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“I’m sorry. It’s just been so long since I’ve spent time with you and I miss you,” he said, his voice sounding so dejected she almost felt bad about it. She wasn’t sure what to do. This man had done nothing but destroy lives around him. He didn’t deserve her sympathy.
Bass was suddenly at her side and she strengthened, having him beside her. He reached behind her and placed his hand on her back.
“I’m Bass Fisher,” he said. There was nothing in his voice to indicate what he was thinking or feeling about a man on Ella’s doorstep after midnight.
“Brett Jones,” her father said. Neither man held out a hand. There was no respect from either of them. Brett didn’t deserve anyone’s respect. Bass certainly did.
“Don’t come again this late,” Ella said. Then she firmed her shoulders. “Don’t come to my place anymore. I told you I don’t want to see you.”
Her father flinched again. She couldn’t buy into his act. She convinced herself it was foolish to do so. If she bought into his lies, she was an idiot.
She didn’t wait for a response from her father before she shut the door in his face. She stood still for several minutes before having the courage to look at Bass. There was nothing but empathy in his expression.
“I didn’t help him. I don’t want to be with him,” she said, close to tears again. It would tear her apart if Bass thought she was working with her father to take anything else from the Palazzo family.
Bass cupped her cheek again. “There’s no doubt in my mind you aren’t your father,” he assured her.
He then pulled her into his arms and held her. She now had another reason to hate the man who’d given her life . . . he’d killed her desire for a night with the man she was falling for. Her father was a disaster and hurt those around him every single moment of every day. He’d never change. She prayed she’d never fall for his games again.
“Let’s watch a movie until we get sleepy,” Bass said.
She looked at him with hope. She didn’t want him to leave, but she also didn’t know how to ask him to stay. He didn’t seem at all upset at how the night had changed. She might be falling a bit in love with him.
“What kind of movie?” she asked.
He grinned. “A comedy for sure. Our lives are in a storm right now, and the best medicine for that is to laugh mindlessly while drinking wine, eating strawberries and popcorn, and maybe copping a feel or two.” He said the last part before winking at her.
A bit of that lust that had instantly drained at the sight of her father, wormed its way right back through her. This man made her feel many emotions. She pushed them all back down as he led her back to the couch. He then handed her a blanket to snuggle into while he popped them some corn with extra butter and salt.
Within an hour she was cuddled up to Bass and feeling sleepy and better. She’d even managed a few laughs. This man was dangerous . . . and he was addictive. What was going to happen next? She’d have to wait and see.
Chapter Eleven
Bass
Bass knew Lia and Rachel well, and when they wanted something, it was bound to happen. No one could tell the girls no. They simply wouldn’t allow it. That was one thing Bass loved about the ladies.
Now, in saying that, their husbands certainly were no pushovers. Lia had married Bass’s other best friend, Shane, who was still close to Rafe, and Lia had married a king.
She’d known him as Ian, and later found out he was actually King Adriane. She’d gotten pregnant and he’d kidnapped her. It hadn’t gone well at first, but eventually the two of them worked out their problems and now were sickeningly in love. If he wasn’t so happy for a woman he considered a sister, he might be disgusted they were so gushy with one another.
The sisters were just as determined to see Nana Bee’s final wishes through so they’d called a family dinner at the farmhouse: the girls, their spouses and children, Rafe and Ari, and of course, Bass and Ella. No one was allowed to say no. This was going to be an interesting night.
When Bass arrived, everyone else was already there. He stepped through the house to the packed deck where a huge table was set up with copious amounts of food on it. A sprinkler sprayed the kids in the yard and their laughter could be heard for miles around. Ella sat in a chair against the back of the house, focused on the kids as she tried to avoid looking at any of the adults.
Tension filled the air, but there was also joy. This home had been a place of peace for many years for the Palazzo family. Rafe, Bass, and Ella had everything cleared from the house and the bulldozers were coming the next day to demolish it. It was tragic. None of them wanted it to be done.
On the other hand, they didn’t want anyone else to live in the house. It would forever belong to Nana Bee and the thought of anyone else living there was impossible to even think about. Her wishes were for something beautiful to happen with the property and that’s what they were going to do. It would be sad to see her home gone, but it wouldn’t take the memories with it. Those were built into the land they were standing on.
“Bass, you’re late,” Lia said as she rushed to him and gave him a hug.
Before he’d been exiled from the family, that had been a normal greeting. He’d never thought twice about hugging anyone in the family. Now, he was a bit uncomfortable. He hated feeling that way.
“Thanks for this dinner, Lia. It’s a fitting way to say goodbye to the home that was always filled with love.”
Lia had tears in her eyes but quickly blinked them away. “It was what Nana Bee wanted, and there’s nothing any of us wouldn’t do for her,” she told him.
“I agree.”
