Page 11 of Sweet Escape at Bayside
Andre served up another plate of crepes, and Drake reached for it.
“Don’t even think about it, Savage,” Serena said, snagging the plate. “That’s mine.”
“Seriously, Supergirl?” Drake lowered his voice and said, “What makes you think I wasn’t going to serve thatto you?”
“Aw, you’re so sweet.” She handed him the plate, grinning as she sashayed over to the table and sat beside Emery.
Drake took the chair beside her and patted his lap. “Over here, babe.”
As Serena climbed onto Drake’s lap, Andre turned back to the grill, and saw Cosmos making a mad dash toward Violet’s cottage. Violet pulled the door closed behind her and scooped up the excited pup, smiling as he covered her face in sloppy kisses. It was good to see her smiling again. Man, she looked hot as sin in a black miniskirt, gray shirt, and the black boots with silver buckles she’d worn often when they’d been together, despite the heat.
By the time she reached the inn, she was scowling. She set Cosmos down as she entered the fenced area and the pup raced to Lizza, who was dangling a piece of crepe for him.
“Violet, honey, grab a plate while the crepes are still hot,” Lizza said, lifting Cosmos onto her lap.
“Andre made breakfast for everyone,” Emery said. “There is nothing this guy can’t do. He partnered with Chloe for couples yoga, and I swear, the man’s almost as flexible as I am.”
Dean made a growling sound. “I was just about to say if things didn’t work out with Lizza, he could move in with me and Emery to cook breakfasts, but forget that. The only man I want my doll thinking about isme.”
Violet’s jaw tightened. Her eyes moved from Andre’s face to his bare chest, lingering long enough for a hungry look to crawl across her face. He’d forgotten he’d ditched his sweatshirt during yoga, and now he was glad he had. Let her see what she’d walked away from. Her gaze moved to the tattoo on his shoulder,FAITH IN LOVE. It hadn’t been there when they were together.
The heat in her eyes morphed to something he couldn’t read—anger or hurt maybe—but in her next breath her expression went stone cold.
“Well, isn’t this domestic,” she said sarcastically. “Should I start calling youDaddy?”
“Ohman,” Drake mumbled.
Before Andre could form a response, Violet stormed toward the parking lot. He wasn’t going to let her dothatto him again. He took off after her, falling into step beside her. “What wasthat?”
“You’re the one sleeping with my mother.” Her eyes remained trained on her bike as they crossed the gravel driveway.
“Stop running and talk to me.” When she didn’t stop, he grabbed her wrist and said, “You’re the one who left me in the dark, remember? You owe me some answers.”
The toe of her left boot pushed into the gravel. “I’m sorry, okay? It was a rotten thing to do. I shouldn’t have left without telling you why. Can we just let it go at that?”
“No. I can’t.” He released her wrist and said, “Damn it, Daisy. If that was some kind of test, I couldn’t have passed it. You knew I had three months left on my contract. I couldn’t go after you. And when I was finally able to, I looked everywhere. I scoured the Internet for any hint of where you’d gone.”
“You knew you wouldn’t find me online,” she said a little less harshly.
“No kidding, but people do stupid things when their hearts are broken.”
“I’m sure you got over that real quickly when you went back to your black-tie affairs and private practice in Boston.”
“Is that what you think? That my feelings weren’t real? That I’d forget us?”
She lifted her chin and said, “Nobody is irreplaceable,” but she looked like she didn’t believe what she’d said, either.
“You were,” he said honestly. “I went back to Boston and tried carrying on with my life. I tried to forget the woman who stayed up half the night making a special gown for a three-year-old boy who was terrified of having surgery the next day. The woman who cried alongside a young mother whose baby died in childbirth.” He stepped closer and said, “I tried to forget the woman who implored me to step outside of everything I had ever known and do more for others. But that didn’t work, because all I saw in Boston was the empty spot beside me where you belonged. All I heard was your voice in my head every single day when I entered my plush offices, seeing children who had health care and the best doctors at their fingertips.”
He noticed her lower lip trembling, and she clenched her jaw. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he couldn’t stop the truth from pouring out. “You helped me see a bigger,broaderpicture of myself. A picture that meant risking everything. And yeah, I was scared to death, and I had no idea how to live my life like you did, moving from one place to another without ever putting down roots. But I took the risk,Violet. Operation SHINE exists because ofyou.”
Her brow furrowed. “Operation SHINE?”
“That’s right. I freaking did it. Maybe I was chasing your ghost the whole time, or rising to the challenge you put before me. I don’t know and it doesn’t matter. I pooled my resources and connections and bought an international humanitarian organization that had fallen into the wrong hands. I revamped the staff, redirected the efforts, and it was the absoluterightthing to do.”
“Wait…” She shook her head and looked back at the inn, catching her friends watching them. They all looked away, and she said, “Lizza sent a postcard about Operation SHINE months ago. I donate to them.”
“Lizza volunteers sometimes,” he said. “She and I arenotwhat you think we are.” He paused, letting what he’d said sink in. Violet looked about as confused as he’d been for the last few years. “Do you have any idea what it was like for me to pour out my heart and soul to you and wake up the next morning not just alone but having beenabandoned?”
