“Funny that you think you can just come back here and act like you didn’t break her heart,” Blane said, as he drew closer to me.

“I’m afraid what transpired between Goldie and me is none of your business,” I answered back, while I stepped forward, ready for what Blane had in store for me.

Moving in closer, Blane responded, “It is my business when…”

“Stop!” Goldie said, while jumping between us and placing her small hands on both of our chests to separate us. It was almost comical to see her try to put herself between Blane and me. She turned to Blane and said, “I can handle this, Blane. Please, watch my paintings for me.”

“You sure?” Blane asked, as he picked up Goldie’s hand and brought it to his mouth.

Right then and there, I wanted to bury my fist in his mouth. I wanted to crack every perfect white tooth of his. I wanted to make the man bleed, and I wasn’t a violent person, but do not touch my girl…ever!

“Positive, thank you.”

I watched in horror as Goldie stood on her toes and placed a kiss on Blane’s cheek. I felt like I was going to lose everything that had built up over the past few weeks. All the pent up angst, the need for her, the urge to take her the way I wanted…it was all about to come crashing down with that little display of affection.

I felt cold, numb, like I was nothing but an empty void.

Slowly, I watched as Goldie stepped away from him and then turned toward me. With a nod of her head toward the stairs that led into the greens of the square, I followed her with a dejected demeanor, a fucking broken heart, as I realized this was going to be my last attempt to try to win her back.

Leaning up against a stone wall, she looked up at me and said, “What do you want, Jett?”

“Are you with him?” I asked, needing to know, needing to end the misery I was going through.

“Excuse me? I don’t think that’s any of your business,” she said defiantly.

“It is my business,” I closed in on her, needing to be closer. “Tell me, are you with him?”

“And, if I was?” she lifted her chin.

If she was? What the fuck would I do? Probably lose my damn mind and go ape shit crazy on the man’s ass, but she didn’t need to know that.

“That’s something I will deal with if it’s true. So, are you with him?”

She bit on her bottom lip as she looked to the side and nodded her head yes.

Every bone in my body melted from the confirmation. I felt like my heart burst in my chest, and not in a good way. She was with someone else.

“I see,” I said, as I cleared my throat and took a step back. “The least you could have done was to have the dignity to look me in the eye when you say you’re with him.”

Her head dropped, and all I could see was the sun hat that was blocking my view of her gorgeous face.

“Goldie, look at me.”

She shook her head no and turned her back toward me. Needing her to tell me to my face she was with Blane, I gently turned her back around and lifted her chin. Tears fell from her eyes as she looked up at me. I thought I knew pain…that was until I saw Goldie cry.

The need to wrap her up in my arms and make everything better overtook my body as I tried to pull her into my chest, but her hands stopped me.

“Don’t,” she said between tear-soaked breaths.

“Goldie…” I said softly. “Please, talk to me. Why are you crying? Is he hurting you?”

“No!” her head snapped up. “You’re hurting me, Jett. You’re the one making me cry, not him.”

The memories I have of Goldie are happy ones, sexy ones, heartfelt ones. The Goldie standing in front of me was not a Goldie I knew. She was angry, upset, and mad. I’ve seen her mad at me before, but not like this, as if she’d lost the spark in her eyes.

I was at a loss. I had no clue how to handle this, how to talk to her without sounding like a tool, but I could feel her slipping away with each passing second. I had to do something. I had to throw myself out there.

“I’m sorry,” I said, while trying to take her hand, but she denied me that as well.

“Is that all?” she asked, as she wiped a tear from under her eye right before she crossed her arms over her chest.

“No, I want to talk to you.”

“Talk then,” she said, while gesturing to me.

I ran my hand through my hair and put myself out there.

“I came here to ask you out.”

Her arms uncrossed as she stared at me with the most adorable perplexed face.

“What did you say?”

My heart beat rapidly in my chest as I said, “I wanted to ask you out on a date. Just you and me.”

I could see a bit of her eyes start to light up again at my question, which gave me hope…hope that was threatened to be ripped right out from under me with one little word from her.

“Why would you want to ask me out?”

She wasn’t going to make this fucking easy at all. I wasn’t one to show my feelings, to make them known, especially in a public place, so I was struggling to find the right words, but knew if I didn’t, I wouldn’t ever see her again, simple as that.

“Goldie, I’ve been a bastard. I’ve treated you with disrespect and acted like a fool full of jealousy. I didn’t give you a chance to prove your ability to take care of us, and I’m forever regretful about that. I know I can’t change the past, but I can start a new future. I want another chance, I want to be able to treat you like you’re supposed to be treated. I want a life with you, but I know I have to prove it to you first.”

“That’s right you have to prove it to me,” she snapped at me, while pushing my chest with her finger. A small smile threatened to cross my face, but I held my features together so I didn’t piss her off any more. “It’s so infuriating how you can just walk in to my life again and disrupt everything. It’s not fair. I should be able to have you come up to me and not start sweating or have to clench my thighs together because my damn pussy can smell your dick from a mile away. I mean, damn it, Jett, you have no right showing up here. I’m doing fine without you,” she ranted, and then said softly, “I’m doing fine.”

Stepping closer, I asked, “Are you sure you’re doing fine?”

Her blue eyes glistened up at me as tears threatened to fall over once again. She nodded slowly, but closed her eyes shut, not being able to lie to me. I knew she was lying; it was written all over her face.

“Don’t lie to me, Goldie.”

“What do you care? You have everything you ever wanted. Now that Lot 17 is your property and your dad is headed for the slammer, what else do you need? What else do you really want? It’s not like you’re ready to open up that cold heart of yours.”

Ouch, but I deserved that.

“That’s exactly what I want, Goldie. I want to start from the beginning with you. I want to learn who you are, date you, and spoil you. I want to do this right; I want to do us right.”

“There is no us, Jett,” she tried to push away, but I didn’t let her go far.

“Then, why are you so upset?” I asked, hoping I would strike a nerve. By the look in her eyes, I did.

“Why am I so upset? Hmm, let me see…”

Oh shit, sarcasm at its best was coming my way.

“You insert yourself into my life, like literally don’t give me an option other than to follow your rules and do what you ask, because, heaven forbid if your voice isn’t sexy as hell. Then you take me up to your stupid Bourbon Room, where you fucking show me what sex is, what it feels like to have a real man bury himself inside of me. You show me a whole new world of sex…and damn it if I don’t love and hate you for it. Then I go and get attached to you, because you’re this brilliantly sexy man who is oh-so-fucking sensitive and just ‘needs time’,” she continued, as she used air quotes. “Which is just fucking fantastic, because by then, I’m already attached, I’m already in deep, so thanks for that. And when I finally think we’re going somewhere and you’re taking me to events, you decide to hide me instead, increasing the craving I have for you. And then, do you know what happened, Jettonathan?” she asked, with her hands on her hips, using the stupid ass name she came up with for me. I’m about to answer when she holds her hand up to stop me. “No, I don’t want to hear it; I’ll tell you what happened. I went and tried to make everything better, just asking for one simple thing from you. To have faith in me like I had in you, but holy shit was that too hard for you, because the powerful man needs his control,” she waved her hands around like a lunatic as she spoke to me. “Heaven forbid the male debutant with the penis of a Greek god doesn’t have control for a short period of time. Fuck, Jett, you ruined everything! You ask why I’m upset? Because, since my parents passed, you’ve taken the one and only thing I’ve ever cared about. You took away your heart.”