Growth 0f Love

by D. Anne Paris

  Growth of Love: Heirs of Orion Book 2

  by D. Anne Paris

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are all work of the author's imagination. Any kind of resemblance to actual people or events are purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by D. Anne Paris All rights reserved.

  No parts of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or reproduced, scanned, copied, or distributed in printed and electronic form without written permission from the author.

  First Edition, March, 2018

  Published in the United States of America

  This book is dedicated to my Dad

  You’re always there for all of us and you never ask for anything in return. You’ve been so supportive in my writing career which means the world to me. So many other fathers can learn a lot from you. We don’t say it much but we all love you!

  FOR MY READERS

  Thank you for buying this book and supporting me on my writing journey. I hope you will enjoy Dean and Anne’s story! Don’t forget to leave a review at Amazon!

  Be sure to visit the Orion Book Club to sign up to become a member of my exclusive club! This free membership gives you access to deleted scenes, excerpts, and member only goodies!

  Chapter 1

  Keith Brinks carefully balanced his freshly cleaned suit and a bag with the box of rose petals in one hand and Jennifer's favorite, special-occasion vanilla cupcakes in the other. He silently swore at the building maintenance people for taking so long to fix the elevator. Each step was a balancing act for him with his prosthesis, so it took him twice as long as he wanted to reach his floor. On a regular day wearing the prosthesis on his leg was second nature to him and he didn't even think twice, but having to climb up three flights of stairs made him feel it.

  As he slowly climbed, a smile formed on his face. Tonight would be the start of a new chapter in his life. He'd surprise Jennifer when she comes home from work. Candles, rose petals, champagne, the ring, everything would be perfect.

  When he got to the second floor an ugly thought hit him. What if she said no? He shook his head. That wouldn't happen. She'd mentioned getting married before.

  He continued climbing and finally reached their floor. When he got to the door he managed to fumble his keys out, open the door and place his suit in the entryway closet before he heard the passionate moans coming from the bedroom.

  Had he left the TV on in the bedroom?

  Setting the box of rose petals down on the side table, he paused then made his way down the hall toward the bedroom.

  What the hell kind of x-rated show was on this early in the morning? The moans kept getting louder and he now recognized them as being a female and male.

  Mrs. Brown would call the landlord if he didn't shut it off. He was surprised that she wasn't banging on the...

  He turned a corner and froze. The door to the bedroom stood open and there were people on his bed. A moan escaped from a blonde haired woman riding a man cowgirl style. A brunette was sucking on her breasts. The blonde moaned again and flung her head back.

  The air sucked out of his lungs and his hands clenched into fists.

  Jennifer.

  Her eyes were closed and a smile was plastered on her face.

  She moved again and Keith could see the man, Jake Livingten, his friend Jeri's ex-husband. The jerk had tried to ditch her with a ton of debt and had become a major asshole during their divorce proceedings.

  A pit formed in his stomach.

  "What the hell!?"

  Jennifer's eyes flew open. "Keith!"

  Her two companions stopped and their gazes shot towards him. Their faces paled as Jennifer jumped off of Jake and bolted towards Keith.

  "I can explain,"

  "The hell you will." The heat from the pit of his stomach started to burn hotter than the IED that had taken his foot. He pulled the Colt 45 pistol he carried from his waistband and pointed it at Jake's now exposed penis.

  "I will give you to the count of three to get the hell out of here! One!"

  Jake and the other woman jumped off the bed and grabbed their jeans, underwear and shirts off the floor and started to run down the hall.

  "Keith, stop it!" Jennifer screamed as she tried to push the gun from his hand. He wouldn't shoot them, that's not who he was, but he was definitely going to scare the shit out of them.

  "Two!" He heard someone slip on the floor and knock down one of the tables.

  "Keith, you're not a murderer! Put the gun down!"

  "Three!" He strode down the hall as the door slammed. The pit inside was burning hotter and hotter. He needed to get away from Jennifer and clear his head. The image of her riding Jake kept flashing in his mind.

  He turned back to Jennifer, holstered his Colt and headed toward the closet where their safe was hidden.

  All the years of military training had taught him to be prepared at moment's notice in case of an emergency. He never would have thought he would use that training to flee from a cheating girlfriend.

  "Keith, we need to talk about this!" Jennifer screamed as she grabbed her robe and wrapped it around herself.

  The closet door rattled when he flung it open. "We have nothing to talk about Jennifer. It's over."

  "What?" The shock in her voice made him want to wring her neck. "No, no, no! I've been here for you all this time. I helped you lick your wounds when you came back from the war. I was there for you when you had all those nightmares and stayed by your side the whole time."

  A large military bag lay by the safe. He grabbed it and ripped the zipper open. He'd wasted enough time with her over the past five years. He closed his eyes a moment as the flames of his anger leapt higher, searing his insides as his head kept screaming that Jennifer had cheated on him. He needed to hit something badly and repeatedly. Something he could destroy- a punching bag. Yes, he'd go to the gym. He wouldn't hit Jennifer, no matter how much he hurt, but he needed to be far away from her as he could. He pulled a couple of shirts and pants from the hangers and stuffed them into the bag.

  "Keith, are you listening to me!?"

  He could still hear the moans she'd made while riding Jake. Keith punched in the numbers and the safe beeped open. He reached in and pulled out the additional guns, ammo and half of their emergency cash. He didn't trust her. She'd cheated on him. What else would she be capable of?

  He zipped up the bag and turned towards her. "No, Jennifer, because... I keep reliving what I just saw in my mind! How long have you been screwing with Jake and his friend?"

  She looked away from him. "This was the first time."

  Keith knew she was lying as well as he knew his own name or that the sky was blue, but he needed to hear her say it. For the first time in years he broke his vow never to use his powers on someone close to him. He grabbed her chin. Turning her face toward him he stared straight into her eyes. His eyes narrowed and he let his power of persuasion penetrate into her mind. "Tell me the truth Jennifer."

  The room around him began to spin, but her face stayed in place as her pupils turned to tiny dots.

  "Six years this April."

  Six years? His mind spun back in time. Jeri had separated from Jake five years ago, around the same time he'd started dating Jennifer. "You screwed him when he was married to Jeri and you were dating me?"

  Her expression was stone cold and robotic. "Yes, he told me he needed someone more exciting, and I like variety."

  He tore his gaze away from her, which released her from his power. She shook her head and rubbed her forehead. "What the hell?" Her eyes shot to him. "Keith, did you..."

  Keith used that moment to grab the bag and push past her. He swung the bag over his shoulder and
knocked over one of her porcelain bunny statues that sat on the hall shelf.

  It bounced off the carpet and he had an urge to kick and shatter it, just like Jennifer had shattered his heart.

  He pushed that childish urge away and moved around it to go to the front door. His feet felt paralyzed when he entered the living room and noticed the red rose petals on the floor with the two silk ones with the words 'Marry' and 'Me' stitched in silver.

  His insides hurt and the angry flames climbed higher.

  He heard Jennifer gasp behind him as she spotted the message. “Are you proposing to me?"

  "I was. Not anymore." He reached for the doorknob and felt Jennifer grab him by the

  arm.

  "No, Keith don't leave. Look, we can work this out. We can still get married, and I'm sure that Jake and Stella wouldn't mind if you joined us."

  The corner of his eye began to twitch. He needed to leave. He yanked his arm away from her grasp. "I don't want any part of your fuckfest, Jennifer." He ran his hand through his sandy blond hair. "When you asked me when we first started dating if I was into that sort of thing and I said no you should have told me that you couldn't commit to that." He swung around to look at her. "Instead, I wasted five years of my life with you!"

  "No! Keith! I want to be with you! We can work this out!" She gripped his arm again and tried to pull him back into the apartment. "I need you in my life. Damn it, Keith, stop! You can't leave me like this! What is your mother going to do? She'll ruin my career!"

  Keith froze. Her career? What the hell did her career... his eye caught a glimpse of a picture on a mantle. His mother, Donna, was smiling brightly with Keith and Jennifer around her. His mother was a top executive at the company that Jennifer worked for. Then it clicked.

  Jennifer wasn't with him because she wanted him, she wanted his mother's influence on her career. Red hot anger flashed across his vision as he yanked his arm away from her.

  "Your career is as dead as our relationship!" He whipped around and stalked down the hallway while Jennifer cursed at him and screamed.

  "You will never be man enough for any woman!" She spat back at him.

  Raising his hand, he flipped her off and ran as fast as he could to flee the memory and the woman he’d wasted the last few years with.

  Chapter 2

  The dark red liquid coated the wine glass as Jerilind Miller swirled it around. Up it went to the top of the rim and trickled down to the bottom of the glass. Usually the liquid wouldn't fascinate her so much, but today she needed something to get her mind off of things.

  A cold wind whipped around the deck, so she wrapped the afghan tighter around her body. She glanced at her blueberry field. The bushes in the distance looked like little soldiers hiding under the moonlit sky. Her heart swelled.

  Had it really been four years since she'd planted them? They appeared to be twenty years old because of her power to make plants grow. When her neighbors had asked what her secret was she told them she used a special fertilizer. How else could she explain she had an energy that helped plants grow when she touched them?

  "I thought I'd find you here," a deep familiar voice boomed behind her.

  "Shit!" Jeri jumped up. Her glass tipped and some of the wine spilled onto the afghan covering her legs.

  Her head snapped in the direction of her handsome intruder. "It's not nice to sneak up on people, Keith!"

  He moved out of the shadows, grabbed a chair from the other side of the deck and placed it next to her. "You shouldn't be sitting alone in the dark. You need to get yourself a dog." He twisted the chair around and straddled it.

  "This isn't the city, Keith. Who do you think is going to attack me out here, a toad?" She wiped the spilled wine off the afghan. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

  "Had some time off so I decided to stop by for a few days."

  "What about Jennifer?" Jeri shook the afghan to remove the remaining wine drops. "Or is she on another business..."

  "We broke up. Caught her cheating."

  His flat emotionless statement made her sit up straighter in her chair. "Oh, my God! That's horrible!" She reached out and took his hand, hoping to ease some of his pain, "I'm so sorry, Keith. You deserve better."

  "Don't worry about me." He picked up the wine bottle on the table next to her and lifted it to the moonlight.

  "I had one glass." Her mood turned grim as she reached out and tried to grab the bottle from him. Was he going to remind her about the time she got way too drunk at a party and flashed him on a dare? Jake hadn't seemed to care at all, but Keith had lectured her for days afterwards, not to mention he told her brother Dean, who also lectured her every time he called her when he was in from the Middle East. It didn't matter that she was an adult and married, she was still younger than they were, as they reminded her. They had seen some really bad stuff happen to people who hit the bottle hard.

  "That must have been a huge glass, Honey, because this bottle is only a quarter full."

  He brought the bottle to his lips and took a large gulp. She wondered how his lips would feel under hers. Would they be soft?

  Crap! This was the reason she didn't drink around him. She had no self-control when he was around. It drove her nuts that he was the only man who could cause her to lose herself.

  "Keith, it's none of your business how much I drank!" she spat at him.

  "Whoa! I am cutting you off. You are done for the night." He put the now empty bottle on the table.

  Oh, great. He was going to lecture her, then he'd tell Dean, and from there it would snowball to everyone she knew.

  "Why does everybody keep worrying about me? I'm fine!"

  Keith sat back and his eyebrows rose. "Jeri, are you okay?"

  "Okay?" She slammed her glass on the table so hard the table shook. The emotions she hid boiled out of her. "Why does everyone ask me that? I'm fine, okay!"

  Keith reached over to calm her, but she bolted from him and ran into the blueberry field.

  He shot up from his chair and started after her.

  "Stay away, Keith! I don't need anyone's pity!" She touched a small wild blackberry at the edge of her field of bushes. It quickly grew so high it covered the gap between the bushes and blocked Keith from her. Keith had seen her use her gift before but had never seen how powerful it was until now.

  "Jeri! Damn it!" He ran to the blackberry plant. There was no way a stupid bush would stop him. He grabbed the branch. "Shit!" He pulled his bloody hand away. The overgrown twig had thorns everywhere and bit into his skin in various places.

  "Ah!" He wiped the blood on his jeans and bolted down another row. The bushes were up to his neck, but fortunately the leaves were already off because of the winter weather. He peered through them to see where she was headed. With her head start, she ran into the woods before he was able to catch up to her.

  "Son of a-" At this time of night she could easily fall over a log or run into a pack of coyotes. His heart raced faster as he exited the field and entered the woods. He stopped by the first tree and listened. There was rustling on the left a couple yards down. He moved in that direction, but his feet hit a large fallen log and slowed him down. A couple of more feet and he stopped again to listen. The dense forest was dark with occasional rays of moonlight peeking through. Jeri was nowhere in sight. He swore under his breath. He could have used his night vision goggles right about then.

  "Please, Keith, leave me alone." Her voice sounded like she was on the edge of tears.

  His heart ached at the sound. His feet inched in her direction and maneuvered around a fallen tree.

  There was a break in the middle of the forest and a massive pine tree sat in the middle. Jeri sat on a branch. It should have broken, but it held her like she was as light as a feather.

  "Jeri, what's wrong? You don't fly off the handle like this." He slowed his pace.

  The beams of moonlight lit the area in white.

  Jeri wiped her eye
s. "I'm sorry, Keith. You caught me on a really bad day."

  Keith stopped in front of her and tilted her chin up. Another piece of his heart ripped at the sight of her tears. "What happened, Jeri? Tell me."

  Her eyes closed. "I'll be fine."

  Keith gripped her chin tighter. "Jeri, don't make me use my power on you. You're upset about something, and I want to know why."

  Her eyes flew open. "Why do you need to know everything, Keith?"

  Because I need to protect you, his heart called out.

  "I want to help you." His voice was calm as he looked into her eyes.

  "I know you do, but there are some things I need to work out by myself."

  "Fine, then I'll be your sounding board and you can tell me what you're going to do to solve whatever's bothering you."

  Jeri smirked. "You don't quit."

  "Nope."

  He let go of her chin and she exhaled.

  "Fine. A friend of mine called me this morning to tell me she's pregnant with twins." She stopped and glanced at him. "She was one of my friends from my infertility support group. Her condition was worse than mine and she was told she could never have kids. She never gave up and she actually found a doctor who specializes treating infertility a different way. The doctor has a high success rate, but it's not covered by any insurance." A sob made her voice wobble. "She told me I should go to this doctor because there is a high probability the treatment would work for me, but I..."

  "I'll give you the money," Keith told her.

  She looked up at him. "Keith, it's not just the money. I'm not in a relationship, and I don't think I can raise a child on my own, but my time to have a child is running out. Now Dean and Anne are having a baby and it's..." Tears streamed from her eyes.

  Keith felt his heart tear at the sight of her tears. He would do anything to make her happy. He wanted to scream that he'd be there with her to help her raise their child. The thought of her carrying another man's child gnawed at his gut and made him want to rip things to shreds. But he couldn't act on those feelings, especially since he was still raw from his encounter with Jennifer. Keith stopped in front of her and took hold of her arms to pull her towards him. She didn't resist his embrace. Instead, she slid off the branch into his arms. Instinctively, he kissed the top of her head, which smelled like coconut shampoo. His groin tightened at the thought of his hands running through her silky hair. He pushed the thought out of his mind.