Capture Me: Alpha Billionaire Romance (Hollywood Dreams) (33 page)

“Of course, Grams.” Dani stuck out one side of her face, then the other. Two plum smears stained my sister’s cheeks, and probably mine as well.

“Tessa, Dani.” Pops repeated the gesture in his stiff manner. He always walked around as if his neck was secured in some sort of brace, even though I’d never heard of him injuring it.

“Thank you so much for coming.” Dani wrapped her arm underneath their elbows and led them through the entryway.

Pops bent over at the waist and kissed her hand. “I’ll have the driver load your things.” He waved a hand at the main door and, as if waiting for the cue, a man in his early thirties stepped inside. “Show him the way.” Dani smiled and disappeared up the stairs with the driver.

“Well,” Grams began pulling plastic off everything in sight, “I suppose this is one way to keep the dust off the furniture, but really, dear, you need to let these pieces breathe.”

“Grams, please.” I placed my hand over hers before the tornado that was Grams went through the house and undid my morning’s work. “We’re selling the items that are covered.”

“But that appears to be everything. I suppose it must be done.” She pressed her lips together. “I say, it’s really too bad this house has to leave the family. This is the best neighborhood in Greenwich.”

“Not like you ever visited,” I said under my breath as I draped the plastic sheet back over the reading chair. Taking a deep breath, I turned to them. “We missed you at the funeral.”

“Yes, well, a yacht won’t turn around on sheer will alone.” She sighed, watching me readjust what she messed up like it wore her out. “We visited the plots today,” she said, then turned to Pops as if they were continuing some conversation they had started sometime before. “The plot placement could have been better. I mean, there was room to squeeze them in beside the pond.”

Pops chimed in. “Your mother would have loved that. She always liked the water.”

I smiled, but it probably looked more like I’d bared my teeth at them given that they both took a step back. “We did our best with what we had. It would have been nice to have help with the planning and decision-making. I mean, I’ve only had to reorganize our whole lives in the last couple of weeks.”

Grams brushed out her dress. “Dear, we had booked those tickets nearly a year ago and we had already set sail.”

I tried to work my mouth into something more pleasant than a snarl. “Glad to have you here now.”

“We were glad to hear from Dani.” Pops directed the driver back through the entryway as though he didn’t know where the front door was. The man carried an impressive stack of luggage across the tiles.

We went outside and made unpleasant small talk for another ten minutes or so while the driver did all the lifting. I hoped they paid him extra for the trouble, though I’d be surprised if they would. I pulled Dani to the side while the driver worked to Tetris all the bags into the trunk.

“You’ll probably have to come back for some things,” I said to her.

“I think Pops is going to make sure it all gets in there, even if half ends up on my lap.”

“You’ll manage. It’s only a couple hour drive to their place upstate.” I elbowed her. “A heads up of more than ten minutes that you’re moving might have been nice.”

Dani grimaced and scuffed her shoe against the driveway. “Sorry about that. I didn’t reach them until this morning. You were busy with the furniture and all.” She shrugged. “I needed to pack and didn’t want to take up the time in some pointless argument when we had things to do.”

“Are you—”

“Careful with that,” Dani called out to the driver. “It’s my favorite lamp.”

She stepped up to the car, and just before the driver pushed it into the trunk, she took it from him. “I’ll hold it on my lap.”

I walked over and chuckled.

“What? This way I won’t have a bunch of luggage weighing me down.”

I draped an arm around her shoulders and gave a squeeze. “Be good to yourself, okay?”

“They have a fully stocked kitchen, so yeah, I’ll be good.”

“Fully stocked between now and until you get there.”

She hip-checked me. “So, what about you?

“I’ll reach out to firms early next week.” With Dani staying at our grandparents’, I’d have enough liquid assets to hold me over until they were ready to hire me on payroll. I breathed out a breath that felt like I’d been holding for weeks.

Things were shaping up.

“And Mr. Photographer?”

“Liam.” I sucked that breath right back in. “I really don’t know what’s going on there.”

Dani gave me a hug goodbye. “I’ll call you when I’m settled. As for your man, that’s his Rover, isn’t it?”

I scanned the main road and recognized the large SUV about a mile away.

Sure enough, Liam was here. I hoped I was as ready as I thought I was.

CHAPTER 55

Liam

Up ahead, a town car pulled out of Tessa’s circle driveway and onto the main road. A twinge of unease twisted through me and I wondered just who could be visiting her. As our paths were about to cross, I slowed down to see who it might be, but given it was a standard chauffeured vehicle, all the windows were tinted.

Any other time it wouldn’t bother me, but with so much going on in her life, I hated to see anything new sprung on Tessa.

Probably an old boyfriend or the officer she’d talked with at the station. Sure he was some desk jockey, but that didn’t mean his family wouldn’t have money.

I hovered over the gas pedal and considered continuing down the road without letting her know I’d been there. It was the easiest way for her—to just leave. To take her silence as the loud message she intended.

But she needed to know the truth.

As I was about to drive past the car, the rear passenger window rolled down. I slowed as I saw Dani waving to me.

“Hi Liam.” She seemed happier than I’d ever seen her.

“Heading somewhere?”

“Upstate.” A pointed throat clearing came from somewhere in the car and Dani giggled. “Gotta run. Go get her.” The window rolled up, and just like that I had one sister on my side.

Too bad it wasn’t the one I wanted to be with.

My knuckles turned white as I drove up the circle driveway and saw Tessa sitting on the front steps. She looked the most natural and least made up since I’d met her and I wondered if she’d been working on the house. Part of me wished she’d called so I could have helped, not that I’d have been able to since I’d been finding out the truth.

I’d wanted to talk with her for days. Now I had my shot and I couldn’t seem to pry my ass out of the car.

I took a deep breath, then met her eyes. In an instant, I could see her going through the same war of whether or not to come up to me.

I blew out a breath and reminded myself that all this had been my fault. She didn’t give me a chance to explain because I hadn’t come to her with the truth when I should have.

I’d change all that right now.

I stepped out and shut the door behind me. It felt hot under my fingers and I jammed my hand into my back pocket.

“Liam, I—”

I held up my other hand. “Please. Me first.”

She leaned back and rested an elbow on the step behind her. The cotton of her tank stretched across her breasts and had me heating up.

I forced myself to concentrate. “Paisley lied.”

A smile quirked at the edge of her mouth.

“There is no baby and those photos were taken by her. She tried to use them against me when she lied that she was pregnant.”

Tessa shifted her weight and added her other elbow to the step behind her. Her nipples beaded at the pressure and shone through the thin material.

I prayed that she couldn’t see me getting hard right now. “The ICE paperwork is real. I’m getting deported on Saturday.”

She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, which pushed her chest out even further. I stuck my other hand into my back pocket to keep from reaching out, pulling the neckline down under her breasts, and suckling one, then the other, right here on the front step.

But that wasn’t what was important just now.

I reached out and took her hand. “Things haven’t been easy for you and I’d give anything to be here for you every day—”

“Wait—” She shook her head and tried to pull away.

“I’m not proposing.” When the tension left her face, I continued. “I’m not with you just to marry you so I can stay in the US. I’m here because I care about you with ever fiber of my being and want to figure out some way to make this work. Even if it means flying you halfway around the world.”

She shook her head again. “But it had to be in the back of your mind. Even if you weren’t consciously thinking about it the whole time, it probably pushed you to ask me out.”

“I found out about getting deported after I met you. There is absolutely no question that I’d be attracted to you and want to be with you. Regardless of the circumstances.”

“There’s something I have to ask.”

“Please, yes.”

“What’s going on with your pants?”

I shifted my feet and rubbed the back of my head. “I can’t help it. You get me so turned on. The way you’re sitting, I—”

Tessa started to chuckle that quickly turned into a full-on belly laugh. “Not that. You’ve got blue all over your pants.”

I looked down and could nearly make out two blue butt cheeks from Paisley wiggling her goods on me. It seemed that her ability to mess with my relationship with Tessa was unending.

We were stronger than Paisley.

I could take this conversation in different directions that would keep Tessa from knowing anything, but it seemed that the truth came out regardless. May as well keep things less complicated.

“I confronted Paisley about everything today and she was wearing paint.”

Tessa frowned and studied my crotch. Of all the ways I pictured this conversation going, this hadn’t been one of them. Finally she said, “Face or body paint?”

“Body.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Well, at least it’s on the outside of your pants. If your dick was blue, this would be a whole different kind of conversation.”

“Definitely no worries there.” I shifted myself. “Although, with you wearing that shirt and no bra, my balls might be soon.”

CHAPTER 56

Tessa

I sat forward on the front step and pulled my knees against me. I could see Liam’s disappointment, but he didn’t need to be distracted by my chest.

He still made me smile, but I didn’t know what to think about all this. I hadn’t answered his calls because I wasn’t ready to talk all this through yet.

Sadie had.

Hearing that Paisley had rubbed herself against Liam’s crotch gave me chills. That she was even that close to him after everything made my stomach knot. By his grimace when he saw his pants, it was clear he wasn’t happy with her doing that, either.

It could have been because I’d noticed or that he’d probably have to toss the pants, but the fact that he told me the hard truth right away said a lot. I’d begun to worry that I couldn’t trust him.

Ironic that an ex rubbing herself against him would help me trust him more.

“Tessa?” Liam sat beside me. “Sorry, bad timing with the blue joke.”

I chuckled. “You make me smile. That’s a good thing.”

“But . . .”

I sighed. “That’s a lot to take in. We just started dating and—”

“We’re crazy about each other.”

“Well, yes, but also crazy to think that you leaving doesn’t change everything. I need time to process things.”

“I leave in three days.”

“I know. Unless we get married, we’re going to be apart.” I held my hand up when his eyes widened. “Or we agree that I come and visit you when I can. Whatever we end up doing, it’s a much bigger commitment than us being here in the same city for a time, getting to know each other, taking things at our own speed.”

Liam rubbed his hands together, then ran them through his hair. “You’re right, and it’s a bad place to put you. Sorry I didn’t give you more time to think it over.”

He draped an arm around me like it was the most natural thing in the world, and in truth, it was.

“I thought for sure I’d be able to pull something off. I don’t use my connections often—except to help others out now and then—but I was nearly positive something would pan out. It wasn’t until a couple days ago that it finally became clear that there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Then the mess with Paisley—”

“Let’s stop talking about her. She’s out of the picture, right?”

Liam straightened his legs out and managed to smear the paint worse. “As soon as I burn these pants.”

My brain kept bouncing back and forth as to what to do. “I need the day. Give me twenty-four hours to think this through. So much has happened and I need to figure out how I really feel about things.”

Liam nodded, but the look on his face reminded me of someone who was in intense pain but was doing everything they could to hold back that they’d been hurt. “Whatever you need.”