Chapter Nine

Abby

I stumble out of the car, tears blinding my eyes as I try to make out the direction to the inn.

I need to get the hell of this town. I need…I need to leave. I can’t be here. I’ll go back to my little apartment with paper-thin walls and my shitty job at the grocery store with my creepy manager and deal with it. I’ll sell the inn, or, hell, I’ll let it rot. I don’t care what happens to it.

A lump climbs up my throat, but I push it back down, refusing to crumble in front of so many people. Christ, there are so many people, and I can feel their eyes on me. Tracking me… Judging me…

The bastard child. The product of a love affair between a jerk who wanted to have it all and an impressionable young girl and lost everything as a result.

You deserved to know the truth about your past, but I hope you don’t hold it against her or your aunt. They were both betrayed by a man they loved.

All these years I have wondered who my looks favored. I always looked at any amber-eyed men I saw, questioning if it was he who’d fathered me. No, I don’t have any daddy issues and never planned to look for my father, but I always wondered…

Of all the reasons I imagined and scenarios I created in my mind, the truth hurts worse.

I was wrong in thinking that I was ready to know. So wrong!

Somehow, I make it back to the inn. I have no idea how that happened without my getting lost, but I find myself standing in front of the magnificent building that in the daylight is the complete opposite of the terrifying impression it left in the dark.

I gaze up at the towering structure with its charming presence. I imagine whoever first designed this place must have loved his job very much because the designs are intricate, with ornate trim work and balconies that carry an old-world charm. The windows are large and elegant, reflecting the sunlight, and the turret at the front stands like a sentinel over the property.

There are many things I didn’t notice in the evening darkness. Like the lush greenery surrounding the foundation. The cupid statue near the entrance is what I confused for a ghost when we arrived last night, but in daylight, it’s a beautiful piece.

The inside is so stunning too. In the daylight, the glass roof of the turret pours light into the spacious lobby, creating a sense of grandeur. My eyes shift to the plush furnishings and artwork on the walls, laughing without mirth at how beautiful and well-loved this place is.

It’s funny, really. Anyone coming here would never know how much of a mess the owners are—were.

I look around, imagining two strawberry-haired girls running around this place and disturbing the guests. Their father—my grandfather—scolding them for being too rambunctious. A sharp pain spears through my chest at the image, something I will never get to experience.

Something furry rubs against my legs, and my teary eyes look down to find Whiskers twirling her fat body around me. I kneel to pet the cat, and to my surprise, she lets me. “How did you get out of the suite, Whiskers?” I sniff as I pet her, but she only lets me do it for a few seconds before she trots off in the direction of the dining area, leaving me standing all alone in the lobby.

We need to leave, Whiskers and I.

Maybe when I am far away from Valor Springs, I will call James. He’ll understand. He was there when the messed-up history of my family was explained. I hope he doesn’t hold it against me.

Would he leave with me?

I shake my head as if to brush off the thought before rushing to the elevator and pressing hard on the button. Inside the lift, I push the button for the third floor, but before the door can close, a set of combat boots steps into my line of vision and stops the elevator door from closing.

My breath catches in my throat when I look up, my eyes locking with James’s. Christ, he’s so freaking perfect that the thought of leaving this man physically hurts me. I rub my hand over my aching chest and stare at him, those intense blue eyes stealing my breath away. Built like a freaking mountain, James stands over six-foot-five, but although this man has a hold on me, it’s not merely physical.

It's much deeper than that.

“James,” I whisper when I find my voice. “Y-you shouldn’t be here. The party—”

“isn’t important,” he says, stepping into the elevator, but I take a step back when he approaches me.

“From what I’ve heard today, the town has been waiting for you all week to show up and celebrate your discharge,” I whisper. A part of me craves his embrace, but the dominant part of me wants him to go back to his party. It will hurt less to leave without him around.

“Abby—”

“You should go back,” I insist.

“So that you can leave Valor Springs?” he counters, and my eyes widen with shock. “You think I don’t know that’s what you are planning to do?”

I look away. “You can’t stop me.”

James steps into my space, grabs my chin, and forces my gaze to his. “I am not trying to stop you, baby,” he says. “It’s not fair that you have to deal with the aftermath of what your family did, even those you’ve never met. I bet this place will always remind you of everything you never had. I just want you to know that whatever it is you decide to do, I will be by your side.”

I blink up at him. Surely, he’s not saying he would leave Valor Springs with me. For me . That would be crazy. “Your entire family is here.”

The elevator door opens, and I sneak out around him, hurrying to our room. I use the key to unlock the door, and I hear him step into the room behind me, but I don’t turn around to look, heading straight for the ensuite to grab my things.

James follows me and grabs my hand. “Abby, stop!” he growls, and I freeze, our gazes locked in the mirror as he steps up behind me but doesn’t immediately touch me. “Yes, my entire family is here, but you need me more.”

I shake my head, even if that is indeed the truth. I need this man like I’ve never needed anyone in my life before. His presence grounds me. Those massive arms comfort me, and I can’t imagine never again waking up to the press of his lips against my skin. I want to have beard burn on my chin and inner thighs from his kisses… I want to see those blue eyes first thing every morning.

Christ, I’ve only had it for one night, but I want that and more.

I want his body flush against mine, legs wrapped around his waist as he fills me with his cock, taking me hard and fast until his is the only name on my lips. Only him .

But taking this man away from Valor Springs would be robbing the town of its hero and a family of a son. One they’ve spent months worrying about. The thought of taking him away leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but can I really stay here?

James leans in and nuzzles the back of my neck. “Baby, you don’t need to worry about anyone but yourself. If leaving is what you need to do, then I will go with you.”

“I…I can’t do that to you.”

“You are not doing anything to me, Abby,” he says, his voice deep and growly against my skin. He brushes his lips over my shoulder, causing a shudder to rock through me. “My family knows I will always be there for them. I don’t need to be here physically for that to be true.”

“Some could argue the same for me.”

He lifts his head, and our eyes lock in the mirror once more. “Maybe it’s me who needs you and not the other way around.”

“James—”

“Do you think it’s easy for me to return to Valor Springs?” He drops the confident expression he carries to reveal something I never expected to read on his face. Uncertainty . “I joined the military at eighteen, and that has been my life for seventeen years. I never thought I would be discharged this early and always hoped to retire from the job at an old age. Coming back to Valor Springs leaves me…unmoored.”

His words take me aback, and I never quite considered that I might not be the only one struggling with change. “What are you worried about?”

“What I am going to do with my life, for one. I have led a very disciplined life in the military, and I question if that will change now that I am living as a normal civilian.” He wraps his hands around my waist and pulls me hard against him, letting me feel the hard press of his erection. “Well, at least that was my fear before I met you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You give me purpose, baby.” He slides his warm hand up my dress and massages my inner thighs but never quite reaches the place where I most crave his touch, sending a rush of heat to my sex. “The moment we met, it was one bleeding soul recognizing another, and without either of us noticing, we started to heal each other.”

I close my eyes, trying my best to fight my need for this man, but it’s a losing battle. “Y-you have family to help you.”

“And soon, you will too,” he promises, his fingers biting into my flesh. “When we marry and I give you my last name, I will become your family. You won’t ever have to think about any of the people who broke your heart. You will be a Davidson. My family will become yours.” Heat swells in my sex when he nips my ear lobe. This conversation shouldn’t be had in this way. Only this man can say words that would have me bawling my eyes out while driving me crazy with his touch at the same time. “You are mine, and everything that belongs to me is yours, Abby.”

We should stop, take a seat, and have this conversation properly, but my heart yearns for this man. For both his touch and words. My heart is tuned in to everything he’s saying, soaking it up like a sponge, and committing it to memory, and my body is trembling under his hot touch.

I gasp when he slides his hands up and grabs the waistband of my panties, then yanks them down my thighs. I step out of them without a second thought, my sex already pulsing with need. With a deep growl, James sweeps everything off the counter to the floor before grabbing my right knee and propping it up on the bathroom counter, leaving me completely open and exposed.

There is little warning before he falls to his knees behind me, his hungry mouth closing around my sex. I cry out and drop my arms on the counter when he starts to lick me. This morning when we made love, I was sure I would be sore all day and wouldn’t want him anywhere near me, but the second he touches me…the thought of parting makes me sick to my stomach.

I love him, every perfect inch that is this man and the way he makes me feel.

“Oh, God!” I sob when he flicks his tongue over my clit, sucking and licking me like he can’t get enough. My muscles clench and release rapidly under his tongue as I feel myself edge close to a climax, but he doesn’t let me get there, pulling back when my legs start shaking from the building climax. “James!” I sob when he pulls back and gets to his feet.

“You see how impossible it would be to be away from each other, don’t you?” the cruel man says as he unzips his pants, his eyes full of mirth when they meet mine in the mirror. “I need you, gorgeous. If you leave Valor Springs, I will go with you.”

He spins me around to face him, grabbing my backside and lifting me to the counter. I wrap my legs around him, biting hard on my lip when I feel his hard cock prod my sex, inching into me. I wrap my arms around his shoulders, locking myself to him for a second before he slams forward.

I scream when he buries his manhood in me, impaling me with this thickness.

“I’ll stay,” I sob into his shoulder, clinging hard to the man I am starting to realize I cannot live without. “In Valor Springs, with you… I’ll stay!”

“Good!” he says hoarsely before he buries his face in my hair and starts pounding into me like a man possessed. He takes me hard and fast, his growls and my cries echoing through the room, but I don’t care to consider how far the noise travels.

I don’t care about anything but this moment and all the moments we are going to create together. “Mine” is on his lips as we fall apart, locked in an embrace, our bodies twined as one.

Deep down, I know that it will not be easy coming to terms with what I know now, but I realize I want to stay, not just for James, but to learn more about my family’s legacy and to continue with the inn that my mother and aunt both loved so much. In my soul, I know that it would make them both proud. And if I ever do feel the need to run, it will be into the arms of this man, who makes me feel whole.

I’ll be his purpose, and he will be mine .