Page 49 of Full Throttle 2

“He was married.” It was a statement not a question.

She whispered, “Yes. But I didn’t know. The situation was just a means to an end.”

“Okay. It’s not up to me to judge you or your decisions, but I still don’t know why you’re telling me all this.”

“Because...I know how important that deal is with Glenmore. You haven’t said it, but I know things are getting dicey, and that’s why you’ve had to lay off a few employees.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’m dealing with Lockwood.”

Lila was losing her courage. If she didn’t tell Brian the whole story, she would lose her nerve. “Carrington owns Glenmore, and if I don’t go back to him, he is going to pull the funding.”

Brian was quiet for a long moment. He wasn’t sure he’d heard Lila correctly. “Let me get this straight? Are you telling me that Carrington is trying to blackmail you into getting back together in exchange for him signing with Lockwood?”

Lila stared at her hands resting in her lap. “Yes,” she said in a breathless whisper.

“And you’re thinking of doing it?” he asked incredulously.

“N-no! But I won’t lie. For the briefest of moments, it crossed my mind. You and Colby have so much riding on Lockwood. I don’t want to be the reason you lose everything. But then I got so angry that he would do this to me that I wanted to tell you everything and hoped that maybe we could figure something out—together.”

It took everything within Brian to remain calm. He managed it for Lila’s sake, but he was ready to erupt inside. That man hurt the woman he loved and tried to treat her like a common whore. Brian was going to destroy him. However, he would hold his powder for now. Carrington had no idea what he had unleashed.

Brian pulled Lila into his arms before kissing her gently on the lips. “Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me everything.” He pulled back slightly to look her in the eyes. “That is everything, right? No more secrets between us?”

She nodded. “Yes. That’s it. I don’t have any more secrets.”

He released a huge sigh of relief. “I don’t want you to worry about a thing. I promise we’ll get this whole thing sorted.”

“How?”

“I knew something was up with Glenmore because this deal felt off. Typically, I run a complete background check on any business I work with, but I didn’t have time to get one on Glenmore before our meeting. My investigator told me this morning about the connection between him and Hughes. Full disclosure...he even told me that you had a relationship with Carrington.”

Lila was surprised. “You knew?”

“Yeah, not the details. I found out a few minutes before you got here. I was still processing it.”

“Is that why you seemed angry?”

“Probably. I thought maybe you didn’t have enough faith in me to believe I could find sponsors for Lockwood, and you reached out to him. Throw in my jealousy and you’ve got a toxic mix. I would have asked you about it once I’d gotten control of myself.”

“I would never. There is no reason to be jealous. I don’t want him. What I want is for whatever this is between us to work. And for the record, I believe in you so much.”

Couple things Lila said didn’t sit right with Brian. “Whatever this is between us? What do you think is happening?”

I’ve fallen in love. However, Lila wouldn’t say that. She didn’t want to scare Brian off. Instead, she shrugged a little. “I don’t know. I’m taking my cues from you.”

“Hmm.” Brian lifted her hand and kissed the back of it, then gazed into her eyes. “I thought my feelings for you obvious but let me make this perfectly clear. I knew the moment I saw you in the Student Center all those years ago that it would be a wrap if you ever gave me a chance. I’ve never loved a woman the way I love you. I’ve never wanted a woman the way I want you. When you’re in a room, you are the only woman I see, need, or want. Is that clear enough?”

Her heart melted. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, because I feel the same way.”

Brian tucked a strand of flyaway hair behind her ear. “Lila, I work hard to make Lockwood successful because I want to be the kind of man you can be proud of.”

“My god, I’m already so proud of you!” Lila sandwiched his face between her shaking hands. “For the longest time, I hated myself for messing up what we had.”

Brian shook his head. “No. I won’t let you take the blame for that. I shouldn’t have been a shit and trusted what we had. But I promised myself I wouldn’t ever make that mistake again.”

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