They lay in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. After today, Faith understood Jason more than ever. She’d never felt so close to him … and he’d never felt further out of reach.
* * *
The next morning, Jason woke up before Faith. Last night, they’d stayed up late, ordered in pizza, and … dammit, he couldn’t call it having sex. He’d made love to her.
After the hard, punishing way he’d taken her the first time, they’d fallen asleep again, and then he’d found himself sliding into her slowly. Rocking against her as she woke up to him pumping in and out of her, their gazes locked on each other, emotions passing between them. Despite his vow to remain detached, he hadn’t been able to do it. Not with this woman who was burrowing her way deep inside him.
Not that it changed anything. When her problems were solved, she’d go back to her life and he’d return to his. Solitary and safe, the way he liked it. He had no choice. He didn’t see himself opening up enough for marriage and a family, and that’s what Faith wanted. What she deserved.
He muttered a curse, and leaving her sleeping, he slipped out of bed. He pulled on a pair of sweats before walking to the kitchen, where he immediately made himself a cup of coffee. Yesterday had been unexpected and brutal, the revelation of his past completely unplanned, but if there was anyone he would share his pain with, it would be Faith.
Somehow they’d bonded, and he trusted her as much as his brothers, which was odd. And something that unnerved him to no end. Also something he didn’t want to think about too much, so he picked up his coffee mug, drank his caffeine, and began scrolling through his phone, checking in on Landon and Tanner.
Jason had missed a Saturday night at the club, and his partners weren’t pissed exactly, but they weren’t happy with him, either. Since there was no way he was going to tell them he’d been reliving their shared past, he let them give him shit and took it as his due.
He’d finished his first cup of coffee and was on his standard second when his doorbell rang, startling him. He narrowed his gaze.
He glanced at his phone. Eleven a.m. Who would be here at this early hour on a Sunday? He strode to the door, glanced in the peephole, and did a double take.
Unsetting his alarm, he unlocked the door and swung it open. “Mom? What in the world are you doing here?”
Savannah Dare walked into his apartment, but instead of the tears he expected, he saw anger in her blue eyes. “Your father wants me back. Of all the self-centered, ridiculous notions, he thinks I’m going to forgive and forget.” She met Jason’s gaze and pulled him into her arms. “I’m sorry. How’s my boy?” she asked, hugging him tight. She smelled like the perfume he associated with home, a light floral scent that said mom.
“I’m fine. And we’ll talk about Dad. But why are you here?”
“He showed up last night with his flowers and apologies and I told him to leave. He swore he’d be back this morning. I wasn’t ready to deal with him, so I left.”
“The state? Why didn’t you just go stay with Alex and Madison?” he asked of his brother and sister-in-law, who lived nearby his mom.
“That’s the first place your father would look for me. And with the baby, I didn’t want to just show up on Sienna’s doorstep.” She rolled her suitcase into the entryway and met his gaze. “Show me to your guest room?”
Jason rubbed a hand over his face, wondering how he was going to explain away the fact that he had a woman staying in the extra room who was currently fast asleep in his bed.
“Jason?” As if on cue, Faith walked into the living area wearing nothing but his shirt from last night, buttoned and hanging down on her bare thighs. Her gaze landed on his mother and her eyes opened wide. “Oh my God. You have company!” She pulled at the shirt as if she could magically lengthen the fabric.
“Jason Dare, why didn’t you tell me you had a woman here?” his mother asked in a chiding voice.
“I was just about to,” he muttered. And though he was a grown man and had every right to have a woman in his bed, he wasn’t thrilled that Faith’s face had turned beet red and she looked mortified.
He had no choice but to introduce them. “Mom, this is Faith Lancaster. Faith, this is my mother, Savannah Dare.”
He gave Faith credit. Despite her embarrassment, she walked right up to his mom, extended her hand, and said, “It’s nice to meet you.”
“The same here. I apologize for interrupting. I flew in from Florida unannounced. I’ll just go–”
“No. I, umm … I’ll go get dressed and let you two talk.” Faith turned and fled back the way she’d come.
With a groan, he glanced at his mother. “That went well.”
She tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. “I’m really sorry. I should have called but I just took the six-a.m. flight.”
“It’s fine. It’s just that the situation with Faith is complicated. She’s staying here because she has some personal issues right now and despite her … being in my shirt, she’s using the spare bedroom,” he said instead of saying despite the obvious fact that we’re sleeping together. It was awkward enough for everyone.
His mother nodded in understanding. “I didn’t stay in a hotel because your father has contacts and private investigators. He’ll track me down. At least this way, once he finds me, he has to deal with us both. But given the circumstances, I can take a room. Or go stay with Sienna. I can help with the baby. I just didn’t want to intrude because they’re still newlyweds, but it’s really no problem.” She was rambling.
“No.” Faith returned, dressed in a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, her hair brushed and pulled into a sleek ponytail. “I can go home. You stay here with your son.”
“Not happening, Faith, and you know why.” Jason’s words came out like a command and had her snapping her shoulders back and narrowing her gaze.
“I’m not putting your mother out. It’s not right.”
Savannah looked from Jason to Faith, following the conversation although obviously not understanding the reasons behind their argument.
“Then you can stay in my room and my mother can take the guest room,” Jason said. “Unless you want to go home and be a sitting duck for Colton to find you?” He folded his arms across his chest, daring her to challenge him.
Faith’s shoulders, the evidence of her strength and defiance seconds before, wilted as he made his point. “Okay. Thank you. I realize I’m putting everyone out, but you’re right. I have nowhere else to go.” Her hands came up to her neck as she obviously remembered being hurt by her brother.
He hated having had to bring up those memories in order to get his way and keep her safe.
“Obviously the person who should go to a hotel is me,” his mother said when they’d both gone silent.
“No,” Faith and Jason said at once. They both knew they were sleeping together. The chances of him letting her go back to her own bed while she was under his roof were slim to none anyway. He wanted to get his fill of her while he could.
He ignored the voice in his head telling him he’d never have enough of her and faced his mother. “Looks like you’re staying.”
“Okay.” His mother smiled at them both.
Faith smiled back. “I’ll go pack up my things and move them into your room,” she said, her cheeks only slightly red at this point.
“Great. Now that that’s settled, Mom, come in, take off your coat, and make yourself at home.” He met Faith’s gaze, shooting her a grateful look he hoped she could translate, along with an apologetic one.
This was a turn of events he’d never expected, having his mother and his … Faith, under one roof. And he had no idea how to handle the situation.
* * *
An hour after Jason’s mother arrived, Faith found herself at an upscale restaurant, sitting next to Jason and across the table from Savannah Dare. She was a lovely woman with blonde hair and light blue eyes, a warm smile, and an easy air of acceptance of having found Faith all but in her son�
��s bed.
Once Faith had recovered from her embarrassment and accepted the fact that she really had nowhere else to go if she wanted to be safe, she realized she’d have to move into Jason’s room. His mother seemed to handle it easily enough.
Savannah drank a mimosa, Jason and Faith coffee, and after the waiter took their orders, Jason glanced at his mother. “So Dad wants you back?”
Faith held back a shocked sound.
Savannah looked to Faith.
“She knows,” Jason said. “I told her everything about my family situation.”
Savannah raised her eyebrows, obviously surprised her son had opened up. But she nodded her head and launched into her story. “Before Robert ran off to Barbados with his mistress, he told me he wanted a divorce. For reasons I can’t fathom, he’s returned with a change of heart. He wants me back.”
Jason grimaced and Faith knew what he thought of that idea.
“And what do you want?” he asked his mother, to his credit not giving his own verbal input. Yet.
Savannah lifted the glass and took a sip of her drink. “I had already resigned myself to a divorce, but more than that, your father’s behavior forced me to take a good look at my past.” She glanced down at her plate. “I might not have known he was married when we met, but when I found out, I didn’t leave him. That makes me complicit.”
Faith squirmed in her seat, but Savannah seemed comfortable enough talking about personal issues in front of her.
“Mom–”
“No. It’s true. I justified it by telling myself his marriage to Emma hadn’t been for love, but that doesn’t make what I did right. The truth is, the man is a cheater. If I take him back, he’s bound to do it again. It isn’t like it’s only happened once, after all.”
Jason nodded in agreement. “I hate to admit that you’re right because he’s my father … but you are. And as long as you’re saying these things yourself, I can say I agree with you and your decision.”
Listening to mother and son, Faith marveled at a few things. One, how close they obviously were, but then Jason had said his family was everything to him. Two, the burden he carried on his shoulders. A father he couldn’t look up to, a mother he obviously loved and wanted to take care of, and a past of his own that was heavy and painful. No wonder he didn’t want to add any more people to his responsibilities.
“Faith, honey, I’m so sorry to put you in the middle of listening to my problems.” The sound of her name shook Faith out of her musings.
“It’s no problem, Mrs. Dare. I’m really the intruder here.”
“First, call me Savannah, and second, nonsense. Now tell me how you and my son met.”
Faith bit the inside of her cheek, then said, “He rescued me when I was stuck with a flat tire one night and somehow has become entangled in my problems.”
Savannah nodded somberly. “Yes, he told me about those issues while you were showering and getting ready. Money does such dreadful things to people. Really. I’m sorry about your brother.”
“Well, he had a drug problem long before my mother passed away and left me a small inheritance. The fact that there was money just makes it all worse. It gives him a reason to come after me. I just can’t believe he’s been able to stay under the radar for so long.” She shifted in her seat, automatically looking out the window. As if her brother would magically appear, but of course he didn’t.
Jason frowned at the reminder of Colton. “He’s hanging out with people who have no way of being found. Other addicts and dealers, probably. But I have faith in Jack Renault.” He looked to his mother. “That’s the PI Gabe recommended.”
Savannah nodded, then reached over and took Faith’s hand. “My son is a good man. He’s solid and dependable. I am sure he’ll see to it your situation is resolved and you’re safe.” She squeezed once before letting go.
“Thank you,” Faith whispered.
To her surprise, at that motherly gesture and those kind, reassuring words, a lump rose to her throat. Savannah Dare reminded Faith of her own mom, and the loss she still felt deeply, even if she was often too busy to dwell on her pain.
Jason looked from his mother to Faith, a furrow between his brows, a somber look on his handsome face. Although up to now, she’d learned to read him fairly well, she had no idea what was going on behind the masked expression he wore. But if she had to guess, something about having his mother and Faith together, getting to know one another, was throwing him for a loop.
He wouldn’t want Faith to get attached. To feel like she belonged with them. And she wouldn’t, she promised herself. She’d do her best to put an emotional wall up against the motherly gestures and the sweetness that came from Savannah and not misconstrue Jason’s protectiveness for anything more. At the end of the road, she had herself. And no one else.
* * *
Later that evening, Jason escaped to the bedroom, leaving his mother and Faith alone in the kitchen, discussing candy making and other things. He needed a break from the emotional drama that was his mother and father, and he needed to step back from his intense feelings for Faith. He hadn’t forgotten the night they’d just spent together or the way he feared she was cracking his heart open, exposing him to potential pain. The pain that always came from loving someone and the possibility of loss that came with it.
Sitting down on the bed, he picked up his cell and called his brother, who answered on the first ring.
“Jason,” Alex said. “Good to hear from you.”
“Hey, man. How are you, Madison, and the kidlet?”
“All great. What’s up?”
Jason blew out a long breath. No point beating around the bush. “I’ve got company. Mom’s here.”
“What?” Alex asked, startled. “She didn’t tell me she was leaving town,” he said, confusion in his voice.
“Well, apparently it wasn’t a planned trip. She was running away.” Jason drummed his fingers on the nightstand.
“From Dad.”
“You got it,” he muttered. “He returned from wherever he was and decided he wants her back. She, on the other hand, has come to terms with the man he is and is ready to move on. But she didn’t want to deal with him yet, so she’s here.”
“Damn. I’m sorry it landed on your lap.”
Jason shrugged. “It’s fine. It’s Mom. She’s always welcome. I just figured you didn’t know yet and wanted to give you a heads-up in case Dad comes sniffing around your place looking for her.”
Alex let out a low growl. “I’ll deal with him. What about Sienna?”
“Mom called her earlier today. She’s going to see her in the morning. Mom stopped by a baby store and loaded up on things for Lizzy. I have a feeling Sienna will beg her to stay there and help out, but she’s welcome here for as long as she needs.”
Jason didn’t mention Faith to his brother. He didn’t feel like getting into the situation he’d found himself in. In fact, he thought, he was actually ready to crash. He needed a good night’s sleep.
“Well, tell Mom I say hi and to call me if she needs me. And don’t worry. I’ll handle Dad if he shows up here.”
“Thanks,” Jason said. “Talk to you soon.” He disconnected the phone, but before he could go to sleep, he had another call to make.
He scrolled through his contacts and dialed his brother-in-law, the famous musician with Tangled Royal, now a songwriter, Grey Kingston.
“Jason?” Grey answered quickly. “How’s things in New York?”
“All good. You and Avery?” he asked of his half sister.
“We’re fine, too. So what can I do for you?”
Jason chuckled. That was Grey, right to the point. He leaned back against the headboard and stretched out his legs. “Well, the guys and I are expanding what we do at the club. We want to bring in live entertainment and launch with a big name.” He drew a deep breath. “We were thinking of you.”
Grey paused before answering. “I’m honored you want me. But you know I haven’t been
singing publicly anymore. I’m more of a songwriter than an entertainer these days. Hang on.”
Jason heard noise and then, “I’m on the phone with your brother Jason, sugar. You feeling okay?”
Whatever Avery said was muffled and Jason couldn’t hear.
“I’m back,” Grey said. “So about the club.”
Jason crossed his fingers. “We figured your absence from the stage would make you more of a draw now. A limited appearance, if you will.” He knew he was asking a lot of Grey, but he hoped the other man was itching to play in public once more.
Grey chuckled. “It’s not that I couldn’t be persuaded, but there are things going on here…”
“It’s okay. Tell him,” Jason heard Avery say.
He narrowed his gaze. “Is everything really okay there?” He was suddenly worried.
“Yes. It’s just that Avery’s pregnant and it’s been a little difficult these first few months. I don’t want to leave her to perform,” Grey explained. “We haven’t told anyone yet, so if you could keep it quiet until we’re ready to let the family know, we’d appreciate it.”
“No problem.” A wave of happiness took hold of Jason along with concern for Avery. Still, Grey had given him good news. “Congratulations! And give Avery a kiss for me. No worries. I’ll find someone else to play,” Jason assured him, glad Avery had a man who was so devoted to her.
“When are you thinking about doing the first gig? I’ll make some calls and see if I can get you someone solid,” Grey said.
Jason winced as he answered. “Within the next few weeks. I know it’s short notice–”
Grey let out a low whistle. “No kidding. But let me see what I can do.”
“Thanks.” They said their goodbyes, and then Jason spoke to Avery for a few minutes, congratulating her and reassuring himself that she was suffering from severe morning sickness and nothing more serious.
He disconnected the call as Faith walked into the room and shut the door behind her. She looked adorable in a pair of curve-hugging leggings with white stripes down the side and a white tee shirt that showcased her delectable breasts. Despite it all, his body reacted to hers. He wanted her. He had a feeling he’d always want her.
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