Sweet Trouble

About the Author

SUSAN MALLERY is the New York Times bestselling author of over one hundred romances and she has yet to run out of ideas! Always reader favourites, her books have appeared on the USA Today bestseller list and, of course, the New York Times list. She recently took home the prestigious National Reader’s Choice Award. As her degree in Accounting wasn’t very helpful in the writing department, Susan earned a Master’s in Writing Popular Fiction.

Susan makes her home in the Pacific Northwest where, rumour has it, all that rain helps with creativity. Susan is married to a fabulous hero-like husband and has a six-pound toy poodle … who is possibly the cutest dog on the planet.

Visit her website at www.SusanMallery.com

Sweet Trouble

Susan Mallery

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Lee—who keeps me sane.

You are a gift and I would be lost without you.

Thank you.

CHAPTER ONE

“THEY’RE CALLING YOU a ruthless bastard,” Diane said as she scanned the article in the business magazine. “You must be happy.”

Matthew Fenner looked at his secretary, but didn’t speak. Eventually she glanced up and smiled.

“You like being called a ruthless bastard,” she reminded him.

“I like respect,” he corrected.

“Or fear.”

He nodded. “Fear works.”

Diana dropped the open magazine on his desk. “Don’t you ever want someone to think you’re nice?” she asked.

“No.”

Being the nice guy meant getting screwed. He’d learned that a long time ago. He picked up one of the messages by his phone. Ironically, the woman who had taught him every aspect of that lesson had just called.

His secretary sighed. “I worry about you.”

“You’re wasting your time.”

“Don’t panic. I only do it on my off hours.”

He scowled at his fifty-something assistant, but she ignored him. While he would never admit it, the fact that he didn’t intimidate her was one of the reasons she’d lasted so long. Although he had a reputation for being the kind of businessman who left his competition bleeding on the side of the road, he didn’t enjoy watching his staff cower. At least not all the time.

“Did you have anything else?” he asked, then looked pointedly at the door.

She rose. “Jesse called again. That makes three calls in three days. Are you calling her back?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes. If you’re going to continue to ignore her, I’d like to just tell her and put her out of her misery.” Diane frowned. “You’re usually more clear with your BGFs. They rarely phone after you dump them.”

“I’ve asked you not to call them that.”

Diane blinked innocently. “Have you? I’m sorry. I keep forgetting.”

She was lying, but he didn’t call her on it. Referring to the women he dated as BGFs—short for bimbo girlfriends—was her way of showing disapproval. She complained his women were interchangeable—like fashion dolls. All physically similar, unnaturally beautiful and lacking in heart and brains. She wasn’t wrong.

What Diane couldn’t bring herself to believe was that he dated them on purpose. He wasn’t looking for more.

“She’s someone I used to know,” he said, then wished he hadn’t. Diane didn’t need the information. That part of his life had ended a long time ago.

“Really? Does she actually have a personality, or—” she waved her hands in front of her face as if to keep from fainting “—a brain? Now that you mention it, she sounded almost normal.”

“I didn’t mention it.”

“Hmm. I’m sure you did. So tell me about your mysterious past with this woman.”

“You can leave now.”

“Why is she back in Seattle? Is she nice? Would I like her? Do you like her?”

He pointed at the door.

Diane walked across his office. “So you’re saying the next time she calls to put her through, right?”

He ignored her and she left.

Matt rose, then crossed to the window. His office was at the top of an Eastside high-rise with an impressive view. His business life defined every aspect of success. He’d made it. He had everything he wanted and more—money, power, respect and no one to answer to.

Slowly, deliberately, he crumpled the note with the message from Jesse and tossed it into the trash.

DESPITE THE PROMISES of several famous poets and a couple of tear-jerker country songs, Jesse Keyes discovered it was possible to go home again, which was just her bad luck. Not that she could blame anyone for her current circumstances—she’d decided to return to Seattle all on her own. Well, okay, maybe she’d had a little help from the cute guy in her life.

She glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled at her four-year-old son.

“Guess what?” she asked.

His dark eyes brightened as he grinned at her. “Are we there yet?”

“We’re here!”

Gabe clapped his hands. “I like here.”

They were in town for the summer or however long it took to get her past in order and her future set. Give or take a week.

Jesse put the car in Park, then got out and opened the rear passenger seat. She unbuckled Gabe from his car seat and helped him out of the car. He stood next to her and stared at the four-story building.

“We’re staying here?” he asked, his voice low with awe. “Really?”

The extended-stay hotel was modest at best—a local place. Jesse didn’t have the money for one of those fancy national chains. But the room came with a kitchen and the online reviews had said it was clean, which is what mattered to her. Once she had an idea of how long they were staying, she would look into renting a furnished apartment in the University District. It was summer, which meant empty rooms while the students were away and cheap rent.

But to Gabe, who’d never been in a hotel in his life, their temporary shelter was exciting and new.

“Really,” she said, taking his hand. “Want me to get a room on the top floor?”

His eyes widened. “Can we?” he breathed.

It would mean more stairs for her, but she would feel safer up top. “That’s what I asked for.”

“Cool!”

His new favorite word. He’d picked it up at day care. It was about the four-hundredth time that day she’d heard it and it was starting to get on her nerves. Then she reminded herself that “cool” was a whole lot better than some other words he could have learned.

Thirty minutes later they were testing the bounce in the two double beds as Gabe tried to decide which one he wanted. She unpacked the single suitcase she’d carried up the three flights of stairs. She really had to think about starting to work out again. Her heart was still racing from the climb.

“We’re going out for dinner,” she said. “How about spaghetti?”

Gabe flung himself at her, wrapping both his arms around her thighs and squeezing as hard as he could. She stroked his soft brown hair.

“Thank you, Mommy,” he whispered.

Because eating his favorite food in a restaurant was a rare treat.

Jesse wondered if she should feel guilty for not cooking her first night in Seattle, then decided she would beat herself up later. Right now she was tired. It had been a five-hour drive from Spokane, and she’d worked well past midnight the previous evening, wanting to earn every last tip she could. Money was going to be tight while she was in Seattle.

“You’re welcome.” She dropped to her knees so she was at eye level with him. “I think you’ll really like this place. It’s called the Old Spaghetti Factory.” A perfect, kid-friendly restaurant. No one would care if Gabe made a mess and she could have a glass of wine and pretend that everything was all right.

“Do I meet my daddy tomorrow?”

Jesse’s heart raced again and this time it had nothing to do with taking the stairs. “Probably not tomorrow, but soon.”

Gabe bit his lower lip. “I love my daddy.”

“I know you do.”

Or at least the idea of having a father. Her son was the reason she’d decided to face all the ghosts in her past and come home. He’d started asking questions about his father a year ago. Why didn’t he have a daddy? Where was his daddy? Why didn’t his daddy want to be with him?

Jesse had debated lying, simply saying that Matt was dead. But five years ago, when she’d left Seattle, she’d vowed to live her life differently. No more lies. No more screwing up. She’d worked hard to grow up, to make a life she was proud of, to raise a son on her own, to be honest, no matter what.

Which meant telling Gabe the truth. That Matt didn’t know about him, but maybe it was time to change that.

She didn’t allow herself to think about meeting Matt. She couldn’t. Not and keep breathing. So for now, there was only her son smiling at her and the love she felt for him. The rest would take care of itself. At least she hoped it would.

Because it wasn’t just Matt she had to face. There was Claire, the older sister she’d never really known, and Nicole, the older sister who probably still hated her guts. Talk about a homecoming.

But she would deal with that tomorrow. Tonight there was the promise of spaghetti, then a rousing evening of cartoons and quality time with the best part of her life.

“Are you ready?” she asked as she grabbed her purse, then held out her arms to pick up Gabe.

He jumped into her embrace—loving and trusting—as if she would never hurt him, never let him down. Because she never would—no matter what. At least she’d gotten that part right.

JESSE CHECKED THE address on the piece of paper, then glanced at the portable nav system Bill had let her borrow. They matched.

“Someone’s been moving on up,” she murmured, taking in the long driveway that led to a house on the lake in the very chichi part of Kirkland.

There was a security gate for the property, but it was open. She was grateful she didn’t have to explain her presence to whatever staff might be at the house. Not that she could imagine Matt with staff. They would get on his nerves. At least they would have five years ago. No doubt he’d changed. The man she remembered would never have lived in a massive, sprawling estate with a bronze sculpture on the lawn.

She raised her eyebrows at the confounding piece of modern art, then drove past it. She parked near the wide double doors, behind a BMW convertible. As she climbed out, she tried not to think about how shabby her ten-year-old Subaru looked in comparison. Still, her car was dependable and the all-wheel drive meant safer driving in the Spokane snow.

She patted the dashboard in a silent apology for noticing how pretty the BMW looked gleaming in the sunlight, then grabbed her purse and climbed out. Before heading up the stairs to the front door of the huge house, she checked to make sure her most recent pictures of Gabe were in the front pocket of her purse. She had a feeling that seeing Matt was going to make her nervous. She didn’t want to have to search for the photos.

The front door seemed to soar to the sky. She would guess it was maybe fifteen or twenty feet high and solid wood. Visigoths would have trouble breaking into this house. She swallowed against the sudden tightness in her body, reminded herself to keep breathing no matter what, then pressed the bell.

Somewhere deep in the house, a chime sounded. Jesse waited, knowing it could take a while for someone to walk the length of the house. She counted to ten, then twenty. Was she supposed to ring the bell again? It was nine-thirty on a Saturday morning. She’d hoped Matt would be home. Of course, there were a thousand places he could be. The gym, the office, maybe at a friend’s house. Make that a girl friend. She doubted he was at the grocery store because he was—

The front door opened. Jesse braced herself to see Matt again, only to find herself staring at a tall, slender redhead wearing a very short, sexy nightie and apparently nothing else.

The woman was in her early twenties and beyond beautiful. Her eyes were large, dark green and framed with incredible lashes. Her skin was the color of cream, her breasts pointed at the ceiling and her wide mouth formed a perfect pout.

“Ma—att,” she whined, drawing his name out to two syllables. “It’s one thing for you to keep telling me we’re not exclusive. I accept that. I don’t like it, but I accept it. But to have one of them show up here on my date? That’s just wrong.”

Jesse hadn’t thought the moment through. If she had, she would have realized that a woman answering the door was entirely possible. It had been five years—of course Matt would have moved on. Probably several times.

“I’m not a date,” she said quickly, wishing she’d taken more time with her appearance that morning. All she’d done was shower, slap on moisturizer and mascara, then let her long, straight hair air-dry. She’d been more focused on getting Gabe ready.

The redhead frowned. “Ma—att!”

The door opened wider and Jesse instinctively took a step back. Not that a couple of feet of distance was going to lessen the impact of seeing him again.

He was as tall as she remembered, but he’d filled out. An open, short-sleeved shirt hung over worn jeans. She could see his muscled chest and the dark hair there.

Her gaze rose to his face, to the eyes that were so like his son’s. Recognition tugged in her belly, making her realize that, despite the time apart, she still missed him. Probably because with Gabe around she could never forget him.

Matt had always had potential—in the past five years he’d grown into it. He exuded power and confidence. He was the kind of man who made women wonder who he was and how they could be with him.

“Jesse.”

He spoke her name calmly, as if he wasn’t surprised to see her, as if they’d just run into each other last week.

“Hello, Matt.”

The redhead put her hands on her hips. “Go away. Shoo.”

Shoo? Jesse held in a smile. Was that the best the other woman could do?

“Wait for me in the kitchen, Electra,” Matt said, never taking his gaze from Jesse. “This won’t take long.”

“I’m not leaving. Who is she, Matt?”

Electra? Her name was Electra? Did she have a golden lasso and a flying horse?

“Wait for me in the kitchen,” he repeated, his tone stern.

The redhead stomped off. Matt waited until she’d disappeared before stepping back.

“Come in,” he said.

Jesse walked into the house.

She had a brief impression of space, lots of wood and incredible views of the lake and the skyline of Seattle in the distance. Then she turned to Matt and drew in a breath.

“Sorry to drop by without any notice. I’ve been trying to call.”

“Have you?”

His gaze was as dark as she remembered, but much more unreadable. She had no idea what he was thinking. Was he upset? Annoyed? Or was she just someone he used to know, someone who was keeping him from his morning coffee?

Seeing him was unsettling—an odd combination of familiar and strange. The last time they’d been in the same room, he’d been so angry, so hurt. He’d lashed out to destroy her and he’d succeeded.

“You didn’t get my messages?” she asked, sure that he had.

“What do you want, Jesse? It’s been a long time. Why now?”

So much for idle chitchat, she thought, suddenly feeling awkward and nervous. Couldn’t they have started with something easier, like, “How are you?”

There were a thousand things she could say, a thousand excuses or explanations. None of them seemed to matter.

She opened her purse, pulled out the pictures, then handed them to him.

“Five years ago I told you I was pregnant and that you were the father. You didn’t believe me, even when I said a DNA test would prove the truth. He’s four now and he keeps asking about you. He wants to get to know you. I’m hoping enough time has passed that you want that, too.”

She wanted to keep talking, explaining, defending herself. Instead she forced herself to press her lips together and stay silent.

Matt took the photos and flipped through them. At first he didn’t register much more than a small boy. A boy who was laughing and smiling at the camera. Her words had meant nothing to him. A child? He knew she’d been pregnant. His child? Not possible. He’d refused to believe it then and he still didn’t believe it. She was back because he was successful and she wanted a piece of the pie. Nothing more.

Almost against his own will, he went through the pictures a second time, then a third, noticing the way the kid looked almost familiar. There was something about his eyes that …

He saw them, then. The similarities. The curve of the chin reflected back at him every morning as he shaved. The shape of the eyes. He recognized parts of himself, hints of his mother.

“What is this?” he growled.

His child? His child?

“His name is Gabe,” Jesse said softly. “Gabriel. He’s four and a really great kid. He’s smart and funny and he has a lot of friends. He’s good at math, which he probably gets from you.”

Matt couldn’t focus on her words. They washed over him like rain, making no sense, then moving on. Anger flared, then grew into fury. She’d had his baby and never bothered to say anything?

“You should have told me,” he said, his voice thick and cold with rage.

“I did. You refused to believe me, remember? Your exact words were that you didn’t care if I was pregnant with your child. You didn’t want a kid with me.” She squared her shoulders. “He wants to get to know you, Matt. He wants to get to know his father. That’s why I’m here. Because it’s important to him.”

But it wasn’t important to her. She didn’t have to say that—he already knew it was true.

He thrust the photos back at her, but she shook her head. “Keep them. I know this is a lot to take in. We need to talk and you need to meet Gabe. Assuming you want to.”

He nodded because he was too enraged to speak.

“My cell number is on the back of that first picture. Call me when you’re ready and we’ll set something up.” She hesitated. “I’m sorry about all of this. I wanted to talk to you before coming by but you weren’t available. I wasn’t trying to keep him from you. It’s just, you made it so clear how much you didn’t care.”

Then she turned away. He watched her go.

Something inside of him yelled that he needed to go after her, but he didn’t bother. She might run but she couldn’t hide. Not from him. Not now.

He closed the front door and started for his office. Electra glided into the hallway.

“Who was that? What did she want? You’re not seeing her, are you, Matt? She didn’t look like your type.”

He ignored her and walked into his study. After shutting the door, he crossed to his desk, where he sat down. He spread the pictures out and studied them one by one.

Electra pounded on the door, but didn’t open it. He heard something about her threatening to leave. He didn’t bother to respond.

He had a son. He’d had one for more than four years and he’d never known. Technically Jesse had tried to tell him the kid was his before she’d left Seattle, but she’d known he wouldn’t believe her. Not after what had happened. She’d done this on purpose.

He reached for his phone and dialed a number from memory. “Heath, it’s Matt. Do you have a minute?”

“Of course. We’re heading out on the boat, but I have time. What’s up?”

“I have a problem.”

He quickly explained that an old girlfriend had shown up unexpectedly with a four-year-old she claimed was his.

“The first thing we’ll need to do is establish paternity,” his lawyer told him. “What are the odds you’ll come back as the father?”

“He’s mine.” Matt stared at the pictures, hating Jesse more by the minute. How could she have kept this from him?

“So what do you want to do?” Heath asked.

“Hurt her in every way possible.”

CHAPTER TWO

Five years ago …

JESSE SIPPED HER LATTE as she read the want ads in the Seattle Times. Technically she wasn’t looking for a job. She wasn’t qualified for anything she wanted to do and nothing she was qualified for was better than her crummy shift at the bakery. So what was the point in changing?

“Someone needs to work on her attitude,” she murmured to herself, knowing feeling like a failure wasn’t going to help her situation. Nor was feeling trapped. But both seemed to loom large in her life.

It was her most recent fight with Nicole, she thought, even though fights with her sister were nothing new. Maybe it was her entire lack of direction. She was twenty-two. Shouldn’t she have goals? Plans? As it was, she just sort of drifted through her days, as if waiting for something to happen. If she’d stayed in college, she would have graduated by now. Instead, she’d lasted two weeks before dropping out.

She folded the paper, straightened in her seat and tried to inspire herself to some kind of action. She couldn’t keep drifting. It wasn’t healthy and it made her crabby.

She sipped on her latte and considered possibilities. Before she could decide on one, a guy walked into the Starbucks.

Jesse was a semi-regular and knew she hadn’t seen him before. He was tall and could have been kind of cute, but everything about him was off. The haircut was a disaster, his thick glasses screamed computer nerd. His short-sleeved plaid shirt was too big and—she nearly choked on her coffee—he had an honest-to-God pocket protector. Worse, his jeans were too short and he was wearing geeky tennis shoes with white socks. Poor guy—he looked like he’d been dressed by a mother who didn’t like him very much.

She was about to return to her paper when she saw him square his shoulders in a gesture that spoke of determination. Ordering coffee wasn’t that hard.

She turned in her seat and saw two women at a table against the far wall. They were young and beautiful—the kind of women who looked like models and probably dated rock stars. He couldn’t, she thought frantically. Not them. They weren’t just out of his league, they were on another plane of reality.

She’d never lived through the phrase “train wreck” before, but she did now. He walked toward them, his hands twitching slightly. His gaze seemed to zero in on the brunette on the left. Jesse knew it was going to be a catastrophe. She should probably leave and let him crash in private. But she couldn’t seem to get up and walk away, so she slumped down in her seat and braced herself for disaster.

“Uh, Angie? Hi. I’m, um, ah, Matthew. Matt. I saw you last week at the photo shoot on campus. I kinda ran into you.”

His voice was low and had the potential to be sexy, Jesse thought. If only he weren’t mumbling. He sounded so tentative.

Angie looked at him politely as he spoke but her friend grimaced in annoyance.

“At Microsoft, you mean?” Angie asked. “That was fun.”

“You were beautiful,” Matt muttered, “in the light and stuff and I was wondering if maybe you’d like to get coffee or something and it doesn’t have to be coffee even because we could, ah, go for a walk or ah, I don’t know—”

Breathe! Jesse willed him to pause and break his conversation into sentences. Amazingly enough, Angie actually smiled. Could the geek possibly get the girl?

But Matt didn’t notice because he kept on talking.

“Or do something else. If you have a hobby or you know, something with a pet, a dog, I guess, because I like dogs. Did you know that there are more cats as pets than dogs, which doesn’t make sense because who likes cats, right? I’m allergic and they don’t do anything but shed.”

Jesse winced as Angie’s expression hardened and her friend’s face began to crumple.

“What’s wrong with you?” Angie asked, standing and glaring at poor, quivering Matt. “My friend had to put her cat to sleep yesterday. How could you say something like that? I think you should leave us alone. Now!”

Matt stared at her, wide-eyed and totally confused. He opened his mouth, then closed it. His shoulders slumped in defeat and he walked out of the Starbucks.

Jesse watched him go. He’d been close to getting the girl, she thought sadly. If he hadn’t gone on about cats. Not that it was really his fault. What were the odds?

She looked out the front window and saw him standing just outside the door. He looked stunned, as if he didn’t know what had gone wrong. Points to Angie—she’d been willing to look past the sad exterior to the guy within. If only he’d stopped talking sooner. And dressed better. Basically, the guy needed a major overhaul.

As she watched, he slowly shook his head as if accepting defeat. She knew what he was thinking—that his life would never be different, that he would never get the girl. He was trapped—just like her. Only his problem was more easily solved.

Without having any idea what she was doing, Jesse jumped up, tossed her empty coffee container in the trash and went outside. She could see Matt walking up the street.

“Wait,” she called.

He didn’t turn around. Probably because it never occurred to him that she was talking to him.

“Matt, wait.”

He stopped and glanced over his shoulder, then frowned. She hurried toward him.

“Hi,” she said, still without a plan. “How are you?”

“Do I know you?”

“Not really. I just, ah—” Now it was her turn to stammer. “I saw what happened. Talk about a nightmare.”

He shoved both hands into his jeans and ducked his head. “Thanks for the recap,” he said and kept walking.

She went after him. “I didn’t mean it like that. Obviously you’re really bad with women.”

He flushed. “Nice assessment. Is this what you do? Follow people around and point out their flaws? I’m clear on what’s wrong.”

“It’s not that. I can help.”

She had no idea where the words came from, but the second she spoke them, she knew they were true.

He barely slowed. “Go away.”

“No. Look, you have a lot of potential, but no clue. I’m a woman. I can tell you how to dress, what to say, what topics to avoid.”

He flinched. “I don’t think so.”

Suddenly this mattered. She wasn’t sure why, except maybe worrying about someone else’s problems was easier than thinking about her own. Besides, his life was fixable.

She remembered a segment she’d seen on the news a couple of weeks before. “I’m training to be a lifestyle coach. I need to practice on someone. You need help. And I won’t charge you for my time.” Mostly because she was totally making this up as she went. “I’ll teach you everything you need to know. You’ll get the girl.”

He stopped and looked at her. Even through the glasses she could see his eyes were large and dark. Bedroom eyes. Girls would go crazy for them, if they could see them.

“You’re lying,” he said flatly. “You’re not a lifestyle coach.”

“I said I was in training. I can still help. I know guys. I know what works. Look, you have no reason to believe me. But you also have nothing to lose.”

“What’s in it for you?”

She thought about the ongoing fights with her sister, the job she hated and the lack of direction in her life. She thought about how she spent every single day feeling like the biggest failure on the planet.

“I get to do something right,” she told him, speaking the truth.

He studied her for a long time. “Why should I trust you?”

“Because I’m the only one offering. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“You could drug me and ship me off to some country where my dead body will wash up on the beach.”

She laughed. “At least you have an imagination. That’s a good thing. Say yes, Matt. Take a chance on me.”

She wondered if he would. No one ever believed in her. Then he shrugged.

“What the hell.”

She grinned. “Great. Okay, first thing—” Her cell phone rang. “Sorry,” she murmured as she pulled it out of her purse. “Hello?”

“Hey, gorgeous. How are you?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Zeke, this isn’t a good time.”

“That’s not what you were saying last week. We had a great time. Sex with you is—”

“Gotta go,” she said and hung up, not wanting to hear what sex with her was like. She returned her attention to Matt. “Sorry about that. Where was I? Oh, yeah. The next step.”

She pulled her Starbucks receipt out of her back pocket, then took one of the pens sticking out of his pocket protector. After tearing the receipt in half, she wrote down her cell number on one piece and handed it to him.

He took it. “You’re giving me your number?”

“Yes. Changing you will be more challenging if we don’t get together. Now give me your number.”

He did.

She handed him back his pen. “Okay. I need a couple of days to get a plan together, then I’ll be in touch.” She smiled. “This is going to be great. Trust me.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Yes, but pretend you don’t.”

JESSE DROPPED HER heavy backpack on a chair at a table and set down her latte. She and Matt had agreed to meet at yet another Starbucks to discuss her plan.

She pulled out her list and dug through the material she’d brought for a pen, then shifted impatiently as she waited for him to arrive.

She was early. She was never early. Even more unusual, she was actually enthused about her makeover project. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been excited about anything. Not that Matt had sounded that thrilled when she’d called to set up their meeting. Still, he’d agreed.

Five minutes later he walked into the Starbucks. He was dressed just as badly as he had been the first time she’d seen him. What was with the too-short jeans? And the pocket protector? They had to go first.

He waved at her and walked up to the counter to order. Her cell phone rang.

She grabbed it. “Hello?”

“Babe. Andrew. Tonight?”

“Andrew, has it ever occurred to you that things would go more smoothly in your day if you used verbs?” She looked up and smiled as Matt approached. “I’ll just be a sec,” she whispered.

“I don’t need verbs, babe. I got the goods. So we on or what? There’s a party. We go there, come back here. Everybody wins.”