Chapter Twelve #2
None of this made sense. Not his reason for ending up in this town.
Not the reasons his brothers had been sent here.
“Redemption.” He didn’t think the name of the small North Carolina town was a coincidence.
“Why do we need to be redeemed? We’ve all done our jobs for thousands of years.
There’s no emancipation for us, no release from our birthright.
Reaping is in our blood. Our father is Death. ”
Their father was a power unequalled. He maintained the balance of the universe without fail, never shrinking away from the hard tasks.
If he’d sought out women over the endless eons to find some relief from the unending job, who was Kieran to criticize?
While Kieran had often wondered about his mother, he’d never asked, and neither had his brothers.
It was an unspoken agreement between them all to leave the question alone.
When Malaki wasn’t forthcoming with answers, he whirled around and headed back toward town. The light was still on at the bakery. He hesitated but forced himself to keep walking.
His stomach growled, a reminder that he hadn’t eaten more than a muffin and a cupcake since breakfast, except for licking the creamy frosting from Georgia’s lips.
His dick hardened at the memory. It wasn’t safe for him to be around her.
He was sorely lacking restraint, and she’d been hurt enough without him adding to it.
She was vulnerable, especially after the confrontation with David Petras, the smarmy prick.
It was like being stretched on the rack, the ancient torture device designed to pull a man apart.
He wanted to reach for Georgia with both hands, but her destiny was woven into the threads of time and didn’t include him.
His feet were tethered to the past, to his brothers, the only two beings in existence who fully understood and accepted him.
There was no way to win, to survive. Whatever he did, he would lose, a part of him torn asunder.
His feelings for Georgia had risen from the depths of his soul the first time he’d laid eyes on her and had solidified in his very being.
He didn’t want to trust them, to believe they were true.
Because if they were, he was consigning the one person he should protect above all others to death.
Worse, she would know that he’d stood by and allowed it to happen.
Whatever softer feelings she harbored for him would be destroyed.
The agony almost crushed him. Blind with pain, he managed to get back to Georgia’s house and stumble up the stairs to the garage apartment. Inside, he went to his knees, tipped back his head, and roared.
…
Georgia did her best to put both Kieran and David out of her head as she mixed batter and dough and prepped for tomorrow.
She kept glancing toward the door. “Stop it! He’s not coming back.
” Her stomach twisted into a knot. One day, likely soon, he’d walk out of her life for good. Maybe it had already happened.
For all her bravado earlier, it was probably for the best that he hadn’t taken her up on her offer to spend the night with her. She was already in over her head. He’d barely spent any time here, yet the bakery seemed emptier without him.
“That’s enough. You knew he wasn’t staying.
” She removed her apron and tossed it into the laundry bin she kept in the utility room.
Yet another chore that needed doing. She thought about dragging the mop over the bakery floor and cleaning the cases, but she couldn’t work up the enthusiasm.
A yawn decided for her. The caffeine she’d drunk earlier had worn off, leaving exhaustion in its wake. The rest could wait until the morning.
She really needed to get serious about hiring someone to handle sales and cleaning. This pace wasn’t sustainable. That was something else to put on her growing to-do list for tomorrow.
After one last check to make sure everything was as it should be, she gathered her purse, turned off all the lights save the security ones, and locked up behind her.
It was just past sunset, but it was still warm.
Before long, the leaves would change color and there’d be a nip in the air.
She needed to add hot chocolate to the shop menu. Maybe something with pumpkin spice.
Her pace picked up the closer she got to home. It had nothing to do with hoping to see Kieran and everything to do with wanting food and a hot bath. “Liar,” she muttered. For all she knew, he’d packed up and left. He certainly didn’t owe her any explanations.
She waved to a neighbor and smiled at a group of kids who pedaled furiously past her on their bicycles, their innocent joy infectious.
This was what she’d missed living in Boston, this sense of community.
Oh, it was a wonderful city, filled with culture, shops, entertainment, and unique neighborhoods, but she’d never set down roots, never felt as though she belonged.
There was no light on inside the garage apartment. She stumbled to a stop, her throat tightening. He probably went to Susie’s for supper, or maybe he hooked up with one of his brothers. Maybe he’d sought out Joley. Hearing she’d already come on to him had given Georgia a jolt.
“Not my business.” Determinedly, she marched up the walkway and into the house. She’d lived alone all her adult life. David had usually left after sex, preferring his large apartment to her tiny one. In retrospect, that should have been a huge red flag.
Determined not to give either man another thought, she kicked off her shoes, dumped her purse and keys in her bedroom, and padded to the kitchen.
She fumbled a plate, nearly dropping it, and hit her hip against the stove because her attention was on the apartment over the garage and not what she was doing.
By the time she’d assembled a glass of white wine and a plate with crackers, cheese, and fresh fruit, she’d only glanced out the window a dozen times.
The garage apartment remained dark.
She didn’t even have his phone number to call him.
She supposed she could call one of his brothers, but that was too embarrassing.
He was renting an apartment from her, working in her bakery, and she lacked the most basic information about him.
“I’m an idiot.” She’d allowed a handsome face and some smooth talking to influence her decisions.
“No more. First thing tomorrow, I put a sign in the bakery window.” Surely there was someone in town looking for part-time work?
Grabbing her plate and glass, she headed into the living room to relax and enjoy her food while watching mindless television.
The news was too depressing, and as a woman living alone, she avoided true crime stories and police dramas.
Thankfully, there was almost always a cooking or decorating show to be found.
A half hour later, the food was gone but she wasn’t any closer to relaxing, unable to stop thinking about Kieran. He hadn’t been in a good headspace when he’d left earlier.
“God, Georgia.” She grabbed her dirty dishes, carried them into the kitchen, and put them in the dishwasher. “He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.” It was herself she needed to worry about.
Hoping a bath would help her relax, she filled the tub and added some lavender bath salts for good measure.
After stripping off her sweaty clothes, she slid into the water and leaned back against the bath pillow.
Other than kitchen gadgets and supplies, which were really for work, the bath was the one place she indulged herself.
The cast-iron tub, white subway tiles, oversize fluffy white towels, and natural soaps gave the small space a spa feel that she appreciated at the end of a long workday.
Trailing her fingers through the water, she inhaled the floral scent, closed her eyes, and drifted.
She came to an abrupt awakening, jolted upright, and sent a wave of water precariously close to the edge.
She’d fallen asleep. Probably shouldn’t have had the glass of wine, considering how tired she was.
The water had gone cold. A shiver raced down her spine. People drowned in the bathtub.
Shaking off the morbid thought, she got out of the water and wrapped a thick towel around her. After drying off and pulling on a sleep shirt, she was faced with her next dilemma—she hadn’t changed the sheets.
She stood beside her bed and nibbled on her bottom lip in indecision.
“You’re being silly. So you had sex in the bed.
It’s not like it’s tainted.” It would only take a few minutes to change the sheets.
Instead, she slipped beneath the covers before she talked herself out of it, turned her head into the pillow, and breathed deeply.
Kieran’s hot, masculine scent surrounded her. “I’m a glutton for punishment.”
Tomorrow, she’d make sure she had fresh sheets.
Tonight, she indulged the silent longing in her heart.
Kieran was a once-in-a-lifetime lover. There would never be another like him.
She hugged the pillow to her chest. It was a poor substitute.
She’d made her choice with open eyes and an open heart. She would have no regrets.
Turning onto her side, she stared out the window, her gaze gravitating to the garage.
It remained dark. No lights meant no Kieran.
With a sigh of frustration, she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.
She needed to count her blessings and not obsess about what she didn’t have.
She’d never really had Kieran. Like a dream, he was meant to pass in and out of her life with a single memorable night.
When her phone rang, her heart leaped, and she grabbed it from the nightstand. Wrong man. It was a mistake to encourage him, but she needed the distraction. “What do you want, David?”
“I want to meet to discuss a business proposal, ideally without your oversized lover hovering in the background.”
Flopping back on the mattress, she held the phone to her ear and took a deep breath to settle herself.
“After everything that happened between us, what makes you think I’d do business with you?
” He took zero responsibility for what had gone down between them, honestly believing he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“That was personal.” She could picture him waving his hand in the air as if to dismiss her concerns as nothing. To him, they were. “This is business.”
She rubbed her temple, her head beginning to pound. “I told you earlier today I’m not interested. I’m settled here and not going anywhere.”
“That’s the best part of the deal. It doesn’t involve you returning to Boston, though why you’d prefer to stay here is beyond my comprehension. I thought you’d jump at the chance to come back.”
“Get to the point, David.” Her headache was getting worse with each passing second.
“I was approached by the CEO of a prominent food manufacturer about a cookie he sampled in our shop a year ago. Seems he can’t stop thinking about it.”
Her stomach began to churn, her light meal not settling well. Little wonder. Talking with David was enough to give anyone heartburn. “What does it have to do with me?”
“I knew who he was and offered him one of your special white chocolate fudge brownies.”
“But I didn’t make them at work.” He wasn’t making any sense. Was the room spinning, or was it her?
“You’d brought a half dozen of them in to work that day as a treat for me.”
He kept talking, but nothing he said made any sense. Her body was lethargic, the phone suddenly too heavy to hold. Something was seriously wrong. “Have to go,” she slurred. It took two attempts, but she managed to end the call with David yelling in her ear.
She needed to call…someone, but the phone slipped from her hand and landed on the floor with a thunk. What’s wrong with me? She tried to sit up but couldn’t find the energy. She’d rest awhile. Her eyes fluttered shut. Surely when she woke, she’d feel better?