Free Burned Hearts by Calista Fox Page A

to win as much as I did.”
    â€œAh. Your groupies were cheerleaders who needed a reason to jump up and down on the sidelines in their short skirts.”
    â€œDid you even go to high school?” he quipped. Though he knew the answer to that—I’d also graduated from college with a business degree, while building my wedding consulting company, long before managing events at the Lux.
    Yet I sucked down some water and said, “Sort of.”
    â€œWhat does that mean?”
    â€œNothing, really.” I got to my feet.
    â€œOh, hell, no,” he suddenly said. “You don’t get to play all supersecretive. Not with me.” His blue eyes were piercing, boring into me.
    â€œKyle.”
    â€œTell me about it, Ari. For fuck’s sake, I’ve met your mother, remember? Nut job to the extreme. And your dad’s, like, so normal. Very laid-back. What the hell was he doing with her ?”
    â€œThat’s pretty much the million-dollar question.” I raised my hands in the air, indicating I had absolutely no clue what my dad had been thinking when he’d hooked up with her. And even less of an idea as to why he’d married the ice queen. “My best guess is that when you’re a PGA golfer and have your own high caliber of groupies it’s not so difficult to lose sight of what’s real and what’s not. She definitely is not . Never was and never will be.”
    â€œThat’s just crazy, considering how down-to-earth your dad is.”
    â€œI know. That’s what has always made this beyond annoying for me. He’d do anything for her—he’d help anyone, whether he knew them or not. He’s genuine. Totally amazing.”
    I loved my dad fiercely. I suddenly realized that was likely why I loathed my mother with equal passion.
    â€œHe never deserved to be treated the way she treated him,” I said. “She cheated on him; she spent every penny he had when they were married, then made off with an even bigger haul when they divorced. Thanks to her and the team of lawyers my father had to pay for, he and I lived in absolute shit—I’m talking hellholes. After the divorce, she traded in the house awarded to her in the settlement and bought a gorgeous Scottsdale condo. Had it professionally decorated. I was rarely welcomed there.” I shook my head. Waved a hand in the air. “Whatever, right?”
    â€œDon’t dismiss this, Ari. That’s bullshit.” He kept his gaze on me. “You pulled this nonchalant crap when she came at you in the hospital. Wanting to file lawsuits against the investors of 10,000 Lux—and reap the financial benefit personally, despite the fact that you were the one in the ER, bleeding, and thoroughly fucked up.”
    I shuddered at the reminder of that entire nightmare. “She didn’t care about any of that—and, of course, she has no idea I’m married to Dane or that Amano is my bodyguard. As for the rest of it, she looked right past the stitches and bruises. Didn’t see them at all. Can you imagine how rabid she’d be if she knew about the wedding? That all of Dane’s money is also mine?”
    Perhaps that was my poetic justice. That my mother had done her best to weasel cash from me, thinking I was only worth a small amount, having no idea what my investment portfolio really looked like.
    I’d been upset at first that Dane and I were subjected to a private wedding. Being an event planner, naturally I’d wanted a magnificent ceremony and reception. Now it was a huge relief that very few people knew I was Mrs. Dane Bax—and that my mother currently thought I was unemployed because the Lux had been destroyed.
    I tried to shove aside the dismay all this brought on. “Really,” I said to Kyle, “the most incredible part about our seclusion is that, right now, I can phase her out. I don’t have a cell phone, since I never replaced the one