The Safe Bet (Hidden Truths #1)(13)

“Thirty-three.”

“Oh—you’re ancient.”

He grinned at her and glanced toward the windows. “What’s going on? For real?”

She brought her hand to her lip and bit her thumb. Was she going to tell him? Somehow, she couldn’t find it in her to stop.

“My mom died giving birth to me, so I feel like I’d be celebrating her death if I partied on my birthday.” She looked back out the window, not wanting to see pity, which was the normal response delivered to her upon hearing her story.

After a moment, he spoke, his voice soft. “What happened?”

Where do I even begin? She shook her head, and her eyebrows quirked in surprise—who would have thought, three days ago, that she would be opening up to Michael Maddox?

“My mom was a student at UNCC. She got pregnant her junior year. She was due in October, but apparently, some problems developed, and they had to do an emergency C-Section. She lost a lot of blood. Too much.” She cleared her throat and attempted to block the threat of tears. “My dad doesn’t want me in Charlotte. He hates this place because of what happened to my mom.”

“I can understand that.” He walked away from her and sat back down on the couch.

Kate turned around and looked at Michael. He was leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees with his eyes on the floor. He seemed . . . different.

“I was ten years old before he brought me to Charlotte. I never saw him cry until that day.”

Michael looked up at her. “It’s hard losing someone.”

Kate studied Michael for a beat. His mood had definitely changed. The warmth that had radiated from him before when he had heated her body with his gaze was gone.

He was stone cold—steel.

“I should get some sleep,” she whispered, feeling too heavy to speak anymore.

“You gonna be okay?” He stood up and moved toward her, and touched her cheek with the back of his hand. The soft gesture didn’t match the now dark look in his eyes.

“You don’t need to worry about me. You don’t know me.”

The muscle in his jaw strained as he withdrew his hand from her face.

She moved back to the windows and looked out, arms crossed. “Goodnight, Michael,” she said as their eyes met in the reflection of the glass.

“Happy Birthday.” He paused in the open doorway for a moment, maybe he was unsure if he should leave her, but she sighed a breath of relief once the door closed.

And her eyes became blurred by her tears as she sank to her knees.





CHAPTER FIVE




KATE GLOWERED AT HER PHONE for the third time in the last minute. She was on the rooftop terrace of her hotel, trying to get some work done, but her brain kept drifting back to the text she had received the night before. Who had sent it? It had been a photo of her standing before her mother’s grave. No message, just like before.

There was no way she would be able to convince herself that the text was from a pissed off event planner. But whom would it be? Who would want to stalk her?

She shook her head. Ignore it. Do your job. She shoved her phone back in her bag and stared down at her tablet. The sun was beating down on her back, but the shade above the table allowed her to see the image on her device. She didn’t make it a habit of working outside, but the day was too beautiful to waste indoors, and she hoped the fresh air would help ease her suffocating anxiety. Still, she felt as though someone had a vice grip on her throat and was squeezing the life out of her.

She couldn’t allow some crazy person to knock her off her game, though. She needed to finish the web design for the gala, hire a caterer and band, and wrap up many other details for the event. She was lucky the hotel had an in-house designer who could set up the ballroom at hyper speed, and in the way Kate had envisioned. But there was still so much more to do.

She didn’t like weddings because they took too long—but hell, planning something in a week wasn’t what she had in mind, either.

Kate had suggested to Julia to invite some of the veterans whom the Maddox Group had already helped to become success stories. She wanted some of them to speak about their experiences, hoping that the personal touch would entice more support from the deep-pocketed attendees. She thought it would also be a great opportunity for the veterans to network and meet potential investors.

The fundraiser would raise money and awareness to help veterans and their families. It would bring in new investors to help launch businesses led by veterans. And, as Julia hoped, it would provide some relief for Michael as more individuals joined the cause.

Kate knew that auctioning off Michael was a little gimmicky, but she also knew it was a surefire way to maximize attendance and rake in the dollars. A small smile wandered to her lips when she envisioned Michael in a tuxedo—for about the fiftieth time.

She knew she’d have the same reaction that all the women at the gala would have—butterflies. Just like last night.

For some absurd reason, she had longed for Michael’s muscular arms to wrap around her body, to protect her. She wanted to lose herself in his embrace, in the tingling sensation of desire that swept through her when she was near him. That was why she had needed him to leave her hotel room—she was beginning to doubt her ability to trust herself around him. Her body seemed to assume control and her mind took a distant second. Hell, more like a distant tenth.