Finding His Mrs. Right (Mending Hearts Series) (16 page)

That next morning Landon woke me up and begged me to get ready. After breakfast, I called Gwen before we left his house. I needed her to find out why Zachary Ryan had come to town. I just hoped it wasn’t to try and persuade me anymore.

Sitting in the car, Landon squeezed my hand, and interrupted my thoughts. After breakfast, he had surprised me with a horse and carriage ride through the park. Afterwards, he had blindfolded me, and sat me in his car before taking off.

“Where are we going?” I asked with a smile.

“We’re almost there.” I heard his husky voice reply as I felt a kiss on my fingertips. My whole body tingled and I smiled even brighter as I felt him turn off the car.

I felt him let my hand go before I heard his car door closed. I had no doubt that he was shuffling around
to my side to let me out. A few moments later, my car door opened and the cold air from outside had wrapped around me, giving me a chill. I felt Landon’s strong hands grab mines as he helped me out.

“You still can’t see right, Tessa?” he asked.

“No.” I smiled as he grabbed my waist.

“Good.” I heard his voice reply as he closed his car door.

I let him lead me wherever he was taking me, and I was surprised how much I trusted him. For all I knew he could’ve been trying to kill me and dispose of my body. That was something Gwen would’ve said if she were her. The thought made me chuckle a bit.

“Ok, we’re here.” He replied stopping me. I felt him untie my blindfold, and it fell from my eyes with ease to reveal a huge living room. The
home was almost as big as Landon’s, but not quite. The place was gorgeous; I mean beyond belief, it was hands down perfect.

“Is this the house Jocelyn picked?” I frowned confused.

“No,” he said, standing behind me in my grabbing my waist. “This is yours.” He whispered in my ear.

“Mines?”
I asked speechless, and overwhelmed. My heart raced as I stood there taking everything in.

“You said I only had you for four weeks, and those four weeks are almost up, Tessa.” He said letting me go and walking to stand right in front of me.

Looking down at me, he smiled, but I couldn’t seem to smile back. This was too much and definitely too fast. I couldn’t accept this. There was no way I could. Not when my heart was in two different places.

“
I don’t want you to go. Tessa, you blew into my life like a storm, and rearranged everything perfectly. You made me see what I was missing.” Landon smiled.

“Landon—”

“Before you saying anything, Tessa, I want you to know something. You give me a feeling that I’ve never felt before, and I like it. I want you—I want you and only you, to be mines. Now and forever. This is exactly how it should be when two people are meant for each other. And if it was anything I’ve learned from my mother’s disease, it’s to not waste time. You don’t know how much of it you have left. I think I’m falling in love with you.” He replied trying to kiss me, but I pulled away.

My life wasn’t supposed to be this way. I was supposed to be planning my wedding with Dean, not here looking at a new home with another guy.
I wanted to hyperventilate, and scream. I knew Landon’s words were true, but I was afraid to feel them. I was afraid of betraying what I had with Dean. Moving on meant forgetting him, and I wasn’t ready to do that.

“I can’t—I can’t stay here
, and I can’t accept this house!” I screamed running out of the house.

After waiting outside by the car, Landon emerged outside.

“Take me back to my hotel room please.” I ordered, wasting no time and Landon remained quiet.

Unlocking the doors, he got in and I followed. The ride back to the hotel was awkward, and silent. I was glad to be out of the car when we arrived. Landon didn’t wait, he drove off quickly.
Hustling up to my room, I opened the door and saw Gwen lying on the bed watching TV. Walking into the room, I closed the door and burst into tears.

“What’s wrong?!” She shouted
, getting up hustling to me.

“
Me, I screwed everything up.” I cried as she pulled me into her arms.

“What happened?” she asked, walking me to the bed.

I sat down and my tears refused to stop. All I could think about was the look on Landon’s face. I had done to him, what he had done to me. I had snapped at him for no reason at all, when all he was trying to do was be nice. Why was being with someone so complicated?

“I freaked out on him.” I sniffled as she handed me a box of tissues from the table near the bed.

“Why?” Gwen frowned.

“He brought me a house—a house Gwen!” I shouted.

“Oh my, God—he really likes you.” She said speechless, and it made me cry even more.

“He said he was falling in love with me.” I whispered.

“Whoa, that’s big.” Gwen responded and I nodded. “Then what’s the problem??”

“Uh, hello, I’m not ready for love!” I shouted.

“Look, I’m going to tell you something that you already know, but won’t admit.” Gwen said, seriously. “You are falling in love with Landon Brooks.”

“Gwen—” I tried to protest, but she cut me off.

“No, you’re going to listen to me. The moment you slept with Landon, you knew that you had some kind of feelings for him. You’re not the type of girl to give yourself away to just anyone. Hell, this is the first time you’ve dated since, Dean. Frankly I’m tired of having this conversation.” She snapped.

“How dare you!” I shouted as she scolded me.

“I’m only telling you the truth because I love you. Stop being scared to fall in love and just do it already.” Gwen replied sitting beside me.

“You can hate me all you want after, but don’t let this go. This is the happiest I have seen you in years.
” Gwen insisted, and I knew she was right.

This had been the happiest I’d been, despite the fact that I was trying to hold back. The fact was I had done well at guarding my heart, until Landon. I needed to make things right with him if it was the last thing I did. I didn’t intend on hurting him like this. I needed to be honest with him like he had been with me.

“I don’t feel like I have the right to be happy without Dean.” I whispered truthfully as more tears fell.

“
I know.” She said, pulling me into a half hug. “But you do.”

“I don’t know what to do.” I sighed, trying to dry my tears.

“I have something that will take your mind off of things and make you feel better.” Gwen smiled brightly, and I had no doubt that she did.

When Gwen devised a plan, it was hell trying to break out of it. Right now though, I needed the distraction. So, her idea was welcomed.

Seventeen

Sitting in m
y
car, I ran the day’s events through my head. What had I done wrong? Was I too forward, too fast? I mean, I know it’s only been nearly a month, but I was really falling for Tessa. I wasn’t ready for her to leave town yet. I wasn’t ready for my heart to ache from the absence of her. This, the pain that I was feeling now, was what I feared. It was like I was a teen having a summer romance that was ending way too fast. And like I said, I took life seriously. It ended way too fast, and I wanted to be able to share it with someone I loved.

Before meeting Tessa, I
’ll admit that I would’ve
never
thought that to be possible. Loving someone, only to lose them one day, wasn’t appealing to me. I liked living life with no attachments other than my family, losing my mom was hard enough, but now I wasn’t so sure. I wanted Tessa, but she obviously hadn’t felt the same about me. Maybe this was karma coming back to bite me in the ass.

A knock on my window startled me, and I turned to look out. I saw Jocelyn standing there, holding a bag. She smiled at me, and I remained unmoved. I saw that the sun was setting, which meant I had spent the better part of the afternoon
in my thoughts.  I’d been locked in my car, parked and thinking as the day slipped by.

“Are you ok?” she asked and I shrugged. She was the last person I wanted to see right now.

“Let me in.” she insisted
, and I sighed. I couldn’t ignore her as much as I wanted to. Instead of unlocking the door, I rolled the window down.

“Rough day, huh?”
Jocelyn asked, peering at me.

“I’m thinking, “duh”.” I said
, sarcastically.

“
Sorry, come have a drink with me.” She demanded, and I stared at her.

I wanted to say no with everything in me, but why? Tessa obviously didn’t want me, and a drink sounded
pretty damn good right about now. After mulling it over in my head, I took my key out of the ignition, and got out of the car.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Jocelyn asked as we headed to the lounge across the street.

“Not really.” I mumbled.

“Oh, come on. You’ll feel better after you talk about it.” She responded as we made it to the front door.

“I seriously doubt that.” I shrugged as I opened the front door for her.

She walked in, and I followed her into the dimly lit space. The room was filled and I didn’t really care. I just wanted to get wasted, which I knew wasn’t a great idea, but whatever. I wanted to drink my pain away. I think I deserved one night of not caring. Heading through the lounge I stopped as I spotted Zachary Ryan. Just my luck, the prick was in the same place as me, when I was already pissed. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe I could knock him on his ass after a few drinks.

The thought brought a smile to my lips, but it immediately washed away after I saw who he was sitting with. Tessa’s long dark hair fanned out over her as she sat with her back facing me. She was wearing a dress that I brought her earlier that week, and I found that to be a slap in the face.

“I’m leaving.” I barked, before turning to leave. Jocelyn followed me flabbergasted, but I was glad she didn’t ask for an explanation. To be honest, I didn’t want anything to do with her either, but I was too livid to shoo her off.

The Next Mornin
g
:

I called an
d
texted Landon like a hundred times. Of course, he didn’t answer, but I couldn’t blame him. If the tables had been turned, I would
never
speak to him again. I was just hoping that maybe Landon had more heart than I did. I needed him to understand why I booked. I needed to just rip the band aid off and tell him about, Dean. Standing on his doorstep, I rung the bell and waited.

The door opened and I smiled brightly before I saw who was standing there. Jocelyn was wearing nothing but a bath robe, and she was completely soaking wet from head to toe. Obviously she’d just hopped out of the shower, and I was sure she hadn’t
taken it alone. Landon and I had shared enough showers in the morning for me to know what happened. The thought of them together broke my heart into pieces, but I refused to show any emotion in front of her. She had obviously gotten what she wanted.

The we
nch smiled at me deviously, and I had the urge to knock her on her ass. The thought pleased me, but I stayed classy instead. There was already enough trash standing in Landon’s doorway. I didn’t want to add to it. Taking a hard breath, I turned to leave. Walking down the walkway anger tore through me as pain followed. I felt tears burning the back of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

“Tessa.”
I heard, and I stopped as I felt Landon’s strong hand on my arm.

“
Don’t.” I offered as I tried to walk off, but he turned me to him. I was actually surprised to see that he was fully clothed.

“Why are you here?” he asked, and I could hear the annoyance in his tone.

“I wanted to explain about yesterday, but I see it won’t matter. I’m sorry if I hurt you.” I said, swallowing my pride and anger. It was my fault that he ended up with the skank. He declared loving me and I literally ran.

“You mean
by telling me that you’re dating Zachary Ryan?” he said, and I turned back to him confused.