Chapter 12
Another delivery!
Violet stared at the beautiful flowers, not sure what to do or say. Every day, sometimes twice a day, flowers or a small gift was delivered to the shop. When she refused to accept them, she found them propped up outside of her apartment door after she’d locked up for the night.
Every day, she received something from him and every night, he texted her, saying that he was sorry and he wanted to talk.
At first, she’d ignored his messages. If he’d wanted to talk, then he should have talked to her immediately after George had demanded more money. But he’d just stopped communicating with her. He’d cut her out of his life because he didn’t think she was worthy of his high moral standards.
Now…she had no idea what to do. She’d gone out to lunch with Tyla a couple of times and she’d relayed how horrible he looked. That had hurt and Violet had been worrying about him ever since.
She smiled as she said goodbye to another customer. “I can’t do it,” she mumbled to herself.
“I’ll do it for you,” a deep voice said.
Violet swung around, almost tripping herself as she looked up into the ragged eyes of Creek. She opened her mouth to say something but the words wouldn’t come. A part of her wanted to throw herself into his arms and beg him to believe she wouldn’t be that kind of woman, the kind that would sell her body for a price. But another part of her wanted to hide, to protect herself from everything.
He looked wet, she thought. It was such an inane observation that she blinked. “What are you doing here?”
He rubbed a hand over his scruffy jaw. It looked like he hadn’t shaved in a week. “I had to see you.” His eyes roamed over her figure, then came back to her eyes. “I told myself to stay away, but I couldn’t do it, Violet. I just…I had to see you. I had to be near you, if only for a moment.”
She didn’t know what to say.
“You look tired,” he commented in the painful silence.
Violet couldn’t help the laughter that broke out of her. “I look tired? Have you looked in a mirror lately?” she asked. Her voice was hoarse with the effort to speak.
He sighed and shook his head. “No. I can’t look at myself. I’m too ashamed.”
“Ashamed?” Her heart was squeezing with his words.
“Yes. I should never have believed George. I should have known that you would never…that you weren’t…”
She bowed her head, blinking rapidly because she didn’t want to think. Thinking meant hurting, and she was so tired of hurting!
“Why did you?” she demanded, even though she’d tried very hard not to say anything. She’d vowed that she was through, that Creek had believed the worst of her, so she wouldn’t have anything to do with him.
But one look at his handsome face, so ravaged by the same pain she was feeling, and she couldn’t stop the words any longer. “I am so mad at you!” she finally said, but she still threw herself into his arms, just like she’d wanted to do from the first moment he’d walked in here. “Why?” she sobbed out, burying her face in his shirt.
She felt his arms pull her closer, his own face burying in her hair, and she sobbed harder because she’d needed him so badly over the past few days. “I’ve been sleeping on my couch because I couldn’t sleep in my bed without you. And I can’t really sleep because you’re not there to hold me. Then I wake up and I’m furious with myself, because I shouldn’t want you any longer!”
His arms tightened and he rocked her gently. “I know, honey. And I’m so sorry!”
“Why?” she asked, pulling out of his arms so that she could look up at him.
He sighed and shook his head slightly. “You don’t understand where I come from, Violet. I'm not a bartender. I have businesses all over the world. I came to Alaska to feel clean again. Everyone in my previous life, they aren’t who I wanted to be. They are brutal, vicious, willing to stab someone in the back to make another million dollars. They have no conscience, and I was becoming just like them.”
Her hand moved higher, her fingers touching his jaw. “You’re nothing like them!” she said with a vehemence that was heartfelt. “Nothing! You’re good and kind, and so gentle.”
He shook his head again. “No, Violet. I’m not. You don’t really know who I am. And I’ve hidden that side of myself from you because I need you. I need your goodness. But I didn’t trust it. I’m so used to people being…bad. So when you came along, I wanted you so much. Not just your body, but have no doubt! I wanted you in my bed, Violet.” He felt her stiffen but wouldn’t release her. “I wanted all of you. I wanted your goodness and purity. I need your smiles, and I need you to look at me and see me as a good person.” He sighed. “I know this doesn’t make any sense, but I’m just so used to not trusting people that, when George came along, I was floored when he put you back into the category of all the women I’ve known in the past.” His hands moved up her back. “I guess I was willing to believe that you weren’t as perfect and beautiful so that I could protect myself.”
Violet was still confused. “Protect yourself from what?”
“From falling in love with you.” He closed his eyes. “But it didn’t work. I fell in love with you anyway. I fell so hard that it scared me.”
Violet was stunned by his words. Wrapping her arms around his lean waist, she rested her cheek against his chest. “I love you too.”
She absorbed his shudder into her body, tightening her arms around him, trying to take his pain away. “I’m still mad at you.”
“I know. But is there any way you might eventually forgive me?”
She squeezed her eyes closed. “Yes.”
The stillness in him made her nervous and she looked up at him. “You can forgive me?” he repeated, looking into her eyes.
“Yes. I love you,” she burst out. “I need you so much, Creek! And I love you. So yes, I forgive you, if you can forgive me for not talking to you. For slapping you when I was hurt. It was horrible and I don’t…” she couldn’t say another word because he was kissing her and she was kissing him right back.
When he lifted his head up, there was a different look in his eyes, one that made her stomach quiver with excitement and expectation. “You have to marry me, then,” he told her with absolute finality.
Violet laughed, thinking he was joking. “Right,” she said and leaned her head against him again, loving the strength in him.
“I’m not kidding, Violet. We’re getting married. As soon as I can make it happen.”
She smiled and felt his hands move against her back. “Anything you say, Creek.”
He laughed, relief surging through him. “We’ll fly down to Vegas tonight.”
She snuggled up against him. “Right, as if we could get a flight to Vegas on such short notice.” She didn’t care. She loved this man, and she would go just about anywhere with him.
Creek stared over her head and chuckled. “Violet, you really don’t know much about me, do you?”
“Tyla explained that you live on a mountain and you’re rich. But I don’t care. I won’t hold that against you.”
Creek was so stunned by her words, he didn’t really know what to say. “Promise?” he asked, thinking he couldn’t wait to get her onto his plane and fly her away somewhere warm and private. Somewhere he could strip all of her clothes off of her delectable body and she wouldn’t need to wear anything for days and days.
“How about a honeymoon in Saint Thomas?” he suggested.
Violet laughed. “How about a honeymoon in my apartment with lots of brownies?” she offered and looked up at him, that suggestive light in her eyes that sent lust surging through him.
“Brownies…” he groaned. “That actually sounds a whole lot better.” And a moment later, he was lifting her into his arms, carrying her through the back. “Kevin, you’re in charge!” he announced. “A huge bonus is in your future if you make sure no one bothers us for a few days.” And he disappeared with his fiancée out the back door.
Creek thought about taking her up her wooden staircase, but instead, he deposited her in his SUV.
“Where are we going?” Violet asked, thinking that her bed was pretty darn close.
Creek looked over at her, loving the way her blush revealed all of her thoughts. “Hold that thought,” he said and started the engine. “It’s time that I took you to my place.” It was time that she understood who he really was.
A half hour later, Violet slowly turned around, taking in the enormous house with the huge windows looking out to the mountains and ocean. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
He took her hand and led her to the back where his bedroom was located. There were more windows back here but the woods formed a rich, green hideaway. “And this is where I’m going to make love to you every night for the rest of your life,” he told her as he stripped off her clothes.
Violet smiled up into his dark eyes, so in love with him, she could barely contain it all inside of her. “Promise?” she whispered, ignoring the way her cheeks turned pink again.