Reckless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 2) (24 page)

“No more kidnapping. I’ll even write it into my vows.”

“That’s assuming there’s a wedding. And, since you haven’t proposed yet, we can’t say that will happen, now can we?”

“Okay. Then I’ll write it into my hypothetical vows.”

“There you go.” She tilted her head back to look at him. “When are you coming home again?”

Home.
It was so nice to hear her say it. Even though it had been hard, he’d been passing more of his duties onto his brothers, and even a bit to Jean, as he transitioned to his new home office on Hawaii. After a few months of trial and error, Malia had been able to find a nice place for them on the beach of the North Shore where the waves were at their best. It was smaller than the homes he was used to living in, but something about always knowing Malia was just one or two rooms away made the size one of the things he liked about the house.

“I have meetings scheduled the next two days and then I’m on the first plane home.”

She smiled. “Then I guess I’ll have to make the most of the time we have here.” New York wasn’t her favorite place, but the bright side was that when she did come to the city with him, she spent most of the time in the bedroom. Hard to complain about the most beautiful woman he’d ever met waiting for him under the covers all day.

Malia leaned her head against him once more. “You know, that fundraiser went over really well.”

“The press hasn’t shut up about it. Obviously I should host parties in Hawaii more often.”

“And, hypothetically speaking, I’d be pretty capable of planning a wedding after helping to organize all that.”

“Hypothetically,” he smiled, “when would be a good time to talk about this?”

Malia frowned against his chest. “Hmmm... Well, not tonight obviously. And probably not tomorrow morning. But I suppose any time after that. You’d need a ring, though.”

“Something with flowers. You need flowers everywhere.”

Abruptly, Malia stopped dancing. “Robert, do you have a ring already?”

He looked down at her. The corners of his mouth hooked up. “Hypothetically?”

“No. Screw hypothetical. Do you actually have a ring?”

“Of course. I’ve had a ring for months. I knew the second I kidnapped you that I wanted to marry you.”

“Robert... That’s...”

He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Shh.” He started to pull her back into the dance. “You don’t have to say anything but yes. Eventually.”

“Soon.”

He held her closer as the song finished. After tonight, he’d have to ask that question sooner rather than later. He smiled at the thought. A Hawaii wedding would be beautiful. Almost as beautiful as her.

Coming in August 2nd, 2016

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He wants to know who tried to kill him.

She wants to protect his family's reputation.

They both can't get what they want.

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Someone tried to kill him, and now that he's freshly out of prison, Logan Farrell is determined to track down the real criminal.  Hellbent on spending his family's fortune to discover who's got a hit out on him, Logan will stop at nothing until he has the answers her wants.

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But the Farrell family has other plans...

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Public Relations Specialist, Julie Anne h as one job:  keep the Farrell name out of the tabloids.  With their sketchy background, it's a harder task than she ever realized.  But when Logan's quest for the truth puts the entire family in danger,  Julie steps in with a plan that could destroy everything Logan's worked for.  Suddenly, Logan's enemies are out for blood, and Julie's caught in the middle.  Now, it's up to Logan to end the vendetta once and for all.

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http://www.mallorycrowe.com/

(A sneak peek at book 3 in the Fractured Farrells Series)

Copyright 2016 Mallory Crowe

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CHAPTER ONE

J
ulie had done a lot of crazy things in her life, but this might take the cake. She rolled down the window and looked at her phone for the fifteenth time. It was ten past ten. Which meant he was ten minutes late. But when she'd talked to the warden the night before to confirm the time of the final hearing, he'd said nine-thirty. Since this final hearing was more of a formality, Julie didn't know how long she should expect it to take.

She was about to reach back for her book when the steel gates of the prison started to slide open. Since there was no one waiting to enter the first of many locked doors of the prison, it had to be someone trying to get out. Julie slid forward in her seat as she tried to get a better view of whoever was coming out. She'd seen plenty of pictures of the guy, but they were all of him ten years ago.

Who knew what was about to walk out of those doors?

Even though Julie was half convinced she wouldn't recognize Logan Farrell when she saw him, the guy who walked out was unmistakably a Farrell.

It helped that he was wearing the outfit she'd sent. He'd been originally taken in after a party. He'd been a young twenty-two years old and Julie knew exactly what he'd been wearing since she'd seen the pictures. Because getting arrested for something you didn't do wasn't bad enough, it had to happen in full view of the paparazzi. The media had always been fascinated with the Farrell family, especially with Walter Farrell's very public string of marriages and divorces, but this arrest started their obsession.

Julie supposed she should be grateful. If it weren't for the issues with the media and their fixation with the brothers, Nathan in particular, she wouldn't have her extremely comfortable savings account. Most PR specialists only dreamed about getting clients this big. But it was hard to be grateful considering the amount of headaches the Farrells had caused her over the years. Hell, at this point she should own stock in anti-acids. Lord knew she was probably increasing the profits ten-fold.

With that in mind, she popped a few more of the chewable tablets and got out of the car.  She'd parked the brand new rental SUV in the middle of the parking lot. Julie didn't know much about Logan Farrell, but she knew she needed to tread carefully. This was a man who'd been born into privilege and had been screwed over time and time again. He had ten years to think about just how unfair life was and she didn't know what kind of bitterness would come out of that.

And she had a feeling he wouldn't be the type to be overwhelmed with gratefulness that his family had fought tooth and nail to get the charges of insider trading dropped. And that was why she was there. To monitor him and make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

Logan looked strongly like his brothers and extremely different at the same time. His dark, almost black, hair was long and ragged, pulled back into a short ponytail. Funny. Julie had never liked long hair on a guy, but when it was pulled back, it made his sharp cheekbones and strong jaw line stand out even more.

She couldn't see his eyes from where she was, but she knew from pictures that they were a bright ice blue. Hopefully that was one thing prison couldn't change. When Julie had first seen pictures of him, she'd had to ask Nathan if he was wearing contacts. The color just seemed so unreal. Julie had a feeling that if he hadn't been put in prison, he'd be the party boy that would've needed a personal PR rep, not Nathan.

Except now he was free and still too damned attractive for his own good. He was going to be looking to scratch a hell of a lot of itches. It was her job to keep those impulses managed. 

The guy stopped outside the gates and looked around. She couldn't guess what he planned to do. He'd ignored all the calls from Robert and Alex where they'd tried to arrange a pickup for him. Hopefully he'd be willing to talk to her.

She'd had no idea what size clothes he wore, so she'd played it safe by sending Logan some XL sweatpants and a white t-shirt. Comfortable and would hold him over while they looked for some better fitting clothes.

Since he hadn't been expecting her, she didn't think she'd get his attention until she was right up on him, but Logan stared at her the second she stepped out of the car. As she weaved through the parking lot, he never looked away from her. She wasn't sure if he'd forgotten all basic manners while he was in there or if he just didn't care.

Maybe a combination of both.

Julie squared her shoulders as she approached her newest project. "Mr. Farrell?" she asked even though she already knew it was him.

His eyes, which she confirmed were the same striking blue color once she was so close, narrowed skeptically. "Who the fuck are you?"

Oh yeah. He was going to be a peach to work with. "Your family sent me to help with your release."

Those eyes looked up and down her body and she forced herself to remain still and not fidget. Her designer jeans and black tank top with delicately embroidered blue flowers was perfectly modest and she had no reason to feel ashamed with what he was seeing.

"You don't dress like a hooker or a lawyer. Why would my brothers send you?"

"I'll take that as a compliment. They sent me to help. You tell me what you need and I'll get it for you. Starting with a car." She held up the keys to the rental. "This is just temporary, but we can go car shopping as soon as you're ready and pick out a permanent ride for you."

Logan tentatively reached out and took the keys. "You think I still know how to drive?"

"I think I got a car with good airbags." He gripped the keys tightly in his hand and Julie didn't know if that was a good sign or bad. "Since I'm more familiar with the area, I can handle the first leg of the trip. I did some reading and it said that most people who get out after long stints in prison like to get food first. Usually some sort of meat. I have a list of the best burger joints in the area. Maybe that can be lunch and we can move onto steak for dinner?"

Logan was expressionless as he stared at her and Julie knew that no matter what he'd been expecting, it sure as hell wasn't her. Besides, it was hard to give a smartass answer when someone was offering to get you a burger. He handed the key back to her. "Lead the way."

Julie smiled her victory as she took the key from him. "Great. Come on." She lead the way across the parking lot and to the car. She didn't hear him following her, but she forced herself to keep her gaze straight ahead. It was important to pay attention to the power scales here. On one hand, he'd just gotten out of a place where he'd been vulnerable for ten years straight. She knew he'd be trying to prove himself and test limits now that he was out, which she was fine with. But he also needed to know that he couldn't push her around or force her to let him do whatever he wanted. She was there to protect him and in some cases that would mean not letting him get what he wanted.

So this was going to be an interesting day.

Once she reached the car, she finally let herself look over her shoulder and, sure enough, Logan was right there. Had he been that close to her the entire time? Who knew he could walk that silently?

Except he stopped when she stopped, mere inches away from her and right next to the driver's side door. "Did you change your mind about driving?" she asked.

Logan bent forward and Julie held her breath. Was he going to kiss her? She knew that he'd be looking for  a woman soon, but he needed to know that she was off limits. It would help if she could tell him that she was off limits, but for some stupid reason, her mouth didn't seem capable of speech at the moment.

Logan didn't kiss her. Instead he just leaned in close and... smelled her? Before she could question it too much, he leaned back and headed around to the passenger's side.

Julie stood there for a moment, trying to regroup. Okay. She'd only been around Logan for two minutes and already she was messing things up. Damn it. She needed to get a hold of herself. After she'd cleared her head, she climbed into the driver's seat as Logan was adjusting his seat by setting it as far back as possible to accommodate his long legs. She'd known he was going to be tall, but Julie was still rather surprised by how wide he was. And not a fat wide. His shoulders took up well over the width of the seat.

Apparently he had spent more than his fair share of his time in the prison gym. It was funny that she'd spent so much time with Logan's family but he seemed so... alien from them. Like there was a feral quality that made everything about him a tad unpredictable.

Which was a pain in the ass since she kind of needed things to be predictable. "You should buckle up. It's against the law for the front seat passenger to be unbuckled in the state of California."

Logan grimaced, but he did pull the belt over and down, clipping it into place. "From a cell to tied down."

"You can roll down the window if it will make you feel more like a free man."

He looked over and scowled at her. "Was that a joke?"

She shrugged. "I'm not laughing."

He rested his head back on the seat and closed his eyes. "Can we just leave?"

"Of course." With that, she started the car. The drive from the prison was secluded. She supposed not a lot of housing developments would be interested in the land so close to the barbed wire fences. The car was awkwardly silent as they continued down the road and onto the freeway. It was a fifteen minute drive from where they were to the burger place and Julie hadn't expected Logan to be a chatter box.