Easton

“After Easton pushed me aside and pretty much told me that it was never going to happen between us, I knew I didn’t want to waste time on what wasn’t going to happen, so I, erm, I figured naming him Easton would be a reminder to me as well. To always be careful who I gave my heart to.”

“It makes a lot of sense, but, sweetheart, I’m going to be real, Easton is not going to back down.”

“You said so yourself. You can fight.”

“Of course I can, but Easton has something I don’t have.”

“What?”

“Senior is Junior’s father. He has DNA, and I’ve got nothing.”

“But he didn’t want him. He didn’t want his son.”

“Did you ever get to tell him he has a son?” Liam asked.

“No. I still had my pride, and I wasn’t going to go hunting for a guy that tore my heart out, stomped on it, set it on fire, and then proceeded to cut it.”

“Colorful,” Liam said. “He’s one-quarter of the Four Kings. He’s a powerful man.”

“So are you.”

“I know, but if he was to pull the company behind him, there’s no way for me to stop him. Unless a judge rules different, Easton is going to see his son.”

Scarlett glared at the business card.

“You’re not going to kill Easton through a single glance at a card. No matter how much you want to set it on fire.”

“What do you suggest?” she asked.

“Go and see him. Invite him here so I can get a good look at my competition.”

She laughed as Liam wrapped his arms around her. “Competition?”

“I wasn’t meaning Easton. You could be my competition for this guy’s affections.”

Scarlett didn’t want to imagine Liam and Easton together, but it didn’t stop her from enjoying the potential view. They were both sexy men. Liam appeared stronger to her, more muscular than Easton.

It would be one sexual fantasy, but no, she wasn’t going to allow herself to go down that road. Who hadn’t thought of them in a man sandwich before? She could safely say Easton and Liam were the two men in her world that she had fallen in love with without a doubt. It wasn’t going to happen though. Not in this lifetime.

“You want me to invite him to dinner?” she asked, running the card across her lip.

“Why not? I don’t see a problem in getting involved with Easton. We’ll get to know if it’s worth calling my lawyers, and we can try and stop any kind of bad press that could come of this.”

She wrapped her arms around Liam’s neck. “Look at you, always thinking of the future.”

She dropped a kiss to his lips, and for a few seconds, Liam caught the back of her head.

“Ew, gross, guys. Come on,” Easton said, interrupting them.

She laughed. “Of course.” She rolled her eyes.

To their son, they were a married couple. They shared a bed, and kept up the pretense of their relationship.

Scarlett knew it was anything but.

Liam spent a great deal of time in the city, and she could only allow herself to wonder exactly what it was he did.

She grabbed her bottled water. “I better go and figure out a cab, and what to say to him.”

“You do that.” Liam slapped her on the ass as she walked past.

Rolling her eyes, she kept on walking. She loved being with Liam. It was just missing one thing from their life. Now that Easton had reared back up in her life, she didn’t know what to make of it, or what to think.

****

From the moment Liam had met Scarlett, she had been completely honest with him. She’d been a struggling mom, and had even brought her kid to an interview. Of course, she had no idea who he was, and she’d just unloaded her life story. At the time, he had a few different people to interview for his housekeeper, but the sheer desperation in Scarlett’s eyes had struck him hard. Scarlett had been honest with him, but he’d not been anywhere near honest with her. Not then, not in the last five years, and certainly not now.

There were parts of his story that was a truth. He was bisexual. He loved men and women, and had had relationships with both.

When he first met Scarlett, she’d been recovering from a beating that a boyfriend had given her. She hadn’t gone into details, but he also believed it may have gone a step too far, and the boyfriend may have forced himself upon her even after she said no. Again, she had never said anything, but just the way she was with him, keeping him at arm’s length.

He was in love with Scarlett.

There was one of his lies. She wasn’t just a convenience for him. He was completely and totally in love with her, and her son. He adored the kid. He was so bright and funny. They gave him a family. The other lie he had told her was he wasn’t looking for forever.