Eden cast a glance around the diner, wondering where Jake’s parents were. “Isn’t the park near your parent’s house? How are they, by the way?”
“Gone. Did you hope for an ally in my mother?” He raised his brows and rested his hands on his hips. “If so, you're shit out of luck. They died in a plane crash not too long after you left.”
Eden glanced pointedly at Harper, who wasn't paying a bit of attention to them. She was too busy watching Norma carry their lunches over from the kitchen.
“I’m sorry, Jake.” She shifted her gaze to her lap, finding she couldn’t look at him. Guilt washed through her at the thought that she should have stayed. She should have been there for him when he lost his parents.
“The park should be fine. Harper can play there while we talk.” She didn't say they could talk in private because she wasn't sure her daughter would take the rare opportunity to play and run off some pent-up energy if she knew her mother wanted privacy. Her daughter was usually well-behaved, but she could be nosey at times, too.
“Here ya go, darlin',” Norma said, smiling sweetly at Harper when she set their plates on the table in front of them. “If ya’ll need anything, anything at all, just give me a holler.” Still smiling, she set the check on the table, smiled at Jake then walked back to his party.
“She sure was nice this time, Mom,” Harper said around the French fry in her mouth. “Why do you think she was so nasty before?” Leave it to a child to call out a person's rudeness.
Jake grinned at the top of her head as she bent toward her plate and took a huge bite of her burger. “That's just her way, sugar. You'll get used to her if you stay here long enough.” He turned an accusing glare on Eden and raised a brow as if to say if you plan to stay for any length of time.
Harper took a sip of her cola. “Mom said we're gonna stay here for a long time if she can find a job and a place to stay, cause my—”
“Stop talking and eat before your food gets cold, young lady.” Eden gave her daughter her most intimidating be-quiet-and-do-what-I-say look.
Shrugging, Harper made a face, then took another bite of her burger.
Eden ignored her meal. She wasn't hungry anymore, not now that she'd seen Jake again. Instead of grumbling from hunger, her stomach felt as though it was full of butterflies. He always had that effect on her.
“The park it is then.” He checked his watch. “What time?”
“Is thirty minutes too soon?” She wasn’t in a hurry. She just didn’t want to chicken out and run again before she could introduce him to his daughter.
“Nah.” He glanced over his shoulder. “We were just finishing up here. Most everyone has to go back to work soon.”
“Is Sam there?” She craned her neck to see if she could find his best friend. Sam had been a good friend to her before. Still, she didn’t know if he and the others would welcome her back into their lives after what she’d done.
“Yes.” He nodded as he glanced back at his party. “You know a lot of people here. You should go say hello.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Not when she didn’t plan to stay. It was bad enough that she had to give Jake false hope. She didn’t want to mislead the others as well.
Jake reached down and picked up the bill off the table. She should have expected that.
“That's my bill for lunch.” She held out her hand and waited for him to give it to her.
Jake tightened his grip on the paper and held his hand out of her reach. “Consider it a welcome home present,” he said as he turned and handed the check to another waitress with a twenty-dollar bill he pulled from his pocket.
Eden couldn't help but watch him as he strode away. Her stomach did more of those little flip-flops, the way it always did whenever he was around.
His long legs ate up the short distance between their table and his friends. She tried not to notice how sexy he was and just how magnificently his ass filled out the khaki slacks he wore.
Jake Blackstone had always been a fine-looking, exceptional man, and he had only improved with age.
“Mom?”
“Yes, honey?”
Harper waited until she looked at her before answering. “That was him, wasn't it?”
Eden didn't hide anything from Harper, taking the opportunity to tell her daughter about her birth father every chance she got. She informed her daughter that her biological father was not the man listed on her birth certificate and that she would take her to meet him one day.
Truth told Eden had hoped to hold out a bit longer. She’d wanted a little more time with her daughter before circumstances forced her to give her up, but the money had run out, and she had just enough of it left to find a place to live and set up a household somewhere.
She had faith a job wouldn't be hard to find. Besides, her little girl had already had a few episodes having to do with her heritage that Eden found impossible to explain, and Jake had all the answers.
Sighing, Eden nodded. “Yes, sweetheart,” she whispered. “That was him. But how did you know?” She watched as Harper pushed her half-eaten plate of food away, wiped her mouth on the paper napkin, then set it on the table, her expression apprehensive.
“I… I know things sometimes.” She looked down at her clasped hands as though ashamed to admit it.
Eden's heart raced. “You,” pausing, she cleared her throat, pushed her unwanted plate of food aside, and leaned closer to whisper. “What do you mean, you know things sometimes?”
Her daughter shrugged, then turned her attention back to her plate to pick at the remainder of her cheeseburger. “Remember when you were going to give that girl at that store a ride the other day, and I told you she left with a truck driver while you were in the bathroom?”
A lump formed in Eden's throat, and she nodded. “What about her?”
“She didn't really leave like I said.” Harper picked up her napkin and started to rip it into little pieces and then rolled the bits into even smaller balls. “She went into the store. When you came out, I told you she left so you wouldn't give her a ride.”
“Why did you do that?” Eden felt a spurt of anger at her daughter's selfishness. “You know I always try to help women less fortunate than we are. And she was just a girl, not much older than you.” She'd been fifteen at the most—and all alone in the world. Eden had wanted the chance to convince the runaway to go home. Living on the streets was no place for a girl her age. Eden knew that from experience—hard-won experience.
“Don't be mad at me, Mom.” Harper's eyes filled with tears. “She was bad.”
“No, honey, she was alone and scared.” The same as Eden had been after she'd run away from her family and then again after she left Jake. “I wanted the opportunity to convince her to go back home to her parents. You took that away from her.”
“She couldn't go home.” Again, Harper both looked and spoke well beyond her years as she gazed at her mother, her eyes filled with immeasurable sorrow. “She killed her mom and dad. I saw it when she shook my hand. She went into their bedroom and shot them both with her dad's gun. She would have killed us, too. She wanted to. I felt it when she touched me.”
Eden felt sick. Not once, in the years they traveled together had she thought of the danger of picking up a stray. She'd done it several times and probably had become overconfident. Times had changed. It was past time she learned that most people just couldn’t be trusted anymore.
Over the years, Eden convinced several young girls to go home. Each time she helped someone, Eden felt closer to the family she’d lost when a desperate couple kidnapped her from her front yard at the age of six. The couple brainwashed her so well, Eden didn't even remember her real name anymore. The name she bore was the same as the couple's deceased daughter.
Eden couldn’t believe how stupid she’d been. They both could be dead now if not for her daughter's gift.
“We need to go.” Eden snatched up her purse and coat from the seat wh
ere she put them. She needed to think about how many times she’d risked their lives. How would she ever forgive herself for putting her daughter in danger? She’d been so stupid!
Eden also needed to revise what she said to Jake in the park. There were a lot of new questions to ask him about his kind—things like exactly what they could and couldn't do.
Eden refused to hold her breath that Jake would welcome her back with open arms. The possibility of a physical relationship with him didn't even have a bearing on the situation anymore. At least that's what she kept telling herself. Maybe one day, she would believe it.
Eden finished her drink and pulled two baggies from the tote bag she used as her purse. After shoving their leftovers into the plastic zipper bags, she met her daughter’s gaze.
“Are we going to find a hotel?” Harper drank the rest of her cola. “I want to finish my activity book. I only have two pages left.” She sighed as she opened the book to the last few pages and showed Eden her artwork. “I can’t while you’re driving. I can’t do the connect the dots or color inside the lines while we’re bouncing down the road.”
“I know, hon. I hope we’ll find a place to stay today, but I have to meet with your father first.”
Just mentioning Jake made her nervous. Her hands started trembling all over again. Her stomach felt as though she drank an entire gallon of iced tea, and it was about to make a reappearance.
How could Jake look and smell so damned good after so much time had passed? Hell, the man was still hot. He could have any woman in town, the state, maybe even the country. He definitely wouldn't want her after what she’d done. But that didn't matter.
All that mattered was that he welcomed their daughter into his family because sooner or later, Edward would finally catch up to her, and when he did, he would make good on his threat to end her life. Keeping Harper safe and out of Edward's vile clutches was all that mattered.
Putting on their coats, they left the diner and headed for her car. The faded, blue sedan had seen better days. Hell, even its better days had seen better days. They could no longer open the driver's side back door, and it rusted through in about one-third of its painted surfaces.
She'd had to have the door welded shut somewhere between Dallas and Tulsa, or it would have fallen off the next time she opened it. The trunk lid wouldn't stay up unless she propped it open with a stick, the white vinyl top leaked like a sieve, and it sounded like the six-cylinder engine only ran on four. Still, even though it ran horrible and looked worse, it had never failed to start and had always gotten them to where they needed to go.
Eden hated that she would lose the car if things went as she planned. They'd all been through a lot together. It was like an old friend. If she found a job and a place to stay, she planned to drive her dependable old friend into the nearest, deepest lake. Without the car, she hoped Edward would never find them again.
Closing her eyes, Eden did something she rarely ever did, though it never seemed to work for her. Maybe her daughter would have more luck. Bowing her head, she prayed.
Please, God, let Jake welcome Harper into his life. She needs him now more than ever. She has so many questions. Questions I don't have the answers to. Please give him the compassion to welcome his daughter into his life. Amen.
When she opened her eyes, she noticed that Harper was already in the passenger seat with her seatbelt fastened. Sliding behind the wheel, Eden fastened her safety belt, inserted the key into the ignition, and smiled at the familiar chugging rumble when she turned the key.
“I hope he likes me.”
“He's going to love you, sweetheart. Who couldn't?”
Inside, she was saying, I do, too, honey. I do, too.
Chapter Two
Jake's heart pounded in his chest as he fought to drag air into his lungs. He ran the seven miles from the diner to the park in record time. Seven miles, he’d needed to take the edge off his wildness—his nearly uncontrollable urge to pull Eden to the ground and take her from behind when she got there, daughter or no.
Even though he’d gone on foot, he’d run full speed and still beat her to the park. He looked around with a frown. What if she’d changed her mind? He couldn't believe she’d finally gathered the courage to return to Haven, and she hadn’t bolted like a scared rabbit when he’d approached her.
There really was a God. After all these long years, his mate had finally got around to coming back home.
It had been so long Jake almost hadn't recognized his mate. She had aged a bit. It wasn't surprising since humans tended to grow old much faster than his kind. But what made her look so different was the color of her hair. It was no longer the long, silky blonde it was ten years ago. She’d dyed it a dark color similar to that of her daughter’s.
Perhaps she thought the darker hair gave her the appearance of youth. He could slow her aging, though if Eden would allow it. She probably wouldn’t. Wasn't that the message his mate had conveyed when she hightailed it out of town as though there was a bomb up her ass and an explosive ordinance disposal unit in the next state?
If it wasn't, the woman had a strange way of showing her unconditional love and acceptance.
The darker hair aside, Eden looked the same, yet didn't. Older, more mature, she had an air of responsibility about her that wasn't present all those years ago.
He should have expected it. She was a mother now. She'd also gained a few pounds, though it looked good on her. Yet, the way humans were these days about weight, Eden probably thought herself safe from him if she showed up carrying a little extra meat on her bones and another man’s child.
Little did the minx know his people regarded such full curves on a woman as sexy. Jake hadn't thought it was possible, but his mate was more desirable now than she had been all those years ago. Maybe he should chalk that up to being horny.
He pressed his hand against the bulge behind his zipper. At the moment, he wanted nothing more than to run around behind some bushes, whip out his erection and take the edge off his nearly uncontrollable lust before Eden arrived.
Jake grimaced with self-disgust as his cock bucked behind his zipper at the thought. What did he expect?
Just because his mate had finally gotten around to coming back home, it didn't mean she was going to drop to the ground and let him mount her from behind like some lovesick cow.
Eden, never one to let him stay above her for long, wouldn’t stand for a position of submissiveness, though that was just what he needed from her after her desertion.
More than anything, Jake needed his mate naked and below him while he buried himself balls deep into her tight sheath.
How many times had he dreamed of Eden over the years? How many times had he settled for the empty release of jerking off to her fading scent because she couldn’t find the courage to stick around ten years ago?
Jake scowled at the thought. No. It wasn't the time to think about shit like that. What he needed to do was think about what had made her leave. Why would the woman of his dreams, his mate, feel the need to run from him, leaving town without a word—without a trace?
What had he done to frighten her other than to tell the woman he planned to spend the rest of his life loving, that he was a shapeshifter? She had to have known he would never have hurt her.
Not once had he raised a hand to her in anger. He had taken care of Eden when he found her cold and alone, barely eighteen, and living in the streets.
Another question. Who had helped her? She couldn’t have had more than a few hundred dollars when she left town.
Who took his place in Eden's life? Who gained his woman's trust enough to plant his seed in her womb, so soon after she left while he sat in Haven alone, his mate gone, living in the hell of forced celibacy? More importantly, who was the man he wanted to kill for touching his mate?
Jake thought about the little girl Eden had birthed in her absence. The child must resemble her dad. The girl didn't look a bit like her mother. At least the color of her dark brown ha
ir was nothing like her mother's sun-kissed blonde. He didn't remember seeing the color of her eyes but was certain they weren't the same vivid violet of Eden’s.
No, the girl must have her father's characteristics—the rat bastard.
Rage, not like any he had ever felt before, surged through him. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Eden was his mate, his woman. What's more, she should have had his child.
By all rights, that little girl should belong to him. Given his way, she soon would. The girl's mother belonged to him. She belonged with him and, as such, any of Eden's children would become his own. For him, there was no other. He was the alpha of their pack. And like all wolves, he and his people mated for life.
He paced the parking area of the small playground near what had been his parent's home and waited for his mate to arrive.
Years, he'd waited for this chance. For more years than he would care to count, he'd gone to bed with an unbearable ache between his legs because he couldn't get it up without her scent in his lungs.
He couldn't make love with another woman in her absence. How many times had he lain in bed, holding an article of the clothing she'd left behind in the hamper, pressed to his face as he jerked himself off while fantasizing of her?
No more. Eden had made a mistake. She had returned to Haven, and whether she knew it or not, she wouldn't escape him again.
This time she would consent to let him mount and permanently mate her. He took a deep breath, then tried to bring his raging hormones back under control while cursing certain uncontrollable body parts.
Jake prayed to every god he could think of that Eden would have him because he didn't want to take her by force. It would kill him if he harmed her in any way.
No matter how he felt, he might have no choice. Years of abstinence could rob him of control should Eden refuse him. The wolf’s instincts were strong. The need to procreate was the strongest of them all. Moreso for the alpha of the pack.
Craving Eden Page 2
