Chapter 27
Five days crawled by with me going through the same monotonous daily rituals of visiting my mother at the rehabilitation hospital and coming home to a dismally quiet dwelling. Everything thing in my life had been turned upside down.
Garrett had called repeatedly, leaving messages each time, but I didn’t want to hear what he had to say, much less hear his sexy voice, so I deleted the voicemails before ever listening to the temptation.
George was the only person I’d spoken to, but not in person, only on the phone. Greta and I had texted a few times, and she must have understood my half-truth about not having a lot of time to talk because I was taking care of my mom. I hated lying, but I didn’t want to socialize, much less face questions I wasn’t ready to answer.
The night Jennings gave me a ride home from the hospital, we barely spoke. When he pulled along the curb in front of my house, he waited a few seconds before asking if I’d like to have dinner with him. I told him yes, but expressed that I needed a few days to myself. He simply nodded, but his last words before I closed the passenger door burrowed their way into my heart.
“You might not ever call me Dad, or even see me as your dad, but I already look at you as my daughter, and I’ll always see you that way. We just have to get to know one another.”
I’d cried walking along the sidewalk toward my house and every day after. When I visited my mom, I put on a stoic face, refusing to address her underhanded decisions to fuck with my life until she was comfortable at home, where I knew she’d be strong enough to handle it.
Things were going to get a whole lot uglier before they had a chance to become pretty again.
Snuggled underneath an old fleece blanket that had once belonged to my mother, I flipped through channels on the TV. Stopping on the travel channel when I heard the tagline “Top ten dreamiest beaches”, I let out a sarcastic laugh as the narrator described the crystal-clear exotic waters perfect for memorable experiences.
My experience certainly had been memorable.
I’d been used.
I’d fallen in love with the devil.
I’d left my heart behind.
Changing the channel, I finally stopped on a cooking show and tossed the remote on the coffee table.
A light knock sounded on the door, and I stayed quiet. Let them knock. Let them wait. Let them leave. Not making a peep, I waited for the uninvited, unwanted guest to give up. Unfortunately, they were persistent, and the knock sounded again, this time louder.
Go away!
After a few minutes, the knocking ceased, and I let out a sigh of relief, turning my attention back to the woman making some sort of breakfast soufflé, a meal I didn’t give a shit about because I didn’t cook anything that wasn’t already in a box with printed directions.
Transfixed by an episode full of ridiculousness, I pulled the covers high around my neck in contentment until a repetitive tinkling noise came from my window, like pebbles being thrown at the glass pane. I jumped and turned toward the closed blinds.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I mumbled, throwing the covers aside and letting out a groan.
Cracking the blinds open enough to peek through, I saw Garrett staring straight into my eyes.
Hell no. Oh helllll no.
He wore a dark gray suit and filled it to perfection. He was clean-shaven, and his hair glistened, styled impeccably. He stood on a pile of red mulch between two shrubs and looked ridiculous and stalker-ish…but also sexy as hell.
My traitorous hormones switched gears and a tingle ran down my spine. A wave of warmth coursed through my veins, zeroing in on the sweet spot between my legs.
“Go away, Garrett,” I called through the window.
“No. Open the door.”
“Go to hell.” I stepped away and sat on the arm of the sofa before my shaky knees had a chance to give out on me. I couldn’t believe he stood just on the other side of the wall of my home. He was right there.
My heart lurched into my throat when he pounded on the door, and I stared in disbelief as he pelted it harder.
Hell to the no. He isn’t going to come here and fuck with me!
I stormed to the door and threw it open.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t. You’re a smart man, so you should have figured that out when I didn’t answer or return any of your calls.”
“I have things to say, and you’re going to listen, Brooke.”
“How do I make myself clearer? You, your words—they mean nothing to me. Anything that happened between us is just a memory I want to forget. I’m asking you to leave, Garrett.”
“But you can’t forget because we had fire between us. You felt it as much as I did, and you can’t turn it off like a faucet. It doesn’t work like that.”
I shook my head, knowing I could deny it all I wanted, but he spoke true words.
“You’re wrong. I can and did. Now go, before I call the police.”
“Call the police? You think I wouldn’t go to jail if it gave me time to say the things I want to say to you?”
“Suit yourself.” I attempted to slam the door in his face, but his strong hand held it open and he pushed past me, sauntering inside as if he didn’t give a fuck about anything other than what he wanted.
“One way or another, you’re going to hear what I have to say,” he insisted.
I rolled my eyes. “Then hurry the fuck up so you can get out, Mitchell!”
“I’m so sorry I hurt you, Brooke. I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused you. I see it in your eyes, and it kills me. It kills me to see it there at all, but it slaughters me to know I’m the one who caused it.”
He took a step toward me and I held up my hands, flashing a determined look. It must have told him I was serious, because he stopped.
“I’m okay…or I will be. I’m dealing with a lot, and some things I’m just not ready to deal with—”
His eyes traveled over my tired face. “You look exhausted.”
“I am exhausted.”
“Is it because you can’t stop thinking about us? Because you’re all I think about, from the time I wake up until I lie in bed and stay up half the night because I can’t get you out of my mind. Then you follow me into my dreams, and I wake up in cold sweats because the fucking dreams are so real, like you’re really there beside me.”
I leaned against the closed door, crossed my arms over my chest, and lied through my teeth. “I don’t think about you at all, unless you count how much I regret being with you. I’m tired because I’ve been at the hospital. I’m tired because I’m dealing with the twisted emotions of finding out I have a father after all these years. My exhaustion has nothing to do with you.”
Stay strong a few more minutes. He’ll leave and never come back by the time you’re through.
In a flash, he strode over to me and placed the palms of his hands on either side of me, caging me in while wearing a wicked grin.
“You can believe your lies all you want, but I know the truth. I see it in your eyes. You remember how it felt between us. You can’t stop thinking about us together, how good it was, and I know you remember how hard I made you come. We are something you won’t ever be able to forget.”
I let out a fake laugh. “Don’t flatter yourself, Mitchell. The fucking wasn’t even that great.”
“Liar.” He leaned in closer, and his intoxicating scent wafted into every cell in my body.
“I’ve had better with my battery-operated boyfriend,” I whispered.
He didn’t give me a chance to escape before his lips crashed down on mine in a searing, fierce kiss. Pressing his hardness against me, he bit down on my bottom lip and pushed his tongue inside my unresisting mouth.
One touch set me on fire. One gaze burned through me. One kiss and I forgot the unforgivable reasons I could never be with him.
My body lusted for his.
Craved his touch.
Throbbed in need for him to fill me.
It always would.
My heart missed him more than ever.
I clutched at the back of his head, so afraid of the kiss ending as our tongues danced with one another, full of anguish. I pulled against his back and he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight against him, kissing me deeply…insanely deeply.
When he pulled back, his eyes on mine, a glimmer of lust-filled satisfaction stared back. His lips curled into a wickedly intense grin. “There’s no way in hell your body writhes for a toy stashed in your drawer. You can’t claw its back or wrap those creamy thighs around its hips. Right now, you’re wet for me, and as sure as I’m standing here breathing, if I were to touch you, you would come apart on my fingers with one sweep. So, don’t challenge me, Brooke, because I know how much you love what I can do to your body.”
I swallowed hard as reality slapped me across the face. Pent-up fury boiled in my stomach and a fresh anger brewed; I was so frustrated at myself for letting this get out of hand.
It had to stop.
I had to be strong and end it immediately.
“Okay, the sex was hot. Happy? I admitted it.” Walking to the door, I threw it open and tipped my head to the outside. “But that’s all it was. Now get out, your time is up.”
“Give us another chance. Give me the chance I don’t deserve.” His tone was unfamiliar, almost broken.
I turned my gaze to the afternoon sky, too afraid I’d crumble if I looked at him. Letting out a fake I-don’t-give-a-shit chuckle, I said, “The lies, the deception—all of what you did makes it easy to say no. Please don’t come back, Garrett. I won’t answer the door next time.”
“The deed to the land has been reversed. I signed it back over to your mother, and it’s been filed at the county clerk’s office in the courthouse. Rachel should receive the original in the mail in a few days.”
“That’s between you and her. I don’t even know if she still has the money.”
“Fuck the money. I don’t care about any of it. That wasn’t a deciding factor in deeding it back to her. It was supposed to be a good business deal, but instead it was the worst decision I’ve ever made, costing me more than anything money could buy—costing me you. I can’t go back in time, can’t change what I did, and I’ll regret it every day of my life. Saying I’m sorry is trite, but I’d say it a thousand times if it would make a difference.”
Oh God. My heart broke in half as he spoke.
I wanted to believe there was good in him, wanted to think I hadn’t been blinded by his charm. I wanted to believe I’d seen the true Garrett Mitchell, had fallen in love with a man who didn’t have it in him to use another person in the interest of business, but the truth was, he had.
He’d made a deal with my own mother.
He’d used me.
“Please don’t expect me to say I forgive you for any of this. I can’t right now, and I don’t know if I ever will. Now that you’ve said your peace, I need you to leave because you’re right—your decision did cost you. You lost me, and I don’t want anything to do with you, Garrett.”
“Brooke—”
I threw my hands in the air. “No! No more! I can’t do this. Get out!”
He stared longer than I wanted him to, and I held my eyes on his, trying to stand up to him…trying to stand strong and hide the quaking mess inside me.
“Be at the office at seven AM. We have one last teleconference with Salvatore before La Amory closes. Don’t even think about not showing up.”
He stepped through the door and left me gaping in total shock at his audacity.