The Heart That's Meant to Love You

Chapter 18: Tawny

15 missed calls. Kieran swiped away the notification. Of course he knew how many calls he missed. He had been ignoring each and every one of them throughout lunch.

A lunch that had been surprisingly optimistic. The little rich girl may be tough on the outside, but on the inside she fell just as hard as any other woman. That's why Kieran didn't trust women. They were too easily manipulated, the lot of them.

All except the one woman in his life that only manipulated others. No, make that two, if you counted his mother. Not that Kieran had ever counted his mother as a woman.

With a heavy sigh, Kieran dug his keys out of his bag and inserted one into the door of his apartment. The knob turned before he unlocked it. Kieran steeled himself for what came next.

The keys jangled in the handle as the door swung outward. Kieran took a step back to avoid getting hit.

"Ki-ki!" Tawny pouted up at him. Average height, classic beauty. One of those women that men at clubs and bars were drawn to. Those men didn't know her like Kieran knew her. They didn't have the connection with her that Kieran had. And she would never give those men the time of day.

Kieran retrieved his keys and bulled his way into his own space. "You're here."

"You didn't answer my calls. It worried me." Tawny let the door close on its own, turning instead to trail Kieran to the refrigerator.

Kieran wanted to point out that Tawny hadn't contacted him in over a month, and he knew the reasons why, but instead he settled for a simpler and less aggressive approach. "I was busy."

"Busy with what? You don't have anything on your schedule today. I asked Jack."

Of course she had. Kieran unscrewed the lid on a water bottle and took a swig. "Professor McNally asked me to teach some classes for him while he's on vacation. I didn't tell Jack."

"Professor McNally?" Tawny snagged the water bottle from Kieran's hand and took a drink, as well. "The devil professor from college?"

"I never called him the Devil Professor." Kieran rolled his eyes.

Tawny had a tendency to exaggerate things and make them worse than they were. There were few topics that she spoke of truthfully, but unfortunately Kieran knew all too well what those topics were.

A passel of shopping bags on his makeshift couch caught Kieran's attention. They hadn't been there when he left, which meant that Tawny had brought them in with her. If they contained what he thought they contained...

Kieran brushed past her shoulder to check it out.

"Ki-ki?" Tawny spun to follow, her face a mask of innocence. Kieran knew better.

A quick rummage through only two of the six bags confirmed Kieran's hunch. Balenciaga. Dior. A Chanel handbag. No receipts anywhere to be seen.

Kieran turned to face Tawny, one finger pointed accusingly at the shopping bags. "Where did you get these?"

"I bought them." Tawny shrugged a shoulder as if she hadn't done anything wrong.

"With what money?"

Tawny's smile widened, in the way that denoted she had definitely done something they would both regret. "I went to Uncle Patrick and he gave me a loan. But I had to tell him that you would guarantee that I would pay it back."

"You're darn right I'll guarantee you pay it back." Kieran snatched the bags off the couch and shoved them into Tawny's hands. "Go return everything. Now."

"I lost the receipts," Tawny lied sheepishly.

Kieran had seen the trick a thousand times. Tawny knew if she had receipts, Kieran could return things. So she "lost" them. Or threw them away. Or conveniently misplaced them. That's when Kieran employed drastic measures.

He hesitated, but in the end Kieran reached out to plant his hands on Tawny's shoulders. "I'm sure you can find them. I need you to return these things. We can't afford another loan. You know that, right?"

"They're so pretty, though." Tawny shook her head. "I don't know where I left the receipts. It's too late now."

Okay, time to pull out the big guns. "If you return them, you can come back here. And we can have dinner and spend the night together. That's what you really want, isn't it? Us to be together."

Kieran saw her resolve waver in the way her eyes darted to her purse. She had probably stashed the receipts in there. He could do it by force, but it would be better if Tawny returned the things herself. He didn't want to deal with her tantrums.

Tawny held up the Chanel bag. "Can I keep just this one?"

Kieran wanted to say no. To insist that she return everything immediately, but he knew a good compromise when he saw it. Getting Tawny to do even this much was a huge step forward.

So he nodded his head. "Leave it here, then. But everything else has to go back and get a full refund. Do you hear me?"

With a squeal, Tawny lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Kieran's cheek. "I understand. I'll be back for dinner. We're going to have something delicious, right?"

"I promise."

Tawny dropped the Chanel shopping bag by the door in the middle of skipping her way out. They would see how well it went once she came back with the refund. Kieran sincerely hoped that his incentive had been enough to back her off this time. If not, he had a whole lot more issues coming his way. None of which he wanted to deal with in the first place.