Page 45 of Claiming Her Cougar (Shifting Pines #2)

LIAM

It takes all my self-control not to burn rubber leaving the parking lot after dropping off Mallory.

I hurt her. I hurt myself. But it’s better to stop whatever there is between us before it becomes too much for us to keep quiet, before everyone knows.

I can’t let my desire—my love—for her keep her from achieving her goals.

Uncle Mike told me about Mallory’s dream to be involved in the planning and creation of new centers.

She had all those great ideas at the meeting. She’s meant to do this kind of work.

I wanted to vomit when I overheard Janet’s vicious gossip.

I knew what she and her minion were insinuating, and it was disgusting.

It took everything I had not to burst out there and fire them both on the spot.

But that would have added fuel to the fire and hurt my parents.

Dad and Uncle Mike are honorable men. They would never cheat.

I know Mallory admires both of them—it would break her heart to have gossip spread linking her to them in that manner.

It would hurt Mom and Aunt Holly too. People would whisper about how when there’s smoke, there’s fire.

I wasn’t going to allow our budding relationship to be kindling.

Better to break it off now before we get too deep.

Maybe once the team is announced and my ties to Morgan Development are formally severed, we can try again. If she’ll talk to me.

Stopped at a red light, I hit my steering wheel in frustration.

My cougar is pacing inside me, restless.

I wish I had time to go for a run, but I need to get to the airport ASAP to catch the flight to Oregon.

I didn’t need to be here for the meeting today.

They could have handled it just fine without me, but I jumped on the opportunity to see Mallory again, no matter how briefly.

Now I wish I hadn’t. I’d give anything to go back to naively thinking this could work out and only good things would come from it.

Her career would flourish, and we could work together on a project that was important to both of us.

That we could build something together, literally and figuratively.

I park in the garage at the airport and text my dad where the truck is parked.

Not that it doesn’t stand out. Not many red-and-tan 1990 F-150s around anymore.

I go through security quickly and down a whiskey at the airport bar before boarding my flight.

Maybe if I stay slightly buzzed, it’ll ease the pain in my chest.

It’s not like I was really, truly in love with her.

It was a fling. A brief infatuation. There was no future.

I never thought about little redheaded girls with braids running through the woods or little boys learning to play hockey on the rink their grandmother invented.

I didn’t imagine Thanksgiving next year with Mallory by my side at Aunt Holly’s. Nope. Never crossed my mind.

If I keep lying to myself, maybe I’ll believe it. Eventually.

* * *

It’s been a week since I left Mallory at the office.

A week since I’ve seen her or spoken to her.

A week since my heart has felt whole. But the pain I feel will be worth it if it gives Mallory her dream, if this success is what she needs to prove herself to her family.

Show them that she’s as focused and as driven as they are, that she isn’t lesser because she doesn’t shift.

I pick up my phone and FaceTime Logan. He’ll understand.

“Hey, Liam. What’s up?”

“Nothing. I’m in Idaho. Bored. Just checking in. How are you?”

“I’m fine. I figured you’d be calling Mallory, not wasting time with me.”

He doesn’t know. I guess Mallory didn’t say anything. Why would she? It meant nothing to her.

“Yeah. We haven’t been talking much. She needs to focus on her career now. So do I. Neither of us needs the distraction of a relationship or the gossip that goes along with it.”

“What are you talking about?” Logan gets up from the sofa and starts walking through his house.

“Teagan picked her to be on the leasing team for the pier project, and I heard people gossiping about how Mallory will do anything to get ahead. About our dads. They meant it in the most disgusting way.”

Logan drops into his desk chair heavily, the leather creaking under him. “Wait, what? Who the fuck would say something like that? I hope you fired their asses on the spot!”

I run my hand through my hair and let out a huff of frustration. I wish I had.

“No, I didn’t fire them. I didn’t want to even acknowledge their existence.

I can’t let Mallory be subjected to that kind of malicious gossip.

Or the family. Since I’m out of town so much, I decided it would be best to just call things off.

We had a meeting where Teagan and Dad told her she had the new pier job.

She was so excited and came up with a dozen ideas right off the top of her head.

She’s made to do this kind of work. I can’t stand in the way of that.

We went to lunch with Teagan and Jake, and on the way back, I told her we should focus on our careers.

I wanted to let her down easy. I could tell I hurt her, but she agreed, and then she couldn’t get out of my truck fast enough.

I swear she practically left a jet trail.

” I take a breath and refill my lungs. I had to say everything at once or else I would’ve never gotten it out.

Logan cocks his head. That’s what he always does when he’s trying to understand something. If I had the heart to laugh, I would, because he reminds me of his eagle when he does that. Trying to figure out what he’s seeing.

“You broke up? Because of stupid gossip? You didn’t give her any say in it?”

“We were never together to break up. Friends with benefits, remember?”

He waves his hand like he’s flicking away a mosquito. “I’m not getting this. So, some busybodies gossip. It was probably that Janet chick you all can’t stand.”

I nod.

Logan huffs out a breath and rolls his eyes.

“You throw away your relationship because of some nosy bitch. You decide to be a martyr and fall on your sword to protect your lady love. You don’t tell her, or anyone—for example, our fathers, or the human resources department of Morgan Development—what’s going on so they can handle it appropriately.

You just throw a hand grenade into your relationship, blindside Mallory, and take off? ”

He shakes his head in disgust. “Liam, you’re a fucking dumbass.”

“She didn’t fight for us! The second I gave her an out, she took it!” My voice is shaking. With frustration. Not with anything else. Frustration is all I feel. Not hurt. “She didn’t say there was no reason we couldn’t have our careers and each other. She just said okay and got out of my truck!”

“Why did you give her an out if you didn’t want her to take it? Why were you testing her?” Logan looks at me like I’m stupid. Why doesn’t he understand this?

“I’m trying to protect her!” I yell. I’m this close to throwing my phone against the wall of this generic hotel room in Podunk, Idaho, or whatever town this is. I don’t even care anymore.

“Give me that.” Daphne wrestles the phone from Logan’s grasp.

“What did you do, Liam? Did you break Mallory’s heart?

Is that why she’s been quiet and withdrawn?

She looks like crap, and I think she’s lost weight.

I assumed it was her sister, but it was you?

” Daphne’s face is flushed, and her narrowed brown eyes stare me down.

I’ve never seen her like this. I’ve only ever seen her angry when hockey and bad calls from refs are involved.

“I didn’t do anything. There’s gossip at the office, and I’m shielding her from it.”

Daphne’s mouth falls open at my statement before she snaps it shut.

She hands the phone back to Logan but leaves it facing her as she paces back and forth in front of their desk.

She’s muttering to herself and waving her hands around, but I can’t hear what she’s saying until she comes back to the phone.

“You are such a fucking dumbass!” She points at me through the screen.

“Do you think dumping Mallory protects her? If anything, she’s more vulnerable now because she’s on her own.

If people were gossiping, they’d be careful in case it was true and she had your protection.

Now she doesn’t, so they can be as nasty to her as they want without fearing repercussion. ”

Daphne resumes her pacing.

“It looks hinky that she suddenly got this plum assignment over everyone else after we started hanging out. They hired her for collections,” I say.

“No, you idiot, they didn’t! They hired her for leasing, and when Martha and George both announced they were retiring, she agreed to do collections to help the company and help me keep my job! She sacrificed her career goals for the good of the company.” Daphne glares at me.

I run a finger along my collar to ease the tightness in my neck.

“She didn’t have to take the switch in position.

She could’ve been in leasing this whole time, doing what she likes and what she’s good at.

She didn’t have to spend a year downstairs with mice and crickets and jacked-up technology.

She did it because she’s a team player. And this new position rewarded that loyalty and because she’s damn good at her job!

You threw her caring about her career back in her face. I’m ashamed of you, Liam.”

I watch her stomp out of the office and feel a moment of vertigo when Logan flips the phone around to face him.

I look at my cousin, not knowing what to say.

“So that went well,” Logan says, the calm tone a welcome switch from Daphne’s ferocity.

“You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I am on your side, Liam. Other than Daphne, you’re my best friend, and I want you to be happy. I know you have this urge to protect, but it’s misguided.” Logan’s green eyes are sympathetic. I need to look away before mine fill with tears.

“Well, I failed. I didn’t protect her. I hurt her.” I hate admitting that, but I have to be honest.

“And you hurt yourself. Let me know if I have this right. You two spend the night together at Devil’s Den, everything is great, she runs into the biggest gossip at your office, and that makes things weird.

We run at her house, her sister is bitchy, then you leave town suddenly.

You come back for this meeting and tell her you want to cool things off and focus on your careers.

So, for all she knows, you slept with her, got what you wanted, and dumped her because you’re traveling and will sleep with other people while you’re gone.

Because you hook up on your trips. You hooked up with her. ”

“What? No! That’s not how it is at all!” My protest is automatic. Then my brain kicks in, and I think over what Logan just said. I think about what Mallory has shared with me about her past. Damn it. I hurt us both.

Groaning, I lean my head back and stare at the ceiling. “I am a fucking dumbass.”

“Daphne told you so. And dude, blow your nose, you got a big old booger up in there, and I did not need to see it.”

For what feels like the first time in weeks, I laugh. And get a tissue.

“What do I do? How do I fix this?” I hope Logan has the answers because I sure as heck don’t.

“Grovel. Hope she forgives you.”

I was afraid he’d say that.