Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (212 page)

"She looks a lot like you," Daylin said softly, squeezing her hand.

"Yeah.”

Further down were pictures of her father and his family.  The first looked like it had been taken about ten years ago.  The boy looked about six or seven and the girl about four or five.  The woman was beautiful and did bear quite a resemblance to Jess's mother, though Selana was a bit shorter.  Her eyes were brown instead of blue, and she had a noticeably larger chest than Jess's mother.  There were more school pictures.  Jess saw that her half-brother looked a lot like their father.  Chelsea looked a lot like she had when she was younger.

Daylin noticed the resemblance too.  "It's almost uncanny.  Of course I guess you can see why.  Your mom and your stepmom look a lot alike too."

"Yeah.”  When she was done with the pictures she signed out of her e-mail and sat back on the couch.  "He's really gone.  I mean, I knew he was gone because my mother had no reason to lie about it, but.  .  .  I'll never see my father again Daylin.  He had teenage kids, a wife that he married eighteen years ago.  And my mom never told me anything.  My mom has kids.  It's all too much."

"Let me help you deal with all of this."

"You've got enough to deal with Daylin.  You're still trying to deal with losing Amanda.  Your mother is dying, and you’re trying to help Cameron help Lucy.  I think that's more than enough."

"You're wrong love.  There’s never too much to bear when you have someone to help you with the pain."

"Sure.”

"Look Jess.  You found what you were looking for.  You found your father, and I know that it wasn't what you wanted to hear.  But there's no reason you can't stay with me.  You have the information to contact your stepmom.  I'm sure she'll tell you how bad he must have felt about leaving you.  You can get a little peace babe, and then you can finally start to move on with your life.  Yes, your stepdad was a stupid asshole who never should have married a woman that had a child.  Yes, your parents both made mistakes.  But you don't have to pay for it anymore.  If you will let me in, just a little, I think that maybe you could want me too."

"Daylin.”

"Yes?"

"I do want you, and that's the whole problem.  I just met you.  I can't want you like this.  I can't feel like this."

"What you're feeling is right Jess.”

"No.  It's not."

He sighed.  "There’s nothing that I can say to you that will convince you otherwise is there?"

She shook her head, feeling like she was going to cry again.

"Will you at least stay with me this weekend?  I can take Monday off, help you find a place and get your stuff moved in."

"Everything I own is in the trunk of my car Daylin."

"You don't have furniture?"

"I've been moving around since I was eighteen, remember?  I never stayed anywhere too long.  I always got a furnished place, or got stuff that was cheap but still good and left it behind for the next person."

"You could teach Lucy a thing or two about the need for material possessions." She could see that he was trying to break the somber mood.

"Sure.”  But she hoped to never see Lucy again. 

"Stay with me please?  It's two days.  I promise you that if you tell me you never want to see me again after you leave, I'll leave you alone."

"With what's happened in the last less than twenty-four hours Daylin, I don't think it's a good idea."

"You're afraid that if you stay with me you won't want to go aren't you?"

"No.”   She didn't know who she was trying to convince more, herself or him. 

Rain had started to fall.  It was beating softly on the roof.

"Jess.  Look at me please."

She didn't want to look at him.  She didn't want to see what she knew was in his eyes.  How could such a playboy who had lost the only woman that he'd ever loved, care so much in such a short time Jess wondered?  How could she care?  She couldn't.  She wouldn't let herself.

He took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him.

"Daylin.  Please stop.  You're going to get hurt."

He shook his head.  "It's not me you're worried about.  Believe me Jess, I don't blame you.  You're worried about you.  You think that I'm going to walk away like every other man in your life has."

"My Dad was the only one that walked away.  Ned made me walk away."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the rain.  She was trying to figure out a way to get him to let her leave when he said "Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever made love in the rain?"

"No.  I had sex twice in my life before you Daylin."

"Oh.  Do you think you'd want to?"

"Uh.”

"We don't have to.  It was just an idea."

"Have you ever made love in the rain Daylin?"

"No."

"Do you have a fence in your backyard?"

"Yeah."  His face was starting to brighten again.  "And a couch."

"Why do you have a couch in your backyard?  Never mind, I don't think I want to know."  It would certainly be an experience she thought.  "Let's do it before I chicken out.”

"I'll be right back.”  His shirt was off before she knew it and he was headed to the bedroom.

"Daylin this probably sounds stupid.  But do you think we could skip the condom?"

"If you want to.  If you're sure."

"Yeah.” She knew she was being absolutely stupid because she hadn't been on birth control for years, but she wanted to feel him, every bit of him, as fully as possible.

He kissed her, reaching around to undo her bra.  He had shed his jeans and his underwear before she had finished getting her shirt off.  "Excited are we?" 

"A little."  He helped her out of the rest of her clothes. 

The rain had started to fall harder.  She was about to lose her nerve when he took her hand and pulled her towards the back door.

When they got outside he started to pull her towards a battered leather couch, but she wanted to stand there for a minute.  He had a high fence and it felt incredible to feel the rain on her naked body.  He grinned at her and then took her hand again, pressing her gently back onto the couch. 

The whole thing was incredible.  She couldn't think of words to describe it when they'd finished.  The feeling of Daylin's slippery body atop of hers, running her hands over his body.  It was even better than it had been in the shower.  And it was like he knew exactly what she wanted before she could even think of it.  Their bodies were in tune like they had been lovers for years instead of hours.  She never wanted it to end. 

The rain had slowed again when he helped her up from the couch, a satisfied grin on his face.  He smacked her butt when she went ahead of him to the back door.  She said "Hey."

"You had mud on your butt.”

"Yeah, right.”

They took a long shower together and were sitting on the couch fully dressed when she decided it was time to bring up her leaving.  She didn't want to spoil the mood, but she had a feeling that what he had said earlier had been right.  The longer she stayed, the stronger the ties between them were going to get.  It sounded crazy to her, even in her head, but she knew it was true.  And it wasn't just the incredible sex, though she could imagine herself quite happily having sex with Daylin on a regular basis.  It was the way he looked at her.  The way that he seemed to really care how she felt.

"Daylin.”

"Yes?"

"We need to talk about me leaving."

"You don't have to leave.  You can stay here.  There's nothing holding you back anymore Jess.  You don't even have to look for a job right away.  I have plenty of money in savings and it's not like I can't afford to feed another person."

"It's not about money Daylin.  I have money.  I live very cheaply and I always make sure that I have enough money for a couple months’ rent and deposit in case I can't find a job right away.  And I have $35,000 that I knew nothing about."

"Okay.”   She could see that the mention of the money meant nothing to him.  "So what's the problem?"

"I can't stay with you."

"Why not?  I want you to.  You don't know how bad I want you to."

"I haven't lived with anyone since I lived with my mother and Ned for one thing.  For another thing, we barely know each other."

"You told me things about yourself today that you've never told anybody.  Am I right?"

"Yes.”  She sighed.

"And as much as I'd like to sometimes, I don't go around and tell everyone about Amanda.  We know enough."

"I can't do it Daylin.  I'm too independent.  I can't let you take care of me."

"You're too stubborn is what you are." 

"My mother would probably agree with you on that one."

"Will you at least think about staying in town for a while?  It’s not too far from your stepmom and your brother and sister.  You don’t have to stay with me, but Welton really isn’t a bad town.  Lucy really likes you.”

"Yeah, maybe.”  But she figured that as long as she was in Welton, she would want to be with Daylin.  She felt so up in the air right now and she wasn’t sure that she wanted anything to anchor her, especially an admitted player who she had had sex with on the night she had met him.

"Good.  What do you want for dinner?  I don't feel like cooking.  You want to go out or order something?"

"I don't want to go anywhere."

The last thing she wanted was to be seen around town with Daylin.  She didn't want to be seen as what Lucy had called his flavor of the week.

"Do you prefer pizza or Chinese?"

She didn't get a chance to answer because his phone chimed a text message.  "Just a sec darlin'."

He looked at the screen and said "Damn."

"What?" 

He laughed.  "They did hit it big.  $35,000 seems to be a magic number all of a sudden."

"They won $35,000?  Wow.  Good for them.  Are you going to let him marry her?"

He looked thoughtful as he typed out a reply and didn't answer until his phone chimed again.  "I guess I'm going to have to.  His Mom would kill us both if I didn't."

"Kill you for what?"

"I guess it was more than the booze and the greasy food that made Lucy sick last night.  Cam had to pull over about fifteen minutes after they left here because she got sick again.  She sure does pick strange times to get morning sickness though."

"Morning sickness?  Lucy's pregnant?"

"Yeah, I guess she forgot to take her birth control pills a couple times or something.  Knowing Lucy, she probably did it on purpose so she could make sure that Cameron married her sooner rather than later.  Wait, what am I saying?  Lucy would not get pregnant on purpose.  That would mean she'd have to quit drinking and smoking."

"Wow.  They can really use the money then."

"Yeah.  A wedding, a baby.  They can most definitely use the money.  I hope Lucy doesn't lose it all before he drags her out of there."

"Lose $35,000?"

He laughed.  "You've never been to a casino have you?  You can walk in there with a dollar and out with a million.  Or you can walk in there with a million and out with a dollar.  Not a good place for someone with an addictive personality."

"Yeah, I guess not.  Tell them I said congratulations would you?"

"Sure.  You gonna be my date for the wedding?  I mean, if you've decided you can still put up with me by then?"

"I guess."

"Don't tell me you've never been to a wedding before?"

"Well, my Mom's of course.  The second one anyway.  But having left home at eighteen, not having any close friends, that's the only one I've been to."

"What a sheltered girl you are."

"Funny Daylin.  You said something about food didn't you?"

"Yeah, what do you want?  The pizza place also has other stuff like calzones, pasta, and salad.  Let me dig out a couple of menus for you and you can decide okay?"

He dug around in his desk and came out with two tattered take out menus. 

She decided Italian sounded better and told him she wanted a salad with ranch dressing, a small order of lasagna and a piece of cheesecake for dessert.

He teased her about her eating habits, but admitted that he liked it a lot better than being with a woman who was too embarrassed to take more than a few bites in front of him.

He placed their order.  They were sitting together watching TV on the couch, his head in her lap when he looked up at her and said "Jess?"

"Yeah?" 

She was afraid of what he was going to say.  She’d almost been able to relax thinking that telling him she might go to the wedding with him would put him off at least for a while.  She felt like she needed some time to think about what she was going to do with her life with a clear head.  She hadn’t exactly felt clear headed since she’d met Daylin.

"I really do want you to be a part of my life.”

"I know, Daylin.”