“I want to go back to the cabin,” she said.
“All right. The truck’s parked behind my shop. Let’s go.” I grabbed her hand.
She didn’t whisk her hand out of mine, though I half-expected her to.
We didn’t exchange any more words until we reached the cabin.
I got out of the truck and walked her to the door.
“Thanks for the rose,” she said. Then she unlocked the door and went inside.
So that was that. For now, at least. She was here for several more days.
I checked my watch.
Time to go. Leena was expecting me to replace that damned pipe in her kitchen sink.15RileyI couldn’t stay here.
I had no right to be away from home and leave my brothers to the mess our father had left us.
Sure, I had my own issues with the bastard, but I was still a Wolfe sibling, and I had a duty to my brothers.
Not to my father. I owed him nothing.
But my brothers… We’d all been implicated in the asshole’s murder, and they shouldn’t have to deal with it alone.
Problem? I didn’t want to leave.
I didn’t want to leave Matt.
Of course, after my little sideshow in the street, he wouldn’t want to have anything more to do with me anyway.
I could stay for the remaining days. I’d already paid for them.
But living here in Matt’s cabin and not seeing Matt?
No. Not happening. I’d grown accustomed to him. In fact, I wanted to see him. Wanted to be near him. Wanted to feel his hand in mine, his lips on mine.
I even wanted that part of him.
That part that I never thought I’d want from a man.
Sex was supposed to be a wonderful experience between two people who wanted each other.
I’d never had that. I’d been forced. Violated.
Raped.
I was nearly eighteen before I could actually think the word, but yes, my father had raped me. Repeatedly. Since I was six years old.
Six fucking years old.
Rock had been sent away because he was trying to help me.
I hadn’t understood at the time. Even though he was hurting me, I’d been devoted to my father. He called me princess. His little princess. He showered me with gifts, gave me whatever my heart desired.
Pretty soon, the only thing my heart desired was to be free from him.
My brothers never knew. I’d wondered on occasion, but my phone conversation with Roy a couple days ago proved they hadn’t.
They hadn’t known until now. Rock told them why he’d been sent away. Why he never came back.
I could be angry. Angry that he never came back and tried to save me again.
But how could I? He’d had the chance to escape Derek Wolfe for good, and he’d taken it. He’d taken it and run.
I’d have done the same thing if I’d been able to.
Of course, now Rock had been forced back into the family fold by our father’s mandates. If he didn’t return to New York and take charge of the family empire, none of us would inherit anything.
Rock had returned. He was now CEO of Wolfe Enterprises. He hated it, but he was doing it.
For Roy, for Reid, and for me.
In the end, Rock had returned.
I should expect no less of myself.
I carefully removed the torn tissue paper from my rose. The bloom hadn’t been damaged and was still perfect, but the stem was broken. I was leaving anyway, so I couldn’t put it in a vase.
Matt had given it to me, though, and I didn’t want to part with it. I shot my gaze to the small bookshelf in the corner of the cabin’s living room. Mostly old paperbacks, but among them stood a hardcover—a thick Stephen King novel. I grabbed it, opened it to the middle, and placed my flower between the pages. It would flatten and dry, and I could keep it forever.
That meant I’d have to take the book with me. It wasn’t mine to take, but I’d leave a few twenties on the counter so Matt could replace it if he wanted to. It couldn’t mean much to him, or he’d have kept it at his own place.
I fired up my laptop to get a flight out of here and back to Manhattan. I was hoping for a redeye, but none were available.
I took the first flight in the morning and booked it with my Chloe Mansfield credentials.
Now…what to do for the rest of the evening?
I was still full from Mrs. Carson’s amazing lunch, but I’d be hungry later. Right. Matt had brought groceries. I’d make a salad or something.
Right now? I wanted to leave this day behind.
What better for that goal than a soak in the hot tub out back?
Except the hot tub wouldn’t cut it. Hot soothing water worked for normal people. Sometimes for me. But not this time.
Only one thing would suffice.
I’d promised I wouldn’t do it, but—