The Confession Read Free

Getting you all worried about her, call you to her bedside in the middle of the night, and for what? Just to get your attention? I always thought that woman could never surprise me, but then … ”
    “A lot has changed.”
    “What are you talking about? What has changed? Sounds like the same old games to me. Is she actually dying, or was that a staged act to spin a little upheaval into your world? Oh, she’d like that all right, sounds exactly like something she’d pull. The woman hasn’t said a kind word to you your entire life, and still thinks you should be worshiping the ground she slithers upon … ”
    She couldn’t help but smile as her best friend ranted and raged in her defense. Luther was her business manager and the one person in the world she trusted. But this time things were different. She wasn’t ready to talk about it, even to him.
    “It’s a lot more complicated than only her illness, and a long story. I promise to tell you in detail, but I need a favor, and I need you to not freak out on me.”
    “You’re not going to leave me hanging like this, are you? You can’t do that to me. A lot has changed, she says, but can’t talk now. You will just have to sit and wait until I’m damn good and ready to talk about it, she says. Just go about your life, Luther, like I didn’t say anything — ”
    “You’re freaking out on me.”
    “What is it? What is this favor?” The hurt was clear in his tone.
    Trying to reassure him, she said, “I promise to fill you in. I’ll tell you all the details I know, just not today. I still need to find a store around here and pick up some clothes for work, and I need you to send me some of my things.”
    “Clothes for work? Now what are you talking about?”
    “I need you to go to my loft and send me some clothes other than jeans, including shoes, the works. I also need some of my sketch books, the ones I started drawing the new line in. And I need you to hold down the shop for a while.”
    “Aimee, what is going on?”
    “Please, Luther. I’ll explain everything when I can.”
    “You better believe you’ll explain, dropping bombs on me like this, no warning, just boom, boom — ”
    She interrupted him. “You’re freaking out again.”
    “Of course I’m freaking out. What did you expect with all this nonsense you spew at me? Work clothes for what? Are you suddenly opening a new shop in North Carolina?”
    Aimee walked over and curled into the bench seat built into the bay window, looking out at the beautiful gardens. “No. It’s not a new shop. I’ll explain later, but I need them sent to the Sinclair Estate in San Francisco. Oh, and please address them to Morrison, not Roberts.”
    “Sinclair Estate? San Francisco? Why are you going by Morrison again? Aimee, what in the hell are you doing in San Francisco? I thought you were in North Carolina.”
    “Well, it looks like I’ll be organizing an auction to start.” Aimee could no longer make sense of the incoherent questions being thrown through the phone line. “I promise to explain when I can. I’ll call you soon.”
    Aimee hung up with Luther still rambling on the other end.

Chapter 4
    Mark stared at the empty screen on his laptop. “Once upon a time,” he typed, emitting a small chuckle. He sighed, ran his hands through his hair, and hit the delete button. Leaning back in the lounge chair outside of his cottage, he kicked his feet up on the corner of the table and took a long pull from his cold beer. The setting sun transformed the sky into a vivid watercolor of oranges, pinks, and reds. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes and let the silence of the fading day soothe him.
    A gentle breeze blew over him, bringing with it a soft, feminine scent with a spicy touch of sex appeal. He knew it was her before he saw her. He sat up in the chair, his ability to relax vanishing with a single scent. What was it about her that got under his skin?
    He watched her come around the old oak tree,