Fool Me Once (Bad Boy Romance)

by Lexy Parker

I got up and went into the bathroom to quickly splash water on my face. I pulled on a pair of jeans, a shirt and my warm hoodie over the top before going to find Dayton. When I walked out, he was just putting down the phone.

  “I booked two tickets for us to fly back to Tennessee with takeoff in four hours. That gave us time to eat and get to the airport,” he said.

  I burst into a fit of giggles.. “Wow, how long was I in there?”

  “I like to be efficient, plus I have this,” he said, holding up his phone. “There is truly an app for everything.”

  “I guess so.”

  I moved to my suitcase and started packing, tossing things in rather haphazardly. I would deal with the wrinkles later. I was anxious to get out of Colorado and away from my dad. I still couldn’t believe my luck. Of all the places, in all the world, there he’d been. He had acted as if nothing had happened, nothing had changed between us. I would never be able to look at him the same way. I never wanted to look at him again. He was not a good man.

  “I’m going to take a quick shower,” he told me, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before moving into the shower.

  I was bummed our vacation was coming to an abrupt end, but I didn’t want to stay away from home another day. Seeing my father reminded me my mom was back home in Tennesse all alone.

  I smelled the bacon before the room service delivery guy ever knocked on the door. I was so damn hungry I was afraid I would attack the man I could see through the peephole. I waited impatiently for him to check the room number on his card before he knocked. The second he knocked I yanked open the door.

  “Good morning!” I greeted.

  He smiled in return. I opened the door wide, allowing him to push the cart loaded with dome-covered plates into the room. “Should I put these on the table?”

  I sook my head. “No! That’s fine!” I said, sounding way to excited.

  He nodded his head and turned to leave before pausing at the door. Shit. Tip. I scrambled for my purse, pulled out the ten-dollar bill and shoved it into his hand. The second he was gone I raced for the cart of food and lifted the lid that covered a plate of crispy strips of bacon.

  Dayton came into the room that very second and caught me taking a bite of a crispy strip of bacon. I grinned, slightly embarrassed. “Sorry. I tried to wait for you, but the smell of the bacon was begging me to take a bite.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” he said, grabbing hisown piece.

  I sat down, eager to fill my belly with the variety of offerings on the table. We both ate and laughed as we ignored all social niceties, both of us far too hungry to worry about being dainty and polite. I loved that I could eat what I wanted without worrying about what he would think. He knew me well enough to know I liked food. I wasn’t going to pretend I ate like a bird.

  “Want more coffee?” I asked him, refilling my orange juice. My body felt deprived of nutrients. It was craving the juice.

  “No, I’m good. This breakfast was amazing.”

  “It was. I think room service is going to wonder how many people are actually in this room,” I said with a laugh.

  “That hike was no joke.”

  With our bellies full and our bags packed, there was nothing more to do but wait. We sat at the kitchen table, neither of us in a big hurry to get up. I was enjoying the leisurely morning. “Thank you for the vacation,” I told him in a soft voice.

  “You’re welcome. Thank you for coming with me. I was going a little stir crazy in that house. It’s weird, when I’m gone, I get a little homesick and then when I’m back, I can’t wait to leave,” he said on a sigh.

  “Your return home isn’t normal though. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if you could get out of the house and do things,” I argued.

  “I did. I went fishing. I went skeet shooting,” he reminded me.

  Ismiled. “And I’m sure that’s fine, but I’m guessing you want to be able to go out without dark sunglasses on. You want to go to dinner, walk down the street and do normal things. You’re in a prison of sorts. I bet if you could do all that, the only thing you’d want to do was hang out at home. You want what you can’t have. It’s human nature.”

  He shrugged his good shoulder “You’re probably right. It isn’t so bad. I just hate being told what I can and can’t do.”

  “How’s your arm?” I asked.

  He chuckled softly. “It’s fine.”

  I studied his face and saw the truth. “Liar. Let me massage it. I’m not doing anything, and you need the therapy,” I insisted.

  He knew he wasn’t going to win and quietly conceded.“Thank you.”

  “Off with the shirt,” I said.

  “Gladly.”

  He pulled it off, getting up and moving to a dining chair and straddling it. I slowly rubbed my hands across his back, rubbing out the tension I could feel in hisarm. He would never admit how much pain he was truly in. I could tell he hurt. He was trying to ignore the pain and pretend he was okay, but I could see it in his face and by the way he held his arm close to his body without even realizing he was doing it.

  “We should probably head downstairs,” he said after I had worked his arm for a good thirty minutes.

  As we drove to the airport, Istared out the window. “I can see why he moved here. It’s beautiful. My mom would love it here as well.”

  “Fuck this place. There are other mountains that are a lot better. I’ll take you there and hopefully you don’t have any more wayward dads out there to ruin your day,” he teased.

  I grinned. “Not that I’m aware of.”

  “Good. Maybe we’ll try Idaho or hell, I guess we can head east of Hope. We have the Appalachians right there,” he reminded me.

  “That sounds like a much better idea,” I agreed.

  Dayton slid on his dark sunglasses and pulled his baseball hat low before getting out of the back of the car at the airport. It was back to being nobody. He kept his head down as we moved through the busy airport, doing his best to avoid being noticed. Once we were seated in our first-class seats, Datyton seemed to relax a little. I was acting as his shield once again, with him tucked away in the window seat, my body a barrier between him and the rest of the world.

  The plane touched down in Tennessee and I immediately felt excited to be home and a little bummed at the same time. I could feel Dayton’s mood change as we walked through the airport. He made the mistake of lifting his sunglasses as we strolled through one of the darker areas of the airport. It was a completely natural reaction, but the tiny exposure was all it took.

  “Dayton Black!” a woman squealed.

  He quickly pulled his sunglasses down, looking down at his feet and kept walking, pretending not to see or hear the woman that shouted his name again.

  “Shit,” I whispered.

  “Just keep walking,” he said in a grim voice. .

  “It’s you! How’s your arm?” the woman was saying, following us and trying to get in front of us.

  I was afraid her yapping was going to draw more attention and then we would really be in it. The woman jumped in front of Dayton, pointing at him and jumping up and down.

  “Get back!” I growled. “I don’t know what your problem is, but if you keep shouting at my husband, we’re going to have an issue.” I said, laying on a thick Southern accent that one would expect from a redneck woman.

  The other woman stopped. “Isn’t that Dayton Black?”

  I put a hand on my hip. “I don’t know who the hell Dayton Black is, but this is my man. You keep getting in his face and I’m going to have to pull you back and I won’t be nice about it.”

  I was taller than the other woman and my sudden protectiveness over Dayton made me feel fierce and invincible. I would get very scrappy if it meant protecting him. Clearly, the other woman realized it as well. She took a step back. “Sorry, I thought he was someone else.”

  “And that gives you the right to get up in someone’s face? I don’t think so. Have some respect and get back,” I growled, not ba
cking down a bit.

  The woman nodded. “I’m sorry, really. I’m not trying to move in on your man. I thought he was a baseball player.”

  “He’s not. Goodbye,” I snapped.

  The woman hurried away, looking back once before she disappeared from our view. I turned to look at Dayton, studying his face behind the dark sunglasses. . “Are you okay?”

  He smiled. “I’m fine. Nothing happened.”

  “I think she believed me,” I said, obviously not all that convinced.

  He laughed. “I think you scared her enough that even if she still thinks it was me, she’s not going to say anything. I didn’t know I was traveling with my own personal security guard.”

  “Sorry, I tend to get a little over-protective.”

  “Don’t be sorry. Thank you for doing it,” he said with a smile.

  “You’re welcome. It kind of felt good to scold someone.”

  “You’re on a roll,” he laughed. “Here I thought you were this meek, mild woman. You’re a barracuda.”

  I giggled. “I can be. Don’t mess with my man or my mama.”

  “Your man?” he said, still grinning at me.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Come over tonight. I want you to meet my parents,” he said, surprising me.

  I hesitated before nodding my head. “Sure. I’d like that.”

  “I need to get another rental,” he said. “Do you need to go home first, or do you want to go straight out to my place?”

  “We can go straight from here. No one is going to know if I’m home or away. While you’re getting a car, I’m going to call my mom and let her know I’m back in town, just in case she needs anything,” I said.

  He nodded and walked away. I quickly called my mom, checking in to make sure she was hale and hearty. I didn’t mention why we had come back early. I just told her Dayton had to get back. She had almost sounded disappointed when she heard I was back. I assured her everything was fine and that I would be going to Dayton’s house to meet his parents. That seemed to brighten her mood. She gave me a quick lecture on how to behave as if I were a five-year-old going for my first sleepover. I saw Dayton coming back and quickly said my goodbyes with the promise to stop by tomorrow.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  I smiled and put the phone in my purse. “Ready.”

  Chapter 25

  Dayton

  It was a toss-up when it came to surprising my mom with a visitor or calling ahead. I decided to err on the side of caution and gave her a quick call to let her know I was headed home with a friend. She had a lot of questions, but I managed to hold her off. It was only a little awkward calling my mom to tell her I was bringing a friend to dinner with said friend sitting next to me. If it had been anyone else, I would have been mortified. Since it was Evie, I was less embarrassed, but it still stung a little.

  I pulled onto the long driveway that led to my parents’ house. My mom was expecting us, and I didn’t want to be late. I glanced over at Evie, who didn’t look the least bit nervous to be meeting my parents. She probably already knew them, I realized, or at least knew of them.

  “You ready for this?” I asked her.

  She smiled. “Yes. I’m not worried. Are you worried?”

  I grimaced. “My dad can be kind of harsh.”

  “I can handle him.” She grinned.

  I laughed. “Of course you can. I saw you handle your dad and that poor woman at the airport. It should be my dad who’s worried.”

  “Damn straight,” she said, raising her chin.

  I parked the new SUV I’d rented and got out. Within seconds, my mom was on the front porch, the customary dish towel in her hands as she waited for us to join her. Evie got out and waved at her before walking beside me onto the porch.

  “Mom, this is Evie Flowers. Evie, this is my mom, Martha.”

  “Hi, Martha,” Evie said, extending her hand.

  “Hello, Evie. How’s your mother doing?” she asked gently.

  Evie smiled. “She is doing very well.”

  “Good to hear. Why don’t you two come in? Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes.”

  We walked into the house. I assumed my dad was out working on his tractor or puttering around in the barn, but I was surprised to see him sitting in his recliner, watching the news. He looked at me, then Evie, before giving a nod and turning his attention back to the TV. It was more than I expected.

  “Let’s go into the kitchen,” I said to Evie, wanting to leave my dad be.

  “Is there anything I can help with, Martha?” Evie asked.

  My mom turned and smiled. “Dayton can show you where the plates are if you two could set the table for me.”

  Evie looked at me. I grimaced. It’d been a long time since I’d been home. I opened the first cupboard and missed. I found the plates on my second try. Together, Evie and I set the table, putting out the flatware and getting the butter and honey for the homemade buttermilk biscuits I could smell baking.

  Once the dinner was put on the table, my father made his way in and sat at the head of the table. I could feel tension between him and me, but he was actually more laid-back than his usual self.

  “How was your trip?” my mom asked.

  Evie and I exchanged a look. “It was amazing. Dayton couldn’t believe I had never been away before,” Evie said with a laugh.

  My mom smiled. “You went to Utah?”

  “Yes. We were only there a day and a half, but we got to go on a hike and see some of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. The views were amazing,” Evie said enthusiastically.

  “It’s good to get away now and again,” my father said, surprising the hell out of me. “As long as you know where your roots are.”

  Evie laughed. “My roots are in Tennessee. There is no changing that. Dayton treated me like a pampered princess. I feel spoiled. I’m going to have a hard time going back to work now.”

  They all laughed, including my father, which shocked the hell out of me. He was actually joining in on the conversation. He seemed to be enjoying himself, which I hadn’t even been sure was possible. He was a totally different man around Evie. I was going to have to bring her with me every time I had to see him. She had some secret weapon that disarmed him and turned him into putty.

  “I’m so happy to hear your mother is doing better. I just can’t believe such awful things can happen to such a good person,” my mom said, shaking her head.

  “Thank you. I think everything happens for a reason. My mom is strong and is trying to stay positive, but I know it’s hard on her,” Evie said in a low voice.

  My dad was nodding his head. “What that man did to her—” He stopped talking, his face twisting with rage. “That’s not a man.”

  Evie laughed, lightening the conversation. “I agree. But it’s good she found out who he was sooner rather than later. She’s got plenty of life to live and will hopefully find a good man to spend the rest of her life with.”

  “I agree. Your mother is beautiful, inside and out,” my mom said with real fondness. “I can see a strong resemblance between the two of you. I remember seeing her at various functions and admiring her long, golden hair. She always had such a serene look about her, as if the sky could fall right on top of her head and she would still be smiling.”

  Evie giggled. “Yep, that sounds like her. I only wish I would have inherited her very sunny disposition.”

  “You’re a very positive person and being around you has definitely improved my mood,” I told her.

  My parents both turned to look at me. The looks on their faces were priceless. They looked shocked.

  “I’m glad you have her in your life. I do hope she can bring you happiness,” my mom said with a knowing smile.

  I looked at Evie, who was furiously blushing and staring down at her plate. “She has.”

  “So, what is it that you do?” my dad asked Evie, his conversational skills on point.

  “I’m a massage th
erapist,” she answered.

  “Oh?” my dad asked, skepticism on his face.

  “She’s the one who is massaging my shoulder, keeping it limber and helping with the pain and hopefully the healing,” I answered.

  “Ah, so she knows about your situation,” my mom said, nodding her head.

  “Yes, I do. Actually, I had to sign an agreement stating I wouldn’t tell anyone about him or his arm,” Evie replied.

  “That seems very Hollywood,” my dad said, looking at me with a scowl.

  “It wasn’t me. It was the team,” I defended.

  My dad didn’t look like he believed me and turned his attention back to Evie. “Did you go to school for that?”

  “Yes. I had already taken a few classes at the community college, getting ready to go for my nursing degree, but, well, that’s when we found out my mom was sick. A massage therapist course was quick and easy, and I still get to work with people, making them feel better. I work at the clinic in town. I don’t work in a massage parlor or go to people’s houses with my folding table,” she said with a laugh.

  That seemed to satisfy my father’s curiosity. “I see. I’ll have to keep you in mind the next time I tweak my back. Do you do things like that or is that a chiropractor?”

  “Both. I see clients every day who have tweaked their backs. A good, healing massage can really make a difference. I’ll leave my number and feel free to call me anytime. For you, I’ll come to your house,” she said with a wink.

  My dad grinned, looking like he’d just won the lottery. “Do you hear that, Martha? She can work on that shoulder of yours as well.”

  My mom waved a hand. “It’s fine. It only acts up when it’s going to rain.”

  “I don’t mind,” Evie said with a smile.

  “Thank you for the offer. We will certainly keep it in mind. I’m afraid we’re not as young as we used to be,” my mom said with a laugh.

  We finished our dinner and had all claimed to be full until my mother produced a chocolate cake that would not be ignored. She cut each of us healthy slices that would certainly leave us with cavities. She brought the jug of milk to the table, knowing milk was about the only thing that could save our teeth.