The Second Time Around: a Hope Valley novel

by Prince, Jessica

  “Tessa, go inside,” he commanded, his voice deep with anger. “I’ve had enough of listenin’ to this woman cut you down. Go inside and call the police. I’ll make sure she stays on this side of the door.”

  “You ain’t callin’ the fuckin’ cops, you fuckin’ prick!”

  Her arm reared back, ready to take a swing at Reggie. I wasn’t sure what came over me, but before she could land her blow, I skirted the big man, stepping in front of him and catching her by the wrist before she had a chance to make contact.

  Years of meth and heroin abuse had made her nothing but skin and bones, so she was easy enough to hold at bay.

  “That was a big mistake,” I hissed, getting into the woman’s face. The sound of police sirens drawing close cut through the air, and as soon as she heard them, her eyes went wide. “If you had left like you were told, you may have only gotten a slap on the wrist. But you wouldn’t listen. You made this so much worse than it needed to be, and you have absolutely no one to blame but yourself."

  She gave her arm a jerk, but I held firm. “Let me go, you fuckin’ whore.”

  “It’s my job to keep every single child in that house safe, even if what I’m protecting them from is their own flesh and blood. And I will do that until my . . . last . . . breath.”

  On that, two police cruisers came screeching to a halt, kicking up gravel.

  Letting Ava Winslow’s wrist go, I took a step back and looked at the two officers approaching Reggie and me. One of them heading in my direction was the polite officer who’d given Charity a break after the whole shoplifting fiasco.

  “Ms. Day,” he said with a tilt of his chin.

  I returned his chin tilt with a dip of my own. “Officer Duncan.”

  “We received a call about a disturbance. Can you fill us in on what’s happened?”

  I pointed to where Ava was now struggling against the other two officers. “That woman is violating a court order by being here. She’s only allowed scheduled, supervised visitation, and is not to set foot on this property. She was told to leave . . . by me and by my staff.” I threw my thumb back at Reggie who was still standing protectively behind me. “She refused to leave, then became belligerent. Well . . . that’s not entirely true. She was belligerent the whole time she was out here. Then she tried to slap Reggie.”

  “That’s a lie!” Ava screeched. “You’re a goddamn liar, you fuckin’ bitch!”

  Officer Duncan’s features grew hard as stone, but he didn’t move his gaze from me. “She tried to physically assault a member of your staff?”

  “That’s right.” I pointed to one of the many security cameras we had set up on the property. “We have the entire thing on video if you need me to have a copy made for you.”

  “That would be helpful, ma’am. Thank you.”

  “On it,” Reggie grunted, turning on his heels and lumbering back toward the building.

  “You’re gonna pay for this, skank!” Ava screamed. “I’ll make you pay! Me and my man are comin’ for you! Watch your back, bitch!”

  The sound of tires crunching across the gravel drive sounded again, cutting into her threats, and when I looked in that direction, I saw Bryce’s truck skid to a stop. The doors flew open and he and his father rushed out, the former shouldering his way between Officer Duncan and me, and reaching up to take my face in his hands. “Jesus, baby. Are you okay? Ma called, told us to get down here as fast as we could. What’s goin’ on?”

  I wrapped my fingers around his wrists and gave them a squeeze, hoping to ease some of the concern marring his face. “I’m fine, I promise. We had a little situation with Charity’s mom, but it’s all okay now.”

  He looked toward the snarling, snapping woman, who was currently being shoved into the back of a squad car, with a deep frown etched onto his face. “This is okay? Christ. What was she like before we pulled up?”

  “Trust me, man,” Officer Duncan started, “you don’t wanna know.”

  Letting out a heavy sigh, I reached up and began rubbing my temples, trying to stave off a tension headache.

  “Tessa, dear.” At the sound of Lily’s voice, we all turned in her direction. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Diana and I tried to keep her back, but the kids saw the lights from the police cars and, well . . .” She looked back toward the entrance doors, and when I followed her line of sight, I saw Charity standing inside, leaning against Diana with tears streaking down her face.

  Damn it.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Tessa

  Lifting the wineglass to my lips, I took a huge gulp before putting it back on the ledge and sliding deeper into the water.

  It had been one hell of an evening.

  After the police carted Ava Winslow away, screaming and flailing around in the back of the cop car the entire time, I’d rushed back into the house to take care of Charity. The poor girl had been a wreck, but not because she was worried about her mother’s well-being. Charity was more humiliated than concerned, and her biggest fear was that I’d want her moved somewhere else because of the drama her mother caused.

  It took a while, but with the help of Diana and Reggie, we managed to calm her down and convince her she was safe, and that she wasn’t going anywhere. We wanted her with us, and nothing could ever change that.

  By the time I finally left, Bryce driving my car since his parents had left in his truck, I was emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted. My heart ached at the fear I’d witnessed from Charity, and I wanted to hunt her mother down and murder her for hurting her daughter a-freaking-gain.

  Instead of letting me commit a felony, Bryce had driven me back to his place, taken me upstairs, filled the bathtub with hot water, and left me to undress and climb in while he went back downstairs to pour me a very large glass of wine.

  I stayed in the tub until the water went cold and I ran out of wine.

  Wrapping Bryce’s thick, soft towel around my body, I opened the door and stepped into the bedroom, coming to a stop at the sight of luggage sitting on the floor by the dresser. My luggage, to be exact. “What’s all this?”

  “You’re stuff from the inn,” he answered casually.

  I looked from my luggage to him. He was stretched out on the bed, lying on top of the sheet. His chest was bare and another pair of flannel pants covered his legs. Any other time, I would have been struck stupid at the sight of all that caramel skin stretched over the defined dips of his delicious muscles, but I was too busy wondering what the hell my stuff was doing there.

  “I can see that. I guess I’m just surprised to see it in your bedroom and not at, well, the inn.”

  “Come here, beauty.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes. “Explain, Bryce.”

  He blew out a breath and sat up, making his abs flex and ripple. “I’m happy to explain, but I’d rather not do it with you standin’ all the way across the room. So, come here.”

  I cocked my hip and threw my leg out. “I’m perfectly comfortable right where I am. How about you tell me why you bulldozed your way over a situation, yet again, by having all my stuff moved without my knowledge, and after I hear your side of it, then I’ll decided if I want to come here or not.”

  His expression grew hard, his tone losing a bit of its warmth when he answered, “Tomorrow’s your day off. We were supposed to head to the inn, pack you up, and move you in here. But after what went down today, and the state your girl was still in when we left tonight, I figured you’d want to spend tomorrow at the home. So, since I didn’t want you to worry about gettin’ your stuff over here, I had my folks go in and pack you up. They dropped everything off while you were in the bath. You can sleep in a little tomorrow, maybe unpack a bit, then I can take you back to Hope House so you can be close to Charity. Now, is that a good enough explanation, or do you still feel like givin’ me shit for tryin’ to look out for you?”

  All the steel left my spine, and I instantly regretted throwing attitude. “No,” I said quietly
, shame prickling at my skin. “I don’t want to give you anymore shit. That was a really good explanation.”

  The stoniness bled from his face. His eyes grew tender, his voice soft as he said, “I’m glad, baby. So, will you come here, now? I can’t stand you bein’ so far away.”

  My feet began to move before he finished his sentence; I couldn’t stand the distance either. I was addicted to this man, consumed by him.

  As soon as I was close enough, he grabbed me by the waist and lifted me up, sitting me on his lap so my thighs were straddling his. “I’m sorry for being a bitch,” I said, reaching up to brush a hank of hair off his forehead.

  “You weren’t a bitch.” His pale green eyes stared up at me, shining with so much love it made my chest swell. “You had a hard day, Tessa. It’s only natural you’d snap a little bit.”

  God, this man. “You’re incredible, you know that? Everything you’ve done for me, how you go out of your way to protect and take care of me—I’ve never had that, and sometimes I just don’t know how to react.”

  His smile melted my insides. “It’s just somethin’ you’ll have to get used to, then.”

  “I guess it is.” Moving my fingers from his hair, I trailed them across his jaw, down his neck, over his chest, slowly moving lower and lower as I shifted in his lap, lightly brushing myself across the growing erection beneath me. “It’s getting late. Maybe we should go to bed.” I meant that to be teasing, but the huskiness of my voice revealed the longing that had suddenly come over me. “You’re probably really tired, huh?”

  My words ended on a squeal when Bryce grabbed my hips and flipped me to my back. The black of his pupils had eclipsed the light green, nearly swallowing it whole as he untucked the towel I was wearing, pulling it aside to reveal my naked body. “Not tired in the slightest, beauty. But I’m fuckin’ starved.”

  “Oh?” I puffed out a needy breath as he licked and nipped at the column of my neck. “You want me to go downstairs and make you a sandwich or something?”

  His head came back up, and the heat I felt reflected back at me. “No need,” he rasped. “I’ve got my favorite meal right here.”

  * * *

  My head thrashed against the mattress. My fingers tangled in Bryce’s hair, my hips lifting off the bed, writhing against his face as he feasted, alternating between sucking on my clit and driving his tongue inside me.

  He’d already coaxed one orgasm from me with only his mouth, but he hadn’t stopped after that. With his face still between my thighs, he was working to force another. And this one was building so strong, I wasn’t sure I’d survive it.

  “Bryce,” I panted. My lungs felt like they were one fire as they struggled to pull in enough air. “Oh, God. I’m gonna—” My neck arched and my back bowed as I came, long and hard, moaning and whimpering. He stayed with me until I collapsed onto the bed, my body feeling boneless.

  His head disappeared, the cool air on my sensitive folds caused me to jolt and look down, and when I did, the sight before me was extraordinary.

  Bryce’s lips glistened with the evidence of my arousal. His eyelids were hooded, the green in his gaze now completely gone. He licked his lips, letting out a satisfied groan, as if I was the best thing he’d ever tasted.

  “Pure fuckin’ honey,” he rumbled before crawling up my body, his movements purely predatory. “Dyin’ to have that sweet pussy wrapped around my cock.” His face leveled with mine as he demanded, “Wrap your legs around me and hold on. This is gonna be hard and fast, beauty. Need you too goddamn bad to go slow.”

  As soon as I complied and my ankles crossed behind his back, he drove in. As he promised, it was hard, so hard it jolted me across the bed.

  “Yes,” I cried, grabbing his shoulders and digging my nails in as he went crazy, driving in and out, slamming his hips into me over and over.

  “Christ,” he grunted, a thin sheen of sweat beading across his forehead. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

  At those words, my core spasmed. “Bryce, don’t stop.”

  “Do you love me, baby?”

  My eyes flew open to find his riveted on me as he fucked me harder and faster, each snap of his hips brutal in the most perfect way. The headboard slammed against the wall as I breathed, “Y-yes.” The word was ripped from deep inside me.

  His lips curled back to expose clenched teeth. “Say it,” he commanded.

  “I love you.”

  He pulled all the way out and powered back in. “Again.”

  My muscles began to tense, the pressure in my core built. I was about to explode. “I love you.”

  “Again, beauty.”

  And just like that, I went off, screaming, “I love you!” as I shattered into a million little pieces.

  He buried himself deep seconds later, the sexiest, wildest sound erupting from deep within his chest as he poured himself inside me.

  He sagged against me, his lips brushing against mine feather light as we both came down from an epic high.

  “Love you too, Tessa,” he murmured seconds later.

  I lost track of time as we lay wrapped around each other, teasing each other with slow, measured kisses.

  When I finally moved, he pulled out and rolled to the side. I made quick work of cleaning myself in the bathroom before unzipping one of the suitcases.

  “What’re you doin’?”

  I glanced over my shoulder as I snagged a pair of underwear and slid them up my legs. “Grabbing something to sleep in.”

  In response, he pointed to the dresser and stated, “Top drawer.”

  If he wanted me to sleep in one of his shirts, who was I to argue? I dropped my clothes with a huge smile on my face. Pulling open the drawer, I began rifling through, looking for the softest, most comfortable tee.

  I located one at the bottom that had been washed so many times it felt like a feather, so I quickly grabbed it and shook it out. The moment I did, something that had been wrapped up in it fell to the floor with a soft tink.

  Slipping the shirt over my head, I crouched down to grab it. Rising to my feet, I gazing at the medal in my hand before turning my eyes to the bed where Bryce was sitting, his whole body locked tight as he stared at my hand. “Bryce, what is this?”

  It took an eternity for him to answer, and when he did, the words were gruff and clipped. “Navy Cross.”

  “Wait . . . That’s like, one of the highest commendations you can receive, isn’t it? Why the hell do you have it stuffed in a drawer?” I moved toward the bed, tucking a leg under me as I sat down beside him. “This is a huge honor, baby. You should have this displayed somewhere.”

  His gaze shot to mine. “No. Shouldn’t have received it in the first place.”

  “What are you talking about? Bryce, sweetie, this is something to be proud of.”

  “It isn’t, Tessa,” he gritted. “I got that because half my team died in that goddamn desert, and it was my fuckin’ fault.”

  My heart sank. I suddenly realized this had to do with whatever happened over there that took him away from me. Reaching out, I set the small cross on the nightstand before turning back to Bryce. Scooting closer to him, I sat back on my knees, and placed a hand on his thigh. “Tell me what happened over there,” I pleaded.

  His eyes shifted out of focus as he stared off at nothing, like he was lost in a nightmare. His chest began to rise and fall rapidly, his inhales choppy and short. And when he began to speak, I suddenly understood his reaction.

  “We’d gotten word that the leader of a terrorist cell was holed up in this tiny village, so my team was sent in to take him out. We were set up in a house not too far from this guy’s compound, surveilling and planning our next move. There was this kid, couldn’t have been older than nineteen or twenty . . .”

  He stopped, his throat bobbing with a thick swallow as his eyes went glassy. “I fucked up. An empty fuckin’ street, not a person in sight, and then this kid comes practically outta nowhere. I should’ve taken the shot, but
I hesitated.” When he looked back at me, the shadows in his eyes ripped my heart in two. “I shouldn’t have hesitated. He was just so fuckin’ young.”

  The agony in his voice killed me. Suddenly hating the small amount of space between us, I moved forward and climbed into his lap. “I didn’t see the launcher strapped to his back.” He began to pant heavily. “I should’ve fuckin’ seen it. I didn’t see it.”

  Tears leaked from my eyes as I took his face in my hands, leaning forward to press my forehead to his.

  “Bryce.”

  “Moss and Danielson died in the explosion.” That explained the nightmare I’d witnessed. Craig Moss and Scott Danielson, the two other men I’d met with Bryce in Vegas. “Hunter and I got pinned down when the roof collapsed. I came out of it with the scars you’ve seen all over my back. He came out of it without part of his leg. And it was all my fault.”

  The tears started coming faster and faster. “Bryce, honey, it wasn’t your fault.”

  “If I had just pulled the goddamn trigger—”

  My fingers pressed into his cheeks, cutting him off. “I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like over there. What you guys had to go through.” I shook my head, agonized by the pain carved into every inch of his face. “But to me, it sounds like you were simply being human. You saw a kid, Bryce. You didn’t know if he was a threat or an innocent bystander who was about to be caught in the middle of something really bad. You couldn’t be sure.”

  “Baby, we’re trained not to hesitate—”

  “Bryce. You’re . . . human. All the training in the world can’t undo human nature or compassion. You thought he was a helpless kid. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. Has Hunter once, for even a second, blamed you?”

  He breathed in through his nose and shook his head.

  “I didn’t think so. Or he wouldn’t be here in Hope Valley with you, working alongside you. Your friends didn’t die because of you, honey. Hunter didn’t lose his leg because of you. That isn’t on your shoulders. It’s on that kid. Solely on that kid, and I think, deep down, a part of you knows that.”