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She slammed the car door closed. She looked all pent up with fiery passion. Only her anger was directed at him.
He could handle it.
“We need to talk.”
The guys and even Nancy had all stopped to watch.
“Come on, then,” he said. “Don’t wait around for me to do all of this. Get it done. We’re opening tonight, and I’ve got a band signed up.” He snapped his fingers, and putting his other hand at Emily’s back, he walked her into his office, where she stepped out of his hold.
“How could you?” she asked.
“I seem to be at a disadvantage.”
“Why don’t you phone up your friends? I’m sure they would be more than happy to tell you exactly what is going on.”
“Again, at a disadvantage here, Emily.” He wasn’t, but he was stalling, trying to buy himself some time, anything to not piss her off even more.
“You pay for everything.” She had her hands down at her sides, hands clenched.
She really didn’t look happy.
“Okay,” he said. “Now I know why Mr. Cole and Billy wanted to call me. I figured you were having some trouble.”
“You pay for my apartment, my car—what else do you pay for?”
He folded his arms, staring at her. “I pay for everything, Emily. Your wage is high for the cleaning you do. I only need you to come in once or twice a week. I run a tight ship. I just like having you around, and there’s no way I’d risk anyone getting close to you.”
“All this time you’ve been manipulating me?”
“I’ve been helping you. I’m not manipulating you.”
“I thought I was handling life well. I was being the grownup. Dealing with my own bills. Taking care of myself.”
“You’ve been doing an amazing job, Emily. You were too young when your parents died.”
“I was eighteen. Legally an adult.”
“Exactly, but you were hurt. Not to mention the trauma of losing both parents as well as the damage done to you. They took your house. I couldn’t stop them from doing that. Your parents had accrued a lot of debt and had a payment plan, but they put their house against those plans. With them gone, I couldn’t take on their debt.”
“But you took me on,” she said. “Is this like some weird kink to you?”
“No! For fuck’s sake, Emily, if this was a kink to me, you’d think I’d have waited two years for us to happen?”
“What is it then?”
“I’m in love with you, okay? That’s what the big old secret is about. I’m in love with you and have been for a long time. You’re everything to me. I love you. It’s why I take care of you. Why I pay for everything. Why I was there when you first woke up. You needed me, and you still need me. I know you think I was manipulating you, but I was doing my best to take care of you, and give you the space you needed to recover.”
She started to cry, and he went to hold her, but she shook her head.
“I need to … I’ve got to go.”
She spun on her heel, but this time, he didn’t follow her. He’d known that when she found out the truth it would be hard for her to deal with. For two years she’d thought she was being strong, when the truth was, he’d been propping her up, helping her, when she didn’t even realize it.
Nancy moved out of the way, holding her paperwork to her chest.
“Go to her, Nancy. Make sure she doesn’t hurt herself or do anything stupid, okay?”
“You want me to help her?”
“Yes.”
“It’s my shift tonight.”
“Obviously, I’ll cover. Just make sure she’s okay.”
Nancy put the paperwork on the desk and ran outside.
He moved toward the window and saw Nancy run to Emily’s car.
His woman stopped, and Nancy climbed into the passenger seat. He’d probably made a big mistake letting Nancy take care of her, but the older woman did care about her in some way.
Rubbing at his temples, he felt the stirrings of a headache.
Fuck!
He’d never wanted Emily to find out.
While she’d been dealing with her grief, it was easy to come up with excuses for why something was so cheap, or why she didn’t need to pay. He hadn’t been paying attention when she told him she had an appointment at the bank. It should have raised flags, but he’d been so happy, he’d not even thought about her finding out the truth.
She’d not been ready to know the full extent of his involvement in her life.
He didn’t regret it. Emily had needed help, and no one else would do it. So, he had.
Sure, he had reasons but he’d no intention of acting upon them. Not until she was ready. Not until she could handle the kind of love he had for her. It was a deep, possessive love, one where he felt this overwhelming need to take care of her.
