“I think that’s a wise decision, son.”
“You knew how much Livi meant to me, didn’t you?”
“I did,” Malcolm confirmed. “But it wouldn’t have mattered until you realized it yourself.”
“Dad, I can’t lose her.”
“Then don’t. In fact, come on home tonight. I can send someone to take over for you.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Blaze headed straight to the airport. He was flying home to get Livi back. He was prepared to give Livi whatever she wanted. They belonged together and this time he was going to make sure it was forever.
* * *
Livi had heard that Blaze was going to be out of town for a couple of weeks. The thought of not seeing him saddened her. She had even heard talk that he was planning to relocate.
She would rather resign her position than have him walk away from the family business or move away because of her. Livi could not bear being the reason behind his departure. She still loved him, despite knowing that their relationship was over. In truth, it had been doomed from the start. Livi realized that now.
The knock on her door cut into her thoughts.
She gasped in surprise. “Blaze, I thought you were in San Francisco.”
“I cut my trip short because I thought this was more important. May I come in?”
“Sure.” Livi stepped aside to let him enter the condo.
“What’s up?” she asked, her arms folded across her chest.
“As I told you before, I am not ready to give up on our marriage. I came over here to try to convince you to give me another chance.”
“What we have is not a marriage, Blaze. It was all a lie.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Blaze, the only reason you were with me was because your mother wanted you to give the marriage a shot. It was not what you wanted.”
“Maybe not in the beginning, but in the time we spent together, Livi, I fell in love with you.”
She shook her head sadly. “It’s too late, Blaze.”
“Honey, it’s never too late when it comes to love.”
“Blaze, I can’t do this dance again.” Her eyes grew wet with tears. “I don’t have any more illusions about us. I’m done.”
“Do you still love me?” Blaze asked.
Livi did not respond. In fact, she did not look him directly in the eye, for fear he would see the truth.
“I know that you love me.”
She remained silent.
“If you still love me, then give me another chance. Please.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I know that I wanted to give our marriage a shot, and I appreciate that you were willing to try, but we need to face the truth. This was never going to work. Just look at everything that happened.”
“Livi, do you really think I would be trying this hard if I didn’t want to be married to you?”
“I think this is more about your parents and what they want, Blaze.”
He shook his head in denial. “That’s not true.”
Livi placed a hand to his cheek. “I think you had it right the first time. We should have gotten the marriage annulled. We are physically attracted to each other, but that was never enough to build a marriage on.”
“So what are you telling me?”
“That what we had is over. It was never meant to be. I see that now.”
Blaze sighed in resignation. “Are you sure that’s what you want, Livi?”
“Yes.” Pain ripped through her heart. She could not stop the tears from flowing. “It really is for the best. We tried Blaze. We tried and failed.”
He shook his head. “I don’t believe that.”
The warmth of strong arms around her only made Livi’s sobs louder.
“Shhh...sweetheart, it’s going to be okay,” he whispered, tears running down his own face. “Please don’t cry.”
Chapter 23
Blaze hated the sound of Livi’s crying. It echoed his own breaking heart.
“Shhh...” he whispered.
Livi composed herself and tried to stand. Blaze wiped his own face, and then helped her up.
“I’ll be right back,” she said.
She washed her face and then returned to the family room where he was sitting. “I’m sorry for breaking down like that.” Livi wouldn’t look at him—she just stared down at her hands. She looked so lost and forlorn that Blaze yearned to pull her back into his arms.
“I don’t agree that our marriage is over, but I can’t work on it by myself,” he told her. “If this is really what you want, then I have no choice but to respect your wishes.”
“I can’t be your friend, Blaze. My f-feelings are way too strong for that.”
“I will always care for you, sweetheart.”
She didn’t respond.
Blaze rose to his feet. “Take care of yourself. Okay?”
Livi gave a slight nod.
“If you ever want to talk or if you need me, Livi...please don’t hesitate to call.”
“Goodbye, Blaze.”
He resisted the urge to kiss her as he walked toward the front door. Blaze didn’t have to look back to know Livi was crying. His heart broke all over again at the sound of her sobs. Blaze climbed into his car and drove away without looking back.
It took him a moment to realize that his face was wet from his own tears.
* * *
When Amy drove Livi back to the corporate offices after they had lunch together, Livi found Sage waiting for her.
Livi smiled. “Pregnancy certainly agrees with you.”
“Thank you,” she murmured.
Sage closed the door to Livi’s office and then sank down in the visitor chair facing her. “I’ll get straight to the point. I hate seeing you and Blaze like this. You haven’t known my brother very long, but he is a good man and he’s honest.”
“I do know that about him,” Livi stated.
“Blaze is very much in love with you. It just took him a little longer to realize it. He is heartsick over your breakup.”
“I’m not happy about it, either,” she confessed. “But it’s for the best. I don’t want to put myself or Blaze through a bunch of ups and downs.”
“That’s what marriage is about,” Sage said. “Those ups and downs help you build character as a couple.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Livi admitted.
“I hope you and Blaze will find your way back to each other.” Sage rose to her feet. “You look as sad as he does.”
Livi smiled. “Thank you for saying that, Sage.”
The two women embraced.
“It’s so good to see you.” Livi pointed to Sage’s round belly. “How’s the little one?”
Sage broke into a wide grin. “She is doing quite well.”
“It’s a girl?”
“Yes. Ryan and I are thrilled to death. We both wanted a little girl.”
Livi smiled. “That’s wonderful. I’m so happy for you and Ryan.”
“I hope that you plan on fulfilling your duties as auntie.”
She was touched by Sage’s words. “Of course.”
Sage checked her watch. “I have a meeting in ten minutes. I’d better go make sure the room is set up as I requested. Blaze really is as miserable as you are,” Sage said before she walked out of Livi’s office.
* * *
“Livi’s going to come around. Just give her some time,” Barbara said. Blaze called his mother shortly after he arrived at work. He never called as much as he should, but he needed to talk to someone.
“Mom, she may still have feelings for me, but I don’t think she’s going to ever trust me again.”
“Livi’s h
urting right now, but I have to believe that her love for you will bring her back,” Barbara explained.
“Mom, I really messed up.”
“Son, everyone makes mistakes. That’s what life is all about. You have never been in love—not really. This is altogether different for you.”
He gave a short laugh. “How could I just let Livi walk out of my life? I feel as if part of me is missing. I don’t like feeling this way, Mom.”
“Everything is going to work out, son. I have been praying for you and Livi and I know the good Lord is going to fix your marriage. Just have faith.”
“I’m trying,” he said.
“Don’t give up on love. If what you have is real, then you and Livi will work through this situation.”
Blaze talked for a few minutes more before ending the call.
“Knock, knock.”
He looked up from his computer. “Sage, come in.”
He was glad to see his sister, but had hoped to see Livi standing at his door.
“Blaze, I have never seen you this way.” She sat down in the chair facing him. “I’m worried about you.”
“I’ve never felt this way about anybody, Sage. I’m beginning to think that love is definitely not for me. I have all this emptiness inside.”
“What are you doing to win your wife back?”
Blaze eyed his sister. “What can I do? She doesn’t want anything to do with me. She will barely talk to me at work. I love Livi, but I don’t think we have a future together.”
“You don’t if you don’t talk to her and get this straightened out—that’s for sure.”
“That’s just it. We can’t resolve this, Sage. I don’t know what to do to make her believe that I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her.”
“Love is worth fighting for, Blaze. I can see how much pain you’re in. I know that you love Livi and I know that she loves you just as much. How can you walk away?”
“Sage, it’s not what I want. Trust me. I want Livi home with me. I want the life that we were trying to build together. I want to have children with her. I want all those things, but she doesn’t believe me. What do I need to do to change that?”
“Show Livi that you love her enough to marry her all over again,” Sage suggested.
Blaze shifted his position in his chair. “Have another wedding?”
“A real wedding ceremony, surrounded by family and vows you both will remember for the rest of your lives.” She rose to her feet. “I need to get going. My job here is done.”
Blaze got up and walked over to his sister, helping her out of the chair. “Thanks for the pep talk and the suggestion. I’m going to need your help pulling it all together.”
She hugged him. “I love you, bro. Don’t give up on Livi.”
After Sage left his office, Blaze made a few more phone calls, including another one to his mother.
“Mom, how quickly can you plan a wedding?”
“When do you have in mind?” Barbara wanted to know.
“How about this weekend?”
“I’ll make it happen.”
“I’d like to have the ceremony on the beach at sunset.”
When he finished his conversation, Blaze left his office to run some errands.
He ran into Livi in the hallway.
“I was just on my way to see you.”
She gazed up at him. “About what?”
“I love you, Livi, and I’m not going to give up on you—not without a fight.” Blaze took her by the hand and led her into his office, shutting the door behind them.
He pulled her close to him, kissing her passionately.
Livi responded, matching him kiss for kiss.
“I know that you still love me,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean that we should be together, Blaze.”
He kissed her again. “Please don’t do this, Livi. Don’t walk out of my life. I know that I messed up and I’m sorry. Look, just give me this weekend. After this weekend, if you really want me out of your life, then I will accept your decision. I won’t hold you back.”
“Blaze, why do you want to drag this out?”
He met her gaze. “Because I love you. Trust me, I have never fought this hard for anything in my life, but you’re worth it.”
“You don’t know how much I want to believe you.”
“Livi, I won’t ever let you down again. Just give me this weekend. I promise you that it will be rewarding.”
She touched his cheek. “Please don’t make promises that you can’t keep.”
“This has nothing to do with my parents,” he said. “This is about what you and I want, and that’s a life together.”
“Can I think about it?”
He smiled. “As long as you give me an answer by the end of the day. I’m going to be out of the office, but call me on my cell.”
He kissed her. “I love you so much.”
Livi hung to his words.
Chapter 24
Livi and Sybil left their Zumba class and headed down to the juice bar.
“So what are you going to do?” she asked Livi. “I know what I would do if I were in your shoes.”
“My mind tells me to just move on with my life, but my heart... Sybil, I love him so much. But I don’t know what to do.”
“He must love you. I’m just saying...”
Livi took a sip of her smoothie. “I really want to believe that.”
“From everything that you’ve told me about this man, I don’t believe Blaze would be trying this hard if he didn’t love you, Livi.”
“His parents want us together. My parents want us together. I want to be with him. But the only question is this—what does Blaze really want? As long as that remains a question, we can’t be together.”
“Livi, I think you already have the answer to that question,” Sybil stated. “Blaze may love his parents, but he strikes me as a man who makes his own decisions. You did say that he was the one who gave his parents the most problems growing up.”
“But that’s why he’s trying so hard to make it work,” Livi argued. “He wants to make up for the way he was when he was younger.”
“That may be part of it, but it’s not the whole deal. It never was, Livi.” Sybil shook her head sadly. “You have a wonderful man who loves you and you are about to just kick him out of your life. Livi, I love you like a sister, but I have to be honest. You are about to make a huge mistake.”
“Amy told me the same thing.”
“Then what is wrong with you? Why aren’t you going after your man?”
“Because we went about everything the wrong way,” Livi said. “Our wedding vows were written on napkins, Sybil. Then, to top it off, we discover that we were never really married legally. The way I see it, we never had a good foundation to build on. Yes, I love Blaze, but that doesn’t mean that we’re meant to be together.”
“It also doesn’t mean that your marriage is not meant to be, either. Despite all that and the drama that followed, you two still want to be together. Livi, that should tell you something.”
She met her best friend’s gaze. “So you think I should give Blaze what he wants?”
Sybil nodded. “Definitely.”
Livi waited until she got home to call Blaze.
He answered the phone on the second ring. “I didn’t think I would hear from you.”
“I needed to think about everything you said, Blaze,” Livi responded.
“So what did you decide?” he asked.
“I’m going to give you this weekend. We’ll try to see if we can make a go of this relationship.”
Blaze released an audible sigh of relief. “Thank you, Livi. You won’t regret it.”
* * *
“Where are you taking me?” Livi asked when Blaze picked her up in a stretch limo.
He pulled out a strip of dark fabric. “It’s a surprise.”
Blaze blindfolded her.
“This might be considered kidnapping.”
He laughed. “You are not being kidnapped.”
“Then where are we going?” Livi asked a second time.
She reached out for his hand.
“Just relax and enjoy the ride,” Blaze told her.
Livi leaned into his embrace. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’ve been miserable without you,” he confessed. “I haven’t been able to sleep in my own bed because I can’t forget what it felt like to make love to you there. You’re in my blood.”
The blindfold made Livi lose all sense of direction. She trusted Blaze with her life, but wasn’t sure if she could trust him with her heart again.
“We’re almost there,” he told her before kissing her fully on the mouth.
Livi pulled his face back to hers. She savored the feel of his lips on hers. Loving him felt right, but she was scared. He had hurt her and she did not want to give him the chance to do it all over again. Yet, she could not resist spending the weekend with Blaze.
“Can I take the blindfold off?” she asked.
“Not yet,” he said.
The limo pulled into a driveway and rolled to a stop.
Blaze helped Livi out of the car and removed the blindfold.
She looked around. “This is your parents’ house. Why are we here?”
Livi did not know what to make of this situation. She swallowed her disappointment.
“Kellen and Zaire are in town,” Blaze announced. “I thought it might be nice to spend some time with the family.”
“That’s fine.” She pasted on a smile. It wasn’t that Livi wasn’t happy to see them, but she had thought that Blaze was whisking her off to some romantic getaway.
“Livi, it’s so good to see you,” Zaire said as she wrapped her arms around Livi. “I’m so glad you came.”
“Same here,” she responded with a smile. “Congratulations on receiving your MBA. Blaze told me that you’ve decided not to follow them into the family business.”
Five Star Romance Page 15
