Don't Lie to Me Read online

  Don't Lie to Me

  Stacey Lynn

  (2013)

  * * *

  What do you do when the man you love leaves, and the only man you’ve wanted since is the one you can’t have?

  When Emma’s first love walked away after learning she was pregnant, she was forced to pick up the pieces, re-evaluate her priorities, and change the course of her dreams all for the sake of her son, who became the only one who mattered.

  It also meant taking a job with Jack McMillan; powerful, sexy, controlled, and CEO of McMillan Holdings. Emma has spent the last several years keeping her dreams and fantasies of Jack to herself, but one night, and one encounter, changed everything.

  Once the walls between them are dropped and the truth is laid bare, will Jack and Emma’s new relationship be able to survive?

  When they are forced to confront their pasts, will they learn to finally put their trust in someone else, or will the lies that are told destroy them both?

  Warning: Due to language and sexual content this book is not recommended for readers under the age of 18.

  DON'T LIE TO ME

  STACEY LYNN

  Copyright © 2013 Stacey Lynn

  All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permissions from the author, except for using small quotes for book review quotations.

  All characters and storylines are the property of the author. The characters, events and places portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Trademarks: This book identifies product names and services known to be trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their respective holders. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of all products referenced in this work of fiction. The publication and use of these trademarks in not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Lyrics from The Nadas, “Only Love is Real,” were used with permission. For more information on The Nadas’ music, you can find them at www.thenadas.com. They rock!

  Cover designed by the fabulous Regina Wambe with Mae I Design and Photography. You can find more information about her at www.maeidesign.com

  Formatting by: Mayhem Cover Creations

  Dedicated to

  Aaron

  Thank you for your encouragement and support.

  I couldn’t travel this journey without you, your laughter, or your love.

  Table of Contents

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ONE

  I sang along to the music playing from the kitchen docking station while I sautéed a pan of bok choy stir-fry. I peeked at the clock before dancing across the kitchen to prepare a salad for dinner knowing I had ten minutes to finish up before Jack would be there, promptly.

  It was how he lived everything, controlled, alert, and dispassionate – except for a successful closing on a new business property. Jack McMillan was CEO and President of McMillan Holdings, a real estate investment company his grandfather started. He took control of the company when his dad died in a car accident ten years ago.

  At the age of twenty-two, he had recently graduated from college and was just beginning to be mentored into eventually taking the helm of his family’s vast empire. Overnight, he became CEO and within the last five years grew the internationally renowned company from a multi-million dollar corporation into multi-billion dollar empire. He possessed power and control at every single moment I saw him.

  As his personal assistant, housekeeper and personal cook, I saw a lot of him.

  He was respectful and kind, but always from a distance. He wore his confidence like a perfectly tailored suit like he was made for his job and his position, and people bowed to him daily.

  He expected perfection and was fierce with anyone who didn’t deliver, but he was never cruel or angry. In fact, besides a slight smile or low chuckle, he rarely showed any emotion at all. It was as if he lived inside a perfectly carved wall of stone where nothing penetrated him. Some days it unnerved me, but I had seen just a few glimpses over the years of his kindness and generosity, and even playfulness, that made me want to see more.

  Because for the last two years, I had lusted after him fiercely.

  I wanted to watch his eyes light up in the throes of passion and to see him lose control, if even for a brief moment. I suspected long ago I was attracted to him simply because he was the most gorgeous man I had ever laid eyes on, but it went deeper than that.

  I inwardly sighed every time he brought home a new toy, or video game for my son Logan, who often accompanied me to work on the days he didn’t have school. As a single mom, my opportunities for dating were infrequent at best. Plus, I hated leaving Logan, even if my best friend, Macy, constantly offered – and sometimes demanded – I go out for a night out.

  Jack was affectionate with Logan, often treating him like a niece or nephew, even though he didn’t have any of his own since he was an only child.

  I was lost in the entertaining sounds of my new Mumford and Sons album, dancing along by myself in Jack’s impressively decorated kitchen, lost in my thoughts of him, when I heard a throat clear behind me.

  Whipping around at the noise, my long blond hair flying out behind me, I froze when I saw him.

  Jack stood in the doorway, hands clutching the top of the doorframe, impeccably dressed in his black Armani suit, with his dark red tie loosened around his neck and the top button of his grey shirt undone. There wasn’t a wrinkle to be seen and he looked just as perfect as he had when he left for work in the morning.

  It was also the most casual I had ever seen him look, and a warm feeling instantly began spreading through my lower stomach. I couldn’t make out the defined muscles I knew hid under his designer suit, but I knew they were there.

  There was a hint of amusement in his eyes along with the wide smile he flashed directly at me.

  “Jack,” I breathed out hoarsely. Whether breathless from the sight of him, or the dancing, I didn’t know.

  “Enjoying yourself?” He asked as he pushed off and walked towards the stovetop where his dinner simmered. He lifted the lid and inhaled. “This smells delicious.”

  “Thank you. It should be ready in five minutes,” I said flippantly, but took a few steps away from him and towards the counter because I was feeling anything but flippant. I turned around and pretended to finish the salad, even though I was really just fluffing it with the salad tongs.

  Mostly I just needed a minute to compose myself and hide the embarrassing blush from getting caught wiggling my ass in his kitchen.

  “How was your day?”

  I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he walked over to the fridge and took out a bottle of water. We had this conversation every night when he got home, on the nights I was still there. But lately, to my own ears at least, it sounded more personal, his voice a bit softer. It was probably my overactive imagination running away from me again.

  “It was good. I confirmed your appearance with Jessica for Saturday night at the Opera. She’s look
ing forward to it.” I bit back my own grimace. Of course she’d be looking forward to a night out with Jack. The only thing that stopped me from wanting to gag is that I knew she was almost at her three-date limit. Then I’d be scheduling appearances, dates, and rsvp’ing on his behalf for other women.

  I rubbed my hand across my forehead, and sighed. Either I had to get over this ridiculous obsession soon or I’d have to quit. Maybe I could go back and finish school. The thought alone made me snort.

  Like I could handle law school and Logan. That ship sailed years ago.

  “Something wrong?” he asked casually. I stopped pretending to finish the salad and removed my apron.

  “No.” I shook my head, still clearing my thoughts from my dream that would never happen. “I was just thinking.”

  He regarded me thoughtfully as if he expected me to say more but when he realized I wasn’t going to, changed the subject. I was glad.

  “Big plans for the weekend?”

  I scrunched my nose up. “I have a date tomorrow.”

  “I see. Someone new?” His voice was clipped, with maybe a hint of irritation, but I chose to ignore it, based on my thirty-second resolve of getting over my feelings for Jack. I couldn’t spend the rest of my life reading into words he said when Jack had never looked at me with anything except professional respect in his eyes.

  “Macy set me up on a blind date.” I didn’t bother hiding my annoyance at the idea of blind dates. I loathed them. The only thing my date tomorrow night guaranteed was an attractive man to look at while enjoying a glass of wine in a restaurant that didn’t come with paper kids’ menus and crayons. Macy loved me too much to subject me to someone who didn’t meet her idea of handsome, and she had great taste. Her own fiancé, Tate, looked like he should appear on the cover of GQ Magazine.

  “You’ll be safe.”

  I halted at Jack’s words. They sounded like a rough command and while I could brush off the irritation earlier, this was definitely not a kind suggestion.

  “What?” I turned and asked him.

  “You’ll be safe. He’s a stranger, and you’re…” I froze as his hand reached out….to touch me? I wanted him to. Screw getting over the obsession with him. When Jack McMillan was within five feet of me I simply couldn’t think straight anymore.

  And now I was imagining him touching, no, caressing my cheek softly out of concern for my safety. I needed a drink.

  As if he saw the surprise and confusions swirling in my mind, his hand snapped to his front pocket and he took a step away from me.

  “I’m what, Jack?”

  “You’re a woman in the city and you need to be careful.” He sounded even bossier as his dark brown eyes pierced me. He also sounded irritated. I just didn’t understand why. Regardless, he didn’t need to be condescending, and it annoyed me that he thought I was some helpless woman alone in the big bad city.

  I sucked in a small breath through my teeth letting my irritation show, and then put a lid on what I really wanted to snap at him. After all, he was still my employer. “Have a good weekend, Jack.”

  I left the kitchen to go pick up Logan from the servant’s suite room before heading home. My room in Jack’s place was small, and it was an interior room so it lacked windows, but I was thankful for the space anyway. When Logan was a baby, Jack let me bring him to work since I worked alone almost all day long. It allowed me to stay with Logan most of the day, only needing daycare for longer nights or special events, and it had everything I needed – a small bed and an even smaller bathroom. Now we used it as Logan’s playroom on the days he came to work with me.

  I stepped over a handful of Legos and told Logan to put them away while I got ready to go home. It only took a few minutes and we were ready to make the short drive back to Lincoln Park. I looked at the time on my phone on our way out to the entryway. It was almost six thirty, but our brief conversation put me a little bit behind than I wanted to be. Oh well, the only thing I had planned for tonight was a game of UNO with Logan that I promised earlier and a glass of wine.

  Jack stood in the entryway when we reached it, his hand clasped firmly to the stairway banister. He smiled and bent down to give Logan a small hug that made my heart flutter. When he turned his eyes to me, he looked just as angry as he did when I left the kitchen.

  “What do you know about this guy?” He demanded as he walked towards us, his hands clenched into fists at his side.

  Why was he so angry?

  I shook my head. “What’s gotten in to you? It’s a date – dinner, a drink - and that’s it.”

  “Where is he taking you?”

  In five years of working for him, Jack had never pulled the overprotective big brother card, and while I liked it – evidenced by the warmth in my lower stomach – I knew he wasn’t angry because he was jealous. I just didn’t know why he was doing this. The entire conversation was frustrating.

  He frowned at me; growing impatient by my lack of response. I sighed. “Frenzio’s. Happy now?”

  “No. I’m not happy about this.” He spit out the words with as much frustration as I felt inside of me and took two quick steps toward me leaving almost no space between us. I backed up a step so I could look at him.

  Standing at his full height, he towered over my five foot seven inch frame. He was well over six feet tall. The top of my forehead didn’t come close to his chin and when he stood so close – which he had never done before – I had to crane my neck up to see him. He narrowed his eyes and ran a hand through his short, dark brown hair, somehow making it look even more perfect than it did before. He opened his mouth to say something and then shut it again, moving back and putting space between us. The entire conversation left me feeling baffled as we stood there watching each other.

  “Mr. Jack, can I play your Playstation next time I come over?” Logan’s smile broke our silence and I watched Jack’s hardened eyes soften when he turned to him with a smile.

  “Sure thing. Maybe I’ll get a new game for you to try.”

  Logan’s smile stretched ear to ear. “Awesome. I want Paper Mario!”

  “Logan….” I admonished him. “It’s rude to state what you want like that. Mr. Jack doesn’t have to buy you anything.”

  He made a pouty face that made both Jack and me laugh; momentarily breaking the tension I could practically feel reverberating off him.

  “Nonsense.” Jack squatted down in front of Logan again and gently rubbed his blonde curly locks. He may have been speaking to Logan, but his eyes never left mine. “If you don’t tell someone what you want, you’ll never get it.”

  His words implied a double meaning, only I didn’t know what on earth he meant and his darkened black eyes left me feeling too unsettled to want to stay around any longer to try to figure it out.

  I simply nodded my head in the direction of the kitchen while I reached for Logan’s hand. “Enjoy your dinner. I’ll see you Monday.”

  He said nothing as he held the door opened for us, waited in the doorway until the elevator came, or before he shut it when we stepped inside. His silence left me more rattled than his words and my head spun in circles trying to figure out what had just happened.

  I almost hated Macy for setting me up on a blind date with Dean. My lip curled in mock disgust for the hundredth time since I agreed to go out on this date. Dean. It was an arrogant, cocky name. The name sounded like he’d be some guy who grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, a trust fund the size of Texas, and spent his days hanging out at the country club, golfing, playing tennis and hitting on the various Chicagoan socialites.

  I didn’t know any of this for sure, but based on the fact that Dean and Macy met at the golf club where her parents were members, I didn’t think my assumptions were too far off. Ironic that most of the closest people in my life enjoyed the same type of lifestyle. Macy grew up in an extremely wealthy family in Chicago. She just never lived like it, or even admitted it to anyone really. Maybe I was being too judgmental of this Dean guy.
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br />   I sighed and set down my mascara. I didn’t even know why I was doing this. Maybe it was because I was desperate. Five years of being a single mom, dropping out of my first year of law school and a full time job as a personal assistant slash housekeeper and cook for business mogul Jack McMillan didn’t allow much time for a personal life.

  I sighed again at the mere thought of Jack and the unsettling way he spoke to me the night before. I had yet to figure out what caused all the tension between us, I only hoped it was gone by Monday.

  That was a total lie. If I was honest with myself, I would totally admit that if there was one person I wanted to be on a date with tonight, it was Jack.

  Brushing the pointless thoughts of Jack McMillan out of my head, I finished getting ready for my dinner with Dean. Maybe Macy was right and I needed this.

  There was no point in trying to get out of the date anyway. If I did, Macy would kill me and an angry Macy was someone no one wanted to see. She may have looked innocent and naïve with her just over five foot stature, but I laughed silently remembering all the guy’s asses she verbally kicked when they tried to take advantage of her, or the way she stood up and defended me after Marcus took off.

  The very name sent shivers down my spine and not in the pleasant way it did when I thought of Jack. Shaking off my anger at the mere thought of his name, I smoothed out my short black skirt, made sure the red belt on my silk blouse sat perfectly around my narrow waist, and tossed my blonde hair over my shoulder.

  I looked good. I’d rather be playing UNO Attack and lounging around in my yoga pants with Logan for the night, but dinner, wine and Dean would have to do.

  I wrinkled my nose again at the name, slipped on my grey peep-toe pumps and headed out to kiss my boy goodnight.

  “Hey kiddo,” I said as I leaned down to give the most perfect little boy a kiss on the nose.