Reckless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 2) (19 page)

Before he could figure out how to handle the sudden assault, Theresa was pushed away from him and Malia was there, wedging herself between Robert and Theresa with a hand on his chest and a hand held up, palm out, toward her mother. “Stop!” she yelled.

Theresa stared in horror at the both of them as tears formed. “Malia, get away from him.”

Malia glanced between them hesitantly, but didn’t move from her protective stance. “Leave him alone, Mom. He shouldn’t have come here.”

“Damn right he shouldn’t have come here. Malia, get inside. I’m calling the police.”

Instinctively, Robert reached up, grabbing her wrist, and held her hand against his chest. He knew that if she wanted to go, he couldn’t stop her—wouldn’t stop her—but he couldn’t get his fingers to loosen.

Malia glanced back at him with a worried gaze. “Hold on,” she mouthed, the small gesture enough to give him the briefest moment of calm.

“Let her go!” Theresa lunged again, but Malia held firm.

“Leave him alone, Mom.”

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t grab my shotgun right now.”

“Because I love him.”

Malia spoke the words softly, but the impact reverberated through the group. Theresa’s poor husband probably took the news best of all, with a perplexed expression. Theresa had the wide eyes and dropped jaw of a woman who had just been stabbed in the gut, and Robert was...

Robert felt as though he was imagining things.
Had Malia really just said she loved him?

But before he could react to her in any way, Malia leaned in close. “Go wait by the car. I’ll be there. I’ll be there when I can.”

He didn’t want to leave her alone with someone who was obviously so angry, but considering this angry person was her mother, he didn’t see much choice. He finally turned away, only to see Alex at the end of the driveway. He stared questioningly at Alex as he made his way toward his brother. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I drove Malia. She guessed where you were going and freaked the fuck out.”

Realization hit him and he glanced back to where Malia and her mother were talking in low, hushed tones. “You mean she—”

“Was never here. Yep. Get ready to be in the doghouse, buddy.”

Fantastic.
If she hadn’t run off to stay with her mother already, it would probably be a cold day in hell before she agreed to go back with him.

––––––––

“M
om, go back inside.”

Malia’s mother stood on tiptoes to glare at Robert over her shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s happening.”

“There’s nothing to tell. I just need you to trust me and let me handle this.”

Sean set a hand on her mother’s arm. “Honey, I think it’s best if we—”

She shook his hand off. “No. My daughter just said she’s in love with Robert Farrell. I demand to know what’s happening. Is he making you say this? Why are you here? Why didn’t you tell me you were in town?”

So many questions and not one that Malia wanted to answer.
Goodness.
“Mom, I’ll explain everything later.”

“No, you’ll explain everything now.”

Malia stared at her mother, searching for the words. The words to explain something she didn’t even understand. “I...I didn’t know who he was. Then by the time I found out, it was too late.”

“By the time you found out? Do you have any idea what he did to us? The nights we had to sleep on the streets, begging for enough change to get food? That’s all his fault!”

“It’s his father’s fault. Robert wasn’t the one—”

“They’re all the same, Malia. Like father, like son. Whatever he’s telling you, whatever he’s promised, it’s a lie. Come inside with me and forget you ever met him. We can work this out.”

“He’s different.”

“Malia—”

“I’m different from you.”

Her mother stepped back. “What?”

“You dragged me all around the country, pulling me in and out of schools, and then right after we got settled into Hawaii, you went back to the mainland. You and I are so different, most people barely believe we’re related. So if I’m not like you, how can you say Robert is just like Walter?” Her mother looked as if she’d just been slapped, and guilt ripped through Malia. “Mom, I’m just saying—”

“You’re saying I’m a shitty mother.”

“No, I’m saying we both wanted different things. So it’s not fair to say that all the Farrells are the same when we aren’t either.”

But her mother was past the point of listening. “I see the way it is. Go be with the man who ruined our lives. Who took your college fund and any hope of a stable home. Feel free to blame it on me, though. I’m just your flighty mother who didn’t know how to care for her family.”

“Mom, I never said—”

“You said it! You came here with that man!” She pointed accusingly behind Malia and once she glanced around, she saw Alex and Robert together.
The only thing worse than bringing a Farrell home was bringing two Farrells home.
Malia let out a defeated sigh. There was no reasoning with her mother right now. Hell, if their places were reversed, Malia didn’t think it would go any better. She just didn’t know Robert like Malia did. Didn’t know how sweet he could be when he wanted to.

Or how stupid he could be, as evidenced by the situation she was in at that moment.

“Mom, I have to go, but we’re going to talk about this later. Okay?”

“Go be with him and forget your family. Your choice is clear.”

Malia rubbed at her temples. “I’m not choosing anything. We’ll talk about this later.”

“If you go off with him, we won’t be talking at all.”

She stared at her mother, trying to determine how serious her threats were. If she’d really stop talking to her. “It sounds like you’re the one making the choice here. I’ll call you.” Malia turned away and walked back to the guys. They both had serious expressions and she knew they would be curious about what just happened.

Malia shook her head. She couldn’t talk about that now. As soon as she reached them, she cut off their questions before they had a chance to ask them. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Come on.” Robert led the way to his car.

Alex shook his head. “Okay then. I’ll just go back alone, I’m assuming.”

Malia shot him a quick smile. “Thanks for the ride.” By then, Robert had his car started and ready to go. Malia ran around to get into the front seat of the shiny black SUV. It was only once they were out of her mother’s neighborhood that he spoke.

“I thought you left.”

“No. All my stuff was still at the house. I just assumed you’d see it...” She trailed off as she finished the thought. She shouldn’t have assumed anything. Not after their tumultuous relationship.

Robert set a hand on her knee. “I’m sorry I messed things up with your mother.”

Malia let out a sad laugh. “You didn’t. I mean, you didn’t exactly help our relationship. But I barely talked to her since she moved out here.” A phone call once a year on each of their birthdays. Not exactly a healthy relationship.

“I thought you got along pretty well.”

“We went through so much together. But when she met Sean, she moved here to be with him after they’d only known each other for two weeks. Apparently it worked out, but I begged her not to go. We’d been together forever, through some really bad times. And then she was running off with some tourist.” Malia had been older by then. Able to fend for herself and manage the bumps in the road, but it had still been such a shock to have her one friend and ally in the world suddenly gone. It wasn’t as though either of them could afford lots of trips back and forth between the mainland all the time.

Except for one trip she and Sean had made after saving for months, this was the first time Malia had seen her mother. So being told that she shouldn’t trust Robert was something she had more than taken into consideration in the craziness of the past week. But if she thought she could order Malia around or dictate who she could or could not fall in love with—well, she’d given up that right long ago.

Robert kept his hand on her knee as he drove through the LA traffic. Malia wasn’t sure whether she should feel calmed by his touch or terrified because he was weaving through all the cars and trucks on the road with only one hand on the wheel. She distracted herself from her thoughts by looking at Robert. Every time she felt doubts about them, his steadying presence seemed to calm her. Even when they were on that boat and she was furious with him, the sight of his strong, beautiful body would cause her to forget and fall back under the spell he’d somehow cast.

And now, for the first time, she was willing to go under that spell. To see where it was going to lead her.

He wore a pair of nice black slacks that fit him perfectly and a lightweight blue sweater that fell perfectly over his broad shoulders and ever so slightly showed off the bulge of muscle in his arms. Yep, it was hard to be mad when she looked at him.

Besides...considering where she’d been, she could hardly be mad at him for confronting her family.

He pulled into his driveway and was silent as he pulled the SUV into his garage. The garage door was one of those quiet models, adding to the unease as she stepped out of the SUV. She didn’t think he was mad at her, but it was hard to tell when he was like this. He’d been touching her the entire drive, so that had to be a good sign, right?

He unlocked the door that led into the back side of his kitchen and held it open for her. She stopped a few feet in, completely ready to confront him about his strange behavior and ask him what the hell was going through that hard head of his, but she never got the chance. As soon as he shut the door, he cupped her head with his hands and bent in for a deep kiss.

Malia gasped at the sudden kiss and held onto his shoulders as he pushed her back into the wall along the hallway, trapping her body between him and the drywall. Malia gave in to the kiss as she opened for him, allowing his tongue to plunge into her mouth. His hands roamed along her sides, cupping her breasts briefly before going lower to cup her ass, pressing her firmly against the thick bulge of his cock pressed against the fly of his pants.

He abruptly pulled away—well, pulled his face away. His cock was still firmly pressed against her stomach. “Say it again,” he breathed.

She frowned, trying to get through the fog of arousal to think clearly. “Huh?”

“Tell me you love me.”

Oh, shit. She had said that, hadn’t she?
Well, it was true. Robert was stubborn and controlling, but she believed one hundred percent that he loved her and that every insane, crazy thing he had done so far he’d done because he cared about her. Whether she could deal with that controlling side of him was still debatable, but she couldn’t deny this strange urge that had her coming back. And she was willing to find out where it would lead them.

She cupped his strong jaw with the palm of her hand, appreciating the feel of his short facial hair against her skin. “I love you, Robert. It’s probably stupid and I’ll probably regret it later, but—”

He kissed her again, tilting her head to get the best angle. One of his hands was still on her ass and the other one tangled in her hair, keeping her right where he wanted her. And, to be honest, right where she wanted to be.

As the kiss continued, they both became frenzied. Desperate to touch as much of each other as possible as the clothes started to disappear.

His shirt was first. She hooked her fingers in the hem and pulled up, forcing Robert to move away and release her as he pulled it completely off. As soon as his chest was bared, she ran her fingers over his chest and stomach, letting out a soft moan of approval at the touch.
Good Lord, the man was gorgeous.

He bent down, kissing along the side of her neck and up to her ear. She tried to catch her breath as he reached to the front of her shorts, undoing the button and sliding the material of the shorts and her panties over her hips until it slid to the floor.

And then he slid down, kissing her collarbone and pulling her tank top lower to press his head against her cleavage.

Then he slid lower, raising her leg over his shoulder as he kissed her between her thighs, right where she wanted him the most. She closed her eyes and her head fell against the wall as he went down on her. His mouth moved against her as his fingers slid inside, assaulting her body on both fronts. It was so hard to...anything. She couldn’t keep quiet as the tremors raced through her body. The one leg on the ground could barely support her as all of her attention was focused on Robert and the things he was doing to her. But she didn’t need to do anything. He took care of it all as he played her body perfectly; he held her up, all while driving her crazy. And as she came, he supported her weight as her mind shut out everything in the outside world so all that remained was her and Robert.

As she tried to catch her breath and come down from the climax, Robert unhooked her thigh from his shoulder and gently set her back on the ground. As he stood, he reached into his back pocket to pull out a condom. She wanted to crack a joke about his optimism, but she couldn’t manage any words as he undid his pants, freeing his hard cock, and rolled the latex over it.