I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a hug. “Mom, we’re not children any longer, and you don’t need to keep things like this from us. We’re a family, and families stick together.”
She palmed my cheek. “You’re such a good girl, Belle.”
“And you’re the best mom a girl could ever have.”
I grabbed my purse from my room and slung it over my shoulder. “Right, I’d better go. Don’t want to be late on my first day.”
I stepped outside—and shock hit me squarely in the chest.
Where the hell is Upton’s car?
The space where I’d parked it on the street last night lay empty. Oh Christ, some little bastard must have stolen it. I pinched the bridge of my nose. How on earth would I tell him his car had been stolen? And as if that wasn’t bad enough, now I’d be late for my first day at my new job.
What a brilliant way to make a first impression—not.
I dug my phone out of my bag to call the police when a high-pitched whistle startled me. I glanced in the direction of the noise.
“Lose something?”
My jaw dropped. Upton was a little way down the street holding the biggest bunch of flowers I’d ever seen, and next to him, wrapped in a big red bow, was a brand-new SUV in candy-apple red—my favorite color.
“What’s going on?” I asked, making my way over to him.
He twisted his lips to one side in a wry smile. “I’m afraid that since you’re no longer my employee, I’ve had to confiscate the company vehicle. However,” he added, “I thought this might compensate.”
He thrust the flowers at me with one hand and held up a car key with the other. I, on the other hand, stood with my knees locked in place and my mouth flapping like a poor fish tossed onto the quayside.
“It’s German. The most reliable of all vehicles, in my opinion. If you really don’t like it, though, we can return it and swap it for one you do like.”
“It’s… it’s a car.”
Upton grinned. “There’s no fooling you, is there?”
“You can’t buy me a car.”
“Erm, I think you’ll find I can do whatever I damn well please. I’m a rebel like that.”
“But—”
“No buts. It’s yours. And please, please don’t utter a single word about charity or favors or shit like that. You are my girlfriend. Today is your first day in a new job, and I, as the man in your life, wanted to buy you a little gift to mark a special day.”
“A little gift? Jesus, Upton, a box of candy is a little gift.” I shook my head. “You’ve done so much for me already.”
“No, Belle.” He removed the flowers from my arms and set them on the passenger seat of the car, then slipped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. “It’s you who’s done so much for me. If it weren’t for your dogged determination to show me that I had a life worth living, then I’d still be hiding away in my too-big house, swamped with guilt I didn’t know how to deal with.”
He bent his head and kissed me, right there on the street outside Mr. Clifford’s house. I’d bet the old man had his nose pressed up against the pane of glass in his living room and was right this second on the verge of calling the police and reporting us for lewd conduct.
Screw him. I didn’t care.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my fingers in his soft hair. Right here, with this man who a few short months ago I’d never met, was my happy place.
He drew back, pecked my lips a couple times, then grinned. “You’d better get a move on, or you’ll be late.”
He removed the bow and folded it up, then opened the car door, and I got in. The smell of leather and newness hit me, and I placed my hands on the steering wheel, stunned that this beautiful car was mine.
“Oh, before I forget to mention,” Upton said, “there’s a fully functioning wheelchair lift in the back, so Zak won’t have any trouble getting in and out.”
Tears rushed to my eyes. No one had ever done anything like this for me before.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“No, thank you. See you tonight. Good luck, not that you’ll need it.” He bent his head, gave me a final kiss, and then he was gone.
On the entire journey to my new place of work, I kept getting hit with moments of disbelief. Upton had bought me a car. A car. And he’d even thought about Zak with the lift.
How did I get so lucky?
The day I saw the advert for a companion had changed my life. It had been tough in the beginning, but these last few weeks, everything had fallen into place. Only one question remained outstanding, and despite Upton’s generosity this morning, I still didn’t have an answer for him. In a way, his gift made it harder to take that final step, as if by agreeing to move in after such an expensive present, it would send a message that his money had enticed me when the truth was that his money made this a far more difficult decision to reach.
I arrived at the retirement home to find the manager waiting for me. A middle-aged lady with graying hair that she wore in a fashionable bob that reached her shoulders, Mrs. Compton exuded a warm and caring spirit. When I’d come for my interview, we’d hit it off immediately. Twin Palms nursing home was one of the best in the state with a waiting list a mile long, and the desire to work here was equally sought after. To land an assistant manager job had been something of a coup for me, and even though Upton had carved out the introduction, he’d sworn on his life that he hadn’t exerted any influence in the final decision. Mrs. Compton was a woman who knew her own mind. I couldn’t see her allowing anyone to pen her into a corner or force her into a decision she didn’t want to make.
“Belle, you’re right on time.” She extended her hand, and I shook it. “Come on in. Our residents are all anxious to meet you.”
The morning passed in a blur of introductions and procedures, and by the time it reached one o’clock, I was more than ready for a break and a chance to reflect on the day so far. Mom had packed a sandwich and an apple for me, and as the weather was so nice today, I took them out into the gardens to eat.
I sat on a bench facing a row of soft pink rosebushes and turned my face up to the sun. My shoulders relaxed, and a sense of peace came over me. Already, after a few short hours, I knew I’d made the right decision to come and work here. The residents were all so lovely, and the other staff had welcomed me so warmly, I already felt as if I belonged. I couldn’t wait to tell Upton all about it over dinner tonight.
“Hello, Belle.”
My eyes snapped open, and I sat up straight, squinting into the bright sunshine in time to see Marin’s brother, Wyatt, take a seat beside me. A prickle of unease settled at the base of my spine. When Zak told me he was relocating to Florida, it’d been the best news I could have received. We’d never exactly hit it off, and after Marin died, Wyatt had laid the blame squarely at my feet. At the time he’d said some pretty nasty things, each one uncalled for because no one could have made me feel any worse than I already did.
“Wyatt, what are you doing here? I thought you’d moved to the East Coast?”
“I have.”
He reached into my sandwich box and helped himself to half my lunch. I almost snatched it back but decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
“How did you find me here?” I asked with a frown. “It’s my first day today.”
He bit into the sandwich and chewed, then swallowed. “I stopped by your house this morning. I’m only back for a few days. Got a couple of bits and pieces to tie up, and I had an idea you might want to visit Marin’s grave with me. I don’t know when I’ll be back again.”
Although going anywhere with him, including Marin’s grave, was right at the top of my list of ‘not this side of hell freezing over’, news of his impending departure and unlikely return filled me with relief. I could do this one thing and then never see him again.
“Oh. Sure. I don’t finish my shift until five, but we can go after that if you like.” I’d text Upton to tell him I’d be an
hour or so late. “I presume Zak told you where I’d be.”
“No. I never got as far as your front door.”
“Then how did you… oh.”
“Yeah, oh.” He snorted, and when he set his eyes on me, they were filled with hatred. “Nice show you put on, by the way. It didn’t make me sick to my stomach at all to see my brother’s fiancée with her tongue down another guy’s throat.”
“Wyatt,” I began, but he cut me off with a hand slice through the air.
“Bagged yourself a rich dude, huh, Belle? Marin a long-forgotten memory?”
“No!” I expelled.
“Bullshit. My brother’s body is still warm in his grave, yet you’ve already moved on. Nice car, by the way. Was that in payment for a blow job, perhaps?”
I struck him across the face, only the sting in my palm and the handprint on Wyatt’s cheek letting me know I’d hit him at all.
“Fuck you,” I spat out, anger and indignation sending me to my feet. “You don’t know anything about me. Anything at all.”
“I know my brother fucking loved you.”
“And I loved him.”
He snorted. “Sure you did.”
“I did! But he’s dead, Wyatt. I can’t change that.”
He raked me with a disdainful gaze. “Yeah, we all know your culpability when it comes to my brother.”
I doubled over, air forcibly ejected from my lungs by Wyatt’s cruel yet truthful words. My stomach dropped to the grass-covered ground at my feet, and I heaved a couple of times as nausea filled my stomach. “I know what I did,” I whispered. “And I’ve paid for it over and over.”
“You haven’t paid nearly enough,” Wyatt spat. “Sixteen months. That’s all it’s been. Sixteen fucking months. Was my brother so easy to forget that you feel zero remorse for warming another man’s bed?”
I tried to defend myself, but the words wouldn’t come. Maybe Wyatt had a point, one I needed to examine a little closer. Was this why I’d avoided answering Upton’s question about moving in, because I still wasn’t over Marin? Or did I just feel guilty that I’d found love again? Was I on the rebound and what I felt for Upton wasn’t real after all?
Questions, questions, questions. My head spun with the number racing through my mind. And all the while, Wyatt sat there, relishing in my pain.
“You never liked me, did you?” I’d never asked him this, but there’d always been an undercurrent between us, and my intuition had picked up on his antipathy. I remember asking Marin about it once, and he’d replied with, “Wyatt hates everyone. Himself most of all.” I hadn’t asked him to expand at the time. Now I wish I had.
“That’s not what this is about, but if you must know, no, I didn’t. My brother deserved better, and damn if you haven’t proved me right.”
Hot tears pricked my eyes, the second time today that I’d almost cried except, on this occasion, the tears were brought about by hurt and anger, both at Wyatt and myself.
“I have to get back,” I said, picking up the remains of my lunch. I hadn’t touched a bite. “I’m sorry, Wyatt. Have a safe trip back to Florida.”
“You should be sorry,” he called at my retreating back. “Once a bitch, always a bitch.”
His words stung, but I kept my shoulders back, my head held high, and returned to work.
Whatever Wyatt hoped to achieve by coming here today, he’d succeeded in one thing.
He’d put doubt in my mind.
24
Upton
I twirled a lock of Belle’s hair around my forefinger, my attention more on her than the show she’d chosen on Netflix. Ever since she’d arrived this evening, she’d been quiet, but despite several tender probing questions from me, she’d insisted there was nothing wrong and put her taciturn responses down to exhaustion after her first day at a new job.
I didn’t buy it. She’d been so excited this morning when I’d dropped off her new car. I’d taken a risk gifting it to her. Belle was a proud woman who didn’t take kindly to anything she saw as charity, but I’d wanted to do something nice, and when she’d accepted almost without a murmur, I’d driven the entire journey to work with a stupid grin on my face. Even during several grueling and tricky meetings today, my smile had barely dropped.
Yet over the past three hours I’d hardly managed to coax a full sentence out of her, and the newness of our relationship meant I’d jumped to the worst possible conclusion.
I was losing her.
When she let out a heavy sigh, I reached for the remote control and turned the TV off. She glanced up at me, surprise raising her eyebrows.
“Bored with the show?”
“No. I am, however, irked at the fact you refuse to tell me what’s wrong.”
She struggled to sit up, shuffling a little distance away from me. “I told you. Nothing’s wrong. I’m tired, that’s all. Mrs. Compton hit me with a ton of information today, and I’m trying to process it all.”
Belle was just about the worst liar I’d ever seen. Her eyes got all shifty, and she would pluck at invisible fluff on whatever she happened to be wearing, just like she was doing now. But I knew her well enough by now to know that the more I pushed, the less she’d talk. I’d have to play the long game. The problem with that was I’d never been the most patient of men. In business, I pressed, coerced, used knowledge and research to force my opponent to concede.
Except, Belle wasn’t an opponent—and we weren’t in a boardroom.
I got to my feet and extended my hand in her direction. “Let’s take Bandit for a walk on the beach.”
She frowned. “It’s dark out.”
“So. I’ll take a flashlight, and there are streetlights anyway. Besides, this way, we’ll have the beach to ourselves.”
“Okay.” She rose from the couch. “You fetch Bandit, and I’ll go get my jacket.”
We reconvened in the hallway. Bandit couldn’t wait to get outside, pushing his nose in the gap before I’d properly opened the door. He leaped over the step, going to the very limits of his extendable lead and, despite his size, he almost yanked my arm out of my socket, then glanced back as if to say, “Hurry up”.
Damned dog.
I closed the door and linked my fingers with Belle’s, half expecting her to pull away. Relief that she didn’t surged through me. I felt as if I was clinging to the cliff edge with the sodden earth crumbling all around me. You’d think with my history, I’d be used to how life could turn on a dime. One minute, everything was perfect. Well, maybe not perfect, but better than most. The next, bam! It all came crashing down, that solid foundation you’d built, and you realized you had very little control over your own destiny.
We walked in silence, Bandit’s panting the only noise filling the night air. Twenty minutes after leaving the house, we jogged down the narrow stone steps that led to the beach. I flicked on the flashlight which lit our path and bent down to unclip Bandit’s lead. He immediately sped off, a pale blur in the inky darkness.
“What if we lose him?” Belle asked, her tone filled with concern.
I whistled, and seconds later, he slid to a halt at my feet and sat, waiting for the treat he knew was coming, then ran off again, his joy at simply running free seeping into my bones and giving me a sense of optimism. Maybe Belle was telling the truth: she’d had a hard day with a lot of new information tossed at her, and her quiet reflection was how she processed it before a new day arrived. I should give her the benefit of the doubt. If there was something wrong, she’d tell me in her own time and her own way.
“His recall really is fantastic,” she said, leaning her head on my shoulder as we padded through the soft golden sand, cool now that the sun had set. “You should be proud of the work you’ve done with him.”
“I can’t imagine not having him now,” I admitted. “Although the little shit drives me crazy at least ten times a day.”
She tipped back her head and peered up at me. “That’s dogs for you. They’re like kids. You’re glad you have them,
but damn if some days you don’t want them to just leave you the hell alone.”
I chuckled, comforted that she’d shared more than a couple of words with me. That entire sentence was more than I’d gotten out of her all evening.
“Do you want kids?” I asked.
I’d anticipated the question would bring her closer to me. Instead, she slipped her hand from mine and put a good foot between us. “One day. Maybe.”
A spike of anxiety shot up my spine. Not because she’d sounded uncommitted about kids. Hell, she was only twenty-three, and my question had been conversational rather than a deep and meaningful discussion about the merits, or otherwise, of leaving behind something of yourself. No, that tingle that reminded me of a static electric shock had more to do with how fast she’d disengaged.
I stopped walking. Belle carried on, her concentration fixed on the sand beneath her feet. It took her a second or two to realize I wasn’t beside her. She pulled up and slowly turned around.
“What’s the matter?”
“Good question,” I said as my arms came across my chest.
She frowned. “I’m confused.”
“That makes two of us.” Two steps brought me face to face with her.
She huffed. “Why are you talking in riddles?”
“Talk to me, Belle,” I pleaded. “Something isn’t right, and I’m just not buying the whole ‘I’m tired’ excuse. You’ve been distant all night. I want to know what’s wrong. How can I help you if you won’t tell me what’s going on in that head of yours?”
“Just leave it, please.”
Her voice was so quiet, I had to strain to hear her despite the absence of a breeze and the only sound being the waves gently washing onto the shoreline.
I cupped her face, angling her head to give her no choice other than to meet my gaze. The moon reflected in her eyes, and she’d never looked more beautiful to me.
“I can’t leave it. I—” I shook my head, the words “I love you” on the tip of my tongue. Something prevented me from saying them, though, an invisible barrier I couldn’t break through. Maybe it was because I’d never told a woman I loved her that made the words stick in my throat. Or maybe I was scared she wouldn’t say them back. “Never mind.”
Enchanted: A Billionaire Romance (The ROGUES Series Book 4) Page 16
