Both of them have everything she’s ever wanted.
But she has to choose one.
Can Jackson convince her that he can be everything that she needs?
Or will her past come back to haunt them and ruin her chance at love?
February 21st
Mrs. Jones,
Thank you for your inquiry about our services and for filling out our initial application. It’ll be a pleasure to help you find just the right virtual assistant for your needs. Please, let me make sure we got some details right. On the application, you describe your current boss as impatient, aggressive, micromanaging, and somewhat of a social pariah.
Did I misread it? Is there a possibility that this was a typo?
If you could please correct or expand on your description, I’d appreciate it. Mrs. Darlington explained our mission correctly. We always find the assistant who will best fit your company. Even for social pariah. We have the right person for that.
Best Regards,
E. Lancaster, CEO
Virtual Assistant Everyday Services
March 4th
Mr. Spearman:
Don’t forget tonight’s Gala at the Civic Center. As the guest speaker, you can’t excuse yourself and send a big fat check in your place. On Sunday, you have brunch with your family—your plane ticket is in your Inbox. Per your request, I wrapped your brother’s present and left it on your desk. Monday’s calendar has been updated. Mr. Lincoln wants to meet with you early next week.
As a reminder, I’ll be off for the next three months. My maternity leave starts next Monday. I can’t push it any longer. My due date was yesterday.
My replacement knows how to access your calendars, as well as your files, and has been shadowing me—online—for the past couple of weeks. You can contact Amy Walker, your temporary assistant, via phone, chat through the portal she provided, SMS, and email.
I sent you the information for the Virtual Assistant app. Once you sign in, it’ll prompt you to change your password. I saved your VA’s contact information on the database too. Be aware that the VA won’t do in-person tasks for you, but she’ll schedule them for you.
What does that mean for you?
She won’t bring you coffee. Zoe, the receptionist, can do that. It also means she won’t deliver your lunch at eleven with a small Pellegrino water. Ms. Walker works remotely. If you need anything, you have to contact her and ask to schedule the service, or order online.
Or, you can always use the Meals-on-Demand. It’s safe, they don’t care who you are. As long as you use the company account, no one will know it’s you.
I can’t stress enough the fact that I won’t be available for the next three months. That’s ninety days. Please, refrain from contacting me—or I’ll quit. VA-Everyday Services is one of the most prestigious and reliable companies. They keep your information secure, and their assistants are college graduates. Amy Walker’s qualifications exceed my own. Please, be aware that if you lose her, you won’t have an assistant until I’m back.
Sincerely,
Carla Jones
P. S. Your welcome package from VA-Everyday is on your desk.
Then He Happened
Jason is a cynical rich playboy.
He doesn’t take life seriously.
He doesn’t believe in settling down.
Eileen’s twenty-seventh birthday is almost here.
But as always she’s an afterthought in her parent’s minds.
Her family is too busy planning a shotgun wedding for her older sister to pay attention to her. And now she has to help.
It’s just another year where she’s overlooked.
But the best man is smoking hot.
He actually notices her, and makes her feel special.
Jason doesn’t believe in commitment, but Eileen intrigues him.
She’s not the kind of girl he usually hooks up with.
She doesn’t even fall for his charm.
He’s made it his mission to convince her that he’s not the shallow man she thinks he is.
But can Jason give up his playboy lifestyle to become the man Eileen needs?
Eight years ago…
“You can’t stay here,” Jack, my brother, says as he looks down at me. “We’ve got to move on.”
I sit on the steps of the altar, staring at the envelope burning a hole in my hand—the one she served me with, ensuring a life sentence of agony and despair.
For a moment I wonder the meaning of Jack’s words. Is he talking about the garden? Or the moment? I snort. Who cares, I can’t even breathe.
For fuck’s sake, my world just shattered, and he wants me to move. I can’t feel my legs.
How can I move on?
I can hear the advice coming from everyone who just witnessed the devastation of Jason Spearman’s world. Mom was the first one to hit me with her wise words.
“Love can last forever if you’re with the right person,” she said after I fell to the ground, defeated.
What did she mean by that?
I am in love with the right person—my soulmate. At least, that’s what we’ve said to each other. Or were her declamations of love useless words meant to enchant me? Meant to make me believe that her love for me was absolute?
It doesn’t matter anymore. She’s gone.
And now here I am, broken without a clue on what to do next.
My error was to fall in love.
As if my dad could hear my thoughts, he says, “Loving someone is never a mistake.”
He pats my shoulder and leaves to do some damage control. There’s nothing they can do that will repair what happened today. My heart is breaking. Blood oozes from my wound, not that anyone can see what’s happening to me.
I loosen my bowtie, gasping for air. My throat is thick.
“I should’ve known,” I say out loud.
Neither one of my brothers says a word. They remain close enough in case I need them but giving me the space I crave. The rawness of this moment shreds my gut, and I am left questioning everything. Wondering what I’m supposed to do now?
“How will I survive?” I tighten the grip of the fucking paper I haven’t read.
“By living the best life that you can,” Alex, my younger brother says. “You slap that bitch by showing her this didn’t affect you. There’s life after her. You are Jason fucking Spearman.”
But how will I survive?
My One Regret
He was a rockstar.
A Legend. And a Single Father.
I should’ve stayed away.
I just couldn’t resist him.
We were happy until he texted.
We need to talk.
The last famous words
But I knew I needed to let him go.
It was over.
We were never meant to be together.
Just like everyone else, he left.
I couldn’t handle touring with his rock band and a relationship
Until I discovered Sadie. The love of my life.
When I left her, I made the biggest mistake of my life.
But when tragedy struck, my world came apart.
I don't think I'll ever understand why she tried to take her own life. And I worry about what’s going to happen to her. She needs help but who’ll be around to give it to her?
Sadly, I’m not part of her life. Not anymore.
I twist my engagement ring as I wait for Kade to arrive.
We need to talk, said his text.
I hold my breath, hugging my stomach. This can’t be happening. Just this morning, we talked about looking for a bigger home. We booked the honeymoon. Two months visiting the most beautiful gardens in the world with the man of my dreams.
The sound of the apartment door closing makes my heart beat faster. He’s here. I take my ring off. A one-carat solitaire diamond he gave me almost a year ago. I set it on top of the nightstand and look around our room. His apartment, not mine. Everything belongs to him; I only brou
ght a few things when he asked me to move in.
“Sade?” His voice is loud, his tone neutral.
“In the room,” I croak. “How is she?”
I look up, as he enters. My eyes study him from top to bottom. It’s been a hard day. I’m not expecting his charming grin or his seductive smirk. But I can’t stand that his mouth remains in an uncharacteristically grim line.
Now that the end is coming, I feel numb. My heart beats, but my chest is hollow.
“Hey,” he mumbles.
He runs a hand through his dark, longish hair. It’s messy, covering half of his rugged face. His jaw, overshadowed by two days’ worth of stubble is set into a scowl. Those silver eyes search around the area avoiding mine. I hate his rigid posture. My hands itch to reach out and comfort him. He’s going through hell. This is as bad as what happened to his sister…or worse.
He’s blaming himself. Does he blame me too?
My heart hurts for him and his daughter. Nothing I can say or do will make it better.
“Recovering.” His husky melodic voice is calm yet distant.
His eyes find mine. The storm inside them makes them look dark, yet they are still so clear. Everything in his expression screams rejection.
It’s over.
I lower my gaze, staring at my freshly painted toenails. Just earlier I was getting a mani-pedi with his daughters, Hannah and Tess. For the first time, I believed that things were going to settle with them. They had finally accepted me.
“Is there anything I can do?” I stupidly offer, knowing that they don’t want me around, nor do they want my help.
The air thickens, almost choking me as I wait for him to end this. My eyes still see, but the walls are closing in, and everything is getting dark. Breathe, breathe. You need to be strong.
I try hard, but my mind is shutting down. Maybe it’s just the shock of today’s events. From the best news in the world to … everything shifts, crumbles. I’m not sure what to expect next. The only thing I know is that I kept pouring out love, hoping that one day it would be enough.
But it’s over.
My heart knows it; we’re done. The journey ends here before it even began. I watch his boots move away from me and then back again. He does it several times until they stop right in front of me. My eyes travel over his long legs, all the way up until they meet his face.
“Thank you for leaving before things got out of control,” he states.
Out of control is an understatement. Alicia, his ex-wife, lost her shit and was blaming me for something I didn’t do. I didn’t kill Tess. Your daughter isn’t dead. Tess hates the idea of me so much that she … my lungs collapse, and I hold my tears back. It hurts that we almost lost her. But I don’t have the right to cry, because she’s not mine.
Three years of loving her, caring for her as if she were my own doesn’t count. I’m still nobody. This entire situation wrecked my heart with endless emotions: sadness, pain, guilt, rage. I drop my head because the guilt weighs more than anything else.
Kade almost lost his daughter the same way he lost his sister.
My heart hurts for him, for Tess, and a little for Alicia. A parent should never have to face this kind of pain. I lift my hand to take his, but he takes a couple of steps backward. My lungs deflate when I see the void in his eyes.
No, please don’t do it. We’re a family. We should talk this through, fix it. Don’t leave us.
“I care about you,” he begins. It’s such a cliché.
No, I want you to say, you love me.
Last night he said it before I fell asleep tucked between his arms.
You woke me up with the same words, insisting that you couldn’t wait for the day you could call me your wife. Mrs. Hades. You can’t just toss away a three-year relationship.
I can’t lose my best friend, my lover, my soulmate. I feel as if my heart is being ripped away from my chest.
“My children are my life. My reason to exist. Their wellbeing matters more to me than anything in the world.”
More than me, I finish what he can’t say.
I want to scream at him. Yell until I turn purple, until he understands that I matter too. That I’m worthy of his love, that we can work this out as a family. But can we really? There’s no use in fighting it. His children will never accept me. His ex will always poison them against me.
“The last thing I want is to hurt you or leave you. But I don’t see any other solution. I have to protect them, even from you.”
Does Alicia know how much he sacrifices for their two children? Do they?
Not many fathers put their children first. Mine isn’t like him. I recall the multiple times I had to endure my father’s wife, or my mother’s boy toy. My parents always put them before me. This moment, what he’s doing—choosing his daughters over me—makes me fall in love with him all over again. My heart bleeds for our love, but is happy knowing his daughters have a fantastic father who loves them more than anything.
“I love them.”
“And I appreciate that you were nice to them, but this can’t continue. Hope you understand,” Kade says.
Since I met him, he’s never talked to me like this. As if I were a total stranger invading his space. Overnight, I’ve become no one to Kaden Hades. My heart explodes inside my chest, the pieces becoming dust, disappearing as the wind blows through the room. I count my breaths, reminding myself that I’m a strong woman.
From the beginning, I was aware that this was just a fantasy. A love like the one I shared with him can only last for so long before it changes. Growing up, I learned that nothing is permanent. Why did I believe that this time it’d be different?
Composing myself, I smile at him. “It’ll take me a couple of days to pack my things.” I breathe a few times, finding some strength left inside me before my legs and my body give up. “Tonight, I’ll take the essentials, let me know when the best time is for me to come by and pack the rest. Plus, I have to find a new place.”
“Fuck,” he exhales, his broad shoulders slump. Kaden’s breaking apart. If only he’d let me be there for him, but he doesn’t want me here.
“Sadie…” his voice trails away.
My body jolts when I hear a smashing sound. His fist connecting with the wall.
“I’m hurting you, after I swore I’d never do it…” He runs a hand through his dark hair, taking several breaths. “I’m sorry for breaking my promise.”
“Don’t be.” I brush him away heading to the closet while searching for my luggage. “This is one of the reasons why I love you, Kade. You hang the moon and the stars for them.”
I bite back the rest of my thought. Words that might convince him that this could work, that we could try to defy the odds. But maybe I’d just be postponing the end for a few more days or weeks. Alicia was right.
He has a family, you’re just an intruder passing through.
She won, not that anyone won after what just happened. Everyone lost a piece of themselves, and it’ll take time for us to recover. Focusing on the task of packing, I try to remain quiet. But suddenly, I feel sick to my stomach and run to the bathroom.
“Oh my God, are you alright?”
“Fine.” I heave, holding my stomach while he rubs circles on my back with his big hand.
“Did you go to the doctor?”
“It’s nothing, you don’t have to worry about me anymore.” I brush my teeth and wash my face before heading to the closet.
Packing and holding the tears is like juggling with fireballs. Something is going to fall, and I’ll catch on fire. Remain calm, wait until you get to the car.
“Tess wants to recover here, instead of going to Alicia’s,” he says after I close my second bag. “Would you mind if I have someone pack for you?”
“Tell you what,” I offer walking to the bathroom to collect my toiletries. “I’ll pack and bring my things to the flower shop. That way, I’ll be out of your hair before tomorrow morning. In the meantime, why don’t you go
back to the hospital?”
Leave me while I bleed and plan my next step.
Tell him.
You said you’d talk to him.
No, there’s no point. Think about Tess.
“Not sure if it’ll help, but I know a few counselors,” I channel a neutral voice.
The self-preservation mode I adopted when I was a little girl is fully activated. He won’t know how much this is affecting me; that I’m dying on the inside. For once, I let myself believe I could be part of a family, in a happy place.
“Sade,” he calls my name. His voice is deep with longing.
I turn toward the door and spot him leaning against the frame, his face etched with excruciating pain. It hurts me seeing him agonizing, torn between his daughters and me. He deserves to be loved, to be taken care of. He’s such a troubled soul, yet, the best man I’ve ever met.
“Kade,” I mumble his name, slumping my shoulders and getting back to the task at hand.
Nothing we say will fix what’s happened to Tess, what’s happening to us.
We’re over.
“Ask me to be selfish, to say fuck it all,” he begs.
“As much as it breaks my heart, I refuse to cause any harm to your girls.” I shake my head, taking my jewelry box. “I didn’t do anything, but you’re right, this is for the best.”
“Babe, I don’t want to lose you.” His voice breaks.
I set my bag on the floor, and cover my eyes with the heels of my palms. I take a few deep breaths, soothing myself.
Hold the tears, Sadie. Be strong.
His sandalwood and tobacco scent hits me before he embraces me, trapping me into those strong arms while he fights his own decision. Leaning my head on his chest, I listen to his heartbeat, letting it calm me for the last time.
“I never wanted to hurt her,” I cry, unable to hold the pain. “Or for her to hurt herself because of me. I love her.”
“You’ve been good to them.”
Almost Perfect: A Frenemies to Lovers Romance Page 24
