Bad Boy's Kiss (Firemen in Love Book 2) (36 page)

“That's amazing,” he whispered. “I can't believe he got so big.”

“Can't believe
I
got so big, you mean.”

“Nonsense. I expected you to look like a whale by now.”

I faked a shriek and smacked him. He laughed, pleased with himself for getting a reaction out of me.

“Aw, I said you'd always be beautiful and I meant it. I get turned on watching you shovel dirt, for goodness' sake.”

I gazed sadly out the window. Instead of the farm and miles of land to greet me, all I had was a parking lot full of cars. The road was mere feet away, so I always heard people coming and going, yelling and blaring music at every hour.

This place would never feel like home.

“I haven't shoveled dirt in months. I miss it so bad, Max.”

He got up and paced. “Maybe I can talk to your dad. Reason with him, get you the house back.”

“Too late. He already sold the place.”

“It's never too late. I'll find a way.” He returned to the couch and took my hand. “But what about us? You know you want this. You
know
it's the right thing for us.”

I let him hold me because it
did
feel right. But I'd followed my feelings before, and look where it got me in life.

“I don't know what's right, honestly. You've done some bad things, Max, and I'm not sure I can just forgive and forget.”

“So an apology isn't enough?”

“Not really, no. You made me lose my home and my farm. Now I'm living in this dump, working in a soulless office, with no hope in sight. I've run through almost all my savings. I lost my garden, my chickens, everything. I could go back to law, but I'd have to move, and it'll take some time for a firm to hire me.”

“I told you I'll fix it.”

“There are some things even you can't fix.” I pulled back and tried to ignore the look of hurt on his face. “That's not all. You got fired for doing some terrible stuff, and then you hid it from me. From everyone.”

“Yeah, I know that. I was a stupid idiot back then, and I made some real bad choices. I hid it because I didn't want to upset you. You were too wonderful to lose. I couldn't let that happen.”

“You can't keep secrets from someone you claim to love. You be honest with them, and let them make the choice to forgive.”

“So do you forgive me, then?”

I couldn't look at him. “I might forgive you, but that doesn't mean I can just pretend it never happened.”

“Anna, please. Give me a chance. I don't want to be a pretend boyfriend anymore. In fact, I was never pretending. From the first moment I kissed you, I knew I had to have you.”

“You'd still want me when I'm about to have another man's child?”

“Yes,” he answered without hesitation.

“I... I need some time to think. I can't let myself get hurt again. Not when I have a baby to worry about.”

He kissed my cheek before heading out the door. “Oh, I'll give you time. Don't you fret, all right? I'm gonna make everything better for you. Just trust me.”

I rubbed the spot he kissed and watched him go.

“Trust you? I think that's how I got into this mess in the first place.”

The second his car vanished from sight, I wished he would come back.

Chapter 27 - Max

Anna's farm was a shell of its former self.

When I pulled into the driveway, I wasn't prepared for how hard it'd hit me. Gone was her truck, and a dirty old van sat in its place.

Her vegetable garden was pretty much toast. A few stragglers still managed to hang on, mostly some hardy herbs. I could still remember helping her pick them not so long ago.

The chicken coop had been emptied out, but at least it was still standing. Never thought I'd say I missed those dirty, noisy birds.

The front door opened, and out came a portly older man with a cigarette hanging from his lips. He adjusted his glasses and stared at me from the porch.

“Well, it's now or never,” I told myself. “Here's hoping my negotiation skills are up to snuff.”

As I came closer, I recognized the man.

“Mr. Jenkins, tenth-grade chemistry teacher. Remember me?”

His confusion vanished and he broke into a smile. “Ah, Max. My favorite troublemaker. Must have been years since I've seen you last. What brings you here?”

I took a deep breath. “This may sound crazy, but I really,
really
need this farm back.”

He looked very confused. “Well now, I just bought the property from Daniel Southwell – that guy running for governor, y'know? It was quite a steal, too. Thought maybe I'd take a break from chemistry and try my hand at plant breeding.”

“Whatever you paid, I'll pay you back. Hell, I'd pay more if I had to.”

“Son, what in the world is your deal? Do you realize what you're asking?”

“Anna, Daniel's daughter, used to live on this farm. She loved it here. It was her home, her business. But he kicked her out so he could sell it – all because she wouldn't marry some asshole.”

It was crass, but it worked. Mr. Jenkins removed his glasses to wipe away a tear.

“He did that? Why, what kind of monster would do such a thing? I remember Anna. She was a sweet girl.”

“Yeah, and I'm in love with her, but I did some bad things and I gotta make it right. Please, sir, let me buy the property back from you.”

His shoulders fell. “I only just moved in, and I've already gotten rather fond of the place.”

“Fine. I'll pay whatever you're asking.”

“Well, I
was
gonna use this as a vacation home. I got another place a town over.” He hesitated. “I paid Mr. Southwell two hundred and twenty K for it.”

I about crapped myself when I heard the number. I didn't have anywhere near that amount! Sure, I had some in savings, but not much after I lost my job. And the good state of Texas was sending me a check to pay me back for the days I'd spent falsely imprisoned. But that would probably be a few thousand, at best.

“Man, that's way more than I can afford. Is there anything I can do? Anna's about to have her baby, and she and that kid deserve better than coming home to a crappy, tiny apartment.”

“Oh, she's pregnant?” His brow furrowed. “That's... Very touching, what you're trying to do for her. I can see you've turned into a fine man, Max.”

I said nothing as he paced in a line, thinking.

“How much can you pay right now?” he asked.

“Maybe fifty grand, if I empty out my savings account.”

He nodded. “Tell you what. You pay me what you can, and I'll let her move back in. You can send me the rest of it whenever y'all get back on your feet. Make little payments every month if you like.”

I wasn't normally an affectionate man, but I whooped for joy and hugged good ol' Mr. Jenkins.

“Thank you so much. You're a lifesaver, sir.”

“Aw, I'm just a sucker for a damsel in distress.” He waggled his finger at me. “You'd best treat that woman right, you hear?”

“I promise I will.”

I grinned like a fool while Mr. Jenkins went off to make some phone calls.

“All right, then, darlin'. It's finally time to give you that nursery you always wanted.”

Chapter 28 - Anna

“I think Trey and I are gonna break up.”

I stared at my computer and waited for Rachael to continue, as I knew she would. This was one of the downsides, evidently, of working with my sister. She just loved to come to me with all her personal problems.

Of course, when I had something to complain about, she was
far
too busy to listen. Nothing between us would ever change.

“We're arguing all the time now. I keep asking why he won't propose; he keeps putting it off and never giving me a good reason.” She sniffled into a tissue. “Then last night he told me the truth. He doesn't want to leave Bastrop. Like, ever.”

“And you do?”

“Mom and dad say they'll buy us a house in California if we get married. But he doesn't want to go there. He's happy living in this tiny town surrounded by hicks.”

I scowled at her. “Can't believe you would have anything to do with them after what dad did to me.”

“Well, that was your own fault. If you ask me, you never should have gotten involved with Max. He's the whole reason Henry ended up leaving you at the altar.”

Leave it to her to blame me for the way things went. Why did everybody in this family behave so badly? I thought for sure I must have been raised by wolves. At least they had more manners.

“I didn't want anything to do with Henry.”

“You turned him down because you didn't know him that well. Big deal! The guy had money and power. I'd have snapped him up in a heartbeat.”

“Mostly, I turned him down because I wanted Max.”

“Yeah, and look where that got you. Now you have no man, no farm, no house, and you're about to pop that baby out any day now.”

I stared at the too-bright computer screen. “Dad's the reason I have none of that. He's the one who took it all away from me.”

“Right, go ahead and blame him. He's nothing but kind and generous to me – and he'd be the same to you if you were a better daughter.”

I slammed my mouse down so hard that everyone in the office looked. Well, let them look. I'd had enough of being treated like a second-class citizen in my own damn family.

“How dare you say that! You think it's acceptable, what dad did? He
paid
a bunch of strippers to seduce Max.”

She squirmed in her chair. “You don't know that was him.”

“It was, and you know it. Dad loathed Max; he wasn't good enough to be part of the Southwell family.” I rolled my eyes. “He was willing to do whatever it took to get rid of him.”

“But he didn't send him to jail on purpose. Even if he
did
pay those girls, he didn't ask them to drug him and accuse him of rape, for God's sake. He wouldn't do that.”

“How the hell do you know what he'd do? Dad's so desperate to look good to others, you have no idea how far he'd go. And then there's mom, who just goes along blindly with whatever he says.”

Cindy, our boss, cleared her throat loudly. That was her way of telling us to shut up.

“Look, Ray. I'm sorry you and Trey are having problems. But whatever you're going through with him, I guarantee it's nowhere near the hell I'm living right now.”

She grumbled and returned to her desk. “There you go again, being all melodramatic. You always were trying to be the center of attention.”

I let her go without a word. Only thinking of Max made me calm down again.

It took a lot of strength not to call him and beg for him to come back to me. I hadn't seen him since he visited me over a week ago, and he hadn't called, either. I was beginning to worry maybe I had run him off for good.

It would've been my fault, if so. I was the one who told him I didn't trust him, that I needed time away from him to figure things out. Maybe he got sick of me and found another woman.

I wanted terribly to be with him, but my feelings held me back. The anger over the stunt he'd pulled with Rich, and the fear that he'd hurt me again somehow.

Could I put that fear in the past and be happy with him? Or would it be the biggest mistake of my life to let him back into my world?

I had the baby to think of, too. If things went south with Max, it wouldn't just be me who got hurt.

When work let out, the sun had long past set. I was starving, and the baby demanded that I feed him with a burger, fries, and a big chocolate milkshake.

“Fast food isn't healthy for you, little one,” I murmured. “Well, okay. Just this once. I was getting sick of eating beans and leftovers anyway.”

I could get to the Whataburger via the highway, but it was all backed up for some reason, so the side road was a better bet. The road was so narrow, fitting two cars side-by-side on it was a challenge.

Seeing no one around for miles ahead, I picked up speed to fifty miles an hour.

And that's when a sharp, agonizing pain tore through my abdomen. Panicked, I hit the brakes.

What was wrong with me? Was it the baby? Oh, no.
God, no.
if something went wrong, if I lost him...

The pain struck again. Instinctively, I grabbed for my belly, and my elbow jammed against the steering wheel. Before I could correct my path, the car swerved off the road and flew into a ditch.

Down the slope I rolled, crashing through bushes and rolling over small trees, while I tried desperately to hit the brakes despite the pain. It hurt so bad that I broke out in a cold sweat and my vision blurred with tears.

At last, I came to a stop in a gully without colliding with anything else. Shaking and terrified, I fumbled for my purse, which had tipped upside-down and spilled its contents all over the floor.

“The phone. Where is it?”