Crazy Sweet Love: Contemporary Romance Novella, Clean Interracial Romantic Comedy (Flower Shop Romance Book 3) (14 page)

“I promised I would find you, Gwennie. Once I did you would never be alone,” he said softly, his face calm.

I looked into his brown eyes. They were suddenly so familiar to me that I couldn’t believe I didn't notice before now. I could see those eyes staring back from a much younger, chubbier face, as he picked me up from a fall. His hands, gentle and strong even then, wiping the dirt from my knees. His arms wrapping around me as we read.

“Lou?”

He laughed, a bright, shining laugh in the back of the car.

“I know I’ve changed more than you have. I couldn’t believe it when I saw you during the interview. I had to make sure before I could make my move. I didn’t want anyone to feel like I favored you at work. It was bad enough I hired you for my secretary position without any experience.”

“Where did you go? I tried to send you letters but they always came back,” I said, laying my head down against his chest.

“I got lucky. A wonderful set of parents adopted me from my last foster home. They raised me, sent me to college, even helped me set up Steel International. You’ll love them,” he replied. His arms tightened around me as he pulled me closer. I could feel his lips move against my hair as he spoke.

“They didn’t want me to have any reminders of my past foster homes so they sent the letters back. My parents told me all about it when I confronted them after I hired an investigator.”

“Investigator?”

I sprung back, struggling a bit in his arms. He shushed me, his arms pulling me back to him.

“I had to know you were who I thought you were. I can’t tell you how many women have taken advantage of who I am, how much I’m worth. I had to know, Gwennie.”

“Fine.” I huffed.

“God, you sound just like you did at six. Spoiled and determined to get your own way.”

“I do not!” I said, indignant.

He laughed, his chest vibrating beneath me.

“You do. I’m so glad to see you haven’t changed. I worried about you, you know? At first, I was sad you didn’t recognize me. I know my name had changed. I haven’t gone by my first name since I was adopted. Once I realized that you kept yourself apart from everyone else, I wondered if you had changed from what that bastard did to you,” he remarked.

“Olivia says I haven’t. That it wasn’t my fault and I shouldn’t hide.”

“That’s right,” he sighed, “you don’t need to. I’m taking you to my place and we’re going to make up for lost time. I’m never going to leave you again.”

“What about Stefanie?” I asked.

“Stefanie Gilles? She’s just a tease. She’s more like a sister than anything else. We went to school together and our parents are really close. She recognized you from all my stories.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh. I told you in the hospital before social services took me away that I would come back for you. Remember? I asked you to marry me when we were old enough.”

I remembered more as I let go of the pain and tension. I could remember him standing in my hospital room, his arm in a sling, tears dried on his cheeks. They let him say goodbye before he left. He grabbed my hand and promised me--he promised me--

“You don’t have to keep a promise you made when we were kids! Why would you even want to, after everything that happened?” I leaned back so that I could look at him again.

He grinned.

The car slowed down and stopped. He allowed me to get back onto my own side. Helping me into my coat, we stepped out of the car. We were at his manor. He held his hand out to me. I placed my hand in his and he led me to the front door.

“Do you really think anyone would ever measure up to you? I’ve known I wanted to marry you since the first time I saw you,” his face grew sad, “unless, of course, you don’t want me. I can understand, all these years since. What he did.”

I drew closer to him taking his hand. We walked into the manor together.

“I guess we’ll never know unless we try.”

Chapter 6

Upstairs in his bedroom, he handed me a small velvet box.

“Think of that as a promise. If you can find it in yourself to stay, I will marry you. If you can’t, I will always protect and provide for you. It’s the least I can do.”

I opened the box slowly. Inside was an emerald set in white gold, surround small by citrines. I gazed at it before turning to him.

“I wanted something that meant more to you. I had our birthstones placed inside a setting.”

“How did you-”

He waved his hand.

“Almost anything can be taken care of quickly if you have money.”

I set the box down on the nightstand. I could feel his steps as he came behind me, his hands wrapping around my waist.

“I hated that I couldn’t protect you,” he said, his chin on the top of my head, “I couldn’t keep you safe. You’ve always seemed like the perfect partner to me. Your wild curly hair, your sweetness. I never found someone that could make me feel loved as much as you, even at such a young age.”

I turned in his arms and shyly pressed my lips to his. He deepened the kiss, backing me slowly towards the bed.

I never experimented with sex during college. I was too afraid to try, wondering if I would ever be able to be free again. Dominic made me feel safe.

“I want to love you. Can I?”

My heart was racing. He nodded and leaned in for another kiss, working his way down my neck and across my collarbone.

The last of my tension melted as he slipped his hands around my waist and I giggled.

“I can’t believe you’re laughing. I’m trying to create some romance here.”

I laughed again until he brought lips to mine in a tender kiss. We spent the next hour getting to know each other again...very well.

***

“I think that was a good try.”

I laughed.

I could see the ring in the velvet box beside us on the stand, shining.

“Do you think I can try it on?”

He laughed.

“You can.”

THE END

A Contemporary Suspense Romance

J.L. STARR

Book Description

Tessa Cunningham has always been a health-conscious person, growing her own fresh vegetables at home and spending her days working at a company with a reputation for growing healthy, organic food. But when she comes across some reports that raise questions, she starts to wonder whether her employer is operating entirely on the up and up.

With the help of her neighbor, a hipster health nut named Samson, she starts her own investigation into her employer's practices. But before they know it, Tessa and Samson have gotten in way over their heads.

This is an 18,000 word standalone, contemporary suspense romance novella with no cliffhanger.

Tessa's Summer,
the second romantic suspense story in the series is now available on Amazon.com.

Chapter 1

“It's not illegal,” Tessa's boss told her. “Everything we're doing is well within the boundaries of the law.”

“That doesn't make it right,” Tessa said. “I mean, these reports—”

“Those reports are company secrets,” Mr. Morgan said. “I trust we have an understanding in that regard? I can't have anyone leaking our internal information.”

Tessa held the file folder in her hands, struggling with what was inside. She wasn't sure what to do, though her gut was telling her that there was something very wrong going on at Dunham Enterprises. The nationwide food chain had a reputation for providing clean, wholly organic products, though the more time she spent on the inside, the more Tessa was starting to question what she knew about her employer.

“Are we going to have a problem here?” Mr. Morgan asked. He studied her like he was readying the chopping block.

“No problem, Mr. Morgan,” she said. “It's just that I don't want to get myself into any trouble. If I'm liable...”

“Don't worry.” He smirked and patted her on the arm. “You won't be held liable for anything. Besides, like I said, everything we're doing is perfectly legal. All the major corporations operate this way.”

“They do?”

“Of course. It's the cost of doing business. Perfectly standard.”

“Oh.” Tessa looked down at the file folder, wondering if she'd simply misunderstood it. “All right. Sorry for taking up so much of your time.”

“No problem at all.” Mr. Morgan turned to leave, then paused and looked back at her. “I'm glad you brought this to my attention first, Tessa. You're a smart girl. I've always thought you do an excellent job here. You probably know that if internal information were ever leaked to the press, it could cause a scandal. That's the sort of thing that costs people their jobs. I'm sure you don't want that.”

“No,” Tessa said. “I definitely don't.”

“Good.”

Mr. Morgan left, and Tessa returned to her cubicle. She sat in her chair, her shoulders slumped, and tossed the folder onto her desk.

A head topped with short, spiky read hair popped up over the wall of her cubicle. “What was that all about?” Mindy asked. She glanced down at Tessa, then looked over the wall at Mr. Morgan as he headed out the office door.

“Nothing,” Tessa said, keeping her head down. “I don't want to talk about it.”

Mindy leaned her arms on the wall and peered down at her. “You okay, Tess? You've been pent up all day.”

Tessa tapped her fingers on the folder in front of her. She opened her mouth to say something, then remembered what Mr. Morgan had said about not letting certain things be spread. “It's nothing. I'm just having a rough day. I can't wait to get finished here, go home, pop open a bottle of wine, and get my hands dirty.”

Mindy snorted and shook her head. “Okay then, if you say so.” She disappeared back into her own cubicle, leaving Tessa alone with her work.

She booted up her computer and navigated through the company's archaic online file system until she found the folders she needed. This was supposed to be the easy part of her work. Tessa's department at Dunham was responsible for organizing inventory reports, results from health inspections, and internal safety test reports, all gathered from the hundreds of manufacturing branches the company had around the country.

There was an endless stream of files and reports coming into the office. So many files, in fact, that there was a three year backlog on getting them entered into the system. There were stacks upon stacks of boxes lined up along the wall on one side of the office, containing all of the files that needed to be organized, typed up, investigated, and eventually disposed of.

Tessa started entering the information from the report into the online database. It was a tedious process, mostly consisting of typing in the handwritten notes made by plant managers and inspectors. The company handled a lot of things digitally, but with a corporation this size, there was simply no way to avoid good old fashioned paperwork for some of the most mundane, grueling tasks.

As she entered the information from the report, Tessa tried not to think about the meaning behind it. She didn't know much about how pesticides and Genetically Modified Organisms worked, but Dunham Enterprises always advertised its products as being completely natural and organic.

The report showed that a number of GMOs were used in the ingredients of a large number of Dunham's products, and that there were traces of some potentially harmful pesticides. The man who'd written the report, one of Dunham's own internal Quality Assurance Inspectors, had made a note in his report suggesting further investigation.

Tessa finished entering the information into the computer, hit “SUBMIT,” then placed the folder in her outbox with the rest of the files she'd gone through that day. It was getting close to 5:00, so she grabbed her stack of folders and headed for the shredding room.

There were several large, industrial-size cross-cut paper shredders standing throughout the room, each one with a waste bin packed with little confetti-sized bits of paper. The janitor, Corey, was already there dumping the contents of the bins into large plastic bags and loading them into a trash cart to be hauled off for recycling.

“Hey there, Tessa,” he said, nodding to her. “I haven't dumped number three yet, you can use that one.”

“Thanks,” Tessa said. She set the stack of folders on the side of the machine and started pulling out any staples she found so they wouldn't jam up the shredder. Bits of paper snowed down into the waste bin in a steady stream as she fed the files in one after another.

She saved the file on the GMOs for last. She tapped her fingers against it, considering something stupid and possibly dangerous. She didn't want to get anyone in trouble, and she really didn't want to lose her job. She could cost a
lot
of people their jobs if this information got leaked.

But on the other hand, she thought about all the people who could potentially get sick if they didn't realize what they were eating. She didn't believe that all GMOs were automatically dangerous, but if there was even the possibility, she could end up responsible for a lot of suffering.

Tessa chewed on her lip until the other files finished shredding and the snowfall into the waste bin stopped. Then she tucked the last remaining folder under her jacket and turned to leave.

“Tessa?” Corey said.

She stopped and glanced back over her shoulder.

“You have yourself a good night,” he said, nodding to her.

“Thanks. You too.”

She hurried from the room, stopping at her desk to get her purse. She folded the file in half and shoved it into her purse, then headed out the door, feeling eyes on her back the entire time.