Текст книги "The Taming of the Billionaire"

Автор книги: Jessica Clare

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

When they pulled up in front of the townhouse, Edie gave him a curious look. “What’s here?”

“I’ll show you,” he said, feeling a burst of excitement. He wanted to do this for Edie, wanted to see the awe on her face when she saw the apartment he’d gotten just for her. He’d deliberately held back on buying a place that was a little more ridiculous (and more his wavelength) out of respect for her feelings. In the future, when they officially moved in together, it’d be something entirely different, he told himself. Maybe that wouldn’t be so far off. Then they could just install Bianca in the Park Slope house . . . and he’d make sure they got an upscale place all the way across the city. Then Bianca could be Levi’s problem.

Edie’s brow crinkled as they walked up the four steps and Magnus produced a key for the door. He pushed it open, and then gestured. “After you.”

She tilted her head at him, curious, then walked inside. He flipped on a light switch as she did, and waited for her reaction.

The apartment was cleaned from floor to ceiling, and the walls had been recently painted. The windows leading out to the tiny back patio were open, letting sunlight stream in. One wall was an empty bookshelf, and a small nook in the back led to the kitchen and the bedroom. Edie stepped farther inside, studied the place, and looked at him.

“Are you moving?”

“Not exactly,” Magnus said, grinning. “I bought this place for you.”

Her eyes went wide. “You . . . what?”

“I want you to be closer to me. I know you can’t move in with me because the place is all wrong for you and your knee. And with Levi there, things would just be really awkward for all three of us. And I know you can’t leave your cats, but you want someplace away from Bianca. I thought this would be the perfect solution.” He gestured. “It’s one floor, central to all public transportation, has lots of cat-friendly spaces, and room for your boyfriend, who has entirely too much money to spend and doesn’t want to have to go back and forth four hours when he wants to hold you.”

A smile slowly spread across her face. She took a few steps into the apartment and ran her fingers along one of the shelves. “It’s a really great apartment,” she agreed, a wistful note in her voice. “You’ve thought of everything. I can’t even be upset about the money, because I know it’s not much to you.”

“It’s not,” he agreed, glad they weren’t going to argue about it.

“But I can’t take it.”

He frowned. “Why not?”

She gazed out one of the windows, and he heard her give a heavy sigh. “This place is so perfect.” She looked back at him, a rueful smile on her face. “You’re so perfect, too. But Bianca will have a fit.”

Bianca? Was she serious? “All the people who give a fuck about Bianca, raise your hand.” He made an exaggerated show of glancing around the empty apartment, and then looked over at Edie.

With an apologetic look at him, she raised her hand.

Magnus made an exasperated noise. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” she agreed. “I’m so sorry. I know it isn’t what you want to hear. It isn’t what I want to tell you, either. But . . . I owe Bianca. I really do. She’s been so good to me, taking care of me since I hurt my knee.”

“Forcing you to depend on her, you mean.”

Edie shook her head. “No, it’s not like that.”

“It’s exactly like that. Your relationship with your sister is as needy and codependent as mine is with Levi,” he exclaimed. “Only thing is, I’m starting to figure that out about Levi, and you’re still defending Bianca. You don’t need her. You can live somewhere where you can have free rein of the house instead of the small portion that you can manage with your bad knee. You can take public transportation instead of waiting for her to drive you somewhere. You can have your own life.”

“I know,” Edie said, and she wrung her hands, looking distressed and unhappy. “And I want that. I want this place, and I want you, but I . . . can’t yet. For the last few years, Bianca has made her entire life about me. Helping me recover. Helping me with my business. Being at my side day and night if I needed her. She would view this as an utter betrayal, and I can’t do that to her.”

“So you’re choosing your sister over me?”

“Of course not,” Edie said, moving toward him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. “I’m just choosing to ease her into things instead of surprising her overnight. Give me time to let her know we’re dating and we’re serious? Maybe she’ll get the hint and start exploring things on her own. You know if I move three hours away, she can’t be my assistant anymore.”

Good, he thought, but didn’t say it aloud. He wanted her disentangled from Bianca and her scheming. The less she knew about his part in their stupid games, the better. Because he’d started out willing to be duplicitous in order to get what he wanted . . .

Now? He wanted nothing but Edie, and he wasn’t about to let anyone stand in the way of that. Magnus put his arms around her and rested his chin atop her head. “So what do you propose I do with a cat-friendly sixteen-hundred-square-foot flat in Park Slope?”

“Move in?”

Magnus considered that. It wasn’t a bad idea after all.

Chapter Fifteen

“So what do you think of this color?” Gretchen asked, picking through a ring of swatches and then holding up one in particular. “This is called Venetian Mustard.”

“I think I will punch you in the face if you make me wear that color,” Edie said, dabbing her mouth with her napkin.

Gretchen beamed at her. “See, this is why I wanted to meet with you over colors instead of Chelsea or Greer. They’d just tell me that they loved it and whatever makes me happy, they love, too. They’re too nice.”

“So you needed a bitch to give you a real opinion?”

“Exactly,” Gretchen agreed, and held out her glass for the waiter, rattling the ice. “This mojito isn’t going to refill itself, you know.”

Edie sipped her cosmopolitan, reaching out to brush her fingers over the mustard-yellow swatch of fabric. Taffeta. Shudder. She shook her head again. “Absolutely not that color. Not if you value our friendship.”

“You know I do,” she sang out, pleased.

The two friends were having lunch at a small bistro near Hunter’s office. Gretchen had insisted on meeting in person instead of picking out colors online, and it had been a while since Edie had had lunch with her friend. Bianca hadn’t minded the drive, claiming she had shopping to do in the city, so here she was, having lunch with Gretchen and trying not to daydream about that wonderful little apartment Magnus was moving into even as she lunched.

Well, not little, she admitted to herself. Maybe little by Magnus’s standards, but sixteen hundred square feet was pleasant by New York City standards.

The waiter dropped off new drinks for both Edie and Gretchen, and they flipped through the ring of fabric samples for a few minutes, trying to decide on good color combinations. Gretchen had decided that she wanted a main color and a contrasting color, and their tastes were wildly different. And since Edie had been recruited for her opinions, she made sure that Gretchen knew them. As Edie batted away Gretchen’s newest suggestion of teal and pink, Gretchen took another swig of her drink. “All this bridal shit is beating me down and the wedding’s still a damn year away. By the time I finally go down the aisle, all you bitches are going to be knocked up. Did you know that Sebastian and Chelsea are hooking up? And Asher and Greer are fucking.” She shook her head. “I am either the world’s most fantastic matchmaker or you ladies are harder up than I thought. Speaking of, how are things with Magnus?

Edie blushed. “Going well.”

“Ooooh,” Gretchen purred, leaning forward with interest. “Look at that completely awkward stare on your face. Things must be going well indeed. Didn’t he adopt a cat to be around you?”

“Two, actually,” Edie said, feeling warm at the thought. Magnus came across as this total alpha businessman, but he was really a big softy, wasn’t he? She loved that. Then, the sad twinge that had been plaguing her for days set in. “He asked me to move in with him. Sort of. He bought a place in Park Slope that he wanted me to move into so we could be closer and I’d have room for my cats.”

“Aw! That is so totally adorable and utterly controlling of him,” Gretchen teased. “Sounds like something Hunter would do. So when is the moving day?”

Edie stared down at her drink. “I can’t. I have Bianca to think about.”

Gretchen’s eyes widened. “Why, are you guys in a threesome?”

“What? No!”

“Oh, good. Cause that’s kinda fucked up considering she’s your sister.” She sucked on her mixing straw for a moment, then gave Edie a curious look. “So why’s she stopping you guys from moving in together?”

Edie rubbed her forehead. Gretchen wouldn’t understand, either. She couldn’t stand Bianca, who she viewed as a moocher and a waste of oxygen. No one knew Bianca like Edie did. Selfless Bianca, who’d given up all her free time to tenderly care for Edie as her leg recovered, to drive her to endless hours of physical therapy and went to the store when Edie hurt too much to walk. Bianca, who had stuck by her side like glue ever since the accident. She wouldn’t repay that by ditching her sister the moment she fell in love . . .

She blinked, startled at the realization. She was in love?

Of course she was. It made sense. Magnus was perfect for her in every way she could imagine. He was thoughtful, funny, loved cats, didn’t mind Edie’s bitchy moments (and there were a lot of them), didn’t make her feel like an invalid, and gave her great orgasms. It didn’t hurt that the guy was her every girly fantasy wrapped into one smoking-hot package.

She was really damn lucky. She—

“Edie?”

The familiar male voice made her stomach clench with dread. She looked up in surprise as a tanned, perfectly sculpted man with pale blond hair and a crisp white smile approached their table.

“Oh, shit,” Gretchen said. “Drake. You want me to scare him away?”

Edie’s ex. Damn it. “No, it’s all right.” She forced a smile to her face as her ex from six years ago approached their table. “Hi, Drake. You look well.” She was proud of herself for how calm and unaffected her voice sounded. Truth was, she still hurt from Drake’s retreat all those years ago. He’d caused her endless amounts of mental anguish when he dumped her after the accident with her leg. She’d thought it was her disability, her limp, that caused him to dump her.

Now, looking at his overly careful appearance, she figured he was just a jerk.

“Thanks,” he said, flashing her another over-whitened grin. “New workout regimen. CrossFit.”

“Gee, Edie,” Gretchen mocked. “You look fabulous, too.”

Drake flushed. “I . . . Of course you do. I was just, you know, trying to help. CrossFit is great. You should try it some time. I can hook you up with a trainer—”

“Why, so she can make her goddamn knee fall off entirely?” Gretchen snapped.

“It’s okay,” Edie interrupted, watching Drake’s expression turn deer-in-headlights. “I’ll pass, Drake, but thank you for thinking of me. What brings you to this part of town?” It was a good question to ask, so she’d never lunch in this direction again.

“I’m meeting a personal-training client,” Drake told her. His smile faltered a little. “How . . . how’s Bianca?”

Edie kept the smile on her face, though the warning bells went off in her head. “Bianca’s doing just fine. She’s working as my assistant now.”

“For the cat thing? That’s so cute. I can’t believe you make money doing that.”

Her smile grew tight. “Yes, the cat ‘thing.’”

“Ah.” An awkward silence fell, then he glanced around again. “So, um. I know that we parted because I was selfish.”

“We did.” She sounded so calm. That was good.

“I regret that. I really do.”

Edie softened a bit. Drake was a good guy. Just a bit . . . thoughtless. “Thanks. That means a lot to me.”

“I just want you to know that she never returned my calls . . . after.”

She processed this for a moment. Surely it sounded worse than it really was. “After?”

“After . . . you know. The skiing thing.” He looked uncomfortable. “We ended it.”

Ended it? Drake and Bianca had something that ended? Her entire body went cold. “Thanks,” she said automatically, voice hard. “You should leave now.”

“But I—”

“Jesus Christ, you fucking idiot,” Gretchen said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Can you just go already? We’re trying to have lunch here and you’re trying to absolve your guilty conscience and neither one of us gives a shit.”

“Oh. All right.” Drake looked at Edie again. “I’m sorry. It was good to see you again. I just . . . Yeah. Good to see you.”

“Good to see you, too,” she said woodenly, not able to meet his gaze. She felt frozen in place. She didn’t look up as he left, staring at her glass. She felt sick. Her knee throbbed in response, and she just wanted to run away.

“He’s gone,” Gretchen whispered in a low voice. “Did he just admit what I think he did?”

“Yeah,” Edie said. She . . . didn’t know what to think. She felt helpless. Utterly betrayed. Furious. Hurt. Her sister had been fucking Drake behind her back? And all this time, no one had said anything to her? For six long years?

Instead, Bianca had become incredibly devoted. She’d given up her free time, her friends, and her own personal space so she could wait on Edie. She’d turned Edie into her life. And all Edie could think was, What a lucky person I am to have such a wonderful sister in my life. A sister who’s so devoted. I can’t hurt her.

What a fucking, colossal joke.

All this time, she thought it was her knee. She thought that Drake, poor, stupid, sport-obsessed Drake couldn’t stand to have a girlfriend that limped and could no longer rock climb or run marathons. Had he just been waiting for an excuse to get rid of her and be with Bianca?

Of course Bianca had turned devoted and clingy. Edie imagined the guilt was killing her. She slammed back her drink, chugging it down.

Gretchen gave her a worried look. “You okay, Eeeds?”

“I’m not sure,” Edie admitted. “But I think I’m going to go, if it’s okay with you?”

“Of course,” Gretchen said. “I’ll pay for the bill. You just go ahead and leave if you need to. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

Edie nodded, and the two women hugged. She murmured her thank-you to Gretchen, who patted her on the back sympathetically. Then, even though she was twenty blocks away from the Park Slope apartment, she headed there.

She couldn’t go home.

Not home to Bianca, who would gush over Edie, get her an ice pack, and yammer about how she needed to be more careful with herself. As if Bianca cared. She’d always known Bianca was a little selfish from time to time, but her devotion to Edie after her accident just seemed to be contradictory to those selfish leanings. That Bianca had a good heart despite things.

Utter horseshit.

In a daze, she walked.

At some point, she realized that she’d made it to the apartment. She watched as movers lifted a sofa up the doorway steps and into the apartment, along with furniture. Edie stood near a tree and watched, her hands in her pockets. She didn’t go in. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to talk to anyone yet.

She was still processing.

Edie wasn’t sure how long she stood there, watching movers unload furniture into the new apartment. All she could see was Drake and Bianca. Her then-boyfriend Drake, sleeping with her younger sister. Bianca, who fluttered her hands over her hair, gave men a coquettish smile, and then wrapped them around her finger. Bianca, who swore she didn’t sleep with her boyfriends unless things were committed.

Of course she didn’t. She was too busy fucking Edie’s boyfriend.

It wasn’t Drake’s betrayal that hurt. She’d long since gotten over Drake, and now was thankful that things had ended. If she’d been with Drake, she’d have never met Magnus, after all. But Bianca’s betrayal? That fucking ripped her apart. Bianca was her sister. She was the person Edie trusted the most in the world, the person Edie leaned on more than anyone else. She’d always thought Bianca would have her back. Wasn’t that what sisters did?

Apparently not.

She imagined Bianca’s face when she found out that Edie knew. She’d be stricken at first, of course, and then she’d try to figure out how to fix things. How to make Edie feel somehow guilty for accusing Bianca. Because that’s what Bianca’s “unselfish” martyrdom was all about, of course. It wasn’t about helping Edie or devotion for her sister—it was about making Bianca feel better about what she’d done.

The thought made her ill. Edie bent over and threw up in the bushes, vomiting until her drinks and her lunch came up.

“Edie?”

Of course someone would discover her puking in the bushes. She wiped her mouth, feeling pathetic even as a warm, broad hand touched her back.

“Babe? You okay?”

Magnus. She turned and looked at him, a baseball cap on his head, sweat on his brow. He wore an old T-shirt with a Warrior Shop logo, and jeans. A box of computer equipment was at his feet. She’d bothered him while he was moving. Shit. It was on the tip of her tongue to say that she was fine, to make an excuse as to why he’d found her barfing in the street, to make some sarcastic comment to deflect the fact that she felt hollow inside.

But this was Magnus, and she trusted him. She didn’t have to be defensive or abrasive, because he’d understand. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I don’t think I’m okay, no.”

Concern flashed across his face. “Do you want me to get the car? Do you need to go to the hospital?” His hand stroked over her brow, taking her temperature.

“No. That’s not it. I just . . .” She gave a small shake of her head. “I just found out Bianca was fucking my ex when I had my accident and that’s why he broke up with me.”

A cold look settled on his expressive features. “Do I need to go break his face or Bianca’s?”

“You just need to hold me,” she said in a tiny voice.

Big arms wrapped around her and Edie felt her face smushed against his chest. It wasn’t the most gentle hug, but it was the most welcoming one she’d ever had, and the tears began to flow. A sob choked her throat. She felt so incredibly . . . stupid. How had she never seen this?

“Come with me,” Magnus said in a gentle voice. He steered her toward his new apartment, and as they walked, she saw through her tears that the movers were staring at them with confused expressions. She buried her face against him, hating that someone other than Magnus was seeing her cry. As if he could sense her thoughts, he gestured. “Why don’t you guys wrap up what you’re doing at the moment and take the rest of the day off? I’ll pay whatever’s needed to handle things. I just need some alone time here.”

He steered Edie toward a plastic-covered couch and sat down with her, and then pulled her into his lap, cradling her in his arms. She sniffed and kept her face pressed against his neck as he stroked her back. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m not doing so good at keeping things together.”

“You don’t have to keep things together,” he told her, rubbing a hand up and down her spine. “Just tell me what happened.”

So she did, telling him about the lunch and running into Drake, and her ex’s careful words. She told him how it all made sense—how Bianca had suddenly turned from self-centered little sister into selfless nursemaid, and how Edie had thought it was curious but she was too happy and relieved to have her sister at her side to care. She told him about Drake’s distance as Edie healed, and she’d stupidly thought it was her and her injury that were the problems. And as she talked, he held her and listened, his hands moving over her in gentle, comforting motions as she cried.

“I just feel so dumb,” she told him when the story was done. One hand swiped across her face, wiping away tears. “Like it was all before my face, and I was too wrapped up in my own misery to see it. I should have known. My sister’s a user. People like that don’t just change overnight.”

“Hey,” he murmured. “It’s me you’re talking to here. You think I don’t know how siblings work? I’m the one who keeps giving Levi a chance even when I know it’s dumb. It’s just that . . . he’s family. I want him to want more for himself, even if he doesn’t. So I totally understand.”

That was one of the nice things about Magnus, she realized. That was one reason they clicked so well—they both understood what it was like to deal with a frustrating sibling. They both had fucked-up, strangely codependent relationships with their siblings that didn’t make sense to the outside world but somehow did in their minds. They both knew what it was to depend on that other person and be completely and utterly let down by them. Magnus and Levi were just like Edie and Bianca in so many ways.

Magnus got why she was so upset. More than betrayal, it was the realization that it had been so easy to lean on that other person, to let them take over part of her life, and now that was being wrenched away. Magnus would get that. He would totally know how she was feeling, because he’d been there himself.

Magnus understood her. Edie’s heart brimmed full of love, and she cuddled against him, comforted despite the horrible day. Somehow, in Magnus’s strong arms, it didn’t feel so very bad. It was still awful, but it hurt less knowing she had him.

“I think you’re the only person I can completely trust,” Edie said softly, clutching at his shirt. “I thought Bianca always had my back, but I guess I was wrong. I’m so glad I have you instead.”

Underneath her, she felt Magnus tense. Felt his hand stop stroking her back. After a long moment, he said, “Shit.”

That . . . was a surprising response to her confessing that she was glad to have him. Edie sat up and wiped her face, staring at him. Magnus’s green eyes were troubled, the frown line between his brows appearing. “What?”

He gazed at her for a long moment, then gave a small shake of his head. “I really fucking hate your sister.”

Was that all it was? “Well, that makes two of us at the moment,” Edie said, preparing to settle back in against his chest. But his hand stopped her, and as she looked into his unhappy face, her stomach gave a gurgle of fear. “What is it?”

“We need to talk,” he said, voice soft. “This has gone on long enough.”

“What’s gone on long enough?” She felt like vomiting again, but clamped her jaw, determined to hear this. “What is it?”

He studied her for a long moment, the green-gold brilliance of his eyes heartbreaking. Then, Magnus said gently, “Didn’t you ever wonder why I hired you in the first place?”

Edie’s heart squeezed painfully. “Because you got a cat, right?” She hated how pathetically desperate her voice sounded.

“Did I seem like a guy who wanted a cat? I mean, I like Lady C now, but when you first came over, didn’t it all strike you as weird?”

It had, but she’d ignored those warning signs. “What are you trying to say?”

“Levi had our assistant pick out the cat at the shelter. See, he met Bianca at the same dinner party we met at. And he wanted to start seeing Bianca, but she wouldn’t agree to it unless you were busy with something, because she didn’t want to abandon you.” He closed his eyes and gave a small shake of his head. “And because I needed Levi to work with me, I agreed to keep you occupied so they could spend time together.”

She flung herself off of his lap, horrified. “You what?” This was a nightmare. A horrible, awful nightmare that she couldn’t quite wake up from.

“I’m telling you this because I don’t like their games,” he said, face expressionless. “Because I feel like we need the truth between us and I’m tired of the lies and the half truths. When we first started spending time together, that wasn’t because I wanted to. I know it sounds awful, and that’s why I want you to hear it from me instead of one of their lying mouths.”

Edie slid away from him and put her hands to her forehead. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t. “I don’t understand.”

“It changed, Edie. I changed. Because at first, I was spending time with you to humor Levi, to try and get him to work on the game with me. But at some point, I started to have feelings for you, and—”

“And what?” she cried. “It made it all better because now you didn’t think I was a bitch? So it was okay to lie to my face and pretend to like me when you thought I was a mean, awful person? Really?”

“No—”

“Yes!” She shook her head at him. “How can you possibly think that is okay? I am a person! I have feelings, too! Pretending that you wanted to go out with me is not okay on any level, Magnus!”

“It hasn’t been pretending. Not for some time.”

“How am I supposed to know that? How am I supposed to believe a word that you say? You’re just as big a liar as Bianca is.” She bounded to her feet, ignoring the sharp stab of pain that shot up her bad leg. “I can’t stay here. I have to leave—”

“No, Edie,” Magnus said, coming after her. He reached for her, and when she jerked away, stopped. “I love you. Seriously. That’s all me. I want you to move in with me. I don’t care that we’ll have nine cats and sixteen-hundred square feet. We’ll find a bigger place that meets our needs and we’ll be happy together, just you and me. Just stay, and let’s talk this through.”

She shook her head. “I can’t deal with this. Not right now. Maybe not ever.”

“Edie—”

“Fuck off,” she said, and then she was out the door, and down the street, and she didn’t stop running until she found a taxi. In a haze of pain and misery, she looked at the driver. “Buchanan Manor, please.”

And then she burst into more noisy tears.