Never had she made a decision concerning her diving over a man. Not that she’d needed to before. Diving with Lulu had been her total focus for so long. They’d had a good run, but now she was the only one capable of making decisions that affected her career. No one else. Definitely not Dane. She had no doubt he’d like her to stay. But were his feelings for her only sexual, or did he feel more for her?
A knock at the door saved her from tying herself further in knots.
Brooke straightened her shoulders and walked out of the bathroom. Whatever Dane had to say wouldn’t change how she felt about him. Unless he had a wife and kid hidden away somewhere, because that would really suck. Although she was pretty sure, after the group dinner they’d gone to her second night in town, the likelihood of a secret family was slim.
Pasting a bright smile on her face, she pulled opened the door. The spicy fragrance of Thai food hit her nostrils and her stomach rumbled in appreciation.
“Looks like I arrived just in time.”
“Yes, you did. Come on in.” Brooke stood back from the door and as he passed, Dane gave her a quick kiss on the lips, over too quick for her liking. A sigh trembled through her as she closed the door. It would be so easy to get used to being close to Dane day in, day out. Wake up next to him. Share meals together. Even train together. He would be doing his laps and shaving seconds off his time, while she would be tumbling and twisting through the air, perfecting every tiny detail with Susie guiding her from the pool deck.
Brooke slumped against the door, imagining a future with Dane here in Australia. And it felt wonderful. She was in so deep and had no idea what or how Dane felt toward her. Did he see her as a convenient bed warmer while he lived in the same building as her? What would happen when he moved to his new place?
Lost in her thoughts, Brooke didn’t hear Dane calling her name. She startled when he touched her arm. “What?”
“Are you okay? You look like the world just ended.”
Not quite ended, but certainly tilted in such a way that she didn’t know how to get it back to even ground. “I’m fine, just starving.”
She pulled away from him and went into her small kitchen where the brown bag full of food sat in the middle of the counter. On autopilot, she got out plates and silverware, all the while aware of Dane leaning against the doorway watching her. Anyone would think she was the one who had a big story to tell, not Dane.
With everything set out on the counter, she pulled out the containers of food and started to pile her plate with rice, curry chicken and some satay sticks.
“Are you sure everything’s okay?”
Brooke knew she couldn’t avoid looking at him any longer, so she met his gaze, hoping against hope that he didn’t see the disquiet, or worse, love in her eyes. “I’m fine. Just a little tired from all the sun.”
“Right.”
He didn’t believe her. And who could blame him, since even to her own ears her excuse sounded pitiful.
She picked up her plate and headed toward the living room, but stopped where Dane still stood in the doorway. “Get your food. Don’t you have something you want to tell me?”
“I’m not sure I want to now.”
That stopped her in her tracks. “Why?”
“Because clearly you’re upset just thinking about what I’ve got to say. Which I don’t understand, seeing as it’s me who lived through it, not you.”
She closed her eyes briefly. What had happened to their easy camaraderie from earlier in the day? Even the last ten minutes. When he arrived at the door, they’d joked together, and then she had that vision of their future together and it had scared her. Scared her because of so many unknown factors needing to align to make that vision come true. What if Susie decided she didn’t want to take Brooke on? She couldn’t very well stay because she wanted to be with Dane.
Sometimes she wished she could go back to the moments before she and Dane had connected at that press conference in Rio. Life had been uncomplicated then. Well, at least to a certain degree it had been uncomplicated.
But those who knew her, knew Brooke was no quitter. She chased after what she wanted. So she would wait and see what happened over the next couple of weeks, and then she would approach Dane about what he felt for her. Her feelings for him weren’t going to change because of what he was about to say to her. She loved him. And she needed to convince him that whatever he said wouldn’t matter to her.
Walking back into the kitchen she placed her plate back on the counter. If she had to heat it up in the microwave she would. Supporting Dane seemed paramount right now.
Brooke strode over to him, wrapped her arms around his trim waist and laid her head on his solid chest.
“Nothing you say will change what I fe—think about you,” she pulled her head away from the haven of his chest and looked up into his eyes. “Trust me, please.”
He held her gaze for endless moments and she feared he was going to say he’d changed his mind. He smiled softly. “I believe you.”
Happiness welled inside of her, warming her blood. “Good, now let’s eat because I’m starving.”
Thirty minutes later food had been consumed and the dishes stacked in the dishwasher. Brook was curled up in Dane’s arms on her lumpy couch and soft classical music played in the background. It would be so easy to fall asleep cuddled up against her big strong Aussie.
“Eight months ago, I thought I was a father.” The words shattered the peacefulness that had engulfed the room.
The food she’d just consumed curdled in her stomach—Dane was a father? No wait, she replayed the words in her mind, he said he thought he was a father.
“What do you mean, you thought you were a father?”
“A girl I’d dated briefly turned up on my doorstep with a gorgeous little baby and declared I was Daisy’s father.”
Brooke pulled herself out of Dane’s arms. This was a conversation where she needed to look at him. She shifted her position so she could sit crossed legged on the couch and faced him. Wanting to let him know she hadn’t been lying when she told him nothing he said would change the way she thought of him, she grabbed his hand and held it. He lifted their clasped hands to his lips and placed a soft kiss on them, like he was thanking her for not running from the room.
“What did you do?”
“Well, after I metaphorically lifted myself off the ground, I invited Therese in. Because we’d been intimate and well, you know protection is never one hundred percent guaranteed, I believed what she told me. The timing and age of little Daisy all fit in with when we’d been seeing each other.”
Brooke noticed that when he said Daisy’s name his voice softened, but his eyes filled with pain. Dread filled her as a million scenarios ran through her mind. Daisy had been sick and that was why this woman turned up on Dane’s doorstep. Or the relationship didn’t work out and Therese now refused to let Dane see his daughter.
While she wanted to pepper him with questions, Brooke held her tongue, waiting for Dane to continue with his story.
“I told Therese I needed to think, digest the information that I was now a father and asked her to give me a week. After the week, I’d made up my mind that I wanted to get to know Daisy and the only way to do that was to have them move in with me. By then the press had found out, and I was making headlines for reasons I didn’t want.”
Of course, he’d do the chivalrous thing. Even though she’d only known him a short time, Brooke knew there was no way Dane would turn his back on his child. And he wouldn’t be influenced by what was in the papers either. He wasn’t like Brett Hunter who seemed to deliberately create havoc so he could be a headline. But the thought of him embarking on another relationship with Therese when it clearly hadn’t worked out the first time didn’t make sense.
“I’m guessing the fact that you’re down here by yourself, with no sign of a child, things didn’t pan out the way you wanted them to?”
Dane laughed harshly and pulled his hands away fro
m hers, immediately making her feel lost without his warm touch. He got up and paced around the room. His actions spoke volumes—things were about to get nasty.
“Therese jumped at the suggestion of moving in. I also insisted on a DNA test. While I wanted to believe every word that came out of her mouth, I knew I needed to be sure that Daisy was mine. The only thing was, part of me didn’t want to know the truth. Daisy was so adorable and I fell in love with her the moment I laid eyes on her. Her hair color matched mine. Her nose turned up a little at the end like mine does. So I didn’t arrange for the test for a few weeks.”
He stopped pacing and sat back down on the couch. He didn’t reach for her and she didn’t reach for him.
“Anyway, Therese and I struck up a comfortable, platonic relationship. I didn’t want to jump straight into bed with her again. We hadn’t worked out before, so I wanted to make sure we could live together and get along before I got intimate with her again. That was fine with her, too. I should’ve realized then that something wasn’t right. It was the first of many signs I can now say were plain as day, but back then I didn’t see them. Or maybe I didn’t want to see them.”
Brooke had a feeling where this story was headed and anger for this unknown woman built inside of her.
“What were the other signs?”
“She would go out for hours and leave Daisy with me, said it was so the baby and I could bond, and get to know each other, seeing as I’d missed the first four months of her life. I cherished those moments with Daisy. I used to love hearing her giggles when I tickled her stomach. The best times, though, were when we went to the park. I would sit on the swing with her, just the two of us swinging gently, backward and forward.” He sighed. “It was during one of those one-on-one times that I took Daisy to the doctor and had the DNA test done.”
The pain in his voice couldn’t be ignored any longer and Brooke’s heart bled at hearing it. She scooted along the couch and wrapped her arms around his stiff frame. It was like hugging a cement pillar.
“How long after the test did you get the results?” She released her hold on him. She had a feeling he didn’t want comfort at the moment.
“It was only a couple of weeks, but by that time I knew that there could never be anything between Therese and me. I found I didn’t like her in the way a man should like the mother of his child, so my plan was to try to get joint custody. Make it amicable and put Daisy first. God, how I loved that little girl.” His voice broke and she kissed him on the cheek.
“You don’t have to say anything else if it hurts too much.”
Dane looked at her and she gasped. Lines of strain she’d never seen before bracketed his mouth and his eyes were dull and lifeless. “I have to keep going,” he whispered. “You need to know it all.”
Brooke nodded, encouraging him to continue, even though tears were building in the back of her eyes. She willed them not to fall.
“The test came back negative,” he said. “There was no way Daisy was my daughter. Not even close. When I confronted Therese, she denied it, saying the test must be wrong, insisting I was Daisy’s father. I couldn’t understand why she would do that when I had scientific proof. Proof I waved under her nose. Proof that couldn’t be disputed. Proof that shattered the dreams I’d started to build of having a beautiful little girl I could teach to swim. That I could take to the park. That I could call my own.”
Brooke lost the battle with keeping her tears at bay and they leaked out of her eyes, running down her cheeks. “Oh God, I’m so sorry Dane. That’s awful.”
She wrapped her arms around him again, giving the comfort she now knew he would need after baring his soul to her. It didn’t surprise her when she could feel his shoulders shaking beneath her hands.
How awful for Dane. To think for a few months he was a father. No wonder he was wary of the woman on the beach. He’d told her in Rio that he was a favorite of the press. They must have had a field day with this story.
“What happened to Therese and Daisy?”
“She went back to live with Daisy’s real father, the guy she’d been still seeing while living in my house. Their plan had been to get me to pay child support as well as paying for a home for them to live in.”
Brooke’s mind whirled at these new details. This didn’t make any sense. “What? Why?”
“Therese’s boyfriend had lost his job because he was injured. So they conjured up this plan.”
“And were they ever going to tell you the truth? Surely, Therese must have known you’d ask for a paternity test.”
He lifted his shoulders slightly. “Who knows? I almost didn’t do the test. As I said, I loved Daisy from the moment I met her. I felt an instant connection. And I wonder if Therese hadn’t counted on that being the case. God,” he ran a hand through his hair. “I sound like a gullible fool, wanting to believe the first thing that comes out of a woman’s mouth because I like the idea of being a family man. One day I want a family and there it was, right in front of me, only it was a lie.”
Her stomach clenched at Dane’s declaration of wanting a family. She never knew that about him. It wasn’t something they’d ever talked about.
“Saying sorry seems so inadequate, but I’m so sorry that happened to you,” she said and cupped his cheek. “I know you’ll make a great dad, one day.”
He turned and looked her in the eye. “What about you, do you want a family?”
How did she answer that when the future between them seemed unknown?
“One day, but I still have so many personal goals I want to achieve. I want that gold medal, Dane. I want it so bad. I had such high hopes in Rio and it all crashed around me. I can’t let all the sacrifices my parents made to pay for my training and trips to competitions be in vain. I’ve trained for years and have a third place with Lulu from the World Championships last year.” Agitation burned through her. She couldn’t sit next Dane and not want to throw away all her sensibilities and drag him to the bedroom in an effort to forget, for a few blissful hours, the likelihood that, in a matter of weeks, an ocean would separate them again. She got up and paced around the room. “Heck, if I’d won any colored medal in Rio, I would’ve been happy.”
“Would you have, though? You just told me you wanted the gold.” The rustle of movement wafted to her. She wasn’t surprised when warm hands landed on her shoulders. “Even if you’d won silver or bronze, that little taste would’ve fired you up to try and go one better, Probably more than the failure you experienced.” He turned her around so she was facing him. “There’s no dishonor in not winning at the Games.”
She scoffed, but didn’t pull away from him. “Says the man who won three gold medals in Rio. Not to mention other golds in those Commonwealth Games you talk about training for.”
Suddenly she didn’t want to discuss her missed dreams. Brooke slid her arms around Dane’s waist. “Thank you for telling me about Daisy. I’m sure it can’t have been easy for you to bare your soul to me.”
When he rubbed his cheek against her hair, she melted further into his embrace. “It was easier than I thought it would be. The press made my life a living hell when it came out I’d been duped. I was glad I could focus all my anger and hurt and disappointment on training for the Games. If I hadn’t had that goal, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
Brooke brushed her lips against his neck, breathing in his scent, a mix of pine and musk. “You would’ve survived. Nothing keeps you down. And speaking of nothing keeping you down.” She swiveled her hips against his groin, his hardness pressing into her softness. “I think we’ve talked long enough.”
A finger hooked under her chin, encouraging her to look up at him, where she spied the wide smile on his face. “I like the way you think.”
Taking him by the hand, she led him to her room, wanting nothing more than to lose herself in his warmth and embrace. Forgetting for a few hours the uncertainty the future might hold.
12
Like the first night they spen
t together, Dane woke early, his internal alarm clock automatically triggering when he knew he had a training session to attend. For the first time he could remember, he was reluctant to leave the warm cocoon of Brooke’s bed.
“You’ve got a session scheduled, don’t you?” she mumbled as she stretched lazily, the action rubbing her ass against his morning erection. He splayed his hand over her stomach, his fingers drifting down lower.
“I don’t have to go just yet,” he whispered against her neck as his hand crept lower until he found her warm center.
“Good.” Her hand reached over and stroked his cock, her motion faltering when he slipped first one figure then another inside of her. They found a matching rhythm, her hand moving up and down as his fingers slid in and out of her.
Her body quivered beside him, her ragged breaths urging him to up the pace. Brooke’s hand faltered in her rhythm as an orgasm flowed through her, the sound of her moans of completion music to his ears. He reached out and grabbed one of the condoms sitting on the bedside table. He ripped it open with his teeth and deftly rolled it over his throbbing erection with one hand.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he murmured as he shifted his hips and entered her from behind. The air whooshed out of him as her inner muscles clamped hard around him. He stilled for a few moments before he started rocking his hips.
God, it felt like coming home every time he buried himself inside of her. He pumped in and out, increasing his pace until he couldn’t hold back any longer. With one last thrust, he shouted out his release and Brooke’s cry of completion mingled in with his.
Fighting for Love (The Elite Book 3) Page 7