“She won’t, but if you think you know her so much better than I do, then marry her. Right now. Show her that you love her for her and not for her money. Because she’ll be destitute if she marries you. Promise her that you’ll care for her and your children on the salary you make here, a salary that wouldn’t even afford an engagement ring, for chrissake. I’ll even make it easy for you. You’ll have this job for as long as you want it. I won’t fire you for ruining my daughter’s life. At least that way, I’ll know she has a roof over her head.”
I’m not normally a particularly capricious man, especially when I can’t identify and account for the consequences of my actions. Yeah, I take my pleasure where I can get it, but there’s little risk. I make sure of it. And my business affairs are always well planned and researched. I’ve never let someone push me into anything that I didn’t want to do. Not William O’Neal. Not even Weatherly O’Neal. I know what I’m doing, even if they don’t.
“You know, Mr. O’Neal, I really would’ve expected a man of your intelligence and business acumen to be a better judge of character, but I suppose that’s my mistake.” I lean up in my chair, staking Weatherly’s father to his chair with my gaze, and I invite, “Look into my eyes and tell me that you’re fool enough to think you can goad me into doing something that I don’t want to do.”
He leans forward and glares right back at me. “I’m hoping I can goad you into leaving my daughter the hell alone.”
I stand so quickly my chair rocks behind me, nearly tipping over. I place both hands flat on the table and I bend slightly forward so that he can hear my low voice plainly. “Rest assured that this decision will be up to your daughter, because I’m damn sure not throwing her away to the selfish whims of her jackass of a father.”
For the first time since he started with his barbs, I look to Weatherly. She’s sitting, still and quiet, in her chair watching me. As I walk around the end of the table and approach her, her amethyst eyes shine up into mine with something between excitement and amusement and maybe a little awe. I bet she doesn’t see people stand up to her father very often.
I reach for her hand, bringing it to my lips. I kiss the very spot where a ring should be. That was an asinine oversight on my part. “How about that ride on a four-wheeler?”
Her lips twitch up into a small grin even as her pupils dilate with anticipation of what’s to come. She knows what kind of a ride I mean—the kind that we spoke of last night.
“I think that sounds like a spectacular idea,” she says, standing.
“Gentlemen.” I smile and nod at both William and Michael. “Don’t wait up.”
NINETEEN
Weatherly
I’m shaking. Whether from the conflict at dinner or the idea of what’s to come with Tag, I don’t know, but I feel like I might spontaneously combust.
I hear the unmistakable whine of the four-wheeler engine as Tag races from the farthest building, up the path toward the main house. I descend the steps when he hits the concrete of the driveway. He stops and holds out his hand, which I take as I climb on behind him. His head is turned toward me as I situate my legs on either side of his slim hips, so I meet his eyes when I go to wrap my arms around his waist. I pause when I see him looking at me. His eyes are bright and bottomless in the glow of the moonlight, full of something that makes my insides shiver. He leans forward just enough to kiss me, a soft brush of his lips over mine. I’m not sure what the gesture says, but my heart interprets it as something amazing and trembles with delight.
He turns and hits the accelerator, and we speed off toward the upper field and the mountains beyond. I don’t know where he’s taking me; I just hold on and enjoy the ride. There’s something heady and unpredictable about being with Tag. He’s a different kind of animal and he lights up the sky of my bland, uneventful existence. I think I’m becoming addicted to his particular brand of wild.
The night is hot and sticky around me despite the breeze rolling out from between the trees up ahead. It intensifies the scent of Tag’s skin. It exaggerates the feel of his body between my legs. Everything from the passing landscape to the moon in the sky seems . . . better. New. Exciting. Nothing like what my life has held up to this point.
Tag drives us straight into the forest, darting around trees so quickly it almost makes me dizzy. It’s easy to see that he’s traveled this path a million times before, while I’ve never been in the forest once in my entire life. He has lived free from the moment of his birth. I’ve lived in captivity since the moment of mine.
The path forks and Tag takes the right curve, sending us climbing up a small incline and then dipping sharply down on the other side. Tag continues until the trees suddenly part, revealing a waterfall nestled in among the crags and hollows of the mountainside.