by BJ Harvey
His hand drifts down to cup my jaw. “I’ve been moving from place to place for over five years now. I’ve never stayed in the same location for long, and not once have I contacted my family.”
“None of them?”
“Nope.”
“That must’ve been hard.”
“As I said to you, I don’t let anyone stand in the way of what I want, and my family chose to keep their secret while I looked like a chump and wasted years trying to make my marriage work. The only person who you can ever rely on to look after you is you. And until I met you, that was all I had.”
“I wish you would’ve told me before. I would’ve understood. It might’ve saved us some hurt as well.”
“I know that, baby. I was a broken man and I have been for a long time. Until I drove into Davis and walked into a bar for a job interview and locked eyes with you. I haven’t told anyone about this, not one single person since I packed my car and drove away from the very people who should have had my back.”
“I’d like to think I’m not anyone to you, Bruno.”
“You’re everything to me. I was only ready to close that final door of my past when I met you. When I knew you were the only woman I ever wanted to be with for the rest of my life, I finally had the courage to lock that final door to my past.”
“The divorce?”
“Yes. I always said I would only marry once and the woman I chose would be it for me. Seems I chose wrong the first time, but I’m damn sure I’ve got it right now.”
My body goes tense. It’s my turn for total honesty. “You asked me to marry you even though we’d talked about it and you knew my history with Luke. I told you I didn’t want to get married. I didn’t want to hope . . .” Tears sting my eyes and as much as I blink them back, it’s a lost cause. I won the battle against them while listening to his story but now, coming so close to everything I want and wondering if this could be a deal breaker, I lose the war. The fear I’ve been denying since the night he proposed no longer stays hidden.
He touches his forehead to mine and closes his eyes, his hold on me tightening as he brings me as close as two people can be. “I meant every single word I said, Gabs, but I asked for the wrong reasons, and I asked when you weren’t ready to answer.”
I stop breathing, my heart seizing as his words sink in.
“So why did you do it?” I whisper, my voice barely audible.
“Because I love you. Because I’m a proud man who did a stupid thing when I felt threatened by your ex coming back into town to make amends. I know what it’s like to spend years with someone and still want to see the good in them, even when the situation is bad, like I had with Tate.”
Oh my God! It all makes sense now. This strong, steadfast man I thought couldn’t be rattled by anything or anyone was jealous of Luke.
His eyes open and his face softens in the dim light streaming in from the street. “I know you’re mine. I don’t need a piece of paper or a ring on your finger to tell me that.”
I lean up and finally kiss him, wondering how on earth I could ever love him more. There is no one with a bigger heart or a deeper soul than this man.
I pour all of this into my kiss. Every tear I’ve shed, every laugh we’ve shared, every moan, every time he’s handled my freak-outs like a pro, the way I fought him at the start, the way he fought back harder to make me see it—and him—all of it.
When we finally pull apart—damn the need for oxygen—our breathing is labored but we’re so impossibly close now, our grip on each other so tight, I doubt we’ll ever want to let go.
Everything it took to get here was oh so worth it if it means I can stay here forever. Piece of paper or not. Ring or not.
There’s still one more elephant to address in the room, and suddenly, I can’t wait to find out more.
“Now tell me about Oakley.”
Chapter 23
We stay in each other’s arms until morning, the light of dawn blanketing the room with a warm glow all around us. There’s nowhere else I want to be and no one else I want to be with. It’s me and Bruno against the world—and Oakley, of course.
The logistics of long-distance parenting have not been ironed out. He tells me he’s made headway in the divorce proceedings thanks to a really helpful family lawyer he’d hired here before he’d left.
“We’ve agreed to supervised access to start. She’s only four and hasn’t had anyone other than Tate and my parents in her life,” he explains.
Interestingly, despite all the time Tate and Ben had been together behind Bruno’s back, they only lasted six months after Bruno left. Then Ben moved on to greener pastures—that being a woman he’d met online from New York. Oh, the irony.
A paternity test also confirmed Bruno is the father of the blonde-haired, green-eyed, breathtakingly beautiful four-year-old girl named Oakley-Mae Duncan.
“Why did Tate not get in contact with you until now?” I ask.
“She didn’t know how to find me and honestly, she didn’t know which one of us was the father. I don’t think she wanted to admit to herself that it wasn’t Ben.”
“Yet she gets served with divorce papers and decides to travel halfway across the country to announce it to the world?”
“Not exactly the world, baby,” he says with a wry smile.
“My world, then.”
His eyes soften. I’d shown my hand but finally, with nothing left hidden between us, I’m not shying away from anything, especially how important this man has become to me.
“I love you.” There was nothing else I’d needed to say. Those three words did it for me.
“God, I’m glad I’m here. Just having you in my arms is all I need. I don’t ever want to be apart from you again. Two weeks was torture.”
It’s like a bucket of iced water has been thrown over me. There’s more than just the two of us to think about now. It’s not just Gaby and Bruno making a life together. There’s a beautiful—and innocent—four-year-old girl sitting in Indianapolis who needs her father, and she needs him more than I do.
“What are you going to do about Oakley and visitation? She’s far too young to have to travel backward and forward all the time.”
His eyes close, and a warm smile curves his lips when he opens them again. “You’re the most selfless woman I’ve ever met. You haven’t met her, yet you’re already thinking about my daughter’s needs before anything else. You’re going to be an awesome stepmom.”
Oh fuck! “Ah . . . um . . .”
His brows shoot up as his entire body jerks. “You don’t like kids?”
I shake my head. “I do—it’s not that. Throughout all of this I never considered that I’d be a part of her life.”
“And why not?” he replies immediately. No hesitation. No uncertainty. Just straight on in there with a deep growly ‘what the fuck’ tone.
“She’s yours.”
“And so are you, so why wouldn’t I want you involved in her upbringing?”
“She also lives half a country away.”
“And there are planes and vacations. Maybe we’ll move there one day. Who knows?”
I open my mouth to retort but no words come out.
His face gentles, and he brings his lips to sweep softly against mine. “Whatever happens, we’ll work it out together, Gabs. We’re a team. We’re in this to-get-her.”
“Can I ask one more thing? If your brother and parents knew about Oakley, and knew she wasn’t Ben’s child, why didn’t they try to contact you? Surely it’s not hard to find someone you know would be working, paying taxes, and legally living their life. It’s not like you were on the run or anything.”
“I wouldn’t have answered the call if they’d tried.” He tucks a stray piece of hair behind my hair. “I kind of was, baby. I was running from my life back there and thinking about it now, was running towards what I now know was you.”
I whack his chest with my hand as my eyes fil
l with tears. “You’ve gotta stop doing that.”
“Doing what?” He swipes the falling tears off my cheeks with his thumb.
“Being so sweet. It’s not normal for a guy to be this good. Can you be an asshole just for a second so I know I’m not being punked?”
“My unknown ex-wife walked in after I’d just proposed to you—even though I knew you wanted me, but not a wedding. She made a scene and announced to the world that not only was I not divorced but that I also had a kid. Somehow, I don’t think anyone is gonna think of me as perfect for a long time yet.”
“I think it was shock more than anything. I was still angry with you when I walked in the door last night.”
“And are you still angry now?”
“I’m relieved you’re back,” I reply with a shrug. “I was angry because you were away and I hadn’t heard from you.”
“But I said I’d give you space. I wanted to get as much as I could straightened out while I was there so I wouldn’t have to keep going back and forward all the time.”
I tilt my head and glare at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. “Ah, you’re forgetting about something—or someone.”
“Well, sure. I’ll go visit Oakley whenever I can, but it can’t be all the time. I’ve got you to think about.”
“You’ve got a four-year-old little girl who needs her daddy. That’s the only thing that matters.”
“And what about you?”
“I’ll have you whenever you’re home.”
“What’s the catch? You tell me to stop being so perfect, yet here are you telling me that you’ll be fine with me flying back and forward to another state so I can get to know my daughter.”
I cup his cheeks and make sure I have all of his attention. “She is four; I am thirty-two. I had a dad growing up, and I know just how special that father–daughter relationship can be when it’s nurtured right. You’ve missed out on four years of working on that. I’m never gonna be the woman who stops you from doing that.”
“You sure you don’t wanna marry me?” he says with a wry grin.
“Can’t we just live in sin and be happy regardless?”
“As long as I’m with you, I don’t care what we do or where we are. You are my home.”
I lose the last grip on my emotions, that last stranglehold I’ve had on everything I’ve been bottling up during the past two weeks. I let go and Bruno takes it all, holding on to me until it passes and my shoulders stop shaking.
“Don’t like being the man who makes you cry, baby.”
“Tell me there aren’t any more ex-wives, heartbreaking family secrets, or before-now-unknown children coming out of the woodwork, and you’ll be just dandy.”
“You know all my secrets now. Anything you wanna share with me?”
I gulp and look away.
“If you’ve let any one touch you, I can’t be held accountable for my actions,” Bruno warns.
“Does me touching someone else count?”
“Gaby . . .” he growls, and I know I have to put him out of his misery.
“Can you maybe let me go so I can sit up when I tell you this?”
“Can you maybe tell me now so I stop thinking worse-case scenarios in my head? I’m not a man who shares, Gabs.”
“And I’m not a woman who goes sharing herself around, Bruno.” I hook a leg over him and jet myself up off the couch. It’s like emotional freaking Jeopardy in here right now. I’ll take ‘pissed’ for two hundred, Alex.
He sits and watches me walk over to the window. “Rip off the Band-Aid, Gaby.”
“I had lunch with Luke on Sunday.” I turn to look over my shoulder. As expected, Bruno looks far from happy, if his clenched fists and tight jaw are anything to go by.
“How did that come about?”
“He came into the bar on Saturday with some friends to play some pool, and asked if we could meet up for lunch on my next day off so we could talk. That was Sunday.”
Bruno nods but doesn’t say a word.
I need to put his mind at ease because there’s nothing wrong with me getting closure with Luke. Well, except for the last thing that happened. “We went to a restaurant in Sacramento. He explained why he left the way he did—I can see why he did that now. Doesn’t make it hurt any less, but it has given me closure.”
“That’s good,” he says, his shoulders sagging in relief.
“There was never a question whether I’d get back with Luke. You know that, right?”
“You were kind of messed up after he turned up in town again. I wasn’t sure where your head was when it came to him.”
I put a hand to one hip and jut it out. “You’re telling me that you thought I’d get back together with him? Despite me telling you I loved you?”
His lips twitch as his eyes scan my body from head to toe. There’s no way he’s missed the sass oozing from my pores. “To be fair, baby, you told me you loved me when you were drunk after seeing him at your parents’ house. I kind of had a good reason to be worried.”
My eyes go wide as a huge lightbulb goes off in my head. “The next morning you were acting weird. You said you had errands to run.”
He nods, a small smirk appearing. “I did,” he says smoothly, standing and moving toward me. “Errands that included finding a lawyer so I could file for divorce . . .” I can’t help the gasp that escapes my throat. He said he’d filed for divorce six weeks ago. I do the math in my head and it all fits.
“You proposed because of Luke. Who does that?” I ask incredulously. I’m not angry; I’ve dealt with all my anger. I think I’m angered out. I’m shocked that Bruno—strong, confident, protective Bruno—could get so rattled by the return of my ex that he’d take steps to ‘put a ring on it.’
He stops when he has me pressed against the window. My hands grip his hips to hold me steady. “I didn’t want to lose you.”
“You’re not going to,” I say immediately and emphatically.
“You said you touched him . . .” His mouth dips to just below my ear. I desperately want him to kiss me again but his thumb and forefinger on my chin stop me from moving my lips to his.
“He asked if we could try again . . .” I say. Bruno’s grip tenses for a second before relaxes again. “And I told him we weren’t the same people. Then I kissed him, to say goodbye.”
Bruno instantly lets me go and stalks away from me. “You kissed him,” he states flatly.
“It was barely a touch. It was a friendly kiss, like what I’d give my brother.”
“But you kissed him.”
“Yes. But it didn’t mean anything. It was a goodbye kiss and nothing more,” I reply, my eyes narrowing on him.
“Yet you never even gave me a kiss hello.”
My brows go up and before I know what I’m doing, I’m bolting across the room and jumping into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist and roughly grabbing his cheeks before planting the kiss to end all kisses on his lips. He keeps his mouth shut in the beginning, so much so I pull away to glare at him.
“I’m yours and yours alone, if you’ll have me?” I whisper before going in again for the kiss.
This time there is no resistance. He opens his mouth and lets me in, allowing me to control the kiss. Then playtime is over, his hands gliding up my back, gripping my hair. He positions my head so he can plunge his tongue into my mouth, giving himself to me.
When we finally pull apart, it’s then I press my nose to his, look deep into his eyes, and whisper, “Hi.”
Chapter 24
Three months of travelling back and forth between Davis and Indianapolis has started taking its toll on Bruno. As much as he tries to hide it, working seven nights one week and five the next, just so he can spend forty-eight hours with his daughter, is harder than he imagined.
He has never once complained but I see the resigned look on his face every afternoon when we leave for the bar. Work is still the same, and Bruno has always b
een someone who enjoyed his job. These days, he’s lost that spark I always loved. He’s trying so hard to be everything for everyone that he’s the one losing himself in the process.
Having been in the same position before and wishing someone had knocked me around the head and told me to fix it, I know it’s going to be up to me to help him get his life back on track. My problem is, there seems to be only one solution, and it’s the one thing I really don’t want to face.
Especially since last night, the man in question may have started snoring while I was getting busy downtown. A quick rake of my teeth against his sensitive tip soon got his attention—and he’ll deny it till the day he dies—but I know the truth. I also know that Bruno would never fall down on the job like that. Especially when he’s the one getting the job in question.
That was the last straw and today, I’m determined to do something about it.
I slip out of the bed, careful not to wake him, and quickly get dressed into my running gear. I grab my keys, drink bottle, and phone from the kitchen, and quietly shut the door. Fifteen minutes later I’m at the park, watching Kenzie stretching against a pole.
“Hey.” She turns her head and smiles, her eyes dancing with amusement.
“What has you so happy?” I ask, mirroring her post against the pole.
“That would be the pervy pensioners sitting over there on the park bench.”
I look towards that side of the park to see two old men, Lucas and George watching us with avid anticipation. They’re not really pervy . . . well, not in a creepy way. We just provide them with some visual entertainment whenever we happen to see them at the park, and they regale us with tales of their misspent youth when they take their regular stools at the bar every night after five p.m. It’s quid pro quo in a weird way.
“I think that’s enough to keep them going for the day, don’t you think?” she asks.
I shake my head and laugh.
“They got the two-for-one special for the second time this week. They’ll be thanking the high heavens for their luck. Should we get going?” Kenzie asks.
