Page 28 of Accidentally Mine

Roselynn

T he next morning, I rolled over in bed, feeling like shit.

I scanned the small bedroom that had always been my room at my aunt’s house.

It had a twin bed and a dresser and little else, the walls still covered in baby bunny wallpaper from when it was a nursery, back when my Aunt Marie and Uncle Hugh thought they were going to have children.

In the middle of the woven oval rug, there was the puddle of fabric of the white and gold Versace gown that Brent had bought for me.

It had to have cost thousands of dollars.

And now the silken hem was blackened from my run down the streets of South Boston. Ruined.

But more than that, Brent knew.

He knew I was that terrible, awful person who’d hurt him and then run away.

And though he liked to say he was fine, I knew he wasn’t.

I’d seen him entering things into his phone to remember them.

I’d seen the way his sister looked at him with concern when he said he had a headache.

The scars that would forever mar his beautiful body.

How could he forgive me for something like that? He said he didn’t blame me, but how could he not? I didn’t think I could ever forgive myself.

I needed to finish up a story for upload, then go to my father’s house and try to go through some of his things before the estate sale people came to clean up the property. But I just couldn’t bring myself to get up. My body ached, my head ached, and most of all, my heart ached.

The bed buzzed as a text message came through on my phone. I dug through the covers, irrationally hoping it was Brent. Instead, it was from a number I didn’t recognize.

Hi, Roselynn! It’s Claudia. I had such a good time last night I wondered if you’d like to go with me today for a girls’ spa day?

Spa day? Me? I didn’t do spa days. Plus, I doubted she would want to go on a spa day with me if she knew I nearly killed her brother. She’d made her opinion clear last night.

I stared at the message for at least five minutes, trying to determine how to reply. It occurred to me that Brent must not have told Claudia what I’d done.

My hands shook as I typed in: Hi, Claudia. Have you spoken to your brother?

A moment later, she replied, Last night. He told me you weren’t feeling well and agreed a spa day might make you feel better.

So, it had been his suggestion. I flopped back on the pillow, the tension draining out of me.

How could he really not care that I’d been the one there that night?

I found his indifference impossible to believe.

And that he didn’t mind his sister consorting with me, the enemy, was even more impossible to wrap my mind around.

I’d wanted to make amends for so long. Had been tormented by my inability to do so. Maybe if I went, I could figure out a way to make it right somehow.

I took a deep breath and typed in: That sounds great!

Perfect. Give me your address and I’ll pick you up around 10.

I called my aunt, and promised to try to visit her later today, to which she responded that she had company of the male sort and if I had things to do then it was just as well. Rolling my eyes, I jumped into the shower.

As promised, Claudia showed up in an Uber at exactly ten.

She rang the doorbell and greeted me with a big hug.

On the way to what she said was her favorite spa, the Spa at Mandarin Oriental, she chattered on about Brent, telling me stories from when they were kids.

He was six years younger than her, and since they grew up without their mother, she’d loved mothering him.

That sometimes he could be utterly clueless, even before the accident, and he really needed a woman in his life.

“I’m so happy he’s found you,” she said as we walked through the doors of the spa. “He needs a good woman. And I can tell he’s infatuated with you.”

Infatuated? I cringed inwardly. I would’ve loved to hear that, if it hadn’t been for that damn accident where I nearly destroyed him looming in my mind. And was I a good woman? I felt like a piece of shit.

I shot her a fake smile. “I’m glad I met him too.

” I was. I’d always wanted to know what had happened to that man in the Porsche.

And now, the night he’d worshipped my body and made me feel so loved, so important, easily ranked as the best night of my life.

Even if he hated me and I never saw him again, that wouldn’t change.

No matter what happened, I would cherish that night, forever.

She smiled at me. “So you really like him?”

I nodded, saying truthfully, “I do. He’s amazing.”

“Well, the feeling is mutual, definitely,” she said. “I know I sound really protective of him, but before the accident, he was a lot more happy-go-lucky. And then after, he became darker and more troubled. Not to mention all the medical problems.”

I swallowed. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear this, but I needed to. “What sort of medical problems?”

“I’m sure you’ve probably noticed. Everything else has healed pretty well, but he gets bad headaches. He has some short-term memory loss, so he’s constantly forgetting things. Insomnia. Nightmares.”

I shook my head slowly. “He’s mentioned some of that.”

“That’s the point,” she said. “Just a couple of weeks ago, he was living life like he was a machine. But now, he’s happy, like I never saw him even before the accident. And I think it’s because of you.”

Happier than he was before the accident.

I turned that over and over again in my head. I’d destroyed him, totally and fully, and nothing I did could make him whole again. Or, maybe there was…I could give him a kind of parting gift, one that would give him something to look back on once I was gone.

Side by side, we got massages and facials, all the while sipping spearmint tea.

She did most of the talking, because I was too afraid to spill something that would make her realize I was that horrible woman who should be in jail for her brother’s accident.

But I really liked her. She reminded me a lot of her brother, with her thick brown hair and expressive dark eyes, but she was peppy and extroverted, while he seemed more like an introvert with a commanding presence.

By the end of the day, most of the tension had melted out of my body.

As we were checking out, she put a hand on my purse when I went for my wallet.

“Please. It’s on me. It’s been fun just to spend time with you.

And I know you’ve been very hassled lately with your aunt having health problems, so I’m happy to give you the chance to relax. Brent told me about your aunt.”

“Thank you,” I said with a smile, dropping my gaze to hide the tears gathering as we walked out to the Uber that was waiting for us. “This was so very relaxing.”

We got into the car and Claudia began to talk a little more about what she did for a living. She was so interesting and animated that it took me a minute to notice we weren’t headed to South Boston.

Claudia’s eyes sparkled mischievously. “I have one more surprise for you.”

Ah…so this is where she takes me to jail.

I looked at my watch. “Well, I do have to get home. My aunt is still in rehab and I haven’t seen her today.”

We came to a stop on Beacon Street, outside the Public Gardens, right in front of Brent’s house.

I had the fleeting fear that they both knew, and this was a setup for who knows what.

Then the door opened, and Brent stood there on the stairs, his lips curled in a smile.

Oh, lord, he was gloriously beautiful, standing there in just regular dark slacks and white shirt.

He came down to the car and extended his hand to me.

“Surprise!” Claudia blurted. When I looked back, she gave me a grin and motioned me to go.

I took Brent’s hand and he helped me out of the car. When I was standing toe to toe with him, I looked up into his hypnotizing brown eyes.

“Hello,” he said, working around me to slam the door.

“Hi.” My voice was breathless. I looked back for Claudia’s Uber, but it had already sped away. I bit my lip as he pointed the way to his door, the command leaving no room for argument. I followed him up the stairs. It was the least I could do.

“I hope you weren’t too traumatized by Claudia’s kidnapping you for the day,” he said as we walked through the immaculate white foyer into the granite kitchen. “Forgive her. She was acting on my direction.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You asked her to do that?”

“I did. I didn’t think you’d come if I asked you myself, with the way you ran off last night.”

He brought me into the dining room with the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the gardens. I gasped at the glass table set with a candlelit late lunch for two. When I turned to him, his gaze met mine, making me wobble in the knees.

“I don’t know how you can still want me here,” I whispered. He bridged the distance in one long step and placed a finger over my lips. Then he took me into his arms, ducked his head, and kissed me, lazily and sweet.

“I’ve been thinking about you all day,” he said, holding me in his strong, protective arms.

I took a deep breath. “Why?”

A smile played on his lips. He walked me toward the living room sofa. His fingers skimmed down the outer curves of my breast, dipped inward with my waist, followed my hips and wandered to the hem at my midthigh. He said huskily, “Interesting question. Let’s just explore that a little more.”

He sat and pulled me onto his lap, his cock pressing into my leg as he hiked up my dress. He slid his fingers up my inner thighs as he took my lips with his own.

“But,” I said into his mouth.

“Do you want this?” he rasped out against my lips.

I’d thought about that night in his bed a million times since. I nodded, unable to argue further with the memories flashing through my mind.