My defenses shot up at the change in his tone, and I started to grow mad as well. “And who’s fault was that?” I demanded. “If I remember correctly, you’re the one who sicced your entire legal team on me!”
He threw his arms out in frustration. “Jesus Christ. Not this shit again.” I held the sheet tight as I climbed out of the bed, yanking it along with me as I tried to stand and gather my clothes. “Where the fuck you going?” Garrett cursed, pulling at the sheet I was trying desperately to cover myself with, forcing me to stay in place.
“Where do you think?” I bit out, suddenly furious that the glow that had been shining on our budding relationship had been snuffed out. “I’m going to my room. I don’t want to fight with you.”
One second I was standing by the side of the bed tangled in the sheet, and the next I was on my back with Garrett’s massive frame towering above me. His hip pinned me in place as he glared down at me. “So you get pissed and you just take off? How the fuck’s this supposed to work if you run every time I say or do something you don’t like, huh?”
“Get off.” I shoved at his huge body, wanting nothing more than to escape.
“Answer the damn question, Gwen.”
I couldn’t bring myself to voice my real concerns. Call it cowardice, but I just couldn’t. “Garrett. I saidgetoff.”
The fire I was throwing from my eyes didn’t even seem to faze him. “Not until you talk to me.”
Damn him for being reasonable when I felt anything but. “I said I don’t want to fight with you,” I repeated lamely. “And to prevent either of us from saying something we can’t take back, I think it’s best if we just take some time apart to cool off.” I thought it was a sound, mature argument, but he apparently saw it differently.
“I see I haven’t even come close to busting down that goddamn protective wall of yours.”
If only he knew. “That’s not true,” I whispered, staring into those green eyes I was quickly becoming obsessed with.
His jaw ticked in an effort to keep his anger under control. “It is. If I was in, you wouldn’t fight me on something so stupid.”
My body went stiff beneath his. “It’s not stupid!” I shouted. “Wanting to protect myself and my daughter from the vultures who are constantly trying to get a piece of you isn’t stupid. It’s called being cautious,” I argued vehemently.
I placed my palms on his chest and pushed to no avail. He wrapped his fingers around both my wrists and effortlessly pinned them to the pillow above my head.
“And what’s there to be cautious about, huh?” he bit back. “What are you protecting yourself from? You really think I’d let those fuckers invade your life? I’d protect you the best I could, Gwen. You and Liddy both. So what’s the real fuckin’ problem here?”
“Thatisthe real problem!” I shouted, even though it was a lie.
And he knew it. “Bullshit! Tell me the truth. What are you so fuckin’ scared of!”
With that, I snapped. “What if it doesn’t work out?” I cried. “What if Kimber’s right and you get tired of me just like last time? Then not only will I be alone again, but I’d have to dealwith photographers and reporters trying to burrow their way into not onlymylife but my daughter’s too. I can’t do that, Garrett. I won’t.”
The disappointment that enveloped his stony expression flayed me open. I hated that I caused that look on his face, but he’d asked for the truth. Like it or not, I’d given it to him. I might have already fallen head-long in love with him, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t still harboring some serious insecurities beneath the surface. And I’d just let them all bubble right up. I’d have given anything to take the past few minutes back.
“Nowhere near busting down that wall,” he mumbled to himself with a defeated shake of his head. I expected him to let me go and kick me out to my own room, so I was surprised by what he said next. “You sleep here. You’ve slept in this bed every fuckin’ night since we started, and that’s not going to change now. You want to be pissed, be pissed. But you’re doin’ it right here.”
He moved to his side of the bed and turned out the light. I lay on my back, staring into the darkness. An unpleasant silence surrounded us. Garrett might have demanded I sleep in his bed, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t an unbearable distance between the two of us. He stayed on his side with his back to me. It felt like there was an ocean separating us, and it was no one’s fault but my own.
I listened as his breathing eventually evened out and he drifted to sleep. However, I spent the next several hours wide awake, praying I hadn’t screwed everything up irreparably.
I wokeup the following morning feeling even worse than I had before I finally managed to fall into a fitful sleep. When my alarm sounded and I peeled my dry, scratchy eyes open, Idiscovered Garrett was already gone. My heart was nothing but a giant bruise behind my ribs, and I had to blink rapidly to keep from crying as I went about getting myself ready for work and Liddy for daycare.
By the time I made it to Bernie’s, I was in control of the tears, but I still missed Garrett like crazy. I wanted to see him, talk to him, apologize for my shitty reaction the night before and make things right. I went about my morning in a haze of sadness, going through the motions of scheduling, ordering, and invoicing before finally getting sick of my own company. I needed out of that back office, so I finished all the administrative tasks I had and headed to the front of the shop to sling coffee and take orders, hoping for a midday crush to take my mind off how epically stupid I’d been.
Unfortunately foot traffic in the café was relatively light thanks to the storms that had rolled in. Luckily one of my favorite baristas was on shift. Gina was as lively as she was funny and could hold an hour-long conversation with a broom handle. She had a penchant for hilarious gossip and worked wonders at keeping me entertained between random customers.
I was in the middle of making a latte for a customer when the bell over the door rang out, alerting me to a new arrival, but I didn’t see who had entered. I gave the woman at the counter her drink and change, sending her on her way just as Gina came skipping over to me like a ball of exuberant energy wrapped in a five-foot package.
“Ohmigod,” she whisper-yelled in my ear once we were alone behind the counter. “Ohmigod! Ohmigod!Ohmigod!”
“Use your words, Gina,” I told her with a playful roll of my eyes.
“Ohmigod, Gwen. You’re never gonna guess who just walked in and sat down!” She let out a silentsqueeof excitement before continuing in a hushed voice. “GarrettfreakingWilder!” She waved her hands in front of her face as my back went straight. “God, he’s so hot. I’d give my left ovary for a night with that guy. I read inRolling Stonethat he has a thing for blondes. Do you think that’s true? Maybe I’ve got a shot!” She flipped her sunny blonde tresses over her shoulder like she was trying to draw his attention while I fingered my own brown locks and wondered if what she’d read was true.
“Shit!” she practically shouted. “He’s looking over here! I need to go fix my makeup.” Without another word, she jetted off toward the break room in the back, and I finally turned to get a look at the man who’d sent my employee into a fit. My knees nearly buckled under the weight of his penetrating gaze, and when I slowly made my way around the counter toward his table, my breathing escalated and I thought my heart was going to beat right out of my chest.
