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  My throat tightened again, but I gulped in a lungful of air, trying to calm myself. Within another moment, Jeremy slipped into the chair across from me.

  When I caught his eyes, whatever he saw in mine had him reaching across the table to grip my hand in his. “Hey, you’ll get through this. We’ll get through this.”

  I felt a hot tear roll down my cheek and swiped it away with my thumb. The feel of his strong hand gripping mine eased the tension and anxiety coiled inside. “I hope so. I just wish…”

  My words trailed off because I didn’t know what the hell I meant to say. I wished a lot of things were different, yet wishing I’d never met Wesley wouldn’t meant I wouldn’t have Austin. That was the part of the equation I would never change. Now I just had to hope for the best and believe my attorney was right. That we would prevail.

  I met Jeremy’s gaze and sighed. “I’m going to miss you.” Another wave of emotion choked me up.

  “I’ll come visit every chance I get. You can count on it,” he said firmly.

  Much as life hadn’t shown me much reason to hope sometimes, I believed him.

  Later that night, I listened to the sound of his heartbeat where my head rested on his chest. My own heart ached even though I clung to his words.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Jeremy

  A few days later, I returned to Marie’s place after our last night together before her move back to Savannah in the morning. She was pale and drawn as she searched for apartments after dropping Austin off at day care. Given the situation, I’d snuck out again before dawn so Austin wouldn’t see me, but I was back as soon as Marie was.

  Seeing her look so defeated killed me and made me want to bash Wesley’s face with my bare hands for starters. There was a lot more I wanted to do that steaming piece of shit. A lot worse. Nailing his dick to a burning building, then handing him a blunt knife and telling him good luck with his decision came to mind, but I could get even more creative.

  Between keeping a curb on my anger with Wesley, I was also frantically trying to solve Marie’s problem. Well, the immediate problem. Then, the long-term problem of the actual custody case.

  While she was on the phone to a rental agent, I slipped into the living room to call Savannah again. Knowing we were in crises mode, the attorney answered quickly. “Mr. Lovett. Has Mr. Poole done anything else to give us ammunition this morning?”

  “No,” I told her, grateful for her mindset of using Wesley’s tactics as ammunition against him when we finally got to court. “I wanted to speak to you about alternatives.”

  “Alternatives?” she asked, hesitating for a beat. “What alternatives?”

  “Are there any whatsoever other than Marie moving back to Savannah this week?” Heart pounding, I waited with bated breath for her answer. The prospect of Marie leaving was more difficult for me to stomach than I would’ve thought.

  In fact, judging by the way I’d been feeling since she’d first called to tell me, the desperation to keep her, the impending sense of doom if she left and the intimacy threading us closer and closer together last night, I was realizing that I might just have fallen in love with her.

  In love wasn’t something I’d expected myself ever to feel, but I wasn’t stupid and there weren’t many other explanations. Except for maybe a heart and brain condition, one which affected both organs to attune them to only one person and ordered them to make every other part of your body and soul react when that person was around.

  But since I knew of no such conditions, though I was seriously tempted to look it up, I was pretty sure I was in love.

  “Mr. Lovett?” Savannah’s voice interrupted my reverie. “Did you hear what I said?”

  “No. I’m sorry, I must’ve lost you for a minute. What was that?”

  Her next words made my heart seize and my lungs forget how to expand. “I said I was sorry, Mr. Lovett. I’m afraid there are no other alternatives at this time.”

  She assured me she’d file for a modification, but until that happened, Marie needed to follow the court’s orders or risk being held in contempt.

  For the next week, every time I closed my eyes I saw Marie. But Savannah’s words haunted me, a constant reminder that Marie was gone and that I wasn’t able to stop it. I spoke to her every day, but it wasn’t the same as having her around. I’d been scrambling at work as it was. Before Doc had signed the company over, we’d scheduled a full slate of jobs for several months. I was barely keeping pace as I adjusted to managing the operation.

  Doc was due to be discharged from the hospital in another day or so. I was relieved for that, yet I knew I couldn’t consider asking him to cover right now. That meant, I had to be patient and put up with mostly weekend visits to see Marie.

  Today was going to be a particular brand of hell. Parking my truck across the street from the salon, my eyes searched out Marie’s station automatically, but it was empty. Of course.

  The entire place, no, the entire town felt empty without her in it. But just as I had to live in this town, I had to work at her salon. Sarah was ready to go ahead with the remodel, the loan having finally come through.

  I missed Marie like crazy. Walking into the salon, it was like my breath got sucked right out of me at her absence and there was no more oxygen left for me to breathe. The haze from before I’d met her was settling again, the only times the light shone through the few minutes a day I got to talk to her over the phone.

  Sarah gave me a sympathetic smile when she saw me, holding up a steaming mug of coffee. “Here, you look like you need this more than I do.”

  “Thanks,” I said. It tasted like nothing when I sipped it, but then again nothing tasted like much without Marie around. Love sucked when the object of your affection got ripped away from you right around the time when you realized what you were feeling.

  “It’s going to be okay, you know,” Sarah told me, reaching up to squeeze my shoulder. “Eventually, it will all work out. Everything will be okay.”

  I remembered the amount of times I’d said those exact same words to Marie, but just like I wasn’t able to make sure everything really was okay for her in the end, there was no way Sarah could guarantee it either. Nor could Savannah, no matter how many times she told us we had a good case and only had to wait to get to court.

  While I appreciated the sentiment from both of them, the words didn’t mean much.

  They weren’t the ones living with their hearts torn in half.

  * * *

  Marie & Jeremy’s story continues in Down & Dirty #3, available May 10th, 2018

  * * *

  Preorder here: Down & Dirty #3

  * * *

  For a sneak peek, keep on reading!

  Sneak Peek: Down & Dirty #3

  Jeremy

  The numbers in front of me blurred. Rubbing my eyes, I tried to refocus but it was useless. Every time I closed my eyes, even for a blink, I saw Marie’s face flash behind my eyelids.

  Arcadian lay in the corner of my office behind my desk, lifting his head to whimper as if he could read my thoughts and was missing her too.

  Scratching his head, I mumbled. “I feel you, boy. I wish she was here too.”

  Getting used to life after Marie leaving Cypress Creek wasn't going well for me. Monday was only just starting and the week already felt too long, the air too humid to breathe properly. Even my dog was restless with his leg kicking against the wall as he napped intermittently.

  I brought Arcadian, my Cane Corso, along with me to work whenever I could nowadays. I found comfort in having him with me, and it was a win for him since he could meander about the construction yard. So long as it wasn't too hot out, Arcadian came with me. His company didn't cure the restlessness and loneliness I'd been feeling since Marie left, but it did relieve it some.

  The administrative tasks awaiting me this morning weren't interesting. They weren’t nearly enough to keep me from thinking about Marie every other second. Given a choice between sorting out our
billing, or thinking about the way her eyes lit up when she was happy, Marie would always win.

  The same could be said for just about everything on my to-do list. I got the work done, but my head wasn't entirely in the game.

  The overhead fan in my office did a little more than move hot air around and sweat dotted my forehead. Combined with my brain's failure to focus on anything other than Marie, if I stayed sitting here, I was going to go mad.

  I had to move. I had to do something.

  "Come on, boy," I called to Arcadian with a whistle. "Let's go see what the boys are getting up to on the Patterson project."

  Arcadian nails clicked on the makeshift floor of my site office as he pulled himself up to his full height. Looking like a black beast with his shoulders standing over two feet tall and his head almost to my hip, his appearance was deceptive.

  Arcadian was as docile as they came, trotting over with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Stroking his head, I stepped aside so he could descend the stairs ahead of me. I was locking up when my phone buzzed in the pocket of my black shorts.

  Digging it out, I slid my sunglasses over my eyes and whistled to Arcadian to follow me to the truck. I was expecting a message from a guy who was delivering wood for the salon renovation, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw that it wasn't.

  Marie's name blinked at me from the screen, the mere sight of it a kick to the heart. I missed her more than I could describe.

  Punching in my passcode with my thumb, I opened the message. The need to pummel Wesley, her cowardly ex-who was the reason for our current separation, returned full force.

  Marie: Just wanted to pop in to say I miss you.

  I blinked at the words, so simple, yet so effective and so honest. I was still working on the logistics and I'd had half a mind to surprise her but fuck it, she needed something to look forward to as much as I did.

  Me: Miss you too. Planning a visit to Savannah this weekend, how does that sound?

  Bubbles appeared at the top of my screen immediately. Her message popped up a second later.

  Marie: Sounds great. Promise?

  Me: Promise

  "You gonna stand there in this blistering heat texting all day, or are you going somewhere?" my brother Sonny's voice piped up from beside me.

  Lifting my eyes from the screen and pocketing my phone, I found him grinning as he approached. "Actually, I thought this was as good a place as any to get tan on the back of my neck. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?"

  "Nah, it's my day off. Thought I'd stop by to tell you that Tyson wants you to stop by his office when you get time."

  "Yeah?"

  Tyson, the oldest of our band of five Lovett brothers, was also the District Attorney and was planning on filing charges against Marie's ex for stalking, threatening, and intimidation. As far as I was concerned, he could go ahead and add every other possible crime to that list. "Why didn't he call me directly?"

  Sonny shrugged. "He said he tried and couldn't get through to you. He’s in the process of filing, but he wanted to talk to you first."

  Reaching for my phone again, I scrolled through the calls I'd missed that morning and sure enough, there were two from my brother. "Shit. Don't know how that happened, I've had my phone near me all morning."

  He raised his eyebrows, giving a pointed look at my phone and then to my office. "Too busy to answer the phone for your brothers now that you own the company?"

  His tone was light and teasing. Pretending to push my sunglasses back into place with my middle finger, I grinned. "It's not only now, it's been that way for years. I'll always be too busy for your gossip."

  Sonny chuckled, shaking his head. "Yeah, because a cop and the District Attorney have nothing better to do with their time than to gossip to and about their brother."

  "You said it, not me," I shot back at him, smirking as my thumb hovered over Tyson's number. "Kidding aside, do you know why he needs to speak to me? Has there been any more news from the DA in Savannah?"

  Sonny lifted his shoulders in a shrug, pressing his lips together. "No idea. He called me when he couldn't get a hold of you, and I said I'd stop by because I was going to be in the area."

  "Thanks." Apprehension bloomed in my stomach. Marie’s ex was a tricky fucker to deal with, a scumbag who had zero problems with lying and manipulating the system to get what he wanted and had experienced enough run-ins with the law to know just how to skirt it. "I need to check on progress at a jobsite, but I’ll stop by his office later this morning. Thanks for dropping by."

  Sonny tipped an imaginary hat at me, his perpetual knowing grin curling his lips. "No worries, man. Marie was good for you. She kept this,"—he waved his hand vaguely toward me—“grumpy, tense asshole at bay. The sooner we get her back for you, the better."

  "What grumpy, tense asshole?" I lifted my brows innocently. "I'm a regular delight."

  Rolling his eyes, he gave me a quick wave as he headed back towards his truck and called, "I think you misunderstood the meaning of the word delight. Invest in a dictionary. See you around."

  "I have a dictionary," I called back but Sonny didn't turn around. He gave me the finger with his hand lifted above his head and slid into his vehicle. I let it go, looking around for Arcadian. He was lying under a tree nearby, dozing again. "Let's get out of here lazybones. Maybe uncle Tyson can see about getting Marie and Austin back to us."

  Sonny wasn't wrong, I'd reverted back to my prickly pre-Marie self in the short time since she and her son, Austin, had been forced to move back to Savannah thanks to a court order Wesley had obtained. The thing had been based solely on malicious lies that Marie had moved away from Savannah only after he had filed for custody of Austin in an attempt to evade jurisdiction.

  Both Savannah Steele, the family lawyer I'd employed to help us and my big bad district attorney brother were convinced that his lies would be easily undone in court. They both assured me that his tactics in obtaining the court order would count against him and help our case.

  I didn't doubt either of them. I knew nothing of the law and even less about custody, but it was taking some time for us to get a court date. All I knew was that whether his lies would ultimately hurt his case or not, they sure as shit were hurting Marie now.

  Cranking up the air conditioning and the radio in my truck once Arcadian and I were loaded up, I could only hope that Tyson had good news for me. God knew I was over this waiting game we seemed to be playing with courts and was more than ready to move my girl back to town.

  Curling my hands around the steering wheel, I headed over to the jobsite to check on the team there. Next stop, Tyson’s office. And then, hopefully, Savannah to bring Marie and Austin home.

  It wasn’t likely to happen today, I knew that. But hey, a guy could dream, right? I had to hang onto hope. Without it, I’d be chasing down Marie’s ex and making things uglier than necessary.

  Marie

  "How was your day, sweetheart?" I asked Austin, meeting his green eyes in the rear view mirror. Picking him up from daycare since we’d moved back to Savannah a few weeks, it was clear to see the difference in him.

  Gone were the days that his eyes were alight with excitement and his heart bubbling over with love for his teacher, his school or his friends. He was trying to be a good sport about it, but I wasn't fooled.

  “It was okay." His voice was flat, but his lips tipped up into a forced smile. "I miss my preschool though."

  "I know. I'm sorry we had to leave, baby."

  Austin didn't know precisely why we had to leave Cypress Creek, since I didn't want him to worry about the possibility of custody being awarded to Wesley. As a father, Wesley had been virtually absent from his son's life except as an occasional threatening presence. Whenever they had spent time together, Austin was upset for days after. While I didn't know what all his father said or did, it didn't take a rocket scientist to see that Austin was afraid of him.

  Seeing Austin so sad over having to le
ave Cypress and hearing the dejection in his voice broke my heart and sent a rush of anger through me. I was so sick and tired of Wesley doing whatever he could to upend our lives. I could’ve handled it if it were just me, but now he’d pulled Austin smack in the middle by filing for custody. It made me sick.

  I had to uproot our son because of Wesley's need to control me and make sure he called the shots on where I lived and what I did. It was beyond unfair, but it was what it was. For now. He’d done this because he couldn't deal with the fact that I'd moved away from Savannah. I'd not only found a new home in my old hometown of Cypress Creek, but also a new job and much to my surprise, even a new man. Kind of.

  Jeremy and I had gone to high school together but we hadn't been friends back then. He was a few years older and on top of that, one of the most popular guys in school, a football star and I was… Well, not.

  Oh, I had friends and enjoyed high school, but Jeremy was crazy popular back then. I didn't even know if he knew this, but we'd briefly attended the same college before I got pregnant with Austin. I used to get coffee at the same place he did, but I doubted he'd ever even noticed me.

  What had made him notice me now, so many years later and notwithstanding the masses of baggage I carried, I still didn't know. Jeremy and I had never really talked about it. Though I'd had some trouble accepting how much he appeared to care about me, even I couldn't deny anymore that whatever was between us was more than a flash in the pan.

  The chemistry we had was so real, it nearly set me aflame. The more time we’d spent together, the tighter the intimacy wove between us. Even though it had only been a few months since we’d connected, I couldn't imagine my life, or my future, without him in it now.

  It wasn't something I'd ever expected to feel. With Jeremy, everything just felt right. Like he was it for me.