Read Online Unleashed: Declan & Kara (Unleashed #1-4; Beg for It #1) by Callie Harper - Free Book Online

hadn’t
exactly been thrilled about that. I moved back to the punching bag,
grunting and sweating with effort and deep-seeded frustration. She’d
been up on a pedestal that I couldn’t touch, tantalizing me. The
girl I couldn’t have. But now look how Harlan had failed. Here she
was, coming straight to the jaws of the wolf, looking for help.
    Damn it. I punched
again, thinking of Harlan. I’d tried to warn him, six years ago.
That ranch was going belly-up. I’d known it way back then. I’d
tried to talk Harlan into the future, tried to get him to see the
potential in his ranch. The luxury tourism market was booming in
Montana. All those rich city slickers wanted to come out and buy
themselves a slice of real life and they didn’t mind paying through
the goddamn roof to do it. But Harlan hadn’t been interested. He’d
been too set in his ways.
    And now Harlan was
dead. Drenched and panting, I finally rested my head against the
punching bag.
    Why hadn’t I heard
about that? Why hadn’t Bill called me? I would have gone to
Harlan’s funeral. Of course, I hadn’t checked in once during all
the intervening six years. Why would Bill have called me? There was
no way for him to know that I still thought about the ranch and
Harlan. Or how often I still thought of Kara.
    I took another long
slug of water and wiped the sweat from my brow with a towel. The
clock overhead read 5:30. I didn’t want to stop moving yet, though.
    I jogged the blocks
back to my condo. People were getting out of work, heading into the
late June sunshine that still felt hot at quitting time. I wondered
where Kara was, somewhere nearby. I’d see her in a little over an
hour.
    I got to the Stanyon
hotel and took the elevator up to the top floor. I owned the whole
building: restaurant, bar, hotel and the penthouse suite where I
stayed while I was in Montana. I didn’t spend much time there these
days. Scoping out new sites, checking in on investments, meeting with
partners took me all over the states. I hadn’t gone international
yet, but I was talking to a couple of people about expansions.
Constantly being on the move suited me well. I liked the feeling of
always pushing ahead, taking things to the next level. When life got
quiet, I got restless.
    I stood by the picture
windows in my living room. The view was breathtaking, the city laid
out beneath me framed by the mountains beyond. But I didn’t see it
half as vividly as the woman I was meeting for dinner.
    I was pretty sure that
she had no idea that I owned the property. I liked that. I wanted to
see her eyes widen when she found out. It would gratify the monster
inside me that wanted her to know how well I’d done. I wanted her
surrounded by my power, feeling it deep inside. I knew it was
childish, that I was a sick bastard, but I wanted her to feel just
how much the tables had turned.
    Starting to pace, I
forced myself to think about the easy way out. Tonight, I could keep
things simple. I could meet Kara for a quick dinner, cut her a check,
and get her out of my life for good.
    Of course I’d give
Kara the money. I didn’t know how much she needed, but I was sure
it wouldn’t be a problem. I’d done well over the past few years,
really well. I now owned and operated luxury wilderness lodges and
communities all over the western states. Lately I’d started
expanding into other high-end commercial real estate ventures like
the Stanyon. Money made more money and I was damn good at what I did.
    Plus, if I didn’t
bail her out even my stone cold heart might have a moment of pause. I
might look back and feel some of that…what did people call it? I
think it was guilt. I didn’t want to mess with that. I would give
her the money she needed.
    I could help her with
no strings attached, no need to pay me back. Then it would be back to
business as usual. I’d head to Bozeman for the weekend to check on
some of my properties. Monday morning I’d hop a flight to New York,
next week New Zealand