Page 29 of Finally Home

She’d allowed herself to become too wrapped up in him again. It had felt right. She’d felt like she’d always belonged with him. He’d said as much too. But the snow had been cleared, soon the holidays would be over, and he’d be on a plane back to Los Angeles.

Apparently back to Tiffani.

He paused in front of her. “I’m sorry, Red,” he whispered before walking out the door.

“It’s Cami,” she snapped.

Then he walked into the snow, sliding into the back of the SUV withher. West’s eyes found Cami’s, and she almost believed the remorse she saw within them. As much as she wished she knew what he was thinking, she didn’t think she could handle knowing. Reluctantly he shut the door, effectively ending their whirlwind romance.

Cami kept it together until that moment. A sob racked her, and she quickly closed the door so West wouldn’t see her fall apart again. Hiding behind the curtained window, she watched through blurry tears as Weston James drove away from her for the second time.

CHAPTERELEVEN

WEST

He’d fucked up.

Royally.

The look on Cami’s face before she’d shut the door burned into his memory. It was worse than the first time he’d left. At least then he’d had a good reason for leaving. This time, the only thing he’d done was break her heart.

He dragged himself into his mom’s kitchen and slid onto a barstool at the island, dropping his face in his hands. Just because he knew he needed to do something didn’t mean he knewhowto.

Tiffani ruined everything. Well, to be fair, he hadn’t exactly helped either. When Cami opened the door this morning, and Chief Thompson was there withher, time froze along with his brain. He didn’t react like he should’ve, but his only thought was protecting Cami from his bitch of an ex-wife.

Tiffani was a loose cannon and just crazy enough to do some real damage if he’d let her stay there another minute. He hadn’t wanted her arms draped around him, but the bigger threat was setting her off. West knew what she was capable of with the number of times she’d keyed his truck, vandalized his home, or stalked him in her manic attempt to win him back. Usually the violence came after he rejected her. He worried that if he’d done so at Cami’s, even Sheriff Thompson wouldn’t have been able to stop the out-of-control bitch.

Cami was safe—that was what mattered. Even if she hated him as a result.

West raked his hands through his hair and rubbed out the tense muscles in his neck.

What a clusterfuck.

The shitty part was it could’ve been avoided. If he’d pushed harder for the restraining order a couple of months ago, maybe Tiffani wouldn’t have shown up. Unfortunately she was just smart enough to cover her tracks and make things look like a kid in the neighborhood was the perpetrator. When it went before a judge, he didn’t have evidence to place a permanent order against her.

He’d get his order now, though.

His mom’s shrill voice startled him. “What the hell happened to your face?”

West hadn’t heard her walk into the kitchen, but she stood before him, her eyes widened in concern. She tugged his chin in her hands like she had when he was a boy.

West pulled his chin from her grasp and huffed. “Tiffani.”

His mom pursed her lips in anger. “That bitch. If I ever see her again, I’ll do ten times worse to her face.”

He pulled his mom in for a hug, as much for her comfort as his own. He loved that she always protected what was hers. “As much as I’d love to see that, she’s not worth it. And she won’t be returning to our lives anytime soon.”

Pulling away, she searched his face with a cocked brow. “Did she finally get the memo that you’ve moved on.”

“No. But she did get slapped with assault charges for the nice gash she left across my face, courtesy of the ring I bought her all those years ago.”

“Well, this calls for a celebration!” She clapped her hands and turned to move about the kitchen.

“I suppose so. Chief Thompson assured me he’d make sure the restraining order went through this time. I guess it worked out in my favor having her show up in Aspen, where local law enforcement knows me.”

She gave him a knowing smile, one only a mother could perfect. “Didit work out in your favor, though?”

He knew it was her roundabout way of fishing for information about Cami. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

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