SWNOVELS When He Desires: Chapter 14
The boiling water in the pot on the stove gurgles. I can hear the soft sound of Blake’s sniffles over it, coming from where she’s sitting in the living room.
My hands curl around the edge of the counter.
Don’t panic.
Do not fucking panic.
Okay, I won’t deny things may have gone a bit off the rails.
I didn’t mean for the fire to get that bad. I meant for it to singe the walls, maybe damage the flooring. Nothing major—just enough to delay the closing by a few weeks.
But fuck. It got bad. That bookcase went up like a bale of hay. It reminded me of that time I started a fire at the docks in Brooklyn, and I had no idea they were keeping old firewood hidden beneath the tarps. The thing made the morning news.
This will probably make the Darkwater Hollow Weekly too.
I drag my palms down my face. This is why Nero’s not allowed to come out and play. He doesn’t belong in this town, around these people. He causes chaos and suffering, and that’s all fine and good when his victims are deserving, but Blake isn’t.
Guilt pulses at my temples. She looked fucking devastated. Seeing her so upset and knowing I’m the cause of it felt worse than getting waterboarded. My moral compass might be broken, but even I know that I crossed a line with this—in retrospect—impulsive plan.
I was so worked up when she announced she was leaving. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I got what I wanted though. She definitely won’t be able to leave now.
Neither Darkwater Hollow nor my house, because hers is too damaged to stay in.
She’ll stay here, with me. I fucked up, and she’s my responsibility now. She can live with me for as long as it takes to get her house repaired.
But when I go back out there with the tea and present the offer to her, her response is, “Thanks, but absolutely not.”
I blink at her over the mug steaming in my hands. “What do you mean? Why not?”
She cocks a brow, like I should know I’m asking a stupid question. “Because I don’t know you.”
“We spent Thanksgiving together,” I protest.
“Yeah, and you weren’t exactly a well-behaved guest.”
Fucking hell. You’d think she’d lose some of that bite after she just narrowly escaped a house fire, but there’s a part of me that’s thrilled I haven’t broken her.
“Look, I’m sorry about the kiss. That was out of line.”
“It was actually perfectly in line. It’s what you do. Who you are.”
I set my mug down beside hers. “Okay, is that fair? I saved you from near—“
She sputters. “Saved me? You dragged me out of there instead of allowing me to try to save my precious babies!”
“I’m sorry, your what?”
“My books! That was my life’s collection. Some of those were special editions!”
Books. She’s upset about her books. “I thought preventing permanent lung damage was more critical, but my mistake,” I mutter.
“Some of those had sprayed edges—”
“I felt the fire hot at my back and thought we should probably skedaddle. How silly of me.”
“And sewn-in bookmarks! It was my one guilty pleasure. Just the one.”
“Bookmarks?”
“Books!”
I raise my palms. “You’re right. I should have prioritized the books.”
She huffs out a few angry breaths, her eyes narrow and accusing. Then, slowly, her expression shifts into something I don’t like.
Heartbreak.
Yeah, I don’t like that at all. There’s a very caveman-like urge to pull her against me and tell her I’ll replace all of her precious book babies if that will make her smile again, but if I touch her right now, she’ll probably throw her tea in my face.
She wraps her hands over her knees and rocks back and forth a few times. “Look, I’m sorry. I know you had good intentions when you came over to check on me. I’m just…. You know. Kind of messed up right now.”
The guilt spreads from my temples and down into my chest. I need to make this right. “Where are you going to stay if not with me?”
“I don’t know. I’ll figure it out. Right now, I’ve got other things to take care of. I need to call Nicole, my realtor, and let her know what happened. Then I’ve got to see what I can salvage from the living room.” She sighs. “Doubt it’s very much.”
“You should probably call your insurance company before you go inside. They might not want you to touch some things.”
She gives me a funny look. “What insurance? I don’t have any.”
I am aghast. “What? How is that possible?”
“The house is too old. My mom couldn’t get a policy.”
This is getting worse and worse by the minute. I rub my palm over my lips, doing my absolute best to hide my rising panic. “That doesn’t seem right.”
She shrugs. “Well, you know, capitalism.”
She picks up her phone from the coffee table and unlocks the screen, oblivious to my internal meltdown.
So I just fucked her. Majorly. And not the way I wanted to.
Moving my head side to side, I crack my neck. I can fix this. I can fix all of this. Starting with her house.
I could buy the damn thing outright with the money I’ve got stashed away from my old life. But that would raise a lot of questions.
What if I just fix it for her? After all, I own a home renovation firm, don’t I?
Sandro’s going to crucify me once he hears what happened. Whatever respect the kid’s still got for me is bound to go right out the window. But we’re taking this project on, and it’s officially our top priority. I don’t care if we have to move some things around to make it happen.
I’ll make her place even better than it was before. And I’ll replace every single one of her books.
Blake groans and presses her palm over her eyes. “What am I going to say to Nicole? Thanks for all your hard work, but I’m a stupid idiot who left a fire burning and burned down her house?”
“You’re not an idiot. It could have happened to anyone.”
She peeks at me through her fingers before dropping her hand back down and picking up her mug. “I swear I put it out. I’m never lighting a fire indoors again.” She takes a sip. ”There’s no point in delaying it, I guess. She’s always up at the crack of dawn. She needs to tell the buyer’s agent about what happened. The buyers wanted to move in quickly, which isn’t going to happen anymore.” A sigh. “They’ll need to look for a new place.”
My phone buzzes in my pocket. It’s Sandro, another early riser. “I’ll be right back,” I say to Blake.
She nods.
I prowl down the hallway and turn into the formal dining room I haven’t used even once so that Blake won’t overhear. “Hello?”
“Happy Thanksgiving, you cranky bastard. How was the rest of your night?”
“You know, under normal circumstances I’d be cussing you out right now for waking me up at this unholy hour.”
“These aren’t normal circumstances?”
In the background, I hear Blake start talking on the phone to her realtor.
“Is someone in your house?”
Apparently, Sandro hears her too.
“Yeah, Blake’s here.”
He groans. ”Seriously?”
“It’s not what you’re thinking.” I peer down the hall. Blake’s still sitting on the sofa in the living room, all hunched over, saying something in a strained voice. “There was a fire in her house, so I brought her over here.”
“A fire? How did that happen?”
“How do you think?”
“Don’t tell me you started it so you could convince her to come over,” he says with a laugh.
I move deeper into the dining room, paranoid Blake will hear even though I know it’s impossible.
Sandro’s laugh trails off until all that remains is a loaded silence. “Hey, I was joking.”
I grunt.
“Are you serious? Jesus fucking Christ. I can’t believe it. You started a damn fire?”
“Keep your fucking voice down. Do you want to wake up your neighbors?” I snap. Has he forgotten how thin those walls are?
“You went back there after we left?”
“Hmm.”
He’s laughing again, so hard he’s wheezing. “You’re a crazy bastard. Absolutely deranged. Jesus Christ. I could tell you didn’t like it when she said she was leaving.”
“She has no real plan,” I growl, keeping my voice low. “She’d be asking for trouble if she just up and left.”
“Oh, so you did this for her benefit? Right. Got it.”
“Fuck you.”
He cackles again. “No, please enlighten me as to your rationale here.”
“I just didn’t want her to leave, all right? Not yet.”
A beat passes. “Interesting.”
His tone makes me purse my lips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. So how bad was the fire?”
“The living room’s looking rough. The rest seems okay. She’s not hurt.”
“I gathered as much. And for how long is she staying?”
“A while.” She just doesn’t know it yet. “The firemen are still here.”
“Based on how the two of you interacted last night, I’m surprised she agreed to stay with you.”
I sniff. “She hasn’t yet. But she will.“
“Oh Christ. You should warn her you might burn down the rest of the houses in this town if she says no.”
“You’re a smart ass, you know that? I’m hanging up.”
I walk back into the living room. Blake’s just saying goodbye on the phone.
“How did it go?” I ask when she hangs up.
She winces. “Nicole was understanding. Told me to call her once I know what the repairs will look like. I need to board up the windows as soon as everyone leaves.”
“I can do that for you. As soon as we’re clear to go inside.”
She opens her mouth as if to argue, but then stops herself. “I would appreciate that.” She scratches her temple. “I’ve never been very good at accepting help.”
Yeah, she definitely isn’t. “I still think you should stay with me.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t.”
“I promise I’ll behave.”
“It’s not just that. It would be a huge favor, and I’d have no way to repay you. That doesn’t feel right to me.”
I sit up straighter.
Hold on.
That’s it.
There is a way she can repay me.
“What if there’s something you can do for me in exchange?”
She blinks at me. “Like what?”
“Pretend to date me.”
Her left brow slowly arches up. “Huh?”
“I have a reputation problem. You must be aware.”
She reaches up to fix her ponytail, looking adorably confused. “I’m aware of the reputation. I didn’t realize it was a problem for you. Seems like a badge of honor if anything.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “It’s a problem. And according to Sam, it’s a big one. We’re losing business over it.”
“You don’t say,” she deadpans, dropping her hands back into her lap. “Who would have thought sleeping your way through a small town might not be the smartest thing—“
Oh my God, this woman. I press my hand over her mouth to silence that non-stop stream of sass. “Date me. Tell everyone I’m reformed. Other women are dead to me. You’re the only one I want.”
Her eyes have grown very wide. I lower my hand and watch her tongue dart out against her bottom lip.
“Um. No, Rowan. That’s insane.”
“In exchange, you can stay here for free. You’ll be right next door while your house is getting repaired. And I’ll—“ I bite my tongue. No, I can’t tell her about the renovations yet. It would be too much, and she’d get uncomfortable again.
“And you’ll…”
“And I’ll cook for you.” My lips quirk up. “I’m a great cook. Italian roots and all.”
She’s looking at me like I’m an alley cat that might have contagious diseases.
“What do you think?”
She swallows. “Rowan, I don’t know what to say. Do you really need to clean up your reputation this badly?”
“I do. You know Abigail MacDonald?”
She pales. “Yes.”
I shrug. “Well…I didn’t know she was married.”
The flicker of repulsion in her eyes cuts me deeper than it should. “How is that possible? Everyone knows she’s married to Wayne MacDonald!”
“Not me!” I insist. “I told you, I don’t pay as much attention to other people and their business as the rest of this town does. I swear, I didn’t know. But the court of public opinion is turning against me and I need to change that. It’s affecting the business. I can’t have that.”
She stares at me intently for a while, like she’s trying to decide if she believes me or not. Finally, she huffs. “So you want a pretend girlfriend to make people think you’ve settled down and won’t steal their wives. And in exchange, I get to live here.”
“Exactly.” If Blake agrees, I’ll kill three birds with one stone. She’ll be taken care of while her house gets fixed. I’ll be able to smooth things out with Sandro and work. And she’ll have to spend time with me.
Lots of it.
She rubs her cheek and sighs. “Am I to believe you’re going to keep your hands off other women while we’re playing this charade?”
I don’t miss the small flash of vulnerability in her gaze.
Her ex cheated on her, and the whole town knows about it. She doesn’t want a repeat of that, even if our relationship is pretend. “Of course. The whole point is that I’m a reformed man, remember?”
Her teeth sink into her bottom lip. ”I don’t know…”
My heart pounds as I wait for her to make her decision. C’mon, Sunshine, give it a chance.
“Blake!”
She jumps to her feet at the sound of someone calling her from outside.
“Who is that?” I ask.
She swallows. “Brett.”