Conklin's Foundation (Conklin's Trilogy) (44 page)

“I was too;
you have no idea.  Ask Nathan or even RJ.  They were both with me, Becs,” he said, his words softer.  “Like I said in Miami, don’t let her come between us.  Don’t see red whenever you hear her name.  I’m with you, and that’s all that matters.  What have I done to break your trust when it comes to other women?” he simply asked.

I looked at the ground, not sure if I were happy or annoyed with the answer to his question.  “You haven’
t,” I reluctantly mumbled.

“Then stop
,” he begged.  “I’m going to take a shower since I smell awful,” he said, mimicking my words from minutes ago.

I nodded my head and sat back down on
the bed.  “Please take the man-hating expression off your face by the time I get back,” he added while taking off his dress shirt and walking into the bathroom.

It would
be a lot easier to take the man-hating expression off my face if I didn’t feel like I was being lied to and kept in the dark.  I couldn’t even collect my thoughts by the time Tyler came out of the shower. 

He was wearing those damn black Under Armour boxer briefs and his addictive Conklin grin.  He slowly stalked his way to
the bed, crawling on top of me with his playful smirk.

“I still see a bit of man hate on your face,” he said, lacing his hands with mine and bring
ing them to the sides of my head, pinning me with all of his muscles.

“Maybe you should have taken a longer shower,” I whispered, feigning any control over how my body was reacting to his.  His freshly washed body was so damn intoxicating.  Even the minty scent of his seductive breath was making me want to move my pelvis into his.

Tyler let out a soft chuckle and ran his nose along mine.  “I want all of you this weekend, Becca.  No holding back, no putting up walls or fronts, just you and me getting lost in each other.  I’ve needed our connection so badly these past few weeks.  I’ve felt like a wedge has been between us, and I want to yank it out.”

“As soon as the other thorn in your side is gone
, I think it will make putting my walls down a lot easier,” I said intently looking into his eyes.  I let out a moment of weakness in my look.  I had been doing so good at being stronger lately too.

Tyler let go of one of my hands so he could cradle my face.  I had to close my eyes, his look was just too much for me at the moment when I was about to break.

“I sure hope you are right because I can’t take your heart being guarded from me, baby doll.”

I slowly opened my eyes to meet his.  They were soft and full of love.

“Don’t give up on me,” I whispered, my voice cracking as my eyes started to water.  “I’m trying to push her out of my head.”

“Never,” he said soothingly.  “
Just trust me,” he begged.

I leaned up to kiss him, forcing myself to believe in him.
  Our kiss was sweet and tender and all thoughts of Margo and his late business meeting at the bar vanished.

But then his God damn phone beeped.  I shifted my head away as he sighed.  He tried to kiss me again, but I shied away from him.  Seeing I wasn’t going to budge until he looked at his phone, he reluctantly stood up to go take it from the top of the dresser.

“You’re not going to spend the day with me tomorrow, are you,” I said as a statement and not a question.

Without turning to look at me he said, “
Her father’s flight was moved to tomorrow.  She needs help at the airport.  She said she tried to call everyone else she knows, but they can’t help her out.”

“Tyler!” I whined.  “So you have to go to Chicago tomorrow?”

I saw him tip his head back as though he were saying a silent prayer.

“Tyler
,” I said sternly.

He finally turned to look at me, abdomen flexing as he took in a heavy breath.  “He is being examined in Grand Rapids this coming week, then going to Chicago.”

I snorted and fluffed the covers trying to bury myself in them.  The thorn in Tyler’s side was digging deeper versus becoming shallower, and I was getting antsy when it came to meeting this Margo for real.  Now she was in my city, knocking on my door, and I wasn’t going to be so nice this time around.

Chapter 27

Tyler attempted to butter me up the rest of the night, but it was no use.  I was pissed to hell and was on the verge of freaking the fuck out.  His hands weren’t welcome on my skin, but he managed to sneak
one on my put-off body throughout the night.  I knew this was hard for him too, but he was putting up with Margo’s demands.  She was manipulating him again, and I was so sick of her shit.

I pretended to sleep when Tyler awoke.  He was going to head into his office for the morning then help Margo and her father
in the early afternoon.  He had to work on some of the fine tuning for the hospital and was going to meet with a board member before helping Margo.

I couldn’t go back to sleep once he left, so I thought I mi
ght as well show up at work and see what I had been missing.  I was due back Monday anyway; why not get a jump start?  Making prints would help take my mind off of this crazy mess.

Will was all smiles when I walked through the door.  I dressed exceptionally well today, wearing the same cream dress I wore to that awful dinner with Connor and Ashlynn.  It felt smoother on my body now, and I wore it with confidence, even though I thought I might
trip and fall with my sky high heels.  My hair was straight as I refused to curl it for my crazy nanny-hating reasons.

“Becca!  How was Miami?  RJ said you and Corey
did a fantastic job!  Edna was super impressed and wants to stay with us for her next move!” Will was overly enthusiastic.

I smiled at his sparkling green eyes and goofy expression.  Will was a great boss, and I missed having him around.

“It was great, but I’m happy to be home.  I thought I would come in and check out what we had going on.  I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not!  Come with me and we will play catch up!” Will said, pointing towards his office.

Will went over tons of different projects. Apparently we had almost doubled our clientele from the previous year.  It was very exciting to see, and I was anxious to get started.

The receptionist knocked on Will’s glass window, distracting us from intently looking at a plan for
a marketing firm.

“Hey, Becca.  There is a gentleman here to see you, says his name is Connor Prince?”

I looked up in confusion.  Why was Connor here?   I know I had been ignoring his calls, but he never left any messages.  I shook my head, trying to regain my thoughts.

“I will be out there in a minute, thanks.”

Will and I quickly found a stopping point, and I cautiously made my way to the front of the office.

He was still a sight for sore eyes standing tall in his pinstripe Polo suit, his blond hair meticulously styled, blue eyes piercing.  I let off a small smile as I approached him.

“Becca, so nice to see you,” he said kindly.

“Nice to see you too,” I said politely back.

We stood in silence for a moment as Connor’s eyes found the receptionist.

“Did you want to discuss something privately?” I asked, tilting my head towards the door.

“Actually, I was hoping we could do lunch?  I know it’s a little early, and I would understand if you already had plans,” he said rubbing the back of his neck.  He looked nervous.

I thought in my head, s
hould I go to lunch with my ex?  Tyler was sure spending a lot of time with his lately.  Screw it, he could get over it.  I put up with one too many occurrences with Margo, he sure could put up with me going for a friendly lunch.

“Al
l right.  I have time.”

~

We drove to The Chop House on Monroe Avenue and g
ot a table for two.  It felt weird sitting in a car next to Connor, and the entire time was filled with awkward small talk.  Connor didn’t start really talking until we were seated at a table in the restaurant.

“Becs I’ve tried to call you a few times,” he said clearing his throat.

I raised an eyebrow at him.  It was way more than a few times.

Catching on to my subliminal message, he corrected himself.  “Okay, so it’s been kind of a lot.”

“Why didn’t you leave a message?” I asked.

He stared at his folded hands then looked up at me, his bright blue eyes filled with anguish.

“Becca I’m sorry.  I’m sorry for everything.  I was a complete asshole, and I can’t believe I let Ashlynn ruin what we had,” he started to bounce his leg, a nervous habit he always had.  It was rather annoying actually.

“Connor…that was a really long time ago.  I know I brought it up at my father’s Christmas party, but really, I’m over it,” I said sincerely.
  I didn’t feel the need to apologize to Connor.  Between him and Ashlynn, they were the only ones I didn’t feel awful for spiting my fire in their direction.

“I didn’t know Ashlynn planned for you to see us.  I never wanted that.  I honestly didn’t know what I wanted at the time,” he said, confusion written all over his face.

“Ashlynn is manipulative, which I’m sure you have figured out.  Or at least I hope you have figured out by now,” I snorted.

“Yeah, we aren’t together anymore.  Turns out Tyler wasn’t her first conquest when we were together,” he said quietly, pain in his eyes. 

He shook his head and focused again.  “I hurt you so badly.  I would do anything to take it all back.”

“Thank you, for saying that, but Connor, I really am fine,” I said with a smile.

He didn’t say anything for a few moments but just looked me over with a small smile.

“You have really grown up, Becca.”

I let out an awkward laughed.  “Thanks?”

He laughed with me.  “I mean it.  Looking at you now, you are so full of confidence.  You truly are beaming.  You have always been gorgeous, but you have really blossomed.”

I furrowed my eyebrows at him.  I was always gorgeous?

“I mean it, Becca.  I don’t want you to think you needed to lose weight.  You always were beautiful.  I’m sorry if I made you feel different
ly while we were dating.  I should have told you more.  I think that’s what went wrong with us.  You hardly had any confidence in yourself back then, but now you are just radiating from it,” he said bemused.

I scrunched my eyebrows in again, not sure if I should punch him in the face or thank him.

“I didn’t have a whole lot of confidence back then, and honestly I still don’t.  But I think I just know what I want now and what I need,” I said, really believing my own words.

“You do, and it looks good on you.  How are things at the Conklin building?”

Thankful for the change of subject and our food arriving, I started to discuss with Connor where I had been the past five weeks and what I was up to.  It was nice having a normal conversation with him.

“So,
are you and Tyler…” he hinted, picking at his salad.

I smiled down into my plate, blushing for the first time all lunch.  “Yes.  We are.”  I left out his ex constantly being around though.

Connor gave me another sincere smile, but then looked down at his plate again.  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but how much do you know about him?”

“Why do you ask?” I said, feeling defensive.

“I’ve just seen him having lunch and dinner meetings with a certain figure that has a bad rep in the city.”  He set his fork down and looked me right in the eyes.  “I don’t know what they were talking about, but if Conklin is doing business with this guy, it’s probably bad news.”

“Business with who?” I questioned.

Connor sighed and leaned back in his seat.  “His name is Lee Chino.  I ran across dozens of cases during my internship that all pointed to him and his following.”

So Chino was up to no good, and Tyler had been meeting with him.  I wondered now how many times
he was meeting with Chino versus Margo, and if he were more afraid of me finding out he had really been meeting with him more than her.

“He is a friend of my father from when they were younger.  What is he into?” I asked, now curious to finally get some answers about this guy.

Connor looked around nervously.  “Mainly narcotics, but Becs, he is smooth.  There is a reason why he isn’t sitting in a jail cell yet.  Tyler needs to be careful around him.”

“Tyler wouldn’t mix
up in that kind of business,” I said earnestly.  “If anything, Tyler is probably trying to push him away gently.”

C
onnor’s mouth twisted.  “I don’t think you can push him away gently. This guy seems to go out with a bang.  Just be careful, okay?”

I nodded my head
and changed the subject.  I had heard enough about Chino for now, and I was going to have to dig deeper with Tyler.  Maybe I would wait until Margo wasn’t hovering over our heads.

~

Connor walked me into my building, which happened to be only a few blocks from his new office.  I was glad to hear he could find a job outside of Ashlynn’s father
’s company. Connor was good at what he did but unfortunately in this city it was all about who you knew.