The Billionaire's Courageous Lover (Bold, Alaskan Men Book 3) (16 page)

Now he had no idea what he was doing. 

Andie’s father was blustering on and on about how Andie should be doing one thing or another, regaling him with her amazing social skills, her education at Brown, how she could throw a dinner party better than anyone around because she knew all the right people.

Knox realized that Andie’s father was right.  And wrong. 

Andie didn’t belong here in Boston.  She belonged in Winthrop!  Damn!  She’d been telling him all along, and he’d just ignored her.  He’d refused to believe it.

Because he didn’t want to believe her.  She’d been too perfect.  All his life, if something was too good to be true, it wasn’t. 

Andie was the exception to that.  Andie was too good to be true, but she was true!  She was the woman he wanted in his life and he’d pushed her away, over and over again.  

Damn, he’d messed up! 

Not anymore!  He was getting that woman back!  He’d messed up royally here today by not believing in her, by distrusting her word.  Again! 

But he was getting his Andie back.  And the only cashmere she was going to wear would be his own damn sweaters! 

“I have to go,” Knox said to Jackson Kingsley. 

Jackson stammered for a moment, his jowls jiggling as he tried to catch up with Knox.  “Excuse me?  But we were talking about you buying…”

Knox shook the man’s hand.  “Sorry.  I have to go find my future.”

Jackson had no idea what Knox meant by that.  The man had an amazing future!  Hell, Jackson wished he could have the same future as Knox Vinson!  But Jackson knew he didn’t have even a fraction of the talent for finding good investments that Vinson could sniff out. 

Unfortunately, Jackson didn’t have a chance to convince Knox Vinson of any of his company’s sterling qualities because he was gone. 

With a sigh, Jackson fell into his big, leather chair, still not sure what had just happened.  All he knew was that he’d lost a major business opportunity! 

Knox almost ran out of the building, hoping to see Andie before she could get away.  He had no idea where she was going, all he knew was that he’d regretted letting her leave Winthrop from the moment she’d driven away down the road. 

But he was going to find her, he told himself.  He couldn’t let her get away.  She was his woman.  She’d been trying to convince him of that for weeks, but he’d been too stubborn, too bull-headed to believe it.

He called her phone several times, but she wouldn’t answer.  He started to leave a voice mail, but what was he supposed to say?  “I’m an idiot for not listening to you?”  She already knew that. 

No.  He’d tell her everything as soon as she came back home.

Why wasn’t the woman home?  He drove by her house every day, but there was no sign of life.  The moose showed up a couple of times, but when there was no food, even he stopped showing up. 

So where was his woman?  Why hadn’t she come back?  Next week was Thanksgiving, and he needed her with him.  He had no idea what he would do with her, but he was sick of spending the holidays alone. 

Oh sure, Saeger and Creek had invited both him and Tucker to share their Thanksgiving dinners with them.  There was even talk about all of them getting together and sharing one meal, everyone bringing their favorite Thanksgiving foods.  Not that the four men actually had a favorite food.  Hell, they usually jetted off to some place warm and tropical for the holidays, not really acknowledging Thanksgiving.  Or Christmas.  And definitely not Valentine’s Day! 

But he wanted to share all of them with Andie!

“Messed up, huh?” Saeger said, sliding into the chair next to Knox’s.  They were sitting around their usual table at The Rotten Apple, Violet and Tyla out grocery shopping.  Or something.  Saeger and Creek had probably mentioned their whereabouts, but he hadn’t been listening. 

He didn’t want his friends’ company at the moment.  He was too busy worrying about Andie, wondering where she was and berating himself for being such a fool.  “No,” Knox replied, swallowing a large gulp of whiskey. 

Saeger pulled the bottle closer and poured himself a portion, then topped off Knox’s glass. 

Tucker came in next and sighed as he sat down on the other side of the table.  “What are we drinking to tonight?” he asked and grabbed his own glass.  And just because these four men knew each other so well, he grabbed another glass and set it down at the empty seat for when Creek showed up. 

Saeger slammed back his first shot.  “We aren’t celebrating.  We’re commiserating with Knox because he messed up.”

Knox slammed his empty glass down on the table.  “I didn’t mess up!” he growled. 

A moment later, Creek slid into the empty seat and poured a portion of whiskey.  “Looks like you messed up to me.”

Knox glared at the man.  “Didn’t mess up.”

Saeger leaned back, sipping his whiskey now.  “Well, let’s see.  You went to Boston, found out that your woman is actually Boston’s princess.  She’s not here, you are, and you’re slamming back the whiskey like you messed up.”

“He messed up,” Tucker said, nodding his head. 

Knox glared at Tucker.  “Like you’ve got it so good?”

All four men turned to look at the woman sitting at a table in the back, working on her computer.  She was cute in a quirky sort of way, but she was also engaged to another man. 

Tucker poured more whiskey.  “I’m working on it,” he said and glared when a smaller man walked in and moved to the woman in the back. 

The three other men snorted in disbelief when the pretty woman lifted her face and kissed the other man. 

“Looks to me like you’re floundering worse than I am,” Knox commented. 

Creek chuckled.  “He hasn’t even reached the level of floundering.”

Sager pulled the bottle over again.  “Hell, the guy hasn’t even reached the gasping stage.  He has a long way to go before he can claim to be floundering.”

Creek and Saeger chuckled, Knox smiled slightly and Tucker glared.  “Back off.  We’re talking about Knox’s messed up sex life.  Not mine.”

Sager nodded.  “That’s true enough.  You gotta have a sex life to talk about it.”

Tucker only rolled his eyes.  “Like I said, I’m working on it.”

Creek turned around and glanced at the other couple.  Already they were fighting, which happened all the time now.  “No, Knox is working on it.  You’re just glaring daggers at Gavin the Ass’ back.”

Tucker sighed.  “Could we please focus on one problem at a time?  Knox can’t find Andie.  What is he going to do about it?”

Knox growled and all three men laughed softly, shaking their heads.  Creek and Saeger could understand his predicament while Tucker could feel his pain. 

“I’m moving to Boston,” he told his friends. 

All of them froze, then looked at Knox with varying expressions of horror.  “But you hate Boston,” Saeger pointed out.

“You hate the entire East Coast,” Tucker added. 

Creek shook his head.  “He hates the West Coast too.”

Knox was silent for another moment.  “Andie belongs in Boston.  And I belong with Andie.”

The three of them disagreed, but he was going to have to figure that out for himself.  “I’ll take your…”

“No!” Knox said, knowing exactly where these vultures were heading.  “I’ll still need to come back, just to recuperate.  But it will be okay.  Andie will be with me, everything will be fine.”

No one believed it, but they all drank with him to help him through the night. 

Andie loved her new truck!  It was huge!  Bigger than Knox’s SUV, and had tons of power!  Good grief, if she’d known how much fun it was to drive such a big truck, she would have done it years ago! 

She actually laughed out loud as she pictured her mother’s expression if Andie ever pulled into the family driveway in this beast.  It was metallic blue, and even had those funny lights on top that looked like ears.  She liked a beast of a truck with ears!  Gave the thing character. 

Maybe she should figure out how to drive this puppy down to her basement.  Oh, the battle would be epic!  Highway beast against basement beast.  Of course, she hadn’t ever seen what was down there, so maybe she should just keep her blue beast up here, safe from whatever was lurking in the basement.  No need to hurt her new toy. 

She’d just unlocked the doorway when she heard the tires screech and she backed up a step. 

Sure enough, Knox was staring at her from the driver’s seat of his big, black SUV.  He was probably jealous, she thought with relish.  Jealous because her truck was bigger than his.  Ha!  Just try and top this puppy, she thought, trying to hang onto her amusement because otherwise, she might just burst into tears, knowing that he didn’t want her and that he wasn’t who she thought he was. 

No more!  She’d told herself that the whole drive up from Seattle!  She’d flown into the beautiful city, explored Puget Sound for a day and then done her shopping.  The result was this blue beast, and all of the new toys in the truck. 

When he got out, she knew that she was in trouble.  But she kept a calm expression on her features even though her heart felt like it was clenching with pain. 

“Where the hell have you been?” he demanded, storming up her driveway and glaring down at her with his hands fisted on his lean hips.

She wouldn’t ever get to throw herself into his arms, she thought.  Whenever something exciting happened, or when she learned something new, she wouldn’t feel his strong arms wrap around her.  Wouldn’t get to see that gleaming amusement in his green eyes or rest her head against his broad shoulder. 

Goodness, life wasn’t fair! 

Pulling herself up and out of her funk, she squared her shoulders and jutted out her chin, refusing to let him believe she would cower.  “I’ve been on a buying spree,” she explained in as calm of a voice as possible, “Why do you care?”

He took several deep breaths, trying not to yell any longer.  He’d been so worried about her and now she was here, standing in her driveway looking prettier than ever! 

“Because you haven’t answered my calls or replied to my texts.  I’ve been driving by this place every day, sometimes twice a day, waiting for you!  You said you were coming back here!  You said you wanted to live here!  You told me very specifically that you were sick of me thinking you were too delicate to live here, and then you don’t show up for days!  Where have you been?  There aren’t that many shoes in the world that would delay you this long!”

She stopped cold, wondering what he was talking about.  “Shoes?”

He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to ease his frustration.  “Yes!  Isn’t that what you’ve been out buying?”

She shrugged one shoulder, still confused, and trying to figure out what he was talking about. “Well, I got snow shoes.  And snow boots.”

He stared at her as if she were speaking another language.  “What?” she asked, trying to get him to stop looking at her like she’d just grown a purple head. 

“Snow boots?”

Andie nodded her head.  “And snow shoes.  Those things that help a person to walk on top of the snow?  Do they work?”

He shook his head, trying to clear it from the worry that had been plaguing him and was now slowing down his comprehension.  “I know what they are, Andie!  But why did you get them if you aren’t staying here?”

She was done!  No more!  “Okay, here’s the deal!  I love you, and you’re an absolute jerk, okay?  I love you so much, and I know that we’re going to have trouble, both of us living here, but you’re not getting rid of me!  I know that you were here first, but Alaska is definitely big enough for the both of us!  So if you ever tell me that I’m too soft or delicate to live here, then….” She tried to come up with something horrible to do to him but came up blank.  “Then I’m going to sneak eyelashes onto your SUV’s headlights!” she finally finished.

With that, she moved to the end of her truck and unlatched the trailer.  She’d done a great job of figuring out what she might need, and the snow blower was the biggest piece of all.  She’d gotten the salesperson to show her how to work the machine, how to change gears, and she even had a great way to roll this baby off of the bed of her truck!  She’d done it all!  No longer was she asking this big jerk for help!  She could do it all herself. 

So while he was walking to the back of her truck with his teeth clenching, she pulled the arched ramps out from underneath the other stuff and then climbed onto the bed of her blue beast.  With slow movements, she wheeled her new snow blower down from her truck, feeling proud of herself for doing it all by herself.  And when she had it on the asphalt, she rolled it around to the back of the house and stored it in the shed.  Looking up at the sky, she figured she might need it by this weekend. 

Walking back around to her truck, she was hurrying, wanting to get everything out before Knox said something else to hurt her feelings.

But even as she rounded the building, she found herself wrapped in his arms and his mouth covering hers. 

He was kissing her? 

Knox was kissing her!  She should fight it, she told herself.  She should kick him in the shins and tell him to leave her alone because he was only going to hurt her again, tell her that they shouldn’t see each other! 

But oh, he felt so good!  She was able to resist for a whole nanosecond and then….

Her hands automatically reached up to hold his head, or maybe to hold on.  Her head was spinning as he kissed her and she ached for more. 

When he lifted his head to look down at her, she was breathing hard.  “Was that just more torture?” she wanted to know, unable to hide the tears any longer. 

Knox’s thumbs reached up and wiped the tears away.  “No, honey.  And I’m sorry that I’m so hard-headed.”

Andie looked at him, not sure what that meant.  “Why are you hard-headed?” she asked carefully. 

He sighed and pulled her closer, wanting to go inside her house so that he could pull all of her clothes off of her and hold her against his body.  But he didn’t want to take the time, preferring to hold her like this, even if it meant several layers of clothing between them. 

“Because I kept pushing you away.  I should have trusted you.  I should have believed in your intelligence, and accepted that you knew what you wanted.”

She shivered, praying that he was saying what she hoped he was saying.  “I don’t want my old life, Knox.  I hated it.  I lived it for too long and I don’t ever want to go back there.”

He chuckled.  “Thank goodness,” he growled, and bent to kiss her neck.  “I would have hated to move to Boston.”

She pulled back, trying to stop him from distracting her.  “What do you mean?  Why would you move to Boston?”

“Because I wanted you more than I wanted here,” he told her with heartfelt honesty. 

“You wanted me more?’ she whispered.  No man had ever wanted her more!  “More than what?”

“More than anything, Andie.  I need you, honey.  I need you to keep me sane, to remind me of how fun things are.”

“But you said I’m too delicate for Alaska.”

“You’re stronger than you look.  And sexier than I might be able to handle.  But you love me,” he said and laughed, picking her up and carrying her towards her house.  “And I love you.”

She pushed at his shoulders.  “Wait.  When did you figure all of this out?  I’ve been telling you this for weeks?  What changed?”

He glanced behind her at the enormous blue truck.  “When I saw that you’d traded in your cute bunny car for an enormous truck.”

She rolled her eyes.  “My VW Bug was not a bunny car.  It was a good vehicle.”

He laughed, thrilled with her indignation.  “For anywhere other than here, honey.  The truck told me that you were serious, that you really wanted to stay.”

She grabbed the sides of his jacket, wanting to pound her head against a brick wall.  “Knox, are you telling me that we could have been ensconced in my bed all this time if I’d only changed vehicles?”

He threw back his head and laughed.  “No, honey.  Because you didn’t have a bed until two weeks ago.”

That was true enough.  She sighed and looked up into his green eyes, hoping that he wanted exactly what she wanted.  “So what does this mean?”  And then something occurred to her.  “Wait!  You’re one of those guys!”

She tried to pull out of his arms, but he wouldn’t let her.  “Honey, I have no idea what kind of a man you are referring to, but I guarantee that I’m not one of them.”

“Yes!  You were with my father!”  She sighed and shook her head.  “It doesn’t matter.”

He looked down at her, still not sure where she was going with this.  “I’m guessing it matters a great deal.  Talk to me.”

She shook her head.  “No. It doesn’t matter.  I love you enough.  I don’t care.”

He wasn’t letting her get away with that.  Enough confusion and miscommunication, he thought.  “Don’t care about what?”

She pulled out of his arms and moved into her house.  When they were both inside and she had pressed the button for the fire to start crackling, she looked up at him.  “All my life, the men I’ve dated wanted something.  And in general, it wasn’t me.  It was my father’s money, my mother’s connections, my father’s business advice.”

He smiled slightly.  “And you think I’m only after your father’s money?”

She shrugged.  “No.  You’re wealthier than my father.  But you might want something else.”

He laughed.  “Andie, I believe you once mentioned that your mother had taught you to research the people you associate with.  Obviously, you have not looked into my background.”

She really didn’t like the sound of that.  “I hated it when my mother did it over the years.  If you don’t want to tell me about your background, then maybe there’s something I don’t need to know.”

He liked her words, but they wouldn’t give her the reassurance that she needed.  “Andie, your father wanted me to buy his company.  I don’t need anything from him or your mother’s connections.”

She stood there for a long moment, not sure what he was saying.  “My father…he wants you to buy his company?”

“Yes.”

She blinked several times.  “But…that doesn’t make sense!”

He sighed.  “Your father wants to retire.  He wants to slow down and head to the Caribbean and relax.  He doesn’t want to run the business any longer.  He explained that he knew you weren’t interested in following in his footsteps, he didn’t have any other children and he wanted to get out of the industry.”

Her eyes narrowed, not believing him for a second.  Her father rarely even made it home for dinner.  Now he wants to retire?  “My father?  Wants to retire?”

“Yes.  Ask him yourself.”

She shook her head.  “And he wants you to buy it?”

“Yes.  Why is this so hard to believe?”

She waved her hands.  “Because…”

He shook his head.  “Andie, I’ve learned one thing over the past few weeks.  It doesn’t matter what you believe.  You’re mine.  I don’t care about your father’s business.  I don’t want to buy it, but if he wants me to manage it for him, I’ll appoint someone so that he can retire and still be in charge.”  His fingers moved up to the zipper on her jacket.  “And if he wants me to buy it, I’ll do that, so that he can retire.”  The jacket fell to the floor.

“And if he wants to come here?” she asked, holding her breath when his own jacket fell to the floor. 

“No way,” he shook his head.  “Not happening.  I’ll buy up all the land in the area so that he’ll have to stay away.  This is our town, Andie.  I won’t share.”

She loved those words!  More than he could know.  “Why not?”

“Because your parents make you crazy,” he told her and bent lower, nibbling on her neck.  Damn, but he loved the way she wiggled when he did that.  “And because you’re crazy enough as it is.”

She pulled back, her smile glowing up at him even though he’d just insulted her.  “I’m not crazy.”

He glanced over at the basket that used to hold tennis balls.  “Andie why do you keep throwing balls down into your basement?  And why are you keeping your new skis and fishing rod in your hall closet instead of down in that basement?”

She looked over at the basket, thinking of the fresh stock of tennis balls she’d picked up and were stashed in the back of her new truck.  “Have you ever been down in that basement?”

“Yes, Andie,” he told her, trying not to laugh.  He bit her earlobe and pulled her closer when she gasped.  “There’s nothing down there.”

“I don’t believe it,” she replied back, sliding her hands up his massive chest.  “I throw a tennis ball down there every once in a while, trying to get the ghastly, horrible beast that is living in the basement to show itself,” she finally explained.