Page 21 of Wolfish Desire
I look up at him sharply, but his eyes are warm. “Honey, it’sokay. I’m not angry. Well, I might have been downright shocked for a second there when I saw a huge guy in the house with my daughter. But then I saw the way he looks at you.”
He shakes his head. “If you want the truth, I doubt I ever looked at your mother like that. He looks at you like you’re a goddess. A glittering star that only shines for him.” He shrugs. “I don’t know…all that crap you see in the movies and don’t think could ever possibly happen… Well, maybe it does for some people.”
“You’re saying you didn’t love Mom?”
“Of course I did, at first. Before she went off the deep end.” He sighs, his gaze drifting toward the window. “She wanted money and status, so in a way we were more like coworkers getting a project completed.”
He reaches out to pat my hand. “Three very lovely projects, I should say.”
To my amazement, Dad bursts out laughing. “Go figure. Your sisters are hell-bent on finding themselves super-rich men, meanwhile here you are out in the middle of nowhere and you fall in love with one of the owners of a billion-dollar tech company.”
“Oh geez… Please don’t tell Chloe and Brigette.”
His hands fly up. “Hell, no. They’d be out here in a heartbeat trying to meet his brothers.”
“So, you’re okay with me staying here longer? And that I’m dating Kingston? I mean, he’s a bit older…”
“It’s the same age gap between me and your mother, if you think about it. I can tell from the way he looks at you he’s not after a trophy wife like I was, though. He is seriously into you, honey.”
Dad takes another sip of coffee, then stands up. “All right. Tell me you have milk and eggs here, because it’s omelet time. I want to hear all about this town you’re apparently moving to.”
13
KINGSTON
Ihated leaving Sierra like that. My poor sweet baby was so embarrassed that her cheeks were crimson.
My gut instinct was to sit down with her and her father and support her any way she needed. But if she wanted to take care of it on her own, so be it. I thought it was brave of her to face him alone, actually.
I don’t truly think James would freak out, but I don’t know him that well. I can understand a father being protective, though. Especially when he walked into a scene like that, with both of us half-dressed.Ugh. It was pretty embarrassing.
How could he just show up without calling first? I mean, he’s probably paying for the rental, but it’s still kinda rude to drop in with zero notice.
Back at my house I find myself ignoring the emails piling up in favor of pacing the living room. I want to text Sierra immediately, but at the same time feel I should give her a bit of space.
Finally, I sit down and motor through some emails. One of the threads I catch up on is a group chat between my brothers and I about how we’re being a lot less secretive with our latestplan to support Old Hemlock Valley. The elementary school desperately needs to be expanded, but instead of making our usual anonymous donations, we’re going to let it be known that Wolfe Security is footing the bill.
We’ve already hired a crew and have started getting approvals. Now Kane is broaching the question of looking for more projects like this, to keep the ball rolling as soon as the school update has been completed.
On a whim, I grab my phone. The second Kane answers, he starts chuckling. “Finally. Are you gonna tell us about this mystery girl?”
“Ahem. The girl I’m dating is not a ‘mystery’. You’ll hear all about her soon. I just want to keep her all to myself a while longer before involving my entire family. Anyway, I’m calling about that email.”
“About more projects?” His voice grows animated. “Yeah. Sincesome of ushaven’t suddenly found incredible girlfriends like you and Kaden…” He pauses while I laugh at him. “I thought I would volunteer to sniff around looking for more opportunities.”
“Good idea. As the second in command, I hereby put you in charge of that.”
There’s a loud snort. “I swear, if you and Kaden don’t stop squawking about that birth order seniority crap, the other three of us are going to knock you out someday.”
“Yes, but in order for that to happen, you would have to have authorized approval from the two senior heads of the company.”
I ignore his vicious “snarl”.
“Anyway,” I barrel on, “I think it’s a great idea. Especially since we’re about to close that deal with the three Italian companies.”
Kane laughs. “Yeah. More money to get rid of.”
“Seriously,” I laugh. “What a problem to have.”
