Bending down, he picked her up and carried her back the way he’d come to the chair he’d passed on the way in. It was the perfect size for him to sit and cradle her close while she cried out her anger and fear. He hadn’t been lying—they’d figure this out and then he’d pay a visit to whoever had been filling her head with their bullshit.
* * *
It tookZoe a good fifteen minutes to stop crying. Sitting in Tim’s lap with her head tucked into the crook of his neck while he rubbed her back and whispered nonsense words felt better than it should.
Her chest ached. From her ribs heaving as she cried or from the pain of her heart slowly breaking over the past two days, she didn’t know.
“I should have talked to you,” she said. “But I was so hurt at the thought of someone doing that to me again, I didn’t want to even look at you.”
Tim’s lips brushed against her forehead again. “Please promise me, if you ever have any doubts, you’ll ask me first. I will always be honest with you, Zoe.”
She nodded against his neck. “Will you tell me about your ex-wife?”
His chest rose and fell under her as he took a deep breath and released it. “I met Monica while on duty. Her boyfriend had been beating on her and her neighbors called the cops. I tried to get her to press charges, but she refused. It happened a couple more times until I was able to finally convince her to go to a shelter and charge her boyfriend with battery. Turns out he was dealing drugs as well so he got a six-month sentence for possession with intent.
“I was worried about her, so I checked up on her a few times. Checking up on her led to taking her to coffee, then dinner, and a year later we were married. She was always a little skittish…a little secretive, but I attributed it to her history. I tried to get her to see a therapist, but she refused. Said she was fine and there was nothing to talk about.”
He paused and she waited, afraid to look at him and see the depth of his pain from being betrayed by the woman he had loved.
“About six months in, I came home one afternoon and she’d packed up all her clothes. She told me she couldn’t do it anymore. She couldn’t be married to someone who treated her like she was a porcelain doll. Her ex-boyfriend—the one who’d been beating on her—picked her up from our house. She’d been cheating on me with him before we ever got married. The bitch of it was, I couldn’t figure out why she married me in the first place.”
At least Mark had left her for someone relatively normal—if cheating on your husband and then going back to him with another man’s baby could be considered normal. Running off with your drug-dealing abusive ex was a whole other level.
She lifted her head. “You’ve never treated me like I’m porcelain.”
He tucked a curl behind her ear. “You’ve never seemed fragile.”
“I’m afraid the bookstore is going to fail,” she whispered. It seemed to be the time for deep confessions.
His lips quirked up, showing off his dimple. “I don’t think failing is on any of your checklists.”
“I’m serious, Tim.” She tried to get up from his lap, only to have his hands wrap tighter around her hips and waist.
“So am I, Zoe. You’re the most passionate and driven person I’ve ever met. I have no doubt this bookstore is going to be a success. The question is, why are you afraid it’s going to fail?”
She chewed on the end of her thumbnail. “Because then I’d have to admit to my family that I made a mistake and I screwed up.”
“Zoe, I’m pretty sure the only way this bookstore is going to fail is if you didn’t put any books in it. It’s all Bree and Denise can talk about. I’ve heard more than a few people at the station talking about it. I haven’t seen a whole lot of advertising yet, but people are already excited about having a bookstore in town. If—if—this bookstore fails, it’s not going to be because you made a mistake and screwed up.”
She swallowed hard. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had looked at her with such conviction and belief. Tears burned the backs of her eyes again, spilling down the side of her face.
“Hey. What did I say? Why’re you crying again?”
“Thank you for believing in me.”
He cupped the side of her face, brushing away a tear with his thumb. “I care about you, Zoe. Of course I believe in you.”
Zoe pressed her lips to his. He let her set the pace and didn’t try to deepen the kiss. As if he was afraid to do so would push her away. But after two days away from him, she wanted to crawl inside him and never leave. Except that sounded creepy, even inside the confines of her own mind.
She wanted to be with him. In her store. In her dream made into reality. Because if everything was going to be too good to be true, it should all be in the same place.
Nipping at his bottom lip until he opened his mouth, she swept her tongue inside to tangle with his. A small growl sounded in the back of his throat and he still didn’t make an effort to move his hands. To grab her ass or her breast.
What did a girl have to do to get laid around here?
She straddled him in the chair and ran her hands down his chest. “Tim.”
“Yeah?”
