Iron Rods: 1 (Strip Club) (20 page)

“Yes. I do.” Bennett straightened his back and looked his
father dead in the eye. “Very much.”

“Then learn from your father’s mistakes.” Lyle pointed to
the wall of glass. “Go out there and make amends. If she’s important to you, do
whatever it takes to make things right. Show her you care. Show her how
important she is.”

Bennett rubbed the back of his neck. “I have no idea where
to begin.”

“You’re a smart man with a Harvard education. You’ll figure
this out. But you’d better get a move on. You don’t have much time.”

* * * * *

Tatum stood on the stoop outside her condo and waved at
Heather, who waved back from the passenger seat of the silver farm truck
pulling out of the parking lot. As was her roommate’s weird luck, the handsome
man driving the truck was none other than Officer Murphy of the Austin Fire
Department, and they were headed off into the most gorgeous sunset Tatum had
seen in months. The sky burst with colors ranging from a deep orange-red to a
soft petal pink.

Of course, having to have her hand removed from the garbage
disposal hadn’t been a part of Heather’s plan to see the violet-eyed firefighter
again. At least not any plan Tatum had wind of. She and her accident-prone
roomie were simply cleaning up after a quiet lunch when, for some reason,
Heather stuck her hand down into the tiny hole the builder of the condo had the
nerve to call a disposal unit. After forty-five minutes of trying to dislodge
the trapped hand, the fire department had been called. Lo and behold, a smiling
Officer Murphy and a few other firefighters had shown up minutes later and
freed the damsel in distress from the jaws of the Scraps-O-Gator.

Now Heather and Officer Murphy, the misfit and her savior,
were off on their first date while Tatum stayed home to contemplate her future
and sort through all the madness that had been thrown her way. And heartache.
She couldn’t forget to add heartache to the pile heaping on her plate.

Tatum lowered herself onto the stoop and gazed at the fading
sunset as the agonizing choice she had to make loomed before her.

If she left for New York, she would realize her life’s
dream. She’d be dancing professionally for
Haute
, one of the hottest
musicals on Broadway. Every night before hundreds of people she would be
onstage wearing beautiful costumes and expressing herself through her art. This
is what she’d slaved for since she was five. If she didn’t take this
opportunity, there wouldn’t be another. She was twenty-six and six feet tall.
The odds of winning the Texas state lotto were better than her getting another
chance at being a professional dancer. Having the insane fortune of being offered
a spot on a Tony-nominated show was truly once in a lifetime.

On the other end of the spectrum, staying in Austin meant
she could continue to work at a job she liked and make good money doing it, not
to mention seeing the accomplishments of her efforts in revamping the business
and working with the staff. She also had the opportunity to explore teaching
dance. The sense of pride and fulfillment she’d experienced helping Steele, his
daughter and his daughter’s friends had been greater than she ever could have
guessed.

And then there was her bold and sexy John Wayne. Every fiber
in her body told her that she loved Bennett. He’d said he loved her too, which
made what he had done so hard to understand. He’d gone out of his way, all the
freakin’ way to New York, to personally pull strings with Alan Sanders and help
her land a job offer. Had that been a display of extreme selflessness, a true
demonstration of love, or a way to get her out of his life? If he loved her
like he said he did, why would he want her to leave?

No matter what choice she made, she would lose. A big part
of her heart would be lost forever with either alternative. She’d thought
through her situation all day. There simply was no compromise.

She pulled a tall weed from a row of flowers edging the
concrete stoop. One after another, she ripped the leaves off the unwanted
plant. The weed, in so many ways, was just like her. Forces beyond their
control tore at them, leaving them both a pile of jagged pieces.

Making matters just a little worse, Bennett hadn’t even
called that day. No,
sorry I fucked up your life
flowers had been sent.
No drive by to apologize. If he thought he had done her a favor by getting Alan
Sanders to offer her a job, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

Then again, maybe screwing with her head and putting the
opening of Iron Rods in jeopardy had been his plan all along. Who knew what the
slick New Yorker was thinking? Not her, that was for sure.

But he says he’s fallen in love with me. He isn’t the
kind of guy who would use the L-word lightly. Is he?

A tear formed at the corner of her eye and ran over the side
of her cheek. By the time she angrily swiped at her face with the back of her
hand, another tear had blazed a hot trail and then another.

They were doomed for failure anyway, she reminded herself.
He was the rich man from the big city. She was the six foot misfit from West
Texas. Oil and water. Hatfields and McCoys. They would have to be nuts to think
they could make a serious go out of their relationship. Right?

Covering her face with her hands, she fought the
overwhelming impulse to have a full-blown cry. It was a good thing she had
convinced Heather to go out tonight rather than stay and try to console her.
There would be no consoling. Not tonight. Not until she had made up her mind.
Tonight she needed time alone to get her shit in one sock, as her mother used
to tell her. She had ice cream in the freezer, a new bag of Baby Ruth bars in
the pantry and a bottle of chocolate wine chilling in the fridge. All the
makings for a perfect pity party.

As she stood to eat her way through the candy and call in an
order to Home Slice Pizza for the biggest cheesy pie they baked, a sports car
pulled into the parking lot. Bennett’s six-foot-four frame climbed out. In the
months she’d known him, she’d never seen him in jeans. The pair he wore was
faded a light blue, and they didn’t appear as though he’d bought them that way.
These were the lived-in kind, as were the old snip toe boots covering his feet.
In his big hands he held the handles to a shiny white gift bag.

She didn’t know if she wanted to rip off his face for making
her so miserable or run into his arms and tell him to never let her go. The
emotions gurgling in her system like a witch’s brew kept her rooted to the
spot.

“You still talking to me?” he asked.

Backlit by the colorful sunset, he looked like a handsome
movie star from some Technicolor Western. The only things missing were a horse
and a Stetson.

Her heart ached to touch him. But he deserved to grovel. He
actually deserved a lot more than that, but groveling was a good start.

Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of a spoken
response and unsure she would be able to open her mouth without sobbing, she
answered by crossing her arms and shooting him her best narrow-eyed, rot-in-hell
glare.

“Okay. I see how this is going.” He gestured to the door
with the hand holding the bag. “Mind if I say a few things in private?”

Tatum frowned and shrugged before turning around and opening
the door.

She couldn’t imagine what he could possibly say. Whether his
motives were for her benefit or for his, he’d managed to make a hot mess out of
her life. It was his fault that she had only a few hours to make one of the
biggest decisions in her life.

After heading straight to the small kitchen table, Tatum sat
down and crossed her legs to match her crossed arms. No way would she let him
see what an emotional basket case she was deep inside. She had to at least
appear to be strong. Show that he hadn’t hurt her one little bit.

Bennett closed the door and set the bag on a counter. After
a moment of standing there and staring at her, he opened his mouth to speak.

“I’m not the type of man who lets people get too close. I’ve
been hurt a few times and I had no intention of ever letting that happen
again.”

She let out an audible sigh and fidgeted in her chair.

“Regardless of my past, what I did to you was a huge
mistake,” he continued. “I want to fix things, if I can.”

She lifted her head but remained silent.

He reached into the bag and pulled out a small foil-wrapped
box with a tiny bow. She felt her eyes grow round. A lump formed in her throat.

What was he up to?

“I want to offer you this.” He placed the box on the table
inches from where she sat and stepped away. “You can turn me down if you want.”

Heart thundering, she glanced at the box and then back at
him.

“Open it.” He pushed the package closer to her. “Please.”

The quiet pleading in his voice melted her stiffened spine.
She picked up the box with a shaking hand. Slowly she slipped off the ribbon
and carefully separated the tape from the foil paper. Inside the fancy wrapping
was a jewelry box. Her stomach flipped. She bit her lip as she lifted the lid.

A shining silver key rested on a lining of red satin within
the box. Her flipping stomach fell with a sickening
plop
.

“What is this?”

“It’s a key to my apartment in New York. If you decide you
want to accept the job Alan offered you and move to New York, I want you to
have a nice place to stay. The place overlooks Central Park. You can’t beat the
views from the living room windows.”

“A key? You’re giving me a key?” Her voice rose with her
rising incredulity and hurt feelings. He was practically giving her the boot,
leaving little doubt he wanted her to get the hell out of Dodge.

“Well, if you don’t like that, you probably won’t like this
either.” He pulled a second foil-covered box from the bag and handed it to her.

This time she ripped through the wrapping, tossing the
shredded paper to the floor, and flung open the box. Inside sat another key.

He pointed at his gift. “This one is to my condo in Austin.”

Disbelief confounded her already confused brain. “What?”

“If you decide to stay, I want you to move in with me. And
not in my guest room,” he clarified.

Before she could make heads or tails of what he was doing long
enough to reply, he pulled out a third box.

“Another one?” Her high-pitched tone sounded as if it had
been belted from a soprano opera singer rather than coming from her own mouth.
“Just how many frigging apartments do you own?”

Bennett stood before her and then bent to one knee. In one
hand he held the box. With the other, he gently took hers.

Her eyes clouded over. The lump in her throat instantly
tripled in size.

“I told you last night that I’ve fallen in love with you. I
have. I’ve never been in love with anyone before. Between this morning and this
moment, I’ve been out of my mind just thinking of a life without you in it.” He
squeezed her palm. “I chartered a jet to New York and back today to pick this
up. It was my mother’s. I want you to have it.”

He released her hand and opened the unwrapped box. Inside, a
ring with two small diamonds flanking the sides of a larger diamond sat in
between cushions of blue velvet.

Tears fell unbidden down her face. Her entire body quivered.
God. He was killing her.

He removed the ring from its resting place and slipped it
onto the ring finger of her right hand. “Tatum, this ring is a pledge of my
love. As long as you wear it, you’ll have my heart.” He smiled. “And I never
want to have it back. I hope you’ll keep it forever.”

Bright dots appeared before her eyes. Her head reeled. Just
what did all this mean?

She worked her mouth but her tongue was almost too thick to
speak. “Ahh,” she started awkwardly. “Is this a proposal?”

His smile broadened and he shook his head. “Not yet. When
the time is right there will be, as well as another ring.” He nodded to his
mother’s ring. “Let’s just call this one a very special gift.”

She looked down and marveled at the beautiful, glittering
ring on her finger. Whoever picked it out the first time had done a brilliant
job. The white gold setting bore a touch of an antique look about it. Though
the center diamond had to be slightly over a carat, it wasn’t too flashy.
Simply perfect.

“I love it. I really do. And I love you too.” Tatum slipped
the ring from her finger and placed it on the table. “But I can’t accept it.”

Her refusal seemed to catch him completely off guard. He
stared at her open-mouthed and his wide smile disappeared.

“Why not?”

“For lots of reasons, including the fact that I may take the
job in New York.” She took in a breath for encouragement. She had to build up
her emotional strength to say what needed to be said. “I never wanted to have
to decide between love and my career, but you forced my hand. If I leave, I
don’t want a long-distance romance. If I stay, I don’t want to continue
worrying about you doing something that will cause Iron Rods to close. You’ve
made your desire to destroy it and build something else in its place crystal
clear. So I’m in a no-win situation here.”

Bennett got down on both knees and placed her hands in his.
“You don’t have to worry about Iron Rods. I don’t want to tear it down
anymore.”

This time she was the one caught off guard.

“You don’t?”

“No.”

“But I don’t understand. What happened? Why did you change
your mind?”

He rubbed her palms with his thumbs, making small circles in
the fleshy center. “Because I’ve learned a few things since I’ve moved back to
Austin. Especially about what’s important in life.”

“But—” She started, and was cut short.

“If you want to dance in the
Haute
production, I’ll
move back to New York. I wouldn’t want a long-distance relationship either,” he
said, answering the question before she could ask it. “If I live there, I can
telecommute here and occasionally fly back and forth to take care of business
with Truitt Holdings. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll go back to work for Ashton
Paper Products. Either way, I plan on being with you.”