by Addison Cole
Karen dropped something by Kat, and Tami rang the bell as she said, “The bird gave Sassy back her bell, and the owner left the window open every day after that so Sassy and the bird could be best friends forever.”
“And they lived happily ever after,” Tami and Layla said in unison.
Tami curtsied and clapped as Kat, Karen, Jean, and Mack stood up and bowed. Layla clapped, and Brianna’s jaw hung open, awestruck at the story her daughter had written and the man who had helped it come to life.
Hugh stood and clapped. “Bravo!”
Brianna looked up at him with damp eyes. Even blurry, he was the most handsome man she’d ever seen, but she was looking—again—beyond his facial features and broad shoulders. She saw right through to his generous, loving heart.
Hugh took her hand and led her down the aisle, where she scooped up Layla.
“That was the most beautiful story,” Brianna said.
As they mounted the stairs to the stage, Layla said, “I wrote it. Me and Hugh did.”
Halfway across the stage, Layla wriggled from Brianna’s arms and wrapped her arms around Hugh’s legs.
“That was the best play ever!” Layla gushed.
Before Brianna could pull herself together enough to thank him, and her mother, and Kat—Oh, wow, everyone did this for me? For Layla?—Hugh leaned in close and whispered, “What do you think of your little playwright now?”
Layla has such a kind heart. She looked at her daughter, grinning from ear to ear and jumping up and down like she was the star of the show. Which, of course, she was.
She snuggled against him. “I’m beginning to believe in fairy tales.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
THE CATERED DINNER arrived as scheduled and was swiftly set up in the reception area. Just beyond the table, Tami stood with Layla and Karen, all three of them giggling with their heads huddled together. Hugh watched Brianna, her mother, and Kat talking off to the side. Her mother shrugged, then looked at Hugh and winked, and he knew Brianna was chastising Jean for not revealing that Hugh had secretly gone to her work and introduced himself. He didn’t like to keep secrets, but the dreamy look on Brianna’s face that had remained since they’d stepped from the car was worth it.
“That was really something, Hugh.” Mack appeared by his side with a drink in hand. Without his tavern T-shirt, he looked older. Dress pants and button-down shirts tended to do that to men. He offered a drink to Hugh.
“No, thanks. Racing this weekend.” He held up his glass of water.
“You know, you set the bar really high for normal guys like me.”
“Do I?” Hugh looked at Mack and saw the tease in his eye, but Mack was right, and that realization brought him back to Brianna’s earlier comment about spoiling Layla. He made a mental note to watch the lavishness of his gifts. Brianna had worked hard to provide for her daughter, and Hugh didn’t want to create an alternative lifestyle for her. They’d have to find a middle ground. As he watched Brianna touch her locket and then glance at him and smile, he knew that together they could do anything.
“Hell, it’s okay.” Mack glanced at Brianna. “I’ve never seen her so happy. She’s a good egg, Hugh. She works hard, she’s a wonderful mother, and she really cares about people.”
“I feel like there’s a threat coming, Mack.”
“No threat.” Mack pulled his shoulders back. “Just a word of advice.”
Hugh raised his eyebrows.
“She doesn’t love easily. I’ve watched guys try to catch her eye, ask her out. One guy even brought her flowers every day for a week. And still she held back. She let all those walls down for you, and I would hate to see her name in a rag magazine with the byline Jilted Spouse.”
Hugh’s chest tightened. He narrowed his eyes and met Mack’s gaze. “I’m not that guy, Mack.”
“Yeah. You don’t seem like it, but tabloid tales don’t exactly show a monogamous lifestyle.”
Tabloids. Freaking tabloids. “How many women did you date before marrying Tami?”
Mack let out a quiet laugh. “Heck, I don’t know. Twenty? Thirty?”
Which Hugh translated as ten or fifteen. “Did you love any of them?”
“Are you kidding? I don’t think I knew what love was until I met Tami.”
“Yeah, the right woman pulls it out of you. There’s no doubt. Now, let’s say a photographer followed you around and your picture ended up in the paper with each of those women before you met Tami. How would she have reacted?”
Mack shifted his gaze to Tami. “She wouldn’t have given me the time of day. Tami’s not one for competition.”
“Fair enough. But should the rest of the world judge who you are based on those pictures?”
A deep V formed between Mack’s eyebrows. “What are you getting at?”
“That reality isn’t necessarily depicted in rag magazines, Mack. My dating years were captured on film. Yours weren’t.” Hugh shrugged and took a drink of water. He took a step away and Mack grabbed his arm. He stared at Mack’s hand until Mack released him.
“I just don’t want her to end up hurt.”
Hugh patted him on the back. “I love her, Mack. The last thing I want to do is hurt her. Or Layla.” He noticed Brianna crossing the floor toward them. “We’re on the same team, Mack, and if she ends up a jilted spouse, then you can come kick my butt.” Hugh asked quietly, “What makes you think I’m going to propose?”
Mack’s cheeks lifted to a smile that immediately reached his eyes. “Guys get a look before they lock down their woman. I’m sure they had it all the way back in the caveman days before they dragged their women off to their cave. You’ve got that look, Hugh.”
Brianna’s hand on his shoulder softened all of the hard edges that remained from the threat that wasn’t a threat. He knew from the wave of pleasure that passed through his body from the simple brush of her hand against his cheek as Brianna came around to his side that Mack was right.
“So, Mr. Secret Keeper. You enlisted all of my friends for this without me even knowing? How did you do it?”
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Mack said before leaving to join Tami and Karen.
“A gentleman never tells his secrets.” Hugh pulled her close and pressed his hips to hers. “Do you think Layla enjoyed her surprise?”
Brianna looked down and her cheeks flushed. “Yes, but I’m ready for mine now.” She rocked her hips against him.
He groaned. “That’s unfair. We won’t be alone tonight.”
She blinked her lashes seductively.
“Excuse me, lovebirds.” Brianna’s mother, Jean, joined them.
Brianna took a step back. Her cheeks flushed red.
“Jean, thank you so much for playing along.”
“Are you kidding me? This is about the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard of. Well, the carousel was pretty romantic, too, but look at Layla.” She nodded toward the girls. “She’ll never forget this night.”
“That was the plan,” Hugh said. He reached for Brianna’s hand. “But I’ll make sure I don’t do too much spoiling. I know it’s important to keep her well grounded.”
“Oh, phooey,” Jean said, waving her hand. “A little spoiling is a good thing.”
“He doesn’t know what the word little means, Mom.”
Her comment conjured all sorts of dirty thoughts involving big things. It was like she’d flipped a horny switch in him tonight. What the heck was going on?
He gulped down the rest of his water. “I do know what it means, and I am going to work on it. I didn’t give her the tiara I had backstage.”
Brianna blinked several times. “You bought her a tiara?”
“I say give it to her. What can it hurt?” Jean shrugged. “She’s had a big night. What’s a little more?”
Brianna crossed her arms and cast a harsh glare at her mother. “I have no idea who you are anymore.”
“Bree, I did my best with you with what I had. Layla has a chance to enjoy some
of the things I couldn’t have dreamed of giving you. Why not allow her those pleasures?” Jean winked at Hugh.
Brianna rolled her eyes. “Great. The two of you ganging up on me. Just great.”
Hugh reached for her hand. “No one’s ganging up on you. Besides, I’m not giving it to her. She’s had enough.”
Brianna narrowed her eyes. “Really?”
“Yeah. You were right. I do need to be careful. And Jean’s right, too. Layla should be able to enjoy some of the nicer things in life, but not too many. She’ll look beautiful in the tiara on her birthday.”
Brianna’s lips curled up. “Thank you for understanding.”
“I’ll always try,” he said. Hugh turned his attention to Jean. “And I think your mom is right, too. We can find a happy medium that we all agree on. Jean, I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you were able to come and support Layla tonight.”
Jean looked at Brianna and her eyes softened. “I wanted to support all of you.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
Jean folded Brianna into her arms. “I love you, baby girl.” She drew back. “Hugh, you’re leaving Friday? When do you return?”
“I’ll be back after the press conference Saturday night.” A pang of loneliness touched his heart at the thought of leaving Brianna behind. Before he could weigh his thoughts, he suggested, “Why don’t the three of you come with me?”
“I have to work Friday,” Brianna said. “So does Mom.”
“We could fly you out right after,” Hugh offered. “It’ll be a fast trip, but you’ve never seen me race, and I like the idea of you being there.”
Brianna lowered her eyes. “I don’t know. After working all day, trying to rush through the airport, and you have to be there more than an hour early to fly because of security. Layla would be exhausted.”
“What about if you didn’t have to wait for the plane or show up early?” he offered.
Jean raised her eyebrows at Brianna, and Brianna shrugged.
“Bree, I can fly you down on a private plane,” Hugh explained.
“See. No idea of what little means,” Brianna said to her mother.
“It might be an adventure,” Jean said excitedly. “And Layla can sleep on the plane.”
Hugh saw a shadow in Brianna’s eyes that he couldn’t read. “Excuse me, Jean. Do you mind if I speak to Brianna alone for a moment?”
“No. Go right ahead.”
He led Brianna a few feet away. “What is it? Is it just the extravagance? Because, Bree, I have enough money to—”
She shook her head. “It’s not that.”
He brushed her hair away from her face. “Then what is it?”
She let out a breath and closed her eyes for a beat too long. Hugh’s chest tightened again.
“Bree?”
She placed her hands on his forearms. “This is going to sound stupid, but I went online and I saw all those pictures of you and women—lots of beautiful, rich-looking, sexy, too-hot-to-deny women—and I read about accidents that happen at the track, and it all kind of scares me.” Her grip tightened.
“What are you saying?” He could barely breathe.
“If I don’t go to the race, I can pretend it’s not dangerous, and if I don’t see the women all over you, it will be like it doesn’t really happen.” Her eyes filled with worry.
“Brianna.” He took her cheeks in his hands. “Baby, I need you there. I want you there. I can’t change the danger. We both know it is what it is. But the women? When I’m at the tavern, I see men looking at you and it kills me, but I know that you’d never hurt me. Can’t you see the same in me? Don’t you trust me?”
She held on to his arms. “I do trust you.”
“Then nothing else in the world should matter.” He brought his lips to hers and felt tension in the stiffness of her body. He deepened the kiss, and her lips parted; her body relaxed into him. When they drew apart, he took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. “I love you, Bree, and I love Layla. I’m not going to do anything that could hurt you. I promise you that.”
She dropped her gaze and nodded.
He lifted her chin and their eyes caught. “Brianna, if you don’t trust me, then we have no future.” Trust me. Please tell me you trust me. Hugh hadn’t given a thought to how he looked to the world when he’d been flaunting a different sexy woman on his arm every week. Why would he? It was all fun and games, and he had no attachments. Now he saw it all much differently. “I can’t change my past, Bree. But I am the man you see in front of you. The man who wants to have a family and wants nothing more than to settle down and love you and Layla.” Why wasn’t she telling him how much she loved him?
She looked at Layla for a long time without saying a word. Every second that passed twisted his gut a little tighter.
“My mom trusted my dad,” she whispered. “He left, and look how messed up it made me.”
He moved in front of her eyes. “You’re not messed up, Bree. Haven’t I shown you how much you mean to me?”
She nodded.
“I don’t understand any of this.” Hugh took a step backward. “I get why you worry, and I know you’re protecting Layla, but I haven’t given you any reason to believe I’d hurt you. Not one.”
She looked him in the eye. “No, you haven’t.”
“Then what the heck is going on?” His muscles corded. He felt them strain against his neck, felt the room go quiet, and knew all eyes were on them.
“No one plans to walk away,” Brianna said softly. “What if we do go with you and you suddenly realize that this time in Richmond has been fun, but it isn’t what you really want? What if you realize that you miss the faster lifestyle?”
His gut reaction—born of hurt and anger and not at all how he really felt—was, What if I do? Then it’s my loss. He clenched his jaw long enough to ensure his voice would not take flight without consulting his brain.
“What if you go into work tomorrow and meet a normal guy who won’t spoil Layla and has never been photographed with another woman? What if you come with me and decide you can’t take it? What if you’re intimidated by the fan girls or hate the travel?” It could happen, he realized, and his stomach knotted tighter.
Their eyes locked. Brianna reached up and touched her locket. She tucked her hair behind her ear, and Hugh felt his heart cracking. He registered voices behind him but couldn’t comprehend the words. His mind was in a vacuum, focused solely on Brianna’s response.
“Maybe…maybe it’s safer…for us…you and me…if Layla and I don’t go.” Brianna’s voice was barely a whisper.
Hugh ran his hand through his hair and noticed the rest of their guests gathering their coats. He had no experience with this—with relationships. All he knew was that the idea of going to the race without her sucked and it pissed him off that she’d give up being with him because of her insecurities.
The muscles in his jaw twitched as the anger was pushed aside and disappointment filled his heart. “Let’s get Layla home and we can think this through.”
BRIANNA’S STOMACH LURCHED as she watched Hugh walk onto the stage and disappear behind the curtain. He’s getting Layla’s tiara. Even when she was turning their lives upside down, he was still thinking of Layla.
As soon as Hugh was out of sight, Kat joined her. “Hey, you guys okay?”
Brianna shook her head, blinking away tears that burned her eyes. “What have I done?” she whispered.
Kat dragged her into the ladies’ room. Brianna spun around, her face hot, her heart racing.
“What is wrong with me?” she cried. “Kat! I’m so screwed up.” She caught a glimpse of her red face in the mirror and turned away.
“What happened? It was a perfect night, and then all of a sudden everyone’s looking at you guys and you both look like you’ve had your hearts ripped out.” Kat grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around. “Look at me, Bree. Spit it out, and if he said something that hurt you, I’ll kill him.”
> Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Do you really think he’d hurt me? Look around you, Kat. Where are we?”
The bathroom door burst open, and her mother walked in. “What’s going on?”
Brianna turned her back to her mother and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Brianna?” She touched her shoulder, and Brianna shrugged her off. “Kat?”
Brianna imagined Kat holding her palms up toward the ceiling.
“Brianna Marie Heart, turn around,” her mother said in a motherly voice that commanded attention.
She rotated slowly, her eyes trained on the floor.
“Bree, talk to me. Please. What happened?” She opened her arms, and Brianna collapsed into them, sobbing into her mother’s shoulder.
“It’s me. I can’t do this. This is why I had a twelve-year plan, because relationships are too complicated.”
“My butt,” Kat said under her breath.
Brianna pushed away from her mother, grabbed a tissue from the counter and wiped her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re the most organized and efficient woman I know. For years you’ve juggled two jobs and a daughter.” Kat stepped closer with a challenge in her hooded eyes. “There’s nothing too complicated for you.”
“Great friend you are,” Brianna snapped.
“I am a great friend and you know it. Whatever you did, you did because you’re afraid or something.” Kat leaned against the sink and looked at her nails.
“You don’t care.” Why am I being so awful?
Kat rolled her eyes.
“Oh, that’s real nice,” Brianna spat.
Her mother shook her head. “Okay, girls, hold on.” She stood between them. “Bree, what happened out there? He just invited you to see his race. How did that lead to this?”
Because I’m afraid. Because maybe I won’t fit into his lifestyle. Because maybe a child is too much for him and he just doesn’t know it. “How should I know?”
“Because whatever happened, you just said you did it.” Kat glared at Brianna. “I love you. You know I do, but I’m not going to sit here and mollycoddle your butt when you’re Pretty Woman and Richard Gere is right outside that door waiting to sweep you off your feet.”