Kiss From a Rose Read online

  Kiss From a Rose

  Bella Fontaine

  Contents

  Kiss From a Rose

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Bella Fontaine

  Kiss From a Rose

  Kiss From a Rose

  USA Today Bestselling Author

  Khardine Gray

  Writing as

  Bella Fontaine

  Blossoms of the Heart Copyright © 2018 by Khardine Gray

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design © 2018 by Cover Couture

  This work is copyrighted. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  The author asserts that all characters and situations depicted in this work of fiction are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations.

  It is intended for mature readers. All characters are 18+ years of age and all sexual acts are consensual.

  Created with Vellum

  Chapter 1

  Anya

  * * *

  A tremendous opportunity awaits you, but keep in mind that others have their eye on it as well. Embrace your competitive spirit and don't be afraid of others who are vying for the treasure that you’ve had your eye on for some time. Proceed with confidence.

  That was my horoscope reading for today. Apparently, and according to Madame Phoebe, today was a good day for all Sagittarians. So, I had my fingers crossed that this job interview was going to go well.

  Jesus Lord, please let it go well. Apart from the fact that I was broke… I was broke and had a string of bad luck from here to Jerusalem.

  I looked around the waiting area at all the other women waiting to be called in. They looked good. Definitely looked the beauty therapist part with the flawless skin and perfect everything. Except maybe those two ladies in the corner by the potted palms.

  One looked like she would be right at home as a housewife on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but in a good way because her makeup was all wrong, and the other looked like a drag queen, not in a good way, if that made sense, because her makeup, too, was wrong.

  Still, here at Perfection Day Spa, the women did tend to look a little over the top. It was a look, the over-tanned, big hair if you had it up do, and the scary fake tits.

  Not really my style, but a girl couldn’t complain when she was down and out, and flat on her face broke.

  Maybe I should have worn more makeup. I’d used some setting spray with bronzy gold particles in it to enhance the shimmer on my brown skin, and I’d gone for a smoky-eye look.

  I thought it would be more professional to look professional and not like I was going out for a big night. These women, however, seemed to have other ideas, ideas which might have been more in keeping with the one popular day spa in this town.

  I guess that part about my horoscope was right. About others having their eyes on my opportunity too. But I couldn’t do anything about it now.

  Today, I was all about positive thinking and sending out positive thoughts to the universe.

  Oh yes. When I woke up this morning, I promised myself that there would be no more bad luck in my life. Nope, not for me. This month was a fresh start.

  The day had started really well. Aunt Halle had made me my favorite breakfast of pancakes drenched with maple syrup and Nutella, and then she’d made me one of her special mochas.

  Perfection and happiness rolled into one.

  No reason to feel antsy at all, not even if Shawna’s grandma thought my bad luck was down to some jealous fiend putting a hex on me.

  Shouldn’t have gone to see my crazy best friend and her even zanier grandmother on the eve of a big day like today. I should have waited until tonight, until after. Because I wouldn’t have gone to bed last night thinking I was cursed, and I wouldn’t have gone to bed late because I was looking up ways to break a hex and then my horoscope. It was the horoscope reading that eventually soothed me. That and a quick bible verse and prayer.

  It was crazy, I knew that. Me, a grown woman of twenty-eight years old, shouldn’t have freaked out like that, but I found myself believing a little because I couldn’t think of any other reason why I’d failed at every single business opportunity since college.

  Everything. There wasn’t even one venture that had turned out average. Something I could say that maybe it did well, but I needed to change up a few things here and there. No, it was nothing like that.

  Failed, failed, failed.

  And here I was, a trained beauty therapist with a business degree from Brown University hoping to get a job as an assistant in a…

  Well, the place was good for what it was, but I had completed my beauty therapy courses and internship at Purity, a world-renowned establishment favored among celebs for the impeccable service, care, products, everything.

  I’d tried to model my own set-ups like that and flashed my certificates every chance I got, but it had been all to no avail.

  I just didn’t want to get to that point in my life where I’d start to think that I’d made the wrong career move. Like maybe I should have chosen to do something else.

  So, this was me, in Wilmington for a fresh start. I’d tried New York, LA, and Chicago, which was where I was from, and now I was here. Here at the place that I visited every summer to see Aunt Halle.

  I’d come here every summer since birth. When I was a child, I spent the whole summer. As an adult, I still came but spent two weeks. As a kid, it had felt like a chore sometimes with Mom sending me off to Aunt Halle, but then I’d get here, and my aunt would make sure I had such a good time I didn’t want to leave.

  I needed those times more after Mom died, more so now when Aunt Halle was perhaps the most positive shining star in my life.

  This time, I’d be in this little town for a while, and I felt good at the prospect. I just had my fingers crossed I’d get this job, and then I’d go back to the drawing board and see how best I could sort out my life and my finances.

  My phone buzzed in my bag. The buzzing made the blond woman opposite me look over. She smiled and returned her focus to the fashion mag she was reading.

  I retrieved the phone and frowned when I saw the unknown number. I hated calls like that because usually it meant someone trying to sell me something. Most often it was cable or life insurance.

  I let the phone ring out. I wa
s just about to put it on do not disturb when it started buzzing again. Almost instantly.

  Deciding to answer it, I got up and made my way around the corner near the foyer.

  “Hello,” I said into the receiver.

  “Hi, can I speak to Anya Winters, please?” It was a woman; she sounded very official.

  “This is she.”

  “Hi, this is Cape Fear Memorial Hospital. I’m so sorry, but your aunt’s been taken in to the ER. She collapsed at work. You’re on her records as her next of kin. Are you able to get here?”

  I’d gasped and brought my hand up to my mouth the moment she’d said Aunt Halle was in the ER.

  “Of course. I’m on my way.”

  I didn’t even register that I flung the phone in my bag without saying goodbye to the woman. Or that I just ran out of the spa like I was fleeing for my life.

  I didn’t think about luck or anything like that. Or even that I’d just passed on this job opportunity. I just jumped into my car and drove.

  * * *

  I went straight to the receptionist who looked busy with a million things. The phones on her desk were ringing off the hook.

  “Please help me. My aunt was taken in. Her name is Halle Weinland.” I spoke even though the receptionist was talking to someone else. It seemed to be the way to get seen here.

  I said it again, and the other receptionist came up to me. She’d previously been on the phone.

  “She’s still in the ER. Go down that corridor and follow it right round. You’ll see signs,” she instructed.

  “Thank you.” I dashed following the directions. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.

  I got to the ER reception and spoke to someone else, who directed me to the doctor who was in charge of Aunt Halle’s care. He was a really tall, bald, Hispanic man coming out of a cubicle.

  I rushed up to him, stopping him mid-stride.

  “Hi, I’m Halle Weinland’s niece.”

  “Oh good. You’re aunt’s stable now but in a very bad way. Her heart condition has gotten so much worse than it was even last month.”

  All I could do was stare at him. I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about and almost asked if we were talking about the right person.

  “Heart condition?”

  “Yes, she’s been under my care now for the last three years.”

  My jaw dropped, and my heart seized in my chest. Three years.

  I’d spoken to Aunt Halle every week over the last few months. In fact, I didn’t thing a week went by where we didn’t speak once or twice for the week, and she’d never mentioned anything about a heart condition. And one that required three years’ worth of care.

  “I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”

  How could I not know?

  Why didn’t she tell me? Why wouldn’t she tell me?

  Now this had happened.

  It had occurred to me when I got here last week that she didn’t look herself. She had a dull appearance, and she’d lost a lot of weight. When I asked her if she was okay, she’d waved me off and said she’d come down with the flu.

  Then there was her motel. It looked as dull as she did, and I’d noticed that a lot of the staff who worked there last year weren’t there anymore. I didn’t ask about that, but she seemed to be working harder than usual.

  I couldn’t have felt worse.

  “Calm down.” The doctor placed his hand on my shoulder.

  Dr Fernandez. That’s what his name tag said.

  “Is she going to be okay?”

  “We’re doing our best. Come walk with me.”

  We walked down another corridor that led to a private ward. We stopped by a room with a long glass window. Through it I could see Aunt Halle attached to various machines and tubes.

  Tears stung my eyes and ran down my cheeks.

  I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

  Just this morning, she’d looked so alive and happy to have me here with her. Now she looked so frail I barely recognized her.

  “We have her on medication, and we were able to stabilize her. The next twenty-four hours are going to be very crucial. But there is one thing we have to talk about.” Dr. Fernandez looked hesitant.

  “What is it?” My voice was barely audible, and over the drumming of my heart and the spike in my nerves I could barely hear myself think.

  “Funding. She may need surgery. In fact, I’m going to probably insist on it because her heart’s too far gone. We have to run various tests and observations, but it’s looking to me like she’ll need it. Unfortunately, her insurance only covers outpatient treatment and doesn’t cover surgery, so we need funding up front before we can begin a treatment plan.”

  My lips parted, and my throat felt dry, like I’d swallowed a lump of cotton wool. Dare I ask how much was needed? But I had to.

  I didn’t have any money, but maybe I could get a loan.

  “How much? How much will it cost?”

  “Rough estimate…” He thought for a moment. “You’re looking at a minimum of fifty thousand dollars. That’s a minimum. It could be substantially higher.”

  He must have seen the drained look on my face because his eyes filled with a wealth of concern.

  Fifty thousand dollars, and it could be substantially more?

  Shit, shit. I didn’t have that kind of money. I’d left Chicago with five grand in my bank account. That was the last of my savings.

  I would give it now if I could. Or sell my soul if that was an option.

  Where was I going to get that kind of money? Why didn’t she tell me?

  “I…”

  “Have some time to think about it. But don’t take too long. We need to secure funding as soon as possible, particularly if she needs a transplant. She won’t be able to go on the transplant list if there’s no funding.”

  “Is there no sort of payment plan or… something? I—”

  “I’ll take care of that,” said a voice from behind us.

  Of course, my head literally snapped around to see who it was.

  The man my eyes landed on was the very last person I’d expected to see here.

  My eyes turned to saucers, and my heartbeat sped up a little as I stared at my childhood nemesis, Caine Donoghue.

  Aunt Halle had worked as a maid for his family for most of my life. He was the orchestrator of the bad stuff that had happened over the summers when I came to see Halle. I hadn’t seen him in over fifteen years. When he joined the Navy, I’d rejoiced that I could spend the last few summers before college without him

  Back then, I couldn’t stand the sight of him. Seeing him meant trouble for me.

  Right now, I couldn’t have been more grateful to see him.

  Chapter 2

  Anya

  * * *

  Once again, I was sitting in a waiting area.

  This time, I was outside Aunt Halle’s room. We weren’t allowed inside with her yet.

  I watched Caine sort out all the paperwork. He filled out various forms and gave all his contact details.

  I was too numb to think, and we hadn’t actually spoken yet. Not hello, or anything. He’d just jumped into action and sorted things out.

  There was one thing that I’d heard though. He said he was with Halle when she collapsed. It was he who’d called the ambulance.

  He was there when it all happened. And I wasn’t.

  I was in town at the spa thinking of how bad my life was when the woman who’d sacrificed so much for me fought for her life.

  I couldn’t believe it. I was so numb I couldn’t think straight, and this all felt like I was watching what was happening play out like it wasn’t happening to me but someone else.

  Caine finished talking to Dr. Fernandes and looked at me.

  I gazed at him, and like always got that stunned moment where I got sucked into his looks and had to remind myself that the guy couldn’t stand me.

  When we saw each other last, he was eighte
en and I was fourteen. He’d looked like the regular high school jock who was popular and played football and had the prettiest girls on his arm. Much as I couldn’t stand him back then and knew the feeling was mutual, I was annoyed at myself for finding him attractive.

  That annoyance very much filled me now because Caine Donoghue had traded in his boyishly handsome looks for the powerfully-built Navy man who stood before me. He’d cut his long, dark locks and sported a sharp faux hawk that accentuated the angles and planes of his chiseled face and his high, exotic cheekbones.

  I couldn’t have been more annoyed at myself for even thinking about him, and at a time like this.

  He walked up to me with a tentative expression on his handsome face. His bright green eyes sparkled with a hint of something too, and he attempted a smile.

  “Can I get you a coffee or something?”

  The last time he got me an or something, there was a frog in the cup. I’d gone to the mall and saw him there with his friends. I thought he was being nice when he brought me a tall Starbucks cup. It shook as I took it, and when I took off the lid, a disgusting frog jumped out. Actually, I think it could have been a toad.

  “No, thank you.”

  He sat next to me, and I looked at him out the corners of my eyes, then fully.

  I needed to say thanks. It didn’t matter what happened between us as kids. I needed to tell him how grateful I was. Especially since he didn’t have to be here.

  “Thank you, for doing this for her. I wouldn’t know what I’d do if you hadn’t offered to help.”