Finding His Mrs. Right (Mending Hearts Series) (9 page)

“Should we have dinner?” Landon asked, changing the subject, and I was glad for it.

“Yes.” Deidre insisted, wrapping her arm in mines, and making me sit beside her.

We ate a big selection of food, and I was stuffed. Dinner had actually been light and entertaining. I’d learned childhood secrets about Landon that I was sure he didn’t want to get out. His mother was a wonderful woman, and not a rude snob. It was obviously where the “real Landon” had gotten his manners. I saw such a different side of him today, and it was nice. If this was how Landon was when he let his guard down, I could definitely deal with it. I mean—deal with it enough to find him the right woman, that is.

“This was nice.” Deidre smiled
, wearily.

“Yes mom, it was.” Landon smiled back
, politely.

Looking over to me, Deidre’s
expression changed to a confused one. I thought I had something on my face, so I grabbed a napkin and began to wipe off.

“Who are you?” she asked, and I immediately stopped.

“Mother—”

“Tessa, Miss. Brooks,” I assured, and she searched my face.

“Have we met?” she asked me, and I frowned confused because we had just sat for a couple of hours, chatting. “Landon, you should really take her out. She’s pretty.” She smiled.

“Yes, mother.” Landon nodded,
taking her by the arm.

“You never bring any girls home.
You work so hard, I just want to see you happy, sweetie.” She said, taking his face into her hands and he smiled at her, but the smile was full of grief.

“
Riley, can you take my mother to her room? It’s time for her to rest.” Landon insisted.

“I’m not tired, Landon.”
Deidre snapped.

“Ok, but you still need to lie down for a while. Riley will put a movie on for you.” He pushed, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll
come check on you in a bit, okay?”

“Alright, sweetie.”
She finally folded, as the younger woman helped her from the room.

I stared over at Landon, and his face was etched with pain. I sucked in a hard breath
, before grabbing his hand. That was hard for me to watch, so I knew it must’ve been hell for Landon to go through.

“So,” he sighed. “Now you know.”

“Not all of it. Talk to me, Landon. What happened to your face?” I insisted, and he sighed before rolling his eyes, but he didn’t turn away.

“My mother
’s sick, Tessa. She has dementia. Her memory is— it’s not what it used to be. Some days, like today—she’s ok. But others—she can get violent. I’m here for her as much as I can be.” Again, he sighed deeply, and my heart broke for him.

“She stays here with you?” I asked, and he nodded.

Watching his mother deteriorate right before his very eyes must’ve been more than hard. Hell, I wouldn’t know how to deal with it, if it had been my parent. The fact that he was her caregiver was sweet. Most people locked their parents away in a home, and barely visited. God, there was so much about Landon Brooks that I didn’t know.

“I thought maybe last night—”

“Last night was perfect
, Landon.” I blurted out, not meaning to say it that way, but it was. Landon had held me close all night, and we fit perfectly together. I didn’t need him to stand here and worry about me, when he had bigger problems on his plate. I suddenly felt a whole lot worse.

“Really?” he asked, glaring into my eyes as if he was afraid that I was lying.

“Really,” I smiled, trying to lighten his somber mood.

“So, I didn’t freak out in my sleep or anything?” he asked, and I frowned. This was the second time he
’d asked that question, and it was sort of weird-ing me out. I shook my head, and he sighed relieved.

“
Good, because I was afraid that last night I might’ve said too much about my mom, and you probably didn’t understand. Which is why I brought you here—I’ve never done anything like this, Tessa, and I just—”

I cut
him off by standing on my tippy toes, and placing my lips to his. I couldn’t believe that I went on impulse, but it just seemed right. Landon must have thought so too, because he had grabbed me by my waist, and pulled me closer. God, help me, because I loved his hard body against mines. He slipped his tongue into my mouth as his cell phone buzzed. That was just about the most annoying thing about Landon Brooks. He groaned before cursing under his breath.

“I need to answer that.” He whispered against my lips, and I nodded before pulling away from him.

A part of me was relieved that we had been distracted, while the other part wanted to scream. Who was I kidding? Landon Brooks was all kinds of hot. From his dark hair, to his crystal blue eyes, Landon Brooks was made like a demigod. I wanted to rub my hands across his very broad shoulders, and climb up his tall, chiseled body to straddle him. Last night’s session had undoubtedly left me hot, but my heart was cold.

No part of me was ready for what was blossoming between Landon, and I. I had been a broken shell of a woman
, and I hated love. So how ironic was it that I chose love as a field to work in? I guess it was a form of screwed up therapy for me. Sure, I had everything in my life on track, but when it came to love, I ran. I couldn’t believe that I’d let my lower desires rise to the occasion last night, and cloud my judgment. Well, I had a lot of thinking to do now, because Landon Brooks was like a tattoo, and he was slowly sketching himself onto my heart.

Landon had seemed to do a complete 180, and I wanted to applaud him. I definitely wanted to spend more time with him. But the question was, was
my
heart ready to beat again?

Nine

I had a secret burdening me, and I hated it. I hated even referring to it as a secret, but since it was a thing I refused to talk about, I guess it was just that. Looking at myself in the mirror, I frowned as I glared at the makeup plastered on my face. Gwen had taken it upon herself to doll me up, since I had a real date with Landon. After taking his call, he’d dropped me back at the hotel, and asked me out on a proper date.

I wasn’t going to lie, I was scared as hell.

But, I figured I owed this to Landon, since he had the balls enough to introduce me to his sick mother. That damn sure couldn’t have been easy, so I swallowed my fear and pride, for him. After all, it was just a harmless date.

“You look hot!”
Gwen giggled, as if we were in high school again.

“Thanks, I guess.” I shrugged, as I tried to touch my hair, but she slapped my hand.

“No guessing, you are smoking hot. So don’t be surprised when Mr. CEO can’t keep his hands off of you.” She smiled at me through the mirror.

“Gwen, that’s not my goal here.” I protested.

I had kept the little tad bit about me and Landon’s sexcapade to myself. Gwen was going to kill me whenever I got the nerve to tell her. She had been dying to see me out on a date, but my heart belonged to another guy. I felt like it wouldn’t be fair to dive into another relationship after Dean. He held the key to my heart, and I wasn’t ready to let anyone else steal that away.

“Tessa, it’s time!” she shouted.

“How can you determine a time?” I protested, turning to her.

“Look, you being alone
isn’t healthy. You have to move on.” She scolded, but there was a hint of sympathy in her words.

“I can’t just move on.” I groaned, angrily.

Dean Everett had been the love of my life. Since the day we began dating, we had been inseparable. Nothing and no one else mattered, and we liked it like that. Ok, I was making it sound like an unhealthy relationship, but it wasn’t. We weren’t underneath each other every day and every night, we still had our own lives. Dean played varsity football, and hung out with his friends, while I had school, Gwen, and my other girlfriends. We had time for ourselves, but when we got together, it was magic.

He was my first love, and in my heart and soul
, I felt like he’d be my last. We dated all through the junior and senior year in high school, and all three years in college. When he got down on one knee to ask me to marry him, of course I had screamed, yes! I was head over heels in love, and nothing was going to deter that.

Boy was I wrong.

I never thought Dean would leave me. The last day that I saw him, we were happy. I kissed him goodbye, and watched him disappear into the crowd. He had an away football game, and his team was flying to Florida. It was only supposed to be for a week, but they never made it. The plane had crashed, and no one survived.

That was the day my hea
rt broke into a million pieces.

When I got home
from the airport, I saw that I had a message waiting. It was from Dean, saying how much he loved me—but that would be the last time I ever heard his voice. After that, everything came crashing down. My mother had called me and broke the news…as did everyone else. I had been grief stricken for months on end, and nothing or no one could help me. All I wanted was Dean, but he would never come back to me in this life.

So, swallowing my feelings,
I vowed to never open my heart and love another man as long as I lived. I had stayed true to that, by graduating college and throwing myself into my business. Finding others love, had taken the pressure off of me to move on. Like I said, it was like a form of screwed up therapy for me.

Until now.

“Tessa, it’s been two and a half years. You
need
to move on.” Gwen said, grabbing my hands.

Letting her hands go, I grabbed the engagement ring that I kept on a chain around my neck. It stayed hidden for the most part, and it just so happened I hadn’t worn it when I went to see Landon last night. I was glad that I’d forgotten to put it on because if I had been wearing it, I’d be even more emotionally messed up right now.

“Technically, I’m still engaged.” I said rubbing my fingers through the cool steel.

“No, you’re being a bit creepy.” She nudged with a chuckle, and I smiled.

“I’m scared, Gwen. I haven’t dated anyone since Dean. I feel like I’m cheating on him.” I replied.

“Tess, Dean would want you to move on.” She said, standing up, and giving me a hug.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to mellow out, and listen to my best friend. My cell phone rung, so I hustled over, and grabbed it.

“Hello?” I asked, answering it.

“You’re limo awaits, Ms. Winters.” I heard Landon’s voice reply on the other end.

“Limo?”
I frowned confused.

“Holy shit, he got you a limo!” Gwen shouted as she peeked through our curtains.

“I’m outside, beautiful.” His low voice rumbled. “Don’t keep me waiting.”

I swallowed a shaky breath as I hung up the phone.

“There’s no way I can do this!” I shouted, freaking out.

“Tessa, breathe.” Gwen replied, grabbing me
by both arms, and I let out the breath I had sucked in.

“What if I screw this up? I haven’t been on a date in
years
.” I stressed.

“So what,
Mr. CEO is definitely into you, so what’s the problem??” she pushed. “You like him too Tessa, admit it.”

I nodded reluctantly because let’s face it; what she was saying was all truth. I was definitely into Landon, and from everything that had happened, I knew he was into me. You don’t just
introduce a girl to your mother if you didn’t feel anything, and from what Ms. Brooks had said, Landon had never brought girls home. 

“
You’re right.” I said, giving her a hug. Pulling up my big girl panties, I grabbed my purse and headed out.

I had neve
r
been this nervous before, not even when I had sex for the first time. Something about Tessa Winters had driven me insane, and I couldn’t understand it. She was different from the many other girls who threw themselves at me. She was holding back, and that had left me wanting more. When we first met, she was so feisty, that I couldn’t stop thinking of her. I went home that night, pondering how fun working with her would be. Little did I know that Tessa would actually stick with me.