A sob tore from my chest, and I had to grab the counter so I wouldn’t fall to the floor. The entire time my head was shaking back and forth. His words were killing me. I was nothing like Olivia, and I’d had no part in making her the way she was. Part of me knew Brody was just hurt, but it didn’t change the way each word he said felt like another punch to the chest.
“I was never enough for Olivia. I was never enough for her parents. But it didn’t matter, because I didn’t love her.” His anger quickly faded, and grief replaced his hardened features. “I can’t go from one Olivia to the next, Kamryn. I can’t handle not being enough for you. When you realize you’re done playing this game and you’re done with me and want to go back to your old life, I won’t be able to handle that.”
“I won’t!” I cried out. “I won’t! I know you’re hurt, and you have every right to be. I should have told you from the beginning, I know that. But I’m nothing like her, and you know it. This”—I gestured to my bakery—“us, our condo . . . all of it is me. I left because I was suffocating with those people, Brody!”
Brody shook his head and laughed sadly. “I can’t give you anything like he can.” He gestured to Charles. “That ring? That is who you are, and I can’t give that to you.”
“At least he understands,” Charles mumbled.
“I don’t. Want. The fucking. Ring!” I screamed. Grabbing the box, I snapped it closed and threw it at Charles’s chest. “I don’t need some massive diamond. Give me a band and I’ll be happy. Jesus Christ, Brody, just give me your last name and I’ll be happy,” I cried. “I don’t need or want any of what Charles or my parents have to offer.”
“Yeah, you might say that until you realize everything I can’t give you.” Brody turned toward the door, and my body locked up in panic.
I couldn’t let him leave. I couldn’t lose him.
“I only stayed as long as I did because I was saving money so I could leave. I only stayed with Charles as long as I did because my parents didn’t give me a choice. But the minute I heard him talking with my dad about asking me to marry him that night, I left. I was gone within the hour. And it was the best moment of my life!”
“This is ridiculous. Kamryn, let’s go,” Charles said with a sigh, and the highest, most unattractive screech left me.
“Leave! I swear to God if you aren’t gone in the next minute I will call the cops!”
Brody kept pacing near the door, his hands running over his face and through his hair. I took slow steps around the counter as I continued talking to him, my voice rising as hard sobs threatened to choke me.
“I’m sorry you associate my name with your ex-wife and her family, and yes, my parents are probably just as bad as Olivia’s, if not worse. But I am nothing like them. I hated everything about my life. It was all mapped out and scripted for me, I didn’t have a say in any of it. It was a prison.”
Brody scoffed.
“Don’t do that!” I exclaimed. “Don’t act like I’m some spoiled brat who had everything, and still it wasn’t enough. I never wanted any of it.” Charles grabbed my wrist when I went past him, and I shoved at him. “Get off me and leave!”
Brody turned, his eyes narrowed on Charles. With quick steps, he was in front of Charles and me and pulling him away by the front of his shirt. “She told you to get out. I suggest you do it before I arrest you or get myself arrested for showing you exactly what I fucking think about you.”
“Don’t touch me. Kamryn, you have until tomorrow to change your mind!” Charles yelled as Brody shoved him out the door and locked it behind him.
“You have to understand, Brody, and I know you do,” I continued when he didn’t turn to look back at me. “I was miserable with them, and all my daydreams consisted of getting away from that life and those people. Think about it. Think about how miserable you were with Olivia, how miserable her family is. Being married to her was your own form of a prison sentence!” Brody’s body tensed, and I prayed I was getting through to him. “Right? You felt trapped. You felt like you couldn’t breathe. But you didn’t have a choice for a long time. Well, I didn’t have a choice either!”
He finally turned to look at me, and the smallest spark of hope began to form in my chest at the look in his eyes.
“I couldn’t just change my life. I couldn’t just decide I wanted something different for myself. I had to run. I had to hide. That was the only way. And I can honestly tell you that I have never been happier than I am now, in this life, in that small condo, with my perfectly imperfect clothes and hair, and with you.” I chanced taking a couple steps toward him, but stopped halfway. “We didn’t have choices back then, but we’ve changed that. We’ve changed our lives so we could finally be happy. This isn’t a game for me, Brody, this is my life. You are my life. You may not be enough for my parents, but I don’t care because I’m not enough for them either. You’re more than enough for me, and that’s all that matters.”
Brody stood there, still as a statue, staring at me. His face was blank, but his gray eyes were dark with emotion. I just didn’t know what emotion it was.
“I should have told you, and I’m so sorry. But I am not my name. I’m the girl you fell in love with. Brody, please, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, but don’t throw us away. Not now. After everything we’ve been through to get here, I can’t lose—”
My words were cut off when Brody suddenly closed the distance between us and pulled my body to his, his mouth falling onto mine roughly. A noise that sounded like a cry broke past my lips when the kiss ended, and I dropped my head to Brody’s chest, his arms tightening around me as he pressed his mouth to the top of my head.
“Please don’t leave again,” I choked out. “I’m so sorry!”
“Shh, it’s okay.”
I sobbed into his chest and gripped Brody’s back. Like if I held on to him tight enough, he wouldn’t leave me. My tears continued to fall harder, and my shoulders hunched in against the sobs that were being wrenched from my body.
“I’m not going anywhere, baby. It’s okay,” he whispered and moved back to the counter so he could sit me on top of it.
I heard a choking sound behind me and turned to see both Andy and Grace standing there holding hands and crying. I smiled, and a relieved breath burst from my chest. “Uh, I think we can close early. I’ll see y’all tomorrow.”
“’Kay,” Andy sniffed, and Grace just nodded her head. When they turned to go into the kitchen, I looked up into Brody’s eyes and sagged into his chest.
When I’d moved here, I knew I’d never been happier. Brody, Kinlee, and Jace made my life complete. But lying to them and keeping the earlier part of my life hidden had taken its toll on me. The stress of worrying that someone would recognize me—that my family would find me—was now behind me. It had happened, and for a while my world had felt like it would crash down around me, but now that it was over . . . now that everything was out there . . . it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. The relief was amazing, but at the same time I felt worn out now that months of hiding had finally come to an end. The exhaustion from the stress felt like it would consume me.
“I’m sorry,” I said again.
His hand paused a few seconds from where it’d been moving gently up and down my back, before starting up again. “I know you are. I’m sorry for not giving you the chance to tell me, and for what I said. I—God, I’m sorry . . . I don’t think you’re like her, Kamryn. I know you. I just . . . when it finally all clicked who you are, I freaked. I was afraid it would be a repeat of her, I was mad that you’d kept that from me, and I was scared about what would happen now that they’d come for you. I’ve always been terrified of losing you, and then I almost took myself away from you . . . again.”
“Please don’t apologize,” I whispered and looked up into his glassy eyes. “Not for this. You have every right to be mad, and I knew even when you said it that you didn’t believe what you were saying to me. I knew it was out of anger.
It hurt . . . but I knew. But don’t apologize. This is my fault. None of this would have happened if I’d just told you.”
He looked at me for a few seconds before asking, “Why didn’t you?”
I shrugged as I tried to figure out the words to say. “A lot of reasons. Where I’m from, everyone knew me by name and the way I looked. So I changed those things, but I still was terrified that if anyone knew my real name, they would know who I used to be and somehow my parents would find out. I couldn’t risk it; I’d worked too hard to disappear from them. But then Olivia recognized me that morning she came to my shop, and I have no doubt she’s the one who told my parents. I told Kinlee about my past the night you and I made up at their house, and I was going to tell you that last day in the hotel room, but obviously, I never got the chance to because we were fighting about other things. When the letters from Olivia started, I tried to tell you then . . . and every time I tried something would happen. Your phone would ring, you would have to leave, Kinlee would show up . . . and I kept taking it as a sign that I shouldn’t say anything. Then you came back from the meeting with the lawyers and said you didn’t want to talk about her again. I don’t know, I just kept making up excuses, but I know I should have just told you.”
He brushed back my bangs and nodded slowly. “I understand. I wish you would have, but with everything that’s happened . . . I get it, Kamryn. Please, though, if there is anything else, just tell me now.”
I thought hard, trying to think if there was anything about me that Brody didn’t know. I shook my head for a few seconds before blurting, “Oh! Barb isn’t my aunt. She’s my parents’ maid, but she raised me. She helped me with everything so I could escape from there.”
Brody’s lips tilted up in a lopsided smile, before dropping. “Wait, why didn’t she tell you they were coming? Is she still that mad about us?”
“No, no, there’s no way she wouldn’t have warned me about that. My parents knew how close I was with her. My mom had to threaten to fire Barb in order to make me stay with Charles. But once they found out that I hadn’t actually been kidnapped or whatever, I doubt they even told her they were going out of town because I’m sure they figured she would warn me. They probably just left, and it’s not an uncommon thing for them to do. Barb packs for my mom if they’re going on vacation, but they’ll leave to check out horses on a moment’s notice and be gone for days, and they won’t tell Barb they’re leaving.”
“Okay,” he whispered and searched my eyes. “Anything else?”
“I love you . . . and I’m sorry. I can’t say that enough.”
Brody leaned in to kiss me softly, and I melted into his arms. “We’ve both said ‘sorry’ a lot,” he said, “and there have been a lot of hard times we’ve had to get through to be together. I haven’t regretted a single one of them, and there’s not one of them I wouldn’t go through again in a second. But I’m ready to start making good memories with you, Kamryn Cunningham. What do you say we get through this divorce, and then how about we focus on that forever?” he asked against my lips.
A short, relieved cry burst from my chest, and I nodded, my nose brushing against his. “Sounds perfect.”
20
Kamryn
August 4, 2015
“SO, NO MORE notes, no more nothing?”
I shook my head and shrugged at Kinlee. “There hasn’t been anything since the morning he went into the meeting with them. And Brody made up something about being able to arrest Charles for coming back to my bakery on Friday, and Charles bought it and told him that Olivia’s dad was the one who called my parents. But that had been before the meeting on Tuesday, so . . . oh, well. Now we’re just waiting to see when the court date will be, and then we’ll deal with that mess.”
“And then we’ll all be done with Olivia Reynolds for—hopefully—ever.”
I grinned and relaxed into the cushions of my couch. “Yes, ma’am!”
“I like that you aren’t hiding your accent anymore,” Kinlee said with the worst drawl I’ve ever heard.
“I don’t have an accent,” I grumbled.
“Whatever, Miss Kentucky!”
I rolled my eyes and kicked at her leg.
“Has Brody mentioned getting married or anything?”
My eyes went wide, and I sat up quickly. “Kinlee! No!” I shouted and laughed.
“What? Why is that such a definite no?”
“Really? Think about it. It has technically only been three months.”
Kinlee’s face fell, and her eyes looked up and to the side as she thought about that. “For reals?”
“Yeah. Just three months. It may have felt like it took years to get here, but . . . not so much.” I sat back against the cushions and watched as she thought some more, knowing she was nowhere near done with this conversation yet.
“But you’re different. From listening to you both tell the story, you met and the world stopped turning, and no one else mattered except for the two of you because you were made for each other!”
I glared at her.
“Whatever, you know what I mean,” she said with a laugh. “But you had that instant connection. And it wasn’t something you read about in fairy tales. Where they meet, fall in love, and live happily ever after. You met, you knew you couldn’t be together, and still you knew you couldn’t live without each other. Now you’ve both been to hell and back in the last three months, and you can finally live your happily ever after. Why would you wait?” She looked at me expectantly for a few seconds before sitting up and scooting closer to me. “It has been three months. When you put it that way, I totally get it. Any other couple and I would think it would be insane. But then again, any other couple and I would probably hate the fact that they were together. I would think you stole him from his wife and he was an asshole. With you? I couldn’t be happier that the two of you are together, and I want this for you.”
“Kinlee,” I said softly when her eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t even know about the bad shit when it was happening. But knowing the story, knowing both of you, I just—I just want you both to be happy. You deserve this.”
Leaning forward, I pulled her close and hugged her hard. “Thank you, Lee. Thank you for understanding us. And we will,” I continued when we both sat back. “We will get married someday. But I think once the divorce is final, we both just want to be together for a while.” I shrugged and smirked. “Or who knows, we might get married the day after it’s finalized if she drags it out long enough.”
Kinlee laughed and rolled her eyes. We both knew that was a possibility.
“Brody and I are both just happy that we can be together finally. So for now, this is enough.”
“Okay.” She nodded and looked away thoughtfully. “That makes sense. But promise me you’ll try to have babies someday!”
I laughed and covered my face. “Kinlee, oh, my God! What? Yeah, someday. Like, way far away someday.”
“As long as there’s a someday, I can live with that! Because I want to be Aunt Kinlee, and I really want us to be moms together.”
My head snapped up, and my eyes widened at her. “What?” I asked breathily.
“Jace and I have been talking ever since that Sunday at my house, and, uh . . . well, on Friday we started the really ridiculously stupid-long process of adoption.”
“Really, Lee?”
She nodded and tried to bite back a smile, but soon it was covering most of her face. “I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I’m just really freaking excited that we finally started it!”
“I’m so happy for y’all! It will happen, I know it will. And you’ll be the best parents!”
“You think so?” she asked, her expression hopeful.
“I know so. Come on!” I jumped up, pulling her with me. “We need to go out and celebrate.”
Brody
August 4, 2015
SHUTTING THE GARAGE, I closed the door and locked it behind me and made my way through the condo,
turning off lights as I went. The house was unusually quiet, so instead of calling out for Kamryn, I walked silently toward the bedroom and smiled when I found her.
Leaning up against the doorjamb, I studied her for a few seconds before pushing off and walking the few steps to where she lay asleep, her Kindle on the bed beside her, her glasses still on. Taking the frames gently in my fingers, I slid the glasses off her face and placed them—along with the Kindle—on the nightstand before brushing her bangs back and kissing her forehead.
“Night, sweetheart,” I whispered and stood to walk into the closet.
After ridding myself of my boots, radios, duty belt, uniform, and vest, I stripped out of my undershirt and boxer-briefs and went to take a quick shower. When I came back out with a towel around my waist, Kamryn was sitting up on her knees at the end of the bed with a soft smile on her face.
I smiled back at her curiously and opened my mouth to apologize for waking her, but she placed an index finger over her pouted lips, her blue eyes conveying her want. My body instantly warmed more than it had in the shower, and my need for her coursed through my body.
Kamryn sat up higher on her knees and, with the hand that had been pressed against her lips, reached out toward me. I took the last few steps between us, and a short, hard breath blew past my lips when her fingers pressed low on my bare stomach. The muscles there contracted involuntarily, and she bit back a smile as she shamelessly let her eyes move over every part of my body.
When I brought my hands up to her shoulders, her blue eyes flashed up to meet mine for a brief moment before she slowly reached out for the towel resting on my hips. A needy groan sounded deep in my chest when the towel dropped to the floor, she moved her hands up my length, and I bent forward to alternate placing openmouthed kisses and gentle bites up the side of her neck. Her head rolled to the side to give me more access, and I let my hands slowly fall down her waist until I hit the bottom of her shirt and pulled it off her body.
Sharing You Page 24