High Stakes (13 page)

Liam knew this was coming, but it still
irked him. “It’s my money, my business. I’ll give it away on the street corner
if I choose to, and there’s not a goddamn thing you can do about it!” he
shouted before punching the button to disconnect the call.

He looked up to find Alisa standing in the
doorway wearing only a towel.

She winced as she pressed her fingertips to
her temple.

He didn’t hesitate to go to her. Bracing
his hands on her shoulders, he asked, “Are you all right? You look kind of
pale.”

“My head really hurts. I just came out to
get some water. Maybe that’ll help,” she whispered.

He tried to hide his smile as he reached
for the bottle and handed it to her. He’d had the mother of all hangovers once
in college and he swore he’d never subject his body to that again. Fortunately,
he was a man of his word. “Do you want some coffee?”

She nodded her head and grimaced when a
pain obviously ricocheted through her skull. “Please.”

He couldn’t resist the urge to pull her
into his arms and lay her head on his chest as he stroked her hair. “Oh, my
poor baby. I’ll have to make sure to monitor your alcohol consumption a little
more carefully next time.”

“Liam—”

“Shhh,” he whispered, tilting her head to
kiss her. “I don’t want to hear it.” He pressed another soft kiss to her lips
before his mouth skittered across her jaw to her ear. He drew her earlobe
between his teeth and felt her hands around his waist, drawing him closer.

“Hmmm,” she said, tilting her head back to
give him better access to her neck. “That feels so good. Too good.”

When he reached for the front of her towel,
she gripped his wrists. “We can’t do this again.”

He muttered a curse. He knew trying to win
her over with sex was a bad idea, but it seemed to be the one and only weapon
in his arsenal at the moment. “You’re in no condition to go to that meeting.
Why don’t you reschedule for tomorrow? You can go back to bed, we’ll order in
some food, and—”

“Weren’t you listening to a word I said
earlier?”

He was, but the only one of those words that
echoed through his head like a sadistic chant was
divorce.
God, he hated
that word. “I heard everything you said.”

“So you’re just choosing to ignore me?”

“No, but I’m trying to take care of you.
What kind of husband would I be if I didn’t?” He smiled, hoping she would give
him the benefit of a break. He just needed a few more hours to make her see how
great they could be together. He could already imagine their life, if only she
would give him time to paint the picture for her.

He could tell she was trying to suppress a
smile when she finally surrendered. “I’m sure you would be a wonderful husband,
but I’m never going to find out.” She fixated on the middle of his chest when
she said, “I didn’t come here looking for a husband. I’m not ready for that kind
of commitment.”

“You were at one time.”

“Sure, but I’d been dating Nick for a year
before we got engaged. I knew him; he knew me. We knew each other’s family and
friends.”

“Yeah, and look how well that worked out
for you.”

She tilted her head back to glare at him.
“I don’t need you to remind me.”

“I can promise you one thing, Alisa. You
can always count on me to be faithful to you. Always.” He felt they were
finally making progress when her eyes began roaming his face as though she was
trying to decide if he was worthy of her trust.

“I’m sure you’re a good guy, Liam, but
you’re not the guy for me. I’m sorry.”

He felt the sting of her words hit him
square in the chest. “How do you know that? You haven’t even given me a chance.
Let me prove to you how great we could be together. Please.”

“I can’t.” She pressed her hands against
his chest, pushing him away. “I’m sorry.”

By the time Alisa’s plane touched down in
Nashville, she was exhausted, physically and emotionally. Liam’s pleas kept
ringing in her ears, preventing her from stealing a wink of the sleep she so desperately
needed. She’d had to fight off dozens of reporters, both at the hotel and the
airport. Her cell phone rang nonstop since she stepped onto the hotel elevator,
forcing her to turn it off. She listened to one of her father’s voice mail
tirades, but she couldn’t listen to any more. If he wanted to tear a strip off
of her for being stupid and irresponsible, it would have to wait until they
were face-to-face, when she had no choice but to listen.

Her first stop was the boutique. She meant
it when she told Liam she couldn’t afford a day of rest. As much as she might
have liked to hide away in his luxurious suite for one more day, she needed to
get to work.

The second she walked through the door,
Lena corralled her into the office under the watchful eye of the sales staff,
who were pretending to steam and price garments for display.

“I can’t believe you,” Lena said, sitting
her down in the swivel chair behind her desk. “When you told me you were in to
him, I had no idea that meant you were gonna marry the guy. What the hell were
you thinking?”

“I wasn’t.
Sir Patron
was doing my
thinking for me last night.”

Lena laughed. “You’re trying to tell me you
married a sexy stranger just ’cause you got into the tequila? That doesn’t
sound like you. Nick had to practically beg you to marry him, and that was
after a year.”

“Yeah, I probably should have trusted my
instincts on that one. It would have saved me a lot of grief.” Alisa started
poking around in the desk drawers. “Please tell me you have aspirin in here
somewhere.”

Lena reached for her handbag and withdrew a
tiny metal packet of pain reliever, passing it to Alisa. “That bad, huh?”

“Worse.”

Lena smiled. “Serves ya right. You promised
big Daddy you wouldn’t drink anymore after that last fiasco at my birthday
party. Remember you were up on the stage with that male stripper?”

Alisa held her hand up. “Please don’t
remind me. I’m sure my father is gonna be more than happy to remind me of all
my stupid, drunken mistakes. No doubt he’ll think this one tops them all.”

“Is that how you feel?”

“I don’t know how I feel right now. I’m
still reeling, to tell you the truth.”

Lena picked up her friend’s left hand.
“Wow, that is some serious hardware.”

“I know, right?” Alisa held her hand out to
admire it. She knew she should have given it back to him, or at the very least,
taken it off on the plane, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. “I’m
beginning to realize Liam’s an all or nothing kind of guy. No half measures
with him.”

“So, where did you guys leave things?”

“I told him I’d have divorce papers to him
by the end of the week.”

When she woke up that morning, in pain and still
trying to come to terms with her impulsive decision to turn her world upside
down with two simple words, it seemed like the only logical solution. But four
hours on a plane and two in the airport, waiting, gave her a lot of time to
think, and a year didn’t seem like forever when she considered what she stood
to gain. If he was right about them and they were compatible, if they could
find a way to make this marriage work, maybe it would be worth it to try.

“Damn, are you sure you wanna do that?”

Alisa dry swallowed two of the tiny pills
before she said, “I don’t know anything anymore. When I left here, I knew what
was important to me, my business, but now, I don’t what the hell I want. This
guy… he really got to me.”

Lena snorted. “Obviously.”

“I’m serious. I’m hoping I’ll be able to
put it into perspective with a little distance between us because being there
with him, it just felt so intense, so right.” She sighed. “Like he could be…”

“
The one
?” Lena asked quietly,
reaching for her hand.

She looked at their joined hands a long
time before answering. “Yeah, is that crazy?”

“Honey, you’re the only one who knows how
you feel about him, or how he feels about you. Speaking of which, how does he
feel?”

Alisa wandered to the small, upholstered
sofa tucked away in the corner and sat down in the middle, hugging a pillow
against her body. “He says he wants to try and make this work. He asked me to
give it a year, and if I still want out…” She didn’t even want to tell her
friend about his offer of financial compensation. It made their relationship sound
so tawdry.

“Go on…” Lena pulled her legs up on the
chair, resting her chin on her knees. “I know there’s something you’re not
telling me. What is it?”

“He offered me ten million dollars if I
still want out of the marriage after a year.”

Lena shook her head, as though she was
certain she’d misunderstood. “Hold on a second. This guy didn’t get you to sign
a prenup before you tied the knot?”

“No, he didn’t ask me to sign anything.”

Lena’s mouth fell open. “Oh my God, Ali,
that’s insane.” She pulled the laptop sitting on the desktop toward her. “I did
a little more digging after I found out what you’d done, and this guy’s worth
hundreds of millions of dollars. He makes the list of the country’s wealthiest
people every freakin’ year.” She typed Liam’s name into the search engine and
selected the website she was looking for. “Check this out.”

Alisa could care less about his money. The
look on his face when she’d walked out on him still haunted her. “I don’t care
about that, Lena. He’s a good guy, a really good guy, and I think I hurt him, a
lot.” She closed her eyes and tipped her head back. “I wish he’d never sat down
beside me on that flight yesterday.”

Lena closed the laptop and looked at her a
long time before asking, “Is that really how you feel?”

“No… Yes… I don’t know.” She drew her legs
up, wrapping her arms around them. “He’s incredible. I’ve never met anyone like
him—”

The door flew open and Trey stood in the doorway,
scowling at her. “You wanna tell me what the hell you were thinkin’, girl?”

Lena jumped up. “I think I’ll give you two
a little privacy.” She tugged on Trey’s sleeve as she walked past him. “Go easy
on her. She’s not feelin’ too well.”

Trey had unofficially adopted Lena when she
was just a teenager, and he was the only father figure she’d ever known. They
loved and respected each other immensely, but Alisa knew not even her friend
could save her from her father’s wrath.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he muttered,
waiting for Lena to leave before he closed the door behind her. He stared at
his daughter as he braced his hands on his hips. “Okay, I’m waitin’. Let’s hear
it.”

She couldn’t tell him she loved Liam, that
would be absurd, but she wouldn’t pretend he meant nothing to her, and she
wouldn’t indulge her father by admitting that she’d already told her new
husband that she intended to file for divorce. “I’d say congratulations are in
order, Daddy.” She winked, trying to lighten the mood. Like that was possible.
“You could’ve done a lot worse, as far as son-in-laws go.”

“He’s twenty years older than you.”

She tried to avoid squirming in her seat.
“Technically, he’s only nineteen years older.” She cleared her throat. “Closer
to eighteen, really, since I have a birthday coming up soon.” Of course, she
didn’t know when Liam would turn forty-five, but she didn’t think it would help
her case to admit as much to Trey.

“He has a teenage daughter. Did you know
that?”

“Of course I knew about Abby. He showed me
a picture of her. She’s lovely, don’t you think?”

Trey dropped down in the swivel chair and
stared at her a long time before he said, “I can’t tell you how disappointed I
am in you right now. I thought you were finally gettin’ back on the right
track, but to marry a guy you don’t even know…” He raked his hands through his
hair. “There’s no excuse for that.”

Alisa blinked back the tears. She hated disappointing
her father, but this was her life, and whether she chose to stay married to
Liam or not had to be her choice, not Trey’s. “I’m sorry you feel that way. In
spite of what you think, I didn’t do this to hurt you or Mom. I love you guys,
but I have to live my own life.”

Trey leaned forward, his eyes shining with
unshed tears. “Why are you so hell-bent on ruinin’ your life?”

“I’m not.” She brushed aside the tear
sliding down her cheek. “That’s not what this is about.”

“Does it have somethin’ to do with Nick?
Were you trying to pay him back for cheatin’ on you?”

“No!” She knew that’s what people would
think, but it wasn’t fair to Liam to allow people to assume he was her rebound
guy. “What I feel for Liam is nothing like what I felt for Nick. I know I can
trust him not to cheat on me. No matter where he is, no matter how many
beautiful women proposition him, I know he’ll be faithful to me.”

Trey rolled his eyes. “How the hell can you
know that? You don’t even know this guy.”