IT’S BEEN THREE weeks since I’ve seen her.
Held her.
Oh, and let’s not forget, yelled at her like a goddamn idiot.
She won’t take my calls…ignores all of my messages. But today, Tink won’t be able to avoid me. It’s Gina’s thirty-sixth birthday, and through Landon and Evangeline, Spencer delivered our secret invitation. That’s right—Gina has no clue we’ll be there. I realize this could go very badly, but I’m desperate, and fairly certain she wouldn’t do anything too unhinged around the children. But then again, this is Gina we’re talking about.
“You have reached your destination.” I’m a little alarmed when the navigation turns off before there’s even a house in sight, but I continue down the winding path, finding it opens up to an expansive yard with some of the biggest, most beautiful oaks I’ve ever seen.
After shifting the truck into park, I twist around in my seat toward the kids. “All right, girls. This is it. Remember everything we talked about?”
Evangeline’s eyes roll. It’s practically automatic anytime I speak to her these days. “Stay in the common areas. No closed doors. No sneaking off. No kissing.”
“Good girl.” Reaching around my seat, I ruffle her hair, which only further annoys her. This kid thinks she’s so grown up, but it’s my duty as her father to remind her that she’s not.
“Willow?”
After adjusting the little tiara that accompanies every outfit these days she looks up at me and rolls her eyes, just like her sister. “No tissin’ Tyle.”
“Very good.” Spinning back around to the front, I switch off the truck and open my door. The smell of meat on the barbeque hangs in the air, making my already nervous stomach growl. “Let’s go.”
“I told you Tyle was a prince, Daddy. He lives in a tastle!” Willow tugs my arm. Apparently I’m not moving fast enough for her.
The house is enormous. It’s creamy yellow in color with stained glass windows and a wraparound porch. The architecture reminds me a lot of the homes in the Garden District, and that gets me thinking of Tink and the day we spent in New Orleans together. I think maybe that was the day I started to fall, and I’ve been tumbling ever since.
“Landon says to come around back,” Vangie offers, tapping away at that damn cell phone that I regret ever giving to her before hauling ass to meet up with that boy.
“You made it.” Spencer greets us with a huge, dimpled smile. “Come with me, and I’ll introduce y’all to everyone.”
Here we go. My hand tightens on Willow’s as we follow Gina’s best friend over to the covered patio where she begins by introducing us to her mother and Cooper’s parents.
Lois, the secretary at Gina and Spencer’s office, who I’ve met a few times, walks over to say hello.
Then come Gina’s parents, who I saw but was never actually introduced to at Dillon’s house. “This is Gina’s momma, Lydia, and her daddy, Chuck.” There’s something about these two that just gives me the heebie-jeebies.
“Nice to officially meet you both.” As I’m shaking her father’s hand, my eyes drift over his shoulder, toward the lake.
“She’s fishing with Kyle…Why don’t you and Willow walk over there and say hello?” Spencer’s hand pats my shoulder a few times. “I’m gonna go have my son introduce me to that pretty daughter of yours, who I’ve heard so much about.”
I hesitate for a moment, and Spencer giggles. “Go on…she won’t bite. Well, not in front of the kids, anyway.” Then she winks and gives me an encouraging little shove. “Willow will protect you.”
As if in a trance, I amble across the yard with my heart taking up residence in my throat. It isn’t until we’ve almost reached the dock that Tink finally sees us. She stands from where she’s been fishing at the edge of the wharf, dusting off her bottom. Her long blonde hair whips in the breeze as she stares at us in disbelief. She’s beautiful.
Our eyes lock, and a million different emotions rush through me all at once.
“What are you doing here?” Her brows furrow.
I keep walking ’til I’m standing about a foot away. So close. “Happy Birthday, Tink.” Every nerve ending in my body is firing, aching to touch her. To hold her. To breathe her in. Damn, this is harder than I ever imagined. How do you go back to being strangers with someone you know so intimately?
“Happy Birfday, Gigi!” my baby girl squeals, dropping my hand and rushing over to hug her leg.
My heart tightens as Gina falls to her knees, enveloping Willow in her arms. “Thank you, sweetie. I’ve missed you so much. You just made this the best birthday, ever.”
“’Sup, CEO?” Savage asks, laying his pole on the ground and walking over to give me a dab. “You got a lotta balls showing up over here today,” the little shit says, loud enough that his godmother overhears and bursts out laughing so hard she nearly falls on her ass.
“We gotted you a present,” Willow announces, glaring at Kyle for trying to steal her show.
Tink dabs at the corners of her eyes. “You did?”
“Mmmhmm.” Willow nods, shoving the giftbag into her chest. “Here!”
I can tell by the way she’s hesitating that she’s uncomfortable accepting a gift from me. It’s why I had Willow deliver it in the first place. She’d never refuse anything from her. The glare she shoots me lets me know she is completely aware of my little game.
Her hand dips into the bag, pulling out the black velvet gift box, and my pulse starts racing. I put so much thought into this present. I really hope she loves it. I need her to love it.
“It’s a bracelet!” Willow shouts, spoiling the surprise. “Hurry, open it. I wanna show you my part.”
“Oh, wow.” Gina pulls the white gold bracelet out, fingering each dangling charm individually. A little cruise ship. A fleur-de-lis, representing our adventure in New Orleans.
“Daddy gotted you those,” Willow offers. “Vangie picked the ice cream cone, cuz you taked her to eat ice cream when she gotted her wady business.”
Gina’s hand cups her mouth. I can’t tell if she’s laughing or crying. Either way, she’s affected, and that’s good.
“This one’s mine! I gotted you the powish, cuz you painted my nails yike a mommy, and I don’t have a mommy. So, that was special, right? Daddy said to pick somefin special.”
“Oh, Willow…” Gina’s hand flies to her mouth, and she gasps. “It’s so special. Thank you.” My baby giggles as Tink spreads kisses all over her little face. “You are so special to me, sweet girl. Please, don’t ever forget that.”
“You see, Kyle,” I say, nudging him and pointing to the girls. “When a man screws up, he should have the balls to own up to it.”
His little arms cross on his chest, tapping his foot as he looks me up and down. “Mr. Jeff, all due respeck—I think it’s gonna take more than that bracelet to make her like you again.”
“Then I’ll do more, Kyle. I’m willing to do whatever it takes.” Knowing that she’s listening, I choose my words carefully.
“Well, you can prolly start with saying sorry to me, cuz you made Aunt Gigi frow up all over me.”
Tink’s mouth falls open, giving up all pretenses that she’s not listening in. The flush in her cheeks starts spreading to her neck. Something tells me there’s a hell of a story here, and one in which I am definitely not the hero.
“Willow, Kyle, I think I just heard them call you for ice cream!” She rounds them up, herding them down the pier and sends them running back toward the house.
“Can we talk?” I ask once the children have made it out of hearing distance. Her back is to me. Her arms crossed in a defensive stance.
Slowly she spins around. Her cheeks are tinged pink. Her eyes glistening in the sunlight. “Jeffrey, don’t do this.”
“I have to.” My voice sounds raspy to my own ears.
Tink’s hands dig into her hair, and she tugs in frustration. “What do you want from me?”
“Everything.” With a few strides, I’m standing inches away. My hands lift to frame her cheeks, and I feel her body begin to go limp.
Her head shakes slowly. “I can’t,” she rasps, clearing her throat. “I thought I could, Jeffrey, but I’m not strong enough to deal with all of this.”
“I’m sorry, Tink.” With my hand on the nape of her neck, I bring her head to rest on my chest, massaging gently. “I’m so fucking sorry for what I said. For the way I treated you.”
Tilting her face up to mine with a finger, I lean in, pressing my lips to hers. Slowly, and reverently, I kiss her, until a soft, pained whimper pierces my heart. With her hands braced on my chest, she pulls back. Her tear-filled eyes make my chest constrict. “I can’t do this. Stay away from me, CEO.”
§
“How’d it go, man?” Cooper asks when I enter the kitchen to serve the girls lunch.
“Well,” I say, running a hand through my hair. “She told me to stay away from her.”
“No.” Spencer interrupts, walking in from another room. “That is the very last thing you do. Gina doesn’t know a good thing when it smacks her in the face.”
“She comes off like a hardass,” Coop offers, “but deep down that girl is as fragile as they come.”
“Right.” Spence smiles up at her husband in agreement, wrapping her arm around his waist. “Like a flower.”
“Yeah, or you know…a bomb.” Coop snickers and jumps across the room in anticipation of the arm that nearly smacks him in the chest. He’s good.
After giving her husband a pair of eyes, Spencer waves him off. “You hurt her, Jeffrey. Badly. Gina has never—ever—fallen for a guy the way she has for you, and it’s not just you. She loves your kids too. Now you’ve got to find a way to prove to her this is more than sex.”
“I told her—”
“Show her,” Spence stresses. “Think grand gestures, Jeffrey.”
