Burning Love Page 7

  “But you know I don't do family issues. Family issues make me crazy! It's why I left my family to begin with and went to Denver.”

  “Yeah and have you told him about that? About your family issues? Probably not,” she snapped back. I forgot how good we could go at each other. When we were teenagers and our parents did family vacations together we’d have spats like this. We fought like sisters for sure.

  “My family issues are minimal compared to his. I didn't walk away from millions of dollars or end up in jail! I simply couldn't live a small life anymore. My parents pressure on me to be a math genius was too much and I couldn't take it. So I moved away. End of story. Has family drama is a lot more significant than mine.”

  She hung up her jacket and then sat down next to me on the sofa. “That's true, but I still think you need to talk to him about it first.”

  “Oh I intend to,” I said as I stood up walking over to the door and grabbing my keys. “Right now.”

  “Don’t you think you should calm down a little bit? Get a little perspective?”

  “I can't get any perspective until I talk to Kalen. So that's exactly what I'm going to do.”

  I was so pissed that even though I'd grabbed my car keys I didn't even take my car. I just walk to the firehouse and when I got there, unfortunately, my anger had continued to bubble up. I banged on the door before walking in. A couple of the guys were sitting around in the kitchen and I asked where Kalen was. One guy pointed towards the back of the firehouse and I made my way through. There was a closed-door in the very back, the bedroom that only a couple weeks before we had spent some time in. I knocked and Kalen said I could enter, but he was definitely surprised to see me walk in the door.

  “Willow? What are you doing here?”

  “I could ask you the same question. Like why did you become a firefighter when you're a millionaire Kalen?”

  “What?” He stood up from his bunk, his eyes popping out of his head. “What are you talking about?”

  “I'm talking about the fact that you are Kalen Mortimer of the very wealthy Mortimer family. And the fact that you never mentioned that. You knew that when I went to Hudson Holdings I would figure all of this out and you didn't say anything! You just let me be totally in the dark about a brand new job. Kalen, do you realize how important this job is? It's one of the main reasons I moved here!” I was furious. He had put me in such a horrible position.

  He got close to me putting his rough hands on my arms. “Is that the only reason you moved here?”

  I pulled away from him. “You know it's not! And that's not fair either! Because now I realize you don't know anything about me, and I don't know anything about you. Because if you knew me you would have been able to trust me with that. And instead, you hid it like this dirty little secret.”

  He looked hurt, like a wounded animal ready to lash out. “And what would you like me to do about it now? You obviously already took the job.”

  “I wouldn't have if I knew that it was this important to you. That it was going to be this big of a deal! Now I have to help manage your parent's money which you turned your back on. How is that supposed to make either of us look? Especially if anything ever came of this? Would you ever take me home to meet them?”

  You laughed out loud. “Hell no. I don't even go home. The relationship with my family is limited at best. My brother calls once a year and tries to get me to return to the family fortune. When I don't, we end it. So know you would have never met them as my girlfriend.”

  Jesus, this was even worse than I thought. They didn’t even speak. No wonder the lawyer thought he could write such horrible things about him.

  “Is that what I am? Your girlfriend? Because it really doesn't feel that way right now.”

  “Fine, then maybe you shouldn't be my girlfriend. Enjoy your job at Hudson Holdings. I've got a job to do here.”

  He brushed past me and slammed the door behind him. I sat down on his bed wiping the tears from my eyes.

  What if this had all been a giant mistake? What if I had just completely screwed up my life?

  Fourteen

  Kalen

  The last few days had been hell.

  I hated that Willow and I weren’t speaking. But what I hated, even more, was that she didn’t trust me. I never lied to her about anything. It wasn’t as though she asked me about my family and I told her a completely different story about them. I just never mentioned them, or more importantly about what I gave up.

  Why was this all so important to her anyway? Was she like all the girls that I met in high school and college? I had so many failed relationships in the past. Because they were all fake ones. All of them wanted the same thing.

  The Mortimer fortune.

  Which was why I rarely got close to anyone. I kept all of my relationships at the surface level. I never could fully trust them to like me for who I was.

  With Willow, I thought it was different. She had no idea who I was, or where I came from. With her, it was a blank slate. There were no expectations. But now that she knew the truth, I could only help but wonder. Was she going to be like the others?

  Deep down, I hoped she wasn’t.

  After being a general pain in the ass at the firehouse, Levi finally called me out on my shit.

  “Dude, you need to pull yourself together.”

  “I know,” I said as I let out a sigh. “Just the way she acted about everything put a bad taste in my mouth.”

  “Did you ever think that you hiding that big piece of info may have freaked her out a little? You have got to cut her some slack. You have no idea if she is going to be like all of your stupid girlfriends in high school and college.”

  As much as I hated to admit it, Levi had a point. If I put myself in her shoes, I would be freaked out by finding out about this information the way she did. It made it look like I was hiding something from her.

  And truthfully, I was.

  “Don’t let this go to your head, but I guess you might be right,” I said.

  “I’m always right,” he said with a smirk.

  The next day was my day off and I decided to give Willow a call to try and smooth things over with her. She picked up on the first ring.

  “I’m still not sure I want to talk to you yet.”

  “Then why did you pick up the phone?”

  “Well, I didn’t want to be completely rude and not answer.”

  I let out a laugh. Feisty as usual.

  “I’m glad you did,” I said. There was a slight pause as I tried to figure out what to say next.

  “So, you called?” she asked sounding annoyed.

  “I wanted to see if you wanted to get together today. I have the day off from the fire station and I feel like I need to explain things to you.”

  There was silence on the other line. For a minute I thought that she had hung up. But finally, she responded.

  “You were a jerk the other night.”

  I sighed, “Yes I was. And I’m sorry for that, but if you’ll just let me explain…”

  I could almost feel her resolve waver. “Yeah, I guess we should talk about a few things. Where do you want to meet up?”

  “I’ll come by and pick you up if you are free now?”

  “Fine.”

  I hung up the phone and grabbed a picnic basket from the garage. I had to make this up to her, I had to do it right.

  * * *

  “We’re going on a picnic?” Willow asked as she got into my beat up truck.

  “Yeah, I figured it was a nice day out, and I rarely get a chance to spend time outside.” Willow shrugged as she buckled up her seatbelt.

  I drove us to a local park that was right on the outskirts of Evans Mill, in Fairfield. The place was fairly big with lots of open land. It even had a small lake in the center with a walking path surrounding it. I picked a spot that overlooked the lake and set up a blanket underneath the shade of a tree. Willow plopped down next to me, and I opened up the picnic basket.


  “I hope you’re hungry,” I said. “I always bring way more food than I need to on picnics.”

  “Do you picnic often?” She asked, still a little standoffish.

  “No,” I chuckled. “I just enjoy food.”

  “So do I,” she said with a smile. Finally an honest smile out of her. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  Silence surrounded us as we dug into the picnic basket. It made me feel good that she was at least not so angry with me that she couldn’t enjoy a picnic. I pulled out sandwiches, macaroni salad, potato salad, chips, and fruit. I looked over at her as she grabbed different foods and put them on her plate, and I smiled. I enjoyed this. I was happy just being around her. But no matter how happy I was just being here with her at this moment, I knew we would eventually have to talk about my family. And I could only hope that she would see me in the same light after I explained everything.

  “So,” I said as I cleared my throat. “I think it’s time I explain some things to you.”

  “Yeah,” she said coolly. “Because right now, it all seems like you are trying to hide something from me. Actually a few million somethings.”

  “That was never my intention,” I said honestly.

  “I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me about it. Why I didn’t know about it until I found out at work of all places.”

  I should have, I could have avoided all of this. Hurting her was killing me. But had I told her the truth I wasn’t sure how’d she react. Either way, I had stepped into this shit and now I had to explain my way out of it.

  “I know, and I am sorry for that. But to understand all that, you have to understand my family. Growing up I was forced to live under their rules and expectations. My family has a lot of money because of my great-grandfather. And I think over time, that money has swayed them into thinking differently.”

  “Thinking differently how?”

  “They have this mindset now that their wealth can fix anything. That they should be handed things because of how much they are worth, and not by how hard they worked. Hell, I’m not sure that my mother has ever worked a day in her life. They have no idea what it means to work for a living or even the value of a dollar. And for a long time, I thought the same way, because I honestly didn’t know any differently.”

  “Ok, so your parents are wealthy. But what does that have to do with all the secrecy and drama?”

  “Five years ago, I was supposed to take over the Mortimer family business. I had graduated from college, and that was what was expected of me. They even went as far as trying to set me up with a daughter of another wealthy family so that I remained in the same class as them. But by that time, I had started to form my own thoughts about my family’s wealth. I didn’t agree with just taking over the business and not have needed to do anything to prove my worth to do so. I wanted to live my own life and make my own decisions about the future. Which was one of the reasons why I turned them down.”

  A look of understanding formed across her face. “So that is why there are all these legal documents about trying to pull you back in?”

  “Exactly,” I nodded my head in agreement. “When I turned them down, my mother and father acted as if I had completely betrayed the family. They tried to claim that it was my friendships that I had formed over the years that turned me against them. When that was never the case. It was their actions and their thought processes that turned me against them. They even tried to go after Levi once. Set him up, force him to do things he never would have done.”

  “Levi is…?”

  “My best friend. They wanted to make him look like some sort of criminal. To hurt me. It wasn’t fair.”

  “What happened?”

  I sighed, I hadn’t thought about that night in years. I didn’t want to.

  “It was right after I graduated from college. Levi had decided to become a firefighter. But I wasn’t so sure, honestly, back then I wasn’t sure of anything. I was still kind of a kid. So right after graduation, we decided to take a road trip. Just a little guy time. Help me decide what the hell to do with my life. I told my parents I wouldn’t take over the family business, that I needed to strike out on my own and then I left.” I could remember that night so vividly. My father yelling, my mother drinking. Archer wasn’t around, he never did know how bad it got.

  “On your trip? Or for good?” She was so innocent, asking only what was necessary.

  “Our trip. We were gone two days when the cops pulled us over. Threw us in jail for a stolen vehicle. My parents had blamed it all on Levi when they filed the police report. Even told them I may have been kidnapped.”

  “Kidnapped?!? You’re kidding. I saw the document about your jail time, but it didn’t list specifics.” Or it had been kept from her, I assumed. They were still living the lie.

  “Yeah. I got out on bail right away, my parent's way of trying to lure me back in. But Levi was there for a few days. I didn’t think our friendship would ever recover, but somehow he forgave it all. But them? I’ll never forgive them for it. I’m done with them and their bullshit. I’m done with all of it.”

  “So then why didn’t you at least tell me some of this? I could have handled it.”

  “Because honestly, I had no idea where we stood. When things started with us you were just in town visiting your cousin. And I wasn’t about to throw my family drama into the mix.”

  Willow looked down at her hands in thought. “I never really thought of it that way,” she said. “I was just hurt because I thought you were trying to hide this all from me.”

  “I was only trying to protect you from the drama,” I said honestly. “I will admit though it was selfish of me. You were the first woman I have ever been with that hasn’t known about my past. That hasn’t judged me right away based on my family. So it was refreshing to get to know you without all that baggage involved.”

  “When you say it that way it makes sense. I’m sorry I got angry at you. But I should be honest too. I understand family pressure, but I also know that sometimes you have to forgive and rebuild. If not for them, then for you.”

  Just then the sun caught her hair perfectly and she had this almost ethereal look to her. How did I ever screw this up so bad? When she was so perfect? Then she added, “Let it go, let all that anger and resentment go and just live your life. If they come back into it, then so be it. And if not, that’s ok too. Know what I mean?”

  I nodded. Unsure of what else to say I offered, “So does this mean you’ll be my girlfriend now?”

  She laughed, pushing me over onto the grass. Her lips brushed against me gently. “You did say I’m the prettiest girl in town.”

  “Is that a yes?” I whispered between kisses.

  “Yes,” she responded, her body melting into mine.

  Fifteen

  Willow

  I opened the door to Victoria’s place and flipped the light switch on.

  “Vic?” I called. “You here?” I smiled when after a few moments I was met with silence. We had the whole place to ourselves.

  He closed the door and pulled me against him, slamming his lips against mine. My arms quickly wrapped around his neck and tangled up in his hair.

  He backed me to the nearest wall, and I could feel his hips push into mine. My body flushed with heat and I wanted nothing more than to wrap my legs around his waist.

  “Mmm, yes,” I muttered into his lips as his hands cupped my ass. Thankful that I wore a dress I pressed my back harder into the wall and I let him pick me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and held on to his strong shoulders.

  Make up sex was the best kind of sex, and I was so ready for it. All the emotions I had been dealing with the past few days were hard, but this was worth it. Kalen was worth it.

  He moved me swiftly from the wall and carried me quickly to Victoria’s guest bedroom that I was staying in. He continued to kiss me as he laid me down on the bed. His lips moved down to my neck and closed my eyes and let out a slight moan.
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br />   His lips felt like fire on my skin. Each kiss ignited a new flame that I was in no hurry to quench. He continued his trail of kisses down my neck towards my collar bone. His hand reached up and tugged down on my strap while he reached behind me and unzipped my dress. Once unzipped he pulled down the straps letting my dress fall to my waist. I wasn’t wearing a bra so he quickly captured my nipples in his mouth, and I let out a louder moan.

  He lightly flicked my nipple with his tongue as he cupped the other. I arched my back slightly in response. I rolled my hips up to his and I could feel his hard length in his jeans. He moved his lips down towards my stomach and I felt my body start to shake slightly in anticipation. With his right hand, he slowly dragged his fingers along my curves and landed on my outer thigh. His mouth caught up with his hand and slowly pulled the fabric of my thong aside.

  When his tongue lightly touched my core, I felt my whole body jolt with pleasure.

  “Oh God yes,” I murmured.

  He flicked his tongue again and I could feel the heat rush through my body. No man had ever taken his time with me the way Kalen did. And I loved every second of it. While his tongue continued to flick slowly across my clit, he took his right hand and moved it in between my legs.

  “Oh fuck yes!” I screamed when he pushed his finger inside of me. He slowly moved them in and out as he started to flick his tongue faster and faster across my clit. I felt the pressure start to build between my legs as I continued to roll my hips.

  His tongue and hand moved quicker and the pressure continued to build. I let out loud moans as Kalen pushed me closer and closer to the edge. When he pushed his hand in deeper, I couldn’t hang on any longer. I felt my entire body begin to shake as I called out his name.