Freed Read online

  “Sure thing. Give me your cell and I’ll leave you with my number.”

  A few minutes later, he’d input the digits into her phone and she was walking him to the door.

  “I’m so lucky I found you when I moved here. Otherwise I’d be all alone, and you’ve been such a good friend,” she said.

  He wanted to be more. He cleared his throat. “Just call me and we’ll go on Sunday morning,” he said, not addressing her comment because he was feeling suddenly guilty about all he was hiding.

  “Thank you, Braden.” She rose to her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, her lips warm on his skin, her scent digging into his bones.

  “My pleasure,” he said gruffly before turning and walking out the door.

  She closed it behind him. He placed a hand on the door, his thoughts on the woman inside. He didn’t want to be lying to her about why he was spending time with her, though the truth was he’d be here for her regardless. Because already she was so much more to him than a job.

  * * *

  Braden had a difficult time sleeping and it wasn’t because he heard his father pacing and shuffling in the room next to his. He couldn’t get the memory of Juliette’s kiss out of his mind, his cock erect, the feel of her soft and willing in his arms still driving him insane with desire.

  He kicked off the covers and wrapped his hand around his aching cock, stroking up and down, all the while thinking of her lips, not on his mouth but wrapped around his dick. He closed his eyes and continued to pump his hand, pretending it was her pouty mouth and tongue, not his hand doing the work.

  It didn’t take long for the tingling to begin in his balls and work its way up his spine. He came hard in his hand like a teenager in need of a morning fix. And it came nowhere near satisfying his need for the woman on his mind.

  She was such a contradiction, innocent in the most basic of ways yet capable of seducing him with little effort. Never had a woman impacted him this way so quickly, not even Emily, and of course he’d wanted his fiancée. But there was something more about Juliette that got under his skin, the need to be near her, to protect her growing stronger. All the while the omission of the fact that he was working for her father stood between them.

  Between his personal life, which was teetering on the verge of disaster due to his father’s health, and his professional one, which he was fucking up with every breath he took near Juliette, he was still tense.

  Climax be damned.

  Chapter Four

  Juliette changed her clothes four times before settling on a flowing pale pink skirt, a tucked-in cream camisole, and gold sandals to wear when she knocked on her sister’s door and introduced herself. Luckily, she’d had a full day to recuperate from her night of drinking before having to face her life.

  She was mortified by the way she’d behaved, and she almost wished she couldn’t remember the events of the night. Grinding with a stranger on the dance floor, which, thank God, Braden had saved her from, and throwing herself at her rescuer back in her apartment, kissing him for all she was worth. Her cheeks flamed at the memories she had no choice but to deal with.

  He’d be knocking on her door any minute to pick her up as they’d arranged via text. She hadn’t had the nerve to call him directly. Another thing to add to her embarrassment, recruiting Braden to accompany her to meet her sister. Not that she didn’t need the moral support. She did. But did he want to come or had he felt put on the spot or obligated to help?

  A few minutes later, the knock sounded and she let him in. “Hi,” she said, stepping aside so he could enter. In a pair of dark jeans and a white collared polo shirt, he looked as hot and sexy as ever.

  He paused in the entryway, his gaze raking over her, lingering as he spoke. “You look amazing,” he said in a gruff voice.

  “Thank you.” She’d even spent extra time on her makeup, wanting to make a good impression on the sister she’d never met.

  “I’m ready. Just let me grab my bag and keys.” She started for the bedroom, then paused and turned around. “Are you sure you don’t mind coming with me? Because if I pressured you the other night or put you on the spot in any way–”

  “I want to come,” he assured her. “I don’t mind holding your hand… so to speak.”

  “Okay,” she said, letting out a slow breath. “Thank you.” She went and retrieved her purse and keys, and she put the most recent detective’s report into her handbag for proof should Phoebe ask, then headed back into the main living area. “Do you want me to drive?” she asked.

  “If you’re asking if I mind going in your convertible, the answer is hell no. Let’s take it.”

  She grinned and handed him the keys. “My stomach is in knots. Why don’t you drive it?”

  He palmed the keys and they were off.

  She barely remembered the walk down the long stairs from her apartment or the drive to the address she’d found on paperwork from her father’s files. Speaking of her father, she’d ignored quite a few calls from him, wanting this time without his voice or influence ringing in her ear. She already knew what he thought of her summer excursion. She didn’t need to hear him go off again on why seeking out her family wasn’t necessary as she already had everything she needed in her life.

  Braden pulled the car up to a modest but lovely ranch-styled home, which surprised her considering the size of the Ward estate.

  “Are you ready?” Braden asked her.

  Drawing a deep breath, she nodded. “Let’s do this before I chicken out.”

  She stepped out of the car and, with Braden by her side, made what felt like a long walk up the driveway and across the path to the front door.

  With shaking hands, she rang the bell. And waited. And waited some more. She glanced at Braden, who shrugged. She was about to ring again when the door opened and her beautiful platinum-blonde-haired sister stood in the doorway.

  “Can I help you?” Phoebe asked.

  “Umm, hi. My name is Juliette.” She ran her tongue along her dry lips. “Juliette Collins. I’m your sister.”

  The color drained out of Phoebe’s face and she grabbed for the doorframe beside her. “Juliette?” she asked in a shocked voice. “Oh my God. I never thought I’d see you again.”

  “Again?”

  “I was six when you left. I remember you as a baby.” Her voice cracked and Juliette found herself pulled into her sister’s arms, Phoebe crying a combination of happy and shocked tears and Juliette’s flow soon following.

  For all the ways she’d thought this meeting might go, Phoebe’s unmitigated happiness had never factored into the equation. Juliette had been too afraid to hope for a welcoming reaction.

  “How did you find me?” Phoebe asked, stepping back, her eyes smeared with makeup stains.

  “It’s a complicated story, really.”

  “Well, come in and tell me…” She looked over, realizing Juliette wasn’t alone. “I’m sorry. I was so excited I didn’t realize you had someone with you.”

  Braden stepped forward. “I’m Braden Clark, a friend of Juliette’s,” he said.

  “I wanted moral support,” she admitted, embarrassed now in light of the welcoming reception.

  “I can go and come back when you’re ready to leave,” he offered, taking a step back.

  Juliette shook her head. “No. You can stay. If Phoebe doesn’t mind?”

  “Of course not. Jake, my husband, is inside. I’ll get him and we can talk.”

  She led them into the house, Braden by her side.

  A tall man with black hair and broad shoulders met them in the entryway. He was extremely good-looking and well-built, and if she hadn’t been completely gone over the man who made sure she wasn’t alone for this journey, she might be jealous of her sister.

  “Company?” he asked, stepping up to his wife and placing an arm around her shoulders.

  “You aren’t going to believe this,” Phoebe said, swiping at her eyes. “Jake, this is Juliette.”

  “Juliette. Your
sister Juliette?” he asked, disbelief in his voice.

  Phoebe nodded.

  “He knows about me?” Juliette stared between Phoebe and Jake, her heart swelling in her chest.

  “She talks about wishing she could find you all the time. Especially around our wedding this past December,” he said.

  Phoebe nodded. “Halley and I never knew your last name, so we had no way of searching for you.” Phoebe blinked, then said, “Halley! I have to call her! She’s not going to believe it.”

  She ran for the other room, Juliette assumed to get her phone and make the call.

  Jake introduced himself to Braden and then asked, “Well, why don’t we go into the family room?” He gestured toward the back of the house.

  They settled in a room with windows overlooking the woods in the background. Phoebe returned, and while they waited for Halley, Phoebe showed Juliette her wedding photos, not wanting to hear Juliette’s story until the sisters were all together.

  Juliette still trembled inside and she was grateful for the silent but steady support Braden offered her by just being there. She didn’t know many men who would stand up beside a woman they’d just met, and she appreciated that he had.

  They were discussing the fact that Juliette had moved to Rosewood Bay for the summer when a knock sounded, followed by a female voice.

  “What’s so important that I had to drop everything and come over?” Halley stepped into the room, wearing a paint-splattered sundress. “Oh! You have company.” She blushed. “I didn’t mean to just rush in and interrupt, but what’s going on?”

  Phoebe rose to her feet and walked over to her sister, putting an arm around her. “Halley, this is Juliette.” She gestured to where Juliette sat on the sofa.

  She stood, her legs shaking. “Hi.”

  “Juliette,” Halley said in disbelief. “Our sister Juliette? Are you sure?” she asked, her voice rising in disbelief.

  “Well, she was waiting for you so she could explain how she found me, but I feel the connection. Don’t you?”

  Hesitantly, because obviously she was the less trusting sister, Halley turned to face Juliette.

  “I have a private investigator’s report that shows my father searched for you both,” Juliette said. “I know it doesn’t prove we’re sisters, but my father says we have the same mother,” she said softly.

  Halley studied her face for a long while before her expression crumbled and she broke into tears. For the second time in under a half an hour, Juliette found herself in a sister’s embrace. She hugged her back, feeling the warmth and love emanating from Halley.

  “How did this happen?” Halley stepped back, sniffing and wiping her eyes with her hands.

  “You should both sit,” Phoebe said. “And let Juliette tell us everything.”

  Juliette twisted her hands together, knowing how badly this story was going to reflect on her father, yet she had no choice but to tell the truth.

  She drew a deep breath.

  As if he knew the nerves eating away at her, Braden put his hand on her knee, his touch warm, and she took comfort in his steady presence beside her.

  “When you’re ready,” he said, giving her permission to pull herself together first.

  “I’m good.” She shook her hair off her shoulder and began. “I was raised as an only child. My father told me that my mother passed away when I was young and I had no reason not to believe him. He also told me they were madly in love and that’s why he never moved on with another woman after she died.”

  All eyes in the room remained on her, intent and curious.

  “Last week I decided to get my father a bottle of his favorite wine for his birthday, and I went looking in his private safe and found the private investigator’s report I mentioned earlier.” She bit down on her bottom lip. “I discovered my mother was alive and her history, which I knew nothing about.” She spoke delicately because she didn’t know what her sisters knew about their mother.

  “You mean you found out she’s been in prison for using and selling drugs?” Phoebe asked, not avoiding the harsh truth.

  Jake settled her with a hand on her shoulder, pulling her against him.

  “Yes,” Juliette whispered. “Do either of you keep in touch with her?” In her heart, Juliette still wanted to meet her mother. How could she not desire something so fundamental to who she was? Yet her mother’s history had her wary of actually doing so.

  A look passed between Halley and Phoebe before Phoebe turned to her and said, “She came back into our lives for the first time last year. By then our aunt Joy had told us the down and dirty truth – that she’d given you to your father in exchange for cash and lost us to the state due to neglect.” She paused to let those pieces of information sink in.

  “I didn’t know about the money,” Juliette whispered, horrified, her stomach cramping at the knowledge.

  Halley leaned forward in her seat. “She told her sister the truth when she was arrested years ago,” she explained. “That’s when Aunt Joy came to take us home, but our mother never mentioned your last name. She refused to discuss it and we couldn’t find you without it.”

  Juliette swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I wonder—” She cut herself off, the thought going through her mind making her physically ill. But it was possible and she forced herself to say the words. “I wonder if my father still paid her to stay away and that’s why she didn’t give up my last name? So she wouldn’t lose the money source?”

  “Very possible,” Phoebe said.

  “Very likely,” Halley muttered. “She stole something from me last summer when she was pretending to want a relationship. I strongly suggest you don’t have anything to do with her.”

  Everything in Juliette rebelled at the notion of never knowing her other parent. “But shouldn’t I at least meet her? She’s my mother,” Juliette couldn’t help but say, hating that she sounded like a little girl with the question.

  “No,” both women said at the same time.

  “Halley felt that way,” Phoebe explained. “She gave our mother a chance and all she did was break her heart.”

  Juliette swallowed hard, accepting the painful truth. “Okay.” She believed them and trusted their experience, yet she couldn’t help but hurt knowing that her mother was alive but she’d never see her.

  “You mentioned you had PI information on us?” Phoebe asked.

  Juliette nodded. “I do. And I would apologize for my father but I can’t because he’s not even sorry. And those reports led me to you, so I’m grateful he had them.” She patted her bag, which held the documents.

  “Did he say why he never told you about us?” Halley asked, sounding sadder than she did angry.

  The answer to this would hurt them and she didn’t want to do that. “He had a need to keep me all to himself,” she said, taking the most important part of his reasoning.

  They didn’t need to know he questioned their character when that had just been an excuse to keep Juliette by his side.

  “Did you have a good life?” Phoebe asked.

  “Yes. A lot sheltered and my father is definitely overprotective, but he loved me in his own way.” Juliette swallowed hard. “Did you? I know you were in foster care for ten years, and if I’m prying–”

  “We had very different experiences,” Phoebe said. “And there’s now plenty of time to get into details. Let’s stick to the happier things for now. Tell us about what you’re doing this summer.”

  Taking the cue not to push, Juliette smiled and described her one-bedroom above the stores on the main street in town and her job at Grace’s.

  They talked some more, and finally they ran out of conversation for now. Juliette didn’t want to overstay her welcome, which had been so much more than she could have hoped for.

  She rose to her feet and Braden stood, too. He’d been such a trooper, sitting with her while she caught up with her sisters. She owed him for being so patient.

  She waited until they’d all said g
ood-bye and were outside before she turned to him. “Thank you. I can’t begin to tell you how much today meant to me. And I’m so grateful you were by my side when I met them for the first time. I really wasn’t prepared to do it alone.”

  He met her gaze, warmth in his eyes. “My pleasure, though I have to say, you hit the jackpot with family. They were beyond happy to meet you.”

  “I know.” She clasped her hands together, excited and wanting to celebrate today in some way. “Now that you did the obligatory family gathering, what do you say to doing something fun?”

  “Such as?”

  “Go to the beach? We could get lunch, lie in the sun, dip our toes in the water,” she said, laughing.

  He groaned. “I wish I could. But I need to get home.”

  She tilted her head to one side. “Really? But it’s such a nice day. Come on, let’s go have fun.”

  “Juliette.” He clasped her hands in his. “I need to get home to my father. He has Alzheimer’s and he needs me to watch out for him,” he said, obviously revealing something painful.

  She blinked up at him, shading her eyes from the sun with one hand. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

  He rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “It’s fine. I should just get home to him and not go hang out on the beach.”

  She nodded, startled by his abrupt tone, but she knew this couldn’t be easy for him to discuss. “Okay, I understand.”

  “I’m sure you do because you’ve spent so much time looking out for your father. But just because I can’t go doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. You should enjoy the day.”

  She shook her head, not wanting to go to the beach alone. She hesitated, then asked, “Can I do anything? Come back with you? Help in any way?”

  He appeared startled at the question, his eyes opening wide. “Don’t you think you’ve spent enough time taking care of others? You should be out living life.”

  “What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t want to help you in return for what you did for me?”