Very Wicked Things (Briarwood Academy 2)

Emma? What?

He sighed. “But, I don’t know, somehow, my hope came back, but it’s not complete. You’re a light I need. Like a thousand fucking suns.”

My mouth parted, not understanding part of what he’d said. I replayed his words. Emma and helping? Did that mean…

Even if he did have a baby with her, I’d still love him.

“Is the baby yours?”

“No,” he said, the corners of his mouth lifting in a small smile at my confusion.

What?

Then who? Did I care?

And…whoosh. Relief hit as that yucky feeling of him tied to Emma disappeared. Joy washed over me, and I wanted to cry out and hug him, but…

“Are you glad?” came out of my mouth.

His eyes went low. “I want kids with you, Dovey. No one else.”

“But you were with her. You—”

“The last time was four months ago and both of us loved different people. Helping her helped me. She needed someone to go to her parents with her. And when she told the two guys who might be the father.”

Oh. Wait, two?

“Sebastian?”

He shrugged. “He and Matt are both getting tested for paternity.”

I’d really missed the boat on that one although I’d seen the clues. Sebastian’s long looks at Emma, his insistence Cuba wasn’t with her.

And then Cuba. I got it. He’d acted cagey about Emma to make up for past sins.

He took a step closer to me, the lines of his face resolute. “And all those other girls. They’re nameless, and I sure as hell can’t picture faces. It’s always been you.” He scrubbed his jaw. “And it’s been a crazy as shit ride getting here. Spider and I tried to call you, but you didn’t answer. And then I couldn’t get a flight out until tonight. It was a mess, and all I could see was you in this hotel room scared and waiting and it drove me insane. I had to see you. I had to hold you. I wanted to tell you in the barn that I loved you, but I didn’t have the guts then.”

Him and Spider? Now that was weird.

“How did you get here so fast?”

“Private jet.”

“A jet?”

“That’s what I said.” He looked smug.

“You mean, like, your dad has a jet?”

He grinned like crazy. “Dallas Mavericks do. I called dad, told him most of it, and here I am. With you.”

Oh. He’d done all that for me.

One of my hands went to his heaving chest and rested on his heart while the other traced the lines of his roses and thorns. I lay my head against him and let it all sink in. He still loved me, he wasn’t with Emma, but…

“Will you ever forgive me?” For what I must still do. But wait? Hadn’t he said he’d taken care of it? I clutched his shoulders. “How did you change his mind?”

He tipped my chin up. “I paid off your debt with the only thing I own. My car.”

“You gave him your hundred thousand dollar gift from you father?” My voice was reedy. Twenty thousand minus my night with The Man plus his car? There was something wrong with that picture.

“Easiest thing I’ve ever done,” he said, brushing lips softly against mine. “Left it at his pawn shop. And he was glad to get it.”

“But—”

His finger touched my lips. “I know you think no one can help you, but you’re not an island unto yourself. There are people who care about you. We want to help, and you’re not letting us? It hurts. It’s what a man does when he loves his girl. He buys her things, he takes her out to dinner, he pays off loansharks. Meh. All in a day’s work.”

“He knows you now,” I said, mouth dry. “What if he tries to hurt you or blackmail you?”

He pushed the hair off my face, shushing me. “He’s never going to bother any of us again. He got more than his required sum. And I may have mentioned that my dad does business with the governor of Texas.” He pursed his lips. “And I hated to throw it around, but he also plays golf with a certain ex-President who’s from Highland Park. My dad knows people in high places, Dovey. Archie Hudson can sic the federal government on anyone he wants. He’s bigger than Barinsky will ever be.”

I nodded, letting it sink in.

Barisnky was a pit-bull, but if my debt was paid, several times over, would it work? Would he leave us alone? One thing going for us was that he understood about power and those that wielded it. And he didn’t want limelight from authorities in high places. He liked his nasty hole and wanted to rule it without interruption.

My gut said it would keep him away.

“Heather-Lynn told you where I was?” I made plans to kiss her when I saw her.

He nodded.

But still it was too good to be true.

“But what I did. The thing. It’s so horr—”

“I will never in a million years be good enough for you. That’s what you need to remember. There’s nothing to forgive. You did what you had to do. You did it for Sarah. I get it. You got more guts than any football player on the field.” He sucked in a breath. “And if it takes me getting down on my knees for you, I will. I’ll beg you to let all your past go, and I’ll let mine go, and we can start all over again.”

My mouth quirked, remembering his bedraggled wildflowers the day he’d asked me out. “You’re good at getting on your knees.”

“I can think of a few more things to do on my knees,” he said, eyes blazing hot.