There was no way I was telling him I was her boss, and while the term boyfriend felt juvenile in comparison to my feelings for her, I had no other option. “I’m her boyfriend.”
Mr. Reed frowned. “What do you do, Mr. Quinn?”
I briefly wondered how long his questioning would last.
“I’m an artist. A painter, actually.”
He said nothing for a few moments, choosing instead to size me up with his steel blue gaze before letting out a humorless bark of laughter. “My daughter is accustomed to a certain way of life, Mr. Quinn. Are you telling me you can provide her with that on an artist’s salary.”
“Rosie doesn’t need me to provide her with anything. She’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself.” I hardened my gaze.
Mr. Reed snorted a
s if he didn’t believe me, I continued. “That woman showed up to Miami with $100 to her name and still somehow managed to survive, no thanks to you.”
“That may be, but Rosaline would have never had to leave home had she done what she was supposed to.” He sat up higher in the bed. “That girl has always had trouble seeing the bigger picture.”
I was getting angrier by the second. He knew nothing about Rosie. His own goddamned daughter was a complete mystery to him.
“With all due respect, sir, I think you’re full of shit.”
“Excuse me!” His offense was almost comical.
“You don’t know your daughter at all. The only person who has trouble seeing what’s right in front of them, is you.”
The man in front of me stopped, his breathing deepening a bit. I knew he was calculating his next move. Trying desperately to get me to see Rosie and I were no good together. Hoping my exit from her life would cart her back into his. He was pathetic.
“She has a fiancé, you know.” He folded his hands in his lap. “One who, I’m sure, wouldn’t care much to see her running after some lousy, two-bit wannabe-“
I was finished with this conversation.
“You’re a sorry son of a bitch.” I shook my head. “I’m beginning to think you’re just too goddamned stupid to get it.” I stalked closer to him, my face a mask of rage. “There’s nothing that can tear me from that woman. Not some piece of shit ex and definitely not your flimsy attempts at dominance. She’s the only one who has the power to keep me away from her.”
He smirked. “Oh, we’ll see about that.”
I leaned down towards him, forcing him to stare into my eyes. “We sure will. Especially if you even think about contacting her again with anything less than reverence and apologies on those lips of yours. We’ll see what this lousy, two-bit wannabe will do to protect the woman he loves.”
I straightened up just as Melissa returned to the room with a tray of food.
“You think about what I said, Mr. Reed.” I made for the door. “Have a speedy recovery, now.”
Rosie and I left the Reed estate with little fanfare and no goodbyes. As we made the trek home, I couldn’t help but be grateful for that son of a bitch father of hers. I wanted to kill him for his cowardice and mistreatment of her, but I was grateful it had brought her to me.
Rosaline Reed, in all her glory, was the best person I had ever known. She came into my life, burning bright and hot, filling me with more passion than I had ever felt, giving me things I didn’t know I needed.
She had helped me find inspiration and true purpose and while I knew she still felt lost, slightly adrift in a world where she wasn’t quite sure where she fit, I knew I would always be there. To help her and support her with everything I had.
Rosie changed me, from the very first time she showed up to my warehouse, her eyes full of determination. I wasn’t sure I truly believed in destiny, but as fucking sappy as it sounded, I knew she and I had been fated to find each other.
I reached over and grasped one of her hands. “I love you, Rosaline.”
She smiled over at me, her hair whipping in the wind as we drove along the California coast. “I know.” She kissed the back of my hand. “I love you too, Mr. Quinn.”
6 Months later
Rosie
“Will you be still!” I pinched Nora’s arm as she shifted from side to side next to me.