Love Loyal and True Page 21

  The woman’s eyes widened, then flooded with tears. “My son,” she choked out. “Jack.”

  The lights around her pulsed, and Roxanna received a soft, electric jolt through her body. Martha’s sharp gasp said she’d felt it, too.

  Giving the older woman’s hand a reassuring squeeze, she said, “They’re together. They’re here to let you know they’re okay, and they love you.”

  She didn’t know how she knew it, but she did.

  The lights pulsed again, undulating, creating ripples of energy that washed over her in the most amazing sensations.

  The woman’s free hand rose to her trembling lips as tears spilled over her lashes. “Oh my Lord, I can feel them.” The handcuffs rattled against the metal bar as she jiggled Roxanna’s hand with excitement. “I can feel them. Thank you. Thank you so very much.”

  As the energy waves eased, Roxanna gave her a tremulous smile, and they each let go. When the narrow-eyed detective extended a hand for her to precede him from the room, Mrs. Rowan’s aura was a clear, beautiful pink. A tiny measure of peace nestled in Roxanna’s heart. While she absolutely hated what her mother had done, in this moment, she was grateful to have been able to release the grief of the woman her mother had swindled.

  Loyal stayed behind with the lawyer, but she was having a hard time finding the courage to look at him. She had her hope of why he was here, at the police station, in this room, with a lawyer he’d clearly gotten for her. But she was terrified of allowing that hope to blossom. She’d worked for the very people who’d scammed him and gotten him dumped at the altar. Cost him thousands of dollars. Left him humiliated. How could he ever forgive her?

  “Roxanna.”

  His low voice compelled her to lift her head, and the look in his eyes nearly stopped her heart.

  “It’s going to be okay.”

  Chapter 30

  A little over three hours later, Loyal walked Roxanna out to the waiting area a free woman. The moment she thanked Gavin Stowe and the lawyer left, Asher and Honor smothered her with hugs right there in the police station.

  He was dying to hold her in his arms, but once she was there, he wasn’t going to want to let go for a long time, so he was biding his time until they got home.

  “It’s over. For me at least,” she was saying. “Between what Loyal brought, and everything I told them from when I worked at the hotline, they’ve cleared me with the condition I testify when my mom and Leander Tanner are caught.”

  “You going to be okay with that?” Asher voiced the concern Loyal himself had.

  “I am. Or I will be.” Roxanna lifted her hands up in a helpless gesture. “She can’t keep doing what she’s doing. If she hasn’t already, she could ruin someone’s life. Messing with their emotions when they’re grieving and vulnerable so she can scam them out of money is wrong. I have to do what I can to stop her.”

  Loyal’s chest swelled with pride. If her ungrateful grandparents could see her now. She was nothing like her selfish, self-centered mother. She was kind and honest, gentle and compassionate, good and beautiful.

  “And you know how I could never get my accounts to balance out?” she asked Asher. “Loyal figured out Mirela was skimming, and come to find out, she’s a distant cousin of my mother’s.”

  “You think your mom was part of that, too?”

  “I don’t doubt it for one second.” She frowned, then quickly glanced around the station. It was busy and loud, and dingier than before now that darkness had fallen outside. “Anyway, do you guys mind if we get out of here? I’ve had enough of this place to last me a lifetime.”

  “Do you need anything?” Honor asked.

  “I just want to go home and go to bed.”

  Loyal didn’t even think of sex as he caught Asher’s glance and stepped up to rest his hand at the small of her back with a nod to his brother, indicating he’d take her home. She thanked them for being there, and then they said their goodbyes and parted ways in the brightly lit parking lot.

  She was quiet as he held the passenger door of his Land Rover open for her. She slipped inside, but he paused before closing it.

  “Roxanna.” His voice graveled out, and he had to clear his throat to start again. “Back at the shop…I’m sorry I doubted you.”

  “Loyal, don’t. I don’t blame you,” she said softly, still not looking at him. “How could I? It looked bad, especially since I hadn’t told you. I hadn’t even told Asher.”

  “It was only for a moment, and then I knew as soon as you were gone you couldn’t do what they were accusing you of, but I am still so damn sorry. And telling you to shut-up—I didn’t want you to say anything they could twist and use against you.”

  She stared straight ahead, her gaze on the police station through the windshield. “I don’t really want to talk about this here. Please.”

  He frowned at the dejection in her voice, but decided not to push it. She was exhausted and emotionally drained, and the least he could do was get her home so she could recover and regroup.

  Once out of the lot, she remained quiet, and his gut clenched at the gaping hole that seemed to be widening between them. He needed to fix this, but didn’t know what else to say to make it better.

  “What is it about me that my own mother can’t love me?”

  At her soft, anguished whisper, he glanced over to see her staring out the passenger side window. The light from the dashboard glinted off the wetness on her face, and a golf-ball sized lump lodged in his throat.

  Her fucking mother. No, make that her whole fucking family.

  Loyal swerved over to the side of the road and threw the Rover in park. Roxanna’s head swung toward him in surprise as he unlatched his seatbelt to face her. His heart cracked at the sight of her tear-streaked cheeks.

  “Shit.” Her head ducked as she reached up with trembling hands to wipe at the moisture. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

  “I love you.”

  She jerked her head back up, her eyes wide.

  “Even when I didn’t want to like you, I was drawn to you from the second we met. At first I fought it because I was engaged, after that, I fought it for all the wrong reasons, until the night of the fire. Maybe even for a little bit after, but the truth of it is, as soon as I caught one glimpse of the woman you are instead of who I thought you were, I was done for. I couldn’t not love you.”

  Her cheeks were wet again, and he unfastened and got her seatbelt out of the way before cupping her face with both hands. He intended to swipe the new tears from her cheeks with his thumbs, but as her luminous gaze stayed with his, he instead leaned down to kiss them away while his own eyes stung.

  “Listen to me, Roxanna, and believe every word I say. You are not the problem. Your mother is. She’s the selfish one who can’t love anyone but herself. She doesn’t deserve someone as wonderful as you in her life.” He moved his lips to her other cheek. “Hell, I probably don’t, either, but I’m going to do my best to earn the privilege of having you in my life every day.”

  Realizing she’d been dead silent since he said, “I love you,” he experienced a moment of panic.

  “If you’ll have me, that is.”

  Her head ducked again, and the next thing he knew, she burst into loud, gasping sobs and sagged into his arms. He held her tight against his chest, rocking slightly as he smoothed her hair, until the sobs became sniffles, then hiccups, and finally there was silence in the dark cab.

  She flattened one hand on his chest, sliding it until her palm covered where his heart thumped in his chest.

  “I love you, too.”

  The whispered words made his heartbeat speed up, and her fingers flexed lightly against his wet shirt. He wanted to tilt her head up to his, but she was still tucked in pretty tight and not moving.

  “When I was younger, I had a vision that the true love of my life would be Loyal and true.”

  He gave a tiny, involuntary head-jerk. “Seriously?”

  “I don’t joke about
visions, Loyal.”

  He grinned as he recalled saying something similar to her about numbers. His grin widened when he realized she was teasing him. The tightness in his chest shifted, and he suddenly knew they were going to be okay.

  “When we were first introduced and I heard your name, I thought it was fate,” she continued. “I was also young, and foolish, and you were—”

  “An ass.”

  “Engaged. And then you weren’t, but yes, you were an ass, too. As time went on and things didn’t change, I knew I needed to get over you and move on, but my heart never quite got on board with my head.”

  “I love your heart,” he murmured. He didn’t apologize for being a jerk again. They’d agreed that was in the past.

  She finally pushed away from his chest far enough to see his face in the dim light of the dash. “And then you moved home. The morning after the fire is when I truly got my first glimpse of you. Not the wounded man afraid to believe, but the loyal and true man you are in here.” Her palm moved over his heart. “You are beautiful and amazing, and I do love you with all my heart.”

  The sting in his eyes returned, and he blinked hard while giving a self-conscious sniff. “Well, now you know what can make me cry.”

  “I’d much rather make you laugh.”

  She reached up to wipe his tears, then leaned in to give him the sweetest, most wonderful kiss he’d ever experienced. Nothing but goodness and love.

  “Thank you,” she murmured against his mouth. “For coming for me. For believing in me. For…loving me.”

  He cupped the back of her head and whispered, “Always,” before sealing his vow for all three with his own kiss of pure love.

  Epilogue

  On a bright, sunny Saturday in mid-January, Roxanna and Honor held a joint grand re-opening/opening for Lift Your Spirit and Honor’s new specialty cake shop, Must Love Frosting. The morning was a smashing success, crazy busy, but filled with the love and laughter of family and friends, and a whole lot of customers.

  Senator Diamond and Janine flew back from Washington D.C. to attend the event, and at one point, Roxanna found herself surrounded by almost the entire Diamond family—her family.

  With Loyal’s help, she’d come to accept not only would she never receive what she’d always wanted from her mother, but the fact she no longer needed anything from her to feel worthy of love. Loyal, Asher, and the rest of them more than made up for her sorry-ass side, and Honor and Mae were a whole other kind of family she’d come to cherish.

  Before noon, she was able to hug Martha Rowen, and buy her guardian angel driver Leonard from the night of the fire a dozen cupcakes to take home for him and his granddaughter. Loyal shook the man’s hand and thanked him for saving her from walking in the cold that night.

  There was a fun moment when Mae introduced Merit to Ian, and Merit realized the ‘man’ he’d been jealous of the past couple of months was her six-year-old son. Based on the guy’s open no single moms rule, Roxanna fully expected Merit to lay off the flirting after that. The surprise came when he and Ian hit it off like best buds.

  On a mid-afternoon trip through the store to offer cake and coffee samples and see if customers had questions, she spotted Loyal leaning against the wall behind the register, cell phone in hand, brow furrowed. She’d started sensing more with him the past couple of months, his moods and feelings, though she wasn’t sure it was psychic reading so much as being attuned to the man she loved.

  Setting her tray down on the counter, she sidled up beside him. “Everything okay?”

  “Just trying to word this text to my brother.”

  She lifted her gaze to his. Asher and Merit were both over on the bakery side. Which meant the only brother he’d need to text was Grayson.

  “What are you texting him for?”

  “I’m going to offer him money for the foundation.”

  “Finally?” It had been almost two months since she’d first suggested he use his own money.

  He blew out a breath. “Yeah. It took a little longer to sort out the details than I expected. Plus my lawyer said it was best to wait for the new year.”

  “Okay, but now it’s all set, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then why are you frowning?”

  “Because it’s not going to only be my money. I’m adding mine to Dad’s.”

  Comprehension dawned, and she smiled. “You’re taking the CFO position.”

  “Yeah. Grayson’s going to be pissed.”

  “So maybe it’s better you do it in person.”

  He made a face. “He’s still going to be pissed.”

  “He’ll get over it,” she predicted with confidence. “Especially when he realizes he can help twice as many people with twice as much money.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “Grayson might be bull-headed”—like you can be—“but he isn’t stupid.”

  Loyal shrugged as his lips twisted with a slight smirk. She smacked him on the arm, leaned in for a two second kiss that may have stretched to five—okay, seven—then stepped away to pick up her tray.

  “Roxanna.”

  She heard the need in his voice, and her panties were instantly wet. She arched him a look over her shoulder as she moved far enough away to avoid the temptation to jump him.

  Chin dipped low to his chest, he gave her a devilishly sexy look through his lashes and a little jerk of his head toward her reading room.

  Eyes wide, she darted a look around the busy store and shook her head.

  He raised his eyebrows.

  She shook her head more emphatically. No way was she going to have sex right there with people in her store. The fact that her buttoned-up accountant wanted to was almost as shocking. And a major turn on, too.

  “Later,” she promised huskily before walking away.

  She couldn’t believe he’d been serious. As she emptied her tray twice over the next thirty or so minutes, she imagined sneaking into the back room. It was way too crazy to contemplate. He definitely hadn’t been serious.

  Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she smiled when she saw who’d texted.

  Loyal: It’s thirty-seven minutes later.

  Roxanna snuck glances around the shop as she replied: Stop it. Where are you?

  Loyal: Waiting.

  She frowned toward the back and saw the three lines of beads on one side of the door sway the tiniest bit. He was serious.

  Forbidden excitement skyrocketed her pulse.

  She hadn’t scheduled any readings that day, so the lights were off, and there was no reason for anyone to go in the room. If they were quiet, no one would know.

  Oh my God, she was considering it.

  She did a quick scan of the shop and saw customers had thinned out during the past few minutes. Tessa and Darcy were both working the full day, and were currently chatting at the coffee station, taking a break while they could.

  Loyal: 5 minutes. 1 orgasm for each of us. Let’s do this.

  Oh my God, she was doing this.

  Roxanna sucked in a shallow breath and willed her heart rate to slow down as she approached the girls. “You guys mind if I take a quick ten minute break? I just need a few minutes of quiet in the back to recharge.”

  “Go ahead. I got the register,” Tessa agreed before they waved her along and continued their conversation. No one else paid her any mind as she slipped through the beads into the dim room.

  Loyal grasped her arm, spun her around, and pressed her up against the wall in the darkest corner away from the door. He whispered a soft, “Shh,” to quiet her over-excited gasp, then covered her mouth with his.

  As his tongue dueled with hers, she fumbled between them to undo his belt and push his pants down enough to free his erection. He lifted her long skirt, and in one swift jerk, ripped her thong right off. Her eyes went wide as her heart jolted in her chest.

  “Loyal!” she whisper-shouted, even though it might be the hottest thing he’d ever done.

&nb
sp; “Five minutes,” he muttered nearly soundlessly against her mouth, hoisting her up to wrap her legs around his waist as he entered her in one stroke. “No time.”

  Her fingers clenched in his hair at the delicious sensation of him filling her up. “I told the girls I was taking ten.”

  He stilled for a moment. “Well, damn. Wish I’d known that.”

  She rolled her eyes, then had to bite back a moan when he began to thrust into her. It was quick and dirty, but he reached between them to make sure she came with him and muffled her involuntary cry of release before his spent weight pinned her to the wall.

  “Love you, witch,” he whispered against the side of her neck.

  “Love you, too.”

  And in less than ten minutes, she was back out on the floor with a secret the two of them shared through hot, steamy, breath-stealing glances the rest of the day.

  After a jam-packed morning and afternoon, there were still enough customers to keep busy until closing at six p.m. Employees and family on both sides helped with clean-up before kicking back with coffee or wine and slices of pizza Roxanna and Honor ordered for dinner. The whole day had been filled with sweets and caffeine, so more substantial sustenance was required.

  Slowly people began trickling out, saying their goodbyes as thank you’s were called back, until by nine-fifteen, it was just Honor and Asher, and Loyal and Roxanna, sipping wine at one of the café tables on Must Love Frosting’s side.

  When Loyal noticed Roxanna’s glass was empty, he leaned back in his chair with a barely fabricated yawn. “We should probably get going.” He rose and pulled out her chair. “Tomorrow morning will be here soon enough, and Rox has some numbers for me to look at yet tonight.”

  She grinned at him, and the way her cheeks turned pink got his blood pumping faster. From the corner of his eye, he saw Honor look up from her plate with wide eyes and a grin.

  “That’s your code word!”

  “What?” Roxanna tried to play it off. “We don’t have a code word.”