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NIC
Jonah McStay was not interested in sticking around for the afterparty. He excused himself, promised to grab the next dinner if Reed would pay for this one, and headed out the door.
“Have a seat,” Reed, who was surprisingly coolheaded, said as he sat down.
I glanced in the direction Harley had departed minutes ago. Part of me wanted to dismiss Reed and rush out after her, but the rest of me was hurt. Maybe even a little furious.
So, dating Nic Brooks is your way of rebelling?
Her father had asked that question and she hadn’t directly contradicted it. In those moments, a few things clicked for me.
How upset she’d been that night at the bar, after finding her father and her college friend together. The way she, a virgin, had lured me to the stairwell. How aggressive she’d been in getting me to sleep with her, despite her innocence.
Not that I’d needed all that much coercion. But I’d assumed she’d felt the same instant attraction I did. Now I was questioning every second of our time together.
“She was an adventurous child,” Reed said, shaking his head as he stared down at his near-empty drink glass. “I was beating the boys off her from a young age.”
Not exactly what I wanted to hear right now. But my goal was to clear the air with Reed Baxter. And to help Harley.
Yes, as confused and hurt as I was right now, I still wanted what was best for her.
“I can’t speak for your daughter, but I had genuine feelings for her,” Nic said. “Have genuine feelings. In fact, I’ve never had this with anyone before.”
Those words just might prompt Reed to haul off and punch the daylights out of me. I braced myself for it. But instead, he continued to stare down at his glass, lazily turning it in circles on the table as he seemed to think through my words.
“I get it,” Reed said, finally looking up at me. “Our situations are surprisingly the same.”
I relaxed a little, no longer bracing for a right hook to my left jaw. Mostly, it wouldn’t be a good look for two rival business owners to be duking it out in the middle of a steakhouse. Pleasure Valley was a small section of a gigantic town. People talked.
“But she’s my daughter,” Reed said. “My only child. You understand.”
I did and I didn’t. “I have no children,” I said. “So I guess I can’t really get what that’s like. But I do have a college buddy, and I can imagine what it would’ve felt like to have my mom sleeping with him.”
The idea was just…terrifying, actually. My parents were happily married to this day, so it was an absurd thought. But putting myself back in my early twenties, I could relate to Harley more than her father.
“It was wrong,” Reed said. “And she has every right to never forgive me. But I want her to be happy, no matter what. Could you help me out with that?”
My eyes widened as I stared at Reed. I’d never thought, in a million years, that he would’ve asked for my help with something. Especially not the most important person in his life.
“I can promise I’ll do what I can,” I said. “But I’m not sure she wants to be with me at all. I’m starting to think she just did…all this to get back at you.”
In the long silence that followed, I wasn’t sure what Reed would say. Maybe I was giving him a way out. But when his expression softened, I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Above all else, Reed wanted what was best for his daughter. It was a love for a child that I suddenly understood. For the first time in my life, I longed to have a family of my own. A wife and at least one child that I could protect and look out for. Us against the world.
“I don’t think that’s the case,” Reed said. “I know Harley better than anyone, except maybe her mother. She doesn’t give her heart away easily. Plus, she’s been a goofy space cadet for the past few days, and I thought it was just because of the job switch. She’s fallen hard and fast for you.”
Hope. That’s what rushed through my mind at his words. Our conversations and texts came back to me. She’d said so many things that indicated she was just as into me as I was into her.
Yes, this was more than just lust. More than attraction. And certainly more than a grown adult rebelling against her father. This was the real deal.
This was love.
“I have to go get her,” I said. “But I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”
Once I got everything squared away between the two of us, that was. At that thought, I pushed my chair back and stood, already prepared to rush toward the door.
“Nic,” Reed said, his voice stopping me in my tracks.
