Bancroft and Ford: Alpha Male Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (4 page)

Chapter Ten

In the seconds after Omar’s death, the men fled, leaving Leigh, Nigel and this unnamed, unknown little girl sitting in the floor of the room, waiting for what would happen next.

“I thought that was my end,” He whispered.

“You must have had moments like that in Syria.”

He shook his head. “Too many to count.”

She scoffed. “That’s it then. It doesn’t matter to you. It happens all the time.”

He turned on her. “I wouldn’t have done that if I had known.”

Leigh glowered at him. “If yous couldn’t stay for me, why would you for her?”

“You never gave me the chance to make that decision.”

“Because you never gave me the chance to tell you in the first place.” Leigh had begun to cry for the umpteenth time that day. “You just left me there, like I didn’t matter. You didn’t even say goodbye.”

“If I allowed myself that, I never would have been able to bring myself to leave. I loved you too much, but I didn’t want to be weak.”

Leigh shook her head, trying and failing at ignoring his declaration of love. “What you did was weak.” But her voice faded at the end. She had realized that she would never win this argument. She stood up, grabbing the girl’s hand. “We should find her family.”

He nodded. By the time they had reentered the main halls of the airport, it had become apparent that the coast guard had overtaken things. Medical personnel, police officers and people in uniform roamed the halls. A steady stream of civilians made their way down walkways.

“Did you ever meet her?” Nigel’s voice shook.

Leigh shook her head. “I couldn’t look at her.”

He stopped.

“What?” Leigh turned to face him.

“I don’t know where we went wrong.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I loved you so much.”

Leigh sighed, taking a step towards him. “See you never told me that. I never knew that.”

He cupped her cheek.

“That’s where we went wrong.”

He kissed her, his hand trailing down to her arm, his fingers intertwining with hers.

“We were so selfish,” She said as they kept walking.

“Maybe we could try again, knowing what we know now.”

Leigh paused on this. It had been so long since she had been that young model in love with her photographer. “That’s a door I never thought I’d open again.” They reached the escalator of the arrivals terminal, and boarded it, spotting the chaos of reporters and ambulances on the street ahead.

She paused at the end of the escalator, “but I never learned how to say no to you.”

Bonus Book 1

Loving Again

Paige Parker

©2016

© Copyright 2016 by FamiMK Media & Publishing, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Julia closed her eyes and let the chocolate melt over her tongue. “This cake is perfect,” she said.

Evan grinned and offered her another forkful. “I’m glad. I was a little nervous about trying out a new recipe.”

“Mmm,” Julia said as her lips closed over the fork. “It was all delicious. The chicken, the wine, the cake. You are the perfect boyfriend.” She leaned over the table to kiss him, leaving his lips covered in chocolate frosting.

He licked his lips and chuckled. “I try.”

Julia stared into his eyes, watching the flicker of candlelight reflect over the dark brown of his irises and make golden highlights in his hair. After almost one year with Evan, things couldn’t be better. She hoped that, with the anniversary of their first date nearing, he’d propose. They had discussed marriage and their future on a few occasions. They would buy a big house in the suburbs, have at least two kids—Lucas for a boy and Amelia for a girl—and they’d live the dream life. She’d secured her first job a few months ago as a nurse at the local hospital, and he’d just been promoted to manager at the car dealership where he worked through college. They were relatively debt free, in their late twenties, financially stable, and in love. All that was missing was the ring on her finger. But that would come in time, she knew.

“What are you thinking about?” Evan asked. “You’re grinning like a two-year-old with a handful of cookies.”

“Just picturing our beautiful future.” She laughed and kissed him again, drawing it out until the text message alerts on her phone became too frequent to ignore. “Grr. Hang on.”

She pulled her phone from her pocket and looked at the texts to see who was being so impatient. Six texts, all from Alyssa.

“Everything okay?” Evan asked.

“My sister sent me six texts.” She scrolled through them, Alyssa’s desperation clearly increasing in each message:

“What are you doing right now?”

“Can you call me?”

“It’s super important.”

“I need to talk to you!”

“Please call me now!!”

“JULIA CALL MEEEE!!!!”

Julia sighed. “I better call her real quick.” She tapped on the image of her sister’s face and in less than two rings, Alyssa answered.

“Finally!”

“Are you okay?” Julia asked. “What’s going on?”

“I—we—have a situation. It involves our house.”

“What? Is everything okay? Did something happen?”

“Well…” Alyssa let out a deep breath. “Something happened, yeah, but not necessarily
to
the house, more like, to those who live in it.”

“Alyssa. What is going on?”

“Remember my friend Melanie who died last year?”

“Of course.” Julia had stood with Alyssa at the funeral, holding onto her as she sobbed for her best friend who’d died in a car accident.

“Well, her husband—or ex, or widow, or whatever you’d call him—”

“Widower.”

“Yeah, that. Well Dylan kinda lost his job. It was this super sad thing where he just couldn’t make it to work because he was all grief stricken, and I felt really bad and you know Kylee was like a niece to me, and well, they need a place to stay—just for a little while! And I kinda told them they could live with us.”

It took a minute for the words to sink in. Alyssa had decided, all on her own, that this man and his daughter could move into the house they shared. The not-so-incredibly-huge house they shared near the city.

Alyssa and Melanie had been close since they were kids. Julia was friends with Melanie, too. They were both at the wedding when Melanie married Dylan, and they were both at Kylee’s first birthday party a few years ago. The situation was sad all around and she couldn’t see saying no, especially since Alyssa had already told them they could move in.

“Jules? You still there?”

“Yes,” she said. “Still here. Isn’t there anyone else they can stay with? Other friends or family?”

“No, there’s really not.”

She sighed. “When are they moving in?”

“Oh, thank you! I knew you’d understand!”

“Hey Alyssa?”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe next time we can talk about something like this first?”

“I am so sorry. I was talking to Dylan and he was so sad and it just kinda came out before I even thought about it, and I figured you wouldn’t really mind, and like I said, it’s only temporary, so I just—”

“Okay, okay. I get it. It’s fine. Where are they going to sleep, though?”

“Well…”

The house only had two bedrooms and another smaller room that they used as an office.

“I thought we’d put them in the office?” Alyssa said.

“You think it’s big enough?”

“It’s going to have to be.”

Julia sighed again, the stress building up in her forehead. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Why don’t you just move into my room with me and let them stay in your room?”

“Are you sure? I mean, that would be much better. They’d have a lot more room and there
are
two of them.”

“It’s fine.” Julia glanced over the table at Evan, who appeared visibly concerned. “I’m going to finish my date now.”

“Yes, sorry to interrupt! I love you!”

“Love you, too.” Julia ended the call and recounted the missing bits of conversation to Evan so he’d have the full picture.

“How temporary is temporary?” Evan asked.

“No idea. I guess until he can find a new job and get on his feet again?”

Evan got up, cleared the table, and massaged Julia’s shoulders. “I think this calls for more wine.” He opened another bottle and poured a fresh glass for each of them. “To…”

“New adventures in roommates?” Julia finished.

Evan chuckled. “New adventures in roommates.” They clinked glasses and Julia downed the whole glassful in one long gulp.

A loud crash woke Julia. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. As she listened, a commotion of sound came from downstairs. Voices, footsteps, and banging. She sighed and heaved herself out of bed. Today was moving day.

Julia pulled on jeans and a t-shirt and made her way downstairs to a scene of chaos. Boxes were stacked on one side of the living room; a scattering of furniture took over the dining room. Alyssa had said Dylan was getting a storage unit for their furniture, but there it was, invading her house. People were traipsing in and out through the front door, carrying boxes and other objects. A small girl sat on a displaced chair, clutching a worn pink teddy bear.

Dylan carried a box into the room and set it on the growing stack. Julia was shocked at first. Though he’d never been overweight, he’d lost a few pounds in the last months, and he looked better than ever, despite the hardship he’d faced recently. He turned to head back out the door and saw Julia watching.

“Oh, hi,” he said.

“Happy moving day,” she said.

He gave her a quick hug. “Thank you so much for doing this. We will try to keep out of your way as much as possible.”

“It’s okay,” she said as Alyssa walked in, balancing a lamp on top of a small table. “The more the merrier.”

They exchanged awkward smiles and he headed back out the door.

“Alyssa,” she hissed and motioned to her sister. “Come here.”

Alyssa followed her into the kitchen and took a fresh bottle of water from the refrigerator.

Julia leaned against the counter and kept her voice a low hiss. “I thought you said they were getting a storage unit for their furniture.”

“Oh yeah,” Alyssa took a long gulp of water and screwed the cap on the bottle. “It’s not ready yet. They’ll move the furniture out next week.”

“And how are we supposed to use the dining room in the meantime?”

“Umm, I guess we won’t? It’s only a week, Jules.”

“Right. Except Evan’s parents were supposed to come over for dinner next Thursday. Will it be out by then? This already isn’t working.”

Alyssa looked to the doorway. “Hey Dylan.”

Julia spun and faced him. He was sweaty and breathing heavy, a smudge of dirt on his chin. His red hat sat backwards on his blonde hair, and he looked incredibly attractive standing there with his hands on Kylee’s shoulders. The expression on his face said that clearly, he had overheard her.

“I’m really sorry if we’re in the way,” he said. “I’ll make sure all our stuff is out of here before Thursday.”

“Oh…” Julia said, her face growing warm. “No, it’s fine. We can make do.”

“Look,” Dylan said, tightening his arms around Kylee. “I know this is an inconvenience. You don’t have to act like this was your idea. We really appreciate you letting us stay here, and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure it doesn’t affect you in any way.”

Julia swallowed hard and nodded. With all they had been through, she felt like a jerk worrying about some furniture and ruined dinner plans. She didn’t really need the dining room anyway. “Thank you, but really, it’s fine. We can have the dinner at Evan’s house. I know you’ve been through a lot. I’m…” But what else could she say? Sorry for being insensitive about letting you take over my house? Even though it’s an inconvenience, I still feel bad for your loss and want to help you? No. She went with, “We’ll all adjust.”

“Daddy,” Kylee said, looking up at him.

“Right,” Dylan said. “Could we trouble you for some water?”

Alyssa turned, took another bottle from the refrigerator, and opened it for Kylee.

“Thanks,” Dylan said, and they left the kitchen, Kylee drinking her water like she hadn’t had any in days.

Alyssa gave Julia a weary look.

“I’m sorry,” Julia said. “I feel like a jerk.”

“He lost his wife, then his job, and now his house. Give the guy a break.”

“I’m trying to,” she said through clenched teeth. “But why didn’t they have family they could stay with? Or a closer friend or something?”

“Dylan’s not from here. Melanie was. Her parents offered to let them move in, but they don’t have the room. With all Kylee’s been through, he didn’t want to move her from her school and friends, and we live in her school district.” Alyssa shrugged. “It makes the most sense for them to be here. Dylan’s got friends, but they’re all married with kids of their own.”

Julia sighed. “Well, it’s only temporary, right?”

“Right.” Alyssa took one more sip before putting her water back in the fridge. “He’s trying to get his job back, but they think he needs more time. He was on severance for a few months, but now that’s run out, too.”

“Where did he work? He’s a pediatrician, right?”

“No, he’s a surgeon. Has been for years. He was at Springfield North.”

“Oh.” It was one of three hospitals in the area, and the one with the best reputation. She worked at Springfield South and had applied at all three hospitals in the area before securing her nursing position. If he’d gotten fired from North, he might have a hard time getting a job at either of the other hospitals in the area. Then what? They’d have to stay permanently? Or he’d be forced to move away. Maybe there was something she could do to help. She owed him that much.