A Hard Man to Love (3 page)

She hated getting so riled up, so emotional, she didn’t even know herself. Her mother, originally from the South, had been a genteel woman and would turn over in her grave if she saw Eva’s behavior. But even her mother would have to understand how Derrick pushed her buttons. Derrick could test the patience of Job. His dogged determination to get his way may be a plus in business, but it was a less than admirable trait on a personal level.

“Stop and think,” he said through clenched teeth.

“No, you stop and think—about what you’re doing. You and your fancy Atlanta lawyers can go to hell.”

She walked by him.

“Eva!”

She swung around and hurled the crumpled letter at him, watching it float to the ground. “I said go to hell!”

Her voice quivered, and she hated herself for it. She could barely see through the cloudy screen of tears as she left him standing on the sidewalk. Before she broke down completely in front of him, she fumbled for the handle on the door. Once inside, she rushed to the back of the store and cried.

Chapter Three

“The art of intimidation, my boy, is to make your opponent believe every word you say. Look them dead in the eye and never flinch. Never let them see weakness.”

Phineas’s words repeated in Derrick’s head as he eased the rented sports car into the line of traffic and headed toward the two-bedroom beach villa he’d rented. Phineas had always doled out advice, and it turned out much of it could be applied just as easily to personal relationships as to business ones.

He hadn’t intended to make Eva angry. He didn’t know a whole lot about pregnant women, but he was pretty sure they shouldn’t get upset. Unfortunately, her reaction to his suggestion of marriage had stymied him and forced him to reveal his intention to take the baby if she didn’t go along with his plans.

After he let himself in and dropped his overnight bag in one of the bedrooms, he stepped out onto the patio to look out at the Atlantic Ocean, stretched out to the horizon as far as the eye could see. He shouldn’t have come here, because of the memories of all the times he’d stayed here with her. He could have told his personal assistant to book him into another location, but old habits die hard.

The soothing sound of the waves and familiar salty scent of the blue water didn’t have the same appeal this time. He pulled out his smartphone, trying not to think about her, but finding it impossible.

Damn. He really should have picked somewhere else to stay, because there were too many memories here—buying groceries at the local store and cooking together in the kitchen, splashing around in the villa’s private pool, and, entwined in each other’s arms, making love until they grew exhausted.

He turned on the ringer on the phone, which he’d switched off earlier so there would be no interruption during his conversation with Eva. He scrolled through the list of missed calls and saw one had come from the attorneys. Hopefully they had good news concerning the legal battle between him and his family. They’d pooled their resources and dragged him into court to contest Phineas’s will. The attorneys had warned him to expect a long and dirty fight.

In the midst of all this, he had also become the CEO of Phineas’s international logistics firm, Hoffman Logistics Company, also known as HLC in the industry. At his father’s insistence, he’d worked at the company, in various positions, off and on over the years. Since his father’s death, his most important task had been to calm employees and business associates and reassure them the company remained a viable player in the industry, even though its beloved leader was no longer at the helm. All the more reason to get a quick answer from Eva, so he could head back to Atlanta and deal with the issues he’d left behind to come down here and talk to her in person.

He spent every day and night reading reports, in meetings, doing everything he could to maintain a sense of order and keep the company from falling apart. Three senior executives had already bailed and gone over to the competition. Keeping up company morale was a priority to stop any further migrations.

He thought about Eva again. Today she’d looked so fragile as he’d looked down at her slender frame. He’d wanted to pick her up and take her away from her low-paying job and give her the care she needed because she obviously wasn’t taking care of herself.

To think she carried his child, and he’d almost missed out because of his pride. He’d still been angry and tending to a bruised ego over their breakup when she called to tell him the news. Despite his response, deep down he’d known the truth. Unlike some of the mercenary women he’d come to know over the years, she’d been one of the few who’d never asked for anything from him. Not once had she ever asked him to pay her bills or buy her an expensive piece of jewelry.

What he couldn’t figure out was what he’d done to make her hate him so much. The anger in her eyes had been almost enough to laser him in two. Did she have any idea how many other women would love to be in her position—to be offered marriage? Instead of being appreciative, she acted as if she’d been offered an all-expenses-paid trip to the depths of hell.

And why had she ended their relationship in the first place? He’d come to the island for his sister’s wedding, and even though they’d made plans to see each other, she’d refused to see him until he showed up at her job on Saturday morning and gave her no choice. Her only explanation for why she no longer wanted to see him had been that their relationship had run its course and she wanted to move on.

He swore.

Sauntering back into the room, he loosened his tie. He hadn’t been ready to move on. Women didn’t end relationships with him; it usually happened the other way around. Her rejection had bothered him for weeks as he pondered her words, trying to find some hidden meaning in the things she’d said, but couldn’t. Then, out of the blue, she’d called him to say she was pregnant.

Maybe he hadn’t given her the best response, but he couldn’t be blamed. Their relationship hadn’t been exclusive. For all he knew, she could have broken up with him because of another man and was trying to trap him with that other man’s child. But he had to be truthful and admit his role in this. The last time they’d made love, he hadn’t used any protection. He’d been riled up by the thought of her seeing someone else.

They had an agreement: don’t ask, don’t tell. But he’d asked. And she’d told.

One day in April, he’d had to cancel his weekend plans to see her, and when he’d called a few days later to see what she was doing, she told him she planned to go out with a “friend”—a
male
friend. He’d been so jealous, he’d driven almost five hours straight without stopping because Phineas had taken the private plane out of town on business and he couldn’t get a commercial flight. When he’d shown up at her apartment, she’d been surprised to see him, and he’d made up something about his plans changing yet again. All he really cared about, though, was making sure she didn’t go out with this other guy.

She canceled her plans, and he’d stayed until the middle of the following week like a simpering idiot. He had conducted his business from the villa and rearranged his appointments until later in the week. When he returned to Atlanta, he found a real estate agent to put a newly formulated plan into action. The agent found a condo for her a few miles from his own place downtown. He planned to move her in and pay for it to have her close by, and if she wanted to work, he’d get her a job at his father’s company.

He decided to tell her about the condo the weekend of his sister’s wedding. He was ready to move their relationship to the next level and invite her up to see the place. But everything had changed. Their arrangement wasn’t working out. So she’d said. In the back of his mind, he’d wondered if her
friend
had anything to do with it.

He never told a soul about his plans. Certainly not her. He wasn’t about to beg. If she wanted out of the relationship, she could have her freedom.

When she’d told him about her pregnancy, he’d been purposely cold and cruel to her, but once he’d thought about it, he realized Eva would never tell him she carried his child if she wasn’t one hundred percent certain. Another woman, yes. Eva, no. Even now she made it plain she didn’t want anything from him.

He tossed the tie on the bed and dialed the number for his attorneys.

He’d given her until noon tomorrow, and now he would wait. He had rights, and he intended to exercise them, no matter how helpless she looked. This wasn’t only about him; this was about his daughter, too. His daughter would never experience what he had. His daughter would never have reason to doubt he loved her.

****

“So what are you going to do?”

Back at her apartment, Eva sat in the cushiony armchair positioned across from the sofa where her best friend and roommate sat. Kallie tucked a lock of brunette hair behind her ear and screwed up her face into a concerned frown. Kallie’s first roommate had moved in with her boyfriend, paving the way for her and Eva to move in together to save money after Eva lost her full-time job.

After Derrick left, Eva worked a six-hour shift with Ms. Elsie, automatically performing her duties of putting up the sales displays, ringing up customers, and folding and refolding clothes on the tables. The monotony of the tasks provided the type of familiarity she needed to get her through the day, but she had left the store in a semi-dazed state.

“I don’t know,” Eva said wearily. “I can’t believe I got myself into such a mess.”

Kallie folded her feet under her on the sofa. “You didn’t get pregnant on your own. It takes two.”

“I know, but still . . .”

“It could be worse.”

She looked at her roommate. “How could it possibly be worse?”

“He could be completely uninterested in your child, which is what you originally thought. Now we know the truth. Or, he could be some loser who has nothing to offer. Derrick has money, and he wants to take care of this baby.” She shrugged.

“He doesn’t just want to take care of her, Kal. He wants to take her from me if I don’t agree to marry him.” She rubbed her hand across her brow. “I didn’t see this coming. He’s not going to budge, either. You should have seen him.”

Kallie leaned forward. “Before you ended the relationship, you said you had fallen in love with him. What if you could make a go of it? You know, have a real marriage.”

Eva laughed shortly. “Yeah, right. I romanticized the situation, trying to make our . . . relationship . . . into something it wasn’t.”

She’d willingly accepted the terms of an open relationship even though she had reservations about it. She didn’t see the harm, especially when they first started seeing each other. Too late, she learned she wasn’t the type of woman who could handle it. In fact, she should have known right from the start, because she fell for him almost immediately, and the night they met remained burned in her memory . . .

****

Eva and her three girlfriends were having their annual New Year’s Day dinner at their favorite restaurant on the waterfront. Every year they met and shared their goals for the new year and talked each other out of feeling sad about bad decisions from the year before.

Halfway through the meal, the waitress came over and said, “Ladies, the gentleman over there sent you this bottle of champagne with a wish for you to have a happy new year.”

They all turned toward the bar, to the man sitting smoking a cigar. He smiled in their general direction, but Eva noticed his eyes lingered on her a fraction longer than the others. Feeling her cheeks get hot, she quickly looked away.

The waitress started pouring the expensive sparkling wine into glasses. “Let him know we said thank you,” cooed one of her friends, Bev.

“He’s hot,” Kallie murmured. “Maybe we should invite him over.”

Their animated conversation changed to whispered speculation about the man at the bar. A few minutes later, the waitress returned.

“He said he would love it if you come thank him yourself.”

“Really?” Bev smoothed her fingers over her hair while her girlfriends gasped and whispered in excitement.

A pang of jealousy worked its way through Eva’s stomach at the thought her friend would get to meet him. His cool stare had intrigued her, and his handsome face had made her heart thump a faster beat.

“Not you,” the waitress said. “You.”

It took a minute for Eva to realize she had spoken to her. She’d been focused on her plate. “Me?” she asked in shock. “I didn’t say anything.”

The waitress shrugged. “He asked specifically for you, honey.”

He’d asked for her. Her belly flipped over itself.

She cast a glance over at the bar again, but he wasn’t looking in their direction. He and the man next to him were engrossed in conversation. He nodded, and then tipped a tumbler toward his mouth. Even from this distance she could tell he had nice lips.

Kallie’s excited voice broke through her shock. “Eva, go!”

“All right. Shush.”

At the urging of her friends, Eva walked over to where he sat, wiping her sweaty palms on the skirt of her dress. “Hi.”

His eyes drew her in. Blue, but not blue, gray, but not gray—an interesting combination of the two. His skin, the color of sand, had golden undertones, and the thick, wavy hair on his head made her fingers tingle with the desire to play in the strands. Like she’d noticed from afar, he had inviting lips that curved upward in a most seductive way when he smiled. She could tell he had money, despite being casually sexy in a black turtleneck and black jeans. He had an air about him.

“Hi yourself.” His warm voice sent a shiver down her spine.

“Thank you for the champagne. That was very nice of you.” She groaned inwardly at the sound of her voice. She sounded nervous, and her stomach muscles trembled in response to her heightened awareness of him.

He lifted one shoulder as if it were no big deal. “I saw a beautiful woman having dinner with her friends and wanted to impress her.”

His open flirtation made her feel out of her depth. He reeked of confidence, and she found it both sexy and unnerving. “Mission accomplished.”