Fatal Obsession (Black Widow Book 2) (11 page)

Tasha’s heart beat a little faster every time she saw father and son together. Now she could see what was missing when they were with Tom and why DJ rejected him at every turn—unadulterated love. A love only a man could feel for his child. Something Tom never showed.

She laughed when the rod slipped out of both their hands, but Damien’s quick reflexes caught it before it landed in the water and he handed it back to a still laughing DJ. She shook her head at their antics. They were never going to catch enough for dinner at this rate. How were they going to catch fish while they laughed themselves silly?

Tasha wished she could join them closer to the river, but Damien had insisted she stayed at a safe distance on the chair he’d carried out before he carried her out. After a week of being treated like a fragile egg, he still believed she hadn’t healed enough to move around on her own. Except for her wrist and ribs, Tasha felt fine. The bruises were already starting to fade and her joints weren’t stiff thanks to his doctoring. But truthfully, she wasn’t going to pass up the chance of being cradled against his hard muscles when he carried her around. What sane woman would? She fanned herself with the paper fan DJ had made her. Her sudden warmth under her shirt had nothing to do with the heat.

The man was one hot specimen and he was a wonderful human being. Besides housekeeping, he did all the cleaning. Damien took care of everything, including meals. He cared for her and gave DJ all his attention when he required it, especially during their tutoring sessions. She finally found out where her son got his brains from. The man was so crazy smart that it bordered on scary. Freaked her out even more knowing DJ would grow up to be the exact same way. But it was a relief and she was a little envious that he could keep up with DJ and that he too, kept their son on his toes. Unlike how lax—Damien had called it—DJ had been with just her cheering his brain muscles on. At this rate, DJ may just graduate high school at age ten.

I wonder what age Damien was when he graduated high school?

They hadn’t really talked much. Along with his smarts came his fiery temper; which he barely had under control when he looked at her bruised face. They were kind of living in the moment after coming to an unspoken mutual agreement to keep everything relaxed for DJ’s sake. Three times that week he’d woken up with nightmares of Mr. Turner hurting his momma. She wanted to hold him tight and reassure him that it would never happen again, but those first three days she was still in a lot of pain, so it was left to Damien to comfort and reassure their son. DJ felt very safe having them all sleep in the same room and him sharing a bed with his dad. Well, Damien slept on the bed and DJ mostly slept on Damien. Who wouldn’t want to sleep on that broad, muscled chest?

Truthfully, she felt safer too and she hadn’t had one of her freakish nightmares either. She was even getting over the embarrassment of being carried to the door of the bathroom when she had to use the toilet and having him carry her in and out of the tub, naked. He was very respectful, keeping his eyes averted, but she could see and feel the strain it put on him. He had one hell of a hard on each time and that made up for her own mortification.

She stretched a little just to see if there were any major pains in her body. There was some and hopefully in another week she would be completely healed. She seriously wanted to live out one of her fantasies of Damien Chan. Him and her, naked and tangled together on that big bed in the master bedroom. She hadn’t been able to think of much else and she needed to address it before she combusted! It was embarrassing where her lustful thoughts had taken her considering she couldn’t even remember how to have sex. Insert part A into B seemed like a quantum physics equation at the moment. She felt like a wanton slut and a virgin at the same time!

“Momma, I finally caught a fish!” DJ cheered, jumping up and down as Damien fought to hold their wiggling dinner in his hands. And it was a big one. Quickly he opened the ice box and dropped it in.

“Thank God!” she mumbled to herself. She was sure they were going to be out there for the rest of the night. DJ never liked to give up until he’d accomplished his goal. A good and time-consuming trait. “Good job, honey!” she yelled back.

Damien chuckled, handing DJ the cooler, “Here, carry this to the cabin while I carry your mom.”

“Okay,” DJ took it, carrying it against his side as he walked towards the cabin, leaning heavily to one side, his lower lip caught between his teeth, brows drawn together.

Tasha chuckled, watching him, “How heavy is that thing?”

“Not so much. I think it’s the size of it that makes him look like he’s carrying a ton. Ready?”

She nodded, her breath caught in her throat at how smoldering his eyes had gotten. He swung her up in her arms with such ease, it never stopped to amaze her. “How much do you bench press?”

She felt the rumble of his chuckle against her chest that was pressed against his. He graced her with one of his smiles that turned her insides to liquid. It would explain how she fell into his bed the first time.

“Why? You don’t weigh that much.”

A skeptical brow went up, “So, I guess a lot.”

He chuckled, “I like to keep fit.”

“I can tell,” she felt hot all of a sudden. Grasping for a safe topic, she asked, “So what’s for dinner, besides fish?”

“Roast potatoes and of course, vegetables.”

She pouted, “I’m never going to get over how easily you get him to eat his vegetables.”

Damien kissed her nose, surprising her, “What if I make it up to you with a nice bottle of white wine to go with the fish.”

She kissed his chin, “You’re already forgiven.”

Dinner went well like always, but this time it felt different. It felt more like a family dinner the way they joked and laughed, forgetting the outside world; except for the one in their little cabin in the middle of the woods next to the river. She was afraid the magic would last only for that one night, but it hadn’t. Two weeks and counting and they felt more and more like a family with each passing day. She felt more a part of it now that she’d taken over the cooking duties and some light cleaning. Damien still did all the heavy lifting, but they settled into their natural roles quite well.

“I’m going to divorce Tom,” she said one night. They were seated in front of the fire, cuddled together on the couch, her with a glass of wine and him with a bottle of beer. It was another thing that had come naturally to them. Like putting DJ to bed together.

He stroked her hair over her shoulder. Then he grabbed her thigh and pulled her back, more into his side. “Good.”

“I want to try again,” she said shyly into the following silence, glad she wasn’t facing him. It gave her courage to finally ask for what she wanted.

She felt his lips on her exposed neck and she shivered. “Even better,” he whispered into her ear.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“How did we meet? How did the whole affair start?”

He didn’t respond and she was sure he wouldn’t when he suddenly sighed heavily. She watched as he took her glass out of her hand and it disappeared behind her. Then she quickly clutched on to his arm when her ass left the couch and he moved, still holding her up before placing her down. Her back against the arm rest and her legs over his thighs. He watched her. His eyes solemn and questioning. It made her fidget anxiously. His lips lifted in half a smile and he stroked her legs as if to calm her.

“Your wine is behind you if you need a drink.”

She shook her head, “No. I would rather be sober when we have this discussion.”

He chuckled, “Alright. You and I met in Miami.”

Her first instinct was to say ‘I’ve never been there’ but how would she know? So she stayed silent and let someone else in her life fill her up on her past.

“I was lounging by the hotel pool and you walked right into my eye view and sat right in front of me on the other side of the pool. I got as randy as a green teenager. I nicknamed you Victoria Secret right then.”

She fought a smile. That explained why he kept calling her that or VS. It may also explain why she answered to it without trying to find out why, “Quit with the flattery and just get to the story.”

A thick brow went up, “Why is it beautiful women never can take a compliment? Anyway, I decided then and there that I had to meet you. We got to talking and one thing led to another…” his lips spread in a wolfish grin, a glint in his eyes.

Tasha smiled shyly, “You mean I fell for that smile and I lost my panties that same night?”

He chuckled, “We spent the whole weekend in bed. Best time of my life.”

“Well, it’s mine too ‘cause I got the best kid anyone could ask for from that weekend.”

“Yup, definitely the best weekend of my life.” His hand ran up and down the inside of her legs and the weird feeling made her want to fidget again, but she held herself still.

“So, tell me about your year of discovery. What did you do?”

She chuckled and his grin widened, “Year of discovery. I like that.” He leaned over her—damn he smelled good—and then moved back with a glass of wine in one hand and a long neck in the other. He handed her the wine as he sipped from his bottle. She followed suit, sipping the sweet wine and enjoying the bouquet as it rolled on her tongue.

“Well, the first few days were very confusing. I seemed to always wake up with no memory each morning, forgetting who everyone was and they had to keep reminding me.” She chuckled, “It got to a point that DJ made these name tags—Mike, friend and DJ’s godfather, Elaine, sister and DJ’s godmother, DJ, son who loves you very much,” she choked on that one. She used to tear up each time she saw it when her mind began holding onto memories, “and Tom, he wouldn’t wear his until DJ showed me why. It was, Tom, we don’t know him.”

“What?”

She waved his concern away. “Well, Elaine said I imagined that and I was in no position to question her. But later it read Tom, husband. And it wasn’t in DJ’s handwriting.” She took another sip of wine. “Once I began retaining simple things like names of my family and objects, my physiotherapist and neurologist thought I should learn the other stuff while learning to walk, like toddlers do. Apparently, doing the same physical movements every day would help my memory.”

He nodded and Tasha didn’t doubt he knew what she was talking about even though she still didn’t.

“It was hard work and it hurt like hell, falling on my ass all the time. My pride mostly took a beating. But DJ helped, cheering like I won the super bowl with each steady step I took.”

Damien ran his hand up and down her legs, squeezing the calves. “You know what the super bowl is? We are going to get along just fine.”

She smacked his chest playfully with the back of her hand. The man was hard with muscles she’d only seen on Mike.
Damn!
She drew her hand quickly away and he smirked as if he knew why.

Ass!
She smiled. “It took a few weeks, but my legs got the hang of walking straight and I had toned my arm muscles while keeping myself up; it made holding a pen easier. If we had started with writing and not my legs, I would have lost all hope and fallen into a depression.”

“DJ would never allow that,” he spoke with conviction. A few weeks together and he had their son pegged. DJ was no quitter.

“In fact, he’s the one who taught me how to read and write. He made it fun. He said I did the same when I noticed he was smarter than the average kid,” she swirled the red liquid in her glass, “you know, my biggest regret is not remembering the pregnancy, his birth and all his firsts. He’s a remarkable child and as his mother I should remember all his first accomplishments. He probably started talking—not baby talk, but talking—at the age of one, walking at seven months and reading at two years.”

He smiled sadly, “I would have given anything to be there for all of that.”

His confession filled her with guilt and she felt the sting of tears behind her eyes, “Maybe my not remembering is my punishment for not telling you I was pregnant. The least I could have done was record it so you wouldn’t have had to miss anything.”

He squeezed her leg, “Hey, calm down and no your amnesia was not a punishment. And you did try to tell me. You called several times but always got cut off before you could say much.”

She was relieved she at least tried to contact him. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was Tom who kept her from telling him. He was a jackass like that.
Why the hell did I stay with him all these years?

“Tell me more about your year,” he urged with an encouraging smile.

She sighed heavily, the emotional moment passed, “Well, the moment I left the facility—”

“You mean rehab?” he cut in.

She shook her head, “No and I found that strange at the time. I was the only patient there and they all got to stay with me—DJ, Mike, Elaine and Tom—in rooms down the hall from me. When I think about it, it looked more like a large warehouse with partitions separating the rooms. Elaine said they hired the best and wanted all their attention focused on me,” she shrugged, “I didn’t think much of it. I was just grateful they cared that much. Why?”

He shook his head, “No reason. That must have been expensive.”

She snorted, “Apparently my soon to be ex-husband is very well off. I’m going to have to find a job when all is said and done.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll support us.”

Tasha couldn’t help but admire Damien more. If she’d only left Tom for him when she found out she was pregnant, their lives would have been very different, happier. She sure as hell wouldn’t have gotten into the accident that robbed her of her precious memories.

“So what happened next?”

“We went home. The moment I walked in I knew something was off. Yes, I didn’t remember the house, but I was sure that wasn’t my home. It was just a feeling, but one I’ve come to rely on. It was the same one I had when I saw you; that I knew you
very well
. But I didn’t trust it back then and I didn’t want to piss anyone off considering how good they were being with me. But things got even stranger. I wasn’t allowed to leave our house and groceries were delivered so I didn’t have a reason to go out. If I wanted clothes, I was to order them online and they would be delivered to the door. If I had to go out, I had to have an escort. When DJ started school, I put my foot down. I wasn’t going to miss his first day because they were cagey. I went with Mike and Elaine and they acted more like bodyguards than proud godparents. DJ wasn’t even scared, only concerned about me. You would have been proud.”