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“I think you might just be changing tactics as you try to get your hands on Nana Bee’s money.” There was no reason to tiptoe around the elephant in the room.
He flinched at her words, and she wondered if the man really had changed. No matter how much she was trying to harden herself, it seemed she couldn’t fully do it.
“This is about you and me, nothing else. I made a mistake hoping for that money. It’s just that I’ve lost everything and I thought it was a way to start over. I realize that taking a dime of that money will eliminate you from my life forever, and it’s just not worth it. If for some reason the conditions aren’t met, I won’t take it. You’re too important to me,” he said. His eyes were ringing true with sincerity, but this man was a good actor. She was confused, completely thrown off. She didn’t like it one little bit.
“I don’t know what to say to this,” she told him after a while.
“I know you don’t and that’s okay. I understand it will take a lot of time for you to trust me. I’ve broken your trust from the time you were a young child. I want you to know I’m in counseling. One of my assignments was to write out all of my sins. She asked me to show it to you, to have you sign it to prove that I showed it to you. I have to use the restroom so I’ll leave it for you to look over while I go. This took me days to write up. It matters to me and everything on this paper is from my heart. People can change. I’ve changed.”
With that he got up and left her. She picked up the sheets of paper that were clearly in her father’s handwriting. She began reading even though she didn’t want to, didn’t want to let down the careful protection she’d put in place.
He listed things like leaving her alone at night, lying to her about what he was doing, having multiple affairs with women, stealing money from a good company. The list went on and on. Some of the things she knew about, some she’d had no clue he’d done. He was devious, that was for sure, but did this mean he wanted to change? He was showing her exactly who’d he’d been. Was that who he was now? She didn’t know.
He was gone long enough to let her read over the entire document twice. She wasn’t sure if it was an act or not, but she took out a pen and signed the paper. If he was in counseling, she wanted him to get the help he was seeking. If this was nothing but a lie, a signature wasn’t going to do a thing to her.
When he returned, she left to use the restroom herself. She didn’t really go, but she wanted a few more minutes without him. By the time she got back, hopefully their food would be there and they’d have something other than each other to concentrate on. That would be a very good thing.
The rest of the meal was spent with meaningless chatter. It actually helped her relax. When it was finished, her father reached for his wallet and gave her a horrified look. She almost laughed.Thiswas expected. Her father was great at getting a free meal.
“I promise I didn’t leave it on purpose,” he told her, looking very shamed.Maybehe was telling her the truth.
“I’ve got it,” she said, even though it made her cringe to spend a hundred dollars on a lunch. Sure, she had the extra money that Nana Bee had insisted she take back, but that was her safety net. She currently didn’t have a job and that was more terrifying than anything else.
She pulled out her wallet and searched through it unable to find her debit card. She was always taking it out and setting it somewhere. She gave up, wanting the lunch to end. She took out her credit card she really hated using. She didn’t want to ever be in debt. That’s why she kept her spending to a minimum.
They walked from the restaurant together and she pulled back when he tried to give her a hug, telling him one step at a time. They might get there someday, but she wasn’t there yet. He seemed to understand.
She hadn’t wanted to go to the lunch, but it hadn’t been so bad. She wasn’t in a terrible mood as she made her way home. Then again, she hadn’t been in a terrible mood since she’d started making love to Bass. The man had sexed her into submission that seemed to be ruling her life. The scariest part of that was she almost enjoyed how docile she’d become.
Maybe all of this would add up to something frightening later, but for now she was pretty happy. She wasn’t waiting for her bubble to be burst. That was a definite first for her.
Chapter Nineteen
Bass
When Bass had a lot on his mind his favorite thing to do was hop into his car and take a drive. He had a destination this night, but he took the long route so he could think about his life. A lot had changed for him.
The past few weeks had flown by in a second for Bass. He realized he’d been spending nearly every night with Ella, and he still wasn’t growing restless or feeling a need to run away. That was a first for him. He’d never spent so much time with one woman . . . and remained excited to see her. He wondered how long it would last.
Their lovemaking was out of the world good. He’d be happy to fall into her arms every night for at least the next year . . . maybe longer. She rocked his world that affectively.
Beyond the great sex was the fact he enjoyed working with her. Now that he, Rafe, and Ella had a plan of action, the horse therapy property was coming right along. The barns were nearly finished, and the community center was on target for completion. The trails were being laid, and he enjoyed spending time at Nana Bee’s place watching it all come together.
He and Rafe weren’t at a hundred percent, but they were talking. They both still carried a little armor, and Rafe was still leery of Ella, but they came closer and closer together as the project progressed. Maybe by the end of it, they’d be friends,truefriends, again.
What did that mean for Ella and him? Could they go from lovers to friends? He’d normally say yes. He’d went from lovers to friends with several women. He wasn’t so sure that would be the case with Ella. He’d never been so obsessed with one woman. He liked her a lot, thought about her when she wasn’t there, and craved her more than he’d ever admit.
If it was just sex he wanted, he wouldn’t have been so worried. It wasn’t though. He loved his time with her when they weren’t making love. They took walks, worked on the plans for the therapy center, and talked about their lives. They’d both gone through similar struggles when they were young which bonded them even more. They seemed to understand one another. He’d never experienced this kind of a connection with a female. The only thing he could compare it to was his bonding with Rafe and Shane.
The thought of that comparison terrified him because he’d been more bonded to those two men than any other people and it had crashed down around him for seven years. It still wasn’t fully healed. What would happen with Ella? They both had open wounds. Could they patch each other up, or would they bleed out together?
Though Ella’s father’s home had had money until he’d been locked away in prison, and Bass had grown up with zero money to his name, they’d both struggled with finding who they were and where they belonged. Their love of Nana Bee only enhanced their attraction to one another.
They knew if Nana Bee hadn’t come into their lives they wouldn’t be who they were now. That woman had changed them both for the better. They hoped the center bearing Nana Bee’s name would change more lives that might be lost to the system if it weren’t for people out there like Nana Bee. That was all of their wishes.
Though Rafe was a wealthy man who’d grown up with love and more, he understood the struggle of so many people out there. He was surprisingly compassionate for a billionaire who was untouchable to most of the world.
Bass found it amusing that Nana Bee had tasked Ella with helping him and Rafe find each other again. They were brothers and one woman had almost ruined that. It was quite poetic that Nana Bee had found another woman to bring them back together.
