All My Heart (The Clover Series) Read online

  All My Heart

  Book 3 of the Clover Series

  By Danielle Stewart

  Copyright Page

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locals, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  An Original work of Danielle Stewart.

  All My Heart Copyright 2014 by Danielle Stewart

  Cover Art by: Ginny Gallagher

  Website: Ginsbooknotes

  Dedication

  To the dynamic people who show up every day to support me. You’ve all become more than just a team. You are my soft place to fall on the hard days and my favorite people to celebrate with when everything goes right

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Facing Home Sneak Peek

  Books by Danielle Stewart

  Chapter One

  Devin

  I don’t know how it’s possible but New York is louder than it was when I left. After two years here I was practically desensitized to the noise and the crowds, but now, after just a week in Clover, being back in New York is like an assault on my senses.

  Luke, my business partner and the closest thing I have to a friend, is sitting across from me as I sign the documents to sell my company. This is what he and I always agreed to do. We’d build something worth selling and then we’d do just that, sell. We weren’t looking to be lifelong buddies in business. We were smart enough to see what we each brought to the table and that a partnership would be mutually beneficial. It’s not an equal split though. I came with cash, a good amount of it as reparations for my wrongful imprisonment. That meant I was in charge, and I’ve never let Luke forget it. I’m not sure why he’s continued to put up with me, but I’m guessing it was to get to this moment. The payout. The sale.

  For the record, I never asked him to follow me to Clover. I didn’t need him getting involved in the scores I planned to settle. He did that on his own. I’m sure now he’s on the verge of an influx of so much cash that any commitments we made down in Clover will be easily broken. All the heartwarming camaraderie he ate up while we were trying to revive a town and rekindle lost loves will likely evaporate the second his bank account triples.

  I’m surrounded by the wheezy, labored breathing of three overweight lawyers wearing boring gray suits and matching shirts as they stare at me. I can hear the chatter of people just outside the conference room and the ticking of the clock on the wall. All I want is some damn quiet. Couldn’t anyone here just shut his mouth so a guy can think?

  “We really don’t have a stamp of my signature? This is a little insane,” I snarl as I flip over another document and move to the next.

  “Only a few more, Mr. Sutton. Then the sale will be final and you’ll be a very rich man,” one lawyer says in his stuffy and arrogant tone.

  “Wonderful,” I mutter sarcastically. What they don’t understand is there is no amount of money on this planet that will get Rebecca to forgive me for not being there when she got back with Adeline. I can’t imagine what she’s doing and thinking right now or how I’ll make things right. How much money would I need to fork over to get her to open the door of the house I bought for her? I know her well enough to know money won’t mean a thing. Maybe she’s burned the house to the ground. I know if the roles were reversed I would have. If I was expecting to come home to her and instead she bailed, not giving any explanation or idea of when she’d be back, I’d lose it.

  Even Luke was shocked last week when I announced I was leaving Clover. He couldn’t believe I was not waiting for Rebecca to come back, not giving an explanation. The questions read on his face, but he never let them pass his lips. He just packed up his bag and headed out with me. What was I supposed to say? Rebecca, I have reason to believe you killed Brent. You’re the person I’ve wanted to punish all these years. You’re the reason I sat alone in prison for nearly a decade and I just can’t figure out what to do with that information. When faced with that option, leaving seemed better.

  I instructed Click and Jordan to find a house and some property in Clover that would be easy to keep safe. A house out of the way and on a street quiet enough to hear people coming. Click emailed me the details of a farmhouse with a lot of cleared land around it and limited access. I told him to buy it. Did I plan to ever come back to it? I have no idea, but I’d burned bridges for Rebecca and the least I could do was make sure she and Adeline had a roof over their heads.

  “Mr. Sutton,” the rosy-cheeked heavyset man sitting at the other end of the long conference room table called down to me, pulling me unwillingly away from my thoughts of Rebecca. “I wanted to let you know even though the print was fine, we saw the clause about you retaining control of the project in Clever, North Carolina.”

  “It’s Clover, Mr. Clementine,” I say, not looking up from the stack of papers I’m signing.

  “I just wanted you to know you hadn’t gotten one over on us, sneaking in that lemon of a deal. If you hadn’t asked to keep your name on it, we would have kicked this contract right back to you. I’m personally happy you want to head it up. That’s a ship we don’t plan to sink with.”

  “And if the deal turns a profit, becomes a PR powerhouse?” I ask, already knowing the answer. I’d sat exactly where he was. I know how the game works.

  “Then we’ll be down there with news cameras and T-shirts shouting about how great our idea was. You know how this business works.”

  “I sure do.” I shrug, dying to get out of here.

  “So you’re going down to Clover to throw on some overalls and a straw hat and call it a life? This business world too much for you? I never did think you were cut out for it. I think it’s a miracle you got this company going at all. Quitting while you’re ahead is probably your best bet.”

  “No, Mr. Clementine, that’s not it. I love the cutthroat, take no prisoners, screw over anyone in your way kind of lifestyle. I’m really going to miss it. God knows you’ll never give it up, because if you did all those mistresses of yours would certainly hightail it out of here. Unless you’re delusional enough to think they’re with you for your personality, or that hot body of yours.”

  I hear Luke clear his throat and I scribble out the last needed signature. “Pleasure doing business with you,” I snap, sliding the papers over to his lawyer.

  “Y’all have fun now, ya hear,” Clementine calls out in a patronizing southern drawl as I leave. “I’ll be the first one to call my buddies a
t the newspapers when this thing falls flat.”

  “Tactful as always, Devin,” Luke scolds as he hurries to meet my quick stride toward the elevator.

  “You know I hate him.”

  “And now he knows it too.”

  “Well, it’s done, Luke. The company is sold. We’ll both be getting a big deposit of money in the next couple of days. I wanted to talk to you about the thing in Clover. You don’t have to do that. If you want to hit the beach or whatever, I wouldn’t blame you.”

  “Are you going back?”

  “Are you basing your decision on my decision? Because that would be moronic.”

  “I’m just wondering. I’ve already made my choice. I took stock of what I have up here. It’s a whole lot of nothing. I’m thirty-three years old with no family to speak of, my only friends are business associates, acquaintances at best. My apartment costs me a fortune and is a glorified broom closet. The time I just spent in Clover was the most relaxing, comfortable experience I’ve had in years, and that’s saying a lot considering someone shot at us. I like Nick and his family. Rebecca, Click, Jordan - they’re all real. Nothing up here feels real to me. I think maybe getting back down there, actually helping people, might be good for me.”

  “Lovely,” I say as I repeatedly hit the button on the elevator hoping it might speed up the process and get me out of here.

  “Are you coming back with me?” Luke asks point blank, and I feel this enormous building closing in on me.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Have you talked to Rebecca?” he presses.

  “No.”

  “Do you think she’s mad at you?”

  “Probably.”

  “Are you mad at her?”

  I sigh with relief as the elevator door splits open. I step inside and the smell of familiar perfume hits my nose. Eliza something or other, I can’t remember her last name. She worked for me. I can’t remember what job she did either. What I can remember is her insane flexibility in the sack. The girl must have been a gymnast when she was younger.

  “Devin?” Her voice is cool and gravelly, innately sexy. She’s dressed in a tight gray pencil skirt that’s on the verge of being way too short for an office. Her white frilly collared shirt is also unbuttoned to what I imagine would be an unacceptable level as far as human resources is concerned. “I thought you fell off the face of the earth,” she purrs as she touches my arm seductively, clearly not bothered by the fact that Luke has stepped into the elevator as well.

  “Going down?” Luke asks her as his fingers hover over the buttons. This is Eliza’s floor. It’s obvious she’s just ridden up from the lobby but didn’t step off when we stepped on.

  “I don’t know. Devin,” she asks, leaning in to me, “am I?”

  “I just sold the company, Eliza,” I say flatly and watch as Luke gives up and just hits the button for the lobby.

  “Should we go celebrate?” She loops her finger around my tie a few times. Not an ounce of my body is excited by this. As a matter of fact, it takes the majority of my willpower not to yank my tie away and hop off on an earlier floor.

  “No, I’m not celebrating. I’m leaving,” I snap. Luke has his back to us now, looking anxious for the elevator to reach the lobby so he can get the hell away from us.

  Much to my surprise, Eliza reaches for my belt, running her hands across the buckle. “Somewhere warm? That sounds like fun. Need some company?” She slides her hand over my zipper and I narrow my eyes at her, twisting my brows in disbelief. Finally, she reads my reaction and snaps her hand back. She’s not embarrassed, but annoyed. “Got another piece of ass?” she bites, folding her arms over her chest.

  “I just have a lot on my mind.”

  “No one turns me down unless they get caught up in someone else. I can’t believe I put in all that work and the second you get a big pay out you take off. Do you actually think I was sleeping with you for the lively conversation?” Her body language shifted from seductive to irate.

  “No, I figured it was for the free dinners and getting to keep your job no matter how many times you screw up.” Eliza doesn’t deserve my harshness, but I’m like a pot simmering away on the stove. I have to boil over every now and then and burn someone. The doors open finally. A swarm of people walks into the elevator and Luke and I struggle to get off quickly, leaving Eliza behind.

  The thought of Eliza, what she used to be to me and what I used to do day in and day out before I went back to Clover, turns my stomach. I was living this fake superficial, half-life that, frankly, I was content with. I was a shell, a corpse, and Rebecca breathed new life back into me. Now everything I used to do, everything that used to be my life, feels ridiculous.

  No one’s touch means anything to me now. No one’s words make any sense. Coming back up here without a word to Rebecca was a knee-jerk reaction, and that’s the problem. My heart needs Rebecca but my mind is still making decisions that don’t take her into consideration. How do I bring those worlds together, the things I want in harmony with the things I need? I’m realizing now it might be too late. She doesn’t know her name was in that book. She doesn’t know it shook me to the core. She just knows I’m gone and didn’t even have the decency to say goodbye or leave some indication when I’d be back. If I’d be back.

  The scariest thing of all is she hasn’t called. She didn’t try to find out what happened. She knew I had to come back here on business, but she’s not stupid. I left without a word and haven’t reached out to her since. But the fact that she hasn’t tried to reach me tells me she knows it’s something. Her silence is speaking volumes.

  “Eliza not so appealing anymore?” Luke asks as we stop to talk before heading our separate ways.

  “Not at all.”

  “Are you coming back with me or not?” Luke is standing in the large echoing lobby of our building looking as if this might be the last time we see each other.

  “I don’t think she’ll want me back there. Not after I just took off like that. Not to mention I still don’t know why her blood was at the scene of Brent’s murder. My head is spinning.” I look down and then out to the street. I’m anxious to put this place behind me.

  “We still have the company jet for one more day. I had most of my stuff put in storage already. I’m heading to Clover. I need a fresh start,” Luke reiterates.

  “It’s not a fresh start for me down there.”

  “No, but maybe it’s unfinished business. I can’t imagine going down there without you.” He lets the seriousness hang between us for just a second then rolls his eyes. “I know I’m sounding like a pansy.”

  “No,” I say, running my hands through my hair, exhausted by everything. “I know what you mean. Now that the company is sold, I wanted to thank you for . . .” I had something planned, something I was going to say, but it’s escaping me. In reality I should be thanking him for continually saving me from myself. For every meeting I lost my cool. Every night at the bar he grabbed my keys. Every PR nightmare I nearly created that he navigated us around. This company wouldn’t have been worth half as much without him around to dodge and fix all the messes I created. Yet, none of those words seem to be making it to my lips. “Luke. I really . . . you’ve been . . .”

  “You don’t need to say it, Devin, just the fact that you almost said it is good enough for me.” He slaps my shoulder and our eyes dart away from each other. “Get on the jet with me. I let you be an idiot all the time. I let you screw things up and run your mouth, but that was when you were my boss. Now you’re not, you’re just my friend, and the only hope you have at ever being happy is down in Clover. There is nothing for you here, man. There is nothing for either of us.”

  “And if she’s furious? Doesn’t want to see me again?” I ask, imagining the fury Rebecca must be feeling.

  “Then you try to fix it. Try to do what I do for you every time you screw up.”

  “And what’s that? I guess I never really asked how you always fixed my shit.”


  “There’s a formula. It’s a sliding scale according to how bad of a screw-up. Apologize. Send a note. Send a gift. Send a bribe. Send a bigger bribe. And if all else failed, I told them you had a brain injury that caused you to act erratically.”

  “Nice. And that worked?”

  “Usually. Not on the people you really pissed off though. Those guys all still hate you.”

  “Can you work your magic on Rebecca?” I plead hopefully.

  “No way. I only use my powers for matters of business. Matters of the heart are much different. But I know you won’t be able to right any of this from up here. You bought a damn house in Clover. You started a war with Hoyle. If anything happens to Rebecca or Adeline because of the shit you started, you won’t be able to live with yourself. You have to go back there.”

  “I started a war,” I whisper, dropping my head and remembering Click’s words to me before I left. “I need to find a war I can win.” I blow out an exasperated breath.

  “Huh?” Luke asks, trying to read my face.

  “Something Click said before I came up here. He told me that’s what helped him. I can’t fix everything. I can’t make everyone pay but maybe I can find something to fix. And maybe it’ll be enough.”

  “I’ll have the car swing by your house. We’ll get some of your things.”

  “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, Luke. Why do you seem so sure about this?”

  “I’m not. I have no idea what’s going to happen down in Clover. All I know is nothing good is going to happen here for us. Might as well roll the dice.”

  Chapter Two

  Click

  The next time I see Devin Sutton I think I’ll sucker-punch him in the throat. When I signed on for this job it was meant to be simple. I was going to be security for one man in a fairly sleepy town. I anticipated some trouble, maybe I’d need to draw my weapon, but I assumed that I could leave my emotions right where I had always left them. Buried.