In Too Deep (Grayton Series Book 4)

by Jill Sanders

  After a moment, he turned to her, looking deep into her eyes. “Why didn’t you come back? After you found out?”

  She dropped her arms. “My family…” When his eyes heated, she corrected her statement. “The Smith’s found me.”

  “What has that got to do with us?” His voice vibrated with anger.

  “The Smith’s run the Council of Friends.” She waited until realization dawned in his eyes.

  “The cult?” he asked.

  When she nodded, his hands went to her shoulders.

  “Is that why…” He dropped off and groaned as he closed his eyes. “It really was your wedding day, wasn’t it?”

  She nodded slightly, feeling as if finally one of her secrets was out.

  “What did they want with you now?” His fingers dug into her arms, but she enjoyed the warmth of him holding her.

  “With me? Nothing, but I was already eight months pregnant at the time.” His fingers tightened a little more. “They wanted my… our child. He belonged to the sect. According to them, he was God’s chosen child.”

  “Why in God’s name didn’t you come back to us?” She heard the rawness of his voice as his fingers tightened on her shoulders.

  She closed her eyes and swayed. “There wasn’t time.”

  The silence built between them. “And after you had our child?”

  She shook her head as she closed her eyes to the pain. Her throat was raw, burning her. Opening her eyes, she looked up into his blue ones. “I need some water.”

  He blinked and glanced around.

  She almost smiled. “There’s a bottle in the cart.”

  He nodded and then quickly walked back to the cart. She watched him closely. His kisses were the same, but different. He even moved differently than he had years ago.

  By the time he made it back to her, her throat was dry for completely different reasons.

  “I’d like to hear the rest,” he said, handing her the bottled water.

  Taking a drink, she allowed the water to soothe the heat caused by watching him. Glancing down, she frowned at her watch.

  “Maybe we can continue later. I have to pick up Reagan soon.”

  She watched his eyebrows jump and saw a mixture of anger and excitement rush into his eyes.

  “Would you like to…”

  He took her shoulders. “Yes,” he growled.

  “Roman, I didn’t mean to keep you away.” She sighed, not really knowing what to say.

  “Later.” He took her hand and pulled her back to the cart. He drove with as much gusto as he had getting them there.

  “I’m going to have to invest in one of these for dad,” he said absentmindedly.

  “How is he?” She peered at him from the corner of her eye. She tried to keep the guilty feeling from rushing in, but it always did when she thought about her adopted parents.

  He glanced at her after slowing the cart down. “Mom died a short while after you left.”

  She nodded. “I know.” She turned to him a little more. “I’ve followed all of you closely.” Especially him, she thought, but she didn’t say it out loud.

  He pulled over and stopped the cart. “It was you.” She watched his face closely.

  “What? What was me?”

  “At Mom’s funeral. At the hospital when Cole was in his accident. Even at Cassey’s wedding.”

  She shook her head slowly. “I…”

  He looked like he was relieved. “What about opening day of Cassey’s Boardwalk Bar and Grill?”

  She blinked a few times and then swallowed the lump in her throat. He’d seen her. All the times she’d thought she’d gone unnoticed. He’d seen her. Nodding her head slightly, he chuckled.

  “I told them I wasn’t crazy.” He smiled as he pulled back onto the road.

  “How… You saw me all of those times?”

  He glanced at her as they pulled back into the parking lot. “Sure.” He shrugged. “I’d been looking out for you. Everyone had.”

  She didn’t realize that tears had slipped down her face until he moved closer and used the back of his knuckles to gently wipe them away.

  “You’re family.” His arms felt so good wrapped around her. She’d forgotten what it felt like. Being held. Letting go for a moment.

  Chapter Six

  Roman’s hands were shaky and sweaty so he rubbed them on his shorts, trying to get his emotions under control. He sat outside the school with the woman of his dreams as he waited to see his son for the first time.

  It was all like some dream. Any moment now, he expected someone to jump out of the bushes with cameras and tell him he was being punked.

  “Why’s the kid in summer school?” He felt a sickness in his stomach at the thought of the kid slipping in class.

  She chuckled. “Because that’s exactly where he wants to be.” She turned to him. “It’s not summer school, it’s a summer reading program the school started a few years back to keep some of the advanced students from getting bored during the summer.”

  He blinked a few times. “So, he’s pretty smart then?”

  She smiled. “They want him to skip a grade.”

  He shook his head and frowned. “I tried that one year, remember.”

  She nodded and looked back to the school. “It’s why I told them no.”

  He turned back to the school in time to watch a woman walk out the front doors and hold them open as a few kids came rushing out. Even if Missy hadn’t told him, he would have known the second he saw the kid that he was the father.

  He felt his eyes tear up again and had to blink several times so he could take in every detail about the kid walking towards him. His sandy hair was cut almost exactly like his had been at the same age. The kid’s shoulders were slumped forward, mirroring the way that he walked all the time.

  He was wearing khaki shorts and a blue button-up shirt with a worn pair of gray Chucks. When he saw Missy, he smiled quickly and then turned and waved to his teacher. It was like looking back into the past.

  “When’s his birthday?” he asked quietly before the kid got any closer.

  She glanced at him and frowned. “July twentieth.”

  He sighed and nodded. “He’ll be eight?”

  She nodded, just as Reagan stopped in front of them.

  “Hey.” She leaned down and hugged him. “How was it today?”

  Reagan shrugged his shoulders. Another move Roman knew too well. “It was okay. I finished Holes.”

  “Of course you did. What are you onto now?” She put her hand on his shoulder, pulling him a little closer.

  He sighed, sounding a little bored. But Roman saw the sparkle in the kid’s dark eyes and knew it too well. “Nothing good. Just…” His smile grew and he noticed he had his mischievous look down as well. “Percy Jackson!” He sounded excited.

  “Which one?” Missy asked.

  He rolled his eyes. “The best one of course.” Then the kid’s eyes moved over to him. He’d been standing so still, taking in everything, that he’d forgotten to breathe and actually felt light-headed.

  “Who’s that?” Reagan finally asked, leaning closer to his mom.

  Missy’s eyes met his, searching for answers.

  “My name is Roman.” He leaned down, not looking up at Missy again. “I’m an old friend of your mother’s.” Making a quick decision, he smiled as he looked up at Missy. “I’ll be staying with you and your mom for a while.”

  As she drove the short distance back to the shop, she kept sending glares his way.

  The kid sat in the back of the car, enjoying the ride as much as Roman was. “When can I drive her?” he asked, reaching over to play with the tips of Missy’s hair. She swiped his hand away quickly, and irritation crossed those eyes of hers, so he made sure to do it as often as he could.

  “The way things are going? Never,” she said between her teeth.

  He chuckled. “Oh, come on. You probably wouldn’t have ever purchased a car like this if it hadn’t been for m
e.”

  He watched her eyebrows shoot up as she turned into the store’s parking lot.

  “Which is exactly why you won’t get to drive it. I remember what you always said you’d do if you ever got your hands on one of these… beauties.” She parked and turned off the engine. He already missed the hum and the vibration.

  “We were kids.” He smiled, remembering how he’d told her that he would win all the street races with it, and then he would take it out to Dolphin Bay to watch the submarine races with all the cheerleaders.

  She turned to him and quickly glanced back at Reagan. “From the sounds of it… you still are.” She turned as he laughed and got out of the car. “Now, if you don’t mind, it looks like we’re just in time for you to get back to work.”

  She nodded towards the ferry, which was pulling up to the dock again.

  He got out and held in a groan since he’d wanted to spend as much time with Reagan as possible. Then he smiled. “Hey, kid, wanna come with me?”

  Reagan glanced at his mom, then back at him. “Can I, Mom?”

  She frowned and started to shake her head.

  “Don’t you trust me…?” The words “with our son” hung unsaid. His eyes bore into hers as she bit her bottom lip with worry. “Besides, Marv will be there,” he added after a long pause.

  She looked down at Reagan and smiled. “Would you like to go?”

  The kid looked up at him with eyes just like his and nodded slowly. “Yeah, it beats sitting in the break room for a few hours.”

  Roman laughed and reached over and set his hand on the boy’s shoulders. “We’ll see you.” He smiled as they started walking towards the docked ferry.

  ***

  Missy looked out the window one more time as she chewed on her bottom lip.

  “If you keep looking out the window, you’ll never get that stuff unloaded,” Jenny said from behind her.

  She sighed and rolled her shoulders. “I know, but I can’t help it.”

  “Listen.” Jenny leaned closer so the few customers browsing the store didn’t hear. “You have said that you know and trust the guy, right?”

  She nodded slightly.

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “He’s my son,” she hissed. “You’ll understand one day when you have your own. You never stop worrying about your kids. Even when they’re with someone you trust.”

  Jenny laughed. “Stop worrying. Marv is looking out for them.”

  She nodded. “I know.” She couldn’t tell her friend that she wasn’t worried that Roman would lose Reagan, or something bad would happen to her son. She was most worried about her son getting too attached to Roman.

  He’d told her that he was going to stick around until she went back home with her, but that was something that could never happen.

  Since she and Jenny had a ton of things to do before the end of the day, she was at least thankful that Reagan hadn’t had to sit in the back room, bored. The kid needed to get out of the house more often. To say that he was a bookworm was an understatement.

  He’d never climbed a tree or scraped his knee on a playground. Even during recess, his teachers told her that he spent his time sitting on a bench, reading or drawing.

  Sure, there were activities they did together.

  She would take him to the beach for nature hikes or picnics. Once, when he was six, they had gone to the state park and learned all about the flora from a guide. Reagan had been more interested in reading the guidebooks than actually seeing and touching the living plants.

  Roman would have ended up just like that if it hadn’t been for Marcus, who had dragged their butts all over Spring Haven. Marcus had talked the entire family into camping on the beach one summer night. Of course, he hadn’t checked the weather and they’d been rained out, but still it went down as one of the best nights in her young mind.

  Some of Marcus’s adventurous nature had transferred to Roman over the years. The last night she’d had with him had been under the stars in the field behind their house.

  Sighing, she remembered how he’d held her as they lay under the blankets he’d brought along.

  “I can’t believe you put all of this together,” she said, looking over at Roman and the basket of food he’d brought along.

  She’d worn one of her favorite jean skirts and white tops, along with an old pair of boots so she could rush through the fields and meet him at the spot he’d picked out. They sat near the edge of the lake behind their house, where no doubt the rest of their family was sitting around the television, arguing about what they were going to watch.

  He smiled over at her as he opened the bottle of spring water and poured her some into the plastic glass. “I wanted tonight to be special.”

  She couldn’t get over how handsome he looked in the moonlight. It was the end of the summer and his hair had turned a pale blond from its naturally darker tint. He’d let it grow out a little, which had caused the ends to have a slight curl. She loved running her fingers through it as they stole kisses.

  She blushed remembering the first time his lips had brushed up against her own.

  “Here,” he said, handing her the glass. The water did little to quench the thirst she felt when she watched him. Her entire body felt like it was on fire and by looking at him, she knew he felt the same way.

  “Roman.” She glanced back towards the house.

  “No,” he broke into her thoughts. “Don’t think about that.” He frowned at her, setting her glass down and pulling her closer. “Not tonight. We’re just two people. Under the stars. Who want to be with one another.” His eyes begged her to understand. So she nodded her head slightly.

  When his lips covered hers, she instantly shut down the part of her mind that felt guilty. How could something so right not be right?

  His fingers dug softly into her shoulders as he pulled her down onto the blanket. Her breath hitched when they moved slowly over her breasts, covering her until she felt her heart beat into his hands.

  A moan escaped her lips when he trailed kisses down her neck, behind her ear, until she felt him unbuttoning her blouse. She arched for him, wanting to feel the warmth of his hand against her skin.

  “Please,” she begged, not understanding her own needs. “I need…”

  “What?” His voice sounded low, a rumble next to her skin, causing goose bumps to rise over her exposed flesh. “Tell me what you need.”

  “You,” she said, pulling him back up to her until his mouth covered her own. “Just you.”

  He shook his head as he looked down at her. “I don’t want to stop this time.” His eyes bore into hers.

  “No.” She smiled up at him, knowing that she’d been too afraid of being caught last time. This time, there was no one around. No reason to not take what she wanted. What she needed. To show him how she felt. “Don’t stop.”

  His eyes searched hers, and then he was kissing her again, his hands moving faster as she held onto him. She felt the need build in her when he hiked up her skirt and slid her panties down her legs. Reaching up, she helped him pull his shirt over his head and sighed as she traced her fingers over the lean, tan muscles. She’d always appreciated his body, had always desired it.

  He scanned over her now. She was lying on the old blanket in only her white bra and jean skirt that was hiked up to just below her hips. His hands slowly traveled over her legs until they pushed the skirt up more. Her eyes closed on a moan when he covered her sex and started rubbing his thumb over her.

  Her nails dug into the soft blanket when he pushed a finger gently into her as his other hand lay flat across her stomach. Her hips jumped as he dipped farther into her, circling, moving in a pattern that drove her slowly nuts.

  “Roman,” she cried out when she felt she could no longer hold out for him.

  “Come,” he said next to her ear. “Come for me.”

  She moaned and dug her nails into his bare shoulders as he covered her and slid slowly into her. She had never imag
ined anything being more perfect that that night under the stars on her seventeenth birthday.

  Shaking her head clear of the memory, she finished unloading the last of the new stock and walked back over to the window to see the ferry returning on its last run for the night.

  When she watched Roman and Reagan walk down the dock, laughing at something, her heart skipped a few beats.

  She knew there was no way he wouldn’t be part of their lives now. Even with the danger lurking, she knew she would do anything to keep the pair together. Especially when she watched Reagan’s hand slip into Roman’s as they walked. Her son had never trusted anyone else to get as close as she could tell the pair was even after only a few hours.

  Rolling her shoulders, she tried to come up with the next steps, but nothing came to mind. She needed some more time to plan, to figure out a way out.

  Instead, her mind kept replaying in slow motion that night so long ago under the stars.

  Even her body betrayed her when the pair walked in the front door. Her heart skipped and she felt her face heat when his eyes settled on her.

  “Well.” She cleared her throat, which had gone dry. “How was it?”

  “Mom!” Reagan rushed to her and hugged her around the waist. “Roman let me steer ol’ Bertha.”

  “Ol’?” She chuckled as she looked over at Roman. “Of course you would name a ferry that.”

  He shrugged his shoulders and smiled over at her, causing her insides to quiver.

  “Why don’t you run back and get a juice and snack from the fridge.” The kid was gone before she could finish her statement.

  Roman laughed. “I guess we worked him a little too hard.”

  “No, he just likes eating.” She turned back towards him. Her smile faltered when she noticed that he’d moved closer to her.

  “Thank you,” he said, taking another step closer.

  “For?” She frowned a little.

  “For letting him go along.” He brushed a strand of her hair from her eyes. “He’s perfect. So much like I was at that age.”