She didn’t say anything, but just let him talk. Whatever lie he’d told, whatever deception he’d perpetrated, she didn’t believe it was as serious as he was making it out to be. She knew him too well now for that.
“I want to be totally honest with you.” He turned around to face her. His hands were propped on his hips, his jeans slung low with the top button undone. His head was slightly ducked, so she almost couldn’t read his expression. “I don’t have any intention of staying on as CEO for Cain Enterprises.”
“I know. You never claimed you did.”
He let out a faint groan of frustration. “No. I mean, I’ve never really had any intention of even working at Cain Enterprises. I’ve been trying to get away from it since I accepted the job when I was twenty-four. The only reason I even took the job is because my father threatened to cut me off if I didn’t work for Cain Enterprises for at least a decade.”
“Yes.” Again she cupped his cheek. “I know. It doesn’t take a genius to see that you’re not really happy at Cain Enterprises. You clearly don’t fit there. That’s why—”
But before she could admit to knowing about Hope2O, he cut her off. “No, it’s more than that. It’s not just that I don’t want to work for Cain Enterprises.” His expression still looked so miserable. “It’s that I have other plans entirely. Things I’ve put on hold for the better part of a decade because—”
Finally, she couldn’t take anymore of it and she pressed her fingers to his mouth. “I know.”
“You—”
“I know about Hope2O.”
“—don’t… Wait.” His eyes scanned her face. “You know about Hope2O? How could you possibly know?” He took a step back, his expression suspicious. “How did you find out? Did Dalton know?”
“Relax.” It was all she could do not to chuckle at his open skepticism. “It’s nothing nefarious. Sharlene knows. She told me.” He was still eyeing her suspiciously, so she quickly explained about the conversation she and Sharlene had had while he’d been off looking for the photos.
The tension seemed to drain out of him as she spoke. Finally he said, “You’re not mad?”
“I found out you’re generous and charitable. I learned you’re doing great things to help all of mankind. Why would that make me mad?”
Worried, yes, because this was the kind of man he was. The kind who worried that his good deeds would be held against him.
“Some women would be angry that I misled them.”
“You never misled me. You’re just very guarded. There’s a difference.”
“Well, you say that now. You might feel differently when you’ve had time to think it over. After all, you started dating a rich man who was in line to inherit hundreds of millions of dollars. Not a man who works for an international aid organization.”
“You can’t honestly believe I was dating you for the money. That’s not the kind of relationship we had anyway.”
He shot her an odd look at that. “No. I don’t suppose it is.”
There was a note of finality in his voice, like he’d reached some sort of decision. Whatever it was, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear more. She couldn’t take any more glimpses into his soul. She already felt as though she’d flown too close to the sun.
Fourteen
Maybe he was an idiot, but he didn’t figure out something was wrong with Sydney until after they’d already checked out of the hotel and he’d driven her back to her little bungalow in Montrose. As much as he wasn’t looking forward to confronting his parents, he knew he had to talk to them and had just assumed that he and Sydney would go as soon as they left the hotel. However, once he saw her clothes, he knew that wasn’t an option. Dirt from his car was smeared across the back of her pale slacks and tan sweater. He’d thought he kept his car pretty clean, but apparently he was going to have to talk to the car care service he used.
Sydney was so quiet on the drive to her neighborhood that he had to wonder if something was wrong. When he pulled up in front of the house, Sydney said, “I’ll just be a minute. You can wait in the car if you’d like.”
“No, I’ll come in,” he said, not realizing at first that maybe she’d been asking him not to come in.
She opened the front door and gestured him through. It led straight into a small living room, with an office off to the right and the kitchen straight ahead.
“Help yourself to a drink,” she said, hurrying past the kitchen and gesturing toward the refrigerator. She darted into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her, leaving him standing in the living room staring blankly at the door through which she’d retreated, wondering what was up. She normally wasn’t shy. She’d dressed and undressed in front of him countless times in the past four months. So why had she shut him out of the bedroom? Was she mad about the whole sleeping-with-her-boss thing?
He hadn’t really thought about it when he’d had her spread out over the hood of her car. If he had, he probably would have assumed that she was fine with it. After all, she’d been the one to point out how close they were to the hotel.
While she changed, he occupied himself by looking around the tiny house. It was a bungalow probably dating back to the 1930s or so, but it had obviously been updated. The kitchen was open and modern, with a large granite-topped island floating between the living room and the kitchen. The office probably could have been used as a bedroom, but she had lined the wall with bookshelves and placed an Eames lounge chair in the center of the room. A large brown tabby cat sat curled up in the chair. When he reached out to touch it, the cat opened one eye and growled ominously.
He’d only been inside her house a handful of times, but he knew where it was because he’d picked her up there. It was decorated in mid-century modern antiques, with lots of pale wood and sleek lines. The furniture had all been lovingly cared for and looked like it might have been inherited from grandparents, though Griffin now knew it had not been.
He crossed back to her bedroom, leaning against the frame of the closed door. “I didn’t know you had a cat,” he called.
“Um…yeah,” she called from the other side of the door. “That’s Grommet.”
“Like the animated dog?”
“Yeah.” She opened the door. Now she was dressed in slim blue jeans and a moss-green knit sweater. “Just like that. He likes cheese.”
Sydney tugged at the hem of her sweater and didn’t quite meet his gaze. She looked beautiful, as she always did, but this outfit was more casual than her normal, middle-of-the-work-day professionalism.
“You ready?” he asked.
She knotted her fingers together, her expression twisting in indecision. “Here’s the thing. I don’t think I should go.”
“What? You can’t let them intimidate you like—”
“No!” she hastened to reassure him. “It’s not that. I just…” She blew out a breath and seemed to be searching for words.
Sydney, who was never at a loss for words, suddenly was. Moreover, she seemed a little lost in general.
He crossed over to her, cupping her cheek in his palm and tipping her face up to his. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I just think that maybe you need to do this alone.”
He frowned. She still wasn’t quite meeting his gaze and if she bit down any harder on her lip, she was going to start bleeding. He traced his thumb across her lower lip, gently freeing it from her teeth. “No. I need you there with me. I need a voice of reason. I need someone who’s not emotionally involved. That’s what you said, remember?”
“I know that’s what I said, but I’m not…” Finally, she forced her gaze to his. “I don’t think I can be your voice of reason anymore.”
He thought of how crazy and messed up his family was. He thought of everything his father and his mother had put him through in the past few days. Hell, his entire life. And every time he’d fought them on anything, he’d done it alone. He’d never once, in his entire thirty years of life, had anyone been completely in his corner. Until now. Until Sydney.
She was everything to him now. No matter what else happened he was going to make damn sure that he didn’t let her go.
He closed the distance between them and kissed her, molding his mouth to hers. Pouring into that kiss all the things he wouldn’t be able to tell her until all this trouble with this family was resolved.
He lifted his mouth from hers and waited until she opened her eyes before saying, “I still need you there. No matter what.”
*
They found his mother at the house, sitting beside his father’s bed, reading him the business section of the newspaper aloud. The home health care nurse was sitting in the hall, giving them privacy. Thank God for small blessings. Most days, it was damn near impossible to have a private conversation with his parents; Griffin was relieved that today he’d have a shot at it. He went into the room where his father’s hospital bed had been set up. Sydney was beside him as he walked up to the door, and she gave his hand a little tug. With a tilt of her head, she indicated she would wait in the hall, but he didn’t release her hand, instead pulling her in with him. Caro sat in a wingback chair between the bed and the window that overlooked the front lawn. The head of Hollister’s bed had been raised so he, too, was sitting upright.
Griffin wasn’t sure if Sydney had ever even met his father, but if Hollister’s fragile appearance shocked her, she didn’t let on. Having her by his side, Griffin saw his father through new eyes, taking in all the things he hadn’t noticed the past few visits. Hollister’s skin looked pale and paper thin. His eyes were sunken. The myriad tubes and IVs hooked up to him only made him look more frail.
But Griffin didn’t let that moment of empathy stop him. He marched into the room and tossed the photos of the mystery nanny down on the bed between his parents.