Walking up to his childhood house always made him a bit nostalgic. Today was no different. The wooden stairs creaked under his weight, and as he placed a hand on the knob, he half expected to open the door and see his mother rushing to greet him. Almost expected to be met with the smell of vanilla and hairspray as she hugged him, talking a mile a minute as she gushed, asking question after question without pausing for an answer.

Steeling himself for the empty home he knew was on the other side of the door, he pushed it open. It no longer smelled like it had when his mother was alive. Her potpourri and scented candles were gone. It was nothing but a shell of the house that he remembered.

Voices carried from the kitchen, and he followed them, hoping to find January. As he drew closer, the voices became clearer, and he stopped in his tracks as he placed their owners.

“What are you doing here?”

Henry wasn’t as big as he remembered. Maybe because Brecken had grown a good three inches and put on twenty pounds since the last time he’d seen him or maybe because he had built him up as so much more in his memory.

“Brecken, good to see you.” Henry’s smile faded as he took in Brecken’s menacing stance. “I didn’t think you’d be here. I wanted to surprise Mom.”

“This isn’t your home.”

January appeared around the corner and walked slowly into the room.

“Hi.” She looked up at Brecken before turning her attention to Henry and Louisa. Her eyes lit up as she studied Henry’s face. “Oh my goodness, you must be Henry. Louisa has told me all about you. It’s wonderful to meet you.”

She took a step forward, but Brecken reached out and snagged her elbow. “We really should get going. Edward is waiting.”

Eyebrows furrowed, she didn’t pull from his grasp, but she spoke directly to Henry with more sweetness in her tone than before.

“Pleasure to meet you. I hope to see you again when we’re in less of a rush.”

Henry only nodded as Brecken ushered January out as fast as he could. She didn’t speak until they were pulling out of the driveway onto the country road.

“What was that? You were really rude back there.” The disappointment in her voice stung, but his anger was stronger.

“He has no business in my house.”

“Now it’s your house?” She shook her head. “I don’t get it. Louisa told me you two practically grew up together.”

He watched the landscape change from open space to the busy suburbs of the city. “That was a lifetime ago. He graduated high school a year before I did. I haven’t seen him since.”

Her sigh filled the car. “Look. I don’t know what happened back then, but you’re acting like an ass now. Care to tell me why?”

“No.” He tapped his thumb against his leg, and after a minute, he took a deep breath. “I’ll try to be nicer,” he offered, which was about as much as she would get from him.

Opening her purse, she angled her body toward his. “I have something for you.”

She pulled out a book and held it in her lap. “I found this in your father’s nightstand. I opened it without realizing what it is. It’s—“

“I know what it is.”

She stared at him with wide eyes and hope crumbled between them. “My father wrote in a journal his entire life. He gave me one identical to that the day I graduated from high school.”

“I believe this one starts the day you left home. The final entry is September of last year.”

Brecken nodded but made no attempt to retrieve the journal. “The last one was filled with all sorts of advice and memories of my childhood. I read it in its entirety the day I went to college and hoped it would tell me something important. It didn’t, so I stayed piss drunk for a week.”

“You don’t even want to read what he has to say?”

“No.”

She was quiet as Edward pulled up to her apartment. She exited the car and took off at a brisk pace for the elevator. He followed behind, torn between wanting to do anything to avoid talking about it and wanting to make her understand everything.

The truth was he hadn’t told anyone the story she was so eager to hear. He’d never even been tempted, if he was honest. He had pushed it so far down that it really had become like another life.

He followed her inside the apartment and to her bedroom. He tossed his overnight and laptop bags on the floor next to her bed. She ignored him, pulling out her dress for the night and placed it on the bed, adding shoes and jewelry to the pile.

“Look, I know you don’t understand my anger toward my father or the reason I left the ranch and never returned, but it was a good reason. I didn’t make it lightly, and it doesn’t change who I am. Isn’t that what’s really important?”

“I feel sorry for you if you really believe that. You can’t just decide to become someone else. Our pasts help shape us and make us who we are.”

“I just—I just don’t want to go there. I’ve dealt with it and made my peace the best way I know how. Dragging you into all those old memories won’t help either of us.”

“You were right last night. I do like you, and I want to understand you.”

He blew out a breath as she stepped in front of him, sliding her arms up over his shoulders. “I’m not going to judge you or run away. I just want to know all of you.”

“Mmm, I want to know all of you, too.” He ran his hands down to her ass and cupped each cheek with a palm.

She swatted playfully at his chest. “You know what I meant.”

He grinned down at her. The tension had lifted, but he realized if he was going to keep her in his life, he was going to have to tell her the story, which was the very last thing he ever wanted to talk about.

“I’ll tell you everything. I promise, but tonight, can we please just go to dinner and try to enjoy ourselves? This is not the kind of story you tell over appetizers.”

“When?” She lifted her eyebrows and tilted her head down. Her hazel eyes stared deep into his.

“Soon.

“Okay.” A large smile broke out on her face, and she pulled back. “I gotta get ready.”

She took her clothes off and tossed them haphazardly as she skipped off to the bathroom. Resisting the urge to follow her, he sat on the bed and opened his laptop.

He was reviewing a financial statement from his accountant for the second time when January walked out. Brecken never could have imagined the dress that had been laid out on the bed earlier looking as good as it did wrapped tight against her body. The simple black dress stopped above her knees and the neckline scooped down in a rectangle, showing off her creamy skin and perky tits.

He slid the laptop off to the bed and stood. “Wow. You look… wow.”

Smiling, she looked down at her dress. “It’s okay? I wasn’t sure what to wear.”

“You do need one more thing.”

“I do?” She ran her hands self-consciously over her body.

Pulling a red velvet box from his bag, he crossed the room and held it out in front of her. She stared at the box without taking it, her smile getting larger as she peered up at the man holding it.

“What is this for?” Her eyes were nearly even with his and he looked down at her tall shoes that accentuated every inch of her bare legs. Those shoes. He had plans for those shoes.

“For you to wear.” He opened the box, and a little gasp escaped her lips.

“Oh my God, Brecken. I can’t accept this.”

“Of course you can.”

“It’s beautiful.”

He lifted the necklace from the box and held it up to her neck. “Like you.”

“You know it isn’t garnet, right?”

“I thought you had quite enough garnet. This is a ruby.” He leaned closer. “My birthstone.”

Clasping it behind her neck, he admired the way it looked lying against her fair skin before she placed a hand over the stone. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.”

“Ready to go?”

She bit her bottom lip, looking uneasy. He hated that she was nervous. There was nothing to fear from their dinner dates for the night. They were as good of people as they came.

He and Martin had been friends since Brecken started the company. Admittedly, he’d made a lot of mistakes as he was getting started and needed a lot of legal council. Beyond being an excellent lawyer, Martin was sharp and business savvy. He also had good instincts, which was why Brecken wasn’t worried about introducing him and his wife to January. She was a solid decision any way you wanted to look at it.