He dried her off before bothering with himself, and wrapped her in a bathrobe that was comically large on her. But it smelled so good, so like him, fresh and clean with a light hint of musky cologne that reminded her of her father that she kept it on until it got too hot in the bedroom.
He was still naked and driving her crazy, but before her hormones could take control of her again, she was asleep in his arms.
Chapter 3
She was disappointed when Daylin wasn't in bed the next morning but figured that it was probably better for both of them. She needed to get settled in, find a place and see if anyone knew anything about her father. She knew better than to hope that he'd gone back home after he'd left, but maybe someone was still in touch with him.
She stretched lazily and then it dawned on her that she was naked in a virtual stranger's bed. Granted, the stranger was amazingly gorgeous and had been an incredible lover, but some of the heat from last night had worn off. She was feeling a little silly about the whole thing, having been so swept up in the moment.
Yes, he had a gorgeous chest that she could spend hours running her hands over, running her fingers through the fine sheen of hair, his arms were divine, she loved the feel of the muscles underneath her hands, and when he was holding her, she felt safe. And his ass, she couldn't get started on his ass she thought or she was going to walk naked out of the bedroom and go find him and finish what she'd started in her head.
She groaned as she rolled over in bed, disappointed that she'd let her thoughts run away with her again. She wasn't some sex crazed teenager Jess thought, she was a grown woman. A grown woman who was going to have to face herself in the mirror knowing that she'd had sex with Daylin and walked away.
She lit a cigarette and blew a smoke ring at the ceiling, wondering what Daylin was up to.
There was soft music coming from the direction of the living room, but nothing else. Had he left she wondered? Then she heard a loud bang from the kitchen and Daylin saying "Shit."
She laughed and leaned over to put out her cigarette. He came into the bedroom then and said "I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"
She felt the need to cover herself because his eyes were roaming her body again, but then she noticed he was shirtless and started to get a little distracted herself. She turned away, reaching for her bag, her clothes. If she didn't put something on, she had a feeling he was going to start taking things off.
He grinned like he’d read her mind again. "I thought you wanted to ravage me again."
Her face was on fire as she slipped her panties on and her hands were trembling as she fastened the clasp on her bra. "It would probably be better if we didn't."
His smiled faded. "You don't have to go so soon Jess. You could at least spend the weekend. The motels in this town are real dumps. And you never told me what brought you to town."
"I . . ." She didn't know how to continue. Should she lie or should she tell him the truth? "I've been looking for my father and haven't found anything. I thought that maybe someone here might know something since he grew up here."
"What are you going to do if you don't find anything? What are you going to do if you do?"
"If I find something, I guess I would go to him. Or at least call him. I think that after twenty-one years he owes the daughter that he abandoned some answers."
"Okay." He sat down on the bed next to her and put an arm around her. "And after that?"
"I don't know Daylin. What does it matter?"
"Because I care Jess."
"You care?”
"I do. You might not believe me because of what I told you and what Lucy said, but you make me want to take care of you."
"Oh.”
"Does that bother you?"
"No one needs to take care of me Daylin. I've been taking care of myself for six years and I'm fine."
"But you're not Jess. You want more, you need more, but you're too scared to let yourself have it."
"You're wrong Daylin." She moved away from him.
"Am I?"
She nodded. "Of course you are."
"It wasn't just your father that hurt you was it? There was someone else. Some other guy. Who was it? A boyfriend? Or you said you had a stepdad. Was it him Jess? Was it your stepdad that hurt you so bad that you're afraid to let yourself feel?"
She closed her eyes. She knew what he was thinking her stepfather had done to her, but he had it all wrong. It was much more complicated than the disgusting thing that he was thinking.
"I'm right aren't I?" There was anger in his voice. "What did that bastard do to you?"
"It's not what you're thinking. Yes, my stepdad hurt me, but it wasn't that."
She made a face when she said the last word. The last thing her stepfather had had on his mind had been molesting her. Not that that was a bad thing of course, but what he had done wasn't much better.
"Did he hit you?" Some of the fire was gone from his voice, but he still sounded upset.
She shook her head again. "No. He never touched me Daylin."
"So what did he do?" He sounded puzzled, and she could understand his confusion. She still didn't understand what Ned had done after six years.
"He paid me to leave."
"He what?"
"I got back from some stupid graduation party and I found a note under my pillow telling me that I needed to leave. That I was grown, my mother had done her duty. That they were going to start a new family, with kids that were actually his. That I wasn't welcome anymore."
"You are kidding me Jess."
"Of course I am Daylin. That's why I haven't talked to my mother in six years."
"Oh baby, no. You are going to call your mother right now. What if she thinks you're dead?"
Jess shrugged, though it hurt to think about her mother. Did she think her daughter was dead, or had she wanted Jess to leave as much as Ned had? She couldn't face the answer.
"This is so not up for discussion Jess. You are going to call your mother right now."
She sighed. "I don't want to."
"Oh, sweetie." He took her back into his arms. "You're afraid that it was what she wanted too. And your dad leaving certainly didn't help either. Honey, your mother loves you. Every mother loves her child."
"No they don't. People do horrible things to their kids every day." She knew all about it. When she'd first left home she'd forced herself to read some of them to prove to herself that there were parents that were more messed up than hers.
"Yes darling they do. But your mother raised you for eighteen years. She must be worried sick about you. Waiting for a phone call, a story on the news that you're never coming home."
"I'm not going home. Ever. I took Ned's money. That was the deal. I take his check and he's rid of me. They're rid of me. Fair is fair right?"
"None of this is fair Jess. I’m going to bring you my phone. You are going to call your mother."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I'll call her myself."
"No you won't."
"You wanna bet?"
"No. Daylin I don't want to call her."
"There's nothing to be afraid of. Worse comes to worst, she tells you that you're right and that she wanted you gone too. So you go on with your life. We are about so much more than where we came from baby. I can see how wonderful you are and I've known you for less than twelve hours. Your mother must have seen that in eighteen years."
She wanted to crawl up into his lap and cry. She wanted to push him back onto the bed and seduce him so that he'd shut up about her mother. She wanted him to make the whole world go away. She knew he could, she could see in his eyes that he would make it all go away for her.
But he was not going to give up until she called her mother. She could see that in his eyes too.
He gave her a kiss that made her head spin and then left the room. She glanced toward the window, wondering if she could crawl out by the time he got back. But he was back at her side in an instant, holding out the cell phone that she'd
seen him with at the diner the night before.
She took it from his hand, wanting to throw it across the room. But he'd be pissed if she broke it since it looked expensive. And he'd probably drag her out to a pay phone if he had to she thought.
He took both of her hands in his and knelt in front of her. "You want me to leave you alone?"
She shook her head. "Will you hold me Daylin?"
He pulled her back against his chest, leaning against the headboard. "Go on babe. She's been waiting for six years."
"I think she can wait another five minutes," she muttered, but she took a deep breath and dialed the phone.
It rang three times before her mother picked up. She almost dropped the phone, tears stinging her eyes.
"Hello," her mother said. The voice that had sang lullabies to her, the voice that had told her how proud she was at her graduation party. "Hello," her mother repeated. "Is anyone there?"
"Mom.” But it came it out as little more than a whisper. She cleared her throat and said it again. "Mom."
"Jessica?"
"Yes Mom."
"Jessica Lynn Brewster where in the hell have you been? I raised you better than to let your mother think you were dead for six years didn't I?"
A weight was lifted off of her chest. She felt Daylin tense behind her, but she shook her head and snuggled more comfortably into his arms. "Yeah Mom. I guess you did."
"Baby are you okay? I've been so worried about you. We've been so worried about you. Me, Ned, your grandparents. Grandpa and Grandma aren't doing very well these days you know. No, I guess you wouldn't know would you?"
"No Mom."
"Where are you honey? Are you coming home? Can you come home? I would like to see you so much. My baby who's now a grown woman."
"I'm looking for Dad."
"He's dead baby."
"What?"
"He's been gone three years now. I wanted to tell you but no one could find you. Your stepmother has been trying to get a hold of you too. But she never had any better luck than I did."
"My. . . Stepmother? Since when do I have a stepmother?"
"Since about eighteen years ago. Hold on a second Jess, please."
Her mother moved the phone away. She could hear her talking to someone in the background. Her heart beat faster at first, thinking that she was talking to Ned, but it was obviously someone else.
"Sienna Jane, give your brother back his car. Page; give your sister back her doll. With the head dear, with the head. Can you two please behave for just a minute while Mommy's on the phone? It's your big sister. If you be good for Mommy for a few more minutes we'll go to the park after lunch okay?"
Big sister she thought? First she had a stepmother, now she had a brother and a sister. So Ned had gotten his wish after all. All for $10,000 to his stepdaughter to make her leave. Ten thousand dollars that she had a sneaking suspicion had been what her mother had put away for her college fund.
Her mother came back to the phone then. "Sorry about that. They can't seem to behave for more than a few minutes at a time when their Dad's not around. Of course you were the same way when you were young."
"I was?"
"Yes dear. You might not remember since you were so young when he went back to Selana, but you were such a daddy's girl."
She did remember part of it. She remembered sitting on her father's lap in his easy chair. Snuggling into his arms, the scent of cigarette smoke and his cologne. That was why she'd started smoking. The reason why the smell of cigarette smoke was a strange comfort to her.
"What do you mean he went back to Selana?"
Her mother sighed. "It's a long story sweetheart. She could probably tell you much better than I can. But the long and short of it is that they were childhood sweethearts. Both their parents were old fashioned and thought they were much too serious when they were that young. Selana ended up pregnant when they were barely sixteen. Your grandparents moved your father halfway across the country to keep him away from her. It took him four years into our marriage until it was too much for him and he went back for her."
"So I have an older half brother or sister?"
"No, she lost the first baby. You have my Page, he's five and Sienna, she's about to turn four. She looks just like you Jess. It's almost uncanny. Of course she has her father's eyes and you have yours. But other than that she's the picture of you when you were her age. Do you remember that blue dress? I found one almost like it. If you put the pictures beside each other you can hardly tell who is who."
She'd hated that blue dress, but had never been able to tell her mother because she was afraid of hurting her feelings.
"So does Dad or did Dad have any other kids? How did he die?"
"He has a son, Craig Junior, he's seventeen, and Chelsea is fifteen I believe. She looks a lot like you too. Only the resemblance is even stronger because she has your father's eyes too. Though I can see how that would be because I bear a rather strong resemblance to Selana. I guess that's why he chose me."
"Okay, that's a little weird Mom, but did you say Craig Junior? How could he be Craig Junior when my dad was named Forrest? Did Dad change his name?" That could explain why she hadn't been able to find him at least part of it anyway Jess thought.
"Your father actually changed his name back to his birth name. Forrest Brewster was the name his parents gave him when they took him away. He was born Craig Sheffield."
"Oh."
"Your grandparents were very adamant about him not having anything to do with Selana. He died of a heart attack. He always took on so much stress and he never could quit smoking."
Jess felt a little guilty that she'd taken up his habit. "So I get that he went back to her. But why didn't he want to see me?"
"He sent cards, letters. I didn't think you could handle it. I was going to tell you before you left for school. But you walked away and never came back, never called. Ned paid for your cell phone for almost a year after you left."
Sure he had, Jess thought. Though her mother had went to accounting school after her father had left, Ned had always taken care of the bills, the checking account. It made her wonder how long he'd been planning to get her out of the picture. She'd tossed the cell phone in a dumpster about an hour away from home the morning that she'd left.
"You never told me that my father wrote me letters? Did he want to see me?"
"Jess, I'm sorry. Maybe I didn't make the right choice. But I never imagined that you wouldn't have a second chance with your father."
"Yeah.” She was so pissed that her mother hadn't told her it almost made up for the worry her mother must have felt at not knowing where she was all these years.
"Selana needs to get a hold of you. Your father left you some money in his will for college. Or by now you could use it to get a new car. Or put a down payment on a house."
"Yeah, sure. How much?"
Not that she really cared, but she was curious.
"It's about thirty-five thousand now with interest I believe. Selana can give you the exact numbers."
"Thirty-five thousand dollars?"
"Yes. He felt terrible about walking away from you."
"Uh huh.”
"He did. He never stopped loving you baby. Do you think you could make it up to your grandparents next summer? Grandpa's not doing well. He's practically blind now because of his diabetes. Grandma is going to be lost without him. I don't know how much time either of them has left."
"I'll try to make it up. Will Ned be going with you?"
"No, he has to work. Why?"
"No reason." Not one that she could explain anyway she thought.
"Do you have a number where I could call you? I'd like to keep in touch."
"No phone, no. I have an e-mail address."
"Is it still the same? I can send you pictures, the information to get a hold of Selana."
"No, I changed it a while back." She'd been dumb enough to let too much information out on a social network and some creep had been bot
hering her for months. She gave her mom her new e-mail address.
"Honey?"
"Yes Mom?"
"I don't mean to sound ungrateful to hear from you because I'm certainly not, but why are you calling now after all this time? Are you getting married? Are you pregnant?"
"No Mom. I'm not pregnant or getting married anytime soon. I met someone that was stubborn enough to make me call you."
Daylin chuckled.
"Well, thank them for me will you?"
"Yeah."
"I need to let you go hon. The kids are about to go stir crazy. I love you. You know you can always call me if you need anything right? I'll try to get that e-mail to you later this afternoon after Ned gets home from his golf game."
"Okay. I love you too Mom. Could you do me a really big favor? Not tell Ned that I called."
"Why honey? He's been as worried about you as I've been."
Sure he had been she thought. "It's a long story Mom. Please do this for me."
"Jess is there something that you need to tell me?"
"No Mom."
"Are you sure honey?"
She knew what was running through her mother's mind must be along the lines of what Daylin had originally thought, but it would harm her mother more than help her now if she told her the reason she'd really left. His kids weren't in any danger of being thrown out when they turned eighteen because they were his kids Jess thought.
"Yes Mom. I'm sure. Give the kids, I mean my brother and sister, a hug and a kiss for me. I'll talk to you soon okay?"
Maybe when Ned was at work she thought. She wasn't sure how long her mom could keep it from him that she'd called though.
"Okay honey. I'll talk to you later. Call Selana soon please."
"Yes Mom. I love you. Bye."
"Love you too, honey. Bye."
She hung up the phone and fought the urge to throw it against the wall. She was highly upset at her mother. But it had been so good to hear her voice.
She turned to Daylin and almost immediately started crying. It was just too much. He held her while she cried. Stroking her hair, her back. Much as her mother had done when she was a child.
When she was finally done she looked up at him and gave him a weak smile. "I'm sorry.”
Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set Page 190
