Chapter 6
Three MonthsLater
Summer
I tried. I really did.
I tried to wrap my head around the fact that Tommy wasn’t the man I had fallen in love with, but every time I thought of him, I only remembered the good times.
Like our first kiss.
He had ever so gently cupped my face like I was as fragile as a porcelain doll and gazed at me with pure affection before leaning down and stealing my breath away like it had belonged to him in the first place.
How could someone who looked at me like that hurt me? How could someone like that beat me with his fists and cause physical damage to my body to the point that I had to cover up my skin?
Why had I ever put up with it?
My mother raised me better.
My daddy raised me stronger.
I knew better.
And yet, I had let him abuse me.
Shaking the thought from my mind, I glanced in the mirror for the tenth time this morning. Something wasn’t right.
Getting ready for work was taking longer and longer as I primped and primed myself like I was a model about to walk the runway.
At first, I just put in a few extra minutes, a little extra attention to detail on my makeup, and more consideration in my outfit choices. I had bruises to cover in the beginning, but then, those began to fade along with the thoughts in my head of what I could and couldn’t wear.
I was no longer trying to impress Tommy and abide by his rules; I was a single woman.
I was free.
Regardless of whether I was ready or not didn’t matter when it came to Colton.
I wanted his attention. I needed him to look at me like I mattered. The first few weeks after the incident, he toyed with me, and eventually, the game of cat and mouse got old because he paid less attention to me and more to his work.
The closer I got to him, the more he pulled away, and his constant rejection was becoming impossible to bear.
I needed to impress him without trying so hard, and so today, I had tried something different – something completely out of my comfort zone.
There was a soft knock at my bedroom door, warning me before my mother came in. Her blonde hair was twisted in a claw clip on her head, trying to keep up with the hair trends. Her lips twisted into a smile, small wrinkles forming at the corners of her eyes.
“You look so beautiful, my sweet girl.” She ran her hand through my hair that I had just blow-dried and stood behind me, looking at my reflection in the mirror.
“Do you think it’s too much for work? I don’t want to draw too much attention to myself,” I whispered, watching my lips move in the mirror, not believing they are my own. Dark, nude lipstick accentuated them, making them looker bigger – more enticing, more kissable.
I prayed this would work.
My mother was silent, and I met her eyes in the reflection to see tears brimming in her almost identically colored eyes. I reached for her, and she shook her head, drawing in a steadying breath.
“You must shine brighter than any star, for you are the sun, my angel. Never doubt yourself ever again. Never let a man take your brightness.” She briefly touched my chest, her fingers pressing into my skin. Her warmth filled me in one, simple touch all while her words gutted me.
I had let Tommy dull my shine, let him use me until I no longer glowed, until I had become a shell of the woman I had been raised to be.
“I won’t, Mom. I promise I won’t.” I fought the tears that were always ready to fall. Building up the wall around my heart was taking longer than I expected. Every time I envisioned putting a brick there, someone knocked three more off.
The tears were always there, only a blink away, and I fought at that moment to be stronger than my emotions, to show my mom – and to show myself – that I had learned my lesson.
“It’s okay to cry. It isn’t a weakness, baby girl.” I swallowed past the lump growing bigger and bigger in my throat, that familiar burning sensation crawling its way up.
“I don’t want to cry anymore. I won’t let him have this power over me.”
Mom hugged me, her arms wrapping around me, gluing the pieces back to me that had fallen off. She didn’t say another word when she let go, leaving me feeling completely empty and alone as she walked out of my bedroom to let me navigate this myself.
I had to figure my way out of this slump. I couldn’t let her do it for me.
---
I pulled into my assigned parking spot at work and fluffed my hair, checking my lipstick one last time in the rearview mirror before I exited the car, swaying my hips with every calculated step to the entrance where Colton was busy washing a car.
Please notice me.
I almost begged him, but I fought the urge to start a pointless conversation just to hear his voice.
“Morning, Summer!” he greeted me with enthusiasm, excitement bubbling in my chest. The outfit had worked.
He stopped washing the car, resting his hands on his hips, soap and water dripping down his tanned, tattooed forearms.
My heart skipped a beat, and my mouth went dry at the sight before me.
“H-hey,” I stuttered out, lifting my sunglasses to look at him better. He did the same, and those intoxicating eyes swept over me, making my skin tingle.
I had never hated being the boss’s daughter until that moment. He was beyond gorgeous – the perfect rebound. He was sinfully hot and charming, but I was completely off-limits. And he knew that because his eyes suddenly halted their perusal, and the smirk that had been playing at his pink lips faded as my dad pushed open the entrance door and ushered me inside.
Dad ruined our moment but saved me from making a mistake I wouldn’t be able to take back.
I couldn’t start anything with him. My dad would never forgive me, and I wasn’t ready for anything else.
I wasn’t ready to open up my heart to another man – not for a long time.
“I need your help with something.” My dad left me behind as he walked to his office, taking longer, faster strides than usual.
I followed him, dumping my bag on the chair before looking at the mess on his screen. “What are you trying to do?”
He quickly explained, and I helped him navigate what he deemed to be a complicated system, but truthfully, he just didn’t have the time to learn it and see how easy it was. Just as I was gathering my things, Colton rushed into the office. He didn’t notice me in the corner as he addressed my father.
“Mr. Danvers, I need to go home. My dog has been poisoned, and my fiancée can’t take him to the vet. I can come back in this afternoon, if that is alright with you?”
I gaped at him, thinking solely of his poor dog. My heart weakened against him at the thought of him caring for a dog, and then, I realized the rest of his sentence.
Fiancée.
He has a fiancée.
---
I waited all day to see him, to just catch a glimpse of him like a lovesick puppy. He was taken, and yet, I still wanted more.
And then, I saw him, and the thoughts of his fiancée evaporated. In a red work shirt and black shorts, he looked beyond handsome. He smiled at me – almost like he hadn’t totally broken my already broken heart – and walked out the back door towards his truck.
I tried to move on, to remind myself that Colton was nothing. He was just a handsome man who had saved me.
The harder I fought the attraction, the stronger it became, and suddenly, Colton consumed every thought. And regardless of how wrong it may be, I wanted him.
I wanted him to hold me, to place his large hands on my hips and ground me to him before stealing my breath with a kiss. A man that looked like that knew how to claim a woman, and I wanted to be her.
The next morning, Colton looked worn. He had circles under his eyes, and yet, he still smiled and greeted everyone as though he didn’t have a huge weight bearing down on his shoulders. I didn’t get a chance to speak to him since he never came into my office. There wasn’t a moment alone with him, but I overheard him speaking to my dad before leaving in a rush again.
His dog was still sick, and his fiancée had been taking care of it. I hadn’t met her, but I was envious. I wanted to trade places, to take care of his sick dog, and get a kiss when he came home from a long day of work.
I wanted to be cherished.
I wanted to be loved by a man like him.