Total pages in book: 211
Estimated words: 201554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1008(@200wpm)___ 806(@250wpm)___ 672(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 201554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1008(@200wpm)___ 806(@250wpm)___ 672(@300wpm)
“Do it the Bennett way, not the Kingston way, and judge me for me.”
The waitress chooses that moment to reappear and say, “Are you two ready to order?”
I curse the interruption and Eric grits his teeth as if echoing my sentiment. “Do you know what you want?”
“Yes. Spaghetti and meatballs.”
He glances at the waitress. “The same for me.”
The waitress asks a few questions and then she’s gone. For several beats, he faces forward and then shifts back to me, his stare warm enough to sizzle. “I want to know your story. I want to know you.”
I’m pleased with this admission and yet, I remain, I believe, rightfully skeptical. “I know you told me why the change, I do, but it’s hard to digest that right now. You’ve tried so very hard to hate me.”
“Fair enough,” he says. “Let’s be frank.”
“Please,” I encourage. “Please do.”
“You were the only one in this family that had a chance to get me here, and you knew that.”
“Because I’m not them. Not because we slept together, and I hate so much you might think that and it makes me feel like the last place I should be is right here, right now.”
“But you want to be here. Don’t you, Harper?”
“Would you believe me if I said yes? You have a file on me, but files don’t tell you the real story. Not about people.”
“Then you tell me.”
“Are you going to really listen?”
“I assure you, sweetheart, no one has ever had my full attention more than you do now, for about ten different reasons. You tell me your story.” “And you’ll tell me yours?”
“I already started telling you my story. You know far more about me and my life choices than I do yours.”
A story of lies, secrets, and pain that I push aside. I hunger for a deeper look into this man, but I push that burn aside. He doesn’t want to talk about him. He wants to talk about me and my willingness to open up helps erase the divide between us. Or I hope it will. “I was close to my father and his heart attack pretty much destroyed me, but my mother was such a mess that I somehow found a way to step up and be strong. I was close to my mother, too, until we joined this family.”
“Why until?”
“I don’t know. She was a young mother, seventeen when she had me, and instead of dividing us, it brought us closer together. But since she married your father, there’s been a slow divide.”
“But you don’t know why?” he presses.
I hesitate. “I don’t want to say this and have you judge her harshly. I’m terrified you’ll act against her.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Harper. And the best way to keep me from acting against her is honesty.”
“I’m trying. It’s just hard not to be protective.”
“And I respect that in you. Family is supposed to protect family.”
“But yours never protected you.”
“I don’t need protection. Tell me about your mother. Why the divide?”
“I think it’s because I push back and fight for what I think is right in the company, more so this past year when I felt that there were things that didn’t add up. I felt it even before the recalls. That pushback has not been well received. My mother just wants me to appease your father and brother.”
He leans in closer. “What don’t I know?” he asks, those blue eyes glinting with intelligence. “You said you needed time and privacy, but that there were things you hadn’t told me.”
“You already know I’m aligned with Gigi. That was the thing I dreaded telling you the most, but I did tell you. I knew I needed to tell you.”
“Aligned?” he asks, his mood darkening with whiplash speed. “You didn’t use that word and I do not like it. How fucking aligned?”
“Not against you. I swear to you, not against you. And between you and I, I don’t believe Gigi is fully repenting for her sins. I believe she’s worried about losing the company. She doesn’t want her legacy to go down in flames.”
“You do know that I hate that woman enough to want to burn it to the ground, right?”
“You said you came for me, not her.”
“I did come for you, Harper.”
“Then please, I beg of you, don’t burn it to the ground. My father’s world was half that company.”
“Your father is gone. His legacy is you. You don’t need that place.”
“So that’s it then. You’re going to ruin Kingston,” It’s not a question and I try to turn away. He catches my arm, turning me back around.
“Nothing about those people affected my life. I don’t need to do that. I don’t need them at all.”
My fingers catch his lapel. “But you thought you did. You told me that in the past.”
He draws in a breath and turns away from me, facing forward, his fingers laced in front of him on the table, seconds ticking by, while I hold my breath, not sure what comes next. Are we leaving? Is he leaving? Finally, he rotates back to me, more thoughtful than angry at this point. “I had a need for family after I lost my mother and the Navy filled that void. I came here to Denver the night I met you because I’d lost that connection. I thought I needed family but these people were never family.”