Mistaken by Fate (9 page)

“You’re understating it.”

“Maybe a little. It’s just…it’s a big deal. A really big deal. If I start thinking about that too hard, it scares me.” She looked up and met his gaze. “What if I fail?”

He cupped her face, pulling her up for a kiss. “You won’t.”

Easy for him to say. Garrett had never met a challenge he didn’t dominate, and he ran around the world putting his life in danger for the greater good without blinking an eye. Of course he wouldn’t let himself be paralyzed by the threat of everything that could go wrong—he just walked in like he owned the place and expected everyone else to fall in line. “Some days I wish I had your confidence.”

“You do.” She frowned, but he kept going. “You’re one of the most confident people I know, but this is your passion, so it feels like there’s more on the line. It’s understandable…but you
will
succeed. And I’ll be there to see it.”

She shot him a look, even as her heart tried to stop. “Fashion Week is three weeks away.” And as far as she knew Garrett hadn’t stayed in New York for more than seven days since high school.

“What’s your point?”

He knew what her point was. He was just being difficult. She searched his face, his expression giving nothing away. “Won’t you be off crawling through some godforsaken part of the world by then?”

“I might be back in time.”

Back. Meaning he was leaving before then. Even though she’d suspected as much, she couldn’t help the stab of disappointment. Ridley took a deep breath and tried to keep her tone as neutral as possible. “Back?”

He ran his hand up her spine to cup the back of her neck. “I have a flight out on Tuesday. It was already planned before I got back into New York.”

“So you’re leaving again.”

“Not for good.” He stared into her eyes like he could will her to believe him.

I’ll be back for your show.”

His words warmed her, and she allowed herself to revel in the feeling for a full five seconds before reality intruded. “You and I both know you can’t promise that.” Or anything beyond that.

“I’ll be there, Ridley, and you’ll wow everyone. It will be a smashing success.”

She sighed and lay back against his chest. “Okay.”

Despite the topic of conversation, it felt good having him here—right and perfect and safe. There was that word again.
Safe
. She had no right to that feeling, not when Garrett had driven her away time after time. She’d have to be stupid not to expect him to do the same again. Especially when he’d just declared his intention to hightail it out of town before the week was out. Again.

People didn’t really change.

But it was hard to use that as a barrier between them when he was so close and warm and saying all the right things. They still hadn’t talked about what he’d done right before he left for the Rangers, but she was hesitant to bring it up in the peace of her bathroom. She had a feeling that the moment she did, he’d retreat behind that detached mask he was so fond of—or, worse, the mocking one—and leave her hanging once again.

All the reassurances in the world weren’t enough to make him stay. She knew that rationally, even as her heart cried out that the love of a good woman had changed men in the past. Her feelings for him weren’t enough to banish the dark parts of his past, no matter how closely she held him now.

There was nothing else to do but to enjoy the time they had together and try her damnedest not to think about when it would come to an end.

Chapter Nine

Garrett walked into the diner, wishing he hadn’t agreed to meet Will for breakfast at six in the goddamn morning. He’d left a naked, sleeping Ridley for this shit. If they wrapped it up early enough, he might be able to make it back…

He shook his head. No. He might have a place in her bed for the time being, but that didn’t mean he should steamroll his way into her everyday life. To even be considering it was such a one-eighty from how he normally felt, but things with Ridley were different. Being around her made him feel so damn good, he wanted to wrap her up and never let her go.

Christ, he was in danger of skipping down the street.

He caught a glimpse of his brother in the corner booth and walked over. “Hey.”

Will lifted his coffee cup. “Morning.”

“Remind me again why I’m here at this godforsaken hour?”

“Because I have a meeting in”—he glanced at his watch—“forty-five minutes, and if I secure this contract, it will mean six months worth of work at bare minimum.”

“Right.” Will was a business consultant, which meant he took small businesses that were in danger of going tits-up and helped them revamp and stop hemorrhaging money. “So I take it you won’t be at Serve before the weekend?”

His twin sat back and studied him. “You’re fishing.”

Maybe a little. The truth was he wanted to take Ridley there sometime soon. It was selfish and more than a little irrational, but he couldn’t quite escape the fact that she’d initially tried to seduce his brother. She might have agreed to renegotiate with Garrett, but that didn’t mean much more than allowing him to blow her mind. He wasn’t about to tempt fate and throw those two together.

The waitress appeared and poured him a cup of coffee. After a quick glance at the menu, they both ordered. As she walked away, Will aimed a look his way. “What changed?”

He debated keeping it all to himself, but his twin was like a dog with a bone—like Sara—sometimes, and Garrett already knew this was one of those times. He could answer, or he could let his brother question him until he got pissed and answered anyway. “Ridley.”

“Ah.” Will sipped his coffee.

He waited, but there was nothing else forthcoming. “That’s all?”

“What took you two so long?”

Garrett stared. “What?”

“You’ve been circling each other since you met. Frankly, I’m surprised you two didn’t end up pregnant and married after graduation.”

The only reason they
hadn’t
was because he pulled a shady-ass move to drive her away from him permanently. “I never thought I’d get a second chance with her.” He wasn’t sure he’d qualify this as a second chance, not when all the things that had stood between them still hadn’t been addressed.

“Don’t botch it.”

Easier said than done. Right now things were good—they were fresh and fun and the sex was off the charts—but what about the future? There were no guarantees in this life. Garrett knew that better than most. But he wished he had some kind of assurance that this wasn’t going to end in blood and tears. Life wasn’t about sure things, though, especially when it came to relationships.

Relationship? They weren’t in a relationship. He’d bargained for sex, not for all the other things that came with dating someone. Garrett shook his head. As much as that was comforting to think, sex didn’t include baths and long talks and literally sleeping together. Those were firmly in relationship territory, even if they hadn’t used that particular word to label it.

The clock ticking down in his head until he had to hop a plane to the other side of the world wasn’t helping matters, either. He couldn’t shake the thought that if he didn’t get things completely ironed out before then, things would fall apart the second he hit thirty-thousand feet.

Their food arrived and they dug in with single-minded intensity. He broke a piece of bacon in half. “When are you going to settle down with some nice girl?”

Will raised his eyebrow. “I think you know me better than that.”

Yeah, he did. But Ridley had obviously thought there was a hint of possibility there, or she wouldn’t have tried to seduce his twin. So he couldn’t help pushing a little. “You spend enough time at Serve. One of those gorgeous subs must have perked your interest.” He thought back to the woman who’d approached him at Hell’s Belles. “What about Penelope?”

If anything, Will’s eyebrow inched higher. “Surely you’re not talking about Penelope Carson?”

“I didn’t catch her last name. Ran into her at Hell’s Belles a few nights ago.”

A muscle in his brother’s jaw ticked. “She’s the competition. She stole that account from beneath me last year.”

Garrett leaned forward, watching Will closely. “Christ, is that actual emotion on your face right now? She must be something to get that deep under your skin.”

“She’s a menace.”

Holy shit, his brother really didn’t like this woman. “I don’t know. She seemed okay to me.”

“Then why don’t you fuck her?” Will glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to go. See you.”

“See you.” He watched his twin walk out the front door and couldn’t shake the feeling that Will was running away.

…

Ridley stepped back and looked at the dress she’d been working feverishly on all day. Considering what she’d done last night, she hadn’t expected to wake up with more energy than she knew what to do with. His note on the pillow next to her had only cemented her good mood.

I’ll see you tonight
.

She smiled and focused back on the dress. It still needed some work, but the shell was done. It wouldn’t take much to put the finishing touches on it and then the only thing left to do was fit the model. She touched the neckline where it dipped and curved, almost reminding her of octopus arms. It was funky and different, and she pretty much loved it.

The bell out front rang, and she hurried to the front room and looked at the three-dozen roses taking up the entire counter space. “Holy crap.” They weren’t just any plain old red roses, either. They were yellow and pink and orange, all mixed in together like a burst of spring had erupted in her store.

“There’s a card.” The delivery guy passed it over.

Ridley stared at the masculine handwriting for a moment, her stomach fluttering, and then opened it.
I’ll pick you up at seven. Wear something fancy.

Was this actually a real date with Garrett Reaver? It was the kind of thing she’d fantasized about since she was a freshman in high school, and now it was finally happening. Thoughts of high school—and how
that
ended—were almost enough to dim her good mood, but she forcibly put them away. The past would still be there tomorrow, ready to bite her in the ass.

Tonight she was going on a
fancy
date.

She had an eclectic mix of clothing, some that she’d bought and some that she’d made herself, and plenty of it could be called fancy. But she wanted to really wow him to the point where it’d be impossible for him to keep his hands to himself—to show him what he’d been missing all these years—and that meant pulling out all the stops and calling in the big guns.

She grabbed her purse and locked up, already dialing Sara. “Do you remember that dress that had my name all over it?”

“The sequined number that made your boobs look like Jessica Rabbit’s and had a slit up to here?”

“That’s the one. I changed my mind about buying it.”

That
perked her friend right up. “I’ll meet you at the boutique. Might I ask what the occasion is?”

Bracing herself for the
I told you so
she said, “A date with Garrett tonight.”

“A real date? Like where you go out in public and don’t have sex until the end?”

She laughed. “I make no promises.”

“Gross. Really. Just gross.” But she didn’t sound like she meant it. “In that case you’re going to need a professional hair and make-up job.”

“And shoes.”

“Honey, you’ve read my mind. I’ll be there in twenty.”

“Perfect.” She was pulling out all the stops tonight. He had something planned—of that she was sure—but it wouldn’t hurt to throw a little temptation his way. The only alternative was to…spend hours talking. What were the chances of them being able to do that without the past coming up? She didn’t like those odds no matter which way she looked at it.

She
knew
without a shadow of a doubt that they matched up in bed. There was nothing wrong with wanting them to keep things from imploding by keeping the seduction going. Wearing that dress? That was a giant leap in the right direction.

He wasn’t going to know what hit him.

…

Garrett opened the limo door just as Ridley stepped out of her building. He froze, his hand still on the door. She looked…there were no words to describe how she looked. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Fucking priceless. She wore a dress that hugged her upper body, splitting between her breasts to showcase them to perfection before slithering over her hips and to the ground. It glittered as she moved, and he groaned when he caught sight of the slit that went nearly to her hip.

She shivered in the biting wind, and
that
got him moving. He hauled himself to his feet and crossed the sidewalk to her. “Why aren’t you wearing a coat?”

She passed him and slid into the limo. “I didn’t have time to find one that matched.”

He shook his head and shrugged out of his jacket. He shut the door and draped it over her shoulders, letting his hands linger there. With her hair pinned up, her neck and shoulders were bare and practically begging for his touch. Another glance down her body had his mouth watering. “You picked this dress to try my control.”

A small smile touched her cherry-red lips. “Maybe.”

“Bad girl.” He ran his finger along the line of her dress, over the curve of one breast and down to the valley between them. “I have just the thing to teach you a lesson.”

Her smile widened as he went to his knees in front of her and pushed up her dress. With the nude-colored spirals between the sequins, he could tell she wasn’t wearing a bra, but she did have on sheer panties to match the dress. Perfect. He palmed her, finding her already wet. “You want me to fuck you in this limo.”

“Yes, Sir.” Her hips were already rolling to meet his touch, her eyes sliding shut. Christ, she was a responsive little thing. It was almost enough to make him give in, but she was trying to top from the bottom and manipulate him into doing what she wanted. That he couldn’t allow.

“It’s a shame you won’t get your wish.”

“What?” Her eyes flew open as he sat back on his heels.

Garrett reached into the bag he’d brought and pulled out the toy he’d purchased today. He’d already been planning on using it on her, but having her trying to tempt him gave the opportunity to use it earlier in the evening. Her brows slanted as he pulled her panties down just enough to slide it inside to cup her pussy and adjusted it so the little ridge lay right over the top of her clit. He carefully pulled her dress back down and arranged it. He palmed his phone. “You will wear this while we’re at dinner and afterward. If you resist coming for the duration, I’ll reward you.”

“That won’t be a—
oh
.” She moved, trying to adjust to the vibration sequence he’d turned on. “What happens if I come?”

He waited until she looked at him. “Then I drop you off at your building and you go up alone.”

She shook her head. “That’s mean.”

“A reward is only a reward if you earn it.” He retook his spot next to her and stretched his arms over the back of the seat. “How was your day?”

Ridley froze in the middle of shifting her hips. “Fine.”

He’d been thinking about her all day while he arranged their evening tonight and checked in with Z to make sure the world hadn’t ended in the few days since he’d been gone. Unsurprisingly, Z had told him to fuck off and that if he called again before his vacation was up, he wouldn’t be involved in the next mission. The man believed in balance above all else for his men, even if he didn’t follow that rule himself. But someone had to hold down the fort while they were in the middle of downtime.

She sighed, which sounded suspiciously like a whimper. He thumbed the phone on and switched the vibration pattern to one that was more low-key. He wanted her desperate to deny herself and half out of her mind with pleasure, but he also wanted her to be able to hold down an actual conversation. “Tell me about it.”

“I finished a dress, mostly. It’s something risky—almost fantasy alternative—but I think it will tie the whole collection together. Or at least I hope it will.”

“I can’t wait to see it.” He hated the doubt that flickered across her face at the reminder that he’d promised to be back for her show—even if he deserved it. Garrett knew better than most that promising a mission would go off without a hitch was a fool’s assurance. The old saying that a plan never survived an encounter with the enemy was true in the worst possible way.

But he wanted to be here for her now, like he hadn’t been here for her the last eight years. That desire was all wrapped up in his fear of how out-of-control things felt between them, but he couldn’t stop now if he wanted to.

She turned to look out the window, effectively closing the subject. “Where are you taking me for dinner?”

A part of him didn’t want to let it go until she believed that he’d be back in time, but he wanted tonight to be perfect—which meant letting go of their fears for the future for the duration.