His to Keep: A Billionaire Romance (His to Have Book 3) (3 page)

Blake laughs. “Sounds good to me. I’m tired of New York anyway.”
 

We both know we can’t just run away, but it’s wonderful to pretend. I just want to hang on to this moment for a while. I just want to savor it, to appreciate it while it lasts. At some point, I have to decide what to do about the company, and I have to figure out what, if anything, I can do to help Blake. Things are only going to get more complicated. I know that. I know Blake is going to try to take everything on himself, and I know if I want any chance at living out a happily ever after with him, I’ll have to do more than think wishful thoughts. But for right now, I just want to stay in the moment, to savor this one sweet, simple joy.

CHAPTER 5

CATHERINE

“Whatever Blake needs, it has to wait,” Alex says. It’s late morning, but her bar is packed. It’s twice as full as it was on the night I first came here with Blake. It’s mostly men, and almost all of them are wearing green. From the few people talking, I think they’re almost all Irish, but the crowd is strangely quiet. It’s a bright, sunny day outside, but in here, the lights are dim, and the mood seems oddly tense. I’m here at Blake’s request, but there’s something I need to ask Alex for myself.

I find Alex behind the bar. She’s pouring three pints at once. “What’s going on here?” I ask. I feel a need to half whisper. Alex nods to a flat screen TV on the side wall.
They’re here to watch a soccer game
. The crowd is focused so intently on the screen that I’m not even sure that they notice as I walk around to meet Alex at the end of the bar.
 

“I’m short staffed, and these guys have been waiting for this game for months. I can talk to you later, or you can help out.” She heads into the back room, reemerging a moment later with a crate full of glasses. She pushes the crate into my arms. “Far corner of the bar.” The crowd groans in unison. I look up to see a replay of a soccer ball flying just wide of a goal post. I put the glasses down and head back to Alex. She’s already back with more, and she’s pouring pints like mad.

“Guinness, love,” a man says from the end of the bar. His face is red, and his hair is bushy beneath a cap. His brogue is thick. I look at Alex. She nods to me to go ahead. I grab a pint glass and start to pour. The beer foams up and spills over the edge.
 

Alex laughs and hands me a full pint. “Slow,” she says, “and top it off like this.” She shows me exactly what to do. I follow her instructions. Within a few tries, I’ve got the hang of it. I lose track of time as we keep up with the steady flow of orders. It’s fun to lose myself for a while. When their team scores a goal, the crowd erupts in a cheer so loud, I’m certain you could hear it from Manhattan. I do a double check to see if the walls are shaking from the noise.

I can see why Alex likes this life. It’s fun and time passes quickly, and she’s her own boss. Even when tipsy, no man in the bar makes a pass at her. They seem to know who’s in charge. For what it’s worth, Alex seems a lot happier behind a bar than Blake does on his way to the boardroom. Maybe it’s that there’s something more straightforward about it, or maybe she just doesn’t have the same kind of responsibilities. Either way, she seems content in a way that I’m not sure Blake could ever be.
 

By the time the game ends, the crowd’s team has won, and the men on the other side of the bar are toasting to each other and singing songs. I can’t say this is anything like what I expected for the day, but I’m not disappointed in the least. I’ll have to ask Alex when the next game is. I’ll drag Blake down here, and we’ll cheer along too. I could even buy him a soccer jersey. He’ll probably decide to wear it under his suit.
 

I keep helping Alex behind the bar, waiting for her to give me a chance to talk. After a few hours, the crowd starts to dwindle. We finally get a break from pouring drinks nonstop. Alex gives me a smile. “I don’t know what I would have done without the extra help,” she says. “But I know that’s not why you’re here. So what’s up?”

I’ve almost forgotten why I came to the bar in the first place. “Blake wanted me to check on you to make sure you’re doing well.”
 

“What do you think?” Alex says. She pours a pint and hands it to me.
 

“I think you’re doing fine,” I tell her.

“I know he thinks he needs to protect me, but I can look out for myself,” she says. “He’s the one I worry about. He carries too much weight on his shoulders.”
 

“He’s going after Jacob,” I tell her.
 

She half smiles and looks up as if to say
see, that’s exactly what I’m talking about
. “Tell him I don’t want to be involved. I’ve put it behind me and he should, too. But you know Blake and his savior complex. It’s funny. I thought things would change after I found out about you. I thought he would change. That first night, he seemed happier than I’ve seen him in years.”
 

“I think he has changed,” I tell her. “There’s something I need to ask you about. I just don’t know how to ask it. I think Blake’s afraid of something happening to one of us. I have a way that I might be able to help him with all of this, but I don’t know if he’ll go for it.”

“He needs you to look out for him as much as you need him looking out for you,” she says. “I know my little brother. You’re good for him. He sees you as his equal. Don’t be a pushover. Does that answer the question you didn’t ask?
 

“Yeah, I think it did,” I reply. “Now I just have to figure out how to tell him.”

“For that one, you’re on your own,” Alex says.
 

I’m not just going to take my father’s deal. I’m going to talk it over with Blake. I’ll explain my reasoning. We’ll make the decision together. I try to convince myself that he’ll understand, but I know he won’t. I know he’ll get mad or tell me that it’s my father trying to set me up for failure somehow. I know it’s going to be a fight, but I also know it’s a fight I have to win. Alex steps away to talk to some customers, leaving me alone with my pint. I stare down into the glass like I’m trying to read tea leaves, but I see nothing. I laugh at myself and take a deep, long sip.

CHAPTER 6

CATHERINE

My resolve to tell Blake my secret lasts until I lay eyes on him again. He’s waiting at the table. He’s wearing a crisp blue shirt that brings out his eyes, and he’s got two candles lit. “You’re just in time,” he says. “I made us dinner.” He offers me wine, and I have to admit that I still have the slightest buzz from the bar. Blake just laughs and says, “I guess that means Alex is alright.”
 

“Right as rain,” I tell him. I don’t tell him that the thing she’s right about is that he needs my help.

Blake had set up my plate at the opposite end of the table, but I pick it up and take the seat next to him.
 
We eat, and I laugh, and he makes me remember every single reason I can’t just sit around and hope everything works out. “I think I get why your sister likes working behind a bar. It’s empowering in a way.”
 

“You were bartending?” he asks.
 

“There was a soccer game on TV, and she was understaffed. I helped pour pints. You should have seen the way she looked at me when I tried to pour my first pint.”

“You working behind a bar,” he says. “I’d like to see that some time.”
 

“I’m just working on my customer service for whenever we open that gelato place.”
 

“
Gelateria
,” Blake says.

“Is that really what they call them?”
 

“I have no idea. I don’t speak Italian. Either way, it sounds about right.”
 

“Gelateria,” I say. “Is there more gelato after the meal?” I ask.
 

“I had something else in mind,” Blake says. He leans over and kisses me. His lips linger on mine even as he starts to pull back from the kiss. I give a little whimper when our lips finally part. “You are beautiful,” he says. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

“You got me into a party, remember?” I say. I lean into him and lock my lips against his. He wraps his arms around me and kisses me. I feel that dizzy warmth all over again and lose myself in his arms. Passion flares up inside me in an instant like a squall over the sea.
 
My need for Blake is so sudden and complete that I can’t think of anything else, especially the news I wanted to break to him. As he slides his tongue against mine, all I can think about is getting him into bed.
 

We get up from the table, and I barely know where we’re headed. I just know that my body fits perfectly against his, and his hands are almost as wild as his eyes. I press against him and feel the warmth of his erection. The rest feels like a dream. Tossing our clothes aside, slipping into bed, pulling the cool sheets over my back as I straddle Blake. I gasp when he enters me, and my cries don’t stop until we’re done.

Sweat beads on my forehead and my chest when I finally crash down onto the mattress, completely spent from making love to Blake. When we first slept together, I’d have called it fucking. That’s all it was. It was hot and physical and nothing more, but what we did tonight was so much more than that. I kiss his cheek and watch the happiness in his eyes as he turns to admire me

“Sometimes I think nothing in the world could make me as happy as you. Times like this, I know it,” he says. “I wish it were just the two of us.”

“What if it were?” I asked. I think about my father’s offer of a stake in Blake’s company. I think about what Alex said. I think about the FBI and everything else. “Let’s go away,” I tell him. “Let’s go to Italy. Or South America. Or the Pacific. We could make a new life for ourselves. We could get away from all of this. I mean it, let’s leave tonight. I’ll find my passport. We could be on a plane in a few hours.”
 

“And on a beach somewhere by morning?” Blake says. He kisses me. “I wish it were that simple,” he says, “but I have responsibilities. I have a company. You know we can’t just leave. That’s not even taking into consideration the fact that I’m now cooperating with an FBI investigation. If we run off, I could be a fugitive. I love imagining our future together, but you know we can’t leave.”

“Please,” I tell him. “It would be so much simpler.”
 

“What’s gotten into you?” he asks. “I told you. I have a plan. I’m working with Ben. He’s researching my leads.” As Blake talks, he twirls my hair around his finger. “Just give me a little time.”
 

“My father offered me part ownership of your company,” I tell him.

Blake sits up. “He did what?” he asks. His tone goes cold, and all the warmth in his eyes is gone.
 

“That letter I had when you came in the other day, it’s an offer for a small stake in your company, about half of what you sold to my father.”

“You can’t take it,” he says.
 

“I haven’t done anything yet,” I tell him, “but it’s my decision.”
 

“He’ll try to play us against each other, or he’s trying to use you as a buffer in order to protect himself.”
 

“Did you ever think that maybe he’s legitimately sorry or that maybe he wants to make up for my inheritance that disappeared after his company collapsed?”

“Why not write a check?” Blake asks. “Why make it a stake in my company? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” He sounds so angry, like I’m betraying him simply by having this offer.

“You make it sound like he’s buying me off,” I say. “I didn’t have to tell you about this. I chose to, just like I chose to wait before doing anything.” I sit up and reach over the edge of the bed for my clothes. I pull them back on and get out of bed. “He said he wants to make amends.”
 

“Does that sound like your father?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask him.
 

“After the way he’s treated you, are you really going to take his side?” Blake asks. “It’s a bad idea. You can’t get mixed up in all of this, Cat. It’s for your own good.”
 

“For my own good?” I ask. I’m sick of being treated like I can’t do anything for myself. I’m sick of being pulled in a hundred different directions at once. I open the bedside drawer. I pull it off its tracks and hold it high above my head before dumping the contents on the bed.

“What the hell are you doing?” Blake asks. He scrambles up

I reach down and find the flash drive he’d given me back at the loft. “If you don’t want me in the middle, don’t put me in the middle,” I tell him. “You talk about how much you wish things were different, how much you wish you could walk away, but you’re still hanging on to all of it. You give me the records you have on my father, and tell me I have the power to do what I want with them. What I want is to get rid of them.”

“Is that why you’re mad?” Blake asks. He picks up the flash drive and storms out of the room.

“Where are you going?” I ask.
 

“To show you how serious I am.”

When I get to the doorway, Blake is already stepping out onto the terrace. Through the window, I can see him race to the edge of the building. He looks over the edge. A chill runs through my body.
 
Blake steps back and drops the flash drive onto the ground. He grabs a chair and smashes the drive underneath one of the legs. Then he picks up the pieces of the drive and throws them over the edge.

“What are you doing?” I ask him when he comes back inside.

“Proving to you that I’m serious about not holding on to the past,” he says. He looks around and adds, “have you seen my phone?”
 

“If you throw that off the building, you could hurt someone,” I tell him.
 

He laughs. “I need to make a phone call.”
 

“Right now?” I ask.
 

“I’m calling Ben to tell him we need to move the timeline up. You’re right. We need to put all of this behind us.”
 

“Call him in the morning,” I tell him.