Hold It Close (MacAteer Brothers Book 3)

by ML Nystrom

  Tears. I saw tears tracking down Karl’s face. He tore apart in front of my eyes.

  “Damaris likes to go out to clubs, and having a baby doesn’t fit in with that lifestyle. I didn’t know that until after the baby was born and she started leaving her to go out at night. For weeks now, I’ve stayed home with Isabel and she’d go do as she pleased. It worked until Isabel got sick one night. Damaris didn’t answer her cell phone, and I ended up taking the baby to the hospital. She’s my daughter legally and I love her more than anything in the world, but I didn’t pay attention to the details on her birth certificate. I saw on her hospital records she’s type O blood. I’m AB. She’s not mine.”

  He dropped his head to his hands and sobbed. “Damaris cheated on me while I cheated with her on you. How fucked-up is that?”

  FUBAR resonated in my head. Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. Pal scratched at the door, and I let him in, glad to have an excuse to bend my stiff knees. My head spun with this enlightenment, and I had no idea what to do with it. Did it really have any bearing on our lives now? Not really. I had nothing to do with Karl or Damaris anymore.

  “I’m sorry, Karl. I’m so sorry you’ve had such a rough time. I had no idea, and I don’t know what else to say. I still don’t know why you’re here, though. I can’t help you fix anything.”

  His tortured wet eyes came out of his hands. “I still love you, Bertie. I should have never let Damaris creep in between you and me. If I could take it all back, I would in a heartbeat.”

  “Even your daughter?”

  He hesitated and shook his head. “No, not my daughter. That’s the one thing I have no regrets about. Isabel is mine, no matter what biology says.”

  “Where is Damaris now? Does she know you’re here?”

  Karl barked out a laugh. “God, I hope not. She would go off the rails. She’s on a business trip to Atlanta for the bank. Isabel is with a sitter today.”

  “So you came here to find out if I would take you back.” I made this as a statement, not a question.

  “Yes,” he answered. Simple and straightforward. “I’m filing for divorce from Damaris next week. We have to do the year’s separation, and I’m sure a custody battle is in my future. I want to talk to her first, but I can’t see us staying married.” He moved closer to me and took both of my hands in his. “I came here to see you. To see if there’s any chance we can go back to our life together.”

  Garrett appeared in the doorway, leaning with his arms spread on either side of the jamb. He had dressed in what he called his nice jeans and a green Henley with a plaid flannel shirt over it. His face drew long and grim and he looked at me, not Karl. I could feel Garrett’s silent alarm go off. He tensed, and I heard the wood groan under the pressure of his fingers. He waited to hear my next words with as much concentration as Karl. I looked at my ex-husband, full of regret and sorrow at his loss. Then my gaze traveled to the man who spent the morning inside my body.

  “I’m sorry.”

  My eyes moved back to Karl. “I’m sorry for what’s happened to you, and I truly feel that. However, I’ve moved on. I’ve found a new life I cherish, and I’ve found a man who loves and appreciates all that I am. I feel the same way about him, and I’m not giving him up. I can’t fix your life, Karl, and it’s not up to me to try. I guess we both made mistakes in our marriage, but I can’t go back for a do-over. I’m happy now. So happy, it’s scary when I think of what I would be if I lost it. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get hurt over our divorce. It did hurt, and I had a few regrets, but that would be nothing in comparison to what I feel now. You and I are over, and that’s not going to change.”

  “I had him followed.”

  My belly clenched, and I shook my head at Karl’s new direction. “What?”

  “I had him followed and investigated. You know he has no money, right?”

  “You had Garrett followed and investigated,” I parroted back to be sure I heard what I heard. Garrett stayed locked in place, but I could sense the tension radiating from him in waves. He was pissed.

  Karl affirmed. “Yes, I did. His credit cards are maxed out. He has no assets, no retirement, no property, nothing tangible. He left the woman he planned on marrying with a mortgage she can’t pay on her own. He has nothing but you.”

  Icy fingers traveled down my spine, and I heard Garret’s sharp breath intake. This was one of my biggest fears. That my money would be a problem.

  Karl continued. “Does he know what your stock portfolio is worth now? I’m sure you’ve seen the numbers. Four splits in three years and that sudden rise in interest puts you at eight point two million at the moment. How can you be sure he’s not here for that?”

  I got mad, and I knew Garret did too. “Because, until now, he had no idea what I have in the bank. He’s never asked, and he never wanted to know. He’s not some gold digger trying to fleece me.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Karl, you need to leave.”

  Pal sensed the negative tension in the air and growled. All signs of Karl’s tears were gone. “I don’t want you to make another mistake, Bertie.”

  “Another mistake.” I needed to stop repeating my ex’s words. “I’m not sure I made one in the first place, Karl. I’m thinking more and more I did the right thing in agreeing to leave you.”

  “Bertie—”

  “The lady said you need to leave.” Garrett sounded remarkably like Pal. If the doorjamb broke away under his hands, I wouldn’t be surprised.

  “Bernadette—”

  “Karl, just go. You have a daughter and a life to build, either with or without Damaris. I wish you luck, but I won’t be in it.”

  “Will you read the investigator’s report?”

  “No. I won’t. I don’t need to, as Garrett has told me everything I need to know.”

  Karl took a step toward me at the same time Garrett did. Pal jumped up from his spot on the rug, hackles straight up in the air. He got between Karl and me and snarled, showing sharp canines under peeled back lips. Garrett’s heat warmed my back, and he placed his hands on my shoulders, letting Pal say what he thought.

  Karl froze. “There’s nothing left, is there?”

  “There’s been nothing for a long time. It just took us a while to admit it.”

  I watched Karl’s face get hard. I don’t know what he expected. Maybe he thought I would welcome him back into my life with open arms. His plan didn’t work, and he showed his crossness with his expression and his final words.

  “Suit yourself, Bertie.”

  He walked out, letting the screen door slap against the frame. Garrett’s hands slid down my arms and over my chest, enfolding me against his hard body. He shook as he clutched me. We stayed silent while we listened to Karl start his car and drive away. Pal’s snarls faded into grumbles and he settled once more on his favorite rug.

  “Eight point two million,” Garrett whispered in my ear. “I can think in hundreds and thousands. Maybe even tens of thousands, but millions?” He gripped me hard enough to be painful. “Christ, Bertie, you’re fuckin’ rich.”

  He was pulling away. I could feel him shutting down, overwhelmed with the knowledge that he would never be my financial equal. I took a deep breath and laid myself open.

  “Yes, I have money. A lot of it. Some people call me rich, and I’m not going to say I don’t enjoy having a large bank account. It’s nice to have the option of working or not, but my money is not all about me. Having it means I can spend it on my sister’s new business. I can renovate an old farmhouse into a bed-and-breakfast, something I’ve always wanted to do. I can set up college accounts for my nieces. I can take care of my family if something bad happens to them, like a prolonged illness or cancer or something like that. I can support a charity or a bunch of charities. What I can’t do is buy happiness, something no stock portfolio can ever replace.” I turned and grabbed his shoulders, my eyes boring into his. “I can’t buy the love of a good man. I’d give away every
penny I have to preserve the moment you were inside me while you said you love me.”

  Garrett stilled for a moment, then made a noise in his throat and lifted his cell phone. I held my breath as I watched him tap the screen. “What are you doing?”

  He sniffed as he answered. “I’m texting to let the boys know I’ll be late. I need to be inside my woman again when I tell her I love her.”

  Twenty-One

  Garrett let himself and Pal in the back door of the inn’s kitchen and tossed the keys on the counter. He smelled of varnish and wood cleaner, as he’d spent his workday with Connor, cleaning and retouching the salvageable furniture from the farmhouse. Some pieces were in excellent shape, and others had already been ruined, but enough existed to complete about half the rooms. Bertie took a bunch of pictures for the website she’d made and already had a few bookings for the Memorial Day opening.

  Pal’s nails clicked on the tile floor as he wandered into the kitchen to slurp water from the bowl set out for that purpose. Garrett followed and had grabbed a beer from the fridge when his phone buzzed with a text.

  Bertie: At the grocery store. Steaks tonight?

  Garrett typed in a response with one thumb.

  Garrett: Sure. I’ll grill if you do those fancy stuffed potatoes of yours.

  Bertie: Absolutely. See you soon.

  Bertie, Pal, and he had moved in temporarily to the inn. The renovations had been completed, and now he spent his days upgrading the cottage. Already he’d framed in a second bedroom to become a new master with a bigger bathroom and closet. This would allow him to expand the kitchen and living areas in the main part of the cottage. He’d also added another room to be a guest room or office space or craft room. Whatever Bertie decided to do with it. If everything worked out, he planned on building his own workshop in the back, maybe by next summer.

  Pal finished making a mess and flumped down with a doggie groan onto the braided rug in front of the kitchen dining area. He let out a big sigh and proceeded to his afternoon activity of napping.

  “I don’t know why you’re tired. I’m the one that moved furniture up and down staircases all day. You slept in the sun.”

  The dog thumped his tail twice and burped.

  Garrett took a quick shower in the commandeered room and put on his favorite drawstring lounge pants and gray Henley. The weather had started to warm up, and plants had begun to bloom. Bertie found a bunch of yellow and red tulips in the overgrown garden bed at the front of the main house. Gladiolas and other bulbs sprouted with color, and the green of the grass had deepened since he scattered fertilizer on it. Bertie had talked to him about putting in a garden.

  “I thought you wanted an in-ground pool first?” He lay back in the bed and watched her take off her clothes. She had expensive taste in underwear. Underneath her plain jeans and T-shirts, she wore matched sets of colorful panties and bras from Victoria’s Secret. Today’s was purple with the top half of the bra see-through lace and the bottom half a floral print. She dropped her jeans to the floor to reveal the same pattern on the front of the panties. When she turned, the back half was sheer. She bent over, and his dick stood at attention.

  “I want both, but I think the garden will go faster than the pool. May we should contract that out to a company that specializes in pool installation?”

  He hadn’t thought about her words at the time, as his interest lay in other directions. She’d said we, not I when she mentioned contracting the pool. His belly flushed warm at that thought. Life was good. His bank account had started to fill out, thanks to the generosity of his brothers and rent-free living. He still paid a whack every month on the credit card balance, but it came down a bit more with every payment. Bertie had offered to pay it off for him but didn’t argue when he said he needed to take care of it himself. As long as his expenses stayed low, he should get out of debt sooner than he’d thought possible. Owen had a pile of custom deck jobs in a new housing development and would need help. Patrick and Angus had moved into a rental house not far from Bev and Connor’s place. Between Owen’s contract, Connor’s furniture, and the smaller jobs that cropped up, they should keep busy through the fall.

  He went back down to the main hall and sat down at a table near the big bay window and opened his laptop. He pulled up the landscaping program and began to design. Pool here. Garden here. Forest escape plans here. Back deck on the cottage, part of it screened for bugs and reinforced for a hot tub. A smile crossed his face as he wondered how Bertie would feel about skinny-dipping during a winter snow.

  He took another swig of beer and cast his eyes to the mountain vistas bathed in the waning daylight while the dog snored. When Bertie got home, he’d grill the steaks outside on the deck while she made her fantastic potatoes. This was it. This is what he wanted for the rest of his life. Working with his brothers every day. Earning a decent living. A home he could call his. Most of all, he wanted Bertie. He wanted to hear her teasing laughter as they watched movies or played games. He wanted to see her paper animals on his dashboard when he drove to work. He wanted to build a life and a home with her. He wanted to wake up every morning and see her tangle of dark hair on his pillow after he’d made love to her all night.

  A knock at the door broke into his meanderings. Pal jumped at the sound and woofed. Garrett assumed Bertie had her hands full and needed help. He took one last pull on the beer and walked over to let her in.

  “Hey, sweetheart. Need hel….”

  Joy stood on the porch with a big smile on her face and a beige trench coat tightly wrapped around her figure. She was heavily made up with smoky eyes and red lips. “Hey yourself, baby. May I come in?”

  Garrett’s stomach plummeted. He already had an idea the direction of this unexpected visit. She didn’t wait for an answer but pushed by him. Pal jumped to his feet and woofed at her, but didn’t approach or growl.

  “You have a dog. Cute.”

  Garrett’s eyes followed Joy as she puttered around the room. She ran her fingers over the furniture and other pieces. “You have some really nice stuff here.”

  He let her go on for a few minutes, not sure what to say or do. She didn’t seem to be in any hurry to talk, sit, or leave. He broke the silence himself. “Why are you here, Joy?”

  Her cornflower-blue eyes came to his. “I needed to see you. You won’t answer my texts or my calls. I felt I had to come down here and talk to you face-to-face.”

  “How did you find me?”

  She shrugged. “It wasn’t too hard. A few internet searches for handymen in the Asheville area. The MacAteer name came up quite often. You guys have great Yelp reviews. I found your company website and saw a picture of you working on this inn. I googled the address and here I am.” She smiled and flourished her had as a gameshow hostess.

  He kept his spot at the open door. “I thought we’d said all we needed to say.”

  “What about our house?”

  “My name is not on the mortgage or the deed. I don’t have anything to sign over to you.”

  “It’s still your house, Garrett.”

  She walked over to him as if on a fashion runway. He couldn’t tell high fashion from Target brands, but he bet her clothes were the former. “That house has never been mine, Joy. Not one stick of furniture, paint color, décor, nothing in that place was chosen by me. That’s all you.”

  She reached out to pick a piece of imaginary lint from his shirt and smoothed her hand over his chest. It was all he could do not to push her hand away from him. He stepped back and her face turned beseeching. “If that’s something you want, we can redecorate. You can change anything you want. I’ve been so selfish about everything, and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drive you away. It’s just the stress at school, the wedding, and everything else, it got to me, and I took my frustrations out on you. I’m so, so sorry, baby.”

  She moved into his space again. “I miss you so much, baby. I wake up in the morning and cry when I see you’re not next to me in bed. Our bed. It te
ars me up that I drove you away.” Two perfect tears tracked down her face. “Please, Garrett. Sweetheart. I love you so much. Please, give us another chance. Give me another chance.”

  She stripped off the coat to reveal her fantastic body in a black corset with garters and a tiny triangle covering her pussy. “This is all yours, baby. I promise it is. You know how good we are together.”

  She pulled at his hands. “Let’s go find a bedroom in this place and get reacquainted.”

  His eyes roamed over her display. Her nipples showed through the lacy mesh. The corset and panties seemed to be held on by a series of ties in the front. If he pulled the ribbons, the garment would fall away and she would be naked in front of him. He tried to draw up any good memories of their time together. Not one came to mind. He couldn’t recall how it felt having sex with Joy, laughing with her, or having fun together. When he thought about waking up to make love, Bertie’s face appeared in his mind’s eye. With Joy, nothing.

  He looked down at their intertwined hands, feeling their grip, and stroked over her knuckle with his thumbs.

  “Where’s the ring I gave you?”

  She jumped and her tone changed. “I… um… I left it in Jersey.”

  Something about her voice sent an alert down his spine. “You still have it?”

  She gripped his hands harder. “Not exactly, but I can get it back.”

  He tried to pull his hands back. “What do you mean ‘not exactly’?”

  She huffed in irritation, and he recalled the familiar sound. “It’s still around. If you come home with me, I’ll go get it.”

  “Go get it?”

  “Fuck, Garrett. Why are you giving me a hard time? You’re the one who left, you know.”

  “I’m not giving you a hard time, Joy. I’m curious as to what you mean by ‘I’ll go get it.’”

  She huffed again and rolled her eyes. “I pawned it, okay? I owed some money to some people, and the fastest way to get it was to pawn the ring. It’s just temporary. We can go get it when we get back to Jersey.”