Barrett grabs hold of my bicep, spinning me so I’m facing him. He plants a soft, wet kiss on my mouth. “We’re not teenagers, Isabella. No one is getting in trouble for what we were just doing.”
I glance down at his cock. “Put that away.”
He laughs loud enough for his dad to hear him.
“Barrett?” Mr. Adler bangs on the door. “I’m not leaving until we talk.”
Heaving out a sigh, Barrett tucks himself back into his pants before he fastens the belt. Running a hand over his hair, he flashes a smile. “That was fucking amazing, Bella.”
Toeing into my heels, I smile. “I’m glad you approve, sir. Shall I show your visitor in?”
“If I say no will you send him back where he came from?”
Holding back a laugh, I shake my head. “The sooner you talk to him, the sooner I can interrupt and tell you that you have a meeting.”
Closing the distance between us with two heavy steps, he cups my face in his hands and kisses me.
“I’m about to break this door down.” Mr. Adler fumes.
Pulling away, Barrett sighs. “Better let the old man in before he hurts himself.”
I smooth my hands over my skirt, move to the door and swing it open.
The man on the other side is frail with graying hair and a vacant expression on his face. He pushes past me, barreling into the room with the aid of a wooden cane. An oversized suit jacket is hanging from his shoulders.
I turn to see Barrett looking his dad over.
“You have some nerve,” Mr. Adler wobbles closer to his son. “Thinking you could march back into her life like you did nothing wrong.”
I know I should close the door and walk away, but I stand and stare at Barrett and his dad. This is what a fractured family looks like. These two men became strangers over something that happened a long time ago.
“I know what I did wrong.” Barrett’s arms cross over his chest. “You think I could forget that?”
“I think you’re looking for salvation.” Mr. Adler’s hand clenches around the top of his cane.
“Salvation?” Barrett barks out a laugh. “I’m looking for ten seconds of peace. Just one fucking moment where this guilt doesn’t eat me from the inside out.”
Mr. Adler glances over his shoulder at me. “You can go.”
“Don’t order her to do anything.” Barrett’s shoulders fall back.
I don’t need him to fight this battle for me. This is a private moment between a father and his only son.
“I’ll go get a coffee.” I step out of the office. “If you need me, you know how to reach me.”
I lock eyes with Barrett before I close the door softly. All I see in his gaze is a sorrow so profound that it steals my breath.
***
I get back to my desk an hour later hoping that the Adler men aren’t at each other’s throats. I peer into Barrett’s office. There’s no one there.
I fall into my chair, dropping my purse in the bottom drawer of my desk.
A yellow sticky note catches my eye.
It’s half-hidden beneath the file folder that serves as a cover for my crossword puzzle.
I slide the puzzle and the sticky note out and read the message handwritten in black ink.
I just checked my calendar. 6 meetings this afternoon? WTF? I’ll be out for the rest of the day.
I laugh aloud. I scheduled all of those meetings to make up for the ones I had to cancel so he could spend time with his sisters.
My gaze drops to the crossword puzzle. It’s new. I completed the other one when I filled in the blanks to form the word fear.
Only one clue is solved on this one. It’s a five-letter word for fun. Written in bold black ink is my name. BELLA.
That’s not the right answer. I’m more than just fun, but maybe that’s all I am to Barrett. Maybe that’s all I’ll ever be.
Chapter 45
Barrett
“Dinner and a movie?” Dylan claps a hand in the center of my back. “I’m flattered, but you won’t get to first base with me. Eden can set you up with someone. She’s got a friend in her office. You’ll be rounding third base by midnight if my fiancée makes the call right now.”
“What?” I motion for him to step into my apartment. “How the hell would you know how far a woman is willing to go on the first date? You’re engaged, Colt.”
“Eden’s a gossip. I get the goods on everyone she works with.”
“I’m glad I’m not a prosecuting attorney working in the office next to her.”
“You and me both,” Dylan laughs. “You said dinner and a movie. I don’t see food and the television is off.”
“I have some leftover pizza in the fridge.” I jerk a thumb over my shoulder toward the kitchen. “There’s beer too.”
“That covers the grub.” He takes off in search of the days-old pizza. “What about the entertainment?”
I debated this all day. After seeing my dad, I needed a neutral ear to listen to me talk. Dylan’s the guy who fits that bill. The problem is I have to confess sins from the past that he knows nothing about.
He’ll give me hell for keeping things from him, but it’s more than that. I’ve always been the one preaching to him about letting go of the past, but I’ve got a firm grasp on mine.
Shoving both hands in the front pocket of my jeans, I start at the place that makes the most sense to me. “I saw my dad today.”
With a piece of pizza in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other, Dylan approaches. “Where? In the newspaper? Who even reads those anymore?”
“My office.”
His chewing slows. He swallows hard. “You’re bullshitting me.”
I move past him to take a seat on a chair. “I swear he was in my office. Showed up out of nowhere.”
With a thud, he drops onto his ass on the couch. “Jesus. If you’re going to ride this penthouse thing out, you need a new couch. Do it for me. This is hard as a bag of rocks.”
I huff out a laugh. “I’ll work on that.”
He places the bottle of beer on the table. “What did old Adler want?”
The only thing Dylan knows about what happened when I was fifteen in New York is that it set me on a month-long weed and beer bender.
It was the middle of summer, so I hung out at his place. He tried to pry the details about what happened out of me, but I always read from the same script. I told him I was drunk and that my dad caught me with a beer and sent me back to Chicago on the first available flight.
I was sent back on the first flight, but the damage I’d done far surpassed a few too many beers.
“Remember that summer when we were fifteen?”
He shoots me a look. “We smoked too much weed and plotted out the next big video game that would take the world by storm. That was supposed to be our ticket to fame and fortune.”
Smiling, I nod. “That’s the summer.”
“He sent you back to Chicago three weeks early.” He takes a pull from the bottle of beer. “Did he finally decide to apologize for being a dick?”
Sucking in a breath, I steady myself. “Is was more than beer that got me kicked back to Chicago.”
Crossing his arms over his chest, he leans back on the couch. “It was Bizzy. The accident.”
Stunned, I stare at him.
“Monica,” he explains. “You think she could keep that shit to herself? She told my mom. Monica said we had to keep it hush-hush.”
“Fuck.” I rake both hands through my hair. “You knew all this time?”
“I knew you’d tell me when you were ready.” He narrows his eyes. “I was hoping it would be before you fucked off to college in California, but I’m a patient man.”
I shake my head. “Irving pushed for me to go to USC.”
“Of course he fucking did.” He laughs. “Ship the kid to the other side of the country. What the hell did that solve?”
Nothing. I would stay awake for hours each night rethinking what had happened on that
street on the Upper West Side.
I’d close my eyes and see the cars, and the people. I’d hear the sounds and there was the silence from my sister. It’s all etched in my memory.
“So he came to New York to warn you to stay away from Felicity and Bizzy?”
“Beatrice.” I smile. “She outgrew Bizzy. She goes by Beatrice now.”
“You saw her?” He inches forward on the couch. “Did you talk to her?”
I swallow past the lump in my throat. “Yesterday, for hours.”
“Things are good?” He sips from the bottle. “You’re good with her and with Felicity?”
“It’s a work-in-progress to rebuild, but we’re all committed to making it happen.”
His gaze narrows. “Not all of you. I take it that Irving isn’t on board? Monica can’t be either.”
“They keep reminding me that I can’t swipe it all under the rug. That there are consequences I’ll have to live with forever.”
“You’ve put yourself through hell.” He scrubs a hand over the back of his neck. “When I was torn up about what happened between Eden and me in high school, you’d always tell me to let the past go.”
I did say that. It was advice I doled out freely but could never live by.
“Let it go, Barrett.” He slides to his feet. “There’s not one damn thing you can do today to change yesterday. Be a better man than you were then. That’s the best you can do.”
I wish it were that damn easy.
***
After polishing off the last piece of pizza in the box, Dylan picks up his phone. “I should head out soon. Do you want me to get Eden to set you up with that woman she works with? It sounds like you’d have a good time.”
“No,” I answer succinctly.
“No?” he parrots back. “Why not? You could use the exercise.”
I let out a chuckle. “I’m getting all the exercise I need.”
His eyebrows arch. “What the fuck? With who?”
He knows Bella. Not well enough to bring this up with her, but I want to protect her. I need to protect her. I ease into the answer with a warning. “You have to keep this to yourself.”
“I miss the good old days when we would pinkie swear that we wouldn’t tell a soul who we were banging in high school.”
He wiggles his hand in the air, arcing his pinkie finger toward me. “I pinkie swear that I won’t tell a soul who Barrett is dipping his dick into.”
Batting his hand away, I throw my head back in laughter. “It’s more than sex, Colt.”
He takes a step closer to me. “Are you in love? How the hell did I miss that happening?”
I dart a hand in the air. “Not love. Deep like. Admiration. I fucking adore her.”
“Sounds like love to me.”
“It’s not love,” I say as much to convince him as myself.
How the fuck could I have fallen in love this quickly?
“Call it whatever the hell you want. I want to know who she is. Where did you meet her?”
“Keep this quiet.” I tap a finger on his shoulder. “This stays here.”
His eyes skim my face. “Holy hell. You’re head over heels for Bella Calvetti, aren’t you?”
I raise my brows in a silent question because how in the fuck did he figure that out?
Resting a hand on my shoulder, he laughs. “You spend all your time with her. She’s beautiful, and there’s a bag from Calvetti’s in your kitchen. Great detective work on my part, I’d say.”
“You’re a regular Sherlock.”
He pockets his phone. “I’m going home to my fiancée. Lock Bella down, Barrett. She comes from good people.”
“You’ll say hi to Eden for me?”
“Don’t I always?” He taps my cheek. “I’ll be in touch. Thanks for the old pizza and cheap beer.”
I follow him as he makes his way to the door. “You brought the beer the last time you were here.”
Glancing over his shoulder, he laughs. “That’s how I know it’s cheap. Grab the bull by the horns, Barrett and grab Bella before some asshole scoops her up.”
There is no way in hell I’ll let another man near her.
Chapter 46
Bella
Picking up another book with a torn cover, I look around the interior of Rusten’s Reads. It’s Saturday morning in Brooklyn. This is the time when foot traffic is at its peak. The store is in a prime location, yet the only other person in here is Misty Furst, one of the owners.
Barrett hasn’t mentioned the business since we met with Ivan at Axel NY. I have no idea if he plans on following through with acquiring them as part of Garent Industries, or not.
“How are you making out, Bella?” Misty calls from where she’s stacking children’s books on a small circular table.
“Good.” I smile, waving the two books I’m holding in the air. “I’ll find another and then I’ll be good to go.”
I shift my gaze to the shelf in front of me. My reading tastes vary. One month I’m all about romance. The next I might be consumed with mystery novels. Today, I’m drawn to the science fiction section.
I peek around the bookshelf when I hear the bell above the entrance door ring. Hoping it’s a crowd of at least twenty people; I take a step back when I realize who I’m looking at.
Barrett?
Dressed down in a pair of jeans and a dark blue sweater, he approaches Misty. “What have you got for me today, Misty?”
“You won’t believe it.” She shakes her head, sending her short gray curls bouncing. “We do have a copy of Pride and Prejudice tucked away on a shelf in the stockroom.”
“I’ll take it,” he says, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket.
“Let me run and grab it.” She moves, then pauses, turning back to him. “Next week won’t be easy.”
Straightening his shoulders, he rests a hand on the counter between them. “Change is always hard, but it’s the right thing to do.”
She blows out a breath. “I keep thinking about Monday morning and not coming here to open the doors.”
What the hell?
I know the business isn’t sustainable as is, but Ivan was clear about what he wanted. Rusten’s Reads was supposed to get a second chance under Garent’s umbrella.
I watch Misty walk away. Once she’s out of view, I march across the store.
“Bella?” Barrett smiles when he sees me approaching. “How long have you been here?”
Dropping the books in my hand on the counter, I turn and face him head-on. “Long enough to know that you’re not going to save this store.”
“You’re buying those books?”
The fact that he completely ignores what I just said sets my blood boiling. “Those and more if this is my last chance to shop here. I used to come here with Marti every Saturday morning when I was a little girl.”
“I didn’t know you were into sci-fi.”
What is wrong with him?
Gazing around the quaint little shop, I bite back my emotion. I come here almost every Saturday morning. Sometimes, I buy books for myself. Other times, I’ll pick up a few children’s books to give to Palla for her kids. There have been days when I’ll choose a handful of random books to donate to the community center around the corner.
This store is a piece of my childhood. I’d hold tight to Marti’s hand when we’d come here. The moment we were in the store, I’d take off in search of one book that she’d buy for me. She told me it was our little secret. I was her only grandchild that she brought here. Rusten’s Reads hold a special place in my heart.
“Here we go.” Misty rounds the corner from the stockroom with a book in her hand. “I found it. It’s a little worse for wear, but that means it’s been read with love over and over again.”
Barrett opens his wallet. He pushes a bill into Misty’s hand. “This should cover it. Ring it up and bag it.”
Misty glances at me. “I take it you know this kind gentleman, Bella, since you both work at Garent.”
Misty catches Barrett’s eye. “Bella works for you? I assumed you brought your assistant from Chicago with you. Why wasn’t Bella involved in our meetings?”
Because he knew that I’d fight tooth and nail to save this store.
Raking a hand through his hair, Barrett points at the bill in Misty’s hand. The one hundred dollar bill in her hand. “That’s for this book and the two that Bella wants. Keep the change.”
Digging a hand into my bag, I shake my head. “No. I’ll pay for my books.”
Sliding the bill at Barrett, Misty smiles. “All three books are on the house. Consider it a thank you for going out of your way to save the store. I hope you’ll both be here the day we reopen the doors as Velvet Bay Books.”
Chapter 47
Barrett
Dammit.
This is not how I wanted Bella to find out about this. I have been working on this deal since I met Misty and Rusten over a coffee to discuss the future of their shop.
That was a couple of days after Ivan made it clear that he wanted me to follow in Duke’s footsteps to save the bookstore from the fate that many of the mom and pop shops in Brooklyn have met. Businesses in this neighborhood stand a fighting chance if they appeal to the people who live here.
Park Slope is one of the prime locations in Brooklyn, so I decided after meeting the Fursts and hearing them talk about Bella, that it was worth the money and effort to take them under Garent’s wing.
We signed an agreement that transfers majority ownership of the store from them to Garent. They’ll get the makeover and rebranding they desperately need. With the ideas I’m implementing, they stand a good chance of turning their business around.
That is all thanks to the woman standing next to me with two sci-fi books clutched in her palm.
I’m holding a battered copy of Pride and Prejudice.
It’s for her.
She’s about to realize that if she hasn’t connected the dots yet.
Ruthless Page 17
