was a recipe for a media shitstorm the likes of which I wasn’t even sure that I could handle, and I had a lot more experience with taking crap from the media.

The trouble was, no matter how I wracked my brain, I couldn’t think of any other way to do things. I didn’t want to bring in an outsider. And Abby was the only one I could trust to run the business the way I would.

I couldn’t spring that on her, though, until I knew how she felt about this whole situation.

So for now, I left the question open and told her I was thinking of taking a temporary leave of absence and putting someone in charge of the business. Abby, thankfully, didn’t question it. She was probably thinking along the same lines as me.

I cleared my throat. “I’d understand if you want to cool things off until things settle down for me again,” I said, because I had to tell her that. It felt like things had just finally gotten good between us, and now this. It broke my heart to think of her walking out of my life over this, but at the same time, it was like she had said: I deserved to face the consequences of my actions. I might not like them, but at the end of the day, what kind of a man would I be if I ran away from them?

Abby frowned at me, and I could tell that she was carefully considering her words. “I’m still not happy that you resorted to violence,” she said finally. “But I do understand that you were just trying to protect me. And I also know you better now. You’re not just a violent guy. You’re impulsive sometimes, but I guess I had to know that you were before we ever started this; it’s what makes you so good at business and fearless in your decisions.” She gave me a half smile.

But I shook my head at her. “That’s not the only reason to cool things off,” I reminded her. “The media is going to have a field day. They’re going to want to know what you think about all of this. If you’re okay with what I did. There could be some terrible stories about me. Or about us. I just don’t even know where they’ll start on this one.”

“They’re going to write those stories either way,” Abby pointed out. “We’ve already gone public about our relationship. I think it would only lead to more snide remarks if we appeared to break it off because of the trial.”

I grimaced, unable to meet her eyes. “You’re probably right,” I admitted. “If there was any way for me to make it so that you weren’t involved, trust me, I would do it. Still, I don’t want you to feel like you have to be there for me through this. To support me.”

“Are you trying to make me break up with you?” Abby asked, sounding confused. Before I could answer, she was standing up and coming around the table to me, taking both of my hands in hers. “Daniel, I can’t tell you that you didn’t do anything wrong. I also can’t tell you that I’m happy to be caught up in the middle of all of this. But we’re here now.” She paused. “Relationships are never going to be easy. There are always going to be difficult things to work through.”

“I know that,” I said. She cut me off with a finger to my lips before I could continue.

“Daniel, I’m here for you through this,” Abby said quietly, looking seriously into my eyes. “Whatever you need. I’m sticking by your side. The media can say what they want about it.”

I exhaled a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding. “I’m glad to hear that,” I told her. Then, even more slowly: “I have a proposition for you.”

Chapter 2

Abby

I HAD TOLD DANIEL THE truth: I wasn’t exactly happy to be caught in the middle of all this drama. Life had been so much simpler before I first went to work for him, that was for sure.

Maybe I should stop and think about all of this. Decide if there was a better way to handle things. But the only thing I could think of that would get me out of the picture would be for me really to get out of the picture. To quit working for him, break off our relationship, and start over somewhere new. Even then, there was bound to be some ugly media coverage, people saying things that they had no right to be saying about me.

And really, what kind of example did that set for Zach and Layla? If I truly believed that Daniel deserved to face the consequences of his actions, then I had to realize that I deserved to face the consequences of my own actions as well. I might not have intended to end up in such a soap opera, but this was where my choices had led me.

To be honest, what really sealed my position as being firmly on Daniel’s side was just how torn up he seemed telling me about this. I truly believed that if he could somehow change things, if he could protect me from the media scrutiny, then he would do it. In a heartbeat. You couldn’t fault a guy for that.

No, Daniel was a good guy. All the time that I had spent with him had only further emphasized what a good guy he was. He wasn’t perfect, no. No one was, though. But he wasn’t nearly the jerk of a playboy that the media made him out to be. If my being there at his side helped his cause in any way, then I wanted to be there.

Not least of which because I loved him and I didn’t want to lose him over this, whatever my feelings on all the drama really were.

Now, though, I narrowed my eyes at him. “What kind of a proposition?” I asked warily. I wanted to support him through this, but in light of how carefully he had orchestrated our public announcement of our relationship, I was worried. Did he want the two of us to do an interview or something, letting the public know about the assault charges prior to the news leaking out in some other way?

I wanted to support him, and I wanted to be there at his side, but I wasn’t sure I was comfortable sitting through an interview with him.