Secret Daddy: A Second Chance Romance

by Scarlet West

  “God you feel so fucking good. So tight, so amazing. I don’t know how long I can last,” he said through gritted teeth as he pressed forward and drew back over and over.

  “Take what you need from me Drake,” I urged him, reaching down to dig my fingers into his back as I pulled him deeper into me.

  With a grunt, he quickened his pace until the slap of our flesh meeting filled the room. I soon found my stomach clenching with the beginnings of another climax. Sensing my tightening around his, Drake reached between us and moved quick circles over my clit. Within moments, I came apart around him, my pussy clenching him hard, causing him to explode deep within me with a cry of ecstasy. We stayed like that, forehead to forehead, for a long while as our breathing slowly returned to normal.

  I must have fallen asleep as he moved to lie beside me, because the next thing I knew, he was nuzzling my hair.

  “Trina,” he whispered.

  “Yes?” I sighed. I let my hand stroke his arm, shifting sideways so that I faced him and I could wrap my arms round him.

  “Are you awake?”

  “I am now,” I said, with a soft giggle. It felt so right, lying there with him. I felt so good. My body tingled, and my heart felt warm. I had missed him. The way we were together – it was more than just a meeting of bodies. Though that in itself was sensational.

  He was funny, sweet and gentle. Drake had always been those things. He might have had movie star appeal, but his personality was so much the opposite of his bold looks. Inside he was a sweet, hesitant person, friendly and surprisingly self-conscious.

  And I love him so much it hurts.

  I didn’t expect the intensity of feelings that washed through me as he gently stroked my hair.

  “It’s been too long.”

  “It has.”

  As we lay there, thoughts crowded into my mind. I had gone there with him spontaneously, my body dictating that I must have him, overriding my judgment.

  Now, as I listened to the rise and fall of his breathing, suggesting he had drifted off, I had the space for wiser thoughts.

  He’s going to leave town in a month’s time, and I’d be right back where I started all those years ago.

  Drake might have been pleased to have caught up with me, but he was here for the movie. Not for me. When it was done, he’d go back to Manhattan. His job was his world. Even when we’d been teenagers, his passion for acting had been present.

  I can’t hold him here. And I can’t follow.

  I had everything I needed in Bridgeway. My daughter. A job. A home. Tom. Skyler, and other friends, to a lesser extent, who could help out. My daughter’s school was there, and she was happy. I couldn’t take her out and change schools in fourth grade. It was hard enough for her to fit in comfortably. How could I even think of moving her to a big city, where she had no friends and where she’d be scared?

  No, Trina. You can’t consider anything permanent with this man.

  I shook my head and my heart ached.

  “Goodbye Drake,” I whispered.

  Then, while he still slept, I rolled off the bed.

  I tiptoed across the room, collecting my clothes as I went.

  Walking as lightly as possible across the luxurious carpet, I slipped into the warm bathroom and shut the door quietly, turning on the light.

  My reflection in the ornate full mirror looked back at me. I was naked, my hair a mess. My cheeks were flushed, and I was glowing.

  It was sad, but even to my own eyes, I looked alive in ways I hadn’t been for years.

  But there was no other way. I put on my underwear, shrugged into my dress, stepped into my shoes and fixed my hair, then tiptoed out and through the room and out into the hallway, shutting the door behind me with a click.

  8

  Drake

  I woke up feeling relaxed. The room was cast in soft shadows, the curtains half-open. I felt cold, and reached for a blanket, my lips lifting into a smile as memories of the previous night flooded back, swamping my senses. Trina, beside me, must be as cold and sleepy as me.

  “Here,” I whispered, reaching for the blanket. I pulled it up, my hands feeling for her and touching nothing but empty air. I sat up and looked around.

  “Trina?”

  The bathroom door was half-open. I stood and walked through, my heart thumping with alarm. Switching on the light, I glanced into the shower, even made a pantomime of looking behind the door.

  “Trina?” I called again.

  I knew she wasn’t there. Closing my eyes, I drew a deep breath, and then opened them again to scan the room. Her clothes were gone.

  I sat down heavily on the bed, feeling my soul shrivel. Why had she snuck off like that? Was she ashamed of the night we’d spent in each other’s arms? Was she trying to break my heart as I’d broken hers? I walked to the window and looked out at the early morning yellows and blues. My heart squeezed painfully in my chest as I thought of Trina slipping from my bed as if I were a terrible mistake.

  Jumping up from where I leaned at the windowsill, I reached into my pocket of my discarded pants, searching for my phone. I found it and dialed her number.

  Nothing.

  The screen of my phone told me it was quarter past eight. Early, still. It was Friday morning. Maybe she was sleeping or tending to her daughter? It might be her day off, I hazarded.

  I considered calling back again, then decided to leave it. She wasn’t any more likely to answer if I called back now.

  I went to the bathroom and stepped into the shower.

  “Damn it, Trina,” I said aloud as I let the hot water rinse over me. “Why’d you have to leave like that?”

  I couldn’t quite believe she had snuck out on me. Hurt surfaced first in my heart, followed shortly by anger.

  It was the first time a woman had actually run away from my bed. The fact that it was Trina made it all the more awful.

  I dried myself off and found myself contemplating my reflection. The mirror was a big old-fashioned one, dating from the better days of Bridgeway, when the hotel would have been a destination for mining magnates and other wealthy types. The picture it showed me was one of a tall, athletic man with brown hair and a firm chin and gentle eyes.

  I had been so encouraged when Trina had pressed to come back to my room that I thought we had made a breakthrough. But maybe she’d just been as ruled by her body as I had been. Once it was out of her system, maybe she’d decided she didn’t want me anymore. But she’d seemed happy in my arms afterward; content. I turned it over again and again in my head trying to figure out where it had all turned to shit. But I couldn’t.

  “Get a grip, Drake.”

  I finished drying myself, left the towel on the counter, and struggled into my clothes. The clock said eight forty when I left the hotel.

  I drove to the mines in silence.

  “Hey,” I greeted our head cameraman as I jumped out of the car. He was standing against a wall, a plastic cup of coffee between his palms. His camera equipment sat in a big bag by his feet.

  “Hey,” he greeted me. “How’re you?”

  “Okay,” I shrugged, nonchalantly. “Good night’s rest?”

  He chuckled. “What do you think? Noisy place, this town.”

  “Oh?” I wasn’t really listening, my eyes surveying the scenery as we chatted idly together. The place we’d base most of the film in was a disused mine, the sign over the entrance marked in bold red paint. North Coal, it said.

  I tried to focus as my cameraman told me things about the quality of the terrain, the light, the times when he thought filming would be most suitable, but I couldn’t really follow. My mind kept on returning, again and again, to Trina and her sweet, soft body lying on my bed.

  “…and I think it would be good if we worked against the sunset. The drama of the red sky back there would be awesome, and Drake? Drake!”

  “Huh?” I blinked, my mind suddenly coming back to focus on the conversation at hand. My cameramen – a tall, gray-haired gu
y with wiry runner’s muscles – frowned at me.

  “Drake? What’s up? I don’t think you heard any of what I just said.”

  “Um, not really.”

  Len was still frowning at me. “You okay, Drake? Something’s getting to you.”

  “No…well, yes. Probably,” I nodded. “I guess it’s just being back here. You know, my hometown. It’s weird, seeing it like this,” I lied. It was weird, but that wasn’t really what the problem was. The problem was Trina, and how I was going to go about making things okay with her.

  “I get it,” Len nodded. “So, just to recap. I was asking you about the filming times. You ready to go with the sunset idea we talked about for the intro? It’s going to be awesome, now that I see the location.”

  “Yeah,” I nodded, focusing on the landscape before him. “Absolutely. We’ll shoot that scene today. I want Dario and Louis on the first scene. Where are they, by the way?”

  Dario and Louis were fellow actors, playing the part of miner and boss, respectively. I was going to be a miner too. The drama part would loosely follow the story of Rae Rayburn, a miner who had been trapped in a collapse.

  “They were having breakfast, last time I saw them,” Len shrugged.

  “Well, let’s go get them,” I suggested, glad to be doing some work. “They need to be down here, rehearsing.”

  “Sure, boss,” Len grinned.

  Together we walked up the street to the hotel.

  Louis and Dario were just coming out as we arrived, looking relaxed. The rest of the camera crew were already outside, equipment resting on the pavement beside them. I greeted Dario with a wave of the hand.

  “Hey! How’s it going? You guys ready to get working?”

  “Drake, hi! Sure, man,” Dario nodded. “We were just having a relaxing morning. Awesome hotel. Nice breakfast.”

  “I’m glad,” I nodded. They had elected to stay in a different hotel that was nice itself, but lacking the old-style grandness of the one I was at.

  “So, Drake,” Dario asked, falling in beside me, looking casually elegant in jeans, leather jacket, and t-shirt. “How’s it, being back?”

  “Okay,” I said, noncommittally.

  “Must be weird, huh?” he probed.

  “Yeah,” I said through my teeth. I was tense, my fingers digging into my palms. I really didn’t want to discuss it, least of all with Dario. As much as I liked his easygoing side, he could be blisteringly insensitive when it came to others sometimes.

  “Have you thought about the last scene?” Len broke in, coming to my rescue. “The one with the confrontation with the boss?”

  “You mean, when I have to shout at Drakey-boy here?” Dario teased. “We’ll rehearse that today, right?”

  “Yeah,” I grinned. “You bet we will.”

  He laughed and the morning was, at least momentarily, restored to its tranquility. Together we took the long walk to the mine.

  Midway through the day I was starting to feel exhausted. Setting up the camera angles, laying out the tracks for the dolly, getting everything in place. It was only noon and I was starting to feel like I was dying on my feet.

  “Okay, guys,” I called as I walked out of the cave-like entrance passage of the mine. “Lunch time.”

  The camera-crew and our actors followed me out into the daylight. I gratefully breathed in some fresh air, glad to get the dust out of my lungs. I would be coughing by the end of the week for sure.

  Now I know what it’s really like to work down there. My sympathy for the miner was growing daily.

  I went to our small “encampment” at the mine entrance – loads of equipment, our personal things, some chairs, all piled together. I pulled out my water bottle and took a drink while I checked my phone.

  Nothing. Damn it.

  My heart sank, and it was only then that I realized I had been waiting to hear from Trina.

  I scrolled through my contacts and wrote a message to her.

  We need to talk. I paused. Should I send it? What if she said no?. Maybe it sounded too possessive. If she felt like sleeping with me and then walking out the next morning, was it up to me to question her decision? I had already hurt her badly all those years ago. What she’d just done to me was no less than what I deserved.

  “Boss?” Louis called me, a water bottle in hand. “You coming to town? I wanted to ask if you know anywhere good to eat in this place?”

  “Sure,” I nodded. “I like the Roasted Pepper. It’s a simple local place. It was open when I went past yesterday.”

  As we discussed, I slipped my phone into my pocket and forgot about it. It was only when we left the restaurant that I remembered, because it made a message tone.

  Hey! You want to join us for drinks later?

  It was from Tom. I frowned. Maybe it Trina would be there, and we could talk. I answered immediately.

  Sure. We finish at five.

  His reply was instant.

  Awesome. Pick you up at the hotel at six.

  I felt much better as we worked on through the afternoon knowing I might get a chance to see Trina.

  At five, covered in dust and weary, I left the site. I caught sight of Tom outside my hotel as I pulled into the parking place. With him was a woman I’d met yesterday. Trina’s friend. I couldn’t exactly recall her name. Feeling oddly apprehensive, I went over. Her stance didn’t look exactly friendly.

  “Hey! Tom! You’re early. Hi,” I greeted the woman who stood with him.

  “Hi!” Tom clasped my hand, as his boyish face lit up. He looked so much like a male Trina sometimes that it actually hurt. I swallowed hard and focused on the woman standing next to him.

  “Hi,” I held out my hand. “Drake Stone. I think we met yesterday?”

  “Hi,” she said. Her tone was as lukewarm as her handshake. She held my gaze and I could see in the dark stiffness of her glare that she was not pleased with me. “Skyler Knight.”

  “Drake, Skyler is a good friend of Trina’s,” Tom spoke up, grinning.

  “I know,” I said, feeling my heart sink into my boots.

  They’ve been talking about me. I know it. And now Skyler hates me too.

  “I’m so glad you’ve got time for a drink,” Tom enthused, not even noticing the exchange between us. He opened the car doors and we all got in. I let Skyler take the passenger seat and I got into the back.

  “You two must have met at the party yesterday,” Tom was saying. “I wish I’d been there. Skyler and her husband have an amazing restaurant. I know Trina was there; you must have met up?”

  “Yeah,” I said glumly. “We saw each other.”

  “Yeah,” Skyler said. She sounded almost angry. I tried to catch her eye but she was looking pointedly out of the window.

  “You two must have had a lot to talk about,” Tom said.

  “Yeah,” I said. I felt like crying. We did have a lot to talk about. I just had no idea where to start.

  We drove on in awkward silence toward the suburb where Tom’s home was.

  “Is Trina here?” I asked as we got out.

  “Yeah,” Tom said. “She and Alex were busy making something light for us to eat. She knew Skyler and Randall were going to be here, but I don’t think she knew you were coming,” Tom said. “I didn’t mention it in case you couldn’t make it. She’ll be so glad to catch up with someone from back in the day.” He grinned, wryly.

  “Yeah,” I said, resigned. “Maybe.”

  Tom gave me a funny look, said nothing. We got out of the car and went up the driveway to his house.

  As we went through into the hallway, I heard the sound of two women laughing drifting through from the kitchen. One of the laughs was undeniably Trina; I would have recognized that sweet music anywhere. I felt my heart start to thump.

  This is it. My chance to find out why she ran.

  I wanted to get it right.

  I followed Tom into the sitting room. Skyler cast me a dark glance as I sat down on the couch opposite her. A tall man wit
h reddish hair came in to join her.

  “Hi,” he greeted. “Randall.”

  “Hi,” I said. “Drake Stone.”

  He smiled and shook hands with me and then turned to his wife.

  “Sorry, sweetie, I’m busy with the barbecue. You staying to eat?” he asked me.

  “I’d love to,” I replied.

  Skyler gave her husband a meaningful look, but he was already turning back to the kitchen, leaving the three of us at the coffee table together.

  Tom grinned at us. “I’ll make coffee. Or get wine. Beer?”

  “I’ll take a beer, please,” I said. I had drunk a bit too much the previous evening, and the thought of alcohol filled me with a queasy ambivalence. But I needed a little liquid courage if I was going to get through the evening.

  When Tom had gone, I turned to Skyler.

  “So, you and your husband own La Nouvelle?”

  “Trina’s my best friend,” she said, not answering my question.. “You’d better remember she’s not alone here.”

  I stared. “I’m sorry, have I done something to offend you?”

  She looked at me for a moment before answering, appearing to enjoy watching me squirm uncomfortably in my seat. “If you hurt her, you will really wish you hadn’t,” she finally said, her tone icy. .”

  “Okay,” I nodded, and my heart sunk .

  What exactly had Trina told her about me?

  “Hey! Here are your drinks.”

  “Thanks, Tom,” Skyler nodded warmly.

  I took my beer and turned to Tom. Maybe he wouldn’t be cross with me, at least.

  “Tom? Is Trina in the kitchen?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Why?”

  “Nothing,” I said, catching Skyler’s eye on me. Like a bouncer outside the club, Skyler was not going to let me get anywhere near Trina. I would have to sneak in.

  I sipped my beer, listened to Tom and Skyler having an avid discussion about the price of ovens, and then stood.

  “Tom, which way is your restroom?”

  “The door’s on the left. Opposite the kitchen. Can’t miss it.”