Romancing My Love (Love in Bloom: The Bradens) Contemporary Romance Read online

  LATER THAT AFTERNOON, Pierce and Rebecca walked through the mall trying to decide on a gift for Luke and Daisy. It had been ages since Pierce had stepped foot in a mall. He was used to crowds at his resorts, and of course, in the casinos, but while he loved being with Rebecca, the crowded mall brought his protective instincts to the forefront. He realized that he was sizing up every man who walked by, and while he wasn’t usually a judgmental guy, if they looked the least bit shady, he drew her closer.

  “Where do people shop for an engagement gift?” He pulled Rebecca closer as three teenagers pushed past them.

  “Gosh, how do I know? I’ve never been to a real engagement party.”

  He pulled her into a photo booth in the center of the mall.

  “I’ve never been in one of these,” Pierce said as he pulled a five-dollar bill from his wallet.

  “I have, with my mom. They’re so fun.” She waited for Pierce to sit down inside the booth; then she sat on his lap with her arms around her neck, and he tugged the curtain closed.

  He pulled her into a kiss just as the first flash went off.

  “Ready? Look surprised!” She whispered into his ear, “I want to blow you.”

  He didn’t have to feign his surprise. The flash illuminated the booth and caught him wide-eyed and openmouthed.

  “Ha! Gotcha!” Rebecca kidded as he pulled her close for the last picture.

  They both smiled, or so he thought. When the pictures developed and dropped from the silver slot, the third picture revealed Rebecca looking at him like he was everything she ever wanted.

  “God, I love you,” he said as the second copy fell from the machine.

  “How could you not? I mean…” She held the pictures up. “Look how cute I am.”

  They each kept a copy of the filmstrip. Pierce folded his in half and put it in his wallet, and Rebecca put hers into her purse.

  “Do you mind if we stop in at Hallmark? I want to get a few things.” Rebecca reached for his hand and guided him toward a display of calendars. She picked up one and rifled through the pages, then another, and then a third.

  Pierce would never tire of watching her. She wore jeans that hugged her ass and the black boots that she’d been wearing the first night they’d met, with a simple white cotton shirt. The outfit probably cost her next to nothing, but to Pierce, she looked like a million bucks.

  “What are you looking for specifically? I can order you a beautiful leather day planner.”

  She smiled up at him. “This isn’t for me. It’s for you.”

  “I won’t use one of those. I’d probably lose it, and I’d definitely forget to write in it.”

  She pressed her hand to his chest. “That’s just what I was thinking. So, instead, let’s get one of these.” She picked up a small desk calendar, the type that were meant to have the pages discarded at the end of each day.

  “Why do I need that? Kendra keeps my calendar.”

  “Yes, I know she does, and thank God for her. I thought we could put it by the bed and each night I could write a little reminder, like, Turn phone on, or if you have a meeting coming up, like dinner with Treat, I could write, Make reservations.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Did Kendra ask you to do that?”

  “I don’t even know her. You’ve never introduced us.” She set it back down. “Never mind. I was just trying to help.”

  He pulled her against him. “I love the idea, and I love you for thinking of it. Kendra’s been trying to get me married off for two years, and her biggest complaint is that I forget those types of things.”

  “I’d imagine it’s your family’s biggest complaint, too, since you miss their calls the most.”

  They paid for the calendar and went to check out the mall directory.

  “Rebecca.”

  Pierce turned at the unfamiliar male voice and tightened his grip on Rebecca’s hand as a handsome, muscular man approached.

  Rebecca pulled from his grasp and hugged the man. “Andy, hi. This is my boyfriend, Pierce. Pierce, this is Andy. He does personal training at my gym. Chiara in HR is his girlfriend. He’s the one who hooked me up with her.”

  Pierce shook Andy’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Andy. I’m glad you sent Rebecca our way.”

  “Well, all I did was get her in to see my girlfriend.” He turned back to Rebecca. “So, I know you got the job, but I haven’t seen you for a few days.” He lowered his voice. “I guess you found a place to live? No more parking lots?”

  Parking lots?

  Rebecca’s eyes widened. She shot a worried look at Pierce, then turned her attention back to Andy. “What? No. I rent a room in a house, but lately I’ve been staying with Pierce.” Her words fell fast and shaky.

  “Good, because I was worried.”

  “No need to worry. I’m doing great. Hey, we’ve got to go. I’ll catch up with you at the gym.” Rebecca walked away without waiting for Pierce.

  He forced himself to push past the confusion simmering in his mind. A place to stay? Parking lots? “Nice to meet you, Andy, and thanks again for connecting Rebecca with Chiara.”

  He caught up to Rebecca. She was walking fast, her lower lip trapped between her teeth, her brow furrowed.

  “Let’s try Macy’s,” she suggested.

  “Rebecca, what did he mean by no more parking lots?” He flashed back to the evening when they went to the parking garage to get her bag and she didn’t let him near her trunk.

  “Nothing.”

  “Rebecca, we said no secrets, remember?” They were entering Macy’s, and as Rebecca practically dashed toward the back of the store, Pierce reached for her hand. “Bec, slow down. Please?”

  She stopped walking, faced him with her brows drawn together, and crossed her arms. Her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths—and in those few seconds, he understood.

  “Okay. I stayed in my car for a few nights, okay?” She spoke quietly and held his gaze with a distraught expression.

  “Babe.” He reached for her hand, and she shrugged him off.

  “Don’t.” She turned away. “Can we please just get the gift and talk about this when we’re not in public?”

  “Forget the gift. I don’t care about the stupid gift.” He was trying to wrap his mind around Rebecca sleeping in her car, which was a tough pill to swallow. If he added the fact that she hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him that she was living in her car when they met, it burned like hell. “Let’s go talk now.”

  Tension thickened with each passing minute on the silent drive back toward Pierce’s house.

  “Do you mind if we go someplace other than home to talk?” Rebecca asked in a soft voice.

  He reached for her hand. “Sure. The park?”

  She shrugged. “Someplace where there aren’t a million people maybe?”

  Pierce drove to the River Trail and walked down by the river. The sound of running water was soothing but not soothing enough to quell Pierce’s simmering emotions. He knew by now that pushing Rebecca wasn’t the answer. She’d explain when she was ready, and he respected that, walking silently beside her. He draped his arm over her shoulder and tried to be patient as they walked down the quiet, rocky trail along the riverbank. A breeze rustled the leaves of trees as they passed beneath. A dirt clearing led to the edge of the river, and without a word, Rebecca crossed the clearing and sat on a rock by the water. Pierce sat beside her and leaned his elbows on his knees, trying his best not to let her see his eyes. He knew they’d betray him and she’d see how badly he felt for her. It wasn’t pity, but he knew that love and caring could mimic pity in her mind.

  “I came here the week after my mom died. I’m glad you chose this place to talk. I feel safe here, like she’s nearby for some reason.” Rebecca looked out over the water.

  Pierce put his arm around her again. “You’re safe, Bec. I’m here, too.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  “Bec…”

  She turned sad eyes toward him and drew her shoulders b
ack. “You didn’t bring your sunglasses.” She smiled, but it was forced and it faded quickly.

  “I don’t pity you, Becca. I love you.”

  She looked down at her hands and drew in a deep breath. Her hair curtained her face. “I know you do.”

  Pierce tucked her hair behind her ear and lifted her chin. “Talk to me, please.”

  She nodded and dropped her eyes again, then looked out at the water. “I told you that Mr. Fralin let me and my mom stay in our apartment. Well, after she died, I stayed for another few weeks. I kept thinking that I’d get a job and raise enough money to afford to live there, and eventually I got the job at King’s Bar, but that was only about two weeks before I met you. I felt so trapped. I owed Mr. Fralin two months of rent when she died, plus almost six more weeks for letting me stay afterward while I pulled myself together, and every day I stayed it cost him money in unearned rent. I felt guilty, and even though I had years to prepare for my mom dying, I wasn’t prepared.” She blinked at the tears that dampened her eyes.

  Pierce drew her against him and kissed her temple. “I don’t think anyone’s ever prepared, no matter how long they have before it happens.”

  “Yeah,” she whispered. She sat silently for a long while, rubbing her hands together and gazing out at the water. When she finally spoke again, some of the strength had returned to her voice.

  “When I met you, I was staying in my car. It was only a few nights, and then Andy hooked me up with Chiara, and I got the job and rented a room from Daphne.”

  He didn’t know which hurt more, knowing she’d had to stay in her car or knowing she’d kept it from him. “Is that why you wouldn’t let me near your trunk when we picked up your bag?”

  She nodded, still not meeting his gaze.

  “Rebecca, you slept over at my house. We were so close. I know we moved quickly, but why didn’t you tell me?”

  “That would have gone over really well.” She crossed her arms, then uncrossed them and pushed from the rock to her feet. “Oh, hey, by the way, I live in my car. Tell me you wouldn’t have run the other way.” She turned her back to him, and Pierce rose and placed his hands on her shoulders from behind.

  “I wouldn’t have run the other way.”

  She scoffed. “Then you would have wanted to fix it for me.”

  How could he deny the truth? “Becca—”

  “I know we said no secrets, but this is a little different, don’t you think?” She turned to face him, and the determined look in her eyes was reminiscent of the first night they’d met, when come hell or high water, it was her against the world. But she wasn’t alone any longer.

  “No, I don’t. Honesty isn’t pick or choose.”

  She rolled her eyes. “It is when you’re living in your car and you meet a guy who you really, really like—and he looks like his clothes cost more than your car. Pierce, my life is so far out of your realm that you couldn’t possibly understand it.” She took a step away, and he reached for her hand again.

  “Rebecca, my life wasn’t always what it is now. This isn’t about living in your car. This is about trusting me with the truth. Would you ever have told me?” He didn’t know what to think. He felt hurt, but at the same time, he knew that wasn’t her intent, and he wanted to understand everything about Rebecca, including, and maybe most importantly, this.

  “Yes. Later. Much later.”

  “When? When I asked you to marry me? When we had kids? When would you have trusted me enough, Rebecca?” His voice escalated and he paced, trying to calm himself down.

  “I don’t know. I just know that this isn’t like lying about cheating on someone. I didn’t do this to hurt you, Pierce. I did what I felt I had to.” Her eyes welled with tears, but her voice was so angry that he couldn’t tell if they were tears of anger or sadness.

  “And I didn’t do it to deceive you. I kept it from you so you could decide if you liked me for me without having to fix me or toss me aside because I was…homeless.” Her shoulders dropped as the word fell from her lips.

  Homeless. Holy Christ. Homeless. The word stung Pierce as badly as he could see it had stung her. He reached for her hand and she shrugged away. It was agonizing not being able to hold her, feeling like they were on the opposite sides of a fence when really he wanted her inside his fence, always, right there beside him.

  “Okay, okay,” he managed. “Let’s both take a deep breath.” He scrubbed his face with his hands. There was so much he wanted to understand. “Why the car, Rebecca? Why didn’t you stay at a shelter?”

  “You won’t understand.” She sat back down on the rock.

  “Try me.”

  She drew in another uneven breath. “Because staying at a shelter is like saying I’d really hit rock bottom.”

  “It’s about being safe.”

  “I was safe.”

  “In your car? Do you know what could have happened to you?” Just the thought made his skin crawl.

  That sent her to her feet again, pacing the small clearing. “Yes. Okay? Yes. Every time I walked into that cold parking garage, I knew what could happen to me. Every time I woke up to the sound of a car door slamming or wheels squealing, I knew.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “I did what I had to do, and damn it, Pierce, I made it out the other side without any of those awful things happening to me, and—oh God—I showered at the gym every morning after my workout, I kept applying for jobs, so please don’t think that I was dirty or any of those awful things that go along with being homeless.”

  The word stung as badly the second time around.

  “I wasn’t dirty or…broken. I was just broke.” She covered her face with her hands, but not before Pierce saw tears stream down her cheeks.

  He folded her into his arms and didn’t release her when she halfheartedly shrugged him off. “Oh, Becca. I don’t care about any of those things. I just wish you would have told me.”

  “Right.” She sniffled, wiped her tears. “So you could save me.”

  “Maybe,” he said honestly. “I don’t know. I certainly liked you enough to want to save you. But I have a feeling you wouldn’t have let me.” On the surface she looked vulnerable, fragile, with damp eyes and a trembling lower lip, but behind the tears he saw fierce determination.

  “I love you, Rebecca. Whether you lived in your car, on the street, or in a boat on a river makes no difference. My love for you isn’t contingent on any of those things. It’s unconditional.” He pressed his lips to her forehead.

  She closed her eyes and he held her close, feeling her heart beating against his. He knew how hard this was for her. She wore her pride like armor, and to have this secret revealed—a secret she thought was so powerful that it might change his love for her—explained the fight he felt in her rigid body.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was so worried that you would judge me.”

  “The only judgment I’ll make is that you impress the hell out of me, Rebecca. You’ve overcome so much, and you haven’t backed down on your principles, or let it define you. I think I’m the luckiest guy on earth to have you in my life.”

  When he tried to draw back and look into her eyes, she fisted her hands in his shirt and pressed her cheek to his chest.

  “Don’t look at me. Just hold me. Please just hold me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  IT HAD BEEN hours since Pierce had found out about Rebecca living in her car. In an effort to move past the reveal of her most intimate secret, they’d gone to a specialty store and bought a set of monogrammed champagne flutes for Daisy and Luke, had a nice dinner out on Pierce’s patio, and still Rebecca couldn’t shake the feeling of embarrassment. She hated that now when he looked at her he probably saw an image of her sleeping in her car. He’d never say as much—she’d probably scared him into keeping that kind of thought to himself. But she saw something different in his eyes, and she’d been trying to dodge it all evening. It was inescapable. It followed her around the room, stealing pieces of them. He kissed h
er more softly, more lovingly, instead of heated and impassioned. And what made matters worse was that she wasn’t sure if it was intentional or a reflection of how she was acting.

  Pierce was busy talking on the phone to someone about the Grand, and as much as she hated herself for it, she just wanted to be alone. She needed to come to grips with the fact that now he knew. He was acting like he accepted the revealing of her most embarrassing point in her life like it didn’t make any difference at all, but she knew it had to. How could it not?

  I lived in my car.

  How could he just accept it? He had to be connecting her to something unsavory, didn’t he? Or was she losing her mind? One minute they were driving down Meet My Family Lane and the next, she could barely look at him without feeling like he pitied her.

  She needed to get past this.

  Rebecca closed her eyes and rested her head back on the couch, listening to Pierce’s voice filter in from his home office. His voice was sharp when he was discussing business; his answers were succinct and confident, unlike when he was talking with her. Everything about Pierce was different with her than with anyone else. She smiled at the thought of how his rich, smooth voice wrapped around her like a velvet drape and warmed her to her core.

  Will it still feel that way? Or will I always see and hear pity no matter what he does?

  Oh God. She loved him so much it hurt to think about things between them being different. She heard footsteps approaching from his office, felt his presence behind the couch, and a moment later, she felt his lips on her forehead.

  She loved his lips on her forehead.

  “Sorry that took so long, babe.”

  Smooth as silk. She opened her eyes and damn it. She was sure it was her imagination, but she saw something different in his eyes. They were softer. Softer? Like he had to handle her with kid gloves? Ugh. She couldn’t take it. Even if it was in her mind, she needed to figure out how to get past it, and she couldn’t do that here with him.

  She rose to her feet. “Pierce, would you mind if I stayed at my place tonight?”

  “Wha…? Your place?” He came around the couch and reached for her hands. “Why?”