Jarred looked down at her, his expression unreadable. “I am a very lucky bastard.” Kinsley attempted to smile, her insides churning. She was in love with Jarred Maloney. There was no way anything good was going to come of this now.
15
“You have some great ideas Mr. Maloney. Do you mind meeting with our team tomorrow so that we can make some plans?”
Jarred grinned as he looked at the crew chief, James Mills, who ran the Formula One team for Maloney Headquarters, glad that someone thought he had great ideas. His father hadn’t been kidding. He’d called Andrew Cordin right away.
He was used to his father being a prick, but in front of Kinsley, it had been humiliating. But what he didn’t get was how Kinsley knew all that stuff about him? How could she possibly know?
Either way, she’d blown him away coming to his defense like that. No one had ever crusaded for him before. She’d forced his father into seeing him differently. “Sure,” he finally said, realizing the crew chief was still staring at him, waiting for his answer. “I’m open tomorrow.”
“Great, just great,” James replied. Jarred stood and shook his hand before walking back out to the parking lot where his car was parked. Another car was parked next to his and as he approached, the door opened. Jarred stopped and watched as his mother climbed out of the sleek sedan, smoothing her pencil skirt down as she did so, a tentative smile on her face. “Jarred.”
“Mum,” he said, wondering how she had found him. “What are you doing here?”
“I was wondering if we could have a spot of tea together,” she answered. “There’s a nice tea house just down the street.”
“I, sure,” Jarred answered, thinking that spending time with his mother was the last thing he wanted to do right now. While he and his father didn’t get along very well, his relationship with his mother wasn’t much better. Pamela Maloney-Gretner had been a model in her former life, hardly ever around when Jarred was growing up. Between his father’s business and his mother’s profession, Jarred spent more time with his nanny and the servants than any of his family. When Jarred was twelve, his parents divorced and he was thrust back and forth between the two households until he’d been old enough to say no. While his father had never remarried, his mother was married to a banker, a decent fellow who had never pretended to be Jarred’s father. That was just fine with him.
Jarred fell in step next to his mother and they walked the block to the tea house, settling just inside the door. After ordering their tea, Jarred looked at his mother. “So, why the parental concern all of a sudden?”
“Oh Jarred,” she sighed, her red-tipped fingernails drumming on the table. “Can’t I just want to see my son?”
“No,” Jarred answered, crossing his arms over his chest. “You can’t.”
“Fine,” she frowned as their tea arrived. “I hear that you are engaged to be married, again.”
Jarred chose to ignore the way she said the last word. After being around Kinsley, he wished his engagement to Susan had never occurred. Kinsley was so much more than Susan had ever been to him and the display that she had shown this morning only confirmed what he already knew. Of all the women he could have chosen for this task, Kinsley was the only one that could make it work. Now he was concerned that she was going to take more than just his money. Like his heart. “I am.”
“I also hear that your father has cut you off until you do,” she continued, looking at him curiously. “So I find that very odd that you have jumped right into a relationship.”
“The engagement is real Mother,” he said with a sigh. “Kinsley is my fiancée.”
“She’s not Susan,” she countered, taking a sip of her coffee. “I don’t know why you broke it off with Susan. She is such a lovely girl. Plus, she would be good for your image Jarred. Just think of the social implications. Susan could have elevated your status to some of the best names in London.”
Jarred rubbed a hand over his face, knowing this was a mistake. Society and their opinions was all that his mother cared about. The plastic surgery, the rich husband, the expensive clothes, they were all his mother thought about. “What if I’m in love? Doesn’t that matter at all?”
His mother laughed, waving a hand at him. “Oh Jarred. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Love? Love doesn’t exist. Mutual respect, yes, but love, now that’s rich coming from you.”
Jarred’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
She smiled. “Nothing darling, but you are your father’s son. All that Harrison Maloney cared about and still cares about is that business of his and the money that he is raking in. Do you know the day we got married he went back to work? No honeymoon, no nothing. It was like I never existed.” His mother then leaned forward, her massive diamond rings twinkling in the morning light. “Love is for those who have nothing else in their life. Love makes you weak, Jarred, and you would be best served to remember that.”
Jarred heard his mother’s words, but he wasn’t so sure that they were right. Kinsley wasn’t making him weak. After today, he felt like he was someone else in her eyes, someone that gave a damn. Her words were part of the reason he’d come on to the meeting at the garage, wanting to prove her right and his father wrong. Today had proven what he knew all along: he was damn near in love with Kinsley. Somehow, in some fashion, she had wormed her way into his heart and he was fucking scared to death at the thought of loving her, disappointing her, not being the man she deserved.
“Are you not in love with Preston?” Jarred decided to ask, thinking of the man that his mother was currently settled down with.
A look passed over his mother’s face before she shook her head, looking flustered all of a sudden. “Preston and I have mutual respect for each other. I-I care for Preston, but I’ll never love again. Your father killed that feeling for me years ago.” She reached across the table and touched his hand briefly, her expression softening just a bit. “I have always hoped the best for you Jarred and if this woman is someone you can live with, then I can’t change your mind, but be smart about this. Don’t let this woman in. Nothing good ever comes out of falling in love. I am living proof of that.”
Jarred withdrew from her touch, his mind in a whirlwind of thoughts and feelings that he still had to sort out. Kinsley was someone very special to him, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind about that. But did he want to take their relationship to the next level? What would he have felt if they had slept together last night? Would he be questioning his feelings for her now?
Without saying a word to his mother, Jarred threw some bills on the table and walked away, reaching into his pocket for his cell phone. He knew what he needed to do. Why hadn’t he thought of this before?
“So, where are we going?” Kinsley asked as Jarred threw the car into drive and started down the road. The sun was setting on the horizon, the disastrous day almost over with. After meeting with his mother, Jarred had fired off two text messages: one to Kinsley inviting her out tonight and one to Turner, telling him to find a damn date so they could double date tonight. He needed Turner to meet Kinsley and see if she was the real deal. Turner wouldn’t hold back and Jarred trusted that his friend would voice his opinion or make Jarred crazy— which he didn’t know. The woman beside him was making him bloody crazy enough.