Adam didn’t typically have violent tendencies, even less so than his normally pretty chill brothers. But the more Lauren told him about what Phil had done, the more he wanted to punch the guy into another galaxy. The thought of the jerk walking around free—even if he had lost his job and now had to do court-ordered community service, no doubt working as part of a sanitation crew—just didn’t seem right. The fact that Lauren had set aside her own hurt, and probably desire for revenge, in order to protect her daughters said a lot about the kind of person she was—the kind he liked more with each passing minute.
When he pulled in to the parking lot of the Wildflower Inn, he wished the drive back had been longer. He didn’t want the night to end, but with two babies to get to bed, there was no chance of it extending further than the next few minutes.
He expected Lauren to get out of the SUV as soon as he parked. Instead, she sat staring out the windshield toward the dark surface of Blue Falls Lake.
“Other than family and attorneys, you’re the only person I’ve told any of that,” she said.
Though he wished she hadn’t been put through such hell, he felt honored she trusted him enough to share the details with him—especially when he knew trust was a huge obstacle for her.
“For what it’s worth, you’re one of the strongest women I’ve ever met. Not a lot of people could have gone through what you did without coming out the other side bitter and angry.”
“Oh, trust me there’s been plenty of that.”
“But it doesn’t rule you. It’s not what people see when they meet you.”
She looked at him and he’d swear he’d never seen anyone so beautiful; she didn’t even have to be in full light for it to show.
“What do they see?”
He stared at her, wanting to pull her into his arms and kiss her until they both were forced to surface for oxygen.
“They or me?”
Lauren didn’t respond at first, instead licking her lips. “You.”
He cupped her jaw, loving the feel of her soft skin against his rougher palm. “A woman who is strong, caring, hardworking and so beautiful I sometimes forget how to form words.”
She placed her palm against the hand he held to her cheek and swallowed visibly. “Thank you. I haven’t heard anything like that in a long time—and then only from someone who probably didn’t mean it.”
“Which in itself is a crime.”
Lauren lowered her gaze, appearing as if she had no idea how to respond.
Adam started to lean toward her, but one of the girls made a sound in the back, dispersing any romantic thoughts Lauren might have been entertaining.
“I better get them inside. I don’t want them getting too cold.”
The interior of the SUV might have been cooling now that the engine and thus the heater weren’t running, but Adam hadn’t noticed. His blood had heated at Lauren’s nearness, at the fact she hadn’t pulled away, even more so when he’d thought they might finally share a kiss.
The speed with which she opened her door and slipped out caused him to wonder if it had less to do with getting the babies inside and a lot more with the fact he’d spooked her. What he’d said about her being strong was true, but he had to wonder if Phil’s actions had done more damage than Lauren realized.
With a sigh, he got out as well, aiming to retrieve Harper from her seat behind his. When they reached Lauren’s room with the babies still half-asleep a few minutes later, he handed Harper off to Violet. He noticed Lauren’s sister glancing between them, no doubt curious how the date went. He’d likely encounter similar curiosity when he arrived home. The thought made him halfway want to get a room here at the inn tonight.
Of course, that thought made him think of how he might use that room.
When Lauren turned to say good-night, he wondered if she could see his thoughts. Especially when he considered she wore a smile that was shyer than he knew her to be.
“Thanks for tonight,” she said. “I had a nice time. And though they can’t say it yet, the girls did, too.”
He nodded. “Me, too.” The moment grew awkward. “Well, good night.”
“Good night.”
During his walk back to the parking lot, an odd emptiness accompanied him. A feeling of being incomplete. He walked a few feet past his mom’s SUV to the grassy crest of the hill that led down to the lakeside park. He shivered against a sudden brisk wind off the lake that eliminated what little of his earlier warmth still lingered.
“Adam?”
At first he thought he’d imagined Lauren’s voice, but then he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to find her standing a short distance away.
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
She appeared to be about to say something, but in the next moment she erased the few feet between them, placed her hands on his shoulders and lifted onto her toes. As her lips touched his, Adam wrapped his arms around her and pulled her even closer.
And the incomplete feeling went completely away.
Lauren let go of the last bit of resistance holding her back and fell completely into the kiss. When Adam’s arms came around her, pulling her closer, she didn’t think she’d ever loved the feel of anything more.
Though the air around them was cold enough she’d seen her breath on the walk out here, she was fairly certain flames were licking at her body. Were it not for her sister and daughters inside, she would lead Adam back to the room and see where things went. It’d been so long since she’d been held by a man, since she’d felt any passion.
Truth was she’d never felt a hunger like what was gnawing at her now. She wanted Adam, all of him, more than she could adequately describe. That should scare her, would have only minutes ago, but in this moment it didn’t. Because crossing this line had been her move. He’d given her that. And now he was showing her just how much he had been holding back. Because there was no way the hunger she felt from him had just been born when she captured his lips with hers.
She had no idea how much time had elapsed when their lips finally left each other. Were it not for Adam’s hands against her back, Lauren would have been pretty certain she would have stumbled and perhaps toppled right over. The feeling in her head was similar to the dizzy feeling she got when on a boat.
“I’m sorry,” Adam said, sounding breathless. “Too much?”
Not enough. Not nearly enough.
“Don’t apologize. I seem to remember I started that.”
A slow, sexy grin transformed Adam from apologist to a man she was having an extraordinarily hard time not shoving into the back seat of his mom’s SUV and steaming up the windows so much that someone was bound to call the cops.
That mental image caused her to laugh, which wiped the grin from Adam’s face.
“My turn to apologize,” she said as she motioned toward her head. “Inappropriate thoughts.”
The grin raced back to his mouth. “That right?”
“And no, I’m not sharing them.”
Adam tugged her closer, and there was no mistaking just what kind of effect their hot make-out session had on him. Honestly, she was surprised there wasn’t visible steam coming off her own body.
Lauren thought about how she’d run out on Violet without an explanation, not that she didn’t think her sister had already come up with something juicy. “I should get back inside.”
“Can’t say I like that idea.”
She smiled up at Adam and hoped with all her might that he was the good guy he seemed. “I should be scared out of my mind right now, but I’m not.”
Adam ran the tips of his fingers softly along the edge of her face. “Does that mean you’ll go out with me again?”
“Yes. And maybe I can arrange a babysitter next time.” She hated to keep depending on her family to look after the girls so much, but if she didn’t get some alone time with Adam she was afraid she might combust. Maybe she could hire a babysitter and give them all a free night.
“As cute as the girls are, I like the sound of that.”
Though she didn’t want to, she made herself take a step backward and then another. “I’ll let you know, okay?”
Another step and the only part of them that was still touching was their hands, but then Adam pulled her quickly back into his arms and kissed her again—a deep, thorough kiss that left her wondering if she had enough energy left to walk back to the room.
“I better let you go before I act on some of my own inappropriate thoughts,” he said, but then gave her another mind-spinning kiss before breaking all contact and stepping toward the SUV. “I’ll wait until you get inside.”
Inside the SUV? Yes, please.
But no, he meant the inn. Somehow she remembered how walking worked, so she turned and headed for the light of the lobby. She didn’t allow herself to look back at Adam or she might walk right back to him. Possibly run. Her entire body was shaking as she entered the light and warmth of the lobby. A quick glance toward the check-in desk revealed that the young woman there appeared to be hiding a smile. Had she seen Lauren and Adam getting hot and heavy in the parking lot?
Good grief, she had to be careful. Everyone had a cell phone, and the last thing she needed was a video of her and Adam all over each other in a dark parking lot hitting the internet. It would shoot all her work to put the coverage of the trial and questions about her morality firmly behind her and out of the minds of her viewers.
She walked on legs that felt like overcooked noodles down the hallway toward her room. When she reached it, she didn’t immediately enter. Instead, she leaned against the wall and tried to get her breathing under control. To slow her heart rate. To formulate some sort of response to the questions she knew waited for her on the other side of the door.
She caught movement out of the corner of her eye, and her heart jumped into her throat. When she turned toward the end of the corridor, she fully expected to see Phil staring at her. She’d swear she saw him. Anger propelled her down the hallway. When she reached him, she was going to fire at him with both barrels with everything she’d imagined saying to him that she hadn’t been able to in that courtroom. Punish him for intruding on this moment when she was basking in the glow of having kissed Adam.
But when she reached the end of the hallway and looked in both directions, there was no one in sight. And there was nowhere he could have hidden that quickly. She’d imagined him. Was this the universe’s way of warning her she was making a mistake again?
No, Adam was a good guy. He’d proven that over and over, hadn’t he?
With a sigh, she turned and walked back to her room. She took a deep breath and pulled the key card out of her pocket. But before she could slip it into the slot, the exit door at the end of the hall opened and she jerked toward the sound. But it still wasn’t Phil. Instead, Papa Ed stepped inside. Had he arrived back while she was gone to Austin? If so, why had he just been outside? Surely he hadn’t driven back this late.
What worried her more than his driving several hours alone after dark was how he appeared to be carrying a heavy but invisible burden on his shoulders.
“Papa Ed?”
He looked up as he neared her, seeming startled to find her out in the corridor.
“Did you just get back?”
He gave a quick nod, looking as if he wanted nothing more than to slip inside his room and fall asleep. But he halted midway to reaching for his door and turned toward her.
“Is Violet awake?”
“Yeah.”
“I’d like to talk to you both.”
Something cold and foreboding settled in the pit of her stomach. “Is Mom okay?”
“She’s fine, honey. And before you ask, I’m okay, too. I just have something I need to talk to you about.”
Despite what he said, it had to be something serious if he wasn’t willing to wait until morning. Before she allowed her mind to jump to all kinds of horrible conclusions, she slipped her key in the door and eased inside so as not to wake up the girls.
Violet jumped up from where she sat at the small desk working on the computer with an excited look on her face, all those questions Lauren had imagined shining in her sister’s eyes—until she saw Papa Ed behind her.
“What’s wrong?”
Lauren gave a little shake of her head as she checked the girls and saw they were fast asleep. She also noticed that Violet had gotten a miniature lighted Christmas tree from somewhere and placed it on top of the small fridge. It’d be enough to make Lauren smile if she wasn’t so concerned about Papa Ed. She had the awful feeling that after the most wonderful night she’d had in ages, a bomb was about to be dropped on her life yet again.
Suddenly exhausted, she sank onto the side of her bed. She watched as Papa Ed walked over to where his great-granddaughters were sleeping. He smiled as he looked down at them.
“They really are the most beautiful little girls,” he said.
“Papa Ed, tell us what’s going on. You’re freaking me out,” Violet said.
Lauren couldn’t have more perfectly voiced her feelings as her grandfather sat on Violet’s bed. She noticed him fidgeting with the fabric of his pants, as if nervous. It wasn’t a state in which she’d very often seen him. Just as she was about to ask him again what was wrong, he took a deep breath and began to speak.
“I know you have been curious about that incident with Verona Charles at the carnival,” he said. “The simple answer is that we used to know each other a long time ago.”
“And the ‘not simple’ answer?” Lauren prompted. “Was she an old girlfriend?” It was hard to imagine him with anyone other than Nana Gloria, but she knew they’d had lives before they’d gotten married.
He nodded. “We were pretty serious.” He paused, as if the weight of the past was crushing him. “I loved her.”
Lauren glanced at Violet, whose eyes had widened at that revelation, before she returned her attention to Papa Ed. “What happened?”
“I had dated your grandmother before Verona and I got together, and...well, your mother was the result.”
It was as if Lauren’s brain encountered a thick bank of fog, preventing it from processing her grandfather’s meaning. But then Violet gasped, jerking Lauren out of the fog as if she’d been lassoed and yanked out by a speeding horse.
“Explain.” It was the only word she could get past her lips, though she was beginning to form a picture in her mind.
“It was a different time then, so I did the right thing and married your grandmother.”
“You didn’t love Nana?” Violet said, sounding one part sad and one part angry.
“Of course I did,” Papa Ed responded with so much feeling that Lauren believed him. Plus, there was no way he could have feigned the obvious love for Nana Gloria all those years. “I cared for her before, but we had a fight about something stupid and inconsequential, and broke up. I started dating Verona and fell hard for her, but there was no way I was going to leave Gloria to raise our child alone. So we got married and moved away from Blue Falls.”
“To get away from Verona?” Lauren asked.
“And to protect Gloria’s reputation.”
“But you still loved Verona?” Violet asked as she got up to pace the room.
Lauren didn’t know how her sister found the energy to stand. She sure didn’t have enough herself.
“Yes, but I never talked to her again.” He hesitated, looking as if his mind had been transported to another time. “I didn’t have the courage to face her, so I just left her a note telling her I had to go.” He shook his head. “I handled it so wrong, but I was a scared kid who’d just found out he was going to be a father.”
He sighed and shook his head slowly.
“Distance and time changed things,” he said. “Gloria and I grew closer, and I would not trade all the years I had with her for anything. I loved her with all my heart.” His voice broke on the last word.
Lauren reached over and took his hand in hers. “We know you did. That much was obvious.”
“Is Verona the reason you wanted Lauren to come here, to open her restaurant in Blue Falls?” Violet was still pacing, in danger of wearing a visible path in the carpet.
Papa Ed shook his head. “No. I had no idea she was still here, or that she’d even recognize me if we did happen to cross paths. I just... I guess a part of me was homesick for my boyhood home after Gloria passed. I wanted to see it one more time. But when I happened across the empty restaurant for sale, it felt like some sort of sign. I can’t really explain other than to say I thought...” He stopped and didn’t appear as if he was going to go on.
It hit Lauren what he’d been about to say.
“You felt as if Nana was telling you something.”
He nodded. “I know that sounds crazy, that I was just looking for a connection to her that wasn’t there.”
“I don’t think it’s crazy,” Lauren said.
“You don’t?” Violet looked at her sister as if she thought everyone in the room was off their rocker except for her and the sleeping babies.
“I think there are lots of things that none of us will ever fully understand. Whether Nana wanted us to come to Blue Falls, I have no idea. But I think the fact that Papa Ed ran into someone he used to love, someone who never got married, isn’t pure coincidence.”
“She never got married?” Papa Ed sounded shocked and as if maybe the news had broken his heart all over again.
“That’s what I heard.” She had to say something to banish the sadness she saw in his eyes. “But from all accounts she had a successful career and is now known far and wide as the town’s unofficial matchmaker.”
Lauren wondered if Verona spent so much time arranging happily-ever-afters for other people because she’d never gotten her own. The thought was incredibly sad, and there was just too damn much sadness in the world. Especially for good people.
“Maybe Nana wants you to have a second chance.”
Papa Ed’s forehead crinkled in confusion.
“With Verona,” Lauren said to clarify.
He shook his head. “Oh, no, I can’t do that to her.”
“Who? Nana or Verona?”
“I loved your grandmother.”
Lauren squeezed his hand. “We know that. But you don’t have to live the rest of your life alone to prove that to anyone, not even yourself.”
“You’re talking silliness,” he said. “Besides, you saw how she reacted when she saw me. I doubt she ever wants to clap eyes on me again.”
“You won’t know until you ask.”
“Lauren—”
It had been a long time since she’d shushed her little sister, but Lauren did it now. Violet looked shocked but thankfully kept quiet.
“I don’t know.” Papa Ed looked down at where Lauren’s hand sat atop his.
“Listen, if nothing else maybe you can reconnect and set things right.”
“It seems a little late for that.”
“I’m speaking not as your granddaughter now, but as a woman. I saw the look on Verona’s face. I don’t really know her, but that look told me that she hasn’t forgotten.” Probably hadn’t forgiven. “I think you have to try. If it doesn’t work, then at least you tried. If you can be friends, even better. And if you can rekindle a spark, well, I want to see you happy. I’ve always worried about Mom being alone since Dad died, and I know you’ve been sad since Nana passed.” Not to mention how she’d felt since the truth about Phil had come to light, though it wasn’t the same thing. “It feels like time for our family to have something positive happen in the romantic realm, you know?”
“My money’s on you,” Papa Ed said as he looked up at her.
Lauren glanced at Violet, who shrugged. “I might have mentioned to Mom you were out on a date tonight.”
“He seems like a fine young man, and the fact he took the girls with you speaks highly of him.”
Papa Ed was likely using the turn in the conversation to avoid talking about Verona anymore, but Lauren had said her piece and any further action was up to him.
Time for her own honesty.
“He is. At least he seems to be.”
Papa Ed sandwiched her hand between his. “We can never be one-hundred-percent certain about a person. We just have to go on our best judgment and faith.”
“My belief in both of those is pretty shaky right now.”
“But not shaky enough to prevent you from going back outside to grab a good-night kiss?” Violet asked, her natural teasing seeming to edge out her upset over Papa Ed’s revelation.
“Did you leave the girls alone to spy on me?”
Violet smiled. “No, but you just confirmed my suspicion.”
“We’re not talking about me.”
“Yeah, we are.”
Lauren started to object before realizing she was just too tired.
Papa Ed stood. “I’ll go and let you all get some rest. I feel as if I could sleep twelve hours myself.”
Lauren accompanied him to the door. “Will you at least think about what I said?”
He placed his hand on her shoulder. “If you promise to give that young man a real chance. You deserve to be happy the same as the rest of us.”
She nodded because she didn’t know how else to respond. And the truth was those minutes in the parking lot had her thinking that she’d allowed herself to feel more for Adam than she’d even realized. If she was alone, she might very well close her eyes, touch her lips and relive every delicious moment of his kisses, the heart-pumping feel of his hands running over her. How much better would it feel if there was nothing between them?
Before her face lit up like a bright red railroad-crossing sign, she opened the door and kissed Papa Ed on the cheek. When she closed the door behind him, she halfway dreaded turning to face her sister. But the rest of her wanted to hop on her bed and tell Violet everything, to squeal like a teenage girl who’d just gone on a date with her dream guy.
Could Adam be that—a dream come true? Because the last man in her life had turned out to be a nightmare.
When she retraced her steps into the room, she found Violet sitting against the headboard of her bed.
“I honestly don’t know what to even feel right now,” Violet said.
“Papa Ed’s not getting any younger. If there’s the possibility that he could find love again, wouldn’t you want him to?”
Violet shrugged. “I guess. But what if Verona hurts him instead? I don’t want to have to go off on an old lady.”
“I think Papa Ed can handle things himself.” Not that she wouldn’t be there for him if he needed it, but something was telling her that everything would be okay with him. Maybe Nana Gloria was speaking to her, too. She smiled at that thought.
“So, that smile have to do with what happened in the parking lot? Speaking of, tell me exactly what did happen in the parking lot.”
Lauren sat on the edge of her bed and flopped backward to stare at the ceiling. “Tell me I’m not being a fool.”
“Well, I can’t do that until you tell me what happened.”
“I walked straight up to Adam and kissed him. Really kissed him.”
“And did he kiss you back?”
“Yes.”
“Peck? Smooch? French? I need details, woman.”
Lauren lifted her feet. “Are there still soles on my shoes? Because it felt as if they might have melted off.”
Violet squealed, causing one of the twins to make a startled sound in her sleep.
Lauren sat up straight and pointed at her sister. “If you wake them up, I’m going to leave you here with them and go sleep at the restaurant.”
An evil grin spread across Violet’s face. “Are you sure that’s where you’d go? Or maybe you wouldn’t be alone there.”
Lauren’s cheeks heated at the thought, at the way her skin tingled as if she could already feel Adam’s hands there.
“My initial question remains.”
“Are you a fool?” Violet scooted to the edge of her bed to face Lauren. “No. You’d be a fool if you let what happened with Phil keep you from finding happiness with someone else.”
“But there are—”
Violet held up her hand. “I’m going to stop you right there. I understand why you do it—I probably would as well in your situation—but you need to stop overthinking everything. There is no way to know with total certainty that someone will never hurt you.”
Lauren let out her breath and dropped her face into her hands for a few seconds before facing her sister again. “I really like him, but I’m scared. And it’s not just me I have to consider now.”
“The man just took your babies on a date with you.”
“True.”
“Go slowly if you want to, but just go.”
Lauren bit her bottom lip and realized she could still taste Adam there. “Okay.”
It took an amazing amount of willpower not to go immediately. Go toward what she hoped was the beginning of something great.