Though obviously a workaholic, Imogene had spent part of her lunch break sitting at Peter’s side and reading to him. Jake’s brother Toby had called and Peter had talked to him on the phone. Wes had stopped by with a new electronic game for Peter, and all and all her son had seemed as overwhelmed as she’d felt at having so many people care about them.
But they were alone now. Jake was outside talking with his dad. She wasn’t sure what had happened last night, but she felt like all the superficial reasons she’d been using for keeping Jake at arm’s length had disappeared. She wasn’t protecting her heart, because it was too late to do so. She’d fallen in love with Jake a long time ago and now that they were married she couldn’t stop her feelings from deepening.
Peter had wanted her to sleep next to him, so she’d crawled into the bed with her son. Peter slept quietly, resting his head on her arm. She bent close and listened to his breathing. It was deep and steady. Relief flooded her and she hugged his small body close.
“Hey, lady,” Jake said from the doorway. “How’s our boy doing?”
She glanced up at him and felt her heart jump in her chest. Damn he looked good. Tired but good. He had two days’ worth of beard stubble on his cheeks and he’d never looked more attractive. Sensual awareness flooded her body. Not now, she thought—I’m doing the mom thing.
“He’s resting now. We were watching SpongeBob before he fell asleep. A show that Peter informed me you said he could watch. Correct me if I’m wrong but SpongeBob wasn’t on my index card of approved television shows.”
“Really? I’m sure I saw it on there,” Jake said with a sly grin.
Peter loved having a daddy and it was just as clear that Jake loved being one. Jake had spent just as much time as she had at the hospital. He’d played games with their son and made plans to go camping this weekend down in St. Augustine. Listening and watching the two of them had convinced Larissa that Jake was in their lives for good.
“I’m going to let it slide this time, but once he’s out of the hospital we’ll go back to our normal TV schedule.”
“Whatever you say, Larissa,” he said in the bland tone that told her he was going to do whatever he thought was best for their son. She had to admit Peter had bloomed since Jake had come into his life. Her little boy had always been quiet and reserved. But lately he’d come out of his shell.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re placating me?” she asked.
He shrugged, but there was a sparkle in his eyes that told her he liked sparring with her. “I don’t know. You always were a smart woman—you tell me.”
She prided herself on her intelligence, which made it even harder to believe that she’d actually thought she could live with Jake and not be his lover. Now she just had to figure out a way to bring the topic up so he’d know she’d changed her mind.
“Did your parents go home?”
“Yes. Mom said they’ll be back in the morning when Peter is released.”
Jake stopped at the side of the bed and ran his fingertip down her bare arm. She must look a mess. She reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear but Jake brushed her hand away. “Leave it alone. I like it when you don’t look all tidy.”
“It’s safe to say I’m not tidy at this moment.” She carefully pulled her arm out from under Peter’s head and stood up. Jake didn’t back up and they were pressed almost body to body.
“No, you’re not.”
“Neither are you,” she said, running her hands over his rough jaw. He felt earthy against her soft fingers and she wished they were alone. She leaned up and kissed him. Jake responded with a longing that took her by surprise. The kiss was carnal and deep and when he stepped away she shivered with desire.
“Rissa, is there something you’re trying to tell me here?” he asked.
“Well, maybe I am.”
“I’m not going to make any more guesses where you’re concerned any longer.”
“I’m sorry about that last morning in Vegas. I guess I freaked out.”
“Our wedding night was incredible.”
“Yes, it was. I don’t want that to be our only night together.”
“It won’t be.”
“Good, then we’re on the same page.”
“Larissa, we’re not in a meeting with the library board.”
She flushed. “I know. But it’s easier to talk about it in business terms.”
He shook his head. “Are you saying you want to be my wife, in every sense?”
“Yes,” she said softly and cuddled closer to the man she’d given her heart to.
Jake felt he’d been through the ringer. He was used to blithely skating through life. Keeping his emotions in a nice safe place that was only breached by his siblings, parents and cousins. Over the past twenty-four hours he’d come to realize that Peter and Larissa had found their way into his heart.
Peter was naturally easy to love. The boy was a blend of Jake’s rambunctious go-get-’em attitude and Larissa’s quiet intelligence. It was an odd combination and it awed Jake to think that part of him was going to live on through Peter after he was gone.
And he’d realized he didn’t want to lose this family he’d found, the family he’d created when he was still so self-involved that he’d never noticed. The family that he knew he’d never be able to survive without.
Larissa yawned behind her hand and her shoulder slumped with fatigue. She looked as if she was about to collapse. “Why don’t you take the Suburban and go home and rest?”
He liked to think that he’d helped her through this crisis. And it had been a crisis. He could handle any major problem at D&D’s, but nothing had made him sweat like watching Peter struggle to breathe. It had made him realize how fragile this life was. It had reminded him of all the reasons he’d started hiding his feelings when Vicky had disappeared. Only now he knew that hiding wasn’t the solution. Celebrating life and remembering the reasons why it was good were important.
“Thanks, but I think I’d better stay here in case Peter wakes up.”
“Don’t you trust me to take care of him?” he asked. He had to wonder. She’d scarcely left him alone with Peter since they’d been at the hospital. Her quiet strength surprised him, but it shouldn’t have. Larissa was a survivor.
She closed her eyes, hiding from him. As always, she was a mystery to him.
“Of course, I do. It’s just I don’t…”
“You don’t what?” He wondered sometimes what she saw in him. She’d always been the one person that had slipped past his guard. The one person he could tell his dreams to who didn’t make him feel like an idiot. The one person he’d always wanted to impress. And he had the feeling that sometimes he came close to doing that.
“I don’t want him to need someone else,” she said in a rush of honesty.
He understood. Sometimes it was easier to be everything to someone than to share the responsibility. “I’m not some stranger, Rissa. I’m his dad.”
“You’re right. I’m still not used to trusting men in general.”
“Me in particular?” he asked. Hell, he sounded like a sap. Why did it matter if she didn’t trust him? Because you love her, a voice inside him said. The thought staggered him.
She pivoted to face him. He couldn’t read her expression, but he didn’t care anymore. Now he was concerned with hiding his own weakness from her. He’d always been the strong one and he wasn’t going to let anything—not even Larissa—change that. “I trust you, Jacob Danforth, more than I’d ever thought I could trust any man.”
Her words went straight through him. The mantle of responsibility felt heavy on his shoulders and he vowed that he’d never do anything to make her doubt the faith she’d placed in him. God, he needed to be alone with his wife. He needed to know that his son was safe and healthy and then take his wife to bed and reaffirm the bonds they’d tentatively forged in Vegas.
“Come here, woman,” he said.
“Why?”
Because I
need you, he thought but didn’t dare say. “Just get over here.”
She gave him a flirty smile and walked across the room with slow hip-swaying steps. Each move she made seduced him. And made the barriers he’d thought he’d built around his heart crumble.
She stopped a good six inches from him. Her gaze skimmed over his body and he couldn’t help it, he stood up straighter and flexed his muscles.
“Very impressive,” she said.
“I know.”
She laughed and he realized it had been too long since he’d seen Larissa smiling. He promised himself that from now on she’d have lots of reasons to smile.
He reached out and dragged her close. He wanted to clutch her to his chest but forced himself to just hold her loosely instead, carefully so not to reveal the intensity of the emotions swamping him. But deep inside he knew he’d never be complete without Larissa by his side. She made him a better man and he knew that if she ever left he’d be incomplete. How was he going to keep her by his side without letting her know?
Larissa left Jake and Peter at the hospital. She felt more certain than ever that she and Jake were going to make it. That they were going to be one of those couples that succeeded despite the circumstances under which they’d started their marriage. She returned to Jake’s town house on autopilot and when she entered the house she went straight to his bedroom and crawled into his bed.
Surrounded by his scent, she fell into a deep sleep. The doorbell woke her four hours later. She stumbled from the bed and shrugged into Jake’s robe.
She hoped it wasn’t Jasmine Carmody again. Though she’d made a kind of peace with her past, that didn’t mean she wanted to discuss it with that reporter.
A quick peak through the peephole showed that it was a man she didn’t recognize. She opened the door.
“Can I help you?”
“Are you Larissa Nielsen?”
“I used to be. I’m Larissa Danforth, now.” God that sounded right to her ears. She’d feared marrying into a moneyed family but she realized her fears were based on her father’s attitude and her mother’s marriage. Jake was so different than Reilly Peyton.
He handed her an envelope and walked away. She closed the door and reentered Jake’s town house. That was strange, she thought. She went into the kitchen and put a cup of water in the microwave. She used her fingernail to open the envelope and pulled out the papers.
She skimmed them and lost feeling in her legs. Clutching the papers, she sank to the floor. Jake was suing her for full custody of Peter. He’d lied about the paternity test! He’d had it done so that he could take her baby away from her.
She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them tight, realizing that her worst fears had been realized. She’d trusted him. And he’d betrayed her. The entire time he’d been playing a game calculated to hurt her in the worst way possible.
She staggered to her feet and went into the guest bedroom Jake had given her when they’d moved in. She took a shower and dressed with care. She didn’t know what to do next but knew that she had to confront Jake. If he thought she was going to give up her son because he needed revenge on her, he had another think coming.
But she knew she’d never drag Peter through any kind of custody battle. She never wanted her son to feel as if his birth was something that brought regret to his mother and father.
When she was dressed, she got in her car and sat in the driveway while her hands stopped shaking. She leaned down on the steering wheel and tried to figure out how things could go from being close to perfect to a nightmare.
Finally she had her trembling under control and a slow anger began to build inside her. By the time she got to the hospital, she was ready to tear Jake Danforth apart. How dare he manipulate her that way? Didn’t family mean anything to him? Didn’t he realize how legal battles tore at a child’s security?
She entered the hospital and rehearsed her words in the elevator on the way up. Then she thought about Jake’s parents. Miranda had invited Larissa to call her Mom. Had she known that her son was planning to take Peter away? Had they all been in on the scheme to keep her from her son?
The elevator doors opened on Peter’s floor and suddenly she was afraid to face the future. She knew that she wasn’t going to be her usual levelheaded self. She knew that she was an inch away from tears and outright wailing.
She got off the elevator and walked slowly past the nurses station. It was early in the morning and the halls were filled with doctors making their rounds. She paused outside the door to Peter’s room. Tucking a strand of loose hair back into her ponytail, she cautioned herself not to get emotional.
She pushed open the door and stepped inside. The room was dark except for a stream of sunlight coming through the gap in the curtains. Jake lay on the bed next to Peter. He cradled their son against his chest.
The scene looked so right. Too right. Maybe she should do the adult thing and back away. Let Jake have Peter. Jake could give him so many things that Larissa couldn’t. He had a large family, plenty of money and most importantly, he loved Peter.
Tears burned the back of her eyes and she fought to keep them from falling but couldn’t. They were hot on her face and when she lifted her clammy hands to wipe them away she caught a glimpse of her wedding ring.
She felt like a fool for ever believing that Jake would have wanted her for his wife. Maybe he’d just wanted to get her out of town so that he could build his case against her.
And she’d made it so easy by falling for him. By letting him manipulate her in the most intimate way.
A sob escaped her and she knew she wasn’t in any shape to confront Jake right now. She turned to leave the room. She’d wash her face and get herself together.
“Rissa?” he asked.
She steeled her heart against the compassion she heard in his voice. Before, her lonely heart had been looking for love, but now she knew the truth. Jake was using his silky words and smooth ways to lull her into complacency. She glanced over her shoulder at him. Jake sat up, easing his arm out from beneath Peter and crossing the room to her.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“I…” She couldn’t get the words out of her mouth. How could she verbalize the hurt that had come on so unexpectedly? This was her worst fear and why she’d fought so hard to keep from falling in love with Jake.
“Did that reporter bother you again? I’m going to call my lawyers and have them take action against her.”
Strangely those words were the ones that made her stop crying. “Call your lawyers?”
“Yes, my lawyers.”
“You’re good at that, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
“That I’m well aware of how you’ve been keeping your lawyers busy—planning to take Peter from me.”
Jake cursed savagely under his breath and Larissa took a few steps from him. Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked at him the way she would an enemy.
“Larissa—”
“Don’t bother lying to me now, Jake. I’ve got the proof in my hands.”
Jake shoved his fingers through his hair. A million excuses and defenses hovered on the edge of his tongue. He knew what to say and how to dance away from her. How to keep himself emotionally safe and protected from the vulnerabilities that only this woman could make him feel.
But seeing her hurting like this, knowing he was responsible, made him feel horrible. He didn’t want to see her cry.
He pulled her into his arms. She struggled against him and he knew he only had a few seconds to say the right words. But what were they?
He caught her face in his hands and stared down at her. He rubbed the tears from her eyes and leaned close to her. God, she was so small and vulnerable. “I’m sorry.”
She started to speak, but he pressed his mouth to hers, stopping her words. She smelled so good and he knew he should be concentrating on making his mistakes right. She kept her mouth tightly closed but s
topped struggling to get away from him. He lifted his head.
“I was angry when you first told me about Peter.”
“I know. But I thought we’d gotten past all that. Dammit, Jake. I thought we were starting a life together.”
“We are, Rissa. We have started a life together.” He was hedging and she knew it. But if he told her what was in his heart and she didn’t return his feelings, he’d feel like a fool. Better a strong man than a fool, he thought.
“It doesn’t feel like this is much of a life. I wanted a real marriage, not one based on vengeance.”
“I wanted revenge,” he said honestly.
“I can’t let you take Peter. You can offer him much more than I can when it comes to money and family, but you can’t offer him the one thing that every child needs—love and nurturing.”
“What makes you so sure?” he asked.
“Because you don’t know how to love.”
He shuddered. Jake shoved his hands through his hair and turned away from her. Was she right? Had he forgotten all he’d learned about loving relationships in trying to keep himself insulated from the pain that came with failing? He paced to the window and rested his head against the cold glass. There were no answers in the sky or in the densely crowded parking lot below.
The only place with the answers was inside him. And losing Peter or Larissa wasn’t an option. He needed them in his life.
He straightened and turned back to the woman who didn’t realize she held his heart in her hands. She watched him carefully, clearly not sure what to expect next. He realized it was time to stop running and stop hiding from the emotions that scared him the most and the woman who inspired them.
“I’m not going to take Peter away from you. Hell, woman, I don’t think I could live without the both of you in my life. And I certainly can’t live with the knowledge that I hurt you so deeply.”
“I never could have gone through with the suit. It was my back-up plan. A safe way for me to pretend I could keep you under my control.”
Sin City Wedding (Dynasties: The Danforths Book 3) Page 12
