Fragile Hearts (Poplar Falls Book 4)

by Amber Kelly

“I …” I turn away from her as regret tightens its grip on my throat, and words escape me.

  She reaches up and grabs my chin, gently forcing my eyes back to hers.

  She smiles.

  “You fell in love,” she murmurs.

  “I didn’t mean to,” I whisper as tears fill my vision, and her face blurs.

  “Why are you here?” she asks again.

  “I don’t want you to have to go through this alone,” I admit.

  “Oh, sweetheart, the only one who’s going through this alone night after night is you,” she says.

  “I’m afraid, Annie.”

  “Of what?”

  “That, one day, a whole day will go by, and I won’t think of you.”

  “When that day comes—and I pray it does for you—it will be okay. You have to let go of this guilt. You have to let go of me. Don’t waste any more precious time. I want you to live,” she says.

  “I miss you,” I confess.

  “You’ll always have me. My heart is yours forever.” She takes her hand from my cheek and places it on my chest. “But it’s time to give someone else yours. Go after her and don’t come back to this place anymore. Be happy. That’s all I want from you. Live well and be happy.”

  She stands on her tiptoes and places a kiss to my chin, like she always used to do.

  “Good-bye, sweetheart,” I say as I pull her to me and squeeze her tightly. “I hope wherever you are, you are cradled in love,” I say into her hair.

  I open my eyes, and I’m in my bed. Tears streaming down my cheeks and one thought in my mind.

  I have to go get my girl.

  Brandt

  I get up, and Mom comes out of her room. We meet in the hallway.

  I kiss her cheek loudly as I pass her on the way to the kitchen.

  “Are you okay, son?” she asks as she follows me.

  “I will be,” I tell her.

  I grab my keys and wallet.

  She looks at the clock on the stove and asks, “Where are you going at this hour?”

  “Denver.”

  “Denver? You have appointments starting at eight,” she reminds me.

  Shit.

  I turn to face her. “I need you to call and reschedule everything for the next few days.”

  Her eyes widen. “You’re closing the office?” she asks in surprise.

  “Yes, move everything to next week. I’ll work some night hours and weekends to make up the work.”

  “And if there is an emergency?” she asks, flustered.

  “Send them to the clinic in Aurora. I’ll call Greg and tell him what’s happening, and he’ll see to the emergencies.”

  “Aurora is over an hour from here,” she tells me something I already know.

  I stop and look back to her. “Hopefully, nothing urgent comes up, but I have to go. I have to tell Bellamy how I feel. If I don’t, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

  Her eyes fill with tears, and she sits at the table.

  “Mom?”

  I sit beside her, and her hand comes to my cheek.

  “I’m proud of you. You’ve been sleepwalking through your life the last couple of years, and you’re finally starting to wake up.”

  I lean into her touch.

  “Go, and don’t come back without her.”

  I kiss her cheek again and then race to Myer’s house. It’s five in the morning, and he should be up and heading to Stoney Ridge any minute.

  I pull up and park. I walk up onto the porch. I can see him inside, walking back and forth in front of the kitchen island.

  I knock lightly and wait.

  He opens the door, carrying his baby girl, who is bundled up in a fuzzy blanket. The smile on his face is replaced with a scowl.

  “Awfully early for a visit, isn’t it, Doc?”

  “Yeah, sorry about the time, but I need to know where Bellamy is.”

  He leans against the doorframe. “And why would you need to know that?”

  I swallow hard, and then I look him in the eye. “Because I love her and I need to tell her that.”

  I can tell that was not the answer he’d expected.

  “You love her?”

  “More than anything, and I know that it might be too late, but if I don’t tell her, I’m afraid that I’m going to sit in the shack and drink myself to death.”

  “Come again?” he asks, confused by my babbling.

  “I just need to know where to find her. This isn’t something I can say to her over the phone. Please,” I beg.

  A head of red curls looks around him and grins.

  “Hyatt Regency, downtown Denver,” she says before reaching up and taking the baby from Myer and walking back inside.

  “Hyatt Regency,” I repeat to myself as I turn back to my truck to get my phone.

  “Doc?” Myer calls after me, and I stop and turn back to face him. “Only an insane man would take advice from Walker Reid.”

  “That’s me, as crazy as they come.”

  He laughs.

  “By the way, you’ll be getting a call from my mom to reschedule your castration appointment. I’m taking a couple of days off. Family emergency.”

  “Go get Bells and bring her home. And if you aren’t successful, I wouldn’t eat or drink anything my mother offers you when you come to the ranch going forward, if you know what I’m saying.”

  He gives me a salute and shuts his door.

  I dial the Hyatt and make a reservation, and then I get on the road.

  I’m so anxious to see her that I make it to Denver in record time.

  I told myself the entire drive that if she and the ex-boyfriend were trying to work things out, then I would walk away. Let her have the job and the new start without my interference.

  But then I decided that asshole had his chance, and I was taking mine.

  I check into my room and then head down to the bar. This hotel is a conference center, and it is huge. She could be anywhere.

  I sit down and order a drink, and then I people-watch for over an hour. Every time I see someone with long blonde hair walk by, my heart stops.

  I finally have had enough of waiting and walk to the reservation desk.

  I stand in line, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for why I need her hotel room number while I wait my turn.

  That’s when it happens.

  I catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye. She heads for the elevator, chatting with another woman. I race to get there before she gets on, but I’m seconds too late. I stand and watch the elevator climb. I make note of the floors that it stops on. Three. It stops on three different floors.

  This is where you prove how serious you are, Haralson.

  I start at the eighth floor, and I knock on every single door. None of them are hers.

  I board the elevator again, and this time, I go to the eleventh floor. I knock on twelve unsuccessful doors before I find her.

  The thirteenth door opens, and she is standing there. She has showered and changed since I spotted her downstairs in the navy pantsuit.

  Her hair is damp, and she has on lounge shorts and a tank.

  Stunning.

  She gasps when she sees me. “What are you doing here, Brandt?”

  “I came for you.”

  Her forehead wrinkles in confusion, and I have to fight the urge to kiss those lines away.

  Once she’s processed my declaration, she frowns.

  “Nothing’s changed,” she says.

  “Everything has changed.”

  Brandt

  She protectively crosses her arms over her chest. “What do you want from me?”

  “You got to say your piece the other night, but there is more I want to say,” I start.

  “You came all the way here to finish your Dear John speech? Really, Doc?”

  “Five minutes. That’s all I’m asking for,” I beg.

  She stands there, debating with herself.

  “I’ll sleep here in this ha
llway if I have to, Bellamy.”

  She raises an eyebrow and looks at me like she would love nothing more than for me to sleep on the cold, hard, filthy floor.

  “I will.”

  I’m a man with nothing to lose.

  “Fine,” she huffs. “Five minutes, and I’m timing you.”

  She turns and walks back into her room, leaving the door open for me to follow.

  She sits on the end of the bed and clicks the television off.

  Her expectant eyes look up at me, and she waits.

  I take a deep breath and let it all out. “I was a prisoner when we met. Locked up in a cell of grief. I don’t know how I ended up there, but I couldn’t get myself out. It got comfortable in that cell. So much so that I didn’t even realize I was there. Until you came along. It was you. Falling in love was the key that unlocked the prison door. You set me free, Bellamy Wilson.”

  Her eyes fill with tears. “You love me?”

  “I do,” I whisper.

  “How do you know? What changed in a couple of days?”

  “I know I’m in love with you because, for the first time in a long time, I’d rather be awake than asleep. Because happiness is here with you and not held hostage in my dreams anymore. I didn’t think it was possible to feel anything so powerful again.”

  I take a tentative step forward.

  “I know you have your own dreams, and I know this job is important to you. And I support anything that makes you happy. So, if here is where you need to be right now, we’ll work it out. I’ll drive up every weekend. I’ll find a job and relocate to be closer to you.”

  “What about the house?” she asks.

  “It can sit there and rot again for all I care.”

  Her mouth falls open.

  “Or I’ll sell it. Or Mom can live there, and we can visit. I don’t care.”

  “Don’t you dare sell the dream house,” she says.

  “Your dream house?” I ask.

  “Our dream house.”

  “Do you love me?” I ask her.

  “I turned the job down.”

  “Then, why are you in Denver?” I ask her, confused.

  “I was checking out the vet tech program at Bel-Rea. One of my professors from Chicago is teaching there now.”

  “You want to be a vet tech?”

  She shrugs. “It’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.”

  “There’s a big demand for techs. I can put a good word in for you in the industry,” I tell her.

  She grins. “Much obliged.”

  “Do you love me?” I ask her again.

  She nods.

  That does it.

  I walk toward her, and she throws herself in my arms. I’ve never felt relief like I do at this moment.

  “Say it again,” she demands softly.

  I’ll say it as many times as she needs me to.

  “I love you. I love your hair. I love your teeth. I love that freckle behind your right ear. I love the scar on your hip. I love everything about you, Bellamy.”

  I drop my forehead to hers.

  “Come back. Build a practice, a home, a family … build a life with me. Please.”

  “Okay.”

  I find her mouth with mine, and I kiss her like a starved man as I back her up to the bed.

  I lay her down and bear up to look at her. She grabs my hair and pulls me back to her mouth. Then, she wraps her legs around my hips and holds me in place.

  I chuckle.

  “I just want to look at you, baby,” I whisper against her lips.

  She doesn’t let me up. She nips at my mouth and bites my bottom lip.

  “I just want to feel you,” she utters as she slides her hands down the front of my shirt and tugs it loose from my jeans, so she can get to my skin.

  I let her explore. She can have whatever she wants.

  Her fingertips graze my chest and down my rib cage. She stops at the top of my jeans.

  “I want to taste you,” she says as she pushes me to my back. Then, she kisses the space below my belly button as her hands work the button of my jeans.

  I take her hair and twist it into my hand, so I can lift it and see her face.

  She arches up and pulls the tank up, and I move my hands to help her slide it over her head. Her hair falls down over her bare breasts. I bring my hand to the side of her neck, and her eyes flutter to mine.

  “You are exquisite, baby.”

  She runs her nails over the hem of my boxers and into the top of my pants.

  I grow painfully hard at the contact, and I groan, fighting the urge to take over.

  Her slow perusal drives me mad as my body coils tight.

  “Are you trying to torture me?” I ask.

  She brings her mouth to my ear and whispers, “Maybe.” Then, she sucks my earlobe into her mouth and bites down.

  My hips buck up off the bed, and she starts to giggle.

  Tease.

  I feed my hands into the back of her shorts and slide my finger between her legs. She gasps and arches her back.

  She comes up to her knees and grabs the sides of my jeans. I lift my hips, and she yanks them down my thighs. My erection springs free, and she runs a nail over the head. I twitch with anticipation as she firmly wraps her hand around me. Finally, she dips her hot, sweet mouth to circle the tip with her tongue as her hand moves up and down. I fist my hand in her hair and start to massage her scalp as she shallows me deep.

  She takes her time, savoring my cock. When I feel myself getting close to losing control, I halt her.

  She whimpers as I slide from her lips.

  “I want to be inside you when I come.”

  She kicks her shorts off, and I flip her onto her back. Her legs fall open, and her glistening core invites me to claim her. I climb her body, and I place a kiss to her lips as I push inside.

  She arches her back and offers her chest to my mouth as she starts to move her hips to meet my thrusts.

  I lean back and watch her face as her breath grows ragged and her eyes roll back. I grow thicker inside her, and I bring my mouth to her breast, take a taut nipple between my lips, and suck it gently.

  Her hand flies to my shoulder and I feel the sharp tip of her fingernails dig in to my flesh as a tremor runs the length of her body.

  She moans my name, and it is the sweetest sound I have ever heard. I increase my pace, and her legs start to tremble as I circle her clit with my thumb. She cries out, and I take her mouth and swallow every gasp and moan as I love her. I try to hold on, but I’m too far gone. She raises her hips to drive me deeper and deeper inside.

  My release rockets down my spine and into her. She wraps her arms around my neck and bites down hard into the meat of my shoulder as she comes hard.

  I continue to ease in and out of her until her body stops quaking and she goes limp in my arms.

  I tuck her into my side and pull the sheet over us.

  “Say it again,” she murmurs without opening her eyes.

  “I love you.”

  She smiles a sleepy smile.

  “I love you more than doughnuts.”

  I bark out a laugh and she grins as her heavy eyelids fall shut.

  I watch as she drifts off to sleep.

  Then, I follow her into sweet dreams.

  Brandt

  Six Months Later

  “Are you ready? We still have to go pick Mom up,” I call up the stairs.

  “I’m coming,” Bellamy announces as she hurries down the steps in a form-fitting black dress, her heels dangling from her fingertips.

  I walk over and take the heels from her. I bend to help her get them on as she uses the banister to balance herself.

  “It’s your fault I’m running so late,” she says as she steps into one shoe.

  I glide my hand up to caress her calf as she picks the other foot up.

  “My fault?”

  “Yes, your fault. If you had not joined me in the shower, I would have been ready an hour ago,
” she accuses.

  I look up at her, and her eyes heat as she remembers why I interrupted her.

  I slip her other shoe on, and I move my hand from her calf up to the inside of her thigh.

  “Don’t,” she warns as I reach the edge of her silk panties. “We’re already late, remember? And it’s our event.”

  I drop my hand, and she lets out a mewl of protest.

  I raise an eyebrow at her, and she pushes my face from her and slides past me to the table at the door, where she picks up her clutch.

  Today, we are launching the new nonprofit called Annie’s Heart. The charity will aid in matching older children in the foster care system with families who have been counseled to handle the issues particular to children who lost their parents or guardians between the ages of ten and eighteen. It will also help to pay for the continued education of the child when they graduate high school and age out of the system. It was Bellamy’s brainchild. She said it was a way to honor Annie and keep her memory alive.

  We make our way to pick Mom up at the apartment above my clinic that she and I used to share. When the house was finished and move-in ready, she sat me down and explained that she wanted a place to call her own and that she enjoyed living downtown and being able to walk to the shops and restaurants. She wanted independence and she wanted Bellamy and me to have a place to all our own. Bellamy splits her time between here and her apartment in Denver. She attends classes four days a week and spends her weekends here with me, until she finishes tech school and can finally come home to me and our practice.

  It’s funny, I had thought that I was taking care of Mom at this point in her life, but it would seem that the only reason she was living under my roof was to take care of me, and now, my well-being is no longer something that worries her.

  I take Bellamy’s hand in mine and kiss the finger that wears my ring.

  As of about two hours ago, I decided I could wait no longer, and I got into the shower with her and slid it on her hand while her head was under the spray and her eyes were closed. She opened them and looked down at the diamond. Immediately, she burst into tears, and rather than say yes, she backed me up against the wall of the shower and answered me with her mouth in another way. The whole thing finished with us tangled in damp sheets and running late.