His for Now (His #2) (14 page)

Undeterred, Henrik said,
“Come back and live under my roof instead of wasting away on the beach.  Has it ever occurred to you that
anyone
could come in on the water?” he demanded, gesturing to the beach that was only meters from our back door.  “We can beef up security at the mansion.  You’ll be safe there…much safer than you are here.  Come home.”

“
No.”  Hayden said the word flatly and decidedly, practically spitting it out before Henrik had even finished speaking.  “It isn’t home to me.  It never has been…how could it be when I spent most of my childhood at boarding school?  Home for me is wherever Daniella is.”

Henrik ignored him.  With a sneer, he told Hayden, “I’ll sweeten the deal.  Your little flavor of the week here can join you.”
  My eyes widened.  Hayden hadn’t been kidding when he’d told me his father was a real piece of work. 

Hayden’
s temper flared at once.  “How dare you talk about her that way!” he bellowed.  I stepped between the two men before Hayden had a chance to unleash his fury on his father.  “Daniella, this is between me and him,” my boyfriend said quietly.  “Please get out of the way.”

I shook my head and grabbed Hayden’s bicep, pulling him out of earshot of his father.  “This isn’t just between the two of you
anymore,” I informed him.  “The moment you involved me it stopped being about just the two of you.  I’ve uprooted my life for you, Hayden.  I’ve willingly put myself in danger for you.  I think that warrants me to have a say in this, don’t you?”

His jaw was clenched.  “Of course you get a say, but you don’t know what he’s like.”

“I think I’ve gotten a good idea,” I replied wryly.  “I understand why you butt heads with him, believe me.  But maybe he’s right…maybe we’d be safer at his mansion than here.  And besides,” I added with a grin, “You told me once it’s an absolutely massive estate, didn’t you?  Chances are we could live under the same roof as him without even seeing him most days.”

Hayden sighed.  “That’s really what you want to do?”

Taking a deep breath, I nodded.  “I think it is,” I told him.  I knew full well that he’d give me anything and everything I asked for no matter how he felt about it himself.  With enough gentle coaxing from me, he’d even move into his father’s mansion.

Under different circumstances, I’d never ask Hayden to do something he wasn’t comfortable with.  But there was a lot at stake.  If Henrik had been able to track us down, then we weren’t as safe as we’d hoped.  Hayden, I reasoned, harbored such resentment toward his father that maybe he wasn’t capable of seeing the situation clearly.  That meant it was up to me to step in and urge him to do what was best for us both. 

I just hoped, for both our sakes, that I wasn’t making a mistake.