Wine Heir 2: Bad Boy Billionaire Friends to Lovers Romance

by Tawny Amaya

  The first tear fell, and I wiped it away angrily, taking in a deep breath this time. I had to push Jackson and all my heartache into a box and lock it away. My father needed me more than I needed to console myself and my broken heart.

  ******

  CHAPTER 16: JACKSON

  I threw open the door to the apartment and stepped into the dark interior, my gut telling me what my heart did not want to believe. “Bree!” I shouted anyway, making quick work of the space. Her stuff was still here, her personal items mixing with mine, but she wasn’t.

  “Shit!” I shouted, wanting to throw my fist through the drywall just to make the pain refocus on something else, something other than the picture in my mind of her face as she walked away. She had believed the scene, she had thought I was fucking Marti behind her back.

  And Marti. She had the gall to laugh as Bree walked away, attempting to put her hands on my chest and urge me to take advantage of her. Well, she wasn’t fucking laughing now. I had in no uncertain terms told her that her ass was fired and she had an hour to get out of the city before I brought hell down on her for what she had caused. She had essentially ruined my life.

  With a groan, I fell into the chair. Where the hell did all of this go wrong and where had she gone? I had to explain to her that nothing, absolutely nothing, was going on between Marti and me. I would grovel, walk over hot coals, whatever the hell she wanted me to do if it meant for her to take me back. While I hadn’t done anything with that bitch, I knew it looked bad. No doubt Bree was starting to put things in perspective, the way I had ignored her, the ‘emergency’ tonight and how I had rushed off without even explaining what I was going to do. If I had, well, maybe she would have seen through the mess that Marti had caused.

  My cell vibrated in my pocket, and I nearly ripped the damn material to get it out, pressing it to my ear. “Bree?”

  “No,” my mom said in my ear, concern in her voice. “She isn’t with you?”

  I blew out a breath. “No, she isn’t.”

  “Jackson Temple,” she fussed. “Her father could be dying, and you didn’t come with her? That is not how I raised you, boy.”

  I sat up suddenly, her words filling me with dread. “What did you say?”

  “Her father,” she repeated, annoyance in her voice now. “He’s suffered a heart attack. We were out of town and on our way to the hospital now. I expected for you and Bree to be doing the same.”

  Shit. No wonder she had come looking for me. Her father was her world, and if something had happened to him, hell, she had to be a mess and worried sick about him. “I, something happened, mom. Something between Bree and me tonight.”

  “What are you saying?”

  I shoved a hand through my hair. “I fucked up mom.”

  She blew out a breath. “Jackson, you better fix whatever you did, and I mean it. I love Bree like my own daughter, and I will disown you if she is not my daughter in law before the year is out. You hear me? I will give all of your money to her, I swear it.”

  I chuckled despite the dull ache in my chest, the place that I knew my heart sat. I couldn’t even take a fucking breath without feeling that void, knowing that I was climbing an uphill battle with getting Bree back.

  But I was willing to do it. I would do whatever it took to get her back. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I love you son, but you better haul ass home.”

  ***

  Five hours later I climbed out of the car, pissed beyond measure. Even though I could throw my money around how I pleased, I still struggled to get the damn private jet off the ground in New York, putting me more than two hours behind schedule. It was early morning when I reached the hospital, feeling weary and worried about Bree and her father. If something had happened while I was in the air, I would never forgive myself.

  Regardless, I had to get my shit together and make this all right in her world. I had to be that support for her, the person that she knew me to be and not the man she thought I was. After being told where her father’s room was, I walked down the hall, my feet heavy with each step. What if she didn’t forgive me? What if she had already wiped her hands of all the pain I had put her through? My life was shit without her. All my life I had been looking for something to fill the void I had always known was there, and Bree had become that thing in my life, the reason I got up in the morning and the reason I was striving to be a better man.

  And now I had blown it all, on the verge of losing her.

  I couldn’t.

  Sucking in a breath, I walked into the room. Her father lay in the bed in the center of the room, his eyes closed but thankfully his breathing was slow and even, the heart monitor tracking each beat of his heart. He wasn’t dead, and the relief that flooded my body nearly caused my knees to buckle. I wasn’t too late.

  A bundle in the chair beside the bed caught my eye, and I approached it cautiously, seeing Bree’s face pressed against a pillow as she slumbered on beside her father. She had made it. I braced myself against the wall beside her chair and watched her sleep, the love and regret for the woman nearly causing my eyes to tear up. I had caused her to cry, to think the worse of me because I was too fucking blind to see that another woman was encroaching on her territory. How long had she known? What signs had she seen in me over the last few days? I would give anything to go back and do it all over, involve her in every step of what needed to happen in New York. I had given her more than enough reason to think something worse was going on and for that, I would beg her forgiveness until the end of time.

  ******

  CHAPTER 17: BREE

  I woke with a start, my neck hurting from the awkward angle I had been sleeping in. Instantly I looked at my father, blowing out a breath as I realized that he was still stable, still alive. I couldn’t even explain how I had felt when I had walked into this hospital room after speaking with the doctors, the paleness of his face, how vulnerable he had looked laying against that pillow. A massive heart attack, they said, requiring a few stents in his heart to open up the blockages. Another ten or fifteen minutes, he might not have been so lucky, and I could be planning his funeral.

  I was going to give all the workers a raise.

  Stretching, I realized there was someone else in the room, someone I hadn’t anticipated seeing. “Jackson.”

  He was standing against the wall, a haggard look on his face, his clothes wrinkled and his eyes, oh they were full of regret. My heart ached at the sight of him, and I swallowed hard, wishing that he hadn’t come. I couldn’t take this right now. I had to focus on my father.

  He held up his hand before I could say anything. “Please,” he said softly, his eyes on my father. “I really need to explain.”

  I smoothed down my bed head and climbed out of the chair, pointing to the door. I didn’t want my father to hear anything that was said between us. I didn’t want him to worry about me. Jackson nodded and made no move to touch me as I walked out ahead of him, stepping into the empty room across the hall before turning to face the man that I so stupidly still loved.

  Jackson sucked in a breath, and I felt a twinge of guilt as I saw how tired he looked. He must have gotten on the plane right after I did and by the clock on the wall, that had been hours ago. Had he stood there the entire time, watching over the both of us as we slept? Why was he here?

  “I’m so damn sorry Bree.”

  I drew in a breath, the pain almost overwhelming. “Why are you here Jackson?”

  “I’m here for you and your father. Whatever you need, I’ll do it.”

  I heard the fierceness in his voice and believed him. If I told him that there was some lifesaving medication in another country, he would go get it. That I did know about Jackson. “Thanks, but he’s going to be just fine.”

  “Good,” he sighed. “I’m glad. I’m sorry that, I mean.”

  I held up my hand, my nerve nearly on the verge of snapping. “Jackson, let’s just, let’s cut our losses. You don’t want to be here any more than I wanted
to be in New York.”

  He let out a tortured laugh. “You always think you know what I want, don’t you?”

  I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling sad. I had seen him in New York. It was his happy place, just like the vineyard was mine. There was nothing we could do about it. “You love New York.”

  He stepped forward, not reaching out for me like I thought he was going to. “But I love you more.”

  His words were gut-wrenching. I shook my head immediately, fighting the tears. He couldn’t love me that much. He couldn’t want to give up everything to be with me, here. Could he?

  “I do,” he continued, his hands touching my arms. I was surprised to feel them tremble against my skin. “I love you more than anything on this damn earth, and if I could do it all again, we would have never gone there, to begin with. There was nothing going on with me and Marti, Bree, nothing. I will take a damn lie detector if I have to get you to believe me.”

  I looked into his eyes, those that I knew so well and wanted to believe him. I needed him more now than I ever had, but the signs, they were there, and I knew I hadn’t imagined them.

  Yet he still had come all this way to find me, to watch over my father and me. That had to mean something. “Do you want to be with her?” I asked softly, unable to keep the emotion out of my voice. If he wanted to, I would let him go. All I ever wanted for Jackson was for him to be happy and if it wasn’t with me, well then, I could deal with it.

  He shook his head, his jaw tightening. “I fired her, told her that I would ruin her if she didn’t get the hell out of the city. I’m pissed that she even put up that kind of stunt, Bree.” He stepped forward, and I wanted to curl up against his chest, to forget anything like this had ever happened. “I would never, ever, cheat on you. That’s a coward’s way out of a relationship, and I have no inkling to get out of this one. I love you so much it hurts inside, and the thought of living without you fucking scares me, Bree. Please, tell me you believe me.”

  I saw the fear in his eyes and was blown away by it. Jackson in all the years I had known him, had never been scared of anything in his life. “W-what about New York? I-I can’t live there.”

  His grip tightened on my arms. “I don’t care about the city. I don’t care where the hell we live. I want to be with you, Bree and if that means living in a dirt hole in the ground, then so be it. At least we will be happy.”

  “J-Jackson,” I said, tears streaming down my cheeks. He was saying all the right things, but in his eyes, I could see that he felt them as well. Whatever happened in New York, it was long over between us. All I wanted was for us to be together again, like this.

  He reached up and wiped them away, his thumb caressing my cheek. “Let me make it up to you, let me show you how much I love you.”

  I let out a tortured laugh, looking over at the empty hospital bed. While I craved him to make me feel whole again, I did not want anything to do with having sex in a hospital. He laughed as well and pulled me against him, his hand tangling in my hair. “Not that way. I want to marry you, Bree.”

  I pushed back against him, shock filling my body. “W-what?”

  He gave me a small grin, slowly lowering himself to the floor until he was kneeling before me. “Marry me, Bree. Make me the happiest man in the world and say you will be my wife.”

  I looked down at him, my entire body shaking at the thought. Marry him? Marry Jackson? A few hours ago, I wanted to push him out of a plane without a parachute, but now, he was kneeling before me, the look on his face very, very vulnerable. “Are you sure?”

  “In everything I have done in my life, I’ve never knelt before a woman before,” he said gravely, reaching out to grasp my hand in his. “I promise to love you until my last dying breath if you give me the chance to do so. You will never, ever doubt if I love you ever again Bree.”

  “Y-yes,” I said, tears streaming down my cheeks. “Yes, I will marry you.” It was crazy, I know, but the look in his eyes, I’d never seen that before. He meant every word that he was saying and I was going to hold him to his promises.

  He hung his head for a moment before rising off his knee, gathering me against him. “I love you.”

  “I love you,” I said, burying my head in his shoulder, soaking his shirt with my tears. People might say I am crazy for forgiving him just like that, but I could feel in his word, see it in his actions that whatever had happened hadn’t been because of him. He loved me and was willing to give up his life, everything he loved to make me happy.

  If that wasn’t true love, I didn’t know what was.

  ******

  CHAPTER 18: JACKSON

  One Month Later

  I cleared my throat and adjusted my cuffs, nervousness creeping into my body once more. This morning I had woken with no nervousness, but the closer I got to the time at hand, the more I was worried I was going to screw this up somehow.

  “You’re going to be fine Jackson,” my mother said as she peered over my shoulder in the mirror, her hand brushing at the imaginary lint on my jacket. “I’m so proud of you.”

  I turned to face her, taking her hands in mine. “So, I’m not getting disowned?”

  She laughed, remembering her threats that night my world nearly ended. “Of course not, you are marrying Bree today and making my life complete. I think I can write you back into the will again.”

  I grinned, and she squeezed my hands before my father stepped forward, a grin on his face. “We are both proud of you son. Bree is a special woman.”

  “That she is,” I said, drawing in a deep breath. The last month had been a whirlwind of activity. Between helping her father recover from his heart attack and planning the hasty wedding I was insisting on, I had barely spent a moment alone with my fiancée.

  During the day that is. Every night I gathered her in my arms and thanked whoever was watching out above for her forgiveness and her love. I had nearly lost her once. I wasn’t planning on that happening ever again.

  My father clapped me on the shoulder, and I nodded, knowing that the time was drawing near. In less than an hour, Bree was going to be my wife, and we would have a future to start working on. I planned tonight to tell her about the property I had finalized just this week, and the house we would be building there. It was my wedding present to her. “Ready son?” he asked, a tender smile on his face.

  “More than ready,” I answered. He nodded, and we both walked out to the waiting guests inside the barn, the faint rustling of people shifting in their seats barely heard over the music. It was a packed house, and I nodded at a few people I knew, including Trevor who was giving me a thumb up from the front row. He was the only person I had asked to come from New York, the only person I was going to miss seeing on a regular basis. My replacement had turned out to be a good investment and doing a damn good job on keeping the company running.

  I, on the other hand, had handed the Chicago company over to another protegee, moving into more of a consultative role that allowed me to spend more time with Bree. She, on the other hand, was a busy woman and I had taken over some of the vineyard management to allow her to step into her father’s position for now. He was making a remarkable recovery, and she could barely keep him away from the vines that he loved so much.

  The music swelled, and I turned my attention back to the aisle, where the barn doors were being thrown open for the bride to enter. My throat started to burn as I got my first glimpse of Bree, on the arm of her father as they carefully walked down the aisle. She was gorgeous, her dress some kind of lacy confection that molded to her body, her hair down around her shoulders. She looked like an angel, and my chest tightened. I was a damn lucky man. In my mind, I could picture me carrying her over the threshold of our new house in the future, seeing her laugh as I deposited her on our bed. I could see her swell with our children, knowing that if I thought she was beautiful now, she was going to be even more pregnant with my kid, our kids.

  I could also see her growing older in front of me, holdin
g my hand just like she always did when we walked through the vineyard, listening to her tell me how I had it all wrong about the vines and the grapes. And when I was on my deathbed, I hoped that she was sitting beside me, telling me everything was going to be okay and how much she loved me. I wanted to have no regrets, and I would have none now that she was about to be my wife, my partner in life. Bree was everything I ever wanted, and a part of me knew that I had known all my life.

  Her smile was wide as she reached the altar, tears shining in her eyes as her father kissed her cheek and then placed her hand in mine. “Take care of my little girl,” he said.

  “Always,” I told him.

  He nodded and walked away, Bree squeezing my hand. “You’re gorgeous,” I told her softly as our hands joined together.

  She reached up and touched my cheek. “You’re crying Jacks. That’s not good for your image.”

  I let out a bark of laughter as she wiped away the tears, feeling damn lucky that I was with this wonderful woman. “God, I love you.”

  “Ahem.”

  We both turned to see the officiant staring at us, a gentle smile on her face. “When you both are finished, we will proceed with the wedding.”

  The rest of the wedding guests laughed as I grinned at my bride, my heart light for the first time in a long, long while.

  This was going to be a fun life.

  ******

  THE END

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Tawny Amaya has dreamed of being a novelist as long as she can remember. She finally left her traditional day job to write full-time. She enjoys the creative process and finds writing erotic romance especially fun. Using words to titillate and allow readers to be a part of intimate scenes makes Tawny feel like she is contributing to the enjoyment of her readers.