Misadventures with a Manny Read online

  I scoff, pointing to the door. “Oh really? ’Cause downstairs you were singing a different tune!”

  He throws his hands up in the air. “What can I say, Vera? I’m an idiot! You make me insane!”

  “Me? I didn’t do anything!”

  “You do everything,” he yells, closing the distance between us, and there is nowhere for me to go since the bed is behind me. “From the moment I met you, you’ve made me feel things I’ve never felt a day in my life. I fucked up, and I know that. But I have this need to be needed—to be wanted—and I just wanted you to say it. I wanted you to tell me you didn’t want me to take the job because you wanted me.”

  My face scrunches up. “Have I given you any reason to feel like I don’t want you?”

  “I told you, I feel like you’ve been standoffish—”

  “Because I didn’t want to get my hopes up!”

  “But my hopes are up too!”

  “I know that, but—”

  His brows pull together. “Huh?”

  “I know they are. I talked to Phillip,” I blurt out, and his eyes widen as I cross my arms over my chest, trying to protect my heart. “He told me about the argument you two had, and how he didn’t think I was good for you because of all the shit I’ve been through and then what you want. He told me how you fought to be with me because you felt things for me. It gave me such a high to hear those things, Lincoln. I got so excited, but then I was worried that they couldn’t be true. Why would you want me like that when you can have anyone?”

  “Because no one is you,” he declares, his eyes burning into mine.

  I press my lips together, drawing in a deep breath. “The more we talked, the more we were together, it just all felt right. We felt right, and it scared me to the core. And the past couple days, we were perfect, and I was ready to give you my heart, trust you, but then you come at me with that bullshit.”

  “Because I’m scared too,” he says softly. “What if he’s right? I swear I ask myself that all the time. I go back and forth with myself, Vera, I do, but the more I think about it, the more I know nothing else matters but you and the boys.”

  I want to believe him, I do, but I shake my head. “What about the Ellenton family?”

  He looks away, biting his lip. “I won’t lie. I love them, deeply, but they aren’t Charlie, Louis, Elliot, or you.”

  Looking away, I close my eyes as he goes on.

  “I fucked up. I came at you wrong with what I was feeling, but I was scared, Vera. I kept asking myself, do I stay here, continue to do this and hope that one day you’ll feel something for me while I fall harder and harder not only for you but for the boys? Or do I get out before we all get hurt?”

  A tear slides down my face, and when he takes me in his arms, I don’t have it in me to fight him. I’m scared too. It freaks me out to think of him leaving, but maybe he’s right. Maybe he should just go, no matter how wrong it feels.

  As tears rush down my face and fall off my chin, I take in a shaky breath and then shrug. “I just don’t know, Lincoln—”

  “Well, I do.”

  I look up at him as he slides his hands into mine, tangling our fingers together before taking them behind my back. Pressing his chest into mine, he gazes into my eyes. “Would you want to start over?”

  I just blink. “Start over?”

  “Well, not really start over, but get married again, maybe have another kid?”

  His gaze entraps mine, and I don’t dare look away. “I don’t know. I have three great kids. Maybe, if it is the right person, but I’m not against it by any means.”

  “Could I be the right one?”

  “Is this before or after what happened downstairs?”

  He gives me a dry look. “Now. Right now. Because when I look at you, you’re the right person for me. We do feel right. We feel fucking perfect, and I need to know you want me more than for just a bit. I need to know that you have every intention of making this work.”

  Do I?

  Gazing into his eyes, I try to imagine how I would be without him. It’s so natural to have him here. To have him care and help me raise my boys. To make love to me, to be there for me, and to listen to me when I have such a bad day. He cares about me, my well-being, and now that I’ve had that, I don’t know if I can let it go.

  “Do you want to go to Germany?”

  “No.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Unless you’re going with me, I’m not leaving,” he says, pressing his nose to mine. “I will knock down every single door you try to hide behind.”

  I can’t help it; I smile as his eyes burn into mine.

  “Because I want to fight every battle with you. I want to stand against whatever storm comes, and I want to raise those boys into fine young men. I want to be there for you. I want to make love to you. I want to be yours and only yours.”

  Breathless, I almost can’t believe him, but again, his eyes say it all. Each word he’s said is swimming in his eyes. They’re begging me, promising me the world, and I can’t look away. When he swallows hard, his eyes glaze over just as he squeezes my hands three times.

  And my world stops.

  “Really?”

  His lips tip as he slowly nods. “Really. I love you, Vera. So fucking much. And while I’m not one to believe in love at first sight, I think you may prove it exists. I’ve never craved anyone the way I crave you, and I know that won’t ever change. I know he promised you that, but I mean it. You complete me, and I know how you need to be loved. Entirely. And that’s all I want to do. I want you for forever, and I honestly can’t walk away from this. Tell me you can’t either.”

  My heart is soaring, my body shaking, and I don’t question his claim. I feel it everywhere—all over my body—and I know I couldn’t walk away from him even if I tried. Gazing up into his eyes, my heart jackhammers in my chest as I slowly but confidently squeeze his hands three times.

  When his lips curve into the most spectacular grin, I can’t help but grin back.

  Inhaling hard, I move my lips against his as I whisper, “I can’t.”

  His eyes soften as he gathers me close. “Good. I wasn’t going to let you anyway.”

  As our lips meet, I already know that.

  And boy, what a feeling that is.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Lincoln

  Vera is freaking the hell out.

  Meanwhile, I’m good, but watching as she nervously bounces her leg, I have to hold in my laughter. I am pretty sure the boys are confused, but they sit at the edge of the island, their eyes cutting between Vera and me. They are all sun-kissed and a tad burned from their vacation with their dad, but they look happy. They talked our ears off about how much fun they had, and I could tell that bothered Vera, which only makes me hate Simon more.

  But he isn’t going away, and I have accepted that.

  Still, though, I don’t understand how he could afford a vacation yet keep fighting Vera on paying for school for the boys. It’s on paper. He has to pay it, but any chance he gets, he bitches. Vera isn’t backing down, though. She stands by what she said, and while I agree with her, it would be hard to truly homeschool them when I just started my job at their school as an aide. It was an impulse decision, but I think it just validated what I wanted with Vera.

  I wanted a partnership.

  Which is what I told Sharron. Thankfully, she understood, and I planned on going to see all of them soon, but I couldn’t work for them. Not when I am completely in love with Vera and the boys.

  “What’s going on? Why are you being weird, Mom?” Charlie asks.

  Vera brings her lip between her teeth. Glancing at me, her eyes widen, and I just smile.

  God, I love this woman.

  “Well,” she says slowly before turning her gaze back to them, “we need to talk.”

  Louis’s brow rises. “About what?”

  “Well, sometimes, you see…” She pauses and looks to me for help.

&nb