Free Let's Misbehave by Kate Perry

fault, though, wasn’t it?”
    “For trusting him?”
    “No, for trusting the wrong person.” She glanced at Merrick’s photo and wondered if he was trustworthy. She suspected once he gave his word he kept it. He was probably overly honorable, despite the edge she sensed he had.
    “It’s hard to know who to trust.” Chloe frowned at the newspaper.
    “Are you thinking of your father?” she asked intuitively.
    Chloe’s gaze hardened. “He’s not really worth thinking about.”
    Sighing, Gigi put her arm around her niece and looked her in her eyes. “He’s your father, Chloe. Whatever he does, however poorly he acts, it doesn’t change that you’re stuck with him for life.”
    “Like you were with yours?”
    “Our father definitely had flaws, didn’t he?” Gigi said as noncommittally as she could. “Especially considering he had a hidden family.”
    “My dad has a girlfriend.” The girl ducked her head.
    She lifted her niece’s chin with a finger under it. “You are your own person. Whatever he does or doesn’t do has nothing to do with you and everything to do with what sort of man he is.”
    “You’re saying I can’t help if he’s an ass.”
    Gigi grinned. “Sorry.”
    Chloe looked at her with clarity and knowing beyond her years. “Then you can’t help if your boyfriend is an ass either.”
    “You’re right.” She nodded. “I can’t.”
    Chloe looked at the newspaper. “He’s hot though, isn’t he?”
    “Oh, that’s not Dirk.”
    “You dated a someone named Dirk ?” Her niece gaped at her. “Wasn’t that the first clue?”
    Laughing, she hugged the girl. She smelled sweet and innocent, despite the makeup and hard exterior. Gigi closed her eyes and inhaled. “You’re pretty awesome, you know.”
    Chloe hesitated and then curled into her. “You’re not bad, either.”
    When they split apart, Chloe pointed at the mobile. “If he’s not your ass-boyfriend, who is he?”
    Gigi looked at the paper. “He’s no one, really.”
    “That sucks.”
    She frowned at her niece. “Why?”
    The girl shrugged. “I guess because you like him.”
    Before she could formulate an answer, her mother knocked on the open door. Her mother always paused in the doorway of the old study. Not surprising—their father never allowed any of them to enter. It was probably instinctual.
    “Am I interrupting?” her mother asked, holding a leather-bound book to her chest.
    “No. Chloe and I were just talking.” Gigi smiled. “Come in.”
    Jacqueline hesitated for a second before joining them. She smiled at her granddaughter and then cast a critical eye over Gigi as she sat. “Were you exercising again?”
    She smiled blithely. “It’s part of my job.”
    Her mother looked like she was going to say something, but then she turned to Chloe. “Sweetheart, Fran just took cinnamon bread out of the oven.”
    “I guess you’re saying I want some.” The teenager hopped up. “Good luck, Aunt Gigi.”
    Gigi laughed. “Thanks.”
    “I love that child,” Jacqueline said, watching her granddaughter leave the room.
    “She’s her own unique snowflake, there’s no disputing that.”
    “Summerhill girls are built that way.” She faced Gigi. “But I didn’t come here to talk about the other girls.”
    Gigi groaned. “You don’t need to manage me, Mum. I know what I want and I’m trying to achieve it.”
    “Are you sure you know what that is?”
    “I’ve always known.” She looked her mother in the eye. “You know I’ve always had my path set.”
    “Yes, more so than the other girls. Even Titania.”
    Gigi heard the sadness that nuanced her sister’s name. “She’s doing well. I asked her to come visit.”
    Jacqueline smiled softly. “Titania was always the most headstrong of all of you. She won’t come until she’s ready.”
    No, but Gigi could push her to readiness.
    “I didn’t come to talk about Titania,” her mother said. “We need to talk about you.”
    She held her hand up to