AJ nodded. “Did he ask you anything when you saw him yesterday?”
“No. I think he assumes your father is someone I met after leaving here, but as I said, there’s a chance he might start putting two and two together.”
AJ’s features drew in a deeper frown at the thought of that happening. “But we can’t let him figure it out.”
She shook her head. Shelly hated lying to AJ although she knew it was for a good reason. She had to remember that. “Whoa. Don’t include me in this, AJ. It’s strictly your
decision not to let Dare know about you, it isn’t mine. I’m already in hot water for not having told him that you exist at all. But I’ll keep my word and not tell him anything if that’s the way you want it.”
“Yes, that’s the way I want it,” AJ said, not hiding the relief on his face.
His lips were quivering, and Shelly knew he was fighting hard to keep his tears at bay. Right now he was feeling
torn. A part of him wanted to be elated that his father did exist, but another part refused to accept the man who he’d discovered his father was, all because of that
Westmoreland pride and stubbornness.
Shelly shook her head when she felt tears in the back of her own eyes. Dare’s mission to win his son’s love would not
be easy.
Later that night, after AJ had gone to bed Shelly received a phone call from Dare.
“Did you tell him?”
She leaned against her kitchen sink. “Yes, I told him.”
There was a pause. “And how did he take it?”
Shelly released a deep sigh. “Just as we expected. He
doesn’t want you to know that he’s your son.” When Dare didn’t respond, she said. “Don’t take it personally, Dare. I think he’s more confused than anything right now. Tonight I discovered why he had stopped asking me about you.”
“Why?”
“Because he didn’t really believe you existed, at least not the way I’d told him. It seems that a friend of his had shared with him the fact that his mother had told him his father had died in a car accident when he was a baby, and then he’d discovered that his father was alive and well and living
somewhere with another family. So AJ assumed what I had told him about you wasn’t true and that I really didn’t know how to contact you if he ever asked me to. And since he
never wanted to place me in a position that showed me up as a liar, he just never bothered.”
Again she released a sigh as she fought back the tears that threaten to fall. “And to think that he probably did want to
know you all this time but refrained from asking to save me embarrassment in being caught in a lie.”
A sob caught in her throat as she blinked back a tear. “Oh, Dare I feel so bad for him, and what he’s going through is
all my fault. I thought I was making all the right decisions for all the right reasons and now it seems I caused more harm than good.”
Dare lay in bed, his entire body tense. He could no longer hold back the anger he felt for Shelly, even knowing he had made a couple of mistakes himself in handling things ten
years ago. Had he not chosen a career over her then,
things would have worked out a whole lot differently. So, in reality, he was just as much to blame as Shelly, but together they had a chance to make things work to save their son.
“Things are going to work out in the end, Shell, you’ll see. You’ve done your part tonight, now let me handle things
from here. It might take months, but in the end I believe that AJ will accept me as his father. In my heart I believe that
one day he’ll want me to know the truth.”
Shelly nodded, hearing the confidence in Dare’s voice and hoping he was right. “So now we move to the second
phase of your plan?”
“Now we move to the second phase of our plan.”
The next morning, after AJ had left for school, a gentle
knock on the door alerted Shelly that she had a visitor.
Today was her day off and she had spent the last half hour or so on the computer paying her bills on-line, and was just
about to walk into the kitchen for a cup of coffee.
Crossing the living room she glanced out of the peephole. Her breath caught. Dare was standing on her porch, and
his tall, muscular frame was silhouetted by the mid-morning sunlight that was shining brightly behind him. He looked
gorgeous; his uniform, which showcased his solid chest,
firm stomach and strong flanks, made him look even more so.
She shivered as everything about her that was woman
jolted upward from the soles of her feet, to settle in an area between her legs. She inhaled and commanded her body not to go there. Whatever had been between her and Dare had ended ten years ago, and now was not the time for her body to go horny on her. She’d done without sex for this
long, and she could continue to go without it for a while
longer. But damn if Dare Westmoreland didn’t rattle and stir up those urges she’d kept dormant for ten years. She
couldn’t for the life of her forget how it had felt to run her
hands over his chest, indulging in the crisp feel of his chair and the masculine texture of his skin.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath at the memory of his firm stomach rubbing against her own and the feel of his calloused palm touching her intimately on the sensitive areas of her body. She remembered him awakening within her a passion that had almost startled her.
His second knock made her regain her mental balance,
and warning signals against opening the door suddenly
went off in her head as she opened her eyes. A silent voice reminded her that although she might want to, there was no way to put as much distance between herself and Dare as she’d like. No matter how much being around him got to
her, their main concern was their son.
Inhaling deeply, she slowly opened the door and met his
gaze. Once again she felt every sexual instinct she
possessed spring to life. “Dare, what are you doing here?” she asked, pausing afterwards to take a deep, steadying breath.
He smiled, that enticingly sexy smile that always made her want to go to the nearest bed and get it on with him. There was no way she couldn’t see him and not think of crawling into bed next to him amidst rumpled sheets while he
reached out and took her into his arms and…
“I tried calling you at the agency where you worked and they told me you were off today,” he said as he leaned in her
doorway, breaking into her wayward thoughts and sending her already sex-crazed mind into turmoil. Why did he still
look so good after ten years? And why on earth was her
body responding to the sheer essence of him this way? But then she and Dare always had had an abundant amount of overzealous hormones and it seemed that ten years hadn’t done a thing to change that.
“Why were you trying to reach me?” she somehow found her voice to ask him. “Is something wrong?”
He shook his head, immediately putting her fears to rest. “No, but I thought it would be a good idea if we talked.”
Shelly’s eyebrows raised. “Talk? But we talked yesterday morning at Kate’s Diner and again last night. What do we have to talk about now?” she asked, trying not to sound as frustrated as she felt.
“I thought you’d like to know how my meeting went with Jared yesterday.”
“Oh.” She had completely forgotten about his plans to meet with his attorney cousin for lunch. She’d always liked his
cousin Jared Westmoreland, who, over the years, had
become something of a hotshot attorney. “I would.” She
took a step back as she fought to remain composed.
“Come in.”
He stepped inside and closed the door behind him and
then glanced around. “It’s been years since I’ve been inside this house. It brings back memories,” Dare said meeting
her gaze once again.
She nodded, remembering how he used to stand in that same spot countless times as he waited for her to come down the stairs for their dates. And even then, when she
breezed down the stairs her mind was filled with thoughts of their evening, especially how it would finish. “Yes, it does.”
A long, seemingly endless moment of silence stretched between them before she finally cleared her throat. “I was about to have a cup of coffee and a Danish if you’d like to join me,” she offered.
“That’s a pretty tempting offer, one that I think I’ll take you up on.”
Shelly nodded. If he thought that was tempting he really
didn’t know what tempting was about. Tempting was Dare Westmoreland standing in the middle of her living room
looking absolutely gorgeous. And it didn’t help matters one iota when she glanced his way and saw a definite bulge
behind his fly. Apparently he was just as hot and bothered as she was.
She quickly turned around. “Follow me,” she said over her shoulder, wondering how she was going to handle being alone in the house with him.
Following Shelly was the last thing Dare thought he needed to do. He tried not to focus on the sway of the backside
encased in denim shorts in front of him. He was suddenly besieged with memories of just how that backside had felt in his hands when he’d lifted it to thrust inside her. Those
thoughts made his arousal harden even more. He
suppressed a groan deep in his throat.
He tried to think of other things and glanced around. He