“She told you.”
“She did.” Kevin took another pull at his beer, then set the bottle down on the table, leaned back in his chair and glared at Jesse. “She cried.”
“Dammit.” He hadn’t thought it possible to feel worse than he had been feeling, but he’d been wrong. He hated knowing that she’d cried. Hated even more knowing that he’d caused her tears. “She moved out of her shop.”
“You evicted her.”
Jesse groaned. “No, I didn’t. I tore up the notice. Told her she could stay.” Why was nobody listening to him?
“And you think she’d stay after that?”
“No, not Bella,” Jesse whispered. “She’s got too much pride for that. And she’s too hardheaded.”
Kevin laughed. “That sounds like pot and kettle talk.”
“What the hell does she want from me?” Jesse demanded, unamused and feeling just a little desperate. The longer he went without talking to her, the worse his chances of fixing this were.
“Seems like she doesn’t want anything from you,” Kevin said thoughtfully.
Jesse cupped the cold beer bottle between his palms and felt the iciness creep inside him. But there was nothing different about that for him. He’d felt cold to the bone for days now. Without Bella…
“She left her shop,” he said softly. “She’s not at her house and when I call her cell, I get dumped into voice mail instantly.”
Kevin sighed and picked up his beer for another sip. “She doesn’t want to talk to you, man. She wants you to leave her alone.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Jesse insisted, his gaze spearing into Kevin’s. “She loves me.”
“She did.”
Jesse snorted. “What? She’s stopped? Just like that? Turned it off and moved on?”
Kevin shook his head. “Why’d you come to me if you don’t want to hear what I’m telling you?”
“I didn’t come here looking for advice,” he muttered. “I came here looking for Bella.”
“She’s not here.”
“Yeah,” Jesse told him with a hard look. “I can see that. So where is she?”
“Now why would I tell you that?” Kevin wondered aloud. “You already broke her heart.”
Jesse winced. It hadn’t been easy coming to Bella’s friend. But whether he wanted to admit it or not, he needed help. He had to find her. Talk to her. Convince her to come back to him. Convince her to take a chance. And if anyone would know where she was, it was Kevin.
Jesse could just admit to the man that he loved Bella. But that was private. Between the two of them. He’d tell her. Again and again until she believed him. But damn if he’d tell her best friend. “I have to talk to her.”
“And tell her what?”
“Everything.”
“Didn’t go so well for you the last time,” Kevin said.
“No,” Jesse admitted. “She didn’t exactly give me a chance, though. She came into the office, reamed me out, then disappeared.”
Kevin smiled, took a sip of his beer and said, “So what are you going to do about it?”
“Apparently,” Jesse told him, “I’m going to sit in the back room of her friend’s shop and be tortured.”
“Besides that, I mean.”
“I’m going to find her.” Jesse glared at him again. “Even if you don’t tell me where she is, I’ll find her. Then I’ll tie her to a chair if I have to, to make sure she listens to me. Then I’m going to tell her that she loves me and that we’re damn well getting married.”
“I’d almost like to see that,” Kevin mused.
“Enjoying this, are you?”
“Not as much I thought I would.” Kevin leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table. “I told you before, that Bella’s family to me. You hurt her badly, twice, but I’m willing to give you another chance because I know she’s nuts about you.”
Hope leaped up in Jesse’s chest.
“But,” Kevin added, his eyes steely, his features grim, “I’m warning you now. You hurt her again and I’ll find a way to hurt you back.”
“Understood.” It was a measure of just how far gone he was that Jesse was willing to accept that threat from Kevin without batting an eye. Ordinarily, nobody told Jesse King what to do or how to do it. But as Bella’s only “family,” Jesse figured Kevin was within his rights.
The other man studied him for a long moment or two, then nodded and said, “All right. She’s been staying at my place, but she went back home this morning.”
“Thanks.” Jesse jumped to his feet and headed for the front door.
An hour later, Bella was curled up on her couch feeling sorry for herself when a knock at the door sounded. Her head snapped up. She knew without even looking out the window that it was Jesse. She seemed to be able to sense his presence. Even when she didn’t want to.
But she couldn’t hide from him forever. She’d had a couple of days to cry and wallow in her misery. Now it was time to reclaim her life. This was her house. Her hometown. And she wasn’t going to give it up because she’d made the mistake of loving a man who was incapable of loving her back.
She ran her fingers under her eyes, wiping away any stray teardrops, then checked her reflection in the closest mirror. Her hair was a mess, she wasn’t wearing makeup and she looked like exactly what she was. A woman who’d spent too much time lately crying.
He knocked again, louder this time and Bella steeled herself as she opened the door. Her heart squeezed in her chest. He looked so good and she’d missed him so much.
“Bella,” he whispered, a relieved smile creasing his features. “Thank God. I’ve been looking for you for days.”
“What do you want, Jesse?” she asked, hugging the edge of the door close, positioning herself across the entryway so he couldn’t slip into the house.
He inhaled sharply, blew the breath out in a rush and nodded. “Right. Okay. There’s a lot I want to talk to you about, but let’s start with this.” He held out a sheaf of papers.
She sighed, took them and glanced at the bold, black letters across the top. Deed. “What?”
“It’s the deed to your building, Bella,” he said quickly, giving her that half smile she loved so much. “I want you to have it. Do whatever you want with it. Expand your business or close it. It’s yours. No strings.”