Wild Love (Rose Hill, #1)(104)

I suck in a breath, and he spins to face me, surprised by my presence. “Rosie.” He breathes my name like it’s the air itself. Necessary. Integral to his survival.

All I do is hold my glass up in a silent toast and swallow over the dry lump in my throat.

His face is drawn, and his Adam’s apple bobs as he regards me. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”

I nod quickly, blinking, wishing away the moisture that’s building behind my lashes. “I know. The dock, huh?”

He nods. “Squatter’s rights.”

“Ugh.” I blink away, wiping my eyes. Of course he has to be sorry and funny.

“Arranged for Cora’s mom to come for a visit,—driver brought her out here for the party tomorrow. So, she’s setting up in the spare room.”

And sweet. Triple whammy. Fuck my life. How am I supposed to be mad at this man?

I take a deep swig of the ruby liquid. Bigger than any wine connoisseur would approve of, but I’m hardly drinking for the tasting notes right now.

“That was thoughtful of you.”

He nods, the sound of water swishing accompanied only by the song of a loon farther out in the lake. “Figured Cora might be less mad at me that way.”

I turn my head. “Why would Cora be mad at you?”

“Because I…” His teeth clamp down, and a muscle in his jaw pops as he searches for the right words. “Because I hurt you.”

I let my eyes work over him. This serious, studious, deeply caring man. “You did.”

No point pretending he didn’t. What happened with my job was not only a violation but also incredibly embarrassing. I wish West didn’t know, or at least that I’d been the one to tell him, though I don’t think he’d have been my first choice of person to tell.

I’ll probably want to rehash that story one day. Might feel good to get it off my chest. Maybe I’ll tell Cora when the time seems right. Let her know that her run-ins with chauvinist douchebags aren’t over, but her calling it out the way she does might be the change we need.

But not yet. She’s too little and Ford and I are too new. That being said, I want to be able to tell her I faced this obstacle head-on That I didn’t run and hide. If she can call her teacher out, I can call Stan out.

“I’d like your lawyer’s contact information.”

He blinks.

“Why?”

“If West is going to press charges, then so am I. Plus, there’s gotta be a wrongful termination case there.”

A ghost of a smile touches his lips and a spark of pride flares in my chest.

“And I’m not going to air out every bump in our relationship to your daughter. I’d never do that. That’s not how this works.”

“How does it work?” He asks it earnestly, with such a quiet voice and downcast eyes. My heart cracks a little at the simplicity of his question.

He turns his eyes up at me, still treading water easily.

“It works like… I’m gonna lick my wounds for a day.

Because you really pissed me off. But we’re not kids anymore, Ford. I don’t want to stay mad at you, and I don’t want to tell other people about the mistakes we make. Give me tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

I swallow. His mom’s words come back to me as I sit here staring at a man who loves me enough to spend millions ruining a guy for touching my ass, one who will carve up his land just so I can have my dock. “Because other people might not love you the way I do. Might not forgive you the way I will. You and I? We’re a team. I kind of think we always have been.”

He blinks rapidly. There are already droplets of water on his face from swimming, but if I were a betting woman, I’d venture a guess that at least one of them is a tear.

His voice comes out raspy, rough like sandpaper, as he reaches for the metal ladder attached to the dock to steady himself. He looks straight up into my eyes and I soak him in. “I think I told West because I was scared of what I’d do if I had to keep that to myself. It felt like a simple way to step back into the roles we always played. To keep him as my friend and you as his bratty little sister who we had to protect.”

I chuckle. Joke’s on Ford. I’ll always be West’s bratty little sister.

“To keep myself from falling head over heels for a girl who was not only off-limits but unavailable.”

My heart drops in my rib cage as it hits me how tortured he’s been over me.

“I was trying to do what was right. And I…” He rakes a hand through his hair, like he always does when he’s agitated. “I fucked it up. I did too much. I kind of went off the deep end because of what that asshole did to you.” He laughs dryly. “All those buildings. This dock. Coming back to this town. That ridiculous, messy paint spot on the floor of my brand-new office that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to bring myself to fix because nothing about it needs fixing. Conscious, subconscious, I don’t know how or when—I don’t even know if I was fully aware I was doing it.”

A tear rolls down my cheek as I listen to him pour his heart out to me in an uncharacteristic fashion.

“Rosie, everything I do is for you. I know I’m not necessarily a safe bet right now, but I need to know?—”

A safe bet. It’s the second time he’s said that, and I hate it. I’m shaking my head as I place the wineglass on the old boards of the dock and push myself into the freezing cold water. I plunge in with a sharp gasp and open my eyes under the green-tinged mountain water. I let myself sink for a couple of beats, enjoying the shock of the moment, letting the water wash away the tears that had welled in my eyes.