“I did what I thought was best for my daughter,” he said through clenched teeth.
Chloe put a hand on Jenny’s shoulder and forced her to step away from him. “We get that you thought it was best when Grace was a baby, but you must see now you were wrong.”
Her gentle tone was far more devastating than Jenny’s blatant attack had been, because it stripped him of his anger. Anger had always been his best defense.
Kendall moved to stand next to the other two. “We want to make sure you give Sam a chance with Grace. She’s good at playing tough, but underneath that perfect mask she’s a whole bunch of tender goo.”
“Eloquently put,” Jenny said with a wry smile and a glance at Kendall. “Especially delivered in your broadcaster voice. That was a nice touch.”
“Thank you,” Kendall whispered as she continued to stare at Trevor.
“She really is soft and tender inside,” Chloe said.
Jenny nodded. “And gooey.”
Trevor wasn’t sure whether to growl in frustration or laugh at the trio standing in front of him. He’d never been one for classic literature, but he was reminded of Shakespeare’s Three Witches.
Suddenly he was glad for Sam. She’d been so close with her twin growing up, and he knew losing Bryce had been a huge blow. In a strange way, her beauty set her apart from other women, made them less likely to want her as a friend. At least that’s how it had seemed when they were younger. The fact that she had friends who were willing to stand at her back made him inexplicably happy. It also gave him a grudging respect for this triumvirate of grown-up girl power.
“What the hell is going on in here?”
Trevor hid his smile as the three women in front of him cringed and turned to where Sam stood scowling in the doorway.
“So much goo,” he said under his breath and was rewarded when one of them—his money was on the redhead—kicked him in the shin.
“Seriously,” Sam said, stalking forward. “You three look like you’re about to boil him alive.”
The Macbeth reference wasn’t too far off. Good to know.
Kendall, Chloe, and even Jenny took turns stammering a response, so at least Trevor knew Sam hadn’t put them up to confronting him.
“Hardly,” Kendall said with the fakest laugh Trevor had ever heard.
“We were just introducing ourselves,” Chloe added, her soft voice rising close to a full octave.
“And discussing . . . um . . .” Jenny looked back over her shoulder at him.
“Wedding plans,” he said.
“Right,” she agreed. “Wedding plans.”
Both Kendall and Chloe nodded as if they’d been turned into bobble heads.
“The repairs are coming along great,” Kendall said, waving a hand around the kitchen. “Like I told Trevor . . .” She stepped forward to hug Sam. “I appreciate everything you’re doing so Ty and I can have our wedding at camp.”
Sam narrowed her eyes at Trevor over Kendall’s shoulder. “We’ve still got a lot to do.”
“It will be ready,” he answered. What else was he supposed to say with these women staring at him? Sam sent him another death glare.
Goo. Yeah, right.
She straightened and turned her attention to Kendall, her expression softening. “I’ll make sure you have the wedding of your dreams, Ken.”
Kendall gave her another hug. “I’m so glad I have you.”
Wrapped in her friend’s embrace, Sam let out a shuddering breath. Trevor hadn’t realized how stiff she held her shoulders until he watched them relax for an instant.
“Goo,” Jenny muttered as she and Chloe stepped forward. The four of them hugged and laughed, and he felt like an unwelcome voyeur.
“Thanks for bringing Claire and Cooper,” Sam said. “They took Grace over to the game room to play air hockey.”
Chloe pushed a bit of hair off Sam’s face. “We can’t wait to meet her.”
“She’s amazing,” Sam told them quietly, the tenderness in her voice hitting Trevor like a punch to the gut. “Sometimes when I look at her it’s like Bryce is still here.”
He cleared his throat. “While it was lovely to meet you ladies,” he announced, “I’ve got to get back to work.”
The women turned to him again, but they no longer looked like they wanted to string him up by the family jewels.
“Thank you,” Kendall said.
He shrugged. “It’s a job.”
She ignored that. “I hope you and Grace will come to the wedding. She’s family to Sam and that makes her important to all of us.”
He’d never been good at sharing his daughter but was smart enough to realize that Grace’s life would be fuller with more people in it who cared about her. “That’s nice of you.”
“I need a minute to talk to Trevor,” Sam told her friends. “I’ll meet you over at the rec cabin.”
They walked out of the kitchen, but the redhead turned back as she reached the doorway. “I’m watching you, Trevor Kincaid.” She aimed two fingers at her eyes then toward his. Back and forth like she was his mother or a character in some cheesy mobster movie.
“Jenny, go,” Sam ordered. The redhead blew her a kiss and disappeared around the corner.
Trevor lifted a brow. “One wrong move and she’ll whack me.”
“Sorry,” Sam said, her voice serious. “She’s a little intense.”
“She cares about you,” he clarified. “All of them do.”
“They’re good friends.” She took a step closer and gestured to the drywall behind him. “You’re making great progress in here.”
“It’s coming along, but the schedule’s tight to have everything ready by the wedding weekend.”
“Grace called me the other night,” she said suddenly. “She asked about modeling agencies.”
He kept his expression carefully blank. “What did you tell her?”
She cocked her head, studying him. “What do you think I told her?”
“If I knew,” he said through clenched teeth, “why would I ask?”
“But you knew she called me . . .”
“Hell, yeah, I—” He stopped, pulled in a deep breath. “Am I that easy to read?”
“You are when it comes to Grace and me,” she said with a tight smile. “The disapproval is like an electrical current coming off you. I keep dodging so I won’t be shocked by it.”
He refused to be shamed because he was protective of his daughter. That was his job as a dad. “I told her something she didn’t want to hear, so she went running to you.”
She shook her head. “Always ready to make me the enemy.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her she was too young.”
“See what I—” He stopped short. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I said that I’d be here to help when the time was right, but she needed your approval before she thought about pursuing any type of modeling work.”
“Thank you,” he answered simply. The knowledge that he was an unmitigated ass snagged in his chest, the barbs of it poking and painful. He took a step toward Sam. “I owe you an apology.”
“No need,” she said with a flick of her wrist.
He caught her hand and held it between both of his. “There is a need, and I’m sorry.”
“Are you done avoiding me now?” She glanced up at him, her deep blue eyes clouded with pain. Color flooded her high cheekbones. Christ, he’d hurt her feelings. Maybe her friends weren’t too far off the mark with that gooey-center comment. She’d certainly been more sensitive than she looked when they were teens. Her vulnerability, so well hidden that even she barely realized it was a part of her, was one of the things that had first drawn him to her.
And as much as they looked alike, Bryce didn’t have the same soft heart. It gave him a better understanding of why Sam had cut off ties with her twin, rather than be constantly speared by Bryce’s possessive manipulations.
/> “I’m sorry for that, too,” he whispered.
She tugged at her hand but he didn’t let go. “It’s fine. I get it. We had sex and it’s out of your system.”
He turned her hand and bent his head to place a kiss on the soft inside of her wrist. A shiver rippled through her at his touch. “You were never out of my system,” he said against her skin. “Being with you only makes me want more.” He glanced up now and didn’t try to hide his desire. “I’m avoiding you because the alternative is to spend all my waking hours, and most of my sleeping ones, in agony from how much I want you.”
She gave a husky laugh. “Aren’t we a pair?” She stepped closer, into his space. “What’s the plan? Do we spend the next few weeks taking turns dodging the other?”
“Or we can spend them not trying to stop something we both want,” he suggested, leaning in to nuzzle her throat. “I want more of you, Sam. Christ, it feels like I need you like I need air.” Her eyes widened and he was glad he shocked her. The intensity of his desire was a shock for him, too. “Say no if you’re done with me but not because you’re afraid.”
“I don’t want to mess things up and have it hurt Grace,” she said on a sigh.
He loved that little sound and even more that her first thought was protecting his daughter. “We’ll make sure it doesn’t.”
She pulled back, her gaze serious but clear. “We have to set parameters.”
Since most of his blood had rushed to the southern half of his body, it took Trevor a minute to follow her train of thought. “Parameters?”
She nodded as if it was totally clear. “We can be together while you’re working on the repairs. It will be a break from regular life, and when it’s done we agree to end things amicably and focus on Grace.”
“My focus is always Grace.”
“Right,” she agreed. “Mine is, too. We’re partners on that, Trevor.”
Partners. He shouldn’t like the sound of that, but he did.
“You’re not her mother,” he said, and then immediately regretted the words when pain flashed in her blue eyes.
“I know,” was her only answer and she started to step away.
He looped his arms around her waist, bringing her closer. “What I meant to say was that I appreciate how hard you’re working to establish a relationship with her.”
“Really?” She raised an eyebrow. “That’s not how it sounded.”
“I should talk less.”
“No doubt.”
“Let’s get back to the part about us being together.”
“Temporarily,” she whispered.
“Friends with benefits,” he offered, “or whatever the kids are calling it these days.”
She only studied him. “Are we friends now? Because when you kiss me—”
“Are there benefits involved?”
That earned a smile and she tipped up her face to kiss him. It was gentle, tentative, and he was having no part of it. He deepened the kiss, exploring her mouth even as he pressed her closer. She melted into him and, while he loved the idea of being with her again and again, a sliver of doubt twisted his gut. How would a temporary arrangement with Sam ever be enough?
It had to be because he wasn’t willing to give her more. Grace was his only priority, and he wouldn’t change that.
He could sure as hell enjoy the right now. It had been a long time since he’d done anything for himself, made a choice that wasn’t about his daughter. Sam offered the perfect arrangement. He pushed away the doubts and concentrated on enjoying this moment, which wasn’t hard to do with a beautiful woman in his arms. The difficult part would come when he had to let her go.
After a few more minutes, she broke away with a frustrated groan. “I need to find my friends. They’ll think . . .”
“That you killed me?”
She smiled slightly. “I should go.”
He nodded but slanted her a look that clearly showed he wanted her to stay. The connection between them grew stronger in the intensity of the moment, making him forget everything but her.
“Grace has a band concert next Thursday night,” he said into the charged silence.
Sam blinked.
“Would you like to go with me?”
Nervous tension slid across his shoulders to settle at the base of his neck, like he was a kid asking a girl to the school dance.
It took a moment for Sam to answer, and when she did those same nerves stretched taut with confusion and disappointment. “Um . . . yes, but . . . I don’t know. I have plans on Thursday.”
He was a fool.
“Like a date?” he asked, even though he didn’t want to see her mouth curve with the confirmation. After what had just passed—
“Not a date, more like an appointment.”
“Am I supposed to guess what you’re talking about or do you have a secret double life?”
She laughed but her gaze flitted away from his.
Shit. She had a double life.
“In that case—”
“I have class.”
His turn to blink.
“I’m in college, Trevor. Don’t laugh.”
One hell of a double life.
“I’m not laughing.” He rocked back on his heels and watched her grab the corner of the counter, her knuckles turning white. “It’s a surprise.”
“Because I dropped out of high school and—”
He moved forward, peeled her hand from the countertop, and laced his fingers with hers. “Because you’re already a success.”
“Genetics,” she whispered. “I wanted something more. It’s not a big deal.”
“What are you studying?”
“Counseling, with a minor in business.” She cleared her throat, her gaze fixed on their joined hands. “I employ smart, talented people at the camp. When I bought the property, my plan was to be a silent funder. But my camp director had a family crisis and quit two weeks into the first season. I took over and found I liked being hands-on. But I want to know what I’m doing. Officially. A degree . . .” She paused, shook her head. “I want it for me. It means something.”
“Good for you.” He placed a finger on her jaw and turned her face so that she was forced to look at him. “I’m glad you have this life, Sam. It suits you.”
“It was a fluke,” she said softly. “I hadn’t planned any of this, but I’d been up here early in my career for a photo shoot. The feeling I got from the land never left me.”
He didn’t answer because his legs felt weak.
“The photos you showed me before you left for Europe senior year,” he murmured after a moment.
“What?”
“You showed me a photo spread right before you left. They were taken on this property, in front of the lake.”
Her eyes widened. “I can’t believe you remember that.”
“The images were breathtaking.”
She nodded. “The photographer was really great.”
“The photos were special because of you,” he insisted. “I know that for sure. It was you.”
She studied him as if she could tell there was more he wasn’t saying.
“Don’t worry about Thursday,” he said quickly, needing to change the subject.
“My class is over at seven. I can talk to the professor. It’s probably not a problem if I leave early. What time does the concert start?”
“Six thirty.”
“I’ll make it work.”
“You don’t have to—”
“I want to be there, Trevor.”
“Grace will be thrilled.”
She tilted her head as if she wanted to ask him something, but only rose up on her toes to kiss him again. “Thanks for the invitation. I’m going to find everyone. Come out when you need a break.”
He watched her walk away then turned back to the kitchen. What he needed was to lose himself in his job before he once again lost his heart to Sam Carlton.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Are you sure you’re ok wi
th this?” Sam asked Trevor as she got out of her Range Rover in front of Foothills Junior High School later that week.
“I feel like I should ask you that question,” he said with a hint of a smile. “We’re going to a junior high band concert, and you look nervous as hell.” He lifted his hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “Beautiful, but nervous.”
She smoothed a hand over the bohemian-style ankle-length skirt she wore and adjusted the collar on her denim jacket. “I’m trying to blend in with the other moth—” She cleared her throat. “Family members.”
Trevor stopped walking and turned so he was blocking her path. “Are you hoping no one will recognize you?” he asked with a laugh. “When was the last time that happened?”
“I liked you better when you were the strong, silent type.” She poked him in the chest. “You need to shut your piehole right now.”
“My piehole,” he repeated slowly, staring at her as if a horn was growing out of her forehead.
She wished she had a horn as an excuse for her nerves. Maybe she wouldn’t feel like such an idiot. She took a step back before something else stupid, and possibly too revealing, popped unbidden from her mouth. “It’s too soon for this,” she said, more to herself than Trevor. “Tell Grace I couldn’t get out of class. I’ll see her tomorrow at camp.”
She whirled on the heel of her favorite pair of cowboy boots and took a step toward her SUV just as Trevor made a noise. A noise she’d never heard from him. Glancing over her shoulder, she narrowed her eyes. “Did you just squawk at me?”
He made the noise again.
“What the hell is that?” she asked, even though she had a pretty good idea.
“It’s me imitating a chicken,” he said calmly. “Or in this case you.” He squawked again.
He looked ridiculously handsome standing in front of her with that stupid noise coming out of his mouth. He wore a deep green button-down shirt tucked into dark jeans that fit him perfectly. He was tall and strong and so damn sure of himself and his place in this world.
The world of band concerts and plates of cookies with watered-down punch at the reception that was sure to follow. She’d been thrilled when Trevor had asked her to attend but then stupidly terrified of being a part of her niece’s life outside the safety of the summer camp.
Tell Me Again Page 9