Page 25 of Earl

“Tuscany.”

“Why?”

She cast him an exasperated look.

“I am assuming for business. We decided to keep it simple.”

“And you don’t think this sudden trip is suspicious?”

“Really?” She snorted. “Why would he lie to me?”

“Precisely.”

“I do not believe this! You were the one who forced this thing on me and now you are having second thoughts?”

Turning off the main road, he headed towards her neighborhood. It was a pretty clear night with the velvety sky dotted with thousands of stars. Christmas was just around the corner, and she was already making plans for the holiday which had become her favorite.

Justin drove into the cobbled driveway and killed the engine. “I want you to be happy,” he murmured.

“I want the same thing too. And I really like Earl. I can talk to him,” She turned sideways in the seat. “I promised to call as soon as I return from the party.”

Justin stared at her for a few seconds. “You are falling for an idea.”

“I just told you I liked talking to the guy, who said about anything about falling for anything?”

His steady gaze had her looking away.

“I know you more than anyone else and the fact that you are being so defensive answers my question.”

Turning her head away, she gazed out at the encroaching darkness. Even though the glass was up, in her mind, she could smell the daffodils at the base of the porch steps that she had cultivated and were still withstanding the cold.

“I grew up without love,” she murmured. “For years I struggled with the fact that the man who planted the seed inside my mother didn’t want me.

And the woman who carried me for nine months thought nothing of leaving me at that place. I made excuses for her. Maybe she was so poverty stricken that she was doing me a favor and hoping to do what is best for me. I carried that desperate hope inside me until I discovered that I really was an inconvenience.

She never wanted me in the first place. Even when she told me so, I refused to believe it.” She blinked back the tears, refusing to cry over someone who did not deserve her tears.

The woman was dead and gone and still she was reaching out from the grave and trying to ruin her life. “So, yes. I hold onto this vision of finding someone who loves me without condition.” She turned her head then to look at him.

“You have.” He had gone completely still when she started talking. When he first met her, she had behaved tough and invincible. But over time he had realized it was just a defense mechanism.

Oh, she could be tough when the occasion calls for it, but for the people she loved, she went all the way, and her loyalty was astounding. That is why he loved her, that’s why he would kill anyone who dares to hurt her.

Reaching up, she touched the smooth skin of his sculpted cheek, her expression tender.

“I know. I really like him, Justin.”

“Who?” His hand captured hers. “Byron or Earl?”

“Earl.” She shrugged. “I don’t know where it will go and I have no intention of putting a label on what we are doing, not now.”

“And Byron?”

“I will go out for coffee, but that’s it.”

He caressed her cheek, the love evident in his beautiful face. “You are the standard that I measure my relationships with and more often than not, they come up sadly lacking.”

Leaning forward, he brushed his lips on hers and pressed her forehead with his. “I want happiness for you darling, because you deserve nothing less.”