Roan (Hollywood Binge #2)

by Julia Bright

  “Roan, it’s generous, but I’m not having sex with you again. I’m done with you,” Presley said so emphatically that she may have even startled herself with the force and finality she’d used to convey those words.

  “That’s fair and noted. You just don’t understand. The reality is that I’ll be gone for a solid month in just a few weeks, then the season starts where I’ll be gone far more than I’m home. You aren’t going to see me, and more importantly, I’m not gonna see much of Maddie. I can’t commit to a visitation schedule because it would be a caregiver taking care of her, and my gut says you’d rather that be you. If we can just make this work while I’m looking for some place else, then I’ll get to build a relationship with Maddie while knowing you guys are safe.”

  He resisted the urge to pat himself on the back. That response sounded super reasonable.

  “Roan, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Presley started again, but he took those words as hedging and hope sprung forward.

  “Presley, I can’t live here while you two are sharing a twin bed. It’s a perfect solution. I checked into the school system here, and it’s supposed to be good. But if she needs private school, I’ll cover all those costs,” he countered, slowly tossing out all the answers he’d prepared when anticipating this conversation.

  Roan watched Presley wrap her arms tighter around her chest and begin to gnaw on her bottom lip. The foot that had gone absolutely still began to bounce nervously again. He took those all as positives signs. “Is this in place of child support?”

  “No.”

  Still a second passed before she stopped moving and asked, “Why would you do this?”

  “I told you I have a lot to make up for.” Roan decided that was the moment he had her. He rose, walking an arm’s length around her, purposefully keeping his distance. “I moved my things out of the master bedroom today. I need some decorating help, but now you can just do whatever you want. I liked this house because of the golf course, but I don’t play much golf. Come with me. I’ll show you around.”

  Resisting the urge to lay her head in her hands and give herself the time she needed to sort out this situation, Presley stayed seated, watching Roan walk away. Her shoulders slumped and defeat set in. Her life was no longer her own. Everything she’d always thought Roan would do if he found out about Maddie, all the things she’d prepared for, hadn’t happened on any level. Instead, Roan had openly apologized, given her a check for fifty thousand dollars, and had now suggested she take his home in order to give their daughter a better place to live.

  What the heck was going on? This experience seemed very Alfred Hitchcockesque as she sat there silently, waiting for the next layer of weirdness to further confuse the situation. Okay, that was a good point, and Presley looked around the room for any hidden cameras. Roan was a pseudo-celebrity. Maybe this was some sort of a backward Punk’d kind of episode. When she looked back over her shoulder to see Roan standing in the entrance between the hall and living room, resting a shoulder against the wall, waiting for her, she decided he must have the patience of Job. With all his reasonableness and responsibility taking, he had turned the tables on her. How had it happened that she was the one throwing out all the roadblocks and suspicions in this custody non-battle? This was so weird.

  Presley got to her feet and finally followed Roan through the house to a back hall with only one door leading into a bedroom. Roan walked through, turned on a light and said, “This is the master bedroom.”

  Presley followed and gave a bitter bark of laughter. She was certain her mother’s entire home would fit inside this one room.

  “I’ve only got a bed in here, but we can get you whatever furniture you want.” Roan opened the window drapes to reveal a pretty view of something, she had no idea what, but the moon was alluring and the little she could see was pristine. Roan turned on another light, drawing her attention in the opposite direction to show her a bathroom. She went inside and did a full circle; she couldn’t even understand how the room worked—a shower that had no doors and several showerheads? How did the rest of the bathroom not get soaked? A bathtub the size of a hot tub and a walk-in closet that was the size of the apartment bedroom she shared with Kady.

  “This is too much space. I wouldn’t even understand what to do with it all,” Presley said, taking another look at the shower, wishing she could turn on the faucet, get a better understanding of how the thing worked.

  “You’ll figure it out. Come on. I’ll show you Maddie’s room,” Roan said, already back in the bedroom, leaving that room as he spoke. She followed at a much slower pace. All her reservations and anger faded as she took in the whole house, knowing Maddie would love to live in a house like this. Heck, this had even been her own dream for most of her life.

  Roan waited for her at the end of the hall, and she followed him to the other side of the house. “I admittedly haven’t spent much time back here. I bought a bed for the guest room because I felt like it needed one, but I don’t have an extra set of sheets. I’ll do that tomorrow after I work out.”

  There were two smaller, but still nice-size bedrooms on this side of the house. “Maddie said she wants this bedroom, so I can take this one.” Roan turned on lights in both those rooms almost directly across the hall from one another and let Presley peek inside each one. “The bathroom’s here, across the hall.” Roan stayed out in the hall, not rushing her in the least. He waited patiently as she looked inside the bathroom then went back inside the room that was to be Maddie’s. “I have money set aside for decorating. You can do whatever you want with her room. She seemed excited about your plans.”

  “I had planned this morning to give her the bedroom and I’d take the living room sofa,” she said, turning off the light as she left Maddie’s bedroom. She went to the other bedroom and turned off that light, too, while Roan stayed in his spot with his back against the hall wall, watching her.

  “You need your own space too,” Roan said reasonably. She kept her distance, crossing her arms over her chest, just staring at Roan. They stayed like that for maybe as long as a minute before he pushed off the wall and went back into the living room.

  “I’ve never had my own room, so I’m not missing anything,” she finally said, trying for off-handed when the tension started to build between them again.

  “So what’d you think?” Roan asked. She watched him closely. He seemed to respect her decision to keep their relationship platonic. He hadn’t pushed her, seemed genuine in his desire to make up for the past, and more than willing to continue to live by her rules. Honestly, ever since he’d found out about Maddie, it had been her freaking out, being ugly and skeptical. Not Roan.

  “I think I need to think,” she answered. The weight of this decision, heck this whole situation, rested heavy on her shoulders. She couldn’t afford to make a wrong move, not with Maddie involved.

  The strain of the last few days, along with her lack of sleep for even longer had a jaw-cracking yawn escaping as she rolled the tension from her shoulders.

  “Then you two spend the night. Don’t drive back to your apartment so late. Maddie can sleep with you. I can move her in there,” Roan offered and scooted past her, keeping that respectful distance he’d maintained through the entire tour.

  “Roan…” There was no way possible to think clearly under this roof.

  “Just tonight. Let tomorrow happen then.” Roan gave his sound advice while going toward Maddie. When he scooped her up, carefully adjusting Maddie to keep her sleeping, he looked back at Presley. He came toward her, moving the blanket to fully cover Maddie whose head now rested on his shoulder. “Let me make this right, Presley. I’ve got to. The guilt’ll eat me up,” he whispered.

  Roan didn’t wait for her to answer. He left her standing there, while he went toward the master bedroom. She didn’t immediately trail behind him; instead, she took a good look at her surroundings. Living in this house, giving Maddie a house to live in… It was all too much to contemplate. Presl
ey rolled her eyes and trailed after Roan, knowing she’d happily take this house if he was genuinely offering it to her.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Presley fought waking. She turned to her side, nestling in the softest pillow she’d ever had then pulled the equally soft blanket up to her neck, easily drifting back off. Images of sleeping on a cloud, floating weightlessly under the warmth of a sunny sky kept her blissfully asleep. Man, she loved this dream. The birds began to chirp in a chorus of conflicting notes that somehow added another layer of peace to her serenely happy place. She was comfortable, content, relaxed, safe…

  Her eyes popped open. Presley looked around as far as her gaze could scan without moving one single muscle—white walls, a brilliant view from the partially closed blinds of a giant window, birds right outside that same window, and an alarm clock that read ten forty-five in the morning. What? Wait. When was the last time she’d slept to such a late hour? She immediately reached over, feeling around the mattress for Maddie. She wasn’t there. Presley bolted up and looked around the whole room. Her daughter was nowhere to be seen and the bathroom and main bedroom door were both shut. She listened for a minute and heard nothing from the house.

  With a quick flip of the wrist, she whipped the covers off her body and went straight for the living room. In need of a barrier, she had slept in her clothes last night. She reached for her ponytail holder, tugging the hair tie from its hold. As her hair fell around her shoulders, Presley came to an abrupt stop in the entrance to the living room where she saw Roan in the kitchen turning a pancake on the stove. Maddie stood right beside him on a kitchen table chair pushed to the counter. She stirred what Presley assumed was pancake batter based on the mess running down the side of the bowl, covering the counter, and staining the front of Maddie’s dress. Neither paid any attention to Presley as they worked diligently, concentrating on their cooking. Maddie chatted happily away while Roan looked to be struggling with getting the pancake to turn properly.

  Maddie loved her pancakes in the morning and had to have talked Roan into making them. As much as she didn’t want to, her heart connected with the scene.

  The reality of her situation smacked her straight in the face. No question, she was going to have to accept Roan’s offer. Maddie seemed so genuinely happy. She deserved more moments like this.

  Hoping to remain unseen, Presley backtracked to the bedroom, carefully closing the door before going for her purse. She pulled out her cell phone to find a dozen text messages from Kady. Of course, her friend wouldn’t be okay with the simple text message she’d sent last night to say she was sleeping over at Roan’s. Even with the added explanation that she planned to sleep with Maddie, Kady would want all the details. How did she even begin to explain all this over text? She couldn’t. Instead, she made a group text, calling an emergency lunch date with Kady and Blaine. She gave the 911 code that meant whatever plans they had needed to be canceled. Their predetermined emergency code required precedence—and had added impact since she’d never used it before. She gave the name of the small deli closest to her apartment to meet at noon then Presley dropped her phone back inside her purse and went for the bathroom, hoping she could find a toothbrush.

  “I think we did good,” Roan said, carrying the plate of pancakes to the table. Well, if good meant each one was a different size, some had burned sides, and others were just flat inedible.

  “I think so too!” Maddie jumped off the chair, landing squarely on both feet before she took off running to the table. She had insisted on being a part of every single step in preparing their breakfast. To Roan, she was absolutely precious, but for others, he could see she might be a bit of a handful. He was already so in love with this kid that it didn’t matter what she did. He found himself right on board for any new experience she included him in. “Should I go wake up my momma?”

  “I’m awake.”

  Roan looked over to see Presley coming into the kitchen. She was completely dressed, hair pulled back into a ponytail, sunglasses pushed back on her head, and her purse slung over her shoulder.

  His heart fell. She seemed ready to leave. So not the way he’d planned this day. He turned away to school his features while placing the pancakes in the middle of the table. He hadn’t slept much last night with the object of his desire just feet away. In all that time awake, he’d let his imagination run wild, conjuring up all the different ways the three of them could spend the day. In every scenario, the day ended with Presley being swept off her feet and staying the night in his bed, with him there too. His desire rushed through him as he reached for a chair, taking a seat, willing himself to pull it together.

  “We cooked a delicious breakfast,” Maddie said and gave one single hop of excitement, oblivious to Presley’s obvious exit plan.

  “It looks good, too,” Presley murmured. He watched her move as she took the wide path around him. The tight-fitting shorts that molded to her body like a glove accentuated the gentle sway of her hips. Roan reached for the silverware he’d lain on the table and began placing those close to the three plates already there.

  “I helped cook, too.” Maddie darted to her chair, the one with a set of hardback books in the seat.

  “Can I get some coffee?” Presley asked, keeping herself several feet away. He envisioned an imaginary circle set around him and Maddie that she didn’t want to cross.

  “Sure, I have a carafe here on the table. I didn’t know if you liked cream and sugar, so I have both here.” Roan pointed toward the coffee, knowing he presented more of a challenge than an offering. Would she come closer?

  “Come eat, Momma!”

  Presley held her ground. He saw reluctance in Presley’s attitude until frustration knitted her pretty brow. Clearly, the first step was the hardest based on the way she stumbled. He wasn’t sure if she’d looked at him yet, but she’d brought a lot of tension with her when she’d entered the kitchen. The hostility was almost tangible as Roan watched her take her seat.

  Presley didn’t reach for her coffee first. Instead, she immediately began cutting Maddie’s pancake. Damn, he hadn’t remembered to do that for Maddie. Those were the things that were taking the most time to get used too. Not letting himself be derailed by his faulty step, Roan poured Presley’s cup of coffee and added a pancake to her plate for nothing more than to keep her there a little longer.

  “We have to save some room. We have a lunch date with Kady and Blaine,” Presley said to Maddie, effectively dashing all his hopes for the day.

  “Ah, man, we were going to take you to the park,” Maddie declared boldly. They hadn’t discussed plans for the day. Well, he hadn’t. Maddie may have. She seemed to talk non-stop about everything. If an idea came to her mind, it also came out her lips. She could have suggested the park.

  “I’m sorry, hun. We’ll have to do it another time,” Presley said, pouring just a hint of syrup on the cakes. Maddie immediately dug into the breakfast even as she groaned a barely audible “oh, man” while cramming her mouth full.

  “She can stay here while you run your errands,” Roan said, knowing he shouldn’t necessarily have said anything in front of Maddie, but this retreat thing Presley was intent on had him tossing caution to the wind and dumping everything on the table.

  “Momma, he plays football that’s on television,” Maddie declared happily, stuffing another giant bite of pancake in her mouth.

  “I know, honey. Isn’t that cool?” When Maddie nodded vigorously then started to speak, Presley cut her off. “Don’t talk with food in your mouth.”

  Maddie chewed the big bite while beaming proudly at Roan.

  “Why don’t you let her stay here? I was going to talk to you about that anyway. I can watch her at night for the next month or so,” Roan tried again. Presley sat back in her seat, taking a strip of the pancake and her cup of coffee with her, looking skeptically at him. It was nice to have her eyes on him, but, man, he didn’t like that look.

  “Let me stay here, Momma,” Maddie said e
agerly.

  “Don’t you have plans?” Presley asked Roan.

  “Nah, nothing that matters. It’s not a problem.” This time he put his utensils down and focused his full attention on Presley, trying to convey how serious he was taking all of this.

  “Let me stay here, Momma,” Maddie tried again, unable to contain herself.

  “Maddie, eat your breakfast and let us talk.” Presley’s tone turned stern. She tapped her finger on the table right beside Maddie’s plate and drew the girl’s attention to her food. His daughter looked downtrodden, but did as her mother asked.

  “Let her stay. If it gets too much, I’ll let you know. It’ll be easier on you if you take me up on my offer. She won’t have to be uprooted so much. She’ll be in her home,” he suggested, talking about everything he’d offered up over the last twelve hours as if it were a given that Presley would accept the offer. This time Maddie managed to hold her tongue, but her bright excitement had her wiggling in her seat again, kicking her foot against the chair. She was so cute and impossible to ignore.

  “I guess it could work.” Presley caved, and Maddie let out an excited squeal and bounced around while wholeheartedly digging into her pancakes.

  “My Roan has a playground at his workout place. He said I could go with him sometimes.” Her excitement was contagious, causing him to smile back at her and give a wink. Something so small had generated such a big response. His daughter accepted him, just for him. It might be the first time in his life that had ever happened.

  They’d made enough progress for now. Roan kept eating, watching Presley again retreat emotionally. The walls were back in place. She kept herself at a distance, sipping her coffee then nibbling on the pancake. So they hadn’t made it to the loving family he’d hoped for last night, but they were all still in the house at least for right now. Small victories had to be counted.