“What happened?” she asked in a small voice as if scared to find out.
“Campanella threatened her. Threatened our roommate. And then burned the crap out of her arm with a cigar. She still has the scar.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Yeah, it was. I’m still mad at the FBI for not letting me contact her. I can’t even imagine how scared she must have been. The rest is pretty easy to figure out. Avery was desperate for cash. Marcus didn’t want a female guitarist back then.” I let out a long breath. “At least it worked out alright for them in the end. You’ve probably seen pictures. They’re a pretty tight couple now.” I waited for her to say something. That was basically all of it, enough damning evidence to convict me of being the selfish impulsive guy I knew I had been. I watched her and waited. She continued staring straight ahead, her expression blank, but she was chewing the crap out of her lip. “Hey,” I manned up and reached for her hand. “Stop doing that and say something alright? I’m dying over here.”
“Why’d you start doing drugs?” she asked, throwing me completely for a loop.
I’d just told her about my run in with the mob and about my fake death and this was the question she asked? I shrugged. “Looking to escape the self-esteem issues I had because of the abuse mostly,” I answered honestly. “At least that’s what I figured out in rehab.”
“Hmm.”
“If you think I’m a cocky bastard now, I was even worse back then when I was using, I guess I thought like most addicts that I could control it.” If she wasn’t going to grill me about the rest of it, I figured it was my turn to ask her. “What about you? Why’d you start using?”
She pursed her lips. “More of the first thing you said. I got myself in way over my head with the number of hours I was doing in school, and I was working too. The coke kept me going. Gave me a false sense of security, made me feel invincible. At least that’s what I learned in rehab.”
“Hmm.” I teased mimicking her response.
“I’m not going there ever again,” she continued. “The drugs took over my life, and I scared Carter. I know he still has nightmares about it, and about losing me, especially since Meemaw’s death.” She closed her eyes as if she was trying to block it all out and put her head in her hands.
I angled closer, tapping my knee against hers, and gently removed her hands from her face. “It’s ok, baby. We all make mistakes, and just so you know, mine win for worst.” I tried to tease a smile out of her without any luck. “You’re a good mom, Bridget, and Carter’s a great kid. There’s so much love between you. You’re both gonna be alright.”
That got me a tremulous smile. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“No problem.” I stretched my arm out behind her and hooked my hand to draw her closer. We sat in silence for a while. The attraction was still there humming beneath the surface like it always did, but the weight of the past’s revelations hung heavy in the air between us.
“Bridget,” I finally ventured, turning my head to look at her sweet face. Her aquamarine eyes were flooded with concerns and I had to remind myself to breathe and prepare for the brushoff I felt sure was coming. “Tell me this doesn’t ruin everything.” She shook her head, a long strand of hair falling across her lips. My throat felt tight as I reached out to smooth it behind her ear. “Please don’t give up on us before we even have a chance to get started.”
“I don’t want to.” She gave me a searching sidelong glance. “Is there anything else you haven’t told me that you think I should know?”
“No, that’s it. Are you kidding? I would think that would be more than enough.”
Her lips curved up at the edges. “Honestly Justin, I had a great time with you tonight. Even with all this heavy stuff. Maybe even because of it.” She let out a small laugh. “Hell, I probably wouldn’t know what to do if my life didn’t include a little drama. But I still want to take things real slow.”
“I can do slow.” My gaze roamed her face while my heart danced the cupid shuffle inside my chest.
“But I need another promise from you.”
“Anything.”
She touched my face and I leaned into her hand. “Promise me if things don’t work out between us…”
“They will.”
“I wish I had your confidence and I wish…well, that’s not important, just promise that you’ll always be there for Carter. He’s already gotten really attached to you.”
“Done. That’s an easy one, babe.” I shifted so I could frame her pretty face in my hands. “My turn now, yeah?”
“Ok.” Warmth filled her eyes and a tentative smile ghosted across her lips.
Hell, I hoped that warmth was all for me. “I want you and Carter to come with me this weekend out to the Anthony farm to meet my family. My sister and my dad.”
“Your dad? But I don’t understand. I thought…”
“We’ve reconciled. It took some doing, but he’s changed, and he’s pretty sick. Would you come? So we can spend more time together. We’d have separate rooms. It’s a bed and breakfast, but closed this weekend so there’s plenty of space and...”
She put a finger over my lips. “Yes. I’d love to.” She was grinning big time now. “You’re rambling like I do when I get nervous…babe.”
I grinned as I kissed her fingertips. She started to withdraw her hand, but I caught it. “One more thing and I’ll take you home.”
“Ok.”
My brow rose in response to her quick agreement. “I want a kiss.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Bridget
Milk, flour, sugar, baking soda and powder, oil, and a little bit of butter. I took another swig of coffee and mixed the ingredients together stopping when the batter was barely incorporated just like Meemaw had taught me. I dropped half dollar sized dollops into the pan. They landed with a sizzle, just as my body had done last night when Justin had kissed me…
I watched as that gorgeous face got closer. And oh yes, proximity only improved the view. Then his lips touched mine. My eyelids fluttered closed and my hands came up to rest on the smooth cloth of his button down shirt, his chest solid as granite beneath it.
This kiss was gentle and cautious at first, the other side of the spectrum from the previous one. That one had been a passionate assault, a takeover of all my senses. This one was a seductive coaxing. And I succumbed…more than willingly.
His firm lips moved skillfully over mine, both of us taking our time to leisurely explore, testing the taste and texture of each other. His mouth parted and the tip of his tongue came out and traced the seam between mine.
That felt so good that I moaned and my fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt. Justin’s kiss was every bit as enticing as his voice.
In other words, the man had serious skills.
His tongue swept in between my willingly parted lips to tease and tantalize. And if his voice was hot chocolate then his kisses were dark chocolate cordials, decadent and extremely addictive. I never wanted it to end. He made me feel sexy and desirable, things I hadn’t felt in a very long time. And that time had been a lie.
Emboldened by the increased pressure of his fingers against my skin, I slid my tongue along his, the friction sending tiny shimmering tremors straight to my core.
He groaned. The vibration of that low grumble, the confirmation that he was just as turned on, made desire pump even harder and faster through my veins. And that’s when the kiss changed. He began delving my mouth with long deep languid strokes. My entire body flushed with heat and my heart started beating so fast that I had to break off the kiss to come up for air.
Justin’s eyes were nearly black with desire. He searched my face, taking in my flushed cheeks and the ragged gulps for air that I made through my parted swollen lips. “Beautiful,” he breathed in approval and the corners of his mouth curled with satisfaction right before he lowered his head to start up again. This time my neck, not my mouth, became the target. Warm, firm kisses traveled in
a line down the arched column of my throat as I clung to him.
Justin Jones was by far the sexiest man I’d ever met, an intoxicating cocktail of solicitous lover, handsome romantic and poetic soul.
He wasn’t perfect, I still had a few lingering concerns, but I was beginning to suspect that he might be the perfect man for me.
“Yay! Pancakes!” Carter’s unexpected voice brought me back from my reverie to the here and now. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and then peered into the pan. “I think those are on fire, Mommy.”
Damn.
I used the spatula to scoop the smoldering black discs out of the pan and flipped them into the sink. I turned on the faucet and steam rose from the basin as the water hit them. Yeah, it might be wise to extinguish those distracting thoughts about Justin Jones and his kisses if I didn’t want to end up burning the entire building down.
“Sit,” I told Carter, pointing to the dining table with the spatula. “There’s OJ in the pitcher and bacon under the paper towel. Eat up.” While he dug in, I whipped up a few fluffy pancakes and dropped them onto a plate, a stack for Carter and another one for myself. I sat down beside him and reached for the syrup. “We have a lot to do today.”
He lips formed a pout, but he didn’t complain. I watched him devour his food enthusiastically. I wasn’t much of a cook, but I knew how to make a mean batch of pancakes…when I was paying attention.
After we were both done, we cleaned up the kitchen, and I left a note on the counter to let Lace and Bryan know I’d left breakfast in the warmer. Then I took a seat again at the table. Carter sat beside me and looked over, all wide blue eyes and sticky syrupy mouth. I handed him a napkin and scooted my chair closer. “Carter,” I began but then faltered, though I’d been thinking about how to say this all last night and this morning. As he wiped his face, I found the words that had momentarily abandoned me and continued, “I really like Justin and I know you do too.”
He nodded vigorously.
“We had a really good time out on our date last night. And the thing is we decided, what I mean is, well, I think we’re boyfriend and girlfriend now.”
Carter smiled widely.
“But Carter, I don’t want you to get your hopes up too high.” I knew I was cautioning myself as much as him. “Relationships with grownups are complicated. But even if things don’t work out between us, Justin will always be your friend, ok?”
“Alright, Mommy.” Carter nodded sagely as if he were fifteen instead of just five. “Is he going to hang out with us again like he did last Saturday?”
“Yes, actually, but there’s more than that.” I glanced at the clock and winced. “We need to pack…” I stopped as a flash of fear flickered across my son’s face. “Oh, Carter, no.” I covered his hand. “We’re not leaving Vancouver. It’s just that Justin invited us to spend the weekend at a farm on Vancouver Island where his dad lives, and we get to meet his sister, too.”
“Avery?” His eyes brightened, and he started to squirm with excitement.
“Yeah. So we need to get going. I want you to have a haircut before we leave, and we’ve only got a couple of hours left to get ready.”
• • •
Carter turned his head, glancing back at me from the cockpit of the cramped float plane. His face was covered in an enthusiastic grin. “Mommy, the pilot says you need to buckle your seatbelt.”
“Ok,” I replied through a return grin and clicked my belt as I’d been ordered. The little imp had been invited up front and was riding in the copilot seat. The power had gone directly to his head and he’d been barking out orders to the other passengers for the past ten minutes straight.
Carter turned around as the engine whine started to increase in volume and the plane taxied out into the middle of the Burrard Inlet, picking up its speed. Within moments we lifted into the air and passed right over Canada Place, the waterfront building topped with the iconic sails that were two hundred and sixty-seven feet tall.
I felt Justin’s hand touch mine and turned from the window to take in the handsome man sitting beside me. His emerald eyes sparkled almost as bright as Carter’s, and I wanted to run my fingers through the silky auburn strands that were so attractively tousled from the wind we’d encountered earlier out on the dock. I still couldn’t believe this was happening. That he wanted to take us out to meet his family.
His thigh pressed into mine. His long legs practically folded up to his chin in the small bench seat. “Thanks for agreeing to come.” His lips curled into a slightly dimpled barely there version of a smile.
Yeah, it was another good one.
He threaded his fingers together with mine, my stomach flip flopping from the potency of the one two combo of smile and skin to skin contact. “Carter seems to be having a good time.”
I laughed. “You think?”
He suddenly went very still, his gaze fixating on my lips for a beat before he leaned in toward me so that only I could hear him. “Yeah, and I think you’re enjoying yourself, too.” His voice was husky and low and I felt the warmth from his breath fan against the skin just beneath my ear. A shiver rolled through me. “I love your laugh. It does things to me.” His eyes came back to mine, their depths bathed in a serious sheen. “I wish I could make you laugh every day, babe. I wish I had the power to undo the past so I could take away every single sorrow, and I wish that I could manage the future to prevent anything from ever hurting you again.”
Damn.
There he went again, the poet rising and weaving beautiful words to lull me further and further under his hypnotic spell. Before I had time to form a reply, his mouth came down and covered mine, his lips warm and smooth, the kiss just a touch but sweet enough to infuse my bloodstream with a sugary high.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Justin
I had trouble concentrating on the road, though I’d driven this same route dozens of times. But then again, I’d never had this kind of distraction. It was ninety minutes door to door from the seaplane terminal in Naniamo to the Anthony farm in Duncan, and Carter had been chattering nonstop, his seatbelt the only thing keeping him from bouncing all over the backseat. “Are we there yet?” he asked his shining eyes on mine in the rearview mirror.
“Almost, Champ.” I winked at him and he beamed his radiant smile forward.
“Carter,” Bridget scolded. “That’s about the tenth time you asked that. Stop being a pest.”
“He’s ok.” I glanced at her pretty profile, soaking her up as she sat in the passenger seat beside me. I reached for and squeezed her hand. Something really warm bubbled up inside my chest. This felt right. The three of us. Almost like a real family.
I took the exit off the main coastal highway and turned onto a two lane farm road.
“I see a deer, Mommy!” Carter exclaimed excitedly. “Look on the front lawn of that house.” He tapped on his window and she shifted to look out her side of the car.
“I saw it.” Her voice sounded as pumped up as his.
I grinned.
“There was a baby deer too, Mommy. Did you see it?”
“Yeah.” She turned her head toward the back and I caught a side glimpse of the smile she gave him. “A fawn. Very cool, Carter.” She flipped over her hand so her palm pressed against mine.
I managed to keep my eyes on the road and pretended like that wasn’t a big deal, but it so was. More warmth flooded my chest. She made me feel as if I were somehow solely responsible for her contentment.
Hell, I hoped so.
The tires crunched over the gravel when I steered the rental car through the gate, and a quick glance in the rear view mirror confirmed that Carter had been cooped up for about as long as he could take.
Sam, the black and white farm dog, barked and ran alongside us as I parked the car between Mr. Anthony’s farm truck and a car I didn’t recognize, Avery and Marcus’ rental I presumed.
Bridget got out on her side before I could help her and opened Carter’s door, so I went to the trunk and
pulled out the duffles. As soon as I slammed it closed, I spotted Avery and Marcus stepping out onto the front porch. They made their way down the stairs, Marcus’ mom, Rheta, a beautifully elegant redhead who looked half her age, and his dad, Don, eyes always crinkled with amusement were right behind them.
My sister was the picture of serenity. She was always so much more relaxed out here than she was in the city, and it was the same for Marcus. I’d been skeptical about the appeal of this remote place before I’d come, but I was a convert now, though only for short visits like this one. Ultimately, the pace and promise of city life would draw me back to it.
I sucked in a deep breath of the fresh crisp Cowichan Valley air. It held a trace of saltiness from the ocean, though the sea lay miles away. I felt myself relaxing and glanced at Bridget and Carter to see how they were reacting.
Carter was petting Sam while watching Marcus and Avery out of the corner of his eye. He scooted closer to his mother as they approached.
“Hey, sis.” I leaned in and kissed her cheek, clasping Marcus’ outstretched hand.
Avery smiled at me from her position underneath Marcus’ other arm, but her gaze slid to Bridget and Carter. I knew she was curious as hell about them. When I’d called to let her know we were coming, she’d wanted to know immediately what was up. I’d never brought a woman to meet her. Not even Antonia. I’d managed to deflect her by telling her how new our relationship was and that I didn’t want to jinx it.
My dad was the last to make his way over. I frowned noticing how lank he was and how gingerly he moved. Then there was a long awkward moment when everyone stopped talking and stared at Bridget and Carter. Bridget’s mouth formed a smile that I knew was forced. It was obvious to me just how nervous she was being the center of all that attention.
The Complete Tempest World Box Set Page 64