“I saw you came home, and I wanted to see you. Are you moving back?”
“Why all the questions?”
“The sale sign was gone a few days ago, and I was wondering if it was sold, but now I know it was you coming home where you’re supposed to be.”
“Listen, Gary. What I do is not your concern, and I’d like you to leave.”
“He dumped you just like I said he would, so you came back to me.”
“No. I came back to the house until I could make plans.”
“God, Tessa. Just move in with me.”
“Gary, you need to understand me. I will never live with you. You’ll never be my boyfriend.”
He threw his arms out. “You haven’t given us a chance. I know you’ll change your mind when you see how well I care for you.”
She could feel her nerves build because she had no ideawhat Gary was capable of. “I’m sorry, but no. I’ve never felt that way about you.”
He took a step toward her, and she tried to think of a way to protect herself, but all she had was food and plastic utensils.
She put her hand out.
“If you put one finger on her, you’ll be dead.”
Gary and Tessa screamed and turned toward the end of the kitchen.
Oh God, Nate was there in the doorway. At first, she was so glad he was there and could feel herself calm, and her breathing became more normal.
“Gary, I warned you,” Nate said.
“That was before you threw her away.”
Nate’s gaze zipped to her and then back at the other man. “That didn’t happen. We had a misunderstanding, but we’ll fix it because we love each other so much.”
Tessa pressed her lips together. She didn’t want to say anything in front of Gary.
“Now, leave and never come back. Oh, you might tell your lawyer friend that made up the will you tried to get Tessa’s mom to sign that he’s being checked into, and it doesn’t sound good for him.”
Gary hissed. “You bastard.”
“Get out.”
Gary turned and rushed out the back door.
Tessa watched Nate walk across the floor, then shut and locked the door before he turned to her.
“What are you doing here, Nate?”
He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m here to get my runaway little that belongs with me.”
Tessa sighed. She was too tired to fight at the moment. She turned and started pulling things out of the grocery bags.
“What do you have there?” he asked.
“Bread, peanut butter, bread, butter, ice cream, and a few other things.”
She stiffened when she felt the heat of his body against her back, and then his arms came on either side of her on the counter to box her in.