One
“I didn’t know who else to turn to.”
That statement alone added to the already sickening feeling in the pit of Paisley Morgan’s stomach. As if life hadn’t knocked her down over and over, now she stood on the other side of Lucas Ford’s desk as he continued to glare at her like she had nerve walking in here.
Well, she did have nerve. After dumping him years ago and never speaking to him since. But that was all in the past. Wasn’t it?
He leaned back in his leather desk chair and remained silent, and she couldn’t help but second-guess just how much her bold move twelve years ago had affected him.
Had he not moved on? Found someone else to drive insanely wild with desire just from one piercing blue stare? Had he ever thought of her? Because there hadn’t been a day she hadn’t questioned her decision to let him go.
Paisley had bigger issues to worry about than their past and what Lucas may or may not be feeling seeing her show up unannounced. Like the fact that her biological father could be Sterling Perry—the man loathed by nearly the entire city of Houston for his scheming, stealing and money laundering. Not to mention he was arrested for conspiracy to commit fraud.
“What makes you think Sterling is your father, and why should I help you?”
Paisley gripped her clutch in one hand and the letter from her late mother in the other. “I have reason to believe he’s my dad and I need you to investigate to see what you can find out.”
Lucas stared at her another minute, giving her a visual lick as he came to his feet. He was still just as ruggedly sexy as she remembered, but those shoulders had gotten broader, the creases at the corners of his eyes deeper and the strong jaw firmer.
Lucas Ford could always make her breath catch as a young woman and it was no different now, even though years had passed since she’d seen him. Her body responded just the same. There were some memories that were too alive to be pushed into the past. Those vivid moments were always part of her everyday life, no matter how she’d tried to move on.
“What’s this reason you have?” he asked.
Paisley swallowed and glanced down to the letter in her hand. She didn’t bother unfolding the paper as she tossed it down onto his desk. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep her emotions in check. Now was not the time to fall apart. Remaining strong in front of Lucas was imperative, especially considering he hadn’t seen her in over a decade. Vulnerability and tears wouldn’t get her what she wanted; what she needed.
And Lucas was her stepping-stone to finding out the real truth since the obvious choice of her birth certificate had been left blank on the father line.
If there had been any other way than to contact Lucas...
He reached for the letter, opened it up and shoved one hand in his pocket as he read. She knew every word written in her mother’s flawless, delicate writing. It was the content that had Paisley so unsettled and questioning everything she’d ever known and what kind of future she’d ultimately have.
Lucas’s eyes darted back to her. “You believe this? Your mother wasn’t the most—”
“I’m well aware of my mother’s faults,” she defended. “That’s not why I’m here.”
Lucas muttered a curse beneath his breath. “I didn’t mean that. Despite what went down between us, I was sorry to hear about your mother.”
Paisley nodded her acceptance of his apology as another wave of emotions threatened to clog her throat. She’d mentally pushed through the difficult past few months. The flood that had torn through Houston had ultimately claimed her mother’s life and left devastation and destruction in its wake. It had also left an unidentified body on the construction site of one of Sterling Perry’s properties—the elite Texas Cattleman’s Club. Even after all the time had passed, there was still a mystery surrounding the identity of the deceased. There was no ID on the person and no distinguished markings. The entire ordeal was a mess.
An even bigger mess since the person they thought had died, Vincent Hamm, had actually texted his boss and stated he quit and was taking off for the Virgin Islands. So, clearly a man soaking up the rays wasn’t the unidentifiable body found on Sterling’s construction site.
Sterling already had issues going on with the whole scheme he had concocted, which had left a good portion of the region’s banking system in an uproar and
