Finding Tessa by Jaime Hendricks (good story books to read TXT) 📕

hours after he stuck himself in Rosita’s mouth. “But yeah. She went right to the bar. We were together for about a half hour.”

Jace was disgusted at the entire situation, but he didn’t dwell. Fine. It wasn’t Rosita who had anything to do with Tessa’s disappearance. But then why was Rosita missing too?

“You have no idea where Rosita is today?” Jace asked.

“No, I don’t. And while that’s a huge concern for me, so are the questions from VistaBuild’s legal team. Can you help us out?”

What Jace wanted to do was storm off and leave Trey to clean up the mess. After all, he’d probably told VistaBuild to leave Jace off the correspondence until further notice. But it was his project, no matter what Trey or Rosita thought. And to be honest, he needed a distraction while the cops sat around with their thumbs up their asses. There was nothing else he could do at the moment.

He was elbow deep in contracts when his phone rang, the number to the police department popping up. He answered in half a heartbeat.

“Hello, Mr. Montgomery. It’s Detective Solomon. You have a second?”

Was he kidding? “Yes sir. I have all the time in the world. Is there news?”

A scoff answered him. “Yes, there’s news.”

A lump formed in Jace’s throat. He swallowed it down. Oh God, please don’t be bad news. “And?”

“And? Did Tessa have any identifying marks? You know, scars, tattoos?”

Jace didn’t like the way Solomon spoke the words. “Yes, she had a tattoo on her lower back. But we were removing it. She only had two or three sessions left.”

“And what did it say?”

“Why do you assume it said anything?”

“Well, Mr. Montgomery. We found a woman who fits Tessa’s description. Will you meet me at the morgue to identify the body?”

23

TESSA

It’s been nine straight days of ecstasy, in every meaning of the word.

After our first morning together, we barely left my hotel room for the rest of the weekend. I love yous were exchanged. By Sunday, I would’ve taken a bullet for him. And by Sunday night, Jace asked me to “move in” with him. Why pay for two hotel rooms when we were going to be together in one? We were wrapped up in each other, fanatical, obsessed. New love.

Out of nowhere, I cared only about Jace. I didn’t even care about Drew anymore, or about him trying to find me. I didn’t contact Maribel the whole week.

She hadn’t contacted me either. A fleeting moment passed where I thought of her, and, God forbid, if he did something to her. But then it was gone, and I was focused on Jace again.

I got the job helping Michael redesign Jupiter’s, and what a challenge it is! I must’ve spent more time online self-teaching design in the last week than I had all the three years I pretended to be a designer when I was with Drew. When I’m not online, I’m in the hardware store comparing paint samples to see how colors complement one another—it’s how I discovered yellow and gray were so pretty together. Or, I’m in furniture and lighting stores getting ideas, and visiting other restaurants.

To be honest, I think I’m going to be good at this.

Jace is a godsend. We meet for lunch every day. If it’s raining, he’ll come to the hotel with takeout, so I don’t have to leave and fight the elements. If it’s a beautiful day, I’ll meet him in town, and we’ll grab a fast lunch at one of the bistros that offers outdoor seating. When I promised him a home-cooked meal one day, he said we had to get out of the hotel.

And he wants us to move in together, for real.

As if he hasn’t done enough, he says he’s taking a half day and has a surprise for me, and to dress up. This is how he is on a random Tuesday. I can’t wait to see how much more perfect my life can be with this man in it. I want to be the new and improved Tessa.

New Tessa will wear gingham aprons and work in the backyard garden and have a stable job. She will cook dinner for her man, and we’ll take romantic vacations together to sunny islands that smell of coconuts and have swinging palm trees, and we’ll get an adorable puppy to love.

I can’t wait to meet her one day.

When Jace gets “home” at one-thirty, I’m in the bathroom applying concealer to the stubborn bruise around my neck. I’m already dressed in heels and a flowy pink sundress that I got for twenty-two bucks in town, and the sight of his face still melts me as it has for just over two weeks, since the day I laid eyes on him, when he came to save me from Damon.

“Tessa,” he says as he kisses my temple, so genuine and tender I get chills. He looks me up and down. “God, you look beautiful. You always look beautiful.” His grin is sheepish, and he looks about twelve years old when he drops to one knee. “I can’t even wait until dessert to do this.”

Drops. To. One. Knee.

My right hand covers my wide-open mouth—Catching flies? my mother used to say—so I close it. He grabs my left hand.

“Tessa, I never, ever thought I’d want to do anything like this, especially so fast. But I know I love you, and I know I want you to marry me. Will you marry me?”

The diamond ring he brandishes is thin and looks more like a wedding band than an engagement ring. The diamonds go all the way around the circle and combined they’re probably less than half the carat weight of what Drew put on my finger, because he wanted to weigh me down with his threats. It’s plain too. Just a bunch of tiny diamonds on a white gold band.

It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

Scratch that. The second most.

I look at the most beautiful thing I’ve