Extraits

“You’re not alone. Not anymore.”

“If you want to pay more rent, fine. Pay more rent.”

“I do. And I want you to stop making me food.”

“No.”

“I’m not a charity case, Knox.”

His hands fisted on his hips. “Is that what you think? That I cook for you because you can’t cook for yourself?”

“Well . . . yes.”

He scoffed, turning his head to the ceiling. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he muttered something. Then he faced me again, taking a long step forward to crowd my space. “I cook for you because it’s how I show someone I care. I cook for you because I love the look on your face after that first bite. I cook for you because I’d rather cook for you than anyone else.”

“What?” My jaw dropped.

“I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing with you, woman.”

“Today was your second-best day.”

“Well . . . yeah. What’s wrong with that?”

He shook his head. “It was just a normal day, honey.”

“Maybe for you.” I lifted a shoulder. “My normal days aren’t like this.”

“That’s . . .” Knox paced at the foot of the bed, stepping over the shirt he hadn’t put on. “That’s not right. And fuck, it hurts. It hurts me for you.”

“Why? What is wrong with today being a best day?”

“Because today was normal.” He threw up a hand. “Just a normal, good day. You worked. I worked. We came home. That’s it.”

“But it was a best because of you.”

“Memphis.” He pressed a hand to his heart. “You honor me.”

“It’s just the truth.”

He strode toward me, taking my face in his hands. “Then here’s another truth. I’m going to take them. I’m going to take all of your bests. Every damn one until you can’t keep track of the top five anymore because there are so many bests that you’ll need a hundred to capture them all.”

“My boy’s a morning kid.”

“Not mine.” Knox pulled out the stool beside his brother. “Mine’s a night owl.”

The entire room went still as my breath caught in my throat.

Mine. One short word, four simple letters, and if there’d been any doubt that I was in love with Knox Eden, it vanished.

I loved him because he loved Drake.

All eyes were on Knox. Anne stared at him with her hands clasped against her heart.

He reached for her, wrapping an arm around her elbow.

And that’s when I got really fucking pissed.

I grabbed that bastard’s wrist and tore it free. “You’re trespassing. Get the fuck off my property.”

“You have no say in this.” He shook his hand free, stretching for Memphis.

“Touch her again and they’ll never find your body. »

In another life, another world, I’d chase a woman like Memphis. But I’d spent the last five years in reality.

She was a hotel employee. My temporary tenant. Nothing more.

Memphis Ward was none of my damn business.

“Headache, Knox?” Skip asked.

“Yeah.” Her name was Memphis Ward.

Fuck me. Why her? Why had Eloise put a woman like Memphis on my property? Why couldn’t she have found me a fifty-seven-year-old retiree named Barb who taught swimming lessons at the community center?

Old Memphis was dead. I’d killed that version of myself. I’d stabbed her to death with the shards of a broken heart.

Good riddance. Old Memphis, though not all bad, had been a brat. Soft and silly. She wouldn’t have survived the past year. She would have caved and given into her family’s demands. She wouldn’t have been the mother that Drake needed.

Maybe her kid’s crying hadn’t been keeping me from sleep.

Maybe it was the woman herself, haunting my dreams.