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Please continue reading if you’ve read the story starter – a very long Chapter 1 – and you’re ready to dive into the story with me.

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About the story: (short description. Click here for longer)

“Let Me Love You” is a tale of love and sacrifice and a poignant story of self-discovery, celebrating the human capacity to find love in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Please enjoy the current WIP of Iris and El. This will be published freely up to a point, like in the old days, and then the entire book will be posted for full download. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the companion stories. (Wicked Chances, Dreams of Reality, The Convenient Wife, The Other Side of Love, She Works Hard for the Money & Ravenous)

Enjoy, Your Author, Sylvia Hubbard

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Read more: Let Me Love You – Chapter 39✍🏾📚❤️ #SylLit #WIP #livestory 📖💓 #marriedwife #demandedconsensual #darkromance

AUTHOR’S NOTES: You’ll be introduced to Sharlie Costello in this book. She’s the enemy of my enemy type of character and not to be trusted. I’m letting you know but of course let’s hope Iris won’t.

i know there was only a couple of chapters last week but I was working on my Motown Writers Car Camping Writers Retreat. I was busy. Life happened.

I hope to give you guys four this week, but I’m not making any promises.

Your author, Sylvia Hubbard

Iris was more in her thoughts than in her work. Essence Folsom had placed another large order of salve. The order would be a foundation to make the salve into medicinal products. Iris liked knowing her products were being used for good, and it felt like Essence was doing something phenomenal, despite which side of the family she was on. 
Trying to concentrate on work when all Iris could do was think about El was like trying to drag a child away from a free ice cream shop; her brain screamed in protest. 
After taking a shower and a couple of hours of napping, Iris checked over Clem’s work and then went to work herself. Her nephew loved coming down in her setup under the shed and knew how to get there without her, especially after they cleaned up the shed. 
Uncle Pete installed hydraulics on the door connected to the futon so a button by the window could push the door to reveal the stairs to the space where she was set up to grow all her plants, make all the salves and scents, and install small proof-containment cubicles to work. 
“He gonna let you grow plants?”
Clem’s voice broke through her thoughts of reliving the previous night with El. Her nephew carefully collected seeds from several plants as he had been taught in small envelopes. It was a very meticulous assignment, but Clem seemed to get so much joy in carefully counting the seeds or weighing them when they were too small to count. Later on, she would sell these packets to others. The education she received from Aunt Rose had been passed on to her nephew, and Iris found herself more in love with the boy than ever before. 
Seeing the connection and how Aunt Rose made such a significant impact in both of their lives brought a smile of love to her face. There wasn’t a time in her life when the old woman had not been there for her, and even if her aunt never left the house or came to where she was, Iris always felt the old woman’s presence in her life. And she was glad her aunt would be there for Clem.
His question was more than a straightforward child inquiring about what he had seen this morning. Clem was thinking deeper, and she knew this because Dwayne hated when she “played” with the plants and would discourage her from doing so. 
Clem knew playing with her plants made her extremely happy and indulged her because she did not have anyone else who encouraged her to do this. 
“He won’t stop me, I don’t think. I might have to cut back until I can clear up some things to make us safe for a couple of weeks, but Aunt Rose can take care of things until I can have more time.”
“And it’s because it’s your new job?”
How did she explain to her nephew that things could be going wrong for them and that it involved Dwayne and her father?
“It’s complicated.”
“And I’m too little,” he pouted.
“It’s hard to explain, Clem, but I need you to trust me. Aunt Rose will be keeping you home for the upcoming week, but you’ll have lessons with her. I need you to be good for a little while longer until I finish up this trip in Chicago, and then we’ll figure things out when I get back.”
“He’s going to help you?” 
Iris nodded. “He said he’s going to help.”
There was something bothering him because he frowned a little and then looked away as if concentrating very hard on counting seeds. 
“What?” she questioned. 
“He wants you all to himself. I don’t think he wants me around.”
“Clem, we’re a family, and no matter what, we will always be together. I’ll never leave you.”
Her nephew looked over his shoulder at her with a gentle smile of love. “Thank you, Auntie.”
Iris wondered what actions from El made her nephew think something like that. She also started going over the conversation she’d had this morning with El about Clem calling her his aunt.
It pained her that she had never allowed herself to heal from her foolish mistake, but being called Mommy was an honor, and she definitely didn’t feel she deserved the title after what she had done.
A doorbell rang, and she knew it was from the front door by the tone. She also knew Aunt Rose would not go near the door no matter how many times someone rang unless the older woman was in the house alone.
“Put the seeds in alphabetical order when you’re done, Clem,” she ordered, heading up and getting to the front door. 
Prior to opening the door, Iris looked through the peephole to see a black woman about her age, professionally dressed and pushing up a large pair of glasses, looking wary of the neighborhood.
Without opening the door, Iris asked, “Who is it?”
“I’m Sharlie Costello. I’m a freelance journalist, and I would like to discuss your association with Mr. Olorun. Are you Iris Folsom?”
Her heart skipped a couple of times. A strange woman knocking at her door, who knew her name and connection to El, was eerie and made her immediately guarded. In her shock, Iris opened the door but didn’t open the screen to invite the woman in. “Who are you?” Iris demanded again, looking the woman up and down to give her time to get her emotions together. 
Brown hair, brown eyes, and a soft caramel complexion but with a sharp look and full features graced the woman. The glasses were a little too big on her face and truthfully belied the woman’s cute features. The woman took a business card out and pressed it against the screen. “I’m a freelance reporter, and I usually highlight successful men.” 
“Put the business card in the mailbox, please,” Iris ordered. 
As Sharlie did this, she said, “Mr. Olorun has been on my radar for a while, and lately, his strange hiring has piqued my attention.”
“I’m only his assistant? I can’t answer any questions about his business.”
The woman smirked as if she held a secret. “His wealth is not as interesting as his personal life is, Ms. Folsom. Mr. Olorun hasn’t ever hired a person to be his personal administrator. He’s been a solitary man, and with his condition, I would have never assumed he would hire someone to work so closely with him.” She looked at the doorknob impatiently as if willing it to open. “I wanted to know what’s so special about you. Or are you really there to help him out?” Sharlie looked over Iris with a skeptical look. “I know it’s nothing personal since you’re not his type.”
Offended, Iris huffed. “You’d have to ask him, Ms. Costello. I’m qualified to do the job he’s hired me for.”
The reporter looked at the doorknob as if waiting for Iris to invite her in, but Iris didn’t budge, waiting for an answer. 
“How do you like your job, Ms. Folsom? How do you like working for a man that can barely tolerate near him?”
“He needs my skills to help him improve his business. Whatever personal issues he has, we’ve worked out, and that’s all you really need to know.”
“Is it, Ms. Folsom?” That skeptical look returned as the woman looked Iris over again. “I’m willing to pay handsomely for an exclusive. I’m sure your situation could use an influx of cash.”
Iris immediately understood this woman’s intentions. “You could use an influx of reading in the room. You are doing an article on him without his knowledge, aren’t you, Ms. Costello? Mr. Olorun is a very private man, and you think you can throw money at me to reveal something about him.”
The woman’s left eye twitched impatiently. “I already know enough, I just needed a confirmation.”
“You can ask him, Ms. Folsom,” Iris tiredly said and started closing the door. 
“Are you sure you don’t want to confirm he spent the night here last night? That’s way out of your scope of duties.”
Iris felt like she had been smacked in the face, and she was positive the reporter had seen the stupid look all over her face. She knew El would not have discussed his whereabouts and certainly would not have told anyone who was with her.
Remembering what her nephew said about someone in Aunt Rose’s courtyard, she accessed the journalist and figured this wasn’t a woman climbing that could climb over the high steel fence with spiked decor. “Whatever you know, I have no desire to help you confirm anything, Ms. Costello. Get off the property.”
“You aren’t the property owner, so why would I leave because you said?”
Iris now understood why Aunt Rose was quick to grab her rifle, which was kept in the nearby closet—for people like this. 
“Well, you can talk to the door, Ms. Costello.” 
“But Ms. Folsom-“
Iris slammed the door but took a moment to gather her equilibrium before walking away.
The reporter stayed at the door for a moment before walking away and getting on the phone with someone, but Iris couldn’t hear what the woman was saying. She didn’t care because she started to think about that morning and things her nephew had said she had brushed off.
Clem was finishing alphabetizing the seed packets he’d collected into the seed vault when she returned to the bunker. 
“Who was the woman you said you saw in the courtyard?” she asked her nephew.

End of This Chapter | Post your thoughts in the comment | Let the author know what’s going on in your head

Let Me Love You (c) 2024 Sylvia Hubbard All Rights Reserved

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
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