Page 18 of My Guarded Valentine

Tim’s eyes raised. “Wow. I guess it’s pretty serious, then.”

“It is what it is,” I replied as I placed the batter back down.

“Does she know?”

From the stairs, Mitzi’s voice rang out. “Know what?”

Tim and I both looked towards the other side of the room. Mitzi stood at the bottom with her head tilted. Mitzi was dressed in leggings and another tee shirt. Her jacket was wrapped around her and she hugged it closer to her body in a comforting position. I groaned. I wanted to surprise her with breakfast in bed and Tim ruined it.

“Sorry. He dropped in from work,” I said. I pointed to the raw pancake batter. “I was going to make you breakfast in bed.”

Mitzi smiled softly. “Wow. That would have been new.”

Tim cleared his throat and her attention left me. “I’m Tim, his assistant.”

Her eyes narrowed before looking down. “Nice to meet you, Tim,” she mumbled as she brushed her hair forward to hide her face.

His brows furrowed. “You look familiar. Have we met before?” Tim asked, as his eyes narrowed.

Mitzi shook her head as she sat on the couch, her back facing him. Mitzi wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and stared into the fireplace. She quickly shook her head like she was hiding behind her hair. “Nope. Don’t know you,” she replied.

My brows furrowed. “What do you mean? If you wanted to interview people at O’Brian industries, Tim is the guy you would have talked or emailed,” I said. I clenched my jaw as I realized I might have said too much. I never told herwhereI worked.

Tim gasped as he glanced at Mitzi, who looked like she was trying to be as small as possible inside my blanket. Tim pointed to her. “That’s the girl! She dyed her hair since her photo was put on the website of the paper, but that’sher.”

I blinked. “What?”

“That’s the girl. She thinks something shady is going on at O’Brien Industries. How’d she come here?”

For the first time in years, I opened my heart to someone and now, Tim was telling me she had an ulterior motive. How’d she find me? I looked at him before returning my gaze to Mitzi. “Mitzi? Is this true?”

“I told you I was doing an article on O’Brien Industries,” she mumbled. “You didn’t tell me you had a connection with O’Brien.”

“Why did he come here, then?” I asked.

“Sounds like they are paranoid,” Mitzi said, ignoring my question.

“Mitzi!”

She turned around on her knees and glared at me from the couch. “I didn’t comehereto findyou.My car broke down andI needed help. I didn’t expect the stupid mountain man I would find was the billionaire I wanted to expose!” she exclaimed as she threw a pillow at me.

Tim winced and backed away from the kitchen. “Look, I think I’m going to go now. I’m probably canceling all those interviews, though.”

“Tim, leave,” I growled.

Tim lifted his hand up as he walked to the door. “I was already going,” he mumbled as he turned around. “Sounds like you need to figure this out without me.” I crossed my arms as I waited for Tim to walk out. Once the door was shut, I turned back to Mitzi. She had thrown herself back on the couch and resumed glaring at the fireplace. Leaving the kitchen, I walked to the living room and sat on the coffee table.

“Why are you here?”

Mitzi sighed and huffed. “I’m here for the same reason I was here this morning. I broke down. You were supposed to be a random mountain man. You’ve been lying to everyone in this entire place andme.I didn’t expect you to beConnor O’Brien.”

I steeled my jaw as she narrowed her eyes at me in anger. “What were you asking all my employees? You must have tipped them off enough that they spooked. Tim wouldn’t come here in the winter from the goodness of his heart.”

Mitzi broke her eye contact with me as she paled. “I might have been insinuating since you left the public eye that you were dead and your brother replaced you. You two looked similar enough. If you kept a low profile, I guess it could have worked,” she whispered while she rubbed her hands. Her frown deepened. “I know I was wrong now. Yet you had sex with me like a damn liar.”

My mouth fell open. I wasn’t sure if it was her sudden switch thatIwas the bad guy or she tried to take down my company with her article. What she had been saying for days wascompletely different from the truth. On top of that, she started saying that she changed her mind on the subject of her article. “You don’t seem shocked that Tim was with O’Brien. And you sure haven’t askedwhoI was. Do you know who I am?”

Mitzi stopped fidgeting. “Yes. Curtis told me. But I was suspicious.” Her eyes darted to the fireplace, and I turned my head.The picture of Lance.

---