Finding His Mrs. Right (Mending Hearts Series)

by Harris, Cyndi

  “How dare you!” I shouted as she scolded me.

  “I’m only telling you the truth because I love you. Stop being scared to fall in love and just do it already.” Gwen replied sitting beside me.

  “You can hate me all you want after, but don’t let this go. This is the happiest I have seen you in years.” Gwen insisted, and I knew she was right.

  This had been the happiest I’d been, despite the fact that I was trying to hold back. The fact was I had done well at guarding my heart, until Landon. I needed to make things right with him if it was the last thing I did. I didn’t intend on hurting him like this. I needed to be honest with him like he had been with me.

  “I don’t feel like I have the right to be happy without Dean.” I whispered truthfully as more tears fell.

  “I know.” She said, pulling me into a half hug. “But you do.”

  “I don’t know what to do.” I sighed, trying to dry my tears.

  “I have something that will take your mind off of things and make you feel better.” Gwen smiled brightly, and I had no doubt that she did.

  When Gwen devised a plan, it was hell trying to break out of it. Right now though, I needed the distraction. So, her idea was welcomed.

  Seventeen

  Sitting in mycar, I ran the day’s events through my head. What had I done wrong? Was I too forward, too fast? I mean, I know it’s only been nearly a month, but I was really falling for Tessa. I wasn’t ready for her to leave town yet. I wasn’t ready for my heart to ache from the absence of her. This, the pain that I was feeling now, was what I feared. It was like I was a teen having a summer romance that was ending way too fast. And like I said, I took life seriously. It ended way too fast, and I wanted to be able to share it with someone I loved.

  Before meeting Tessa, I’ll admit that I would’ve never thought that to be possible. Loving someone, only to lose them one day, wasn’t appealing to me. I liked living life with no attachments other than my family, losing my mom was hard enough, but now I wasn’t so sure. I wanted Tessa, but she obviously hadn’t felt the same about me. Maybe this was karma coming back to bite me in the ass.

  A knock on my window startled me, and I turned to look out. I saw Jocelyn standing there, holding a bag. She smiled at me, and I remained unmoved. I saw that the sun was setting, which meant I had spent the better part of the afternoon in my thoughts. I’d been locked in my car, parked and thinking as the day slipped by.

  “Are you ok?” she asked and I shrugged. She was the last person I wanted to see right now.

  “Let me in.” she insisted, and I sighed. I couldn’t ignore her as much as I wanted to. Instead of unlocking the door, I rolled the window down.

  “Rough day, huh?” Jocelyn asked, peering at me.

  “I’m thinking, “duh”.” I said, sarcastically.

  “Sorry, come have a drink with me.” She demanded, and I stared at her.

  I wanted to say no with everything in me, but why? Tessa obviously didn’t want me, and a drink sounded pretty damn good right about now. After mulling it over in my head, I took my key out of the ignition, and got out of the car.

  “Do you want to tell me what happened?” Jocelyn asked as we headed to the lounge across the street.

  “Not really.” I mumbled.

  “Oh, come on. You’ll feel better after you talk about it.” She responded as we made it to the front door.

  “I seriously doubt that.” I shrugged as I opened the front door for her.

  She walked in, and I followed her into the dimly lit space. The room was filled and I didn’t really care. I just wanted to get wasted, which I knew wasn’t a great idea, but whatever. I wanted to drink my pain away. I think I deserved one night of not caring. Heading through the lounge I stopped as I spotted Zachary Ryan. Just my luck, the prick was in the same place as me, when I was already pissed. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe I could knock him on his ass after a few drinks.

  The thought brought a smile to my lips, but it immediately washed away after I saw who he was sitting with. Tessa’s long dark hair fanned out over her as she sat with her back facing me. She was wearing a dress that I brought her earlier that week, and I found that to be a slap in the face.

  “I’m leaving.” I barked, before turning to leave. Jocelyn followed me flabbergasted, but I was glad she didn’t ask for an explanation. To be honest, I didn’t want anything to do with her either, but I was too livid to shoo her off.

  The Next Morning:

  I called and texted Landon like a hundred times. Of course, he didn’t answer, but I couldn’t blame him. If the tables had been turned, I would never speak to him again. I was just hoping that maybe Landon had more heart than I did. I needed him to understand why I booked. I needed to just rip the band aid off and tell him about, Dean. Standing on his doorstep, I rung the bell and waited.

  The door opened and I smiled brightly before I saw who was standing there. Jocelyn was wearing nothing but a bath robe, and she was completely soaking wet from head to toe. Obviously she’d just hopped out of the shower, and I was sure she hadn’t taken it alone. Landon and I had shared enough showers in the morning for me to know what happened. The thought of them together broke my heart into pieces, but I refused to show any emotion in front of her. She had obviously gotten what she wanted.

  The wench smiled at me deviously, and I had the urge to knock her on her ass. The thought pleased me, but I stayed classy instead. There was already enough trash standing in Landon’s doorway. I didn’t want to add to it. Taking a hard breath, I turned to leave. Walking down the walkway anger tore through me as pain followed. I felt tears burning the back of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

  “Tessa.” I heard, and I stopped as I felt Landon’s strong hand on my arm.

  “Don’t.” I offered as I tried to walk off, but he turned me to him. I was actually surprised to see that he was fully clothed.

  “Why are you here?” he asked, and I could hear the annoyance in his tone.

  “I wanted to explain about yesterday, but I see it won’t matter. I’m sorry if I hurt you.” I said, swallowing my pride and anger. It was my fault that he ended up with the skank. He declared loving me and I literally ran.

  “You mean by telling me that you’re dating Zachary Ryan?” he said, and I turned back to him confused.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I saw you two last night. He’s why you shut me down, right?”

  “You saw us?” I asked stunned as my cheeks heated, and he nodded.

  “Do you love him?” he asked and I could hear the pain in his voice.

  “No.” I said walking over to him, but I instantly stopped when I remembered his ex, who was in the house.

  “But you obviously love her.” I sneered.

  “Far from it.” Landon bit.

  “Look, I get that you slept with her because I hurt you. So there’s no need to—”

  “I didn’t sleep with her. She stayed the night in a guest room because it was too late to take her back to her hotel room last night.”

  “You didn’t sleep with her?” I asked angry, but a bit relieved as I looked up into his beautiful eyes. I could tell when he told me the truth just by the look in his eyes. Landon didn’t even flinch when he said,

  “No. I wouldn’t touch her with a six foot pole.” He grumbled angrily.

  “If you feel that way, why is she here?” I pushed.

  “We came back here and had some drinks together. I wanted to have drinks at the place where I saw you and Ryan, but obviously seeing you two together pissed me off. So, before I took his head off and humiliated myself, I left. Jocelyn just happened to tag along.” He answered.

  “Which seems to happen too much since she arrived.” I grumbled jealously.

  “I gave you your answers, so I want mines.” He insisted.

  “I’m not dating, Zach. That was the first time I’d ever met him.” I answered truthfully.

  “What would you be meeting him for?�
� he asked, curiously.

  I guess this was it. It wasn’t how I wanted to tell him, but oh well.

  “He offered to buy my company. He offered me twenty million dollars to move my company to Los Angeles.” I said in one breath.

  Landon stood silent as he glared at me. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but I was afraid of whatever it was he was going to say.

  “You turned me down for him? For money?”

  “No—yes…but when you say it like that—”

  “I tell you I’m falling in love with you—and you run away because of Zachary Ryan. Do you know how long it’s taken me to even try to open my heart to the idea of love?” Landon pointed out, and I felt like crap.

  “Landon, I’m sorry. That’s why I came.” I muttered.

  “Are you ok, Landon?” I heard Jocelyn call, and she was in the doorway again. At least this time she was clothed.

  “Fine!” he shouted back and she sneered at me, before she disappeared.

  “Are you still in love with her?!” I shouted, letting my anger get the best of me.

  “No, and when I did, it was only puppy love. Nothing like I feel for you. I don’t want Jocelyn, she cheated on me. I walked in on her with none other than, Zachary Ryan. That’s why I hate the guy ok?!” he shouted and I sucked in a hard breath. I didn’t know what to say.

  “Landon—”

  “No, I told you how I felt, Tessa. You act like I’m not scared to death of this, but the fact is, I’m terrified. But I still put myself out there. I can’t make you love me if you don’t. I laid everything out for you. I brought you a house just so you wouldn’t leave, but you tore my heart out when you ran away from me. I can’t make your heart feel something that it doesn’t.” Landon said, cutting me off.

  Again, I didn’t know how to reply. My feelings were all over the place and I was scared. I didn’t want to fall in love. I put a wall up because I didn’t want anyone to come close, but here I was, in a predicament. Landon made me glow, he made me nervous like a love struck teen, but I was too scared to accept it.

  “I do feel something for you.” I whispered.

  “Why are you so hot and cold with me? Is there someone else?” Landon asked, and again there it was, my opportunity to tell him about Dean. I couldn’t find the right words, but Jocelyn interrupted us anyway.

  “Landon, I need you for a minute.” She replied sauntering up to him.

  “About what?” he asked a bit annoyed, turning to her.

  “It’s private.” She said widening her eyes as she touched his shoulder.

  I gritted my teeth as I bawled my hands into fists. I was about five seconds from planting my fist into her face. She was being annoying for a reason, and it was to get Landon alone with her. I knew the game, I was a female, but Landon was mines. I watched as she ran her perfectly manicured fingernails up his arm, and that was it. Moving forward, I shoved her back, and put myself between them.

  “What the hell?!” Jocelyn screamed, catching her balance after stumbling back.

  “Landon is mines. Keep your paws off of him or I swear you’ll live to regret it.” I barked. We stared at each other evilly and my eyes dared her to approach me. I was going to tear her from limb to limb and would be happy about it.

  “I’ll be inside waiting for you.” Jocelyn snapped.

  “The hell you will.” I snapped going after her, but Landon grabbed me by my waist.

  “Go inside!” Landon barked to Jocelyn. She did as she was told, and darted inside. Only then, did Landon let me go.

  “You should’ve let me tear into her.” I insisted calming down and Landon smiled.

  “Is that what it takes for you to show how you really feel about me?” he asked and I shook my head embarrassed.

  “Good because I can’t see myself with anyone else, and trying to make you jealous everyday would be exhausting.” He chuckled, and it was good to hear him laugh again.

  “Shut up.” I said shoving him playfully.

  “How do we get to the point of being ok? How do we fix us?” Landon asked, taking my smaller hands into his.

  “We already did.” I insisted getting on my tippy toes to kiss him.

  “We still need to talk.” He insisted and I nodded. I knew there was still a lot to hash out between us, especially now that Zachary Ryan had come into play. I had a lot of thinking to do. But, I was glad that we were on the same page again. Fighting with Landon wasn’t fun. As much as I hated to admit it, I needed him in my life.

  “First you need to get rid of her.” I said between kisses and he nodded.

  “On it.” He said ending our kiss. “Then we can have some make up sex.”

  “That sounds great.” I moaned as his hands traced the spawn of my back.

  “Good, let me drive her to town, get her to sign a few papers, and I’ll be back.” Landon said, kissing me.

  “Can’t Sam take her?” I asked a bit annoyed. I was ready to make up in all the right ways.

  “I wouldn’t go if I didn’t have to—trust me.” He said running his hands down to my ass. “I have every intention of letting you show me how sorry you are.” He smiled.

  “I don’t want her back here again.” I demanded with a kiss.

  “Done.” He said easily and that caused me to smile.

  I was sure that I was falling in love with Landon. I just needed the gall to say it out loud.

  Eighteen

  Stalking into the restaurant, I fixed my tie as I saw the table I was supposed to be at. I’d set up a meeting earlier that day with a person I really needed to see, and now that Tessa was back, I could make it short. Walking to the seat, I pulled it out before sitting down.

  “I didn’t expect you to answer my calls.” Zach replied, staring across the table at me.

  “Well, I had a few words I wanted to have with you.” I sneered.

  “Is this about your new “girlfriend”?” he asked.

  “To be perfectly honest, yeah. I know all about the little deal you’re trying to strike with her, and I want you stop it.” I barked.

  I knew he was only doing this to get a rise out of me. Unfortunately, it was working. Zach chuckled as he glared at me.

  “Something funny?” I asked angrily.

  “Yeah, you. This isn’t about you and your ridiculous grudge you choose to hold against me. I’m truly interested in her company. She’s made some noise in the business world and I want to take her to the next level.” Zach shrugged.

  “If you hadn’t noticed, I’m fully capable of taking her company to the “next level”.” I barked.

  “I’m pretty sure my offer is looking pretty tempting to her, am I right? If I weren’t, we wouldn’t be sitting here now, would we?” he asked cockily.

  Half of his statement was true, but the fact of the matter was, I’d arranged a meeting with him before Tessa told me about the offer.

  “I just want to tell you to stay away from, Tessa.” I warned with a malicious glare.

  “Ooh, I never pegged you as the jealous, territorial type.” Zach chuckled, and I wanted to knock that smug look off of his face.

  “You’re such an asshole.” I barked.

  “Tell me what I did to make you hate me so much.” Zach insisted, and I was two seconds away from jumping across the table.

  “I’m not playing this game with you.” I replied.

  “Seriously, we went from being friends to enemies, and I don’t know why.” Zach said and he looked genuinely confused. “I couldn’t have done something that bad.”

  “How about the fact, that you fucked my girlfriend.” I barked, and Zach sat back in his chair as if he were blown away.

  The look on his face was puzzled and it only made me more irate. How could he have forgotten something like that?? Had he been wasted? He knew I was dating Jocelyn when they messed around.

  “Jocelyn?” he asked raising an eyebrow at me.

  “Screw this.” I said getting up. “Stay away from Tessa or I swear I’ll hurt
you. I love her, you hear me? This isn’t high school anymore. I’ll kick your ass if you try to sleep with her.”

  “I never slept with, Jocelyn.” He replied, and I stopped in my tracks, as his words seeped in. I looked back at him as I tried to run that night’s events through my head again. I never saw the guy’s face, but it had to have been him. He had been throwing himself at her for weeks.

  “I flirted with her, yeah. She flirted with everyone, Landon. You were my boy; I would’ve never done that to you. You should’ve asked me instead of hating me.” Zach shrugged as he turned back to the table. Swallowing hard, I stalked out of the restaurant.

  I needed some answers.

  “Zach swears that it wasn’t him that slept with Jocelyn.” I spat as I paced the room for the umpteenth time.

  “Do you really believe him?” Tyler asked, rolling his eyes.

  “He sounded pretty damn convincing.” I sighed as I scrubbed my hands over my face. “Tell me the truth; did Jocelyn flirt with a lot of guys?”

  “Landon…”

  “Oh God, I was such an idiot.” I grumbled as I fell onto the sofa behind me.

  “You weren’t an idiot, you were just love struck. A lot was going on at home for you, too much for you to see what was right in front of you.” Tyler said, trying to make me feel better.

  “And that’s always going to be the story of my life.” I sighed.

  “So, are you and Tessa ok? That’s the biggest thing right now.” Tyler said as there was a tap on the door.

  “I’m trying to get her to stay here with me.” I replied as the door opened.

  “Hey sweetie, we’re back.” Amanda replied smiling at Tyler.

  “I missed you.” Tyler said going over and kissing his wife. God, I wanted what they had. I had never envied it before, but I did now.

  “Uncle Landon!” Danny shouted running into the room and hugging me.

  I squeezed him tight as I stared at him. Boy was he growing like a weed.

  “When are we going to play baseball?!” he asked excitedly.