Page 1 of Passion in Bloom

Chapter 1

Heather

“She’s home right here.” Roarke’s fingers dug into my side, giving a physical sign that he wanted me to stay right next to him. “And she’s not going anywhere.”

“She’s not?” David sneered, glancing from me to Roarke.

In all my nightmares, his face stayed the same. Cruel smile. Narrowed eyes. Harsh lines of anger. David Kenning looked like my worst enemy in my mind. My memories weren’t pretty. In the flesh, a couple of feet away from him, I saw once more how sinister he was with that malicious expression. Even worse was his smile. It was never an expression of simple joy. Only a display of wicked intent, of his nefarious moods.

He grinned now, slowly and smugly at Roarke, and that wouldn’t bode well. I knew what that smirk meant. I’d experienced the agony of seeing this man smile like the bad guy.

Because he was the bad guy.

“No,” Roarke said. His voice was calm and clear. Firm and confident. No one would be wise to broker an argument with him, but David didn’t seem bothered. He remained where he was, sizing him up, then looking me over.

“Heather is staying right here.”

I’d never intended to be here. This cabin wasn’t what I had in mind when I left Chicago. But since I’d settled in, I couldn’t imagine leaving. Returning to Burton had been a struggle, and it would continue to be one, but I agreed with Roarke’s statement. He had a lot of balls to declare where I should be. This was precisely what I wanted to avoid. Another man calling all the shots. Someone else trying to determine what I should do and where I should be.

But in this context, he was so damned right that I was tempted to lean against his side and nod.

I did want to stay here. Maybe not in this specific cabin for good, but my home town was the best option for me at the moment. Perhaps I’d need more time to decide if Roarke was a man I could trust to keep in my life, but he was a solid support who spoke the logic that I wanted to defend.

I did not belong with David. That was the fate I’d run from.

And I’d be damned if anyone suggested I should go back to him.

Never.

“According to you?” David asked with a nasty snarl. “You think you can decide that she should stay here?” He emphasized a slow look around, as if scorning the rundown scene. “Heather is supposed to stay here, in this dump?”

“According to her,” Roarke said. “She decided to be here, and that’s where she’ll stay.”

David tipped his head to the side, narrowing his eyes more. It was a clue of his escalating wrath, and instinct took over. I wasn’t aware of moving. All I could focus on was the basic need to breathe. In and out. In and out. I tried to remain steady in the face of fear, but it locked me down. Stiff and silent. With the roar of my pulse in my ears and the tight vise of my chest feeling too tight, I couldn’t do anything but be a spectator to this nightmare coming true. My body reacted involuntarily though, in some sense of animalistic reflex. I moved toward Roarke, almost tucking myself completely against him as David’s anger scaled hotter.

“I fail to see who you are to determine her future,” David said evenly. His tone sounded calm, but it was, again, a trick that I’d learned to expect. He balanced himself to project a peaceful patience, but he was livid beneath the surface. I’d lived through it to know it.

Roarke huffed a deep bark of laughter, almost incredulously. “See if I give a flying fuck about what you see or don’t see. I’m telling you that she’s not going anywhere with you.”

“Oh. I see—”

Again, Roarke laughed once, a gritty and taunting sound. “See whatever the hell you want, asshole. She’s not leaving with you.”

David’s lips twitched as he shut them tightly. No one ever cut him off. No one interrupted him. It was an expectation he’d honed over his years of being a lawyer, yet it didn’t seem like Roarke was the kind of man to care about such a mind game like that.

David exhaled through his nostrils. “Are you trying to tell me what to do—”

“I’m not trying,” Roarke said. “I am telling you. Get the fuck out of here.”

David seethed again, his back going straighter as he tried to look down his nose at us.

I didn’t think it was possible, but my heart beat even faster. My breaths came shorter, and the threat of a dizzy spell overwhelmed me. I hadn’t eaten much today, too stressed to have an appetite. Too many coffees and note a lot of food to help it. I was full of nerves, jittery, and pushed to the ugly edge of panic—again.

“If you think I’m going to—”

“I don’t give a shit what you think,” Roarke snapped. “Or what you see. I’m telling you how it is.”

David’s jaw slid as he ground his teeth again. “You fuck off, asshole. This is between me and my girlfriend.”