Third Time's a Charm (Holland Springs #3)(50)

On the verge of answering yes, she stopped and reconsidered. “Well, no—sometimes he’s…him,” she finished lamely. As if that could sum up a man like Sasha. A man who brought her cheesecake. A man who got up at five in the morning to help her clean and had gotten her chickens back. A man who’d claimed Ivy was his and shunned any store that tried to do the same to Rose.

But it didn’t matter.

She didn’t trust him and the one promise he’d made to her, he’d broken without a second thought. Even if it was for his mother. He could’ve called. She deserved a phone call at least. She would have understood, would have offered her help or something to make it easier on him.

Gabriel brushed a lock of hair over her ear. The same ear Sasha had whispered in and bitten.

She shivered.

Gabriel’s hand fell to his side and his indigo eyes gleamed. “Looks like I’ve got competition.”

“What…you-I,” she floundered for words.

Biting the side of his lip for a moment, Gabriel leaned in and said quietly, “Don’t worry, honey, I’m just teasing you again. Romanov needs to see your worth. Women come too easy for a man like him.”

She furrowed her brow. “You mean you’re not—”

“Who wouldn’t be?” Gabriel cheeks flushed. “You’re sweet, hard-working, and one of the prettiest girls in Holland Springs, but it was over as soon as he walked in the door. You two lit up like twin Christmas Trees.”

Blinking, Rose could barely get out her next words. “But he stood me up.”

A dark look covered Gabriel’s face. “Did he apologize or give a reason?”

My mother isn’t getting any better, or worse for that matter.

“Yes.”

“Maybe you should give him another chance. If you want to go with him Friday, I’m okay with that.”

Another chance? She’d already given him too many as it was. “No, I asked you to be my date.”

“Then I’m your date. I’m going out of town tomorrow for a meeting, so I’ll see you Thursday,” Gabriel said.

She nodded and opened the front door. “Bring Miguel over around four.”

“No problem.” He looked over her shoulder and his eyes gleamed again. Suddenly, he bent down and kissed her at the corner of her mouth. “You’re welcome,” he whispered before he stood. “’Night Romanov.”

“Sod off, Edwards,” Sasha growled from behind Rose.

She closed the door and whirled to face him. “Could you be more rude?”

“Let me have a go at him and you can judge for yourself.”

Fisting her hands on her hips, she glared at Sasha. “You-you spoiled—”

Sasha pounced, backing her up against the door and placing a palm along each side of her head. “Yes, I’m spoiled. I’m ruined and it’s all your fault.”

She gaped at him. “My fault?”

“Yes, yours—the woman who drives me insane. The woman I dream about kissing. The woman I hunger to be inside.” His head dipped down, full lips and sexy beauty mark at the corner dangerously close. “Right now, I’m so damn jealous that I want to...” He turned away but she placed her hand on his jaw and forced his face back to hers.

“To what?”

The heat in his eyes made her legs tremble. “I want to lock you in my bedroom with me and not let you out until, until…”

She licked her lips. “Until when?” she prompted. A small part of her reveled in this, his torture. She wanted him to hurt. To feel something.

He laughed, but it was mirthless. “Never, I never want to let you out.”

“Why?” she demanded. “What’s changed between last week and tonight?”

“Nothing. Everything. Christ, Rose. I’m so damn sorry and...and I don’t know what to do or say.” He looked as though he truly meant it. Regret seemed to fill his green eyes and she couldn’t make herself look away. This was the real him.

“You made me cry,” she whispered.

He rested his head against her forehead, his golden hair soft and silky. “I’m a bastard.”

“I waited up for you. I put on my prettiest dress.” Tears grew thick in throat. She would not cry in front of him. She only wanted him to know how badly he hurt her. But honestly, if he’d cared, he wouldn’t have been so cruel in the first place. Lifting her shaking hands, she tried to push him away, but he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

“Forgive me,” he said, his breath hot in her hair. He kissed the side of her neck, her jaw and her cheek. “I need your forgiveness, Rosebud.”

Turning before he could find her mouth and she lost all self-control, she said, “I’ll give you another chance.”

She wriggled out of his embrace, running upstairs to her room and shutting the door behind her. Pressing cold fingers to her heated cheeks, she closed her eyes and sank to the floor. What had she done?





Chapter Fifteen





Sasha shot out the front door, wrenching the passenger side door open before she put the Jeep in park. “You grab the diaper bag. I’ll grab Ivy, then come ‘round to get you. It’s a wee bit slippery out here.”