The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max)

Lark looked at her phone when it pinged and noted a text from Ollie. She opened it up and then fought against the audible groan.

He found out where we're staying.

f**k. s**t. Balls.

"What?" Max leaned sideways and looked at her with concern.

"Just Ollie stuff," she shrugged.

"What kind of Ollie stuff?" Bobbie butted in.

"It's nothing," she shook her head and shoved her phone back in her pocket. "If dumbass signs off today, can we get a flight to go back home today?"

"Why the rush?" Bobbie's eyes were narrowed. "Is Ollie in some kind of s**t which is making you want to run from Houston?"

God why were Bobbie and her mother Everly so damn in tuned to every single situation in their lives? "Nope but Doug has ruined Houston for me, and I want to go home. I hate it here."

"Ditto," her father muttered as he shot a sideways glance out the open door to the closed one across the hall. "I hate that fucker."

"He said you were friends for nearly thirty years."

"He has a thing for exaggeration. Twenty at most and if you think you can trust what he says," Grady's voice trailed off as Doug's screaming came from the other room. He gave a chuckle, "I think he's telling him to take the deal."

"I think so too," Max laughed when it was apparent Doug kicked the other side of the door. The loud bang was childish and brat like.

A woman popped her head into the room, "hey, can I get you anything? Sounds like my dad might be a minute. I can get you coffee, tea, or water. We have one of those soda maker things in the staff room." "Your dad?" Lark asked curiously.

"Sawyer," she shrugged as a strange expression crossed her face. "He's my dad."

Lark stared at the girl and then back to her father. She leaned sideways and looked at Max and then at Bobbie who were also staring at the girl. Her father's mouth was agape, and she felt her own heart rate beating hard. It must be coincidence. Sawyer's eyes were brown. This girl's eyes were blue. It was certainly possible for a brown eyed man to have a blue-eyed child, but her eyes were the exact blue to match Lark's and her father's.

She looked to her father and then shook her head. No. They were all imagining things.

Suddenly the door across the hall opened and their eyes all flitted to Sawyer's who frowned when he saw the girl standing there. "Gracie, what are you doing?"

"I heard you in this room from behind the reception desk. I figured you'd be a while, so I was offering drinks." Gracie gave a genuine smile to the room and then shrugged, "looks like I didn't need to though." Sawyer pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Coffee would be great pumpkin. Can you make me one and bring it in? Anyone else want anything?" When the room collective shook their heads, "just mine. We'll be a few minutes since we need to sign off on some paperwork."

Doug's eyes were on Gracie's ass as she sashayed away down the hall and Lark rolled her eyes. How had she never noticed his behavior before? i***t.

Sawyer looked at Doug, "she's my daughter and knowing what you've done to Grady's daughter, do not think for one minute I'd let you near her. Sit your ass down, sign the agreements and then get out of my office."

His words were cold, far colder than anyone in the room was anticipating, including Doug and he sat down at the table nervously.

"Doug is going to accept the million dollars offer. He is asking for a non-disclosure agreement which would mean all of the information you've gathered and presented today remains confidential and not shared to anyone. We want the money deposited to his account by end of banking day today from both parties. We also ask you cease whatever you've been doing to make it, so he hasn't been able to get a single interview in the entire state. He put an application out in Laredo, and it was sent back with a "f**k no" response from the HR person. He's going to send out some in Austin and San Antonio. Please do not interfere."

"We have nothing to do with his inability to get a job," Lark snarked with annoyance. "You do realize the man whose wife he f****d took out a billboard on the weekend in every major city with Doug's name on it. He sent me a text message telling me he used every last penny from their joint account to make sure she was humiliated, and he was ruined."

"I wasn't aware of this."

"He's texting you?" Doug asked furiously. "Why?"

"He asked her to have revenge s*x," Max grinned at Doug a wicked gleam in his eye. "Ollie said she should have gone for it because the guy is hot."

"Don't you dare, Lark." Doug snipped angrily.

"You don't get a say," Sawyer interrupted Doug. "Seriously. Can you simply sit there, shut up and be a good boy? No wonder nobody will hire you. You talk too much for a lawyer."

"Coming from Sawyer, it's saying something," Grady added his two cents.

Sawyer winked at Grady, "hey now. I'm playing nice."

"Right," he frowned at the man. "You took this case knowing it would piss me off."

Sawyer shrugged as his daughter walked back in the room and put a coffee next to her. "Thanks pumpkin. I sent Phyllis a text message when I was in the other room a few minutes ago to draft me up a couple of documents. Can you see if she has them ready?" He looked back at the quartet, "Phyllis is my paralegal and between her and Gracie they keep my office running like clockwork."

"Not your wife?" Lark questioned despite the way her father stiffened.

"I'm not married Lark. Been divorced twenty-eight years and let me tell you my ex-wife couldn't work a coffee machine let alone help me run my offices."

"My dad raised me on his own. My mom moved to Florida when I was four and I think I've seen her five times since." Gracie shrugged and hugged him from behind before heading to the door. "I'll check in on Phyllis, Dad."

Sawyer watched her leave, closing the door behind him. He motioned to the offer on the table, "I'm presuming you were feeling quite confident this morning and you have more than one copy?" "Yes."

Bobbie dug them out of her bag.

"Good. Phyllis is doing the NDA and the request for deposits." Sawyer was amiable and barely giving his client a second glance, his eyes frequently resting on Lark who was seated between Bobbie and Grady. "You really look like your father."

"Thanks. I'll take it as a compliment."

"She doesn't," Grady argued. "She has her mother's nose and lips."

"And your eyes, forehead, cheeks, chin and height," Sawyer snorted at Grady. "You would have been a much prettier woman than you are a man. Good thing she didn't inherit your thin hair."

Lark couldn't help it and snorted at Sawyer's teasing. Despite knowing this man once hurt her father

beyond measure, he was a charming son of a b***h. What she couldn't figure out was what his end game

was.

"We're not doing this, Sawyer," Grady grunted at him.

"Fair enough, I'm just being pleasant while we sort through this messiness." He shot another annoyed glance at Doug who was staring out the window.

Lark noticed her father continuing to shoot looks at the door and she was going to question but then her phone pinged again in her pocket, and she groaned and pulled it out.

He's waiting at the hotel in the lobby. I'm hiding in your room. I was going back to my room and saw him knocking on my door so slipped back into your room.

She was going to kill Ollie if Santiago Laredo didn't. She rubbed her forehead.

What do you need me to do?

She watched the ellipses for several seconds and then the message from Ollie popped up.

I don't know. I'm freaking out. I cracked the door to listen because his brother was with him, and the brother is talking about you. I think he likes you. I'm sorry. I put you on his radar. They said they were going to wait in the lobby for us to come back.

Now she was struggling not to hyperventilate.

Likes me how, Ollie?

I heard him say we could have a double wedding. We can't though because Mr. L is married already. Duh! We can't because I'm not marrying a mobster's brother you dumbass.

Bobbie looked at her sideways, "what is going on?"

"Ollie being Ollie. I told her we'd be done here early and maybe be able to leave Houston. She said she's not getting out of bed before noon. We may need to go in there and jump on her together. We can all get her out of there." Maybe if they all went into the room where Ollie was hiding, they could get her out without too much fuss. Surely the mobster wouldn't expose himself to Ollie's family or cause a scene with a bunch of people around.

Sawyer interrupted, "you're leaving already?"

"Why wouldn't we?" Grady shot him an annoyed glance.

Sawyer shook his head sadly, "I would like a chance to talk with you for a minute."

"I'm not interested," Grady grimaced.

Sawyer nodded, "I understand Grady. Five minutes when we're done here. Please."

As Gracie walked back into the room, Lark saw her father looking at her again and knew he was thinking

the same thing she was thinking when he looked to Sawyer and then to Gracie and spoke.

"Five minutes. You have five minutes, but my family is staying here because if I lose my temper with you Sawyer, Doug's face will look like a masterpiece compared to what I do to yours."