Page 153 of Dirty Rival
“Me either,” I say. “Just protect yourself and the company. Be on guard.”
“What are you going to do about Carrie?”
“If I was the man she deserved, I’d walk away from her and stay away.” I hang up.
Chapter seventy-four
Carrie
Ipace our hotel room and pace some more. I try to call my father. I try to call my brother. I repeat. Reid is gone for what feels like an eternity. I even stand at the window and count lights and stars, because if I don’t do something, I’m going to lose my mind. I can’t marry Reid if I’m going to ruin him. I love him too much to be that selfish. I can’t marry him. This very idea knots my stomach and pretty much shreds my heart. No. What am I thinking? I am not being bullied into walking away from the man I love. Where the hell is my backbone?
I grab my purse and I head for the door. I’m about to exit when Reid, in all his big, male perfection, steps into the room and catches my arm. “Where are you going?”
“To end this. I’m going to see my brother and you need to stay here.”
He walks me backward until we’re both in the room and then kicks the door shut. “What did I miss? What happened?”
“Nothing yet, I hope. I just need to make sure it doesn’t. Let me go, Reid. I’ll be back.”
“Baby, where you go, I go.”
“I was just thinking that I can’t marry you because I’m going to ruin you, which is a load of crap. I need to deal with my family. They don’t get to take us from us.”
He cups my head and presses our foreheads together. “God, I love you, woman.”
“I love you, too,” I say, my hand flattening on his chest, his heart racing beneath my palm. Reid’s heart is racing and he’s always calm. I pull back to look at him. “Did something else happen?”
Reid
Did something happen?
That’s a loaded question. I considered walking away from her to save her, and in my case, it’s not as simple as just standing up to her father, but those are not words I want to say to her. But I won’t have to. She’s pure and good and she won’t be able to stomach what I’m about to tell her. She’ll leave, and this time I’m going to have to let her leave.
I link her fingers with mine. “I told you I’d tell you what was going on after I talked to Gabe. Let’s sit and talk.”
“Did you talk to your father?”
“No.”
I lead her to the couch and we sit down side by side. “My father is what we need to discuss.”
“Not my father?” she asks, twisting around to search my face.
I scrub my jaw and look at her. “No matter what your father threatens or does, my father is the one who has the real impact. He’s the one who endangers you.”
“I’m not afraid of your father, Reid.”
“You need to know what my father has on me, not because of how it affects me, but because it connects to me. And as much as I hate sharing this, you have a right to know before you marry me.”
“Before I marry you? Reid, your father has no influence on me marrying you.”
I inhale and release her hand, moving to sit on the coffee table in front of her. “My father linked me to some pretty bad things.”
“I know that’s not you.”
“The problem is that I’m linked, Carrie. If you marry me, then you’re linked, and honest to God, I’m a selfish bastard for even asking you to marry me.”
“Oh. I—Oh. I see.” She tries to stand up.