Breathe for Me (The Langston Brothers Duet #1)

by Brittany Ann

“What’s your name?” the boy asked. That’s when it dawned on me.

“Valerie. My name is Valerie.” The little boy stared at me for a moment, silence stretching between us. It broke when he said, “Even your name is pretty.” I smiled into my mug. “Thank you, sweetheart. You are very kind. What’s your name?” He blinked. “I’m Caleb, but you can keep calling me sweetheart. I like that.”

My heart.

That voice. Denver’s voice was stronger and richer than the coffee in my hands. My spine tingled as I listened to his heavy footsteps make their way into the kitchen. When he emerged, my breath caught. Why did he have to be gorgeous? Why couldn’t the man who cost me my job be old and fat?

“Good morning,” he said, his deep rumble making my stomach feel funny. He looked at me for half a second before he turned to his son. “Eggs or waffles?” Caleb looked over to me, his eyes shining as a smile broke out. “What do you want, Valerie? Eggs or waffles?” “I—” “Valerie.”

His jaw tightened under that short-trimmed beard. My eyes drifted from his jaw, down to his strong, thick, tanned neck and further down to his black shirt stretching across his strong chest. The view of his chest was cut off when he turned around. I blinked and took a sip, watching as he took off his flannel and hung it on the hook by the phone. He took off his black cowboy hat next, hanging it over the shirt. A full head of thick, black hair. Wavy. My fingers itched to touch it. Yes, the universe was a cruel bitch.

“Gotta move out of my way, Val, so I can make you and my boy breakfast.”

“You don’t have make me any—” “Sit down,” he ordered, back to me. I looked down to Caleb—he wasn’t a muggle right now—who could care less. “Denver,” I said, ready to protest. “Valerie.”

“You’ll get a tummy ache if you eat too fast,” I found myself saying. Caleb stopped mid-bite, fork full of eggs hanging in the air. “Gotta eat fast so I can get to work,”

“You are probably right. My tummy does hurt when I get down to the barn.” “Should take her advice then, son,”

He was leaning against the opposite counter, ankles crossed, holding his plate with one hand and fork in the other. A man shouldn’t look that good eating breakfast—let alone a murderer.

“That boy,” Denver muttered softly.

“Thank you for breakfast,” I said softly. “Just eggs and some bread,”

“I’m sorry,” I blurted. “Caleb is a growing boy, and he can eat as fast as he wants.” “You’re apologizing for being kind and looking out for my boy?”

“I—well, yes.”

“Do you have WiFi?” He nodded once. “Would you mind giving me the password? I have to book a flight back home.” “Where’s home?” he asked, ignoring my question. “Just outside of ...

“So, can I have a password?” I asked, my voice breathy. “Why are you leaving?”

“I got fired yesterday,” I returned. He nodded as if that answer wasn’t enough. “I got assual—” “Do not remind me of that pathetic waste of breath,” he growled, “touching you.”

“It’s done. He’s gone. He ain’t ever going to touch you or anyone else again, you hear me?”

Not only was he still growling, but now he was moving. Towards me. He stopped on the other side of the island and brac...

“Valerie.” “You know my name,”

“Found out what it was about twenty minutes ago.” “Wait—you didn’t know my name last night?”

He shook his head. He helped me in the rain without knowing my name. He doctored my feet without knowing my name. He let me sleep in his bed without knowing my name. He saved me without knowing I was Valerie.

“Didn’t answer my question, Val.” “I have to leave,” I said. “Why?” “Why a...

“You workin’ with him still?”

“What? I just told you I was fired.” “You and him workin’ together to try and get under my skin? Being sweet to my boy, while your boss is making plans behind the scenes?”

“Denver, I was fired yesterday. I no longer represent—” “You got fired, put on a sexy outfit and went to the bar. Then, I save you and you tell me that you only got one night in the hotel left—” “You wanted me to come here,”

“I wanted to stay at my hotel, book a flight, and go home!” “Get the fuck out of my house.”

“You’re insane,” I whispered, staring at him as tears threatened to form. I didn’t understand this hot and cold. It was too much. “He came here and told me he was looking forward to getting to know me better. Said he sent you on another job.” He came around the island. “This your other job, baby? Getting under my skin?” His voice was mean, downright cruel and his gray eyes were cold, guarded.

Chapter Seventeen Valerie With tears in my eyes, I turned and ran up the stairs to gather my stuff quickly. After I finished, I went downstairs. No Denver. I was done with this state. I was done with that stupid fucking job. I was done with Hallow Ranch. I was done with Denver fucking Langston.

“The fuck do you think you're doing?” he barked. “You told me to leave!” I shouted back. “So, you decided to walk back into town?” “Yes!”

“What did you think I was going to do?”

“Do you honestly think I get off on taking land away from the people? I grew up in Texas! I know how important ranches and farms are. I know that you feed people. I know what hard work is like. I have worked my whole fucking life, Denver! Since I was child! My mom owned a flower shop, and I would help her in the mornings and after school to make ends meet because my father was a piece of shit. He decided one day he didn’t want us anymore and left!”

“Val—” “He left without a word. Said he was going to work and never came back. Mom thought he was dead, that something happened to him. She called the police. He was declared missing! His job didn’t know where he was, or his friends. He just vanished. Mom was devastated. She hired a PI and you wanna know where he was?”

It was time to stop burying it. My face crumbled as the pain broke free. “My mom got cancer.” “Christ.”

“I don’t want your sympathy! I don’t need you! I don’t need anyone, okay? I just need my mom.” My voice cracked. “I need my mom to live so I don’t have to be alone!”

“I was a dick.” “I’m just a bitch who takes homes from people. I’m not a good person, but I want you to know—no, I need you to know—that I wasn’t always like this. I never wanted this. You have a beautiful home, and your ranch is amazing. Your son is wonderful, and I was trying to take it all away from him—from you.”

“I have to do this to pay for my mom’s chemo. That’s the only reason why I do—did this. That job was the only job that paid well enough to do it without having to spend years in school. I didn’t have years…” “Shit,”

“I just—I needed you to know that.”

“You telling me no man has had you because you dropped everything in your life to take care of your mom and made a deal with the devil to do so?”

“So, when I came to Hallow Ranch and you pinned me against the barn, you have to know that I wasn’t afraid. I was glad.” His brows drew together. “I was glad I got see something so beautiful in my dull, sad life.” “What did you see?” he asked, his voice rough and thick. “The smoke in your eyes.”

Denver The smoke in your eyes. Jesus. This woman. This enchanting, broken woman thought I was beautiful. I would have laughed at the thought if it didn’t hurt so God damn much.

Because I’m an asshole who can’t control his fucking mouth. Seeing her this morning, in my kitchen, holding my coffee cup, wearing that dress…fuck, that dress. She was a vision—a dream. Since I was a boy, I dreamed of a woman like her standing in my kitchen the way she was this morning. Then I learned her name. Valerie. Of course, her name had to be just a pretty as she was

I just knew that I didn’t want her to leave. Seeing her walk down to the street with those bags on her shoulders, her back to the ranch—to me—while wearing that dress…

“That woman has pain, Den. I saw it the first day I met her.” I gritted my teeth. I hated the way he spoke about her, like she had been in his bed, healing, instead of mine. I turned my head to look over my shoulder. “I know that.” “And I know that being gentle isn’t your strong suit,” he spat. “Beau,” Jigs warned. I met Beau’s eyes. “I’ve got her.”

“I—uh—I’m at the ranch,” Valerie answered. “The ranch?” “Yes.” “The Grump’s ranch?” her mother asked, her voice raised. The Grump. I bit a curse under my breath. She’d told her mother about me. Of course, she did. She’s all she has, dipshit. I was the grump who insulted her looks, her job, her ambition…

I bared my darkest parts of my soul to this woman and yet…she thought my eyes were beautiful. Is that was she meant by smoke? My eyes were gray, like Pop’s and Mason’s. It was a Langston family trait; one I passed down to my boy. Still, Momma used to tell me mine were different from Pop’s or Mason’s. My sweet boy.

“Den—” “You eat red meat?” I asked, unwrapping a steak. “Yes,” she answered. “But you don’t have to—” “Gonna make steak sandwiches. You good with that?” She didn’t answer. Instead, she moved closer, not stopping until she was beside me, in my space. “Will you look at me?” she asked, her voice shaking. I did. Fuck me, I did.

All I wanted to do was kiss her. Take her pain away. The pain of her father leaving her. The pain of her mother getting fucking cancer. The pain of her giving up her dreams. The pain I caused her. I wanted to take every single ounce of pain away until she felt nothing but bliss. I wanted her to smile at me. I wanted her to laugh for me. I wanted her to moan—

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m leaving ...

Leaving. Leaving in the morning. She was still le...