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You’re a valued member of the team.” “But not valued enough to receive the promotion.” Jane hesitated. “The final decision wasn’t mine to make.” “I know. It was Kelly’s.”
Screeching tires. Twisted metal. Blood. So much blood.
“Double.” Farrah stiffened at Blake’s offer. “What?” “I’ll pay you double your rate if you agree to work with me.” “That’s not going to—” “Triple.”
“Blake Jr.”
Because it reminds me of you. “Because it’s important to me.”
“I know we didn’t end things on a great note in Shanghai, but that was a long time ago. I’m not the jerk I used to be. We can have a fresh start.”
he was as gorgeous as ever, but now he had an additional draw: his bakery, Crumble & Bake, had become a major attraction in San Francisco
Her relationship with Blake had proved fairy-tale love existed in
real life, but it also proved that every fairy tale had a dark side, that happily-ever-afters sometimes came with less-than-happy epilogues, and that the One Big Love could crush your heart as easily as they stole it.
“You’re an asshole.” The forkful of veal froze halfway to his mouth. “Excuse me?” “You heard me. You’re an asshole. Not only that, but you’re also boring,
insufferable, and kind of racist and I should’ve done this twenty minutes ago.”
“He’s not alone. He’s with me.”
No, he hadn’t dumped her. He’d reached into her chest and dug out her heart, layer by layer, piece by piece, discarding and stomping all over them until Farrah had been sure she would die. She’d been raw, exposed, and bleeding, and he hadn’t even cared.
“When’d you guys break up?” A tense silence. “Five years ago. A few months after we went home.” “Are you freakin’ kidding me?” The words exploded out of Farrah. “You broke up with the girl you were supposedly so in love with less than a year after you got back together?”
“I’ve only been in love with one person my entire life. She’s the one I dream of every damn night, and she’s the one who can break me with one tiny glance. I would jump off a fucking tower for that girl, and you know what? Her name sure as hell isn’t Cleo.”
“One might even say it’s fate.” “It’s coincidence. I don’t believe in fate,” Farrah lied.
Blake was sure of three things: (1) her body wanted him; (2) her mind shunned him; and (3) her heart was terrified of him.
“I mean I can’t drive in this rain. We have to wait it out here.” “What?” Farrah laughed. “We can’t wait this out here. The storm doesn’t look like it’s going to pass anytime soon.”
“Farrah, I mean it.” He bit out each word like they were poison-coated pills. “I’m not driving in this rain.”
“Sometimes the simplest words are the hardest to stay.”
“You always saw the best in people. Even the ones that are broken.”
The truth was, everyone was broken. People weren’t shells, hard and glossy like the statues you found in museums. They were messy mosaics, compromised of glittering pieces of love and jagged shards of heartbreak. The lucky ones found someone whose broken edges fit perfectly with theirs, like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle.
The car skidding out of control and wrapping itself around a tree. The blood. The doctors. The devastation. The blinding, suffocating, all-consuming guilt.
“I’ve been calling your name for five minutes. Are you okay?” “Yeah.”
“But I had an accident, years ago, during a storm. And I haven’t been able to drive in the rain since.”
“I remember someone once told me, no one has experience running a business until they run a business, and if it’s what you want to do and you give it your all, you’ll succeed.”
“Why not? I want you. You want me. Isn’t this what you’ve been working toward since you hired me?” The lava boiled with fury. “You think I hired you because I want sex.” It wasn’t a question. “Let me be crystal clear: I’ve
never paid for sex and I never will, directly or indirectly. Don’t think I need to concoct a plan as elaborate or expensive as hiring you—at three times your rate—to get what, as you so astutely pointed out, we both want.”
“I want you. All of you. Heart, body, mind, and soul. I want what we had.” His voice thickened. “I messed things up between us in Shanghai, and I’m so fucking sorry. I was young and stupid, and if I could do it all over, I would. But I can’t. All I can do is stand in front of you and ask for another chance. I know I broke your heart, but if you let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life putting it back together.”
“She’s not the one I’m worried about.” Olivia frowned. “What?” “Nothing.” “Sammy.” Farrah placed a hand on Sammy’s arm. “Please.”
“The next time you see him, ask him about the night you lost your necklace.”
“What does my necklace have to do with anything?” Sadness crept into Sammy’s eyes. “It has to do with more than you think.”
“That wasn’t your fault. It was an accident. Cleo, the police, your family…no one blames you.” I do. “Her dad does.” “Her dad’s a jackass.”
So, tell me, what goddamned right in this goddamned world do you have to be jealous?” “I’m not jealous!” “Dammit, Farrah!”
“Do you really expect me to give you a second chance just because you say you made a mistake? It doesn’t work like that. You broke my heart.”
“Don’t you know?” Blake’s voice cracked with regret. “It broke my heart too. Because everything I said that night was a lie. I didn’t stop loving you. I never stopped loving you.”
“How could you believe me? How could you have looked into my eyes and believed you were anything except my whole world?”
“Why would you do that?” Blake smiled a sad smile. “Like I said, I never stopped loving you. But I didn’t want you to know.”
You probably would’ve broken up with me anyway, but with your heart and compassion, I couldn’t be sure you wouldn’t try to save me. And I didn’t deserve to be saved.”
“Where’s the baby?” she asked.
“Promise me one thing,” Blake said. “Promise you’ll be here in the morning.”
There’s something inside me that can’t let you go, no matter how hard I try.
friend with the full suite of benefits, so to speak. The only thing I ask in return is for you not to shut me out.” “You would do that?” There was a tinge of skepticism in her voice. “I thought I made myself clear. I’d do anything for you.” Blake
“I’ll wait as long as I need for you to trust me again.” “What if that never happens?” “Then I’ll wait forever.”
Farrah didn’t know it yet, but he was going to reclaim her, piece by piece. Her friendship. Her trust. Her love. Her heart. He wanted all of her, and this time he wasn’t going to fuck it up.
Whatever your fear is or however far you fall—you’ll survive. And I’ll be there to catch you.”
“Grudges are the worst thing to hold on to. No matter how bad someone hurt you, you can’t heal until you forgive. Sometimes that means moving on. Other times that means giving things another shot.”
“Good night, Blake.” He laughed. Farrah hung up and stared at the ceiling with a ridiculous grin on her face. “Oh, babe.” Olivia sighed. “You’re a goner.”
“That’s what I should’ve told you,” she said, her voice wretched with agony. “He wasn’t your son.”
Your first love is like a tidal wave. Your head can break above the water, and you might even make it to shore, but the slightest nudge and you’re in the deep again.
