The Family He Didn't Expect

by Shirley Jump

  He shook his head. She had him all wrong. “I’m not doing anything really.”

  “You’re doing more than you know. Cody’s math grade went up.” Abby clasped Dylan’s hand and met his gaze. “I haven’t seen that boy get anything higher than a D in a year. This week, he has a C in math. He did all his homework for the week and he said he finally understands the Pythagorean theorem, and all because of you.”

  Dylan hadn’t been sure that Cody was listening when they’d talked. The conversation about solving triangle problems came up when they’d been working together on the repairs for the center. “I didn’t do much. Just put it into terms he understood. He really likes working with his hands and doing construction work, so when I rephrased the word problems into that kind of thing, he understood it.”

  “It’s more than that, though, Dylan. My boys have been...lost for a while. I really do the best I can, but I’m a mom, not a dad. And I think it’s important for them to have a strong male role model. It’s why I started bringing them to the community center. By then Ty pretty much checked out, and it wasn’t until they met you that I saw real changes, especially in Cody.” Her eyes welled. “I thought I’d lost him. And now... I think he’s coming around.”

  Dylan wanted to tell her she was putting her faith in the wrong man, that he wasn’t this picture-perfect man she painted him out to be. And strong male role model? He was the last man on earth anyone should hold up like that. “I told you, you’re a great mom. That’s important, more important than a fishing trip or a few minutes repairing a wall and talking about math problems.”

  She shifted to sit up and lean over him. “You made a difference, and I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate that.”

  “You’re...welcome.” The words didn’t feel right, because he didn’t feel like he’d earned them. And yet, he wasn’t going to argue any further with her because he had to admit he really liked seeing the gratitude in Abby’s face, seeing her so happy. And all because he’d helped Cody solve for C in a triangle. “I just... I really like you, Abby, and hanging out with your kids seemed natural.”

  “You really like me?”

  He grinned. That was a lot easier to say than you’re on my mind all the time and I’m not sure what to do about that. “You think I break out the Sinatra for every girl I meet?”

  “Well, I don’t know. Do you? For all I know, the Little Otter Summer Camp could be your secret love nest.” Her smile was edged with something devilish. Something he liked very much.

  He cupped her jaw and ran his thumb along the edge of her lips. “It’s most definitely not. It is my favorite place in this town, but I’ve never taken anyone I dated here before.”

  “Why me?”

  “Because I wanted to give you something...special. Because... I’m falling for you, Abby Cooper.”

  Damn. He’d said that out loud. The words hung in the air. He shouldn’t have said them, shouldn’t have taken this any further, knowing he was leaving in a week. But every time he looked in her eyes or felt her touch, all rational thought fled.

  “I’m falling for you, too, Dylan,” she whispered.

  His heart soared and he didn’t give a damn about timelines or expectations or anything other than being with Abby. He’d worry about tomorrow in the morning.

  He pulled her down to him, until she was on his chest, and her mouth was inches from his. “This could get dangerous.”

  “I’m kinda hoping it does.” Then she smiled again, and that was all the answer Dylan needed.

  He kissed Abby, not a soft, easy kiss like before, but hard, hot, fast. The desire he’d tamped down from the minute he met her surged to the surface. She met his fire with equal passion, running her hands down his shirt, over the buttons, then as his kiss deepened and the desire became a full-on inferno, she fumbled with the buttons, undoing them one at a time.

  Dylan was tempted to rip the shirt off, but there was something sexy and sweet about her unbuttoning his shirt. He vowed to wear this kind of shirt around her often. A lot more often.

  She parted the panels of his shirt, then slid a hand along his chest. “God, your chest is...amazing,” she said. “So sexy.”

  “Hang enough Sheetrock and you can have these muscles, too.”

  “No thank you, sir. I’ll stick to my computer and my weak biceps.” She straddled him. “And running my fingers over your chest instead.” She did just that and he groaned. Her hands were smooth and soft, her touch igniting every nerve she brushed against.

  “I think we should be equal in that regard.” He slipped off her sweater, then slid his palms under her shirt and lifted it over her head. She wore a lacy pink bra underneath, and he wondered if she had done that on purpose, for him. He sure hoped so.

  His fingers danced above the lacy edge, and her nipples hardened against his palms. Damn. “You are beautiful.”

  She blushed, and for some reason, that made him fall for her even more. Abby had no idea how mesmerizing she was, how amazing, and he liked that little bit of vulnerability. It was damned sexy.

  Dylan rose into a sitting position, with Abby settling in his lap. He kissed her again, his hands tangling in her long, dark hair, then slid his palms down her back, to the tiny clasp at the back of the bra. Abby gasped when the lace cups fell forward, exposing her skin to the cool night air.

  He was hard beneath her, his body urging him to hurry up, to quench the need burning inside him, but he didn’t want to rush this. He wanted to savor her, to savor this moment, the beauty of her in the moonlight. He bent his head, kissing a trail from her shoulders to the top of her breasts. When he brushed against her nipple, Abby arched against him.

  He took her nipple in his mouth, tasting it delicately at first, then harder, teasing the bud until she was gasping and writhing against him. “Good Lord, Dylan,” she said. “Just that...and oh...oh my. Yes, that.”

  She ran her fingers through his hair, urging his mouth closer. He switched to the other side, and in an instant, she was moaning again. He lifted his head, cupping her jaw with his hands, and kissed her, deep, slow, easy. Then he pulled back and shifted to the side, laying her down on the blanket.

  The moonlight danced on her bare skin, and he took a moment just to drink in that image. Then she smiled that sexy, devilish smile again, and he forgot all about moonlight and savoring. He undid the clasp on her jeans, slid them over her hips and tossed them to the side, then did the same with his own jeans.

  “Are we really doing this?” Abby asked.

  “Do you want to?”

  She nodded. “But...it’s been a long time for me, and... I may be out of practice.”

  “Then I say we practice.” He ran a finger under the edge of her pink lace panties. “A lot.”

  “That sounds like an incredibly good idea, Mr. Millwright.” Her laughter was throaty, sexy, and when she surged into his arms, he lost all rational thought. A second later, they were both naked under the moonlight, the food and wine forgotten, and he was fumbling for the condom in his wallet.

  When he entered her, she arched and gasped, digging her fingers into his back. Being inside Abby felt like coming home, warm, sweet, delicious and perfect. She matched him, stroke for stroke, their lovemaking hard and furious and hungry. She cried out, her voice lost among the trees and the night birds.

  He increased his pace and she gasped his name in his ear, over and over again, until her orgasm crested and she let out a long, happy sigh. He came a minute later, holding tight to her long after they were finished. For those endless sweet minutes, the world was perfect, and there was nothing in his mind, in his heart, except for Abby Cooper.

  He rolled to the side, curling her against his chest, and realized one thing. Dylan had fallen hard for Abby Cooper—

  And leaving Stone Gap was not going to be as easy as he’d thought.

  Chapter Nine

/>   Abby woke up the next morning, long before the alarm rang. Her day stretched before her, filled with To Do lists and lunches to make and kids to worry about, but her mind lingered on the night before. On the picnic with Dylan. The lovemaking that had left her more satisfied than she could ever remember—twice.

  He had been a considerate and tender lover, especially the second time. In those moments under the moon, she had felt special and treasured and—

  Hooked.

  As much as she hadn’t wanted to, Abby had fallen in love with sweet and considerate Dylan Millwright. The man who was all wrong for her, and was undoubtedly going to leave her brokenhearted. Except there was the tiny part of her that saw the way he connected with this town, with his uncle, with the center and with her and her boys, and began to hope that maybe he was going to stay.

  She got up, pulled on a robe and went out to the kitchen. The coffeepot, set on a timer the night before, already had fresh hot brew waiting for her. She poured a cup, powered up her laptop and got to work, first checking on the status of a grant she’d applied for a month ago for the center, then on a client presentation she needed to make on Friday. She had about an hour before the boys had to get up for school, and instead of trying to chase elusive sleep, she’d be smart to work.

  Because when it came down to it, focusing on a man wasn’t going to pay her bills or feed her children. The only one she could rely on to do that was herself.

  Uh-huh. Then why did her thoughts keep roaming to last night? To being touched by him, kissed by him, and wanting so much more in that private little grove by the campground. Abby shook her head and refocused on work. On being practical.

  She answered what felt like a thousand emails in between typing up presentation notes and creating a few more PowerPoint slides. Three cups of coffee later, Jake came bounding into the kitchen. “Morning, Mommy!”

  “Morning, Jakester.” Abby refilled her coffee again, then set a cereal bowl on the kitchen table. “You’re up bright and early and all by yourself. Good job, buddy.”

  He’d even dressed himself, in a striped T-shirt and a worn pair of jeans. His socks didn’t match, but she let that go. Just the fact that Jake had taken the initiative to get ready on his own told her that her littlest son was growing up. As proud as she was, a tiny part of her was sad.

  Jake climbed into the chair and waited for his mother to pour him some cereal. “I wanna go help Dylan build more things today!”

  “You can’t sweetie. It’s a school day. You and Cody have to get ready.” She grabbed the milk and added some to Jake’s bowl, then got him a spoon. “After school, you can go to the center. Mavis will be there, so you can make a new craft.”

  “I wanna build things. Like a house. For my dinosaurs!” Jake dug into his cereal, hurrying through his breakfast. “Can I do that? I don’t wanna do a craft.”

  Abby chuckled. “Well, let me talk to Dylan later and see if he needs your help. Right now, I need you and your brother to get ready for school.” She dropped her attention back to the presentation. Just one more slide—

  “Cody’s not goin’,” Jake said between spoonfuls. “He came in my room and told me. He said he had to go somewhere else.”

  The hairs on the back of Abby’s neck rose. She froze. “Somewhere else?”

  Jake nodded. “Can I watch SpongeBob?”

  Abby flicked on the TV, breaking her no-television-during-meals rule, just to keep Jake distracted for a minute. There was no way Cody was going to skip school again. He’d promised her, promised Dylan. His grades were improving; he’d be crazy to start skipping again. Maybe Jake had misunderstood.

  She headed down the hall toward Cody’s room. The door was closed, as usual, with its bright red Keep Out sign tacked outside. Abby knocked twice. “Cody? Time to get up for school.”

  No reply.

  She knocked again, harder. “Cody? Come on, wake up. I’ll make you some eggs if you want. Or one of those burritos you can eat in the car. Let’s go, I don’t want to be late for work.”

  No response. Par for the course with a teenager who slept like the dead and hated waking up before seven. Abby turned the handle, opened the door and poked her head inside. Cody’s room was dark, save for the soft blue glow coming from his computer’s power supply. She took a few steps into the room. “Cody? Hey, sleeping in is—”

  The bed was empty. The covers shoved aside, the pillow on the floor.

  And the bedroom window open. A chilly breeze floated the dark blue curtains in, out, in, out. She crossed to the window and saw nothing outside except for the deep impression of two footprints in the dewy grass, then a trail leading around to the side of the house.

  That couldn’t be from Cody. He had to be here somewhere. He’d never run away before. And things were going so well—why would he do that now?

  Abby spun on her heel and darted into the bathroom the boys shared. Empty. She checked Jake’s room, her bathroom and bedroom, the living room. No Cody. She paused on the stairs, looked out into the yard and noticed Cody’s bike wasn’t in its customary spot propped against the side of the shed.

  Abby ran into the kitchen, her heart in her throat, panic rising in her chest. Jake was still at the table, eating while SpongeBob prattled on about Krabby Patties. “Jake? What did Cody say to you this morning? Exactly.”

  Jake shrugged, his gaze on SpongeBob’s debate with Mr. Krabs. “I dunno. He said goodbye.”

  Goodbye didn’t mean anything. Cody could have gone to school early or to a friend’s house—

  But there was no text on her phone, no note on the table. Not that Cody told her when he was going to skip school. Something about this departure, though, felt different, wrong, and Abby’s Mom SpideySense was tingling.

  “Did he say where he was going?” Every word got shriller, worry hitting her in a wave. Cody skipped school, broke curfew and snuck out at night when he was grounded, but never had he left early in the morning, without a word.

  Jake turned and looked at his mother. “Mommy, what’s wrong?”

  “Cody’s not in his room,” Abby said, and saying it made it real, and the feeling of wrongness multiplied. Calm down, she told herself, don’t get Jake all worked up. It’s probably nothing. “He’s not in trouble, but I do need to know where he told you he was going, because moms should always know where their kids are, right? So, Jake, can you think really hard and tell me everything he said to you?”

  Jake thought a minute. “He said, ‘Bye-bye, Jakester. I gotta go. I’m gonna go see Dad.’ He said Dylan said he should.”

  Keith lived two states away, in Georgia. She wasn’t even sure Cody had his father’s address, since it had been at least a year since the boys had received so much as a Christmas card. Cody had no money, no means of transportation beside his bike. How on earth was he going to get there?

  “Come on, Jake, we have to go now.” She picked up the half-empty bowl and put it in the sink. “Go get your shoes on as fast as you can. We’re not going to school today.”

  “Yay! Are we gonna go see Dylan?”

  “Yes,” Abby said, the word ground out between her teeth. “We are definitely starting with Dylan.”

  * * *

  Dylan had arrived at the community center shortly after six in the morning, his To Do list long and full, the pressure to finish doubled after a late-night phone call from his boss in Maine. The job’s timeline had been moved up, and Jay wanted him back as soon as possible—and if Dylan wasn’t able to return to take on the role, he’d need to immediately hire someone else. Which meant instead of a week before he had to hit the road, Dylan had two days.

  Today was Tuesday. He needed to drive back to Maine on Thursday, meet with his boss as soon as he got back and be ready to break ground on the first house in the development on Monday.

  But after last night with Abby, Dylan’s desire to leave quickly had b
een cut in half. He wanted the full week, wanted every minute he could have with her. He knew it was impossible to make this new relationship last once he returned to Maine, but—

  He still wanted to see if there was a way. Abby was strong and confident and beautiful and unlike any woman he had ever met. She lingered in his mind, hung on the fringes of every thought, every breath.

  So he got to work, because that was the only thing that kept him from running back over to Abby’s house, just to see her smile, or even better, kiss her, touch her again. Given how often that urge hit him, he was going to end up renovating the entire building in a single day.

  The door to the center opened, and even though Dylan knew it was too early and that she was undoubtedly either dropping kids at school or heading to work, his heart hoped to see Abby walking in. Instead, Uncle Ty headed inside and Dylan had to pretend he wasn’t disappointed.

  “Hey, Uncle Ty.” He put down his paintbrush, crossed the room and gave his uncle a quick hug. “What are you doing here so early?”

  Ty rocked back on his heels, paused a minute before he spoke. “Here to help, if you want a hand.”

  Dylan swallowed his surprise. “That would be great.”

  “Sorry it took me so long to get back on track.” His uncle drew in a deep breath. “I always believed life was a journey on a winding road, you know? You hit a bump, you get up and keep going. Until I hit a detour and lost my Virginia and I came to a dead stop.” His eyes watered. “But I gotta keep moving, even if it’s harder than hell. Like you said, Virginia wouldn’t want me sitting around, living in shadows the rest of my life. She’d want me to...”

  “Move forward.” Instead of staying in one place. That had always been Dylan’s reasoning for moving from place to place, job to job. He’d told himself he was moving forward. But for some reason lately, it felt an awful lot like staying in the same place.

  His uncle glanced around the center, at the newly repaired walls, the fixed window, the broken door that had been rehung. “You’ve done a great job here, Dylan, in a really short amount of time.”