I looked to the papers in front of me, pretending as if I could actually make out the words printed on the page through the bleariness that suddenly clouded my eyes. “There was nothing to tell,” I said as offhandedly as I could muster.
She clucked in disapproval. “Lily, child. Come now. Do you think I don’t know you better than that? That right there had nothing to do with this old building and everything to do with the expression you’re wearing right now.”
I jerked my attention back to her. “I made a mistake, Addelaine. A foolish, rash, horrible mistake, and because of it, I let you down. But I promise you, I won’t fail you.”
Addelaine peered up at me with her weathered face, and my breath caught somewhere in my lungs, my heart a tangle of pain and devotion.
This woman meant everything to me, and I’d let someone threaten that.
“Maybe it’s a sign that we need to let this go. You’ve been fightin’ a good fight, but maybe it’s not the right fight. Maybe winnin’ this one just isn’t meant to be.”
“How can you say that? You belong here. This is your home,” I pleaded, pushing the papers that held the complaint across the counter toward her in a bid for her to sign them.
Her attention danced around her store like a loving caress. She turned back to me with a soft smile. “Yes, it’s been my home.” She tapped a finger at her temple. “But I hold the memories right here. And more importantly”—she tapped her fingertips over her heart—“I hold them here. And even if it scares us, sometimes change is okay.”
She angled her head to the side as she reached out and set her hand on top of mine. “It’s time you asked yourself why you’re fighting so hard for this. You’re no longer that girl who walked through my door lookin’ for a place to hide. That girl needed walls to keep her safe. Are you going to continue to make her a prisoner to them?”
Tears clouded my eyes. I blinked, setting them free. “You know that girl was someone I never wanted to be.”
She tenderly cupped my face, and even though I was much taller than she was, somehow I felt as if I was a little girl as I stared up at her motherly face.
“Yet, that girl is still a part of you, and she’s always gonna be. She’s important. She taught you the lessons you needed to know. She became the smart, successful, caring woman you are today. But she’s also holdin’ you back. Refusing to let you trust, even when the truth is right in front of you.”
A frown twisted my brow, and I blinked rapidly. “What do you mean?”
A shot of air puffed from her nose. “You really think that man walked in here wearing his heart on his sleeve because he wanted to gloat about winnin’? If he did what you think he did, then he already won. That man came in here wearing remorse, plain as day.”
My head shook, wanting to believe her so badly it vibrated in my spirit. But when I trusted, it only led to pain. “He’s been foolin’ us, Addelaine.”
My words slipped into the casual tongue of my childhood, the hours I’d spent in this place sewing at her side, listening to her talk, strength growing each day as she instilled hope and belief in me.
“He’s nothin’ but a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
She almost smiled. “Child, that man doesn’t look nothin’ like a sheep. Think he’s wolf through and through. But I think he just might be your wolf.”
“How…how could I ever believe him after everything?” I tossed the papers across the counter, the stack of them sliding and separating. “After I found all of this?”
Addelaine sighed before she began to shuffle through the stack of papers, pulling out the two different contracts she’d signed that were hidden beneath the stack of evidence I’d printed.
She pointed at the two signatures. “Look at this, child. Look closely.”
Confusion knitted my brow while heartbreak trembled my lip.
She jabbed her index finger between the two of them. “Those signatures aren’t close to bein’ the same.”
She looked up at me with a flash of fear in her grayed eyes. “And the men who came in here…they were…mean. Cruel and without compassion. I recognized it the second they stepped through my door. Just the same as I recognized the compassion in him when he first came here, too.”
I blinked as I studied the signatures that were clearly different even though they both bore Brody’s name. Broderick Wolfe III. A fact I had missed in my quest to find him guilty. In my mission to prove his betrayal, I’d overlooked the obvious.
Guilt built up inside me.
She lifted her chin. “You feel something for him?”
That feeling bubbled again. The affection and warmth I’d felt in his arms. The possibility that had become something tangible. I tried to resist it. Refute it. But it didn’t matter. My own truth came flying out. “Yes. I feel so much, Addelaine. More than I should. It shouldn’t be possible, but I do.”
She smiled. “Then you need to ask him why you should trust him yourself. Give him a chance to explain and see where the heart leads. It’s time for you to let it run. You’ve been holding it hostage for a long, long time. See what happens when you decide to trust.”
The tears came unchecked, and I pressed my fingers beneath my eyes and wiped the moisture as I struggled for a breath.
“Oh God…I think I messed up.”
In such a different way than I’d been accusing myself of all day. Because the thought of hurting him ripped me in two.
“What do you want?” she asked with a knowing smile threatening on her mouth.
Realization settled over me. Something powerful. Overcoming and overwhelming.
Unmistakable.
“Him. I want him.”
Her smile bloomed into a full-blown grin. “Then go.” Addelaine lifted my red coat. “Go, child, before it’s too late.”
I sat there stunned as I came to acceptance before I shot into action. Skidding around the counter, I darted for her, taking the jacket and dropping a kiss to her wrinkled cheek. “Thank you, Addelaine. For everything. I hope you know you mean everything to me.”
She clutched my hand. “Same way as you mean everything to me. You’re a good girl. Always have been. Now it’s time for you to go get what you deserve.”
Nodding furiously, I shoved my arms into my coat, wrapped the belt around my waist, and tied it as I flew outside. Cold air slapped me in the face, the sky an icy sort of blue. I didn’t even slow. I just rushed down the sidewalk, winding through people who were on their lunch breaks, my heels clicking on the concrete as I stumbled along as fast as I could.
My heart thundered.
Heavy in my chest.
A pound, pound, pound as I let myself fully feel for the first time since I was fifteen. Without reservation. Without question.
Trust.
It was terrifying.
But freeing in the most miraculous of ways.
I moved faster, rushing across the street and heading in the direction of his hotel, praying he would be there.
That I wasn’t too late.
That he’d give me the consideration I’d refused him minutes before. That he’d stop. Listen. Let me apologize. A frantic need built up, propelling me forward.
Faster.
Needier.
Filled with a hope unlike anything I’d ever felt before.
I gasped when I collided with a big body rushing my direction.
A stunning, powerful, strong body. Those big hands went straight to my face, gripping me tight, his eyes so intense and mesmerizing.
I clutched his jacket lapels. “Broderick…oh my God…I’m so sorry. I…” I forced myself to meet his steely intensity. “I told you back there that I fell for it, when in truth, I fell for you. That terrifies me, and the second something seemed to go wrong, I immediately thought the worst of you. And I don’t want to be that person anymore. I don’t want to be cynical and filled with doubt, always searching for the worst in people. Please…forgive me.”
His thick throat bobbed. “Do you trust m
e, Lil’ Redd?”
I swallowed hard, clutching his jacket tighter as I offered the words. “I told you I don’t trust easily. I’m the one always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Just waiting on someone to let me down, because no matter how good things might be, they’re bound to go bad. But it’s time I realized I’m not that same girl who stood abandoned in that empty house. I’m not her. I’ve found love. A family. I don’t have to be her anymore.”
His hands cinched down on either side of my face. “I made both you and Addelaine a promise, and I intend to keep it. My father sent in his men to force this deal through and make it look like Addelaine agreed, threatening her into going along with it, and forging my signature to make me look like I was the one who was responsible. It’s not the first time this has happened, but I promise you it will be the last. Tell me you trust me. That you believe I wasn’t responsible.”
My chin trembled when I nodded. “I do. Completely.”
It was the truth.
Standing there with him, I’d never trusted anyone more in all my life.
Not with my heart. Not with my body. Not with my Addelaine and everything she represented.
He wrapped me in his warmth, pressing a bunch of kisses to my forehead, to my temple, to my lips, while my spirit soared. For the first time, freed.
He leaned back to meet my stare, his expression firm and unyielding. “I told you I always get what I want, Ms. Redd. I was already coming back for you. Because I’m not leaving this town without you.”
I gazed up at him, my soul completely bared. “Then why don’t you stay?”
A chuckle spilled from his mouth, and he hugged me tighter. “I think I like where this is going.”
I breathed him in. At ease. Wholly. Completely. “I think I do, too.”
He brushed back a stray lock of hair that whipped in the cold gusts of wind then threaded his fingers through mine. He lifted our entwined hands and grazed his lips across my knuckles. “Let’s go, Ms. Redd. It’s time to set things straight.” He squeezed my hand. “Together.”
Epilogue
Broderick
“Do you think she’s going to like it?” Her hopeful whisper tickled my ears as my Lillith stared out the window of Pepper’s, a dingy old diner that just so happened to have the best pie in the entire town with a direct view of where Addelaine’s building once stood.
Her raven hair cascaded over her shoulder. Her delicious, delicious shoulder. Fuck, I loved her skin. I loved her body.
And God, how much I loved the woman.
Finding someone like her hadn’t been in the cards.
But we were never in control of the hand we’d been dealt.
I’d been dealt a straight flush.
Lucky me.
I couldn’t stop the grumble of possessiveness that filled my chest when I looked at my fiancé, who was wearing that expression of careful tenderness that was at the true root of who she was.
I reached across the table and took her hand, brushing my thumb along the back of the silky flesh, wondering how that simple action managed to stir the hunger inside me. “How could she not like it? She’s going to have primo space.”
Tindall’s Thimbles would be located on the first floor of the brand new hotel going up across the street.
She turned to look at me with a tiny smile. “You wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Of course not. You love her.”
Her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip.
So damned enticing. I wanted nothing more to be the one delivering that bite.
“And you love me,” she murmured.
“More than anything.”
I toyed with the huge diamond that glinted from her ring finger, the ring I’d given her just two weeks ago. The day we’d broken ground on the new hotel.
This woman had been instrumental in seeing to it that my father was stopped. His corrupt practices silenced in the evidence Lillith had worked nonstop to prove.
My father had resigned from the company, and I’d taken his place as CEO.
But I sure as hell wasn’t walking in his shoes.
“Did you ever think when you came here that you’d stay?” she whispered.
I leaned her direction, inhaling her distinct scent, words a growl. “Not until the first time I tasted you.”
She shifted in her seat, and a heated flush skimmed her flesh.
Affected.
Needy.
Ready.
Just the way I wanted her.
“Are you wet?” I murmured casually.
She not so casually nodded her head, a tremble raking through her body.
After pulling my money clip from the inside pocket of my suit jacket, I tossed a stack of bills onto the table.
Then I sat back with the challenge.
She clutched the table, a harsh breath parting her lips.
“Run, Ms. Redd. Because I’m going to chase you. And where I catch you? That’s where I’m going to fuck you.”
She inhaled a sharp breath before she slid out of the booth, her knees clearly weak as she made her way through the restaurant. Today she wore a red summer dress, which she knew that color always drove me out of my mind, and a pair of sexy black heels. Her hair a black avalanche down her back.
She pulled open the door, only looking back at me to give me a smirk from her red, red lips.
Then she stepped out into the day and disappeared down the sidewalk.
I stood from the booth and straightened my tie.
The hunt was on.
And with her? It was never going to end.
The End
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Also by A.L. Jackson
Bleeding Stars Series
A Stone in the Sea
Drowning to Breathe
Where Lightning Strikes
Wait
Stay
Stand
The Regret Series
Lost to You
Take This Regret
If Forever Comes
The Closer to You Series
Come to Me Quietly
Come to Me Softly
Come to Me Recklessly
Stand-Alone Novels
Pulled
When We Collide
Fight for Me Series
Show Me the Way
Follow Me Back – Early 2018
Lead Me Home – Spring 2018
Hollywood Chronicles, a collaboration with USA Today Bestselling Author, Rebecca Shea – coming soon
About the Author
A.L. Jackson is the New York Times & USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance. She writes emotional, sexy, heart-filled stories about boys who usually like to be a little bit bad.
If she’s not writing, you can find her hanging out by the pool with her family, sipping cocktails with her friends, or of course with her nose buried in a book.
Watch for FOLLOW ME BACK, the second novel in the bestselling Fight For Me series, coming early 2018.
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