CHAPTER THIRTY
ROME
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By the time I pulled into the garage of my beach house, I was ready to kill someone, anyone. Blossom's voice kept replaying in my head during the entire drive. I couldn’t shut her words out.
I have a boyfriend.
Even after the garage door closed behind me, I sat there for several minutes, gripping the steering wheel, jaw clenched, heart racing.
I have a boyfriend.
Did she really expect me to believe that after everything we'd shared? After the way she'd smiled at me today. After the way she'd stood beside those tulips and stared at me like I was the very fucking air she breathed.
No. I wasn't buying that shit. I refused to let her use some lame ass excuse to push me away, to shut me out. I don’t know how long I sat there in my car, staring at the wall but not seeing it. Instead, I was seeing that lone tear run down her face as she begged me to leave.
“Fuck!” I slammed my fist against the steering wheel.
I had to get it together. I took a few deep breaths, trying to force the darkness away, hating when it came over me like this. This feeling always reminded me of my father, and I was not him. Closing my eyes, I took another few deep breaths.
Once I was calm enough to think straight, I forced myself out of the car, taking with me the red tulips from the passenger seat. After slamming the door, I stared down at the flowers. I’d purchased three dozen of these damn flowers.
Her favorite flowers.
The flowers she'd told me represented undying love, loyalty, and trust. And then she’d lied about having a boyfriend and told me to leave her store. Where was the love, the loyalty, the trust?
There was that dark feeling again.
Forcing those thoughts away, I unlocked the side door and stepped into my beach house. All was quiet inside, but I could tell the staff had been there. I could already see the changes they’d made.
Sally had done exactly what I'd asked. The place smelled lemon fresh. As I walked through the house, I noticed that she’d purchased new furniture throughout the house. I placed the flowers on the kitchen table, then checked the refrigerator and the cabinets.
The kitchen was fully stocked. Everything was in place, ready for me. Ready for us. I carried the tulips into the living room and set the vases on the center table. For a moment, I stood there, staring at them.
They looked good there. But I’d wait and let Blossom decide where they belonged after she’d moved in. If she wanted them near the windows, I'd move them there. If she thought they’d look better in the entryway, I'd put them there.
Hell, if she wanted flowers in every room, I'd fill the entire house with them. Whatever made her little lying ass happy, that’s what I’d do. Leaving the tulips in the living room for now, I walked through the house, checking to make sure everything was how I’d wanted it.
I loved this beach house because it was the perfect place to escape to when I wanted to be alone. It was spacious, private, and close enough to the water that we could hear the waves from the back patio.
I had a feeling Blossom would love it. As I moved from room to room, I made a mental list of the things I’d need to add for her. More flowers were a must. The house could use some more color, too.
I’d let the staff decorate it, so it was filled with light blues, beiges, and white. A typical beach house. I had a feeling Blossom would want to change that. She could change whatever she wanted. She just couldn’t leave here.
Being here wouldn’t be some kind of punishment for her. This place would be her home, not her prison. She could leave here whenever she wanted, once she’d accepted the fact that leaving here didn’t mean leaving me.
I was a place she always had to return to, no matter what. Eventually, I reached the guest room Sally had prepared. Opening the door, I stepped inside. Rose gold and pink décor greeted me.
The colors immediately reminded me of Blossom's shop. I smiled as I stared around the room. Soft and feminine, that was the vibe the space gave off. That was the vibe Blossom gave off. This was where she belonged.
A large bed sat against the wall, dressed in new linens. The room smelled fresh, welcoming. Then my gaze landed on the corner desk. It was perfect for her. If she needed to work, she could work from here.
I stood there, imagining her in this room, working at this desk. I glanced toward the vanity table, picturing her seated there, applying lotion to her skin as she readied herself for bed. Or better yet, allowing me to do it for her.
Then I pictured Blossom and me sleeping together in her bed. Me holding her close, sheltering her from all the bad things in this world, all the things she feared, all the things she wanted to run away from.
A strange tightness settled in my chest. I wanted this life I was envisioning more than I’d ever wanted anything.
Soon I would have that.
Soon I would have her.
Turning away before I drove myself crazier than she was already driving me, I left the room and made my way back to the living room. I sat down on the couch, elbows resting on my knees, gaze locked on the red tulips.
As I stared at those flowers, I thought about what Blossom had said about them, remembering the way she’d touched their petals as she’d stood right next to me. I kept focusing on that until my breathing slowed and my anger stopped clouding my judgment.
I wasn't angry because she'd turned me down. I was angry because she’d lied, and for a second, I’d almost believed it. The boyfriend story was bullshit. A desperate lie meant to put more distance between us. She'd felt herself getting closer to me, and that frightened her.
She’d probably prepared that cover story the same day I’d entered the store with Monique. My presence had shocked her, and she’d needed something to keep me from suspecting who she really was.
That had to be it. But for her to take it this far had to mean she’d never intended to become a real part of my life in the first place. That meant she’d lied to me over and over again. And that pissed me off more than the rejection ever could.
Because if there was one thing I couldn't accept, it was lies. She could hack me. She could break into my systems. She could spy on me. She could force her way into my life and make me fall so hard for her that I couldn't sleep without dreaming of her.
I could accept all of that. But she couldn't lie to me. Not like this. This, I couldn’t accept. I leaned back against the couch and dragged a hand down my face. Even though I knew she couldn't possibly have a man in her life, I'd still have Tony look into it.
Just to make sure there wasn't someone I needed to kill. My phone vibrated on the center table, pulling me from my thoughts. I grabbed it and unlocked the screen. It was a message from Tony.
Tony: Just sent you another email with my latest info on Blossom Brooks. If you need me to look in a different direction, let me know. If I’m on the right track, I’ll keep digging in this hole.
I’d told him to look into Blossom Brooks without giving him much more than that. So, it made sense that he didn’t know which aspect of her life to focus on. I opened my email immediately to see what he’d found out so far. In the body of the email, he’d typed:
Rome,
I dug deeper as you asked. Honestly, Blossom Brooks doesn't really have much going on in her life. If you want me to start looking in a different direction, let me know.
Tony
I downloaded and opened the attached report. Tony hadn't been exaggerating. Blossom Brooks was squeaky clean. I skimmed through page after page, finding nothing interesting at all. No criminal record. Not even a traffic ticket. Nothing.
She'd excelled in school. Paid her taxes on time every year. Donated regularly to a couple of local charities. Her flower shop even supplied fresh arrangements to several nursing homes each month.
I smiled at that. I could picture her carrying flowers into a nursing home, smiling at residents, brightening their day with color and conversation. On paper, Blossom Brooks was a little angel. She was responsible, kind, hardworking, and generous.
But everyone had two sides. And I knew another version of her. A more devious side, a naughtier side. I knew Juliet With Curves. The woman who’d hacked my devices without ever apologizing for it.
The woman who'd pleasured herself while I’d watched, moaning my name as she came on her fingers. The woman who’d talked dirty to me, making me cum from her words alone.
The woman who'd stolen my heart right out of my chest, one message at a time. This report made her seem like a respectable member of society. And she was... on the surface. But she was also devious in the most delightful way.
She was clever and witty. She was also smart as hell, which the report did show. But what it didn’t show was that she could lie through her pretty little teeth without batting an eye. The thought of her imaginary boyfriend had my anger rising again.
I forced myself to keep reading instead of dwelling on that. Somewhere in this report, there had to be something useful. I turned the page and found more info. Since Tony hadn't found anything suspicious on Blossom herself, he'd expanded the investigation.
The next section covered the charities she supported. Every single one of them was legitimate. I wasn't surprised. After everything I'd learned about her, I couldn't picture her stealing from charities or using them to hide money.
There were no shell organizations. No suspicious transfers. Nothing out of the ordinary. So, she wasn’t being blackmailed for money. That wasn’t the fear keeping her from telling me who she was.
Since Tony hadn’t found anything while investigating Blossom, he’d decided to investigate Blossoms and Vines. And again, nothing in the report indicated that she was my naughty little hacker.