nly looked at Allison for a moment,

at makes you think he'd go against his whole family for you? He's one of the Ashton heirs. Whoever he marries is going to have to deal with that family, their connections, and a

tly what Derek wa

ys been easygoi

is worst, it meant he had a way of making ev

one of the Asht

er married him would eventually get pulled into

y no desire to be

thing. Hearing Derek lay it all out in f

at's still none of your business, Mr. Cooper. Braden and I are young. Maybe we won't get married, but that doesn't mean we can't be togethe

ly being stubborn or finally saying

years ago had left too much ang

time, waiting for the small

bborn person Derek had ever

le for long, and he had even less p

ither tried to please him or were

have felt never came. Instead, something possessive

g her away from Braden might act

ly been about Braden or t

eminded him too

n expected. "I'm only trying to save both of you some trouble. Braden isn't the

re she was as Dere

ears had passed, yet somehow

remembered was

en he wanted to, but beneath that calm exter

especially interested in one of her social science pr

out something, she could be incredibly stubborn. At the time,

de sure she stayed home

on a weeklong vacation to the coastal resorts

ent she had been holding o

re trying to talk her into changing her mind. One word from him would have been

this patiently wasn't so

Allison had a hard time keepi

, but the uneasy feeling still hadn't left h

s still stuck on the me

d uploaded somethin

and this time, they seemed even more

tly stared a

she was discharged from the hosp

e eventually met Brade

he kept trying

always staying close in a gentle way and do

his presence hel

heir relationshi

age. "There's a cast and crew party next week, and m