by Peak, Renna
“I don’t know.” My pulse was racing—my heart felt like it might burst through my chest. “I didn’t notice. I wasn’t looking…” I felt a pang in my stomach—he had been trying to mend something with me. Something he had broken so long ago. Something that had broken when he traded me to Daniel and his father—and I hadn’t wanted to hear it. I couldn’t believe myself—after everything I had gone through—all of the feelings of guilt that I had allowed myself to live with after Daniel … this time was real. This time I really did have something to feel guilty about…
She shook her head. “It’s early. It’s probably nothing. No one has shown up yet, anyway…” The wild look came back to her eyes. “Let’s get you inside. Your mother wants your hair and makeup done…”
Of course she does… I couldn’t let myself share Krystal’s panic. She was right—it was still early. We were the first people there. Daniel and his father weren’t there yet, either, so nothing was amiss. Not yet. If I started to let myself panic, I knew it would show on my face when I had to stand on that stage. And I knew damned well I didn’t want anyone saying anything about me being an emotional wreck that day. Marian wouldn’t have put up with it.
She delivered me to an office space where the hair and makeup people had set up their work area. I let them pull on my hair and paint my face to my mother’s specifications, and no one mentioned the color of my hair even once. If a bottle of dye had been produced, I was pretty sure I would have bolted for the doors.
I waited there, trying not to think of the implications of what would happen if my father didn’t show up. The press conference would still go on—I just knew he wanted to be there to show his support. Well, it was more likely he wanted to show he was in charge. Of me and of Daniel.
Krystal finally came in, her eyes hopeful. “Did he call you?”
I felt my heart sink into my stomach again. “No.” I knew this was bad. I didn’t know exactly how or why it was bad, but I knew it was terrible.
She forced a small smile. “Did anyone call you, Jenna? Because Daniel and Ambassador Sato haven’t arrived yet, either…”
My eyes widened and I think my mouth fell open. It would have been a dream if it wasn’t such a nightmare.
“What about Brandon? Have you heard from him?” Her eyes were hopeful again.
I shook my head. My mind raced—something weird was going on. Something strange had to have happened for all three men to have just not shown up for this “event.” This horrible thing where Daniel was going to be re-introduced to the world and where new lies would be layered on top of the old ones. I was only here for my father. Only here because of the threats he had made—both against me and against Brandon. And this was Daniel’s dream … I knew he wanted to get his old life back. I couldn’t even imagine how it had been for him, not being able to go where he wanted, do what he wanted. Daniel just not showing up didn’t make any sense, either. And Daniel’s father … he definitely would have shown up. Ambassador Hiro Sato was a man of integrity—well, except for the part where he helped to fake his son’s suicide. Hell, I didn’t know any of these men, if I was being honest. The fact that the three of them had propagated such a huge lie in the first place should have told me that…
Krystal went into another room and brought back a cup of coffee for each of us. We waited in that tiny waiting room where I’d had my hair and makeup done for what seemed like forever, both of us silent. I didn’t think I would have been able to speak, anyway, but the fear pulsing through me wasn’t helping. My hands were shaking, and it wasn’t because of the coffee.
She finally stood up. “I’m going to go check on some things. I’ll be back. Please don’t go anywhere.” Her eyes were pleading with me. “Please, just stay right here.”
I nodded. I didn’t really have anywhere to go. Even if I’d wanted to. I couldn’t even think of a place I would have wanted to run. Not there. Not in D.C.
I was just trying to hold it together—I knew if a single tear left my eyes, my makeup would be ruined and Marian would be all over me about it. That would have been my luck, though—losing it with a crying fit right before I had to go out on stage to hold the hand of my dead fiancé…
My phone chimed in my purse and I took it out to check the text. I almost hoped it was my father, telling me he was running late. That there had been some emergency foreign relations meeting, and that was why he was late…
It was Brandon. Are you okay?
He had to know what time it was here. He had to know that this was the moment I was supposed to be standing on the stage with Daniel. I’m sure he thought it was funny to be texting me right now, and I might have even been upset with him if I wasn’t so upset already about my father having gone missing. I typed back into my phone. Yes. You?
His reply came back only a moment later. Better than ever.
I shook my head and tried not to let it hurt my feelings. Maybe he was better than ever, but I certainly wasn’t.
I hadn’t even begun to type in a reply when he texted again. Are you alone?
I rolled my eyes. I’m not sexting with you. Not now.
He didn’t reply immediately, and I thought maybe I had hurt his feelings. He could be such an ass about things sometimes—I had no doubt that he thought his jokes were lightening the mood—helping me to deal with a shitty situation, but I couldn’t deal with it right now. With him. With any of this.
Come outside. Go through the back.
My heart began to race again—this time not from fear. Holy shit, was he was really here? He was here and I was sitting here on my ass waiting for the three men who had tried to take my life away from me … again? What the hell had I been thinking?
I walked out into the hallway, looking in both directions to be sure no one was there. I wasn’t sure why no guards had accompanied me, but I didn’t really care at that point, either. I almost raced to the back of the building, somehow able to avoid the members of the press that I thought were somewhere close by—waiting for me and Daniel and his father to take the stage. By some miracle, no one saw me as I exited through the back door.
Brandon was leaning against the same black car I had been in earlier, parked in front of the doorway. He was dressed in black—he could have been any town car driver in the city, and no one would have noticed. His blue eyes blazed for me as his gaze met mine. He smiled—it was all I needed to see.
It was almost like a dream. I just about ran into his arms, crushing my lips against his and pressing my body into him. At that moment, I didn’t even care that my father was missing. Or that Daniel was missing. All that mattered was that he had kept his promise—I wasn’t going to have to take that stage.
* * *
“You should probably tell me what’s going on…” I wasn’t actually sure that I wanted to know—I guess I just needed to know that no one was hurt. That he hadn’t done anything rash.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jen.” He glanced over at me with a tight-lipped smile before turning his gaze back to the road.
“My father. Daniel. His father. You know something…” He had to know. He had to have done something to keep them from that press conference.
My phone chimed in my purse and I reached down to pull it out.
He caught me by the wrist. “Don’t look at it.”
I sucked in a breath. “You need to tell me what’s going on.”
He shook his head. “Nothing you need to worry about right now.”
I felt my hand clench into a fist and my fingernails dug into my palm. “Will you stop doing that to me? Stop telling me not to worry my pretty little head about things? Because I am worried, Brandon. My father is missing…”
He released my wrist and put his hand back on the steering wheel. “He isn’t missing. No one is missing. The press conference was canceled. There was just a delay in getting that news to you.” He looked over at me again. “I swear, Jen. There’s nothing else going on. Let’s just say that Daniel came to his s
enses…”
Daniel came to his senses? It was too simple. Too easy. And Daniel hadn’t been particularly sensible about anything. Ever. “I don’t believe you. Just tell me…”
“We came to an agreement.” He smiled over at me again. “That’s all that’s important.”
I turned to him, lifting a brow. “And what exactly did you have to agree to? What did you have to promise to get him to cancel this thing?” There was no way it could have been cheap. No way that there wasn’t something at risk…
His smile fell a little. “Can we just enjoy this moment? Enjoy this moment? Because it feels like I haven’t seen you in a long time.”
“You didn’t go to Sydney.”
He chuckled. “I could have. Technically speaking, anyway. The flights would have been tight, but I could have…”
I turned and looked out the window, ignoring his amusement. I didn’t find this amusing at all—I didn’t even want to think about either of us owing Daniel anything.
I could tell we were headed out of town, but I didn’t know where he intended to take me. Not that it mattered. At least I was with Brandon. At least I had that much … especially if it turned out that one or both of us was going to owe him…
“You aren’t going to ask me?” He glanced over at me with another look of amusement. “I figured it would be your first question…”
I shook my head. “Brandon, my father is missing. You really want to play games with me right now? Your sister is worried sick … I’m…” I shook my head. “Damn, I don’t know what I am.”
He reached over and took my hand into his, giving it a squeeze. “I’m telling you, he’s fine. They all are. I didn’t do this…”
“Where? Where are they?”
He shrugged, giving my hand another squeeze. “Probably looking for you right about now, I would guess. Do you trust me?”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to play any more games with him. “Maybe you should just take me back. Let me deal with this on my own…”
“Jen, I swear to you, they’re fine. There is no press conference.” He let go of my hand and motioned toward my purse. “Go ahead. Check your phone.”
I pulled my phone from my purse. The text was from Krystal. Your father called. Press conference canceled. Sorry about this. I turned back to him. “How did you know about it? Are you going to share your part in this mess?”
I watched him work his jaw. “When, Jen? When will you just trust me? How much do I have to do for you to believe that I’m not about to hurt you? That I’m not about to hurt anyone?”
I winced and turned to look out my window again. He was right—I had pushed him away every chance I had. I had run from him, almost begged him to leave me. And he kept coming back for me. Kept protecting me. Kept proving his love to me over and over and over and I still pushed him away. He was right—he had done enough.
I turned back to him after a long moment. “I’m sorry, Brandon. There’s just been so much … so, so much. I don’t know why … I don’t know why I keep pushing you away.” Tears—the damned tears that I didn’t want to show anyone threatened to fall from my eyes again.
“You don’t ever have to apologize to me, Jen. Never. Just trust me. That’s all I’m asking of you. Just trust that I love you and that I’ll do everything I can to make you happy for the rest of your life. Can you do that?” He glanced over at me with a look that I hadn’t seen on his face in months. Hope.
My eyes swam with tears and I nodded, making several of them slide down my cheeks. I felt breathless—almost weightless. Almost floating. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t know how it was going to turn out. But I wasn’t afraid anymore. I just knew that I wanted to let him keep his promises to me. And I knew I had plenty of promises that I wanted to keep for him.
7
One Week Later
I closed my eyes as I stepped into the hot shower, letting the spray from the shower heads drench me. Rustic. That was the word he had used to describe this place. Rustic. When he had told me he had a rustic cabin in the Montana wilderness, this was definitely not what I had envisioned. It was small, for sure, but for some reason I had pictured a dingy, one-room shack with a bed in one corner and a wood stove in the other.
This place was not that way at all. It was more like a small house—not big enough for more than two people or so, but it was perfect. He had even somehow managed to get a piano in here. I had no idea how piano movers could have managed to get here, but it was there. A baby grand that took up the majority of the living room. And he had done it for me. And he had sat, listening to me play every day that we had been here. I don’t think I had ever seen him happier. And I knew I hadn’t ever been happier.
The past week had been heavenly. There was no phone service here, so there were no midnight calls. No mysterious texts or messages that made him get up and leave. The mail service was at a post office box that was almost an hour away—we hadn’t even seen another soul since we had arrived. It had just been the two of us. We were in the middle of nowhere, but we were happy. It was a freedom I hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
He climbed into the shower behind me and snaked his arms around my waist, nuzzling into my neck. “Have I told you I love the way you smell?”
I smiled and leaned against his body, my body tingling at the feeling of his skin against mine. It was a sensation I knew I would never tire of.
He groaned into my neck. “Oh, the things I want to do to you, Jen…”
I spun myself around in his arms, feeling a growing warmth coiling between my legs. I wanted him to do all of those things and more. Over and over again. Just the sound of his voice sent a familiar warmth coursing through me. Just his touch made my body respond … I was already so ready for him—so ready that I knew the slightest brush against my skin could send me crashing over the edge.
He dipped his head to my neck again, pressing his lips against that spot right below my ear—that spot of mine that he owned. His lips almost seemed programed to kiss that spot, like they were made to touch me right there. And my body was made to respond to it…
I bowed my neck, letting out another sigh. I loved how he touched me. I loved everything about him. I loved that he knew exactly what I needed—every single time.
He lowered his head to my collarbone and kissed at that spot only briefly before dropping to his knees. He kissed his way down my stomach, his lips sliding over my damp skin. I was already so wet for him—so ready for him, just like I always was. Just feeling his touch on my skin … it was almost too much.
His kisses rained lower and lower still. He finally looked up at me. “You’re so beautiful, Jen. So fucking beautiful…” He dipped his head, his tongue finding my clit as he slid his fingers into me. I shattered almost instantly, my cries echoing around us as he continued pushing into me harder and harder, his tongue syncing perfectly with the rhythm of his fingers and I shattered again, almost collapsing to the floor of the shower next to him.
He grabbed my hands and stood up, snaking his arms around my waist again. He lifted me up, and I wrapped my legs around him as he carried me out of the shower. He laid me down on the bed, and stood in front of me, still soaking wet from the shower.
He stood in front of me, staring at my body for a long moment. “You’re a fucking miracle, Jen. My fucking miracle…”
Little did he know—he was my miracle, too.
* * *
He finally fell asleep after the second time he made love to me that morning. I thought for a moment that it was a good thing I had refilled my birth control prescription at the same time I’d filled the one for the sleeping pills. I knew the birth control worked better than the insomnia medication—at least I hoped it did. Brandon had begun talking about kids again, but I still wasn’t sure. I didn’t think having one out here in the middle of nowhere would be great, either.
None of that mattered right now, anyway. Not yet. I carefully lifted his arm from my chest, sliding myself ou
t from under it, and sat up. I pulled on one of my Georgetown t-shirts and a pair of pajama pants and tried to tiptoe out the door. Brandon’s appetite for sex had become almost insatiable since we had arrived here—I knew it had been a long time since we had been together. We’d only had that one night together before we came here. Only that one night since his stabbing that seemed like so long ago. Sometimes, it was hard to remember that we had only been here a week—and all of the bullshit that was probably still waiting for us at home had only happened a short time ago.
I was determined to make this last as long as possible. This blissful adventure we were having. No one knew where we were—Brandon had promised me. And he hadn’t broken a promise to me yet. He had promised I wouldn’t have to go back to Daniel, and he had meant it. I was finally beginning to let go again—to trust him fully. To let myself love him. To let him love me.
I padded my way into the kitchen and pulled a carton of eggs and the container of milk from the refrigerator. I still couldn’t cook worth a damn, but Brandon had taught me to make scrambled eggs in the week we had been here. It was a start.
I cracked an egg into a bowl, then another and another. I knew he would be hungry when he woke up in a few minutes, and I knew the food would distract him for at least a little while. I smiled at the thought. My appetite for sex might never match his, but I was at least enjoying the attention for now.
I poured the egg mixture into a frying pan and turned on the burner, waiting for it to heat up. I put the eggs and milk back into the refrigerator while I watched the pan, almost sure I would burn the damned things again. Brandon had taught me what to watch for, but I still didn’t get it right every time. It was almost a relief knowing we’d have plenty of time for him to teach me how to finally learn how to cook something as simple as eggs. I wanted to be able to make him happy. And if scrambled eggs made him happy, I was definitely going to learn…
