“I’m actually glad you stopped by,” she said. “Can I get you something to drink? Maybe some sweet tea or lemonade?”
“I’m fine. I’m more concerned that you haven’t returned my texts or calls. What’s up?”
“Oh, well, are you sure you don’t want something to drink? Even water?” she asked. She was stalling and though she normally prided herself on being brave and facing difficult situations, she was going to give herself a pass today. She really had more than one woman should have to deal with. An image of the seven—SEVEN—pregnancy tests she’d taken lined up on her bathroom counter flashed into her mind.
“I’m positive,” he said. “What’s going on, babe? I know you don’t like the media spotlight, but it was one kiss and, honestly, the photo isn’t that bad. Are you concerned that you might be linked to the rumors about your father? I know I’m probably the last man you want by your side while murder rumors are swirling.”
The murder victim had been found at the Texas Cattleman’s Club newest site in Houston, at her father’s Perry Construction site, and the victim was Vincent Hamm, a Perry Holdings employee, and her father was on the short list of suspects.
She shrugged, searching for the words. She couldn’t just blurt out that she liked to rise above scandal. That she expected more of herself and her family or that she didn’t like for anyone to see her looking so...well, totally enthralled by him. Slade gave off that aura of danger and that was part of what drew her to him, but the truth was she didn’t want the world—rather, her world, the Houston society circle she traveled in—to see that embrace and judge her.
“It’s a lot of things. Frankly, I think we both know we aren’t right for each other,” she said. “I figured I was a novelty for you, and you’d get bored and break up with me before this.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not bored. Are you?” he asked. His tone was almost belligerent, but she could sense the vulnerability beneath it.
She’d learned that being Carlo Bartelli’s son brought with it a lot of expectation of the kind of man Slade was. And he spent a lot of his time pretending not to be upset by being prejudged by his last name.
She chewed her lower lip before she realized what she was doing. She’d never be bored with Slade. He was exciting and everything that she’d always dreamed of finding in a man. But dreams weren’t reality and she knew that better than most. She’d always wanted a picture-perfect family and hers was far from that.
“No, I’m not bored, but we really aren’t cut out to be a couple. I mean, when I saw that photo I blushed remembering everything that followed. But you... What did you do?”
He came closer to her and she stepped back, which made him pause. She wasn’t normally someone who backed down from anything, but honestly, she wasn’t prepared to be in the middle of this kind of mess. It was one thing to stand on the sidelines and offer advice to Angela or sympathy to her father, but to have the papers talking about her? That wasn’t in her plan. But heck, when had anything gone according to plan since Slade had come into her life?
“Are you afraid of me?”
“No, never,” she admitted. “It’s me. I have no self-control around you, Slade.”
“From my point of view, that’s a good thing,” he said with that wicked smile of his that made her remember all the reasons why she’d kissed him at the opera the night before.
She felt the blush creeping up her neck and cheeks and shook her head. She wished she could stop doing that, but she’d never been able to control it. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. The reason why we need to break up. I mean, is that too high school for us?”
“No,” he said.
“No?” Which part was he saying no to? Did he think they should stop seeing each other? Or that the term breakup wasn’t too high school? Why did she do that? She always asked complex questions because her mind was constantly running with a million thoughts.
“Both. We aren’t breaking up and it’s not too immature to say it. I’m not going to let one picture taken by some intruding paparazzo intrude on us.”
She loved the way he sounded. So in control of his life and never letting the outside dictate who they were. But at the same time, she knew that it wasn’t that simple. At the end of the day, rumors still abounded about him being a mobster, even though he had reassured her he wasn’t part of his father’s illegal operations.
And now there was an even bigger reason she needed to walk away from Slade. She was pregnant. All those home test kits had proven her suspicions.
From now on, she had to make all of her choices based on that. Before, it was okay for her to pretend that Slade was going to turn out to be one of the white knights she read about in her books. But real life told her that a man who lived as large as he did would never be happy with her quiet life.
She knew that.
She had to remember that.
She couldn’t be tempted by the way he offered her everything she’d ever wanted.
She had to think of her baby.
“What are you thinking?” he asked. “You’re looking at me with both longing and fear, and I’m not sure what to make of that.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m thinking that as exciting as it is dating you, I know that there is no future in this. I think we should stop seeing each other.”
“No.”
She shook her head, not sure she’d heard him properly. She smiled and tried again. “I mean you and I really are two different types of people and it makes more sense for us to stop going out.”
“No,” he said again.
She took another deep breath. Sometimes people didn’t take her seriously because she was soft-spoken and polite, and they took her ladylike manners and modest dress to mean she was a pushover. But Slade should know better. The fact that he didn’t just cemented in her mind that they definitely weren’t meant to be.
And he was making her lose her temper.
“You can say no as much as you want, but at the end of the day, my decision is final. I’m not going to go out with you anymore. I’m not going to be on the society pages kissing you. I know it seemed to you as if I were asking you what you thought, but I wasn’t. I’m telling you. This is over.”
* * *
This was worse than he’d thought, but he’d faced tougher situations. For a moment, Slade thought about just leaving. It was the lady’s request, but he wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted him gone. He had been walking a tightrope with Melinda since they’d met in a committee meeting.
He remembered that afternoon vividly. She’d been dressed very prim and proper, yet she’d made some hilarious comments under her breath to him while the meeting had been going on. Then apologized later because she’d said she was used to his nonna getting her sense of humor. She’d been such a contradiction that he couldn’t help but want to learn more about her. So, he’d asked her out.
She’d said no.
He’d asked her out again, claiming he needed her help because he was representing the Conti family, and she immediately said yes. One thing had led to another and they’d wound up in bed. He couldn’t regret any of it.
And he wasn’t ready for it to end. If he believed that she was asking him to leave her alone because it was what she wanted, he’d do it in a heartbeat. But a big part of him thought it was due to the photo in the paper. She didn’t like the limelight. She left that to her twin, Angela, and just kept to her quiet philanthropic work.
Her family had been one scandal