“You know, I’ve been there myself. I grew up without a dad. He walked out when I was just five years old. I barely remembered him for my whole life. Then, I landed that big movie role I was telling you about last night. Suddenly, he reappeared. I had a dad again.” He paused, giving me a small, bitter smile. “You wouldn’t believe how naive I was. He fed me this story about not knowing how to contact my mom after they split up. He convinced me that he wanted to get back in touch with me for a long time, but just didn’t know how.”
“But that wasn’t true?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. It was only a few months before I learned the truth. My mom made sure that my dad always knew how to contact us. He could have come back into my life at any time. But he chose not to until I was rich and famous.”
“Oh God, I’m so sorry.” My heart hurt for him. That had to be so painful.
“It’s okay. I felt stupid too, for a long time. But after a while, I came to understand that I wasn’t to blame for missing the darkness that my dad held in his heart, the greed and selfishness that made him think it was okay to show up with his hand out, even though he had no part in my success. It’s the exact same for you. You’re not to blame for trusting your ex with something so personal.”
I felt the urge to cry again, but for a different reason this time. I was so touched by him opening up to me like this. And his reaction to the news of my nude pictures was not at all what I anticipated. He was more than understanding, he was comforting. Turning my hand over, I squeezed his fingers.
“Thank you for that. And I’m so sorry for not telling you the truth.”
Bowen gave me a little half-smile. “It’s okay. Just don’t ever run from me again, okay?”
“I’ll try.”
CHAPTER14
Bowen
For the second morning in a row, I woke up with Marlee in my arms. We returned to the hotel together last night and when we got into the elevator, I simply pushed the button for the top floor. We didn’t need to discuss it. Something had shifted between us at the bar. I had opened up to her, sharing information about my father that no one knew, not even my manager. It was deeply personal, but I felt like it was necessary to make her feel better about her situation. Besides, I wanted her to know everything about me. I wanted to be closer to her than anyone else. We may not have known each other for long, but I had already fallen for her.
When we got to my suite, I stripped down to my boxers while she kicked off her shoes. Then, we got into bed together. She laid on her side, facing away from me, and I pulled her close, until she was flush against my body. There was nothing sexual about the embrace. The mood wasn’t right for that. I could sense the lingering shame on her part, despite my efforts to make her feel better at the bar. So, I just wanted to hold her in my arms and silently let her know how much I cared about her. In fact, I was pretty damn sure that I was in love with her.
I’d never had these strong feelings before, but they felt life-changing. Marlee was the one, and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to find her here on this little island. There was no mistaking the effect she had on me, the urge to protect her, and the future I could see every time our eyes met. I had never really thought of myself as romantic despite playing the role of a swoon-worthy leading man that always got the girl so many times. But now I thought that it was just because I’d never met the right woman to bring it out of me before now.
When I opened my eyes this morning, our bodies were still pressed close together, her back against my chest and her ass lined up with my groin. I had an erection, but I wasn’t going to do anything about it, not right now. I had business that I needed to attend to, and I wanted to get it done before Marlee woke up.
I lifted my head enough to press a kiss to the side of her neck, making her moan softly in her sleep. Then, I moved away from her. Getting out of the bed, I slipped on a pair of pajama pants and went out into the sitting room. The sun was shining brightly through the windows. It was another beautiful day, and I stepped out onto the balcony with my cell phone in my hand. I placed a call to my lawyer as I looked out over the beach, which was already full of people, even at this early hour.
It was Saturday, so I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to get a hold of him, even on his cell phone, but he picked up almost immediately. Mitchell had been my lawyer for a long time, and after all these years, I considered him to be a friend. That was why I was trusting him with something as important as Marlee’s problem.
“Hello?” he answered, and I heard the sound of young children laughing in the background. Mitchell had five-year-old twin girls that kept him busy.
“Hey, Mitch. I need a favor.”
“Okay, hold on just a minute. Lexie, Stella. Go into the living room, you can watch your movie.”
I smiled as I heard the little girls cry out in happiness. A door closed and there was a small squeak that I figured was Mitchell’s office chair.
“I’m ready,” he said, all business.
“I have a problem,” I started. I quickly filled him in on Marlee’s issue while standing at the balcony railing. Mitchell was quiet as I talked, but I thought I heard the faint tapping of his fingers on a keyboard, taking notes.
“You want me to find a way to compel this man to remove the pictures from the website?” he asked when I was finished.
“Yeah, as quickly as possible. The guy’s name is Brian Lawrence. I know it’s the weekend—”
Mitchell chuckled. “Don’t worry about that. The clock started running as soon as I answered the phone, and my billable hours are doubled on Saturday and Sunday.”
“Fine. Just get it done. I want this problem to go away immediately. Whatever it takes to make it happen. If it comes down to it, I’ll throw money at the problem.”
But I didn’t want to do that. It would feel too much like rewarding the man for his shitty behavior. What I would prefer to do was hunt him down myself and kick his ass. The only thing holding me back from that was knowing a man like him wouldn’t be easily convinced with physical violence. It would probably just make him retaliate in some way that would further hurt Marlee.
As hard as it would be, I needed to keep a cool head and come at this from a legal standpoint. There had to be something that could be done to get those damn pictures off the internet. I hated the idea of other men looking at my girl.
“I’ll find something,” Mitchell assured me. “Give me the website name.”