Something About You Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Also By K.B. Barrett

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2.

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Epilogue

  Playlist

  Follow K.B. Barrett

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2021 by K.B. Barrett

  Cover Art by Shower of Schmidt Designs

  Cover Model Alec Robinson

  Cover Photographer Jane Ashley

  Edited by Nice Girl Naughty Edits

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, electronic, scanning, screenshots, or other electronic or mechanical methods. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without prior permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Send Inquiries to:

  Po Box 762 Ada, MI 49301

  To my husband.

  Every day is the best day when I have you.

  Thank you for letting me dream.

  ALSO BY K.B. BARRETT

  ‘I FOUND YOU SERIES’ NOVELS

  Everything I Need

  Anything For You

  Nothing Without You

  Something About You

  ‘MOUNTIAN ROADS’ NOVELS

  Saved by the Mountain Man (prequel)

  The Twisted Roads Home

  What Drives Us Home

  The Place That I Call Home

  4 years ago

  Danny

  God, her mother was a piece of work.

  “Don’t take that! It’s mine,” Carla, Jill’s mother, snarled, and it took everything he had not to slap the bitch.

  “But it’s Jamie’s,” Jill whispered, looking as if she was about to lose it.

  He couldn’t blame her.

  She was only 19.

  Jill was faced with raising her little brother, Jamie, that she now had full custody over, and a mother that was just plain fucking cruel. It was no wonder that she was on the verge of breaking down.

  She was still beautiful.

  He shook his head.

  He was not going down that road.

  Not only was she way too young and had way too much going on, but no one needed a bastard like him tying them down.

  Picking up another box, Travis eyed him and shook his head slightly, then walked out with the other guys. They only had a few things left, and he was itching to get out of this hellhole she had called a home.

  He still couldn’t believe that she had lived here. The place was a rat-infested dump. If he had known this was what she was dealing with, off limits or not, he would have gotten her out sooner.

  Carla tried taking the stuffed bear out of Jill’s hand again, and he gritted his teeth. Jill’s mother was claiming that anything she “bought” was hers. However, even if Carla had bought something, which he really doubted, it would have come out of Jill’s paycheck, which he had no doubt mostly went to the bitch.

  He had known that Jill sent the majority of her paycheck home, but he hadn’t thought that much of it. After all, most kids helped out with a single mother. That was before he had the pleasure of meeting Carla, though.

  God, such a fucking piece of work!

  “I don’t fucking care.” Carla dropped her cigarette long enough to snarl the words. When Jill didn’t immediately set the bear down, Carla frowned and took a step forward, like she was about to get in Jill’s face.

  It was then that he knew he had to step in.

  Enough was enough.

  “Jill,” he said, making sure that his voice carried down the hall.

  Carla jumped, as if she had forgotten he had been there, and he tried not to smile at the wide eyes that she gave him. Jill may not have known what she was getting into with moving to a building owned by ex-Mafia. But Carla was a skank, and a skank could always tell when danger was around.

  “Leave it.”

  His dick jerked at her instant response as she set the bear down and started toward him.

  Not fucking going there.

  He was a manwhore.

  Everyone knew it.

  And it was fucking staying that way.

  Didn’t mean that he didn’t like her.

  Really like her.

  He put a hand on her back and took the bag she was carrying. It was time they got the hell out of here.

  “Wait,” Jill said, reaching down into the cheap ass purse she had with her.

  “I need her to sign this,” she whispered for only him to hear, her grey eyes staring up at him and locking right onto his gaze, the action making it difficult for him to swallow. She was looking at him like he had all the answers.

  Like she could trust him.

  Mentally shaking his head, he took the paper she held out to him and read the words across the top.

  Fuck yes.

  This he could do.

  “Wait here.” She nodded at him, and he walked back down the hall to where Carla was still standing.

  “Sign them.”

  “I don’t have to,” she sneered, but her bravado wasn’t hiding the fear in her eyes.

  “Sign them,” he ordered, and when Carla’s face went white, he knew she understood him.

  He almost wished that she would say no again. He would love the opportunity to make her. But Carla only swallowed and nodded.

  Her hand trembled as she signed away her rights to Jamie, then without even looking at him, she disappeared down the hallway, as if giving up her son was nothing to her.

  With one last scowl at where Carla had disappeared to, he led Jill out of the house, reaching down and grabbing the stuffed bear on their way out.

  He helped Jill into his truck and watched as she started crying, holding the papers in front of her like they were a beautiful gift.

  “You okay, sweetheart?” he whispered, standing inside the door of the truck as he handed her the seat belt.

  “Yah.” She was looking like all the weight of the world was on her shoulders, and still she turned and gave him a smile.

  It was the smile that did it.

  Hit him straight in the chest like a bolt of lightning.

  It wasn’t welcome.

  He wasn’t in a place that he could take a smile like that.

  He wasn’t the kind of person that was good for someone with a smile like that.

  Patting her leg gently, then placing the stuffed bear on her lap, he shut her door.

  Shutting the door on anything he was feeling for her.

  And later that night at the club, he tried not to think on it too hard, when he just couldn’t work up the same joy as women flocked to him like they always did.

  Not even the whiskey in his hand helped.

  Deep down, he knew right then and there that he was fucked.

  2 years later.

  Jill

  He was here again.

  She couldn’t help but gawk at him as she folded yet another napkin for the tables. He was sitting at the back corner table like he always did. Not too private, but not out in the open. It was his routine for his dates. That and whatever they wanted to order from the menu.

  It was baffling to her sometimes how much he spent on a woman in just one night.

  Meanwhile, she was over here working two jobs.

  She had taken this extra job to help with Jamie’s preschool costs, and it was. But watching him spend money wasn’t what was hard about seeing him, it was that he was always with other women.

  It was hard enough when he would come around the bakery and play with Jamie. But seeing him with someone else was a whole other feeling entirely. It was like being slapped in the face with the fact that she was out of her mind to think that he could ever return the feelings that she had.

  She tried to remember that she wasn’t in a place to date. That Jamie was the most important thing right now. It didn’t always work, though, and right now was one of those times.

  Drawing a strength that so far had been the only thing
keeping her going, she pasted a smile on her face and walked over to their table.

  “Evening, you guys. Danny.” She kept her face neutral. “What can I get started for you?”

  His date was searching the wine list, and without even looking up at her, she rattled off that they wanted a bottle of the most expensive wine on the list.

  She mentally scoffed.

  “And uncork it at the table,” Danny’s date said, her whiny voice grating on her nerves, like nails on a chalkboard. Danny frowned at his date, but didn’t say anything, before turning to her.

  “That’s fine,” he muttered. “I thought you were going to quit working here.”

  “Not quite yet,” she said evasively, smiling. But based on the frown he gave her, he wasn’t happy with her answer.

  “You know I would help you if you would let me. I know how important that preschool is to you and Jamie.”

  I, not we.

  It was the I that hit her hard.

  As if he was the one offering.

  But she knew better.

  She may be young, but she wasn’t stupid.

  Danny was a friend. Nothing more.

  No matter what her raging hormones said.

  “Danny, let her get our drinks,” his date whined again, leaning over his arm, her very ample breasts almost falling out of her dress top. They were the only ample thing on her, since the rest of her was stick skinny.

  Just where did he find these women?

  He shrugged her off, looking more than annoyed, and his date turned to glare at her instead.

  “Do you know what you want to order? Or just the drinks for now.”

  “Actually…” his date started, one hand coming up to flip at her hair.

  “Shut up.” Danny turned and snarled at her. The woman’s face went white with shock, before she sat back in her seat, going silent.

  As for herself, she wasn’t surprised.

  Danny always came across as this funny guy, the one that was always cracking a joke.

  But she knew differently.

  He was protective of his family.

  And that’s what she was.

  Like a little sister.

  Her heart cracked, and just like always, she tried to not let it bother her.

  “Just the drinks tonight,” Danny said tensely, nodding to her, and she left to get the wine, and a water for him.

  He never drank on dates.

  Setting them on the table, trying not to listen to their heated conversation, she went about her evening. Trying unsuccessfully to make her mind concentrate on Jamie and exactly why she was here, and not on Danny.

  And she definitely tried to ignore the ache in her heart when a half hour later he walked out the door with his arm behind his date.

  Present Day

  Jill

  “Jamie, you need to go get your socks!” Jill called from the front door, where she was packing up his backpack and getting her stuff ready as well.

  She should have done this last night.

  She tried to tell herself that she wasn’t the only one that was trying to figure out the morning school routine, especially since it was the first day of the new year.

  But it wasn’t helping.

  She felt frantic.

  Hopefully, since it was still early, by the time the school year really got under way, she would have it figured out.

  But she doubted it.

  “Okay, Jilly.” She smiled as he shuffled a little, scooting to the edge of his seat, then finally jumped down from the chair that he had been sitting on. She knew that if she had gone over and helped him that he would have thrown a ruckus.

  He loved being a big boy.

  Putting him in the best preschool she could find had been one of the best decisions she had made. In that year, she had seen him grow into such a big boy with an amazing heart. Not a bit of their mother in sight.

  And now he was starting kindergarten.

  It had been worth every extra hour waitressing.

  Luckily, now she was making enough at the bakery that she didn’t need to pull two jobs. Something that she suspected Christine did on purpose, but she didn’t question it.

  Raising Jamie was hard enough with one job.

  She almost hadn’t been able to cope with two.

  But looking back to the day that she had stood before a judge and gotten custody of Jamie, she knew that she would never regret it.

  Even if it was hard.

  And tiresome.

  Jamie came running around the corner, the socks that were now on his feet, causing him to slide a little. The giggle that he let loose filled her heart, even as she tensed, afraid he would go crashing to the ground.

  “Whew!” he declared, plopping down to put his shoes on.

  “You don’t work today. I wish I didn’t have school,” Jamie said in a huff, knowing from their previous argument that he wasn’t going to get his way this time.

  She took a deep breath before answering.

  He loved school, and he had been so excited for this day for weeks. But for whatever reason, as soon as he found out this morning that she was off, he changed his tune and wanted to spend the day with her instead.

  She was hoping it was just new school jitters.

  “I took today off ’cause it’s your first day of school. Besides, I’m just going to be running errands,” she said, trying to make her day seem super boring. In truth, it wasn’t far off. She did have a few errands to run, but as she only got a few days off a month, she was probably going to be cleaning for most of it.

  “But I miss you.” His little lip came out, marring his face with a frown, and she knew that soon the tears would follow.

  For how independent he was, Jamie had been through so much. Sometimes she had to remind herself that he was only five.

  She knelt down on the floor next to him, fixing the buttons on his shirt.

  “I know, and it’s okay to miss me. But we both have important things to do right? You are a big boy now, and you have to go to school. Besides,” she paused and chucked him under his chin with her finger, “today is Friday. That means that you get to pick dinner.”

  “Whooo!” he yelled, jumping up with a fist in the air. “Can Danny come too?” He finished excitedly, the light in his eyes soothing the pain that hit her at his question.

  For Jamie, she would do anything.

  Even this.

  “I’ll call him,” she said, but she was silently hoping that luck would be with her, and Danny wouldn’t answer the phone.

  “No need,” a voice called from behind her.

  It was the voice that she dreamed of. The voice of a man that even after four years, she was still pining after. She had been so engrossed in Jamie that she hadn’t heard the door open when he used his key.

  “Danny!” Jamie ran to him, and Danny immediately swooped down, flinging Jamie up in the air. The giggles and chuckles filling her house made the moment all that more special.

  For a man that was a self-proclaimed bachelor and ladies’ man, he was really good with kids. If he ever settled down, she knew that he would make a wonderful father.

  She shoved her feelings aside, quickly turning to stuff the rest of Jamie’s school supplies in his bag, giving herself a moment to compose herself.

  She was getting good at hiding it now.

  Since the day that Danny had helped her move, he had in some way been a part of her and Jamie’s life almost every day. Whether that was something with Alice, helping Christine, or being there for Jamie, he seemed to always be around.

  She both loved and hated it.

  “How’s my J-Man! You ready for school?” Danny chuckled.

  “Yes! Jilly said that I get to pick dinner too!”

  “Awesome, bud!” Danny’s smiling face turned toward her.

  “Thought I would drive over with you guys,” he said as he started picking up the bags on the floor before she could say anything.

  It wouldn’t do any good anyway.

  “Let me grab my purse,” she muttered, but Danny was already out the door with Jamie still in his arms.

  Push it down.

  She grabbed her stuff and headed out to meet them down the back stairs of the bakery that she lived and worked above.

  When she had started working for Christine, she hadn’t realized that one job was going to turn into more than just a way of life for both herself and Jamie. Christine had started out as just an employer but had slowly become a friend.

  At the time, she had needed the help and was at her lowest. Christine had stepped up and moved her into the apartment above the bakery, giving her and Jamie not only a place to stay, but a home. It was small, but it was just perfect for them, with two bedrooms.