She still hoped he was just blowing off steam and would eventually stop with the texts. However, the whole thing had put her a bit on edge.
The only thing that had taken Chad and the new vandalism out of her mind for a little while had been the laughter they’d all shared over pizza.
It had been so unexpected. In a million years she’d never dreamed that she and Knox would be able to laugh with each other again. But he hadn’t been amused when he’d gone upstairs to send Cody off to sleep.
She went back into the living room and sank down on the overstuffed brown sofa to wait for Knox’s return. There was no question that her son was developing a huge case of hero worship for Knox. Did it worry her? She had to admit it did a little bit.
She just didn’t want Cody’s fragile heart to be hurt in any way. It should be a little girl that gave him his first heartbreak, not his father.
Her muscles tensed at the sound of Knox’s footsteps coming back down the stairs. She’d stayed out of the way this afternoon and evening so that he and Cody could spend quality time together. From upstairs it had sounded like they’d had fun. What on earth could he have to discuss with her now?
He entered the living room and immediately she felt the heavy tension that wafted from him. “Did you get him tucked in?” she asked.
“I did.” He sat in the wingback chair opposite her and stared at her with his beautiful but cold blue eyes. “What on earth were you thinking when you told Cody that his father is some kind of a superhero who is off fighting crime?”
Allison physically felt the blood drain from her face. “I didn’t know what else to tell him.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t tell him his father was dead.”
She sat up straighter. She refused to allow his harsh gaze to cow her. “Three years ago a close friend of Cody’s lost his father in a car accident. Cody was distraught for his friend and while he was crying he asked me about his own father. That certainly wasn’t the time for me to tell him that his father was dead, so I told him he had an important job fighting crime and couldn’t come to visit because he was keeping us all safe.” She raised her chin a notch. “Besides, it was the truth.”
“Except the part where you didn’t tell him that I didn’t even know he existed.”
She leaned back and released a deep sigh. “Knox, I agree that I’ve made some mistakes. I thought...” She cast her gaze to the right of him, not wanting to look at him as she continued. “I thought I was doing what was best for everyone in the situation.”
“By telling me you got pregnant by another man when we were together? What part of that was best for everyone?”
“You had already left town. The last thing I wanted to do was force you to come back to me by telling you I was pregnant.” And then there was the fact that his mother was a convicted murderer.
“I thought you cheated on me.”
“I’d never cheat on any man. That isn’t who I am.” Another sigh escaped her. “Knox, this is all water under the bridge. I’m trying my best to make everything right now.”
To her utter surprise tears burned hot in her eyes, tears that were impossible to control. “Look, I’ve had a really bad day at work and the last thing I need right now is for you to berate me for decisions I made in the past.”
She ended her words with an audible sob and raised her hands to hide her face. Good grief, what was wrong with her? Why was she suddenly so out of control?
“Don’t cry, Allison. You know I could never stand it when you cried.”
The unexpected softness in Knox’s voice did nothing to staunch her tears. It only made her feel worse. She’d made such a mess of things when she’d lied to Knox so long ago. But she’d already been hurt by his abrupt withdrawal, and the last thing she’d wanted was to tie him to her when he obviously didn’t want to be with her.
She shook her head, feeling foolish as she only cried harder.
“Allison.”
His voice was close and when he grabbed her by the hand she allowed him to pull her up and into his arms. It was the very last place she should be, but she leaned weakly against him as her tears continued to flow.
She’d had to be so strong in taking care of her sick father, a baby and a business. She’d had to remain strong for Cody when her father had passed away, but at this very moment she had no strength left; there was only old grief and new regrets.
“Shh.” Knox tightened his arms around her. His embrace was wonderfully familiar and despite the years, in spite of his anger with her and her long-ago hurt and anger toward him, his arms felt safe. His shirt smelled of fabric softener and his woodsy cologne as she buried her head against his shoulder.
Slowly the tears began to subside but she didn’t move out of his embrace. There had been many times in the past ten years that she’d yearned for a man’s arms around her. She’d secretly yearned for his arms.
He rubbed a hand up and down her back, the caress not only comforting her, but also stoking a delicious warmth inside her. Move away, a little voice whispered in her head. This was madness, to linger in the arms of a man who would never have a place in her life again.
She raised her head with every intention of stepping away from him. But his arms pulled her closer to him and his lips crashed down on hers.
Hot and hungry, his mouth demanded an immediate response from her and she was helpless to do anything but comply. Without her volition her arms rose to encircle his neck as she opened her mouth to him.
The kiss erased all rational thought from her mind. Instead, all of her senses came gloriously alive as his mouth made love to hers. His tongue swirled with hers as his scent suffused her, and the heat of his hands on her back invited her to melt against his broad chest. Their bodies fit together perfectly, as if they had been made for each other.
He finally left her lips to slide his mouth down the column of her throat. As her knees weakened with desire, rational thought slammed back into her. She jerked back from him, appalled by how quickly, how completely, he could break down all her defenses.
His eyes radiated a raw hunger as he held her gaze intently. “Despite everything that has happened between us, I still want you. There’s always been something strong between us, Allison, and you can’t deny that it’s still there.”
No, she couldn’t deny it, but she also wouldn’t admit it to him. “It doesn’t matter.” She took two steps back from him, needing not only to emotionally distance herself but to physically distance herself, as well.
“That kiss was a mistake. I don’t feel that way about you anymore.” Okay, maybe she could deny it, but she could tell by the look in his eyes that he didn’t believe her.
“In any case, anything like that between us would be foolish and it would only complicate things. We aren’t going there again, Knox, and now I think it’s time we say good-night.”
She breathed a sigh of relief when he nodded and turned to walk to the front door. Her legs were still shaky as she accompanied him.
“I’m sorry about my little breakdown,” she said.
He turned to face her and before she could read his intentions he grabbed her and once again planted a kiss on her lips.
It was short and searing and when he released her his eyes sparkled with a knowing glint. “The next time you try to tell me you don’t feel that way about me anymore, say it like you really mean it,” he said, and then he was gone into the night.
Allison closed and locked the door, then raised a hand to her lips where the heat from his mouth still burned. How had the night gone so crazy, first with her unexpected tears and then with the even more unexpected desire that had exploded between them?
She turned out all the lights on the lower level and then slowly climbed the stairs where the hall light was on at the top. Thoughts of Knox still filled her head as she went pa
st her bedroom and instead stood at Cody’s bedroom door.
He was asleep on the top bunk and facing the doorway. A little smile lingered on his face, as if he was enjoying happy dreams.
This was the first night in over nine years that she hadn’t been the one to tuck him into bed. She hadn’t kissed him on his forehead and told him to have sweet dreams. Her face hadn’t been the last one he’d seen before he went to sleep. Tonight Knox had maybe stroked the hair off Cody’s forehead and wished his son happy dreams.
She turned and went into her bedroom. In the adjoining bathroom she pulled the pins from her hair to release it and then changed from her clothes to her pink, short-sleeved nightshirt. Cody had bought it last year for Mother’s Day with his allowance, and it had a rearing horse on the front with the word Spirit in purple.
As she brushed her hair and teeth, her head was still filled with Knox. She shouldn’t be surprised by the intense physical attraction the two of them shared. It was part of what had brought them together again and again in the past.
In high school they’d broken up once, but it had only been a couple of days before they got back together. When they’d grown apart while she was in college, it had only taken them a few days after she’d returned to Shadow Creek for them to pick up their intense relationship.
But there was too much damage between them now to resume anything. Passion meant nothing if it wasn’t followed up by trust and the broken bond between them would never be completely repaired. It was imperative that she remember that in the future.
She left the bathroom and vowed she wasn’t going to think about Knox anymore. He would always have a role in her life as Cody’s father, but that’s all he would ever be to her.
She pulled down the spread and got into bed and then grabbed her cell phone which she had forgotten to carry down for dinner. She had twenty new text messages.
u goin.g to pay.
u pay bitch
Bitch
Bitch
Bich
Bith
They were all from Chad and she could only guess that the more he drank, the sloppier the spelling. But the sentiment was the same. Anger...rage...and it didn’t seem to be abating with time, but was rather escalating.
The heat that Knox had evoked in her seeped away as she remembered that moment the night before when she’d thought she and Cody were being followed. A chill suffused her.
She knew Chad was a drunk. Now she worried that he was not only a drunk, but potentially dangerous, as well.
* * *
Chad stood beneath a tree across the street from Allison’s house. The rain had finally come to a stop and he had left the Whiskey Sour to head for home.
He figured by the time he took the long walk back to his small house, he’d sober up. Right now he knew he was drunk, but that didn’t stop the hatred that flooded through him as he stared at the dark house across the street.
Allison and her boy would be sound asleep by now. He hoped she was having nightmares. He grabbed hold of a low branch to steady himself.
She was such a Goody Two-shoes. He hadn’t liked her from the moment she’d hired him. She was nothing but a self-righteous bitch.
All the men had a beer or two at lunchtime and yet she’d come down on his ass and fired him. She was going to be sorry. He was definitely going to make her sorry.
He released his hold on the branch and started walking up the street, his hatred for Allison Rafferty burning hot in his soul.
Oh, yes, he was going to make her pay. He was going to be her worst nightmare come true.
Chapter 5
Main Street in Shadow Creek hadn’t changed much in the ten years since Knox had been gone. The quaint buildings would have been perfectly at home on the set of an old Western movie. The only thing that had changed was some of the businesses.
Where he remembered a barbershop had once existed, the space was now a cell phone store. The ice cream parlor where he and Allison had often gone after school with friends had been turned into a computer repair and printing shop.
However, there were still familiar places like the Shadow Creek Mercantile and El Torero’s Mexican Restaurant. Apparently women still got their hair done at Marie’s Salon and Spa, and the Whiskey Sour and Aldo’s were still the popular drinking joints.
Knox wasn’t looking for a drink, although he wouldn’t mind popping into El Torero’s for some lunch. He’d come into town with a specific goal in mind and he’d found what he wanted at the mercantile.
Two ball gloves and a baseball now rested in a sack in the backseat. Although Cody hadn’t mentioned anything about playing catch, wasn’t that what fathers and sons did together?
He thought maybe tomorrow night when he picked up Cody they could go back to Thorne’s to play some catch and then cook some burgers for dinner. Knox couldn’t believe how anxious he was to once again be in Cody’s company.
He couldn’t imagine what man wouldn’t want to be a part of their child’s life. Although Knox had no role model for parenting, he was excited to be an involved parent.
Why hadn’t his own father felt that way about him? Perhaps Tad Whitman hadn’t believed that Knox was his or maybe he had just wanted to get as far away from Livia as possible. It sucked that he had missed out on having a father in his life and it sucked even more that his mother had been nothing short of a monster.
Shoving these troubling thoughts aside, he decided to indulge his hunger for some Mexican fare. He parked his car several spaces down from the restaurant and then got out.
The rain from the day before was nothing but a memory this morning and the sun was bright and warm. Or was it the thought of kissing Allison that had his body temperature elevated?
He’d definitely thought about those kisses long after he’d left Allison’s house the night before. Her mouth had been as hot, as inviting, as he’d remembered.
The visceral, aching desire he’d always felt when around her hadn’t dissipated through time. Something about her stirred him like no other woman ever had. That didn’t mean he wanted a relationship with her. But he definitely wouldn’t mind getting her in his bed again.
He was about to walk past the sheriff’s station door when the woman in his thoughts exited the building and took off, walking just in front of him. “Allison,” he called after her.
She stopped and turned to face him. He quickly caught up with her. “Are you all right? Is Cody okay?” A surge of concern swept through him. Why had she been in the police station? People only went there if they were in trouble.
“Cody is fine and so am I.”
The words were right, but a line of tension across her forehead said otherwise as she reached up and grasped a strand of her hair.
“What were you doing in the sheriff’s office?” He told himself that he had a right to know what was going on in her life because it might affect his son.
She dropped her hand to her side and met his gaze with troubled eyes. “I had to fire a man on Monday and since then he’s been blowing up my phone with text messages. I thought it was time to talk to Sheriff Jeffries about it.”
“I was just on my way to El Torero’s. Why don’t you let me buy you some lunch?” He wanted to hear more about these text messages. Allison wasn’t the kind of woman who got shaken easily, but she was obviously shaken up now.
She looked away and then back at him and he saw her hesitation. “Come on, Ally. A couple of enchiladas always make the world better.”
She looked lovely in a tailored white blouse and navy slacks. As usual her hair was pulled back and navy hoop earrings hung on her delicate ears.
She finally offered him a small smile. “Okay, lunch sounds good.”
Together they walked into the restaurant. El Torero’s was like a million other Mexican restaurants. T
he interior was dark, the walls were decorated with beaded sombreros and painted murals, and it smelled of spicy salsa, onions and toasted chips.
There was no hostess at the front, only a sign that indicated they should seat themselves. Knox led Allison to the booth where they had often eaten when they’d been a couple.
They had barely settled in when a young woman appeared with water glasses and menus. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes to take your orders,” she said with a friendly smile before disappearing once again.
“I don’t need to look at the menu.” Allison set the large plastic menu aside. “Cody and I eat here occasionally and I know I want a number three platter.”
“Let me guess...two cheese enchiladas with beans and rice.” Knox smiled as she nodded.
“And I bet you’re going to order beef enchiladas and a pork burrito,” Allison replied.
“Seems like old times.” He gazed at her for a long moment. “Now tell me about those texts.”
Before she could reply the waitress returned to take their orders. It was only when she once again left the table that Allison released a sigh and set her cell phone on the table. “Here, you can see them for yourself. They came from Chad.”
Knox picked up her phone and went to her messages. As he read what the man had written, a new tension began to build inside him. Even though Allison wasn’t really his business anymore, the emotions that pressed tight against his chest were the needs of a man to protect his woman.
He turned her phone off and slid it back across the table to her. “Tell me more about this Chad.”
“I hired him about eight months ago and for a while he was a fairly decent worker. But over the last couple of months I’d gotten complaints about him drinking on the job or coming to work drunk. My two head foremen had told me they didn’t want him working with them anymore, so Monday I had to let him go. Needless to say he didn’t take the news well. I ignored the messages until I felt like they got personally threatening and I thought maybe Cody and I were followed when we walked home from the diner.”
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