The Fairy Tales Collection Read online

  “You too, Rafe,” she replied.

  He walked away and Ella leaned forward. “For an old man, he’s super hot.”

  “He’s not that old,” Belle said.

  “He’s at least thirty-five,” Ella said.

  “He’s forty,” Rowan said absently as she set the glass of wine in front of Belle. She turned to study the retreating back of Rafe as Belle gave Ella a pointed look.

  “How do you know how old he is?” Ella asked.

  “What?” Rowan was craning her neck, trying to get one last glimpse of Rafe as he left the bar and Ella poked her in the side.

  “Never thought you had daddy issues, Ro.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Rowan said.

  “Oh please,” Ella scoffed. “We’re your best friends. You think we don’t notice when you’re eye banging someone.”

  Rowan’s blush, which had just begun to fade, flamed back to life. “Just because I’m eye banging Rafe Taggert doesn’t mean I have daddy issues, Ella. The guy is incredibly hot and a good three-quarters of the women in this town have had a crush on him at one point or another.”

  “That’s true,” Ella said. “My stepmother hired him last summer to sod the back yard. I had to put up with Ana and Dru for a week straight because the garage apartment has an unobstructed view of the back yard. Ana hit on him at least once a day. Hell, even my stepmother hit on him.”

  “Gross,” Belle said.

  “Yeah,” Ella replied.

  “Did he sleep with either of them?” Rowan asked.

  Ella shook her head. “No. Ana was so pissed.”

  “That’s nothing new,” Belle said before smiling at Rowan. “You thinking of sleeping with Rafe, honey?”

  “Unfortunately, Rafe Taggert has no interest in me,” Rowan said. “He used to come into Gaston’s all the time, at least that’s what Jana said, but about a month after I started working here he stopped coming in.”

  “He totally checked you out earlier,” Belle said.

  Rowan’s eyes widened. “Are you fucking with me, Belle?”

  “Nope. He might be fifteen years older than us, but I have a feeling he wasn’t exactly noticing the age difference when he looked at you.”

  A small pleased smile crossed Rowan’s face before she shook her long red hair back. “Whatever. The man is a virtual hermit. I couldn’t imagine living out in the woods in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Your grandmother does,” Ella pointed out.

  “Don’t remind me. I nearly died of boredom when I was a teen and spent my summer holidays with her,” Rowan said.

  She paused before saying casually, “Did you hear there’s someone living in the Saxby place?” Her gaze fell on the rose sitting in the middle of the table.

  “What?” Belle’s heart knocked in her chest. “Is it – is it the Saxby’s?”

  “I don’t think so,” Rowan said. “I was driving by the place on my way to work last week and there was some guy gardening in the back yard. I didn’t get a very good glimpse at him but he was huge. I mean, he was the biggest guy I’ve ever seen.”

  Belle sank back against the seat. It couldn’t be Bennett. Her memory of exactly what he looked like had gotten a little fuzzy over the years, but he had been much shorter and skinnier than her. She closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated, trying to bring forth the memory of his face. An image of his eyes, the warm colour of dark chocolate, was all she could conjure and she sighed and opened her eyes.

  “I saw your dad working on the roof,” Rowan said hesitantly.

  Belle groaned under her breath. “It must be a stranger living there. No one in town will hire him anymore.”

  “He looked sober...mostly,” Rowan said.

  “He probably wasn’t. He never is,” Belle said.

  “I gotta get back to work before douchebag over there has a heart attack,” Rowan said. She blew a kiss to the both of them before heading back to the bar.

  “Belle?” Ella reached across the table and touched her hand. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  Belle smiled a little. Ella always could read her like a book. “I lost my job today.”

  “What? You’re kidding me?”

  She shook her head. “No, they did budget cutbacks and there wasn’t enough for two full-time employees.”

  “I’m so sorry, honey.”

  “Yeah, me too. We’re barely making ends meet as it is. I’m going to end up living with my father forever at this rate.”

  Ella squeezed her hand. “I could ask my stepmother to hire you at the cleaning company.”

  “Thanks, Ella, I appreciate it.”

  “Mind you, then you’d have to deal with her and my stepsisters and that’s not exactly a picnic in the park,” she grimaced. “God, those three – they drive me crazy.”

  She grinned at Belle. “Of course, misery loves company so I’d love it if you worked with me.”

  Belle laughed. “Can I think about it? I was actually thinking maybe it was time I got the hell out of this town.”

  “What? You can’t leave me!” Ella said. “What would I do without you, Belle? Besides, you love this town.”

  “I do,” Belle said softly. “Plus I can’t really leave my dad, can I?”

  Ella squeezed her hand again. “Your dad is a grown man, Belle. You can’t take care of him forever.”

  “I know,” Belle said. “But if I left and something happened to him…”

  She trailed off and Ella gave her a sympathetic look. “It wouldn’t be your fault.”

  “Maybe not,” Belle said before picking up her glass of wine. She drained nearly all of it in one large swallow. “Dad’s been off drinking for the last week. I don’t even know where he is right now. Probably holed up in some motel somewhere so I won’t yell at him. I guess I know where he got the money this time. God, I hope he at least finished the job before he disappeared.”

  She finished her wine and smiled at Ella. “I’ll get back to you on the job thing, okay?”

  Ella nodded. “I know cleaning other people’s houses isn’t the greatest job but – “

  “A job’s a job,” Belle said.

  She touched the rose’s soft petals again as an image of a dark-haired boy flickered through her head.

  * * *

  “It’s about time you left that mansion of yours.” Duncan clapped Bennett hard on the back and grinned at him. “You know, for a bear shifter you spend a ridiculous amount of time gardening. It’s not exactly manly.”

  “Keep your voice down.” Bennett glanced around them. The street was mostly empty but Duncan’s voice was loud.

  Duncan laughed. “Please, the humans only hear what they want to hear.”

  They walked quickly down the street, their large bodies taking up most of the sidewalk.

  “It’s good to have you back, Bennett. I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you too, Duncan.”

  It was true. He had only spoken to Duncan a handful of times in the eighteen years he’d been gone, but in the two weeks he had been back it hadn’t taken long for them to pick up the threads of their boyhood friendship.

  “Now tell me why you’ve come back.”

  Bennett frowned at him. “I told you, Duncan. The only reason I left was because my father forced me to. When I found out in his will that he had never sold our home here, I decided to return.”

  “So you returned for the house?” Duncan said skeptically. “No offense, man, but it’s not that great of a house.”

  “It’s my childhood home,” Bennett said. “I have fond memories of it.”

  “Yeah, but it’s falling apart around your ears.”

  He shrugged. “It can be fixed.”

  “Is that why you hired that drunk to fix the roof?”

  Bennett scowled. “That drunk has a name.”

  “Yeah, he does but it doesn’t explain why you hired him. Shit, you’ll be lucky if the guy doesn’t show up drunk, fall off your roof and
break his neck.”

  “He hasn’t shown up for work in a week,” Bennett admitted. “I paid him up front and – “

  “You what? Man, that was your second mistake. Old man Vale is off drinking himself stupid with your money. You know that, right?”

  Bennett nodded. “I know.”

  “So why the hell did you pay him before he finished the job?”

  Bennett just shrugged and Duncan cocked his eyebrow at him. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with who his daughter is, would it?”

  “No,” Bennett said. He could feel a flush rising up his neck and he pulled at the collar of his jacket as Duncan grinned.

  “Course not. Have you seen her yet?”

  “No, why would I?”

  “You’ve sent her flowers every year for eighteen years. Why wouldn’t you try and see her?” Duncan said.

  Bennett groaned inwardly. Earlier in the week, Duncan had stopped by for beers and after one too many he had confessed his secret.

  “Wait until you see her. Miss Mirabelle Vale has filled out nicely in the last eighteen years. Really nicely.”

  Duncan held his hands out in front of his chest and Bennett growled at him. “Don’t talk about her that way, Duncan.”

  Duncan didn’t reply and Bennett glanced quickly at him. “I’m not going to be seeing her. She hates me, I know she does. I almost got her killed.”

  “Well, you might have a point there,” Duncan said thoughtfully. “It’s not just the cougar attack thing either. She insisted for years that you turned into a bear and the whole town thinks she’s,” he held his hand to his head and made a twirling motion, “completely cuckoo.”

  Bennett groaned and Duncan patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, man. She’ll probably still be nice to you. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.”

  “I have no interest in seeing her. I send her a flower every year as a way to say I’m sorry.”

  “Of course you do. Besides, you wouldn’t have a chance with her anyway. She’s been dating – “

  Anger roared through him and his bear rose to the surface, snarling and growling and ready to do battle with whatever idiot dared lay hands on what belonged to him. He grabbed Duncan by the collar. “Who? Who is she dating?”

  “Whoa, slow down there, big guy. I’m just kidding. She’s not dating anyone – that I know of.”

  Breathing harshly, Bennett growled at the lion shifter. Duncan’s eyes flashed from blue to yellow and he made an answering growl before yanking free of Bennett’s grip. “No interest in her, my ass. What? You telling me the big bad bear has been saving himself all these years for his childhood love that he met precisely once?”

  Bennett growled again. “Of course not. I’m not in love with her.”

  They walked silently down the street as Bennett sighed inwardly. He wasn’t in love with Mirabelle. He wasn’t. It was just – ever since he had stepped foot in his hometown, his mild obsession with the girl he had met once had grown until she was all he could think about. From the moment he had arrived his bear had been nearly uncontrollable in its insistence that he find her. He had thought about her often over the last eighteen years but now…

  He sighed again and Duncan glanced at him. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Listen, I think I’m going to take a raincheck on – “

  “Nope, not a chance. We’re going for a drink. It’s not healthy to stay cooped up in that big old mansion of yours. Why did you move back if you’re just going to hide away in your house?”

  Duncan tugged open the door to Gaston’s Bar and Grill and grinned at Bennett. “After you.”

  Chapter 2

  “I’m just going to the ladies’ room. I’ll be right back.” Ella slid out of the booth before Belle could tell her she was thinking of leaving.

  She sighed and traced the rim of her empty wine glass. She was sorely tempted to have another but living with an alcoholic had made her hypersensitive to drinking. No way was she ending up like her father. Rowan appeared and set a glass of water down before taking her wine glass. Belle smiled gratefully at her as the small, graceful redhead disappeared into the crowd.

  It was busy for a Thursday night, Belle thought. Mind you, she didn’t normally stay this late at the bar, not when she had work the next day.

  That’s not a problem anymore.

  She dropped her head into her hands. She was unemployed and jobs were hard to come by in their small town. She would end up working for Ella’s bitch of a stepmother just because she didn’t have the balls to leave the town she grew up in. She loved her father but living with him was destroying her. Ella was right. He was an adult and not her responsibility. She rubbed wearily at her forehead and tried to ignore the rising babble of conversation around her. She had almost succeeded when Ella’s sharp scream had her sliding out of the booth and bolting toward the bathrooms.

  * * *

  Ella slipped past the crowd of men hovering around the hallway to the bathrooms. A drunk woman, her lipstick smeared across her face, gave her a bleary grin and Ella neatly sidestepped her when she staggered on her feet. She hurried forward, glancing behind her to make sure the woman wasn’t going to fall on her face. She grunted in surprise when she ran face-first into a hard, warm wall of flesh.

  Rough hands gripped her upper arms and she stared up at the man in front of her. A groan of dismay escaped her lips and the man’s smile widened into a predatory grin as he looked her up and down.

  “Good evening, Ms. Cinders.”

  “Mr. Gillis,” she said stiffly.

  “You’re looking lovely.” He was still holding her arms and she yanked herself out of his grip, nearly tripping over her own feet in the process.

  “Thank you. You’re looking,” she paused and glanced at his broad chest in the tight dark red t-shirt, “very clean.”

  He laughed and she flinched when he reached out and brushed a lock of her blonde hair back from her face. “Why so twitchy, Ms. Cinders?”

  “I don’t like having my hair pulled,” she snapped.

  “Please, are you still angry for what I did in grade school? I didn’t think you were the type to hold a grudge.”

  “You know nothing about me,” she said.

  “I know your hair is very soft,” he said. “I know you used to wear it in two delightfully adorable braids. I miss those braids.”

  “Yes, well perhaps if I hadn’t had those braids pulled every single day, I wouldn’t have stopped braiding my hair.”

  “Would it help if I apologized for pulling your hair when I was nine and you were seven?” He asked with a twinkle in his light blue eyes.

  She glared at him. “You make it sound like you did it once. It was every day for an entire school year.”

  “Are you angry about the braid pulling or angry because of the day I found you – “

  “Be quiet!” She hissed at him. “God, just shut up for once in your life, Duncan Gillis!”

  She tried to dodge around him and squeaked in alarm when he pressed her up against the wall of the hallway. He placed his hands on either side of her head, trapping her. She had to force her traitorous body not to breach the thin space between their bodies.

  “I think it’s time we put this decades-old feud behind us. Don’t you, Ella?” His warm breath on her face, the sound of his velvet voice saying her given name made her pussy quiver and she pressed her thighs together to try and ease the sudden ache between them.

  “Perhaps you would forgive me if I gave you the opportunity to tug something on my body,” he said with a wicked grin.

  Her mouth dropped open as her gaze fell to his crotch. Shamefully, she could almost see herself reaching into his pants, taking his cock into her hand and stroking it until he moaned.

  “Naughty girl,” he said in a low voice. “I know what you’re thinking.”

  She blushed, her pale skin turning the same bright red as his t-shirt and his grin widened. Embarrassed by her reaction to him, she shoved at h
is hard chest. He grunted in surprise and stepped back as she glared at him.

  “Get lost, pervert! I wouldn’t touch any part of you with a ten-foot pole.” She walked into the bathroom without looking at him.

  She spent nearly five minutes in the washroom, waiting for her hot face to cool down and her stomach to stop churning with an odd combination of anxiety and desire. She hated Duncan Gillis, she reminded herself. She would always hate him and it didn’t matter that the little blond-haired boy who had spent an entire year tormenting her had grown into a golden-haired, hard-bodied, sinfully gorgeous specimen of a man. She hated him.

  She took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom and into the hallway. Duncan was gone but she groaned under her breath at the man who was hovering just outside the door.

  “Hello, Ella.”

  “Marty,” she said coolly. “What are you doing here?”

  “I just wanted to talk to you for a minute.”

  “I’m not interested.”

  She stepped around him, ignoring the niggle of fear in her belly when she saw his friends blocking the far end of the hall. “Get out of my way.”

  “Ella, just wait. You can’t avoid me forever.”

  “Yes, I can,” she snapped. “Tell your boyfriends to move.”

  Marty made a harsh noise of frustration and she spun around and glared at him when his hand touched her back.

  “Don’t touch me. Ever. Do you understand?”

  “Just let me explain, okay? I miss you, Ella. I miss you so much – “

  “You miss me?” She said. “Maybe you should give Ana a call.”

  Marty flinched before scowling at her. “Your stepsister came on to me, okay? She was flirting with me for weeks.”

  “You just couldn’t resist, huh?” Ella snapped.

  “I made a mistake. You gonna punish me forever? You know you still love me. Hell, I still love you and, sweetheart, you’re not gonna do much better than me. Not with the weight you keep gaining.”

  “Fuck you, Marty!” Ella snarled. She turned and stormed toward his friends as he made a harsh noise of frustration.

  “We ain’t done talkin’, Ella.”