Between Commitment and Betrayal (Hardy Billionaire Brothers, #1)(24)

My mother, who’d probably left a voice mail checking on me, hadn’t even been invited to watch her only child’s nuptials. I hadn’t even had time to tell her I was being married never mind ask if she could be a witness. She had no idea that I had bound my life to a man—with vows and everything.

It was only a year.

I took a deep breath, but it was small. Another small one. Too many small ones to count. I whipped open the car door in his driveway and stumbled into the rain, trying my best to breathe, but no air came.

“Jesus Christ,” I gasped. I tried to scramble for control. I’d had to rein in my emotions before. I could do it again.

Then he was right in front of me as I bent over. I saw his stupid expensive leather shoes and watched how the water beaded off them like he’d had them shined before the meeting. They made the air around me come even slower, although I was trying to breathe faster.

A football player turned billionaire who was everyone’s dream but my worst nightmare. I saw his house, so gigantic it felt like it was towering over me, like it would eat me alive if I stepped foot into it.

“Everly, breathe.”

I gasped. “I can’t. I … I married you, and it’s all wrong. I don’t want this. Or you. Or your expensive shoes.”

He grabbed my shoulder, pulling me up to standing again. Then, he grasped my chin and tilted my face to look up at him. “Breathe, Drop.”

I shook my head because the air wasn’t coming in even as I gasped for it.

“Now, suddenly, something finally bothers you?” he growled. “This is when you need to keep it together, not fall apart. Do not fall apart on me.”

It was a command. Forceful. And a slight at my character, as if he knew why I tried to keep it together.

He had no idea.

I stood there as water pelted us both and glared up at him, my black dress already soaked through from the rain. “Just because I’m having a moment doesn’t mean you need to target my weakness.”

“That’s exactly what it means. It’s how this empire has operated, how I played in the NFL, and how I’ve structured my life thus far. Everyone targets the weak and acts swiftly.” He smiled softly then. “It’s how you can see whether that weakness has a backbone or not. Seems you do.”

He was pointing out that I was breathing just fine now. He’d saved me from my panic but angered me at the same time. “Are you proud of targeting a weakness? Proud that it got you that nice house on a hill, and an empire where everyone acts like they care when really they only want to be a part of it … for what? Prestige?”

“I’m sorry. Do you not work for that empire?” he threw back.

A part of me was ashamed to say, “I do. It’s a job rather than a point of pride though. That exclusivity is—”

“It’s a luxury,” he finished, his hands fisting. “Obviously you know that since you’re here working for that luxury too.”

“Yes. Declan Hardy, billionaire CEO of the most exclusive hospitality brand in the country, providing us all a luxury we can’t possibly pass up.” I sneered it like a child, past the point of holding in my frustration. “And most eligible bachelor … Well, not anymore, considering we’re legally bound in marriage.”

He saw I was mocking him. It was a taunt like he’d taunted me. “Make sure you call that Cobra boyfriend of yours and tell him that.”

It was a low blow. We both had to figure out where we’d go from here, and yet him throwing it in my face right after I’d almost hyperventilated on his pavement was infuriating.

“No need to tell him when I still intend to be with him. And with anyone else I want. I don’t belong to you or Wes or anyone. I’ve made that perfectly clear. I’ll go to any guy that I want … whether my husband likes it or not.” I lifted my chin and let the cool droplets cascade down my face. I didn’t even back up a step when he came forward to stand chest-to-chest with me.

“Your husband, Mrs. Hardy, will make you regret going to another man for anything.”

“Doubtful. Just because you provide the facade of luxury, Mr. Hardy, doesn’t mean you deliver it.” The words were whispered.

Maybe it was the rain, the smell of earth and storm clouds in the air, or the lightning cracking at us in the sky but I felt the pull to him.

He stared at me as the storm raged between us like he was contemplating how we could move forward, how he could make me bend to his will. Suddenly, his hand dragged up the bare skin of my arm, following the rain’s trail to my shoulder and then across my collarbone to my neck. Even though the water was cold, my skin felt like it was on fire. Heat flowed through every part of me.

He pulled out the gold necklace that meant so much to me, the string necklace with pop tabs, and the threaded necklace under it, turning them over in his hand. “What do these mean to you?”

“Friendship necklace.” I held up my wrist also to show him I wore string bracelets too. “They match the bracelets I make. Pop tabs I collected with my mom for—”

“For cash?” He chuckled and I snapped my gaze up to meet his in shock. “My brothers and I thought we were going to be millionaires one day when we’d collected thousands of them and turned them in.”

“You did it too?”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “What kid doesn’t want to be a millionaire?”