Bittersweet (Redemption #3) - Jessica Prince Page 0,82

stop at the reception desk and apologize for being an asshole first. We couldn’t afford for Willow to quit. She might have been shy to the point of painfully awkward, but the woman was a godsend when it came to her work.

She’d graciously accepted and I went home to brood into a bottle of Jack Daniels.

I’d poured myself two fingers before realizing I was repeating the same mistake I’d made all those years ago. I’d let her go back then without making any attempt to fight for her. Drinking myself into a stupor wasn’t going to make any of my problems go away, and it sure as shit wasn’t going to help me get my girl back.

Leaving the whiskey untouched, I snatched up my keys, hopped on my bike, and took off for Shane’s place. As I rode, the wind in my face calmed the storm that had been brewing inside me.

Killing the engine, I swung off my bike and started for the front stoop, taking the rickety steps two at a time. Just as I raised my knuckles to knock, the door swung open and Shane stutter-stepped. “Jensen,” she breathed with wide, surprised eyes. “What are you doing here?”

She was dressed in a different outfit than the one she’d had on earlier. The jeans she was wearing now were practically painted on, accentuating her full hips and long legs. Her coral tank top hugged her like a second skin, dipping lower at the neckline than what she usually wore to show off her incredible tits and an inch and a half of soft, smooth skin between the hem and the waistband of her jeans. Her long hair was down and wild, her minimal makeup made her eyes pop and her plump lips shimmer. She looked like she was heading out for a night on the town.

“You going out with your girls or something?” The question came out a lot gruffer than I’d intended, almost harsh.

“I—what?”

Looking at her now, her outfit making my dick stand at attention, I knew I was losing steam and needed to reel my shit in fast. “Nothing. Look, it doesn’t matter. Can I come in for a minute, there are some things I need to say to you.”

“Oh, uh . . .”

“Please, Shane,” I pleaded. “It’ll only take a minute, and if you want me to leave when I’m done, I will.”

She hesitated for a beat, still looking a little shell-shocked at my sudden appearance. Finally she shook herself out of it. “Y-yeah. Sure. Come on in,” she mumbled, stepping aside so I could enter.

“Brantley here?”

“No, he’s with Caro and Scooter tonight,” she answered while tossing her purse onto the couch and crossing her arms over her chest. It wasn’t a casual stance, it looked more like she was trying to hold herself together. “So, what do you need to say?”

There really was no other option than to just rip the Band-Aid off, so that was what I did. “I’m still in love with you,” I announced, drawing a gasp from her. “I’ve been in love with you since I was eighteen, and I never stopped. I came back to this town because I needed to know my son, but also because I need you. I don’t exist without you, Shane. Haven’t since the first moment I saw you. I need you to know that. There’s no amount of apologizing I could do that will make up for what I did to you, what I put you through, but you have to believe me when I tell you I’m so fucking sorry for not trusting you enough to give you the truth. That’s the biggest regret of my life, sunshine. There hasn’t been a day since I walked away from you, and there won’t be one in the future, no matter what happens, where I don’t regret that decision. But I’m not giving up.”

“Jensen—”

“I walked away from you without a fight once, and I’ll be damned if I do it again. I know you don’t trust me, but I’m going to bust my ass to earn that back. You can hate me for the rest of your life, but I’ll never stop trying to fix what I broke.”

Moving in close, I placed my palms on the sides of her neck and bent lower. “I never had a family until you. Grew up living in that goddamn house for eighteen years but never had a family until the day I met you. I wouldn’t take any