Taking A Chance (Single Dad Romance)

by Mandy Morgan

  His voice was hypnotic and I could smell his woodsy aftershave. I closed my eyes and breathed the way he’d instructed, all the while wishing I could put my head on his broad chest and calm myself to the steady beating of his heart.

  I’m not sure how long I stood there, waiting for the panic attack to release its grip on me, and trying to clear my mind of the swirling vortex of fear that had lived there constantly since I’d made my escape from Ray.

  I probably would have stood there in a trance much longer if it weren’t for the sweet little voice that piped up from nearby.

  “What’s wrong with her, Dad?”

  My eyes popped open, and after they’d adjusted to the late afternoon sunlight, I swept them across the closest parking spaces.

  There was the most adorable chestnut-haired little boy I’d ever seen peering at me from the backseat of a 4Runner. His face was scrunched up with worry, and my heart immediately went out to him in an instinctual rush of maternal compassion.

  “She’s fine, Noah. She just needs a minute, so stay put, okay?”

  I knew the name of the man’s son, but not his own, and now that I’d come down from full-blown panic mode, I was not only embarrassed by my tears, but angry about them.

  I was attracting way too much attention for someone that was on the run from her past, and the second a handsome man had shown me the slightest kindness, I’d crumbled like some heroine in a Hallmark movie.

  That wasn’t who I was, dammit! I’d gotten this far on my own, and I wasn’t about to backslide into the weakness I’d shown with Ray. My plan was to be my own rescuer, and I wasn’t about to let that change now.

  My hands went up in front of me, as if I was warding off bad news, and I slowly began to back away from the handsome stranger. “Hey, thanks so much for your help, but I have to go now.”

  “Whoa, wait a second, you’re still too upset to drive,” he said. “Sorry, but I can’t just let you leave.”

  “I don’t even know your name,” I said, feeling a flash of righteous indignation at someone I didn’t know telling me what to do. “You’re not ‘letting’ me do anything.”

  “My name’s Tyler Hadley. I’m thirty-four years old, have no criminal record, and I own Hadley Construction. My son’s name is Noah, he’s six, and we live at 145 Pine Crest Drive. We bought a pepperoni pizza for dinner, and Noah wants to watch a PG-13 movie, even though he probably shouldn’t. I’m a good guy and I only want to help you.”

  My mouth dropped open at how much he’d revealed about himself and his little boy. That deep, soothing voice of his worked its magic on me again, and I felt as if I really knew them.

  I could picture us all in their home, eating dinner and lounging on the couch watching TV together. My anxiety dropped away and I froze where I stood.

  “Why would you tell me all of that?” I whispered. “I’m nobody to you.”

  Tyler smiled at me and his mouth lifted at one corner in a severely sexy way. “Oh, but that’s not true. You are somebody to me. I can feel it, deep down inside of me. Can’t you?”

  My heart was doing a mile a minute and I felt like I was in a fever dream. But he was right. There was something there. At my core, I felt it drawing me to him like a magnet, and there was no point in denying it to myself.

  Even though I was terrified of admitting that inexplicable pull toward him, there was another part of me that wanted nothing more than to just climb into his SUV and ride off into the sunset with the two of them.

  I glanced over at the 4Runner and saw the outline of Noah’s head and shoulders through the tinted window. I couldn’t see his face in detail, but I could tell he was watching me intently.

  I didn’t want to frighten him any more than I already had. I think I made my choice to accept Tyler’s help right then. I took a steadying breath and looked straight into my unexpected hero’s eyes.

  “You’re right, Tyler Hadley of Pine Crest Drive. I can feel something, and I do need help, no matter how badly I want to be able to say I can do this by myself.”

  Tyler gave me that amazing smile of his again. “Let’s get into the car and soak up some AC while you tell me all about it.”

  I grabbed my pitifully small bag of groceries, pushed my shopping cart into the corral next to Tyler’s, and made my way over to the passenger door of his SUV and climbed inside.

  As I settled into the seat, Tyler sat down behind the wheel and fired up the engine. The cool air that poured out of the vents was pure bliss on my overheated skin, and even though my heart was still racing, I was surprisingly calmer than I’d been in a long while.

  I could feel eyes on the back of my head and I turned around to smile at the little boy in the backseat. “Hi, Noah. My name’s Jenna. Is it okay if I sit with you guys for awhile?”

  He gave me the sweetest smile and exclaimed, “Sure! Do you like pizza? We’re having pepperoni tonight and I picked it out.”

  “I love pizza,” I replied. “Pepperoni is good, but my favorite kind is supreme, with a bunch of toppings on it, and ranch dressing to dip it into.”

  “Yuck!” Noah stuck his tongue out and I laughed. “Supreme sounds gross. Pepperoni or bust!”

  Tyler had turned around and gave his son a warning look. “To each their own, buddy. I need to talk to Jenna for a little bit. Do you want to play one of the games you like on my phone?”

  Noah bounced up and down, holding his hands out, but Tyler didn’t release the iPhone. Quick as a flash, Noah gave his father what he was looking for with a sweet little “Yes, please,” and the transaction was completed.

  I could have sat there all day and watched Noah, just soaking up his naturally adorable excitement, but Tyler cleared his throat and I turned to look into those gorgeous blue eyes of his again.

  “Alright, Jenna, it’s time to tell me what’s going on with you…”

  Chapter Four

  Tyler

  Having a beautiful young woman sitting in the passenger seat next to me was surreal. It had been years since I’d gone on an actual date. I’d been too damn busy with work, and I had Noah to think about.

  I didn’t want to bring just anyone into his life. So, I’d stuck to myself and a couple of one-night stands to help get me over the occasional period of loneliness.

  But now, here was Jenna. She’d been dropped into my lap, thanks to a shopping cart run-in, and I couldn’t very well leave her standing there in tears.

  That wasn’t the way I operated. That wasn’t the example I wanted to set for my son. No, like it or not, Jenna was mine to deal with now, and I had to admit I was at the very least enjoying the view.

  “What’s going on with me is nothing new,” Jenna said with a shrug. “I left a man that deserved leaving, let’s put it that way. I don’t think I should go into too many details with Noah right here.”

  “Tell me what you can,” I urged. “You could start with your last name.”

  She laughed in a sad way that made me want to take her into my arms and comfort her. “I’m Jenna Stewart. Although it might be best if you don’t know much more than that. I’m not sure if my ex is looking for me, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he was.”

  “Tell me more. It will make you feel better to get it out,” I said. And then I leaned back and listened, as eager to hear her story as I was to watch her tell it.

  I loved the way she filled out her jeans, but it was more than her curves that drew me to her. She had a fire in her eyes that lit me up from the inside. I hadn’t felt that kind of heat in a long time.

  “I’m from a small town a couple of states away,” Jenna said hesitantly. “I guess you could say I come from the wrong side of the tracks, but I was trying to get ahead in life, which is why I’d started taking college courses. Of course, it’s not easy getting an education when you’re the only one working to pay the bills…”

  Jenna looked down at her hands and I saw that she was twisting her purse strap into knots. It really struck me then how hard talking about her lif
e was for her, and I felt the first threads of true concern course through me.

  I wanted nothing more than to help her—hell, if I was being honest, I wanted to be her knight in shining armor—but I also had Noah’s safety to think about. What if this guy she’d left was actually dangerous?

  “Ray was too busy hanging out with his druggie friends to get a job,” Jenna said with a bitter laugh. “Why couldn’t I see that he was going down the same road as my parents? I’m such an idiot!” She let her head hang down and I saw tears dripping from her eyes.

  “You’re not an idiot, honey. Some people are just bad eggs, that’s all,” I said gently, wanting to reach out and take her hand, but not sure how she would react. “We’ve all been fooled at some point in our lives and it can take us awhile to realize it.”

  Jenna turned and gave me a sad but appraising look with those beautiful green eyes of hers. “It sounds like you’ve had some experience with feeling like an idiot yourself.”

  “Oh, that I have,” I grated out from teeth that had clenched with anger at the thought of Natalie leaving me with a small child to raise all on my own. “That I damn well have…”

  Chapter Five

  Jenna

  I felt a jolt of fear shoot through me when Tyler’s eyes clouded over with pent-up rage. Until that moment, he had seemed so gentle and kind, but now I was struck with the potentially dangerous situation I’d put myself into by getting into his vehicle.

  Little boy or no little boy, I was sitting right next to a strange man, and he was just as capable of violence as any of the rest of them.

  I felt nervous sweat spring up all over my body. I pulled myself back up against the passenger side door and freed one of my hands from the straps of my purse, in case I needed to make a quick getaway.

  What the hell was I thinking? I might have just gone from the frying pan to the fire…

  Tyler must have noticed my sudden anxiety. He unclenched his jaw and smiled at me, and just like that, the handsome and concerned man I’d been so drawn to was back.

  “Sorry about that. We all have skeletons in our closet, but this isn’t about me. Go on and tell me more about your situation.”

  I was hesitant to open up any more than I already had, and Tyler had given me a scare. He must have seen that and he addressed it in a way that both surprised and pleased me—he turned around and enlisted the help of his son.

  “Hey, Noah, is your dad a good guy?”

  “What?” Noah glanced up from his iPhone game and blinked. “Oh, yeah! You’re the best, Dad. A lot nicer than Spencer’s dad. He spanks him when he’s bad.”

  Noah let us know what he thought of that by rolling his eyes and then went back to his game. I couldn’t help but smile and it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

  If Tyler could keep his temper with his six-year-old son, he must be able to keep the anger that had flashed in his eyes easily at bay. I’d never had kids of my own, but I knew how quickly they could push your buttons.

  “Thanks for the glowing endorsement, buddy,” Tyler said. He reached back and ruffled Noah’s hair and then turned to me. “So, what do you think? Ready to give me another shot? Pretty please, with a cherry on top?”

  I smiled and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and counted to four with each inhalation and exhalation, just like Tyler had told me to do during my parking lot panic attack.

  When I opened them again, he was watching me intently, and I caught a glimpse of desire lurking behind the concern. I felt a small thrill of pleased surprise before I squashed it. I had enough trouble without adding lust into the mix.

  “It all started back in high school,” I said softly. “My parents died and I didn’t have anyone else but Ray. He was a jerk back then, but he was there, and the really bad stuff was still a few years ahead.”

  I took a deep breath and swallowed hard. “Of course, I didn’t know that then, but I’m not sure anything would have changed, even if I had. I was just a kid, and I was alone and scared, you see…”

  I dropped my eyes to my lap and trudged on. “I let him move into the trailer with me and he just took over my life. He became the center of my world.”

  I felt my fists tighten. “Somehow, I managed to graduate high school, even though I had to balance a full-time job at Walmart with homework, so I could pay the bills, since Ray wouldn’t work. As far as I know, he’s never worked a day in his life.”

  I snuck a peek at Tyler and he nodded for me to go on. “I just kept my head down and did what I needed to do. And I actually got myself together enough to start at the community college. But then things really went downhill…”

  Chapter Six

  Tyler

  I sat and listened to Jenna tell me about what her asshole ex-boyfriend had put her through. I hadn’t wanted to kick anyone’s ass that badly for as long as I could remember.

  When she got to the part about him shoving and smacking her around when he got frustrated with her, I felt my fists curl up into hot balls of hate, and my jaw clenched to the point of pain.

  “Something just snapped inside of me in the library parking lot,” Jenna said, turning to face me with wet eyes and a trembling chin. “I knew if I went back to the trailer, I’d have to face Ray’s wrath, or worse yet, I’d slip back into my horrible life, accept it as normal, and just go on that way for God knows how long. So, I cleaned out what little I had in my bank account and hit the road. There was nothing there I couldn’t live without.”

  All I could do for a few moments was stare at her in amazement. Jenna might be young, but she was braver than most people I knew. I couldn’t hold myself back any longer—I reached out, took her hand, and squeezed it. “Good for you, honey…good for you.”

  Jenna gave me a weak smile and I could see surprise in her eyes, but she didn’t pull her hand out of mine. “I’ve been staying at the Pineview Motel, but I’m down to my last fifty dollars. Looks like I might be living in my car before too long.”

  She gave a short, bitter laugh. “At least I don’t have a ton of luggage to worry about. There’s that…”

  Her words drifted off as she stared into the distance and I furrowed my brow at the thought of her having no place to stay. “I don’t like the thought of you living in your car. There has to be a better option than that.”

  Noah kicked the back of my seat and I jumped. I’d been so wrapped up in what Jenna was telling me and figuring out a way to help her, I’d almost forgotten my son was sitting right behind us, listening to everything we said.

  “Sorry about this, buddy,” I said as I turned around to look at my little boy. “I know you want your pizza, but you’re being a real champ, which I definitely appreciate.”

  “Dad! She should come and stay with us! We have a great big house with lots of rooms.” Noah had a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

  My heart swelled with pride at my son wanting to help the less fortunate, but he was thinking about things with a child’s innocence. Sweet, resourceful, and beautiful or not, Jenna was a stranger, after all, and I had to put Noah’s safety above anything else.

  I opened my mouth to try and explain all of this to Noah, but Jenna beat me to the punch. She let go of my hand, twisted around in her seat, and smiled at him. “Well, aren’t you the nicest boy ever? I’d love to take you up on that, Noah, but I don’t even know you and your dad. You have your own lives to live, and I’m sure I’ll be just fine on my own.”

  Noah’s face went dark and I knew what was coming. His mouth thinned out and his eyes filled with tears. “No! I want you to come home with us and eat pizza. I want you to be my friend, Jenna!”

  It was my turn at bat and I put on my most serious face before reaching back and putting a comforting hand on Noah’s leg. “Buddy, you’re a good kid with a big heart, but Jenna’s right. We can’t just move a stranger into the house with us.”

  “She’s not a stranger!” Noah exclaimed and kicked the back of my seat again. “I want her to come home
with us and be my new mom. Everyone else at school has a mom and it’s not fair!”

  And then my son burst into heart-wrenching sobs. Jenna looked at me with alarm in her eyes and did something that left me with my mouth hanging open and a jumble of emotions—she climbed right over the 4Runner’s console, into the backseat with Noah, and gathered him up into her arms.

  “Oh, sweetie, please don’t cry,” she said in a soothing voice. “I’m so sorry you’re sad, but everything is going to be alright, you’ll see.”

  Jenna looked at me over Noah’s head and I could see the questions on her face. She had no idea what was going on with my son, but she stepped right up and comforted him, putting her own problems to the side in favor of helping a little boy she’d just met.

  I’d never known a woman that would do that, and I made up my mind about her right then and there, stranger or no stranger. “Can you work a computer, Jenna?”

  She was obviously confused about this new line of questioning, but she nodded her head. “Yes, I took some of my classes online. I couldn’t afford one of my own, so I had to borrow a neighbor’s laptop, but yes, I know my way around a computer.”

  Even as she answered me, she kept Noah firmly in her embrace, rubbing his back to try and quiet his sobbing. I knew what I was about to say was crazy, but I couldn’t deny that I was drawn to Jenna, and so was my son.

  I took a deep breath and made my offer in a great rush of words. “The truth is, Noah and I have been on our own for years now, and we could use some help. I have a business to run and a house to keep, and I don’t know how much longer I can go on being a one-man show.”

  I shook my head and tried to smile. “Now that Noah’s in school, things are getting more complicated than ever, and I feel like I’m drowning. I know that we’re strangers, and that you were planning to make your own way in the world, but what do you think about coming to work for me and the little guy here?”

  I watched Jenna’s different reactions play across her delicate features. First there was shock, followed by pleasure, and then her eye’s narrowed with suspicion.