Page 57 of The Billionaire Love Match

“Doing what?”

Colt sighed. “This show. Putting me in the middle of it all. I feel like...it’s like I’m trapped in some kind of game that you created and I don’t know how to win. Or how to stop playing. What’s the goal?”

“You know that I’m trying to get this streaming deal and how important that is. Having you on the show is what’s given it the success to make that happen.”

“So the deal happening?”

“We haven’t signed, but I feel confident that it is. We’re waiting until the end.”

“But why the need for the deal? BeaconWood couldn’t be more successful. We don’t need more money or more work to do. You have accomplished so much. Why are you still pushing so hard?”

She froze in her chair. He did not look directly at her face, but studied her fingertips, pressing so hard into the surface of her desk that her fingernails turned white. He could feel the waves of anger from across the room.

“You’ve never appreciated what I sacrificed for you.”

“Sacrificed? Mom, what did you give up for me? When Dad died, I was almost eighteen and with acting and all the things I was doing, it’s not like I was a little kid you had to raise alone. I already had an income. Was I that big of a burden?”

She folded her hands in her lap now. Colt still didn’t look at her face. He didn’t know if he would see a mask or real emotion. He wasn’t sure which would be harder for him to see.

“Colton, you are my child. When your father died, I had to become both your father and your mother. The weight of it all fell on me. And I didn’t mind because I’m your mother. I love you. And that’s what love does: it sacrifices. I carried it. I carried us. I’m still carrying us. BeaconWood is for you. I built all this for you.”

Colt felt the heaviness of this like a brick in his gut. “I didn’t ask for that. Mom, I didn’t need that.”

“You didn’t know what you need. I’m not sure you do now. But I know and I’m giving it to you. I’m giving you security. That’s what BeaconWood is. That’s why I’ve done everything that I’ve done. It’s all been for you and to make sure you won’t ever find yourself with nothing but a mountain of bills and debts and no one else to rely on. You won’t have the pressure to provide when you’re in the red. You won’t ever have to feel the way I...”

She stopped speaking and Colt looked at her, finally. Her lips were drawn in a tight line and she was blinking rapidly. He realized that she was holding back tears. He couldn’t remember seeing his mother cry. Not even at his father’s funeral.

He had never realized that she felt this way. When he was mourning his father’s loss, he simply thought she was cold for burying herself in work and in BeaconWood. He saw now that she had been afraid. Knowing this made him feel more compassion toward her. He’d been so young that it never struck him how terrifying it must have been to suddenly be alone and at the helm of a company that wasn’t doing well. Colt hadn’t realized how bad it was.

He understood suddenly how the distance between them widened. He had wanted comfort and needed love. She needed to take care of him by making sure they didn’t end up bankrupt with nothing. They had simply missed each other.

“Mom,” he said. “You didn’t need to take that on yourself.”

She did not look at him, but took a deep breath and then her face relaxed. The tears had been pushed right back to wherever she kept them. He wanted to cross the room and hug her, but there was still something between them. There was a wall

“Who else would have done it? Now, I’m going to make a call to make sure we don’t face a lawsuit if something happens with that man. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.”

And just like that, the small bit of vulnerability and raw honesty between them was gone. Colt left the office while she made calls. He wasn’t sure she even noticed he had walked away.

****

FOR ALL HER BRAVERYby the pool Casey’s hands shook as she got into the limo that waited in the driveway of the mansion. She was alone for a moment other than the driver and a cameraman. She gave herself a mental pep talk. She wouldn’t be alone with Lucas.

And she would be alone with Colt later. Just keep thinking of that. Totally worth it.

The door opened. “Hello, beautiful.”

Casey didn’t know how the word, normally a compliment, made her skin crawl. And managed to sound slightly menacing.

“Lucas.”

She pressed into the side of the car as he slid closer and tried to put an arm around her. She pushed her hand into his chest. “Don’t,” she said.

He grabbed her hand and put it to his lips, even as she yanked it back. She felt the dart of his tongue on her skin and closed her eyes, yanking her hand free.

“I have to do this,” she said, “so let’s just be clear—”

“Oh I’m clear,” he said, that slippery snake smile posed over his face. “You didn’t have to do anything. You chose to be with me.”

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