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“I ain’t gonna lie. I get some interesting looks, but the first time I heard my kid’s heartbeat? Shit, best thing ever.”
“You know what it’s gonna be?”
“Nah, Mandy wants to do it old school and find out at the delivery, but it’s killin’ me. I even tried to bribe the doctor with some free oil changes at Joker’s garage, but she laughed and said she had to respect her patient’s wishes.”
“Shit, man, you are such a fuckin’ outlaw.”
“Worth a try, right?” Mamba shrugged. “I’m already thinking about the next kid and when I can knock her up again. It’s funny, but having them in my life makes me wanna do better and be better. Keeping my temper in check and my ass outta jail.”
Samson could’ve never imagined that kind of connection until Lisbeth walked back into his life.
“Proud of you, man.”
“It ain’t hard when you got something good in your life. Maybe like your party planner. I knew you had the hots for her when we were in your office at the club.”
Samson’s eyebrows drew together as he twisted his lips into a scowl.
“Don’t be giving me the fisheye. Boa said the same thing, and that big beast don’t notice anything except Madeline. We all saw the looks you two were putting on each other. Maybe fate is on your side.”
Great, now he had the Serpents gossiping about him.
“Now you sound like fuckin’ Dr. Phil.”
“Hey, don’t knock it. One of the prospects puts him on at the Gold Mine. The man knows his shit when it comes to people.”
Mamba’s words made the need to mix it up in the cage grow stronger and get rid of all the doubt and excess energy coursing through him. Shit, he’d had a hotter-than-hell woman grinding over his cock at Ecstasy, and his useless dick laid against his thigh until visualizing Lisbeth got the damn thing hard as steel.
Of course, Lisbeth didn’t know that. She only saw the obvious, and he couldn’t blame her reaction. He’d hardly had the best track record when it came to her believing him, and it didn’t take long to fuck up again, making her run as far away as possible. The last time, Lisbeth had moved across the country, but Samson had a feeling she’d freeze him out this time, then marry a man she probably didn’t even love.
Yeah, he needed to fight tonight in a bad fuckin’ way.
18
Lisbeth’s tears finally fell, making Charleston Boulevard a blur. She struggled to focus on driving until a blaring horn snapped her back to reality. She parked her car in the assigned space at her apartment, grabbed her purse, then slammed and locked the door. Her mechanical movements seemed ordinary, but her heart’s wrenching and tearing were irrational. When she reached the safety of her living room, the night came crashing down around her.
She kicked off her shoes, anchored her purse strap on the back of the chair, and gazed around the small space. Lisbeth had rented the apartment furnished, not planning on making this her permanent residence. She made it her own with fresh-cut flowers and a few personal items she’d brought from LA, but now it all seemed foreign and strange.
She flipped on additional lights, illuminating the framed pictures of her and Edward, and an overwhelming sensation of homesickness hit her hard. Lisbeth longed for her beautifully appointed condo in Santa Monica, taking walks on the beach, the smell of the salt air, and the little shops along Promenade Street. It was where she’d called home for the last eight years.
When she’d first hit California, her tiny West Hollywood apartment served as a living space and the birthplace of Lavish Lifestyles by Lisbeth. The money she’d saved working a the Oasis allowed her to go back to school at night. When she secured her degree in design she spent long days and longer nights building her business and loving every minute of it. She’d hired Evelyn, then Willow, followed by many other employees who contributed to the success it was today.
Last year, after much research, she decided to branch out and investigate Las Vegas. Edward disagreed, stating she was doing fine in LA and claimed Vegas could be a gamble. No pun intended—but she’d gone ahead with it anyway, and Edward supported her in his own quiet, conservative way.
Lisbeth valued his logical input. Certainly, Nightlife Magic’s recommendations were a boon to her business, but she never went into a new account using the Monroe name to her advantage. She could’ve easily thrown in the high-end promotion company as a perk when she presented her proposal to Samson, but that wasn’t how she did business.
Samson.
Never in her wildest dreams could Lisbeth imagine expanding to Vegas would catapult her into the past or wrench her heart from her chest again. Seeing Samson after all these years threw her detailed schedule into a tailspin, leaving her with a bigger problem—her future.
Going forward with Samson was laughable. His unreliable, egotistical personality hadn’t changed, but the feelings and sensations he conjured up made her doubtful of Edward as her choice.
As much as she hated to admit it, Samson was right about one thing. If her love for Edward were solid, she could’ve ignored Samson. Instead, she ended up in his arms twice in the last two weeks, and if not for her conscience and sense of honor, she would’ve done much more than kissing. These were not the actions or mindset of a happily engaged woman.
She didn’t need a psychology course to know why she picked Edward. He was solid and reliable and everything her dreamer-of-a-father wasn’t. Some women seek out someone like their daddy, but Lisbeth searched and found the exact opposite in every way.
Lisbeth made up her mind by the time she’d changed into her pajamas. Tomorrow morning she’d call Edward and tell him she was flying to LA and they needed to talk. It was the only decent thing to do, albeit upsetting and unpleasant. She knew from experience as an event planner that she wasn’t the first bride and surely wouldn’t be the last to call off a wedding close to its date.
She’d planned their big day to perfection, and giving that up would be difficult, but it devastated her to think she loved Edward for the wrong reasons. She’d been lulled into a sense of security by his consistency, but stability didn’t constitute love. This error in judgment had nothing to do with Samson. Edward simply wasn’t the right man, but it made her doubt her decision-making in the future.
