Neal.The moment I had hung up with James, I gripped my phone tightly in my hand and stared out at the ocean, trying to calm my nerves. Rage attempted to fill the voids of my heart as I thought about how James intruded upon my relationship with Becca.I knew for a fact that even though James was supposed to technically be dead, if he really wanted to come back into Becca and the child's life, he would do so. And I was going to have to step up my game to protect her.Pinching the bridge of my nose, I closed my eyes, inhaling the sweet smell of the salty air just in time for Allegra's voice to come from the distance behind me, causing me to turn and look over my shoulder."Neal, what are you doing out here?" Her question was not misplaced. It was quite odd for me to be out here, considering Becca had only just gotten back with the baby, and I had been talking nonstop about spending time with them. "I just needed a moment to make a long-distance phone call."Cocking her
James.To think, a year ago, I was planning my retirement and looking for things to do with my future outside of my business—now I was a father again. The argument with Neal wasn't one that I had wanted any time of day, and the way he tried to dismiss my intentions irritated me.I was the child's father. Dahlia… my sweet baby girl was without her father.I didn't like it. Not one f*cking bit."Les, my mother wanted to know if you wanted to come to dinner tonight." Sue's voice pulled me from my irritation, and taking a deep breath, I turned to face her. I had been trying to work on the list of shit to do in this building when I spoke to Neal, and now the list seemed to fade away."Thank you for the offer Sue, but I have a lot I need to take care of today. Perhaps over the weekend." I hated turning down the old woman. She had been nothing but kind to me since I had been here, and by the look on Sue's face, I could see that she was disappointed. Part of me wondered if she
James.The moment that my feet touched down in Italy, I couldn't understand why it was that I hadn't come back sooner. The Italian countryside was absolutely beautiful, and I fell in love with it many years ago, but never returned because of how busy my life was.Now that I was here, though, I was looking forward to trying to get my life back on track. Ronaldo said that he needed me to help him with his business, and I wasn't sure exactly what that entailed since he had been so vague, but I had a feeling that it had something to do with the former business that I owned, as well as other stuff.As soon as we stepped out of the plane, a car was waiting for us on the tarmac. Following Ronaldo, I made our way to the vehicle, and as soon as we were in, it was off out of the airport, headed straight for our family home."I will go ahead and let you know that there will be a small family gathering this evening. You know how the family is. Everybody will want to see you since it's b
Becca.For days, I lived in a house with hushed whispers and stolen conversations. Neal had been acting beyond odd lately, and even Allegra, who tried to smile and play off Neal's behavior, was being odd. I wasn't sure what it was about the situation that set me off entirely, but I knew for sure it had something to do with the phone calls Neal kept getting."Hey, so I was thinking that maybe we could take the kids down to the beach today," echoed into my ear, and as I turned my gaze from where I had been watching Neal, I smiled at her."Yeah, that sounds great. Why don't you go ahead and get little man situated, and then I will find out from Allegra and Neal if they want to join us?"Nodding her head, the nanny quickly disappeared from sight, and as I sat there, turning my gaze back to where Neal was standing, I continued to contemplate what it was that was bothering him so much. This had been a big move for all of us, and with my father going to be here in just a few da
Neal.I wasn't what Becca was looking for, but I should have expected her to no longer feel the way she had. For months, I'd put her ahead of everything in my life, and when I finally thought things were going well, it was ripped away from me. There was no end to the pain I felt in my life, and I thought it may have been a punishment from fate I was willing to accept.Stepping out the front door, I made my way towards my two seater sports car and climbed in. The moment that the door closed, I slammed my hands against the steering wheel repeatedly out of anger. "F*ck!" All I wanted to do was to allow James to know his kid, and in the process of all this bullshit, I had lost her. Lost her in more ways than one, and even though every part of me wanted to storm in there and remind her who she belonged to, I couldn't.She didn't want me.Realizing that I had forgotten my keys, I groaned in frustration and climbed back out of the car to fetch them. Thank god that my head was at
Becca.One could say you could expect a lot of things when you're dealing with a man who has mixed emotions and also a traumatic past that seemed to haunt you at every corner. However, the last thing that I expected was to see Neal strolling out the back door into the garden as if everything was fine, and we hadn't spent the last fifteen minutes arguing over the same damn bullshit.Here he was, though, in all his glory, and as my eyes caught the smile that crossed his lips, I held Dahlia closer to me. "Did you forget something?"My words were soft and gentle, but there was no mistaking the hint of irritation within them. He quickly cleared his throat, shaking his head as he stood before me, his hands instinctively going into his front pockets before he rocked back and forth on his heels like a boy who had been in trouble and was trying not to get scolded by his mother again."I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I didn't mean to come off as being an asshole or anything li
Becca.Two days had passed since my argument with Neal, and he had become more scarce than I would have liked. He kept himself busy in the office that he had opened in the city, and oftentimes, he would say that he was staying late. Said that he didn't want to drive back in the dark, especially with the wild animals that seemed to roam the areas, even though they technically shouldn't have been.I hadn't seen any wild animals. It wasn't like we were in Australia; we were in New Zealand, and a very nice part of New Zealand, to be more precise.Perhaps it was me. Perhaps the reason why he was staying away was because he didn't want to face me and have another argument. Regardless, it made me feel guilty, and even Allegra seemed a little taken aback by the fact that we weren't on the best of speaking terms.Glancing at the clock, the 11:00 o'clock hour shone in bright red letters. With a groan of frustration, I rolled my eyes, throwing my arm over the front of my head as I took
Becca.The moment that Neal attempted to possess my body, it took everything in me not to give in to that desire. I had to be strong, and I had to say no. Not only had I just had a baby not too long ago, and was I still healing, but I also wasn't interested in being sated with sex so that he didn't have to explain what was going on.I wanted answers, and Neal was going to have to learn boundaries.Placing my hands on his chest, I pushed him away from me, his lips popping as they left mine, a look of confusion on his face as he stared down into my eyes. Yes, I felt absolutely ridiculous doing this, because God knows how much I would have loved to have him cherish my body right now, but it just wasn't possible.I had to be the logical thinker and not let him side-track me."I can't have you doing this just because you know that I want to be taken by you. It does not give you the right to use sex as a method to make me forget about what I wanted to know." I quickly exclaim