On My Own: Book Three in the Who's Your Daddy series (2 page)

For a minute, Dirk thought she hadn’t heard him since she simply stared at him without moving. Then suddenly she threw her head back and began to laugh hysterically. His blood pressure shot up but he held his peace until she gained control and quieted. “Glad to see you found my request hilarious.”

She wiped her eyes and leaned forward, her chin cradled in her hands. “You’re not serious.” When he did not respond, she quickly sobered her eyes bugging out. “You are!”

“As we used to say as kids, like a heart attack.”

“But, it’ll be impossible.”

“Why? Why will it be impossible, Caroline?” He waited for her respo
nse, cocking his head to the side as he watched her squirm.

“You’re asking a lot, Dirk. The town’s struggling financially and we don’t have the money for
any kind of celebration. Especially one at the spur of the moment.”

“I’ll pay for anything that needs to be done,” he offered.

“But it’s not just that,” she continued.

“What else, Caroline?”

She averted her eyes before speaking. “Well, I don’t want any attention focused on JJ. The whole town has done a good job keeping him grounded and out of the public eye.”

“And away from me,” he added. Suddenly, t
he realization hit him square in the middle of his forehead, harder than any hit an opposing player could lay on him. The whole town was in on this secret! His heart sank into his custom-made sneakers and he began to shake.

“Are you okay?” Caroline stood and rounded the desk, ending up in front of him. “Do you need me to get you a drink of water?” She dashed out the door, slamming it closed behind her.

Dirk leaned forward and allowed his head to fall in between his knees. What had he ever done to this crazy town to make them to keep the existence of his son secret?

Chapter Two

Caroline
ignored the questioning looks tossed her way by co-workers and sprinted to the break room. She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and hurried back toward her office. Her heart was beating a mile a second, threatening to jump out of her chest. What was she going to say to Dirk when she returned?

The last person Caroline Jackson expected to see ever in life, let alone her office was Dirk Benedict.
The man who left her and travelled across the country for the opportunity to play college football. The man who now graced the covers of sports magazines and had legions of fans. The man who was the father of her child.

Caroline
found Dirk standing at the small window in her office, looking out onto Main Street. He turned his head and glared at her. So this is what he probably looked like on the field. Intimidating. Strong. She steeled herself for whatever he was going to throw her way.

Even with everyone else out of her office, she still felt claustrophobic in the room. Dirk had been a big man eleven years ago, making her feel like a dwarf at times when they were standing next to each other. Now, the man was practically a giant. He had to be at least six-three with muscles stacked on top of muscles. 

She couldn’t help but admire the physical specimen that was her former lover. That square jawed, steely eyed look made him the king of endorsements and the star of many a woman’s nightly dreams. His bald head and goateed chin only enhanced his good looks. But it was the deep dimples in his cheeks that really made women swoon. The same dimples he passed down to his son. Unbeknownst to her parents, she’d kept close tabs on his career, clipping every news article about him and squirreling them away for JJ to read one day.  

“Here’s the water,” she said, holding the bottle out to him. He looked at it for a moment before taking it from her hand. They touched and once again
fissions of sensation tore through her body. She snatched her hand away and heard him chuckle.

“It’s still there, Caroline.”

She pulled a face and willed her pulse to slow down from its current warp speed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she smoothly lied.

He raised the bottle to his lips and began to drink. As if they had a mind of their own, her eyes were drawn to his neck, watching his Adam’s apple bob up and down. She felt her face flush when he finished and caught her staring at him.

“Feel better?” she asked with a tremor in her voice.

“Much. Thanks.” He took his time returning to his seat and waited for her to sit.

He leaned forward and placed his large hands on her desk. “Why did the whole town think it was a good idea to keep my son’s existence secret? Did you ask them to do that?”

She licked her lips and briefl
y closed her eyes. Here goes. “No, I didn’t.”

When JJ came along, she was certain her father went out of his way to warn others about running their mouths and disclosing that Dirk was the father. She still didn’t understand why her father hated him so much. Whenever she asked, Ty Jackson would all but ignore her. One day soon she’d have to get a straight answer from him.

“Then my money is on your father.” He began to pace and swiped his hand over his bald head.  “I’m going to break his neck,” he roared, causing her to rear back and place her hand over her heart.

“There’s no need—”
Suddenly the door crashed open and Warren, the security guard stepped inside.

“Do we have a problem in here?” he asked, pointedly looking at Dirk, his hand hovering over his walkie-talkie.

Dirk simply smirked at the man and then looked at her. “Tell him everything’s fine.”

Everything within her wanted the security guard to escort Dirk out of her office and out of town, but that wouldn’t solve her problem. “It’s alright, Warren. You can leave us now.”

Warren scowled at Dirk before turning around and exiting the room. Dirk immediately rose and locked the door behind him.

“I don’t want any more interruptions.”

She so wanted to get up and unlock the door, but in order to get this over with as soon as possible, she remained seated. “Fine.” She took a deep breath and picked up where she left off.

“For weeks after you left, you were the talk of the town. Tensions were running kind of high, especially when people at the university started blaming us
for making you transfer.”

“The town had nothing to do with my decision to leave Pittsburgh
. It was my choice.”

She lowered her eyes and slowly nodded her head. “I know that
. But nevertheless, Devinne took a lot of grief from the press and some people around here put the blame on you.”

“And how did you
r father get them to keep quiet about my son?” His tone of voice was so icy, Caroline almost reached for her sweater draped on the back of her chair. And the intense look in his eyes probably scared the hell out of opposing players.

She swallowed around the lump in her throat and boldly met his gaz
e. “He never said.” She crossed her fingers beneath the desk after telling that little lie. Knowing her father, she had a feeling he put a lot of pressure on folks around here to not disclose the identity of JJ’s father.

He snorted and shot out of his chair, making her jump. “You expect me to believe that?”

“You can believe whatever you want,” she responded, as she stood also.

The pair continued to glare at the one another, their chests heaving with anger. Suddenly, Dirk smiled at her and promptly sat back down.

Caroline’s heart flipped because she recognized that smile. It was the one he gave her before lowering the boom. The one before delivering his final statement in any of their arguments.

“Alright, what is it?” she warily asked.

“I’ve got a proposition for you.”

“I don’t like the sound of this.”

“And I don’t care.” He continued to sit there, smiling, making her squirm in her seat. He hadn’t forgotten how to get to her.

“We’re going to make a deal. You will get the town to honor me. Welcome
party, parade, the whole bang.”

“And how am I going to do that?”

“Don’t care how you do it. Not. My. Problem.”

“You’re asking a lot.”

“I’m not done. In exchange for the town’s cooperation, I’ll agree not to take my son.”

Caroline gasped and
felt as if the floor had given way. He just threatened to take her son! “Now see here—”

“No, you see here. You and this damn town kept my son from me for ten years. Ten years! I missed out on
the beginning of his life.” He let his head roll back while he seemed to be counting under his breath.

Once he gained control, he continued. “You have until Tuesday morning to contact me with a schedule and details of my ‘Welcome Back to Devinne’ celebration.
I’ll have my people provide whatever money you need to carry it out.”

“An
d if I can’t pull it off?” She held her breath, waiting for his answer.

He stood and started for the door. “Then my lawyers will be in touch regarding custody.”

Caroline sprang from her seat and reached him just before he opened the door. She covered his hand with hers and their gazes collided. “Please, Dirk. Don’t do that,” she begged, tears in her voice. “JJ is my world.”

He stopped and turned to face her. “You didn’t give me a chance, Caroline.
Didn’t give us a chance.” He took a deep breath. “How would you feel if you were in my shoes, huh?”

“Pretty upset.
Angry.”

“And that’s where I am.”

“I’m sorry,” she said in a tiny voice. “Please, let’s sit down and work this out.” When he wavered, she grabbed hold of his hand and tugged him away from the door.

He slid back into his seat and this time she took the one next to him. “Dirk, I’m going to do my best to convince the town to go along with your plan, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Then we’ll talk about supervised visitation.”

“Um, no.”

“What do you
mean, no?”

“Not supervised visitation.
Shared custody.”

“I don’t think that’s wise. He doesn’t know you.”

“And whose fault is that?” he asked with a quirk of his eyebrow. “The child is ten years old, and by his greeting when he saw me, I’m going to assume he’s known about me for a while.”

“I’ve never hidden your identity from him, Dirk. As soon as he was old enough, I told him who his father was.”

“And you told him not to tell anyone else, right? A Jackson family secret?”

“Well, not really.”

“Because everyone else knew and passed that information down to their kids.” When she slowly nodded her head, she could feel the waves of anger rolling off of his body.

“I gotta go,” he announced, once again heading for the door. This time she did not stand. She was tired and frightened. However she envisioned meeting Dirk again, this certainly was not the way she thought it’d happen.

“Tuesday morning, Caroline. No later.” With that he was out the door. The tears she’d been holding back finally began. How was she going to protect her son?

Chapter Thr
ee

“Can
everyone take their seats so we can get started?” Caroline ushered in the rest of the group then headed for the front of the room. She took several deep breaths, willing her heartbeat to throttle back to a normal rate. Her speech was written out on a couple note cards held in her trembling hands.
Please God give me the strength to get through this For JJ’s sake.

The main room of the municipal building was packed with people, most of them milling about and talking excitedly. It ha
d taken Caroline most of Monday to get the word out concerning the meeting. Luckily, she had a full house.

“I know you’re all wondering why I’ve asked you here tonight.”

“I bet it has something to do with the appearance of a certain quarterback yesterday,” Mrs. Brown crowed. “Heard he was mad as all get out when he left town.”

To say he was angry
was an understatement, Caroline mused. She thought his jaw was going to break the way he worked it back and forth. And there was no mistaking his disappointment in her keeping his son’s existence from him. But it couldn’t be helped. She had to do what was in JJ’s best interest. And hers.

“Yes, he was a bit upset. But that brings me back to the reason for this meeting.” She made sure she had everyone’s attention before continuing. “Well, his team will be playing in Pittsburgh this Sunday, and the network wants to do a story about his life here in Devinne.”

Someone in the back of the room gave out a loud snort and soon others began to grumble. “With all the trouble his going out to the west coast caused us, why should we cooperate?” That statement drew a lot of ‘yeahs’ and ‘that’s right’.

Caroline held up her hand to silence the crowd. “Let me finish, please?” The crowd settled down and she continued with her speech.

“He tried to talk them out of coming to town and filming, but as the winning quarterback of the latest championship team, the country wants to know all about him. So, that’s why he’s back.”