I hear laughter and I shake my head in complete confusion.
“We’ve got our pitchforks and torches and we’re going to burn that beast’s house down for hurting you!” he shouts through the phone.
My mouth drops open in shock as I run back into my room, quickly grabbing a dress from my bag on the floor.
“What the hell are you talking about?! Dad, where are you?” I ask, putting the call on speaker and tossing my phone onto the bed while I yank off my pajama bottoms.
“We don’t actually have pitchforks and torches, Mr. Reading. That was just a figure of speech,” I hear Ariel tell him.
“So, we’re not stabbing him or lighting anything on fire?” my dad asks her.
“Uh, no. But, I mean, we could always stop at the store or something.”
“There’s no time,” my dad sighs. “What a pity. Anyway, Belle, the important thing is that we’re storming his castle and we’re defending your honor! No one makes my little girl cry and gets away with it!”
Flinging off my T-shirt, I quickly pull my dress over my head and scoop up my phone.
“Dad, don’t you dare do anything stupid! Stay away from Vincent’s house!” I shout.
I hear more laughter, and then the call disconnects.
“Son of a bitch!” I shout, quickly pulling up the Uber app.
It looks like I’m going to have to see Vincent whether I’m ready to or not. This is just what I need right now. A bunch of crazy people going over there and threatening a guy who could squash all of their heads like nuts if he gets pissed off enough.
Chapter 33: I Tamed the Beast
I didn’t think anything could hurt worse than walking away from Vincent and his home a week ago, but pulling down the driveway and seeing the place where I grew and thrived and turned into a strong, independent woman who thought she’d found the man of her dreams hurts almost as much.
I’m honestly surprised I don’t see people fighting on the front porch when I get out of the vehicle, and if it wasn’t for seeing my dad’s car parked next to Vincent’s truck, I might have thought the phone conversation I had a little bit ago was a dream.
The entire way down the stone walk and up the porch, I argue with myself about whether I should knock or just walk right in. For weeks I walked through those doors freely, but now I feel like a stranger. Thankfully, I don’t have to make that decision when the door is flung open as soon as I get to the porch.
“It’s about time you got here!” my dad greets me, with a smile and a cup of coffee in his hand.
“What are you doing?!” I whisper loudly, hearing laughter coming from inside the house.
“We’re having coffee. What are you doing?” he replies, taking a sip from his mug.
“Dad!” I shout, trying really hard not to stomp my foot. “What happened to storming the castle and defending my honor?”
Not that I really wanted them to do any of that, but finding my father standing casually in Vincent’s doorway, and hearing my friends laughing inside the house, is definitely not what I expected to find. At the very least, I thought there would be loud shouting. Maybe a few things broken. But glancing behind him, I see nothing is amiss.
“Eh, it sounded fun in theory. And believe me, I gave that man a good, stern talking to. Ariel even punched him in the stomach. That was fun to watch, let me tell you!” my dad chuckles. “It was like watching a house fly punch an elephant. She’s busy icing her hand, in case you were wondering. She’ll be fine.”
I’m about two seconds away from screaming at the top of my lungs when Vincent gently pushes my dad out of the doorway, and my heart drops right down into my stomach.
Seeing him again after a week feels like breathing again after being without air for entirely too long. I want to gasp and press my hand over my rapidly beating heart, but I can do nothing except stand staring at him. He looks like he hasn’t slept in a week, and he looks as miserable as I feel.
I’ve missed his face. I’ve missed the way he takes up an entire doorway, and I’ve missed the way he looks at me like he’ll never get tired of it. I’ve missed the smell of his skin and how safe I feel when he wraps his arms around me. I miss how confident and sexy he always made me feel, even when I was wearing an old T-shirt and ratty pajama bottoms. I even missed him ordering me around and being overly protective of me. I just plain miss him, and right now, everything else seems trivial. Regardless of the huge secret he kept from me, I do trust him. I trust him with my life, and I trust him with my heart.
Even though my dad is still talking and yelling something to Cindy and Ariel, Vincent doesn’t take his eyes off of me.
I want to tell him I’ve missed him. I want to tell him I forgive him. I look at him and I know I can’t spend another minute apart from him. I look at this man so strong and commanding, who seems so nervous and unsure of himself as he stares at me, and I know I will forgive him for anything. Because that’s what you do with someone you love. He changed me. His standoffish, rude behavior in the beginning gave me a voice and made me want to stand up for myself, prove I could be strong and do what I want with my own life. I owe him so much for that. I owe him my forgiveness and my whole heart.
I want to tell him so many things, but I can’t make the words come out. I’m not going to make the same mistake as before and jump into something without knowing all the facts first. Hearing it from PJ is one thing. I need to hear it from Vincent himself. Maybe I don’t need the big, romantic gesture anymore, or the romantic, flowery words, but I still need something. I just need to know that it all wasn’t a lie.
“Will you go somewhere with me?”
It’s not exactly what I thought his first words to me would be, but I’m too busy thinking about how much I missed the low, gruff sound of his voice as well to care.
“Do I have a choice?” I ask, not wanting to make this easy on him.
“Not really.”
He gives me my favorite lip twitch, and my heart beats even faster.
“You do realize they’re all going to follow us, right?”
Vincent finally looks away from me to glance over his shoulder at my dad, Cindy, and Ariel, all standing right behind him with huge, eager smiles on their faces. He turns back to me.
“I’m actually counting on it. I might need them to hold you down if you try to leave again.”
I glare at him as he steps out of the doorway and walks past me, then shoot my angry look at my father and friends.
“Traitors,” I mutter at them as they happily follow behind Vincent, with my dad bringing up the rear and closing the door behind him.
* * *
Vincent remained quiet when we got in his truck, and I spent the entire ride sending angry texts to all three of the turncoats in the car behind us. With my head down, typing furiously on my phone, I wasn’t paying attention to where we were going. I don’t look up until the truck comes to a stop. When I see where we are, I shake my head and blink back tears.
“What are you doing? It’s closed,” I whisper, staring out the windshield at my library.
I never bothered coming back here in the last week, and it hurts to be here now, knowing I can’t go inside. Mrs. Potter and I both made numerous phone calls to the board, none of which was returned, aside from one call I got from Mrs. Anderson, who swore she did everything she could, even threatening her husband’s life if he didn’t reopen the place. Unfortunately, it was too late and the decision was made.
Vincent gets out of the truck and comes around to my side, opening the door and holding his hand out for me.
“Trust me. Please. I know I haven’t given you much reason to do that, but I swear to you, I will never do anything that will hurt you again. Just please, trust me on this,” Vincent pleads.
Swallowing back the tears, I tentatively press my hand into his, immediately believing his words when just the feel of his big, warm hand around mine makes me feel safe.
He pulls me out of the truck, and we walk hand-in-hand up t
o the doors of the library. Looking back at me over his shoulder, he gives me a nervous smile as he grabs onto the handle and opens the door.
“What the—”
My words of shock are cut off as he tugs me inside, where it’s dark, and the smell of old books surrounding me makes the tears threaten again.
Suddenly all the lights go on, and I jump when a loud chorus of “Surprise!” echoes around the room.
Holding back the tears is useless at this point. Standing in front of the reference desk is not only Mrs. Potter, but also all twenty of my former employees whom I’d had to let go, all wearing excited smiles on their faces.
“What is happening right now?” I ask as a tear rolls down my cheek and Vincent squeezes my hand, which he still holds firmly in his own.
As I stare at all of the people, Mrs. Anderson suddenly pushes through the crowd and makes her way across the room to us.
With a smile on her face, she holds out a key ring with a small red bow on it and one key.
“Congratulations, Isabelle. The library is now yours again.”
With a shaking hand, I take the key from her.
“I don’t understand,” I whisper.
She gives Vincent a wink before addressing me again.
“The board received several very angry phone calls over the last few days, as well as a very, very large donation. Enough to keep the place fully staffed and running for well over a year. At that time, the board will review things again, but I’m certain that when you implement all of your amazing ideas, they’ll have no trouble agreeing to keep it open,” she explains. “Personally, if I were you, I’d forgive the handsome man standing behind you. He’s really sorry for what he did.”
I can’t help but laugh, wiping away a tear as she goes back to stand with the rest of the employees. I turn to face the handsome man standing behind me. Who currently has my father, Cindy, and Ariel standing right behind him.
“Can you guys give us some privacy?” I ask them.
“Damn it,” Cindy mutters, walking around Vincent to go talk to Mrs. Potter.
I look at Ariel, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Fine. But I’m walking away under protest, just so you know,” she tells me, pausing in front of Vincent. “Don’t fuck this up, or I’ll fuck up your face.”
“How’s your hand?” he asks with a twitch of his mouth.
She replies by giving him the middle finger before walking away, and I turn my eyes towards my father.
“First I didn’t get to stab him or burn his house down, now I can’t even stay for the good part,” he grumbles, stomping over to join the group.
When we’re finally as alone as we’re going to get, I look up at Vincent and shake my head at him.
“What did you do?”
He closes the distance between us, bring his hands up to either side of my face.
“You, of all people, deserve a happy ending and the big, romantic gesture,” he says softly, staring into my eyes. “I had some money saved, and I had a little help from Eric because he’s really sorry about being an asshole with a big mouth.”
“I can’t let you do this. It’s too much.”
Dipping his head, he rests his forehead against mine.
“It’s too late. It’s yours, and I’m not taking it back. And just so you know, I didn’t do this to hold it over you or expect anything in return. I don’t give a shit if I have to go back to Canada, as long as you never leave me again. Promise me you won’t leave me again. We can do the long-distance thing. It’s not that far. You can come visit me, and I can come back here. You know, as long as I don’t stay for longer than six months at a time,” he says with a smile.
Pulling my head back from his, I stare up at the man who started out as a beast and ended up being the sweetest, most caring, and thoughtful—if sometimes annoying—man I’ve ever met. He’s so much better than any hero I’ve ever read in any book, and the best part is, he’s mine and he’s real.
“Like I’d really let you go back to Canada after you bought me a library. I’m not an animal,” I tell him with a smile. “I told you, all you have to do is ask me.”
Vincent drops his hands from my face and quickly reaches over to the table next to him, grabbing a book that’s laying on top.
I can’t help but laugh when I see it’s the same book he used to sit at that same table not reading, when he came in here every night for a week.
“Open it,” he tells me, handing me the book.
I flip it open with a smile that immediately turns into a gasp when I see what’s inside. The words on the pages all blur together as my eyes cloud with tears.
“You cut a hole in a book and put a ring in it?” I ask in shock, staring with wide eyes at the beautiful, princess-cut diamond nestled amid the pages, sparkling as the light hits it.
I look up at him and then watch him slowly drop to one knee in front of me, barely paying attention to the chorus of gasps from the group of people standing a few feet away.
“Isabelle Reading, will you marry me? And not because of that fucking green card, but because I need you. I love you. And I want you to be my wife.”
I’ve never heard anything more romantic in my entire life, and I quickly nod my head, swiping away the tears as he gets up from his knee. He pulls the ring out of the book, tossing the book back onto the table next to us, and I hold out my left hand, the tears falling faster as he slips it on my finger.
“Belle, I’m so sorry. I—”
Stepping forward, I press my hand against his mouth.
“Stop. You don’t have to say anything else. You’ve already shown me. You showed me how you felt long before you bought me a damn library, and I was an idiot for not realizing it. I’m sorry I broke my promise and left, and I’ll never do that again. I don’t need the words. This big, romantic gesture is better than anything you could say.”
He kisses my palm, gently pulling my hand away from his face.
“Too bad, because I need to say the words, and I know you need to hear them no matter what you say. You changed that about me. You changed me. You make me want to be happy, and you make me want to do whatever I can to make sure you’re happy, even saying girly romantic shit,” he tells me with a smile. “You make me laugh and you calm me when I’m pissed off. You’re everything I never thought I needed.”
He wraps his arms around me and scoops me up and against him, and I cling to him tightly as he kisses me, everyone in the library clapping and whistling. I break the kiss before we get carried away in front of all these people, pulling my head back to look at my fiancé, who is surprisingly very good at flowery, romantic words.
“You know I’m going to have to fine you for destroying library property by cutting a hole in that book. A three-year study was just conducted showing that sixty-four percent of public libraries reported having at least one incident of book vandalism. You better hope no one else destroys a copy or that statistic will be off, and that just wouldn’t be right.”
I feel the rumble of Vincent’s laughter through his chest, which is pressed against mine as he tightens his arms around my body and shakes his head at me.
“You’re so weird,” he whispers with a smile.
“And you’re my knight in shining armor.”
“Oh, Christ . . .” he mutters with another shake of his head, the smile never leaving his face as he presses his mouth to mine again.
I tamed the beast, and he bought me a library.
I guess fairy tales really do come true for a nerdy bookworm-turned-stripper.
About the Author
Author photograph © Tina Redinger
Tara Sivec is a USA Today best-selling author, wife, mother, chauffeur, maid, short-order cook, babysitter, and sarcasm expert. She lives in Ohio with her husband and two children and looks forward to the day when all three of them become adults and move out.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Chapter 1: My Daughter Is Being Hookerish
Chapter 2: YOLO
Chapter 3: Match Made in Heaven
Chapter 4: Creepy Stalker
Chapter 5: Rude Knight in Shining Armor
Chapter 6: This is Where I Die
Chapter 7: Maybe You Should Try a Man
Chapter 8: Blink Once for Yes, Twice for No
Chapter 9: Silver Fox
Chapter 10: Screw You
Chapter 11: Gus Tone
Chapter 12: I’m the Boss of Me
Chapter 13: Luminous the Liar
Chapter 14: I Took Care of It
Chapter 15: I Don’t Trust Strippers
Chapter 16: Food, French, Eyelashes
Chapter 17: The Jig Is Up
Chapter 18: Rules Are Meant to Be Broken
Chapter 19: This is Me Refusing to Share
Chapter 20: Is This Okay?
Chapter 21: What Have You Done?
Chapter 22: We Can Have Sex Now?
Chapter 23: Vincent’s Got Himself a Girlfriend
Chapter 24: The Mess Can Wait
Chapter 25: I Did Not Get a Boner
Chapter 26: I’m Just Here for Moral Support
Chapter 27: I Almost Spun to Death!
Chapter 28: You’re a Cock Blocker
Chapter 29: You Won’t Have to Be a Hooker
Chapter 30: Fairy Tales are Bullshit
Chapter 31: Closed Indefinitely
Chapter 32: We’re Storming the Castle
Chapter 33: I Tamed the Beast
About the Author
Also by Tara Sivec
Copyright Page