Wrecked (Crystal Book Billionaires) (16 page)

Sighing, I pressed my palms against my eyes and let the darkness carry me away. So that was it. After him, I was basically out of options. The one small hope I had left involved returning to L.A. and trying my luck on the dating scene there. But now that I no longer had Rainy to count on, I was out of places to stay.

I could always go to New York.

It was where my dad was, after all. And it was the only city in the United States that probably rivaled Los Angeles when it came to the head count of millionaire bachelors.

But most of them are nothing like Luke Anderson.

And wasn’t that the truth. Luke really did have it all: money, good looks, and a touch that could make even the most frigid woman drool. Just thinking about him made the muscles between my legs contract.

I didn’t even have to wonder about what he was like in bed. From just one kiss, I could tell Luke possessed a level of expertise I had likely never dreamed of. Instantly, I became jealous of the girls I’d never even met who had gotten to taste the full effect of Luke’s passions.

Thinking about it then, I could practically feel his lips against mine. I could sense their need, their desire to taste the other spots on my body. I felt it all so clear and crisp because I had the same desire.

Groaning softly from the pain of it all, I dropped my hands beneath the sheets. I kept my eyes closed, though, not wanting to face the stark reality of the guest room. Instead, I wanted to stay in dream land, in the place of fantasies. It was a place where the scene on the porch hadn’t ended with a kiss and me storming away. Instead, it went on, with Luke’s mouth traveling further down my face, then going across my breasts and grazing against the rigid nipples there.

I lifted a hand and felt one of my nipples. It was rock hard, stretching up towards the sky and begging to be touched. I swirled a finger over it, imagining that my hand was Luke’s, imagining that he was there in the bed with me.

My other hand traveled lower, dipping under the waist band of my pajama pants. The spot between my legs seeped with wetness. I ran my fingers over the top of my underwear, thinking of Luke’s strong grasp and intense blue eyes.

What was his girth like? Likely no matter the size of the packaging, he could fill me up and make me scream out his name.

A shuddering sigh escaped my lips, and I pushed my underwear down to get to the source of my need. My fingers — Luke’s fingers — found my sensitive clit. They flicked across it, making me bite down hard on my bottom lip.

I grasped my tight nipple harder, twisting it slightly. At the same time, I swirled my fingers around my clit, riding a wave of pleasure. In my mind Luke hovered above me, his muscles gleaming in the moonlight. His tongue ran across the length of my torso, going back up to swirl around a nipple. His cock pulsed against my thigh.

I sped up the movement of my fingers, enjoying another quick jolt of pleasure. Luke’s cock pressed against my folds, with him taking his time gaining each inch inside of me. The width of his member expanded my inner walls, pressing against each nerve and causing a tidal wave of pleasure.

My hips shook, and I came hard, the pleasure rushing over me. My shoulders tensed, and my head jerked forward, the vision of Luke’s face and tight abs still swimming in front of me.

With a sharp gasp, I fell back onto the pillow. My breath came out thick and fast, like I had just been pounded by a man.

Dropping my face to the side, I stared at the wall. Physical release had done nothing. I still couldn’t get the image of Luke’s eyes and mouth out of my mind.

With a frustrated groan, I turned my face into the pillow and forced myself to go back to sleep.

Maybe if I were lucky, there would be a sex dream starring Luke waiting for me there.

A knocking sound came from somewhere in the house. I rolled over and groggily lifted my head. Falling back to sleep had proved successful, but if I’d had any dreams about Luke I couldn’t remember them.

And what about the knocking? Had I imagined it?

Rubbing some of the sleep from my eyes, I waited to see if there would be additional noises. Sure enough, the banging started again. Someone was definitely knocking on the front door.

Tossing the sheets off me, I headed down the hallway. Both Aunt Ginger and Uncle Joe had left for work a long time ago, way before I’d fantasized about Luke or fallen back asleep. I’d laid in bed and listened to them getting ready and going. So the person at the door couldn’t be looking for them.

Maybe it was someone asking for money for a non-profit or looking to see if I’d heard the good news about Jesus.

I peeked through the little hole in the door. The person standing on the porch was doing neither one of those things because that person was Tracey. She wasn’t completely alone, either. Her weight was shifted to one side, a baby wearing a floppy white hat resting on her hip.

My hand hovered near the deadbolt as I considered what to do. Surely there was only one reason she was there. She’d seen me dropping the bag off on her porch the day before.

And so what? She was there to throw the tomatoes back in my face and tell me she didn’t need my charity?

“Hello?” she called through the door.

I held my breath, thinking about just turning around and going back to bed. Yet if I did that I would never find out what she had to say, so my curiosity got the best of me.

Slowly, I opened the door.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hello.” She looked over my shoulder, seemingly either nervous or self-conscious. “Do you have a minute?”

“Yeah, sure.” Bugs buzzed on the porch, and I realized how hot it already was. “Do you want to come in?”

She hesitated. “It will only take a second. I just wanted to thank you for what you did.”

“Oh. Um, what do you mean?”

She shook her head, tendrils of red hair whipping around her face. “You don’t have to play dumb. I saw you.”

“Oh.”

There went any hope for a future career as a spy.

“I didn’t mean for you to see me,” I blurted out.

The baby on her hip cried out, and she bounced it a little, shushing it. “I imagine not. But I did, and it only felt right to come here and thank you. Honestly. Thank you.”

My face warmed up, and I looked down at my hands. “It wasn’t much.”

“It was something, and that meant a lot. Just the fact that you cared…” Her voice got choked, and she trailed off.

I looked up at her. “Did you go to one of those places?”

She nodded and pursed her lips. “I did.”

I felt compelled to ask what it had been like, but the conversation was already incredibly uncomfortable, and I didn’t want to make it any more so.

“You have two more kids, right? Where are they?”

“They’re playing at a neighbor’s house for a few hours.”

“Ah.” I rested my hand against the doorjamb. “Are you sure you don’t want to come it? I mean I just woke up, but I was going to make some coffee and just chill.”

She hesitated for a second before speaking. “All right.”

I led the way into the living room and told her to take a seat on the couch. In the kitchen, I got busy starting a pot of coffee. When it was done, I filled up two mugs and carried them out to the living room. Tracey sat on the end of the couch, her arm around the baby sitting next to her playing with her keys.

“How do you take it?” I asked.

“Black is good, thanks.”

I set the cups on the low table and settled down on my own end of the couch.

“What’s your baby’s name?”

“Henry.”

I laughed. “I like that. It’s classic sounding.”

She smiled. “Thanks. It was my idea. My husband wanted to name him Cooper, but I hated it.” Her face fell, and she looked down at baby Henry.

“Have you heard from him?” I asked, wrapping my fingers around my mug and taking my first sip.

“No. And I don’t expect to.”

“Geez,” I breathed. “He sounds like an awful person. I mean, no offense. I’m sorry. I know he’s your husband and all.”

“Was,” she corrected, shaking her head. “We’re still officially married, of course… but I’ve heard about where he is and what he’s doing and, trust me, he’s moved on. He’s not coming back.”

I wondered if what he was “doing” involved being with another woman. The very idea of a guy walking out on his three kids was sickening. I clenched my coffee cup tighter and took a deep breath.

“What’s your story?” Tracey asked. “You said you’re from L.A., but you’re working at a food pantry here for just a while?”

“Yeah, I don’t really know what’s going on in my life.”

She guffawed. “Join the club.”

“This was all supposed to be temporary,” I told the black liquid. “But it’s turning out to be pretty prolonged.”

“Do you miss L.A.?”

I opened my mouth to say yes but then paused. “I miss my old life,” I responded. “But it’s not there anymore… so I don’t know.” I sighed. “I don’t feel like I really belong anywhere right now.”

“Hm.”

“Hm indeed,” I slowly said. Part of me wanted to go on about how much it sucked, but the other part of me knew I really didn’t have that much to complain about. Not when you compared my situation to that of the woman sitting right next to me. At least I wasn’t struggling to take care of and feed three kids all by myself.

“Is there anything else you need?” I asked. “I mean, there’s plenty here. I can give you some more from the garden or even loan you some money.”

Just offering my help felt awkward, but I couldn’t very well let her leave the house without me at least bringing it up.

“No,” she said. “But thank you. We’re going to be all right. Social services is open tomorrow, and I’m going there first thing to see if I can get emergency assistance.”

I mentally crossed my fingers for her. “Okay.”

“So why are you staying here longer than you expected to?”

“Oh.” I waved my hand dismissively. “My dad is traveling because of work and he thought it would be good for me to come to Crystal Brook for a while. But now it looks like he won’t be headed home any time soon.”

Tracey cocked her head and looked at me. “You can’t just go back yourself? I’m sorry, I just assumed you were in your twenties. Are you not over eighteen?”

“Uh…” I didn’t know what to say. Admitting the truth was embarrassing, even to a woman who was in much more dire straits than me.

I
was
kind of tired of always skirting around the truth though, so I took a breath and went for it.

“He sold our house… because he had to. His, uh, company went bankrupt.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.”

I shrugged. “I freaked out at first. But at least I’m not…” I stopped myself right before shoving my foot in my mouth.

“At least you’re not in my situation?”

I slapped a hand over my face. “I wasn’t really thinking that,” I muttered, feeling miserably lame.

“It’s all right.” She pursed her lips and looked down at Henry. “It sucks,” she said, the words thick. “To wake up in the morning and not know how you’re going to be able to feed your children… I don’t wish that feeling on anyone.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She looked so fragile, sitting there in the corner of a couch with one arm around her baby. I tried to imagine her with two more children, taking care of them all by herself. A shudder went through me.

“My job helped some,” she said. “I’ve been bringing food home from work a lot the last couple weeks. I didn’t think we’d have to get on aid, though. I was working as much as I could and thought I’d be able to meet the month’s bills. And then Mackenzie got a stomach bug and had to stay home for three days, and those were the days I was scheduled to work the most hours. And then Owen got it too…” Tracey shook her head. “It’s always something.”

“So you had to miss work and couldn’t pay your bills?”

“Right.”

“Damn,” I muttered.

She took a gulp of coffee and then set the mug down. “I should be going. Thank you for the coffee.”

“You’re welcome.”

She looped her purse strap over her shoulder and stood. The keys dangled from Henry’s chubby palm, and I reached out to snatch them just as he dropped them.

“I guess I’ll see you around,” I told Tracey, handing her the keys.

“Yeah. See you around.”

I followed her across the room. As she opened the door, a spur of the moment thought occurred to me. With no time to think it over, I spoke. “Hey.”

She turned around and looked back at me.

“If you ever need your kids watched,” I said. “You know, because they’re sick or something, and you have to go to work… I could do it. You wouldn’t have to pay me.”

She studied my face. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

A little spark lit in her eye. “Thanks, Grace.”

Emotion burned behind my nose, and I sniffed it back. “Of course.”

I watched Tracey as she trekked across the grass, and Henry watched me, his little face peeking around his mother’s shoulder.

Going back inside, I shut the door and immediately started biting a fingernail. Realizing what I was doing, I dropped my hand. I was broke as fuck and didn’t have the money to splurge on a manicure just because I couldn’t stop biting my nails.

But that wasn’t the real thing bothering me. The offer to babysit had literally just flown out of my mouth. Truth be told, I didn’t have any real experience with children. I thought they were cute, but they also had a tendency to make me nervous. Maybe I just hadn’t spent a lot of time around them, but it seemed like they were always doing unpredictable things and that kind of freaked me out.

All you would have to do is keep them alive,
I reminded myself.

“Keep them alive,” I whispered. “Just keep them alive.”

Grace Wells. Baby sitter. Dog walker. Food pantry volunteer.

A person I definitely didn’t recognize.

Luke

“L
uke? Are you listening?”

I jerked to attention and turned my gaze to Brie. “Sorry. What?”

She stared back at me. “Is everything all right?”