“A kid, still wet behind the ears. Did you pass my lessons on to him? Couldn’t you have done better for yourself? He’s got to be years younger than you.”
“He’s only ten years younger and some men like older women.” She held up her hand as Jake opened his mouth to speak. “I’m sorry about Greg. It was all a set-up. I was angry, so I set out to get even. I used Greg and I owe him an apology.”
A wave of immense relief rolled over Jake, soothed some of the hurt in his heart. That explained the kid, but what about the other man he’d seen her with? That final kiss before she climbed into the cab outside that fancy restaurant was no casual farewell. The closeness between the couple had been plainly evident and the only explanation he could come up with was she’d been seeing him the whole time she’d been involved with him.
“I may have used Greg, but you not only lied to me, you used me, too. I was nothing but a way to bolster your ego.”
Her words were enough to fire up the anger again, anger he had yet to deal with. It had bubbled away under the surface all night. He slid his hand into his back pocket and grasped the wrinkled piece of paper between two fingers, dragging it out and waving it at her. “What about you? You weren’t just going to use me, you set out to steal from me.”
Madison shook her head to try to clear her thoughts. What on earth was he on about? She took the square of paper from his extended hand and opened it up. When she saw what it was, she gasped, her face hot with embarrassment. Her makeover plan. She’d forgotten all about it. How had Jake ended up with it?
“So what about that, Madison? You didn’t want a man in your life. You just wanted to steal some poor sucker’s sperm so you could have a baby. Only in this case, I happened to be the gullible idiot you were going to use. Jake. Possible sperm donor.”
She closed her eyes briefly as he spat out the final notation on the makeover plan as if it left a dirty taste in his mouth. The plan had ceased to matter as soon as she’d realized she was falling in love with him. She crumpled the list in her hand and tossed it onto the floor.
“Jake, I wrote that bit about you being a possible sperm donor before I got to know you. After that, I knew having a baby wasn’t the all-important thing I’d thought it would be. I wanted a real relationship with you.” She clasped her trembling hands together. “You got inside me, behind the defenses I’d erected to protect myself. Not as a stud or a man to impregnate me, but someone I—”
“Any chance you could already be pregnant, Madison? After all, you did wake me in the middle of the night and instigate a bit of one-on-one before I was fully awake. You didn’t give me time to use protection. So what was all that about if not getting pregnant?”
Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She stared at him like a stranded fish before she had the presence of mind to clamp her jaw shut. A splinter of pain shafted through her, like a knife being driven into her heart.
“It wasn’t like that,” she whispered through dry lips. “It was a spur of the moment thing. I never even gave protection a thought until this minute.” The hurt turned to anger. “And damn you, Jake, you were just as much a part of that little interlude as I was. Don’t make it sound like I rolled over and helped myself. Getting pregnant had nothing to do with it.”
“Yeah, right, you can tell yourself that, but I know the truth.”
“Jake, you’re wrong.”
“Like I’m wrong about your other stud?”
“Greg?”
“No, the bozo I saw you with at the French restaurant downtown.” He cut her off as she tried to speak. “I saw you, Madison, and I heard you talking about wanting to have a baby boy first. At least you had the goodness to be upfront with him, instead of trying to con him that you cared.”
Madison was at breaking point. She couldn’t handle much more of this. Not without saying something she’d regret, or at the very least, dissolving into tears. After Clifton she’d vowed no man would ever reduce her to a sniveling mess and she’d already broken that self-imposed rule with Jake.
She edged around him and stomped out the living room toward the front door. He trailed after her. “Get out, Jake. I’ve had enough. We’ll talk about this when we’ve both calmed down a bit.”
Jake slammed past her, tossed a final barb at her over his shoulder as he stepped off the porch. “You want to talk, go find the kid.” He paused. “Hang on a moment, it’s not talk you’re after, is it? It’s a baby. Have to tell you, babe, alcohol and sex don’t always mix. Kinda dulls the performance somewhat.”
He grinned, but Madison saw it more as a look of scorn.
“Tell you what,” he said, “why not go to your fancy stud from the restaurant the other night? At least he seems to know the score.”
He turned and walked away into the dark. Madison had no idea where he’d parked his car. She hadn’t seen it when she’d driven up. His parting words reverberated over and over through her mind. Her fancy stud? She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She did neither.
“But that was Clifton the Crud,” she whispered.
CHAPTER 20
Madison dragged in a deep breath of the fresh sea air as she stood before the front door of her mother’s new home. The wedding was still two day off, but Bart had convinced Rosa to move herself and her belongings across to his house and allow the new manager of Blue Harbor Retirement Home to take up residence in her old unit.
A small grin twisted Madison’s lips. Well, that was Bart’s excuse anyway, and Rosa was quite happy to go along with the pretence. She was glad for her mom, but visiting her had become an exercise in tactical maneuvers.
Twice now, she’d literally run away when she’d seen Jake’s distinctive car parked out the front. Today seemed to be her lucky day; the red convertible was nowhere to be seen.
Despite the warm night, a shiver slid down her spine and goosebumps broke out on her arms as thoughts of Jake tumbled through her mind. The sound of the waves on the beach behind the house should have soothed, but all it did was remind her of their aborted picnic and its aftermath.
The spicy scent from the ginger flowers in Bart’s garden floated on the night air, reminiscent of Jake’s aftershave. She shook her head. How pathetic she’d become. This had to stop.
She pushed her shoulders back and released her breath on a shaky sigh. Hand raised, she stepped up to knock on the door. Suddenly, the door opened with such force she stumbled back a step.
For a moment, she thought it might be Jake. Her pulse kicked up a beat and her hands started to shake. Heat streaked through her body, driving downwards and pooling between her thighs. Her panties grew wet and her clit throbbed as memories of Jake’s spectacular lovemaking rolled over her.
The breath wheezed from her throat when she saw her mother in the doorway, hands on her hips as she glared at her.
“How many times do I have to tell you not to knock, to just use the set of keys Bart gave you? We’re all going to be part of the same family. This is as much your home as mine now.”
“Good evening to you, too, Mother.” Despite the tremors that still swept through her, she grinned and moved forward to give her a hug and drop a light kiss on the top of her head. “Still using too much hairspray, I see.”
“Don’t you try and change the subject, Madison Paxton,” Rosa retorted. “We were talking about you and Jake. This can’t go on. You’ve moped around for the last couple of weeks and I’m tired of seeing your sad face every time I go over to visit you.”
“Actually, Mom, we were talking about front door keys, but I get your drift. You’re right, it can’t go on.” She stepped over the threshold and into the lighted foyer of the house. “Is he here?” she whispered.
“No, he’s not,” Rosa snapped. “I told you when you rang he was out.” She turned and walked through the house and out onto the back patio. The area was in darkness, although the soft glow from the interior lights filtered through the windows behind them and made an effort to break up the night shroud.
Rosa
led the way to a glass-top table and four chairs situated in the corner of the patio. “Sit,” she commanded and pointed to one of the chairs.
Madison knew that no-nonsense tone of voice. She’d been on the receiving end of it many times when she’d been growing up. She dropped into the seat, not game to do otherwise and, from experience, she knew it was better to keep her mouth shut until Rosa finished.
“I won’t have you and Jake creeping around, constantly trying to avoid each other. And I will not have my wedding ruined because—”
“I’ll be on my best behavior at the wedding, I promise,” Madison interrupted. “I won’t even speak to Jake. No way would I spoil your special day.”
“Be quiet and listen to me, Madison Marie Paxton.”
Oh-oh, I’m in trouble now. Mom never uses my full name unless she is seriously peeved with me. Madison pressed her lips into a tight line and waited for the next volley.
Rosa sat across from Madison, gave a deep sigh and lowered her hands to rest on the table in front of her. “Look, sweetie, that’s part of the problem. You and Jake not talking. How on earth are you going to sort this out if you don’t open up a discussion?”
We tried, Madison thought, and look where that ended up.
“When the two of you are together, the tension is as thick as pea soup. That is not conducive to the loving atmosphere I want for my wedding.”
“I told you, Mom, it won’t be like that. I’ll treat Jake like a long-lost brother. I’ll be so nice you won’t know me.”
“But that’s not how you think of him, is it? He is not your brother, despite the fact his father and I are marrying.” She grasped Madison’s hand. “He’s a nice boy, baby girl. He deserves to be happy, the same as you do.”
Madison was tempted to smile at her mother calling Jake a boy, but the issue was too serious even for that much. Rosa was right. Jake deserved to be happy. And one other thing. If Jake felt the same for her as she did for him, then she was the only one who could make him happy. After all, she’d been the one to send him away. That was part of the reason she’d come to see her mother tonight.
“Do you love him, Madison?”
The question shattered the calm façade she’d managed to erect about her heart. Tears filled her eyes and she answered without thought. “Yes, I love him.”
“Like you loved Clifton?”
“No, it’s different. I was little more than a child when I married Clifton. This is deeper, richer. There’s no one I would rather spend the rest of my life with than Jake.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that,” a deep male voice responded from out of the shadows.
Madison gasped as she twisted in her chair to find the owner of the voice. Bart stepped forward and a shaky sigh slid from her throat. Thank God. For a moment, she’d thought it was Jake.
Bart leaned over the table and flicked a lighter into life, applied it to the wick of the citronella flare sitting in the centre of the table. The flame flickered and released a fresh lemony scent into the air. He pocketed the lighter and placed a little black box in front of Madison. Then he positioned himself behind Rosa’s chair, his large hands on her shoulders in a protective gesture.
“Know what that is?”
She shook her head as she stared at the little black box. Lord, if she’d known Bart was there, she’d never have opened her mouth.
“That’s a stud finder, used to locate the beam behind the wallboard of a house. A necessary device when you want to hang a painting. When Jake first came to your place, he had one of those in his pocket.”
Madison wanted to crawl under the table. She dropped her head and stared at the tips of her fingernails. Talk about parents knowing it all.
“Jake told me he—”
With a wave of his hand, Bart cut Madison off. “No, hear me out. I know what Jake told you. I heard all about it earlier today. Jake should have informed you that I had sent him over there to hang the paintings. When he realized you thought he was a paid stud, he should have corrected the misconception, but he didn’t. He did the wrong thing, but he started off with the best of intentions. Regardless of the fact that he didn’t know you were Rosa’s daughter, it was still unethical.”
He pulled a chair up and sat down. “Jake could go back to Sydney and get on with his life, but he won’t be happy, because I have it on the best authority he loves you. You can go on with your studies, ignore Jake, but you won’t be content either. What are you going to do about it?”
Madison cleared her throat. “I want to sort it out.”
“Enough to make the first move? Because we men are stubborn beings when hurt ego comes into it.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told that son of mine. We don’t get too many second chances in this life. I got mine with Rosa. I think you and Jake are being handed a second go-around and it’s up to the pair of you what you make of it.”
With that, Bart stood up and disappeared into the darkness. Madison sat there, her hands over her mouth to hide the trembling of her lips. She would not cry. The time for tears was past. What she needed was a clever plan to break through the barrier Jake had erected about himself.
A germ of an idea came to her. “Mom, do you know where Jake is?”
“He’s gone to the library. He had some books he wanted to donate. Said they were of no use to him any longer, the way things had turned out.”
Madison had a mental picture of the little red book hidden in the glove compartment of the car and The How-To of Female Orgasm still under her bed. She grinned. Just how many books did he buy?
She suddenly saw the whole thing from a different perspective. Jake may have deceived her about being a paid stud, but he hadn’t used her. He’d wanted to please her, otherwise why bother buying books on the subject?
The little idea inside her head blossomed into a fully-fledged scenario. Her resident imp of mischief woke, fed the picture until she had all the pieces in place. The only thing she couldn’t guess at was Jake’s reaction.
“Mom, I need your expertise. Can we go to your bedroom?”
“What are you up to, baby girl? You’ve got that wicked light back in your eyes again.”
“If this works, Mother, you could have a stepson and a son-in-law all rolled up in the same package.” She jumped up from the table, grasped her mother’s hand and pulled her to her feet. Then she guided her into the house, a mischievous grin on her face. “Come on, let’s get this show on the road.”
Madison hovered behind the bushes lining the footpath just down from the library. The cell phone held to her ear, she whispered, “Hi, Mom, it’s me. Did you get him?”
“He’s about to leave the library now. I told him I needed him to pick up some ice cream on his way home. You ready?”
“I think so, but my knees are knocking and people are giving me some strange looks.”
“Go for it, baby girl,” Rosa said before she cut the connection.
Hands trembling, Madison shoved the phone into the deep pocket of her coat. She wiped a trickle of sweat from her forehead. Her body felt clammy and uncomfortable.
Good grief, fancy having to wear a coat in all this heat, but she’d needed to cover her costume until just the right moment. No way would she have had the balls to strut down the street dressed like this.
She crept out from behind the hedge and glanced at the front entrance of the library. No sign of Jake yet. She’d give him another few minutes before getting into character. Her mouth went dry as she dug into the pocket of the coat and pulled out the little black box called the stud finder, a bright red ribbon tied around it.
A passing couple gave her a strange look as she half-hid among the foliage of the Lilly Pilly hedge. Heat washed over her face. Heavens, if the police came along right now, they’d think she was a suspicious character and pick her up for loitering. If they got a look under the coat, they’d slap a soliciting charge on her.
A
movement at the front of the library caught her attention. Jake, his hand under the arm of an elderly lady as he assisted her down the wide marbled steps. He guided her over to a cab parked in front of the library and helped her inside, closing the door after her.
Okay, Madison, it’s time.
She shrugged out of the coat and slung it over the bushes before stepping into the circle of light created by the single streetlight. Back arched to push her breasts higher, she leaned against the light pole, one hand perched on her hip and the other, clutching the gift-wrapped stud finder, tucked behind her back.
Jake walked with his head down, a forlorn picture. Madison’s heart felt heavy, like a lump of lead in her chest. Her palms were sweaty and she had a sudden desire to burst into tears. Jake looked beaten, as if he’d lost his best friend.
Had she done that to him? Did she have the courage to go on with her crazy plan? There was a good chance he was so fed up he wouldn’t be remotely interested.
She shook her head. It didn’t matter. She had to try. Bart was right. You didn’t get too many chances in this life, and she’d be an idiot if she didn’t at least make the effort to grasp at a chance of happiness.
Her heart started to pound as Jake moved into the circle of light. She clutched the little black box tighter, ran her tongue along her dry lips and dragged in a shaky breath.
“Hey, Mister,” she crooned in a husky voice, “I’m looking for a stud. I even have the right equipment for the job.” She extended her hand, the black box on her palm, the red ribbon fluttering in the light breeze. “You interested?”
Jake started in surprise. The soft female voice full of sexual innuendo dragged him to an immediate full stop. For a moment, he could have sworn…
Nah, it couldn’t be. He raised his head, glancing over at the woman.
His jaw sagged. The blood drained from his face and he didn’t need a degree in anatomy to work out where it had all gone. His cock tightened with need, swelling to almost painful proportions. He shuffled his feet, trying to ease the constriction in his trousers as he closed his mouth and swallowed.
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