Favorite Places (A TroubleMaker Novel, #2) (21 page)

Jessina glanced at him from over her shoulder.
Penetrating blue eyes reached deep inside her and wouldn’t let go. She twisted
around, walked over, and stood across from him. “Tell me about her.”

After a long course of silence, he took a deep breath.
“I was twenty-two, just finished college, and was working for my father. I’d
finally got the opportunity to prove to him that I was responsible like my
brother Dylan, that I too could be trusted to run the family business. Natalie
was new to the company.” He paused and dropped his foot. Turning his body in
her direction, he rested the side of his head back on the wall.

He looked so young, so vulnerable, standing there.
Jessina wanted to reach out and touch him, but she didn’t, fearful that he’d
shut back down.

“Natalie had started a few months before me at my
father’s company. She was beautiful, smart, and I was in love with her.” He
chuckled quietly. “At least, I thought I was, until I discovered that she’d
gone behind my back and sold all the information on the account we were working
on together to the competition, making us lose the deal.” He glanced down at
his bare feet, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets. “Like every other
woman in my life, Natalie had chosen the money over me.” He looked back up, and
for the first time Jessina could see insecurity and a fear of failure in his face.
Chase Lennox, the egotistical asshole, once again, was humanized. “My father
almost lost everything he had worked so hard for, all because I let myself fall
for a woman who only wanted my money.”

She reached out and touched his arm.

“After the military, when I came back home, I got
another shot at making things right, to prove to myself and my father that I’d
grown up. And when I did, he decided to retire early and enjoy life on an
extended vacation with his much younger girlfriend. He deserved it. He left the
business to Dylan and me. The business was booming too, and then everything
went to shit. Dylan died, and he left Hannah to me.” Chase shook his head. “I
don’t know what the hell he was thinking.”

Jessina stroked his arm. “He was thinking you’d take
care of her, and you have. You should be proud of yourself, Chase.”

“No.” He glanced down at her hand that was now clinging
to his arm. “All of it, my childhood, my damn mother, Natalie, Dylan dying,
it’s done nothing but turn me into a hard and bitter man.” He sighed. “I know
how I come off. I’m an asshole, but it’s the only way I know how to stay
strong. I’ve always kept people at arm’s length. I can’t trust even myself.
I’m… I’m just so afraid I’m gonna fuck everything up. The company, my father
and Dylan’s legacy, that’s all I have to give to Hannah. It’s the only way I
know how to secure a good life for her.” He looked back up, a lifetime of
wounds visible on his handsome face. “And then you came along, and I tried.
Damn, I tried real hard to compare you to Natalie, but…” He looked away again,
and everything fell into place, made sense. He thought she was just like this
Natalie, his mother, Hannah’s mom. It crushed her.

“It’s just…” Those intense eyes turned back to her,
clamping so tightly around her broken heart. “Jess, I do care about you—”

“Oh, Chase.  I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. I didn’t
understand, but—” She tried to get the words out, to tell him the truth, but he
stopped her.

“No, sweetheart, I’m the one who’s sorry. I refused to let
you in.”  He paused and gazed at her for what felt like an eternity. “But you
still got in. There’s a place deep inside this hardened body that you were able
to touch. A place no other has ever reached. And there’s no denying it. I’ve
always wanted you. But, Jess, I must warn you,” he glanced over at his bedroom,
“you should be afraid of what’s behind that door, because if you do go through
it,” he looked back at her and touched her face with his warm palm, “well, it’s
just, I can’t pretend anymore.” He kissed her gently on the lips before he
disappeared behind the door—the very door that indeed terrified her.

Jessina tossed the
suitcase into the back of Chase’s car. She’d told him that she needed to run
into town for few things. He hadn’t blinked an eye when he’d handed her the
keys. It killed her that she had lied to him, especially when he’d been so
honest with her the night before about Natalie. It certainly explained a lot
about, why Chase had refused to open up to her.

She just couldn’t
get those words out of her head, “
like every other woman in my life, Natalie
had chosen the money over me…”
It saddened her. From his mother leaving him
to his brother’s death, Chase has had nothing but heartache. It was no wonder
why he refuses to let his guard down. In the past year, he’s had a
multimillion-dollar company, and a teenager thrown at him. He had no other
choice but to grow up fast. She could tell the young man she’d gotten a glimpse
of the night before, believed he was wounded beyond repair. 

Jessina hadn’t gone
into his room. After his little confession, she’d accepted the fact that Chase
would never love her. He’d been hurt too many times in his life to consider
love. He’d spelled it out for her loud and clear when he’d said that he
couldn’t pretend any more. Apparently, he couldn’t pretend they were a couple
any longer, and maybe he just couldn’t pretend to care. Whatever the reason, it
had torn her
already
shattered heart into even tinier little pieces.

Obviously, the
invite back to his room was so they could have one final romp in the sheets
together. There was no denying it. The sex was fucking mind-blowing. But she
couldn’t have entered that room without dragging every tiny broken piece of her
heart in with her.

Damn, she had to
get out of there. If she didn’t, she was going to do something crazy, like tell
him that she was in love with him. And, for some reason, running away seemed a
hell of a lot easier than throwing what was left of her heart into the man’s
beautiful but taking hands.

The Caplins had
arrived a half-hour earlier, and Chase planned to give them a tour of the
ranch. Figuring that the grand tour had already started, Jessina thought it
would be safe to sneak the troublemaker out to the vehicle. She’d take the car
back to his office, drop the keys off with his trusty little assistant, and then
hop on the first bus back home to her little apartment, where everything seemed
to make a lot more sense.

She’d made it out
to the car without being seen, but when she slammed the trunk, she saw Mrs.
Caplin walking toward her, her shoulder-length, platinum hair lightly swaying
in the wind. Even with the fine wrinkles, her skin was like porcelain, and her
light complexion enhanced her pale blue eyes. She stopped in front of the car,
putting Jessina’s quick getaway on hold. “Why, Mrs. Lennox, are you leaving?”

“Please call me Jessina,’”
she said, meeting her around at the side of the car.

“And you may
call me Katrina.’” Questioning eyes flashed to the vehicle as she brushed a few
strands of hair out of her face.

Jessina didn’t
want to explain that she was about to pull a midmorning dash on her make-believe
husband. She didn’t want to lie to the sweet woman too.

Katrina must
have sensed her discontent, for her smile turned endearing. “Your husband is
showing mine around. I think Arthur is going to take this job, especially after
hearing about Hannah and her father. It’s so tragic what happened to that girl,
but it’s so wonderful that her Uncle Chase is following through with his
brother’s wishes. It’s honorable, and Arthur respects that in a man. Family
values are very important to him.”

“That’s great. Hannah
will be so excited, and Chase loves her so much that it will make him very
happy too.”

Katrina looked at
her thoughtfully. “And you?”

“I, uh…” She tried
to recover from her lapse of gratefulness, but Katrina interrupted her.

“It’s okay,
Jessina. He likes Chase, and that’s part of the reason why he’s going to accept
the job. See, my husband is quite old-fashioned, and he does everything on instincts
alone. Truth be told, six months ago, when he first met Chase, he felt he
was…well, that something was off about him.”

“Yeah, when he
lost his suitcase, he
was
a bit off,” Jessina said, recalling the
frazzled Chase, as opposed to the completely-in-control, dictating man she’d become
accustomed to. “He’s just grateful for another chance,” Jessina admitted.

“Well, when
Arthur decided to meet with him again, I checked your husband out. Arthur stays
away from the Internet, but I don’t have a problem with it. I have a Twitter
and a Facebook account, and I like to frequent gossip blogs and such. As for my
husband’s instincts…” She leaned forward a bit and lowered her voice. “Well, they
haven’t always been spot on, so I always do a little investigation of my own on
his potential clients. The Web buzz is that your marriage is a sham, something
about a board meeting and an annulment. I know you can only believe about
one-tenth of the stuff on those gossip blogs, but dear, I have to ask—”

“You know about
the, uh…the annulment,” Jessina nearly stuttered.

“Yes.” The
twinkle in Katrina’s eyes confirmed that she’d known the truth all along.

Because Jessina
liked the woman, in one huge gulp, her guilt ate her up, and before she could
stop herself, Jessina blurted everything out, including all the lies about the
money and their deal. By the time she was done, her body was shaking with
shame, fear, and remorse
. Oh man! I really fucked it up for Chase this
time…and for Hannah too. Oh God!
She’d never met Chase’s brother, but she’d
done him an injustice, too, by telling Caplin’s wife the truth. Jessina’s
stomach did a flip, and a single tear of blame slipped from her eye.

“Oh, honey.”
Katrina’s arms stretched out. “Come here,” she coaxed as the blue in her eyes
softened.

Jessina measured
the distance between them. Tears fell from her eyes, blurring her vision and the
borders of her comfort zone. She took the few steps toward the elder woman and
felt her arms wrap around her. It wasn’t tight, strangling, or suffocating. The
embrace was light and gentle, and Jessina had fallen victim to her need for the
motherly touch. She sobbed into the shoulder of Mrs. Caplin for many minutes
before she was able to seize her meltdown and pull back.

Katrina palmed
her face in her small, thin hands. “Oh dear. You love him.”

Jessina dropped
her eyes to the ground. “It doesn’t matter. It’ll never work.”

Katrina’s warm
hands slipped from her, and she looked at her for a good long minute. “You
know, before my husband became a trainer, he owned a horse-racing course. A
renowned one, and let’s just say, my husband, he’s a very rich man. That’s why
he’s able to be so choosy about the jobs he takes, and the people he works for.
It’s more of a hobby for him these days. He’s a kind man now, but when I first
met him, he was a rich, arrogant jackass. But I still fell for him just the
same. He fought his feelings for me, pushed me away at every turn. Of course I
wasn’t going to beg him to be with me, but I had to do something.” She gazed at
Jessina. “Does Chase truly own your heart?”

Jessina knew he
did. In fact, he owned her body, mind, and soul, but it hurt too much to admit
it.  

Katrina
grimaced. “Well, that’s the problem. Men like Chase and my Arthur always want
what they can’t have. The problem is, as rich as they are, they don’t want for
much.” She smiled. “You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes, I most
certainly do.” A knowing grin tugged at Jessina’s mouth. “You want to talk
about arrogant? When we first met, Chase told me that he’d never want anything that
he couldn’t have.”

“Did he now?” Katrina’s
eyes sparked with challenge. “The way I see it—and believe you me, even with
these old eyes, I see everything very clearly—that man wants you. What we need
to do is show your arrogant husband what it feels like
not
to get what
he wants for a change.” She placed her arm over Jessina’s shoulder. “You and I
are going out to lunch to have a little chat, and when we get back, you’re
going to leave. Don’t worry,” she said, waving her hand, “I’ll deal with the
men.”

“But what about
the deal?” Jessina started to reason. If she left, would it hurt Chase’s
chances.

“Oh, honey, don’t
you worry about that. My husband will take this job regardless. You just need
to promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“Don’t let that
man back into your life until he admits that he’s in love with you.”

Fat chance that’s
ever going to happen, Jessina thought, but that made agreeing to it that much
easier.  

Arthur Caplin slapped
Chase on the back. “You’ve been takin’ real good care of this place, son. The
staff seems happy, the horses look healthy, and the equipment is well
maintained. I didn’t know your brother well, but I think he’d been proud of
you.”

The elder man
had done it again, praised him as a father would a son. Hell, he’d even called
him “son,” but as before, it hadn’t bothered Chase. In fact, he was honored and
considered it a compliment. It meant he was doing right by Hannah, and it made him
think the man might actually take the bait.  

Chase was
beaming as they started back up to the house. He couldn’t wait to see Jess and tell
her the good news.
Damn, I’m acting like some impatient teenager again. What
the fuck is wrong with me? Maybe I should wait for him to officially accept the
job
. He decided right then and there that as soon as the Caplins left, he
would sit Jess down and profess his love to his wife. He knew getting on his
knees and begging for forgiveness might be required, but for the first time,
Chase would be willing to grovel. He’d beg, plead, and compromise any part of
himself for the chance to have Jess in his life.