Falling For You (Love In All Seasons #2) - Frankie Love Page 0,15

smile than he lets on. “Look, if it’s your father you’re worried about, I have that more than covered.”

“What do you mean?”

“I paid his debts this morning.”

When I frown, confused at his words, he points to his laptop and smiles. I focus on Ronan’s words, not the luxury of heat and lighting. “What do you mean you paid his debts?

“Exactly as it sounds. I called a few guys who helped me locate your father’s debts and I paid them off. Your student loans too.”

I lean back. My student loan debt is nearly eighty thousand dollars and I know my dad’s debt is near that as well.

“What are you talking about Ronan?” I shake my head. I don’t want him to try and fix things with a check. That isn’t how the real world works. Not that a rich man like Ronan would understand anything about the real world. To him, life is a fantasy. Just look at this house and anyone could see that. “Money doesn’t fix everything. It’s the spirit of the town that is broken.”

He twists his lips. “But aren’t you glad I did?” He closes his laptop and sets it on the table beside him. “Now you don’t need to resist the idea of you and me. Of us.”

I narrow my eyes. “You never even asked. You just did it.”

“Correct.” He raises his hands in confusion. “I paid off a massive debt that was debilitating, fixing what Lachlan Resorts fucked up. Because I don’t want there to be any obstacles between us being together. And I guess I was expecting more than a furrowed brow as a thank you.”

“You think money solves everything?”

He smirks. “It solves a helluva lot.”

I stand, annoyed beyond belief. “This is clearly not fate. And it certainly is not more than that. Because love listens. And you, Ronan, aren’t listening to me. You aren’t listening to anything.”

“Then tell me what you what to say, because, Bella, I’m right here.”

I stand in the doorway, ready to run. Again. Clearly, this man and I are nothing more than lust, because the moment we start having actual conversations we’re ready to claw one another’s eyes out.

“It’s more than just my father who got hurt, Ronan. A lot of people in this town were affected too.”

“I’m not the man they hate. I just inherited that man’s house. I don’t even share his last name, for Christ’s sake. You’re the one who isn’t listening to me.”

I stop. My eyes widen.

“You aren’t a Lachlan?”

Ronan looks offended beyond repair. “No. I’m not. My mother was married to one. And I ran some of the business overseas—in the French mountains. But I have no fucking clue what was happening here. You’d know that if you listened for a minute instead of running away, scared all the time.”

“Oh.” My stomach twists in knots. I did assume the worst. I didn’t listen for a moment and then ran away. Not once, but twice.

What am I so scared of?

“Oh, is right.” He looks at me with such wounded eyes I wonder if there is more to his story. What am I missing?

Because right now it looks like I am missing an awful lot.

“Doesn’t matter though, right? This isn’t fate, is it, Bella? It’s just sex, remember?”

I bite my bottom lip, not wanting to hurt him, but knowing I already have. I don’t know the words to say that will make this better. So, I stand there staring at him dumbly, knowing I’m hurting him even more because of it.

“Look,” he says, standing, though it pains him—clearly. He winces as he holds onto the back of a chair. “The storm has passed, and though your car is buried, my truck can get you home.” Then with a gaze that could freeze a river, he adds, “I know you have a party to attend.”

“The party... It doesn’t matter... I want...”

But he walks past me, and I know his leg isn’t the thing I’ve wounded. It’s his pride.

Only thing is, I never meant to hurt him.

And now I want to find a way to heal him. Even if it’s the last thing he wants from me.

Chapter Eleven

Ronan

I know money doesn’t solve everything, especially when I’m dealing with a woman as hot-headed as Bella.

But damn, I never meant to offend her.

And the fact that she assumed the worst of me, kills me.

I know I can’t solve everything by writing a check. And maybe that’s what Bella was trying to tell me, that this problem deserves more than a