Stay

by A. L. Jackson

  She’d been right yesterday. I’d wanted to take a little something for myself. How could I not? She was goddamned stunning. Intriguing. Different. That familiarity was like a drug.

  She inhaled deeply and turned to face the window. Those mahogany locks spiraled in soft waves down her back. But her body? It was dripping with hesitation. Her voice was a whisper when she spoke. “I’m a private person, Mr. Evans.”

  She looked back at me from over her shoulder. Like she wanted to see my reaction.

  “I get that.”

  “Do you?”

  I gripped the back of my neck, muscles tight. “Maybe not wholly. But we all have secrets, Willow. Things we don’t want people to know. Some of us just hide them differently than others.”

  Her eyes narrowed. Assessing. Before she seemed to come to a decision she worried might cost her everything. “How many women have you slept with?”

  The question hit me out of left field. That was about the last thing I’d expected her to ask.

  My brow drew tight. “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  I scrubbed both hands over my face. “Is that really what you want to know right now?”

  “It is.”

  “What does it matter?”

  “You and your friends riding into town didn’t exactly come without rumors. I want to know if they’re true.”

  Exhaling heavily, I shook my head with a shrug. Wasn’t about to start spouting lies.

  “Rumors are all true. I am who I am, and that’s who I’m always gonna be. And the fact of the matter is, I can’t honestly answer that question, because I have no clue. Stopped keeping track a long damned time ago.”

  Out on the road, belts ran out of notches real fast. All those faces and names and bodies morphed into an obscured image. Like an old black-and-white movie that’d been set to fast forward, just blinks and blips in time.

  Disconnected.

  “The reason…” She hesitated, before she pressed on. “The reason I found you beat up outside my store? It was because of a girl?”

  A shock of that bitterness tightened my chest. That chick made me something I promised myself I’d never be again.

  A cheater.

  I nodded. “Wouldn’t have touched her if I’d known she belonged to someone else. But that didn’t matter to the assholes who hunted me down.”

  Willow flinched with the information, and she wrung her hands. “And you want me to be another one of them…another of the girls you touch and it doesn’t mean anything?”

  I knew I was traversing uneven ground. Toeing that line.

  Caution filled my explanation. “The only thing I know is I can’t stop thinkin’ about you. Wanting you.”

  “You don’t even know me.”

  “Yet, here we are.”

  She stared back at me. Everything about her seemed so apparent in that moment.

  Innocent. Decent. Honest.

  Something that felt a whole lot like grief fisted in my chest, and this sick part of me wanted to wrap her up and steal whatever that emotion was that dimmed her bright eyes.

  I could feel her warring again. Deciding just how far she was willing to step out with me. What she was willing to give.

  She clasped her hands against her chest.

  “If I’m going to do this job, I need you to understand something about me, Mr. Evans.” She waved a hand at the spot where I’d had her pinned yesterday. “That may be you…casual sex. So many women you can’t count them. But it’s not me, and it’s not ever going to be. I don’t do one-night stands or flings, and I don’t have a three date rule or a five date rule or even a ten date rule.”

  She hesitated, before she seemed to gather resolve. “I’m a forever kind of girl. If I share my body with a man, it’s because I love him and he loves me. Because I want to share my life with him. I’m not ashamed of it…not at all.” Rapidly she blinked and her teeth caught her lower lip. “But somehow, standing here in front of you, it makes me feel small and foolish.”

  Her throat bobbed.

  I took a pleading step forward. “Peaches.”

  Somehow I got her sharing that with me was huge. That she was trusting me with something I hadn’t earned.

  With a shake of her head, she took a step back. “Let me finish. I’ve been with one man my whole life. My ex-fiancée. His name…his name was Bates.”

  A jolt of pain seemed to strike her when she uttered the name. Grief from every direction.

  Out of nowhere, anger billowed up in my chest, something protective rising up in the middle of it. My hands fisted at my sides.

  “My whole life. He was my first, and he was supposed to be my last. My only.” Frantic, her eyes darted around the room, lingering on the door just a second longer than anything else. Got the feeling she’d do about anything to escape this conversation.

  “Two years ago, I found him with a woman he’d introduced me to. You know…for years he’d tried to convince me that my store and my art were silly. That they meant nothing because he was going to be the one to take care of our family. Then all of a sudden, he was dead set on me going into business with her.”

  She shook her head. “I should’ve known better. I should’ve. He convinced me to sign my savings over to her for a new business venture. He told me it was the only way we could finally afford to start the life I’d been dreaming of since I was a little girl. A life he’d been pushing off for more years than I could count. The thing was, I would have given up anything for him.”

  That intensity flamed and lapped between us. It strangled me in a way I didn’t quite understand. A sticky, hot feeling coated my skin.

  I wanted to wrap her in my arms.

  Tell her it was okay.

  When it was obviously not fucking okay.

  Pain hitched her breath. “He betrayed me in the worst way a man could. He stole everything from me. Broke me. Treated me like a doormat, and I might have fallen for it then, but I won’t ever fall for it again. One thing you should never do is mistake broken for weak.”

  Fuck. Me.

  This got deep and fast. I was having a hard time deciphering up from down. Inside from out. Who I was supposed to be and what this was supposed to mean.

  And hell, I guess I was the one who was weak, because I couldn’t stay away a second longer. Slowly, I erased the vacant space separating us.

  She looked at me as I stood towering over her. My voice was grit. “And now you’re waitin’ for the kind of guy this Bates was supposed to be to come along.”

  Surprise flashed in her expression before she offered the slightest nod. Clearly, she hadn’t expected me to get it. But with this girl? It was hard to miss. That sweet, soft innocence. The goodness that radiated from her like the goddamned sun.

  My gaze jumped all over her face. “Dude is an idiot.”

  Anyone who could let a good thing like her go was a straight idiot. A selfish motherfucker who needed a good lesson. Wanted to hunt down the little prick and teach him some manners.

  Which was precisely why I didn’t normally get mixed up in this kind of bullshit. Yet, here I was, standing there wanting to ask her a million questions…find the solution for every single one of them.

  “I was the one who was the idiot.”

  I hooked her chin with my index finger and forced her to look at me. “Don’t fucking say that, Peaches. You’re beautiful and smart.”

  Unlike any girl I’d ever met.

  The frown on her mouth wobbled.

  I cupped her cheeks in my hands and made sure she was looking at me before I spoke again. “That guy’s out there. Promise you, darlin’. He’s out there looking for you, and one day, he’ll find you. He’ll find you because you deserve him. Don’t you dare settle for anything less than him. You got me?”

  Chocolate eyes softened.

  So goddamned sweet.

  I tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and sent her a smile while everything inside me was a jumble of confusion.


  The disappointment this girl had officially become off-limits.

  Underlying that was an assault of searing hate. Hate for the bastard who’d done her wrong.

  Not to mention the twinge of jealousy I felt for some metaphorical, abstract guy I’d just finished promising was out there waiting for her.

  I knew with every part of me this girl was incredible.

  Special.

  Call it gut, I didn’t fucking know.

  All I knew was I was compelled to show it to her.

  Make her claim it by the time that lucky-assed guy came knocking at her door.

  “You still want that truth? Why I brought you here?” I asked. Squeezing her face tighter, I drew her an inch closer.

  She nodded in my hands.

  “Because a little more than a week ago, I was discarded like a piece of garbage on the side of the road. Body mangled. Bleeding internally and going into shock. Minutes from death. I can’t remember a time in my life when I was more terrified. I could feel myself slipping away, and I couldn’t do one goddamned thing about it. Then, I opened my eyes…I opened my eyes, and I saw these brown ones staring back. And right that second? I knew I was gonna be okay. And now it’s really fucking hard to look away.”

  I smiled at her. Softly. Honestly. Without any pretense. Hoping she’d get that I understood her. That I respected who she was.

  I told her what it all amounted to.

  “I like you, Peaches.”

  Sweet, somber laughter slipped out into the room. “You’re ridiculous,” she said again.

  “You have no idea.”

  I stepped away and inclined my head toward to the room. “You gonna take mercy on me and do this room?”

  “What if I’m just here for the money?” Her response felt like both a test and a tease.

  “Are you?”

  “I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t want to save my store,” she admitted, before she reached out and set a soft hand against my cheek. “But I want to do this for you, too. Even wild souls need a place to rest.”

  Jesus.

  This girl.

  I forced lightness into my tone and put some space between us before I went and fucked this up all again by giving into the overwhelming urge to kiss her. “Then we’d better get you busy, hadn’t we?”

  It wasn’t so hard to fake the grin I slanted her. “And just so we’re totally clear, you do realize you’re insanely gorgeous, right? Wasn’t joking about needing those pictures on my walls. We’re gonna need plenty of time to set up for a big photo shoot. I’m talking epic. You name it—Exotic location. Hair and makeup. Super sexy wardrobe. FYI, I like black. A lot.”

  That energy still roiled around us, though it’d calmed to a quiet, sated buzz. “Oh, and you totally need to drop the whole ‘Mr. Evans’ thing. It’s Ash, baby. Ash.”

  “Only if you drop the whole ‘Peaches’ thing.”

  “Not a chance.”

  “Ridiculous,” she huffed out, and I just grinned.

  And somehow, in that second, I liked her a little bit more.

  I knocked my shoulder into hers. “Now about that shoot…we can’t forget the lace. Never, ever forget the lace.”

  ten

  Willow

  “How is she today?” I asked as I pulled up a chair next to my mama where she slept.

  Sheila busied herself around her, shifting her frail body in an attempt to keep her from getting the bedsores that were starting to seem inevitable.

  Sympathy lined Sheila’s expression, and she turned away, tucking the blankets in around my mama’s body. “Fever’s been spiking again. Trying to keep it down. Looks like she’s getting another kidney infection.”

  Worry compressed my ribs. I gave her a tight but appreciative nod. “Thank you.”

  Her only response was an encouraging squeeze of my shoulder, before she headed from the room and snapped the door shut behind her.

  I turned to look down on my mama, brushed my fingertips softly over her hand tucked up under her chin that was forever clenched in a fist. “I did it, Mama. I stepped out. Took the job that’s going to save the store.”

  A smile wobbled at the corner of my mouth as something heated in my belly. “Ash Evans. That’s his name. He’s the man who hired me to renovate his bedroom. You should see it, Mama…his house. You’d absolutely love it.”

  I held her hand a little tighter, chewed at my lip, confided the words. “He makes me nervous, because he’s not like any man I’ve ever met. He’s not close to bein’ my type, and I’m pretty sure I’m not his, either.”

  I suppressed the laughter working in my belly.

  Hardly.

  I’d seen a few of the tabloids proclaiming the type of woman Ash Evans liked. And that type of woman came from a different world than the one I knew.

  “But there’s something about him. Something that has me wanting to be in his space. To know him better.”

  And it had nothing to do with the fact it felt like my biological clock was ticking fast. It wasn’t about snagging a man, because that had never been my thing. Ash was the one who’d nailed it, head on. The fact I was waiting on the man who was my match.

  One who’d love me the way I’d love him.

  One who wanted a family and a home.

  Devotion and loyalty.

  But that didn’t change the fact every time I was in the same room with him I felt shaky and needy. Wanting something I could never let myself have.

  My voice tightened. “I’m not giving up on those dreams, Mama. I’m not. I promise you. Do you remember them? Do you remember…?”

  Above, blue skies stretched on forever. Tufts of pure, white clouds floated on the endless breeze. Birds flittered and chirped, passed from tree to tree.

  Tinkling laughter rippled through the heavens as her big sister, Summer, chased Willow through the field.

  She tackled her from behind.

  Both of them squealed, laughing free as they tumbled on the ground.

  “Got you,” Summer almost gloated.

  Willow used both her hands to push back the messy locks of hair that’d fallen in her face, grin free and wide. “You always catch me.”

  Summer was seven, only a year older than Willow, but she always seemed to be faster. It didn’t bother Willow all that much, except she was afraid one day she might not be able to keep up. She didn’t ever want to get left behind.

  Their mama came and settled next to them, watching them in the way she did, so protective and full of love that it made Willow’s heart feel like it just might burst.

  Their mama turned her face toward the sky, returning to their game. “Your turn, sweet one. What do you see?”

  Willow peered at the clouds sailing above. “A knight. I see a knight who’s come to slay the dragon that’s hiding right there.”

  Willow pointed her finger at a puffy cloud rimmed in a bright blaze of sunlight. “See….he’s in his lair. He’s stolen the princess’s jewels and is guarding them with his life. But he’s not bad. He thinks that’s what he’s supposed to do.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because no one took the time to teach him what’s right.”

  Affection flitted through her mama’s chuckle. “That’s a sad story, my Willow.”

  Willow didn’t think her stories were sad. They always had a happy ending. But her mama told her she was the serious one. The timid one with romantic notions and simple wishes. Her stories were so far removed from the wild, magnificent dreams her sister had just spun.

  Sometimes she wished she could be like her big sister.

  Braver.

  Prettier.

  Older.

  “They’re not sad,” Willow disagreed. “The knight is going to grant him one wish, and his wish will be that he finds love. The true kind.”

  Light laughter fluttered from her mama and she looked at Willow adoringly. “That’s your gift. You see the beauty in the old. The beauty in the bad. The beauty that’s hidden in all
things. It’s always there, we just have to look hard enough for it, don’t we?”

  Willow nodded enthusiastically, like she might understand.

  “Who are you gonna be?” her mama asked her.

  Willow could feel her grin splitting her face. “I’m gonna be a mama and work in your store forever and ever.”

  Her mama ruffled a hand through her messy hair. “Of course you are.”

  “Oh…oh…and I’m always gonna be Summer’s best friend!”

  “And how about you, my glorious Summer?” their mama asked.

  Summer lay on her back with her arms and feet stretched out as if she were making a snow angel in the grass. She stared up at the sky, her black hair strewn all around her. “I’m gonna be a dancer. Maybe move to Paris or maybe New York. Yes, that’s it, New York. And I’m gonna take Willow with me because she’s always gonna be my very best friend.”

  Willow stretched out on the ground beside Summer and linked her pinky finger with her big sister’s. It was their special sign they’d always be together.

  Her mama reached down and plucked two dandelions with white heads from the expanse of grass where they sat at the creek’s edge. She held one out to Willow’s sister.

  “Mmm…that sure is a big one, and I don’t doubt it a bit because my girls can be anything they want to be. But just to be safe, I think you might want to wish on it.”

  Summer’s face got that dreamy look, and she blew hard.

  Their mother looked at Willow, the way she always did, breathing all her belief and inspiration.

  “Your turn, sweet one.”

  She held a dandelion out to her.

  Willow squeezed her eyes shut.

  I want to be just like my mama.

  Willow leaned over and blew it into the air.

  Yearning pressed down all around me, and I swatted at the tears streaking from my eyes. I stood up and pressed a kiss to my mama’s forehead, whispered the words. “Always, Mama, always.”

  She moaned from somewhere deep.

  And I could only take comfort in the fact she knew I was there.

  eleven

  Ash

  “That’s a really bad idea.”