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Chapter Twenty

Marcus had a hell of a night After driving back up to Napa after the concert, he’d sat on the porch and stared out into the darkness until the sun ca to sleep, not when visions of Nicola were already haunting hi, he’d asked himself the same question: How could he fix thehe’d done to hurt her, to push her away, to keep her at aruard his heart, came at him as thein Sht and he’d hurt her by telling her no, that it had been a huge ht when he’d found out who she was, and had been not only angry with her for keeping her fa them use the private entrance, but he’d also decided both those things gave him license to selfishly force her body past the point of no return

The way he’dfor the extra tiether, when a real s and saved her the pain of another possible rejection

The pain in her eyes out on the beach when she’d yelled at hi in love with hi in love with her, too

Marcus’s entire body was tight and tense as he made himself own up to each and every one of his mistakes

For the first time in his life, the vines that stretched out over the hills held no beauty for him Not after he’d held the most beautiful woman in the world in his armsand had been too stupid to realize he needed to do anything and everything in his power to convince her to let him love her the way she should be loved

Thank God Nicola’s bodyguard hadn’t let hiht, had fir in to see her" Marcus hadn’t been rational and would definitely have ht of thinking, he still hadn’t co He knew he couldn’t heal as broken between them with flowers or jewelry

He didn’t have the will to do more than put on clean jeans and a T-shirt for his h he knew someone was bound to coa about faood stuff…and to point out when you were screwing up If Lori knehat had gone doith Nicola, she would kick his ass so hard he’d feel the imprint of her foot for the next decade

He opened histhrough the room with a couple of beers in his hand "Hey, you look like shit"

"Nice to see you, too" Marcus replied The closest in age of all the siblings, the two of the with their fists as kids "Didn’t know you’d be in town"

Smith handed him a beer "We have to reshoot a couple of city scenes this week Figured I’d get here a day early and see everyone" He raised an eyebrow "Was pretty surprised by your text earlier this week So, Jill’s not in the picture any rinned "Good" His grin widened "So tell irl After two years with the ice queen, I hope her replaceed the sheets when you were done"