Page 74 of Out of Bounds

“What happened with Talia?” Gunnar asked, catching her arm and stopping her from walking away. His skin was warm against hers, making a wave of longing flow through her. She wanted to take his hand, turn to her brother, and tell him that Jonah was wrong. She wasn’t “fucking the staff.” That she cared a great deal about Gunnar, and that she hoped the feeling was mutual. But that wasn’t going to solve anything right now. And it certainly wasn’t going to help her find Talia in time to explain.

“She was holding my phone and saw your texts,” Felicity said, ignoring her brother. The tears she’d been fighting broke free, starting to stream down her face. “She put two and two together, got upset, and ran out of here. I have to go find her.”

Felicity started walking in the direction that Talia had run moments ago, hoping that it wasn’t too late. She’d spent much longer standing here thanks to fucking Jonah than she had intended. Talia was probably halfway out of Atlanta by now, and she had no idea where to even begin to look for her.

“Felicity! We need to talk,” Dalton called after her.

“There’s nothing left to say,” she yelled back, turning to look at him, tears still flowing. “Secret’s out. Sorry to be such a disappointment.”

She spun back around and picked up the pace, her insides ripping in two. Everything that had been so amazing, so perfect, these last weeks was gone. The bubble she’d been living in, letting herself believe that things could work out between her and Gunnar, that maybe they could actually be something, had popped. And in its place was a huge mess.

She pushed through a crowd of people, not bothering to spout pleasantries or excuse herself for disrupting them. She needed air, needed to get away from all the prying eyes and whispers that now surrounded her. Her whole body felt like she was being crushed alive, like at any moment she would just collapse from all the weight. The weight of everyone knowing—of everyone disapproving.

Well, Dad, maybe I did meet your expectations after all…

* * *

“Effie!” Gunnar shouted, bursting through the front doors of the Archer’s Green clubhouse. The bright sunlight blinded him for a moment, but his eyes quickly adjusted. There wasn’t a car—or a valet—in sight, making his heart skip a beat as he tried to figure out which way she’d gone. He had no idea what had gone down before he walked outside the ballroom, but apparently their secret wasn’t much of a secret anymore.

He knew the idea should probably upset him, that he should be worrying about his dream job being on the line, but right now the only thing on his mind were his girls. He needed to know that Felicity and Talia were okay. He’d only paused for a moment to look at Dalton, who had thankfully just nodded in understanding, before taking off after her, but she moved faster than he could have imagined through the crowd.

Making a split-second decision, he took a right out of the covered valet port and headed toward the rose garden and fountain she’d pointed out to him earlier. “I used to love to just sit and watch the fountain when I was little. My mom would always give me a penny to toss into it and make a wish. I always thought it was magic,” she’d told him, leaving him with the mental image of her as a small girl, all dressed up in something pink and frilly, with shiny patent leather shoes, skipping around the fountain. The idea had made him smile. He would have loved to have witnessed that—almost as much as he would love to watch Felicity do the same thing with her daughter. Their daughter.

Just as he’d hoped, he found her resting against the side of the fountain, her head thrown back, her eyes squeezed shut as she faced the sky. Gunnar could see the pain written all over her face, and it made him sick to his stomach.

“Effie.”

Felicity startled, catching herself on the side of the fountain so that she didn’t tip over. She opened her eyes, which were red and puffy, just like they had been the other night at her condo. And just like that night, all he could think about was holding her for the rest of time.

“I should have known better,” she finally said, sniffling.

“What do you mean?”

He closed the gap between them, reaching for her, but she sidestepped his grasp, putting more distance between them.

“Secret’s out. They all know. Talia, Jonah, Tripp…I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before it makes it to Cullen and Cowboy, all your players. To everyone else in that room. They all know about us.”

“I don’t care who knows, Effie. I’ll march right back in there and tell them myself,” he said. He meant it too. He knew it was important to her to keep things discreet, but he was more than ready to own up to anyone who asked that she was his. What was between them wasn’t anyone else’s business. “I’ll go hunt down that sad sack of shite Jonah and make it perfectly clear to him that he can take his accusations and shove them up his ass.”

“Why? So you can get fired?” she shot back, her splotchy face turning angry. “This jeopardizes your job just as much as mine.”

She was right—this revelation didn’t bode well for either of them. Especially since it had come from someone else and not the two of them opting to disclose it. There had to be a way to make this right. A way that everything could go back to how it had been, with the exception that now they didn’t need to sneak around.

“I should have known this could never have worked. What was I thinking? Why would I think things could work out for me just once? That I could be the chosen one?”

“Hey now,” he said, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her in close. Their bodies were flush with one another, and he heard Felicity’s breath hitch as her hips met his. He leaned in, placing his forehead against hers, wanting her to know that he meant what he was about to say. “You’re my chosen one, got that? And we will find a way to make this work.”

“Gunnar…” she sighed.

“No, Effie, listen,” he countered. “Forget your brother, forget Jonah. Forget all that bullshit. I know what your job and your reputation mean to you. I won’t let this ruin that. We will talk to them, we will explain everything, including that you did not offer me sexual favors. And I’ll talk with Talia—”

“Oh fuck, Talia!” she gasped, breaking free from his hold. She backed away from him, her hands flying to her face. “She’s never going to talk to me again. And she’s right, I did exactly what BobbiJo did.”

“What?”

“After she saw the texts, she told me I was just like BobbiJo, using her to get to you,” she explained, a sob escaping as she paused.

“You didn’t use her. You helped her. Against my wishes, actually,” he retorted.