So he’d given it a couple of days. Time enough for that icy temper of hers to thaw a little. Time enough for him to come up with at least a half-baked plan he hoped would work to convince her to come back to him.
A cold sea wind was blasting in off the ocean when he left King Beach to walk the short block to Bella’s shop. Dark clouds studded the sky and seabirds were headed inland. A sure sign that the storm that had been building for days was finally coming in for a landing. Good, he thought. A storm would clear the air and maybe, he told himself, that’s just what he and Bella needed, too.
Taking a deep breath of the cold air, he headed for Bella’s, walked up to the front door and—it was locked. Scowling, he thought for a second that she’d gone to lunch or something. But it was three in the afternoon, so that wouldn’t wash. Cupping one hand over his eyes, he leaned in close to the window and peered inside.
The shop was empty.
Everything was gone. The swimsuit racks stood naked, the cash register was gone from the counter. The walls had been stripped of the swimsuits and posters Bella had had hanging there. Panic rose up in his chest. Not really believing what he was seeing, Jesse moved to another window, one that afforded a peek into the back of the shop, but he didn’t feel any better once he checked that one out, too.
Her supplies of fabric were gone. Her worktable was bare and the boxes of new inventory were missing. The entire shop was vacant and as he stood there, locked out on the sidewalk, Jesse felt as empty as the building in front of him.
But damn if he was going to stay that way.
He went back to King Beach, got his car and drove to her house. The tidy flowerbeds, the small patch of lawn, the bright red front door all called to him, made him remember days and nights with her. Memories he didn’t want to give up. Promises of a future he didn’t want to lose.
He stalked up the front walk, pounded on that red door and waited for a response that didn’t come. Looking into the windows, he sighed in relief when he noted that her things were still here, at least. She hadn’t skipped town on him. Not that that would have stopped him. It just would have taken him longer to find her.
“Bella!” he called, pounding on the door again. “Bella, open up and talk to me, dammit!”
He waited what seemed like several lifetimes, but she never came to the door. He glanced next door at her friend Kevin’s house, but the place was dark and there were no cars in the driveway, so she wasn’t hiding out with him. Where the hell was she? Sitting in the living room, listening to him make an ass of himself?
Desperation clawing at his insides, Jesse shouted, “Fine! I’ll just sit here on your porch until you come out!”
He spent the next few hours doing just that. He waved at the neighbors, ordered a pizza when he got hungry and he was still sitting there late that night when the brewing storm finally blew into Morgan Beach.
Eleven
The following afternoon, Jesse went to Kevin’s shop, determined to get the man to tell him where Bella was. If anyone knew, her best friend would. He pushed the door open and stopped dead.
There was Kevin, with a tall, leggy blonde wrapped around him like shrink-wrap on a DVD. Their kiss was steamy enough to fog up the windows and only ended reluctantly when they heard Jesse’s entrance.
The blonde glanced at him, then tucked her face into Kevin’s chest on a laugh. “Oops.”
Kevin only grinned. “It’s okay, Trace. Jesse, this is my girlfriend, Traci Bennett. Traci, Jesse King.”
She looked at him and Jesse realized that he recognized her. Her face was in dozens of magazine ads. She was tall, beautiful and dressed in quiet elegance, and all he could think was that he wished he were looking at a short, badly dressed, curvy brunette.
“You’re the ex-surfer who’s been rebuilding around here,” Traci said. “Good job, by the way. Love what you’ve done to the place.”
“Thanks.” She liked it. Bella hated it.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said. “Um, sorry about your walking in on the kiss, but I’ve been gone four weeks, and I really missed Kevin.”
“No problem,” Jesse said, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his slacks. If he could have had his way, he’d be with Bella right now, doing the same damn thing. “I just need to talk to him for a few minutes, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.” She reached up, rubbed lipstick off Kevin’s smiling mouth with her thumb, then turned and picked up her purse off the counter. “I’ll let you guys talk. I’ll see you later at my place, honey?”
Kevin’s eyes gleamed. “Oh, yeah.”
She was gone a moment later, leaving a trail of expensive perfume behind her. Jesse looked at Kevin. “So, you really do have a girlfriend.”
“I really do. But is that what you came to talk to me about?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest and giving Jesse the kind of hard stare reserved for bad dogs and crazed children.
Apparently, Bella’d already talked over the situation with her friend and it was no surprise whose side Kevin was on. Fine. He could take whatever the guy had to say. Hell, he deserved it. But Jesse wasn’t leaving here without knowing how to find Bella.
“No, it’s not your girlfriend I’m worried about,” he admitted.
“What I thought.” Kevin nodded toward the front door. “Flip the closed sign then come to the back.”
Jesse did as Kevin asked, locked the front door, then followed Kevin into what looked like a miniwarehouse. The walls were crowded with shelves filled with boxes and gift wrap and ribbon and more jewelry than one person could use in several lifetimes.
There was also a small sink, a refrigerator, a tiny table and two chairs. Kevin pointed at the table, said, “Take a seat,” and turned for the fridge. “Beer?”
“Sure.”
Once they were both seated and Kevin had had a sip of his beer, he asked, “So, why are you looking for Bella?”
“Why?” Jesse just stared at him. “Because I have to talk to her.”
“Seems to me you guys said everything that needed saying.”
“She told you.”
“She did.” Kevin took another pull at his beer, then set the bottle down on the table, leaned back in his chair and glared at Jesse. “She cried.”
“Dammit.” He hadn’t thought it possible to feel worse than he had been feeling, but he’d been wrong. He hated knowing that she’d cried. Hated even more knowing that he’d caused her tears. “She moved out of her shop.”
“You evicted her.”
Jesse groaned. “No, I didn’t. I tore up the notice. Told her she could stay.” Why was nobody listening to him?
“And you think she’d stay after that?”
“No, not Bella,” Jesse whispered. “She’s got too much pride for that. And she’s too hardheaded.”
Kevin laughed. “That sounds like pot and kettle talk.”
“What the hell does she want from me?” Jesse demanded, unamused and feeling just a little desperate. The longer he went without talking to her, the worse his chances of fixing this were.
“Seems like she doesn’t want anything from you,” Kevin said thoughtfully.
Jesse cupped the cold beer bottle between his palms and felt the iciness creep inside him. But there was nothing different about that for him. He’d felt cold to the bone for days now. Without Bella…
“She left her shop,” he said softly. “She’s not at her house and when I call her cell, I get dumped into voice mail instantly.”
Kevin sighed and picked up his beer for another sip. “She doesn’t want to talk to you, man. She wants you to leave her alone.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Jesse insisted, his gaze spearing into Kevin’s. “She loves me.”
“She did.”
Jesse snorted. “What? She’s stopped? Just like that? Turned it off and moved on?”
Kevin shook his head. “Why’d you come to me if you don’t want to hear what I’m telling you?”
“I didn’t come
here looking for advice,” he muttered. “I came here looking for Bella.”
“She’s not here.”
“Yeah,” Jesse told him with a hard look. “I can see that. So where is she?”
“Now why would I tell you that?” Kevin wondered aloud. “You already broke her heart.”
Jesse winced. It hadn’t been easy coming to Bella’s friend. But whether he wanted to admit it or not, he needed help. He had to find her. Talk to her. Convince her to come back to him. Convince her to take a chance. And if anyone would know where she was, it was Kevin.
Jesse could just admit to the man that he loved Bella. But that was private. Between the two of them. He’d tell her. Again and again until she believed him. But damn if he’d tell her best friend. “I have to talk to her.”
“And tell her what?”
“Everything.”
“Didn’t go so well for you the last time,” Kevin said.
“No,” Jesse admitted. “She didn’t exactly give me a chance, though. She came into the office, reamed me out, then disappeared.”
Kevin smiled, took a sip of his beer and said, “So what are you going to do about it?”
“Apparently,” Jesse told him, “I’m going to sit in the back room of her friend’s shop and be tortured.”
“Besides that, I mean.”
“I’m going to find her.” Jesse glared at him again. “Even if you don’t tell me where she is, I’ll find her. Then I’ll tie her to a chair if I have to, to make sure she listens to me. Then I’m going to tell her that she loves me and that we’re damn well getting married.”
“I’d almost like to see that,” Kevin mused.
“Enjoying this, are you?”
“Not as much I thought I would.” Kevin leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table. “I told you before, that Bella’s family to me. You hurt her badly, twice, but I’m willing to give you another chance because I know she’s nuts about you.”
Hope leaped up in Jesse’s chest.
“But,” Kevin added, his eyes steely, his features grim, “I’m warning you now. You hurt her again and I’ll find a way to hurt you back.”
“Understood.” It was a measure of just how far gone he was that Jesse was willing to accept that threat from Kevin without batting an eye. Ordinarily, nobody told Jesse King what to do or how to do it. But as Bella’s only “family,” Jesse figured Kevin was within his rights.
The other man studied him for a long moment or two, then nodded and said, “All right. She’s been staying at my place, but she went back home this morning.”
“Thanks.” Jesse jumped to his feet and headed for the front door.
An hour later, Bella was curled up on her couch feeling sorry for herself when a knock at the door sounded. Her head snapped up. She knew without even looking out the window that it was Jesse. She seemed to be able to sense his presence. Even when she didn’t want to.
But she couldn’t hide from him forever. She’d had a couple of days to cry and wallow in her misery. Now it was time to reclaim her life. This was her house. Her hometown. And she wasn’t going to give it up because she’d made the mistake of loving a man who was incapable of loving her back.
She ran her fingers under her eyes, wiping away any stray teardrops, then checked her reflection in the closest mirror. Her hair was a mess, she wasn’t wearing makeup and she looked like exactly what she was. A woman who’d spent too much time lately crying.
He knocked again, louder this time and Bella steeled herself as she opened the door. Her heart squeezed in her chest. He looked so good and she’d missed him so much.
“Bella,” he whispered, a relieved smile creasing his features. “Thank God. I’ve been looking for you for days.”
“What do you want, Jesse?” she asked, hugging the edge of the door close, positioning herself across the entryway so he couldn’t slip into the house.
He inhaled sharply, blew the breath out in a rush and nodded. “Right. Okay. There’s a lot I want to talk to you about, but let’s start with this.” He held out a sheaf of papers.
She sighed, took them and glanced at the bold, black letters across the top. Deed. “What?”
“It’s the deed to your building, Bella,” he said quickly, giving her that half smile she loved so much. “I want you to have it. Do whatever you want with it. Expand your business or close it. It’s yours. No strings.”
She looked down at the paper in her hand, then lifted her gaze to his beautiful blue eyes. Shaking her head, she said, “Don’t you get it, Jesse? I don’t want this. I don’t want anything from you.” She threw the deed over his head and watched it flutter in the wind until it landed on her lawn. “Now, please. Just go away.”
She closed the door on him and tried not to remember the stunned surprise flickering in his gaze. Then she leaned back against the door and let the tears fall again. She’d thought she was finished crying, but apparently, there were more tears locked inside.
He didn’t understand. This wasn’t about her shop. Her business. Or King Beach. This was about them. This was about how she loved him and how wrong she’d been.
“Bella,” he said, his voice coming through the door clearly, “don’t do this.”
She held her breath, closed her eyes and waited him out. Finally, she heard his footsteps as he left the porch and took the steps. When she didn’t hear anything else, she slowly sank to the floor, hugged her knees to her chest and sat there silently until she heard him turn and walk away. She’d done the right thing, Bella knew. She had to be strong. She couldn’t let herself be hurt again. She just didn’t think she would survive another broken heart.
Turning him away was the only thing she could do. Right now, he was reacting to having lost her. He’d already told her that Kings didn’t lose, so naturally, he wouldn’t give up easily. But eventually, if she stayed strong enough, he’d give up and go away.
Bright and early the next morning though, he was back, pounding on her front door. “Bella! Bella, open up! Talk to me, dammit.”
She staggered from bed in the semidarkness of the night just as dawn broke. She hadn’t planned to answer the door if he came back. Wouldn’t have actually, if he hadn’t kept shouting her name so loudly. If she didn’t open her door, Mrs. Clayton next door would be calling the police in a few minutes.
Clutching her pale pink robe to her chest, she threw the door open. Cold wind scuttled past her and sent a chill zipping through her body. The sky behind him was a pale violet and studded with dark clouds. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but it was close.
Jesse looked as if he hadn’t slept. His hair was wild, as if he’d been driving his fingers through it all night. His white shirt was wrinkled, there was a day’s growth of whiskers on his jaw and his eyes were shadowed. He held a latte from the diner in each hand. “I brought you coffee.”
She sighed, reached out and took one. Fine. He knew her weakness. But that didn’t mean anything. Nor did the fact that she’d accepted the coffee.
“Jesse, you have to stop.”
“No, I don’t,” he told her, stepping in close. “I won’t stop. Not until you hear me out.”
Bella sighed again, heavier this time. He looked as bad as she felt. Why drag this on for either of them? Wouldn’t it be easier to just let him say what he felt that he had to say? Then maybe he’d go away. “Okay, talk.”
He blinked at her. “Can’t I come in?”
“No.”
He huffed out a breath, muttered something she didn’t quite catch and let his head fall back. “Fine. You don’t want me in your house, I’ll just say it right here.” His gaze met hers. “Bella, I love you.”
Her breath caught. How amazing that pain could just keep growing. “Jesse…don’t…”
“I do.” He reached out and when she would have shut the door, he slapped one hand against it, preventing her from closing herself off from him again. “Look, I know I screwed up. I know you’re hurt. And pissed. And you’ve got every right to be. Bu
t dammit, Bella, I’ve never felt this way before. Maybe that’s why I’m messing it up so badly. It’s all new to me. You’re new to me. But that doesn’t make it less true. I love you, Bella. I really do.”
Her throat was closing on her and her vision was blurring. She really didn’t want to cry in front of him, but if she didn’t get the door closed fast that was exactly what was going to happen and her humiliation would be complete.
His words echoed over and over again in her mind and she wanted to hold on to them. But how could she? She would have given anything to believe him. To hear those words and hold them close. Instead, she said, “How can I believe you, Jesse? You lied to me right from the beginning.”
Sorrow glimmered in his eyes and his mouth tightened into a hard, flat line. “I know and I’m sorry. Sorrier than you realize. As I said, I made mistakes. But loving you isn’t one of them, Bella. You have to believe me. You have to know that what I feel is real. I want to marry you.” He laughed shortly. “There’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear myself say.”
She shivered and fought to keep her tears from falling. “Stop. Please.”
“No,” he told her sincerely, his blue eyes fixed on hers, “I’ll never stop. You’re the soul of me, Bella. You’re the piece of me that was always missing. Hell, I didn’t even know I was incomplete until I found you.” He slid his hand over the door to rest atop hers. “And I can’t lose you now. I won’t go back to being alone.”
Just that one touch of his skin against hers sent heat she hadn’t known in days skimming through her system. Still, Bella couldn’t believe. Couldn’t risk it.
“You were my mystery woman, Bella,” he said. “But I see now the only mystery is how I ever managed to live without you in my life. Give me a chance to make it all up to you, Bella. Give us that chance.”
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