Raising the Soldier's Son: So what if they share a history? That's in the past. And it's staying there. (Hometown Hero Series Book 3) Read online

  “So he and you were an item?”

  “You could say that,” she nodded, her eyes flicking back to Kirk. The accusation she saw in his face made her lose her footing.

  “Why’d you end it?”

  She sighed. “I didn’t.”

  “He did?” Dan muttered something under his breath. “Why?”

  “Never did find out,” she said, forcing a smile. She hoped she came off as breezy, as if it was just one of those things, rather than the cataclysmic heartbreak it had been.

  “Muddy was saying you were engaged.”

  “Yeah, Muddy’s right.” She looked straight into Dan’s eyes. “It was a short engagement.” Again, she sighed. “He enlisted straight out of school. Navy. We got engaged right before he was deployed. He broke it off about three or four months into his tour.”

  “And you haven’t seen him since?”

  “No.”

  “Until tonight.”

  “No.”

  “Is he…” Dan stopped dancing, but kept his arms around Annabeth’s waist. “You never did tell me about Wade’s father. Is it… is it him?”

  Annabeth closed her eyes. No one but Emma knew the truth. Not even Horace, her father. It had been easier to come home pregnant and miserable, and claim the baby to be the result of a college romance. Once Kirk had started sending her letters back, she’d known he would never be a part of her baby’s life. So what good was dragging his name through the mud? No way did she want her little boy to be known about town as the Robinson no one wanted.

  “No,” she lied, but the word sounded discordant. She tried again, more forcefully. “No. He’s no one to me or Wade.”

  “It’s just the timing…” Dan pushed.

  “Hey, what are you, a detective?” She made a sort of laughing noise. “Come on. I thought you wanted to dance.”

  He nodded slowly. “Just look after yourself, Annabeth. I’d hate seeing you get hurt.”

  “Not going to happen, Doc. I’ve got one man in my life, and he’s about three feet tall.”

  Dan smiled. Wade was, by far, his favorite patient. The growth issues that had plagued his early years had meant they had regular contact. Dan was proud of the little boy Wade was shaping up to be.

  Somewhere around midnight, the crowds started to thin. She saw Cam leave first, then Kirk, and finally, it was just Annabeth and Emma, alone in the bar. “Go on home, Em. I’m just going to check the bookings for the weekend then I’ll lock up.”

  “Nah, I’ll wait.”

  “You’ve got that big photo shoot tomorrow, Emma. Come on, I’ll feel guilty if you’re tired because of me. Plus, A.J will kill me if I keep you at the bar all night.”

  Emma grinned goofily, as she always did, when she thought of her country singing boyfriend. “You know he’d never be mad with you, Annabeth,” Emma countered, but she was already swinging her legs off the bar stool. “He’s too sweet to be angry with anyone.”

  Annabeth nodded. A.J wasn’t just a star on the country music scene. He was an all round good guy. Emma had been dating him almost a year, and it was getting serious between the two of them.

  “Okay, okay.” Emma stood up and blew a kiss at her friend. “See yak later, Beth.”

  “Bye, hon.”

  Clearview was the kind of town that was comforting and homely. With the exception of the time she’d spent away at college, she’d lived in the small town all her life. She knew most of the locals. She never felt unsafe, anywhere she went. So she was surprised to realize that she startled, when a car flashed its headlights at her as she left The Whistlestop.

  She held a hand up above her eyes and squinted, trying to see through the windscreen.

  Slowly, she walked towards the car. It was a sleek, black four wheel drive; not one she’d seen before.

  As she got near, the front door opened, and Kirk swung his long legs out.

  “Kirk!” She exclaimed, lifting a hand to her necklace and fingering it nervously. “What are you still doing here?”

  “I wanted to make sure you got home safe.”

  Annabeth’s laugh was lacking humor. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “Why is that funny?”

  “Oh, Kirk. Come on. I’ve been getting home just fine every night for the last five years. Why would tonight be any different.” Her eyes narrowed as she realized what he was really looking for. “Or did you want to make sure I got home alone?”

  His blue eyes hardened. “That guy was all over you.”

  “Sweet Lord, are you actually daring to play the part of the jealous ex?”

  “I’m not playing a part. I didn’t like seeing you mauled by another man.”

  “Dan was not mauling me. We were dancing. And he’s just a friend.” She jammed her hands into the pockets of her low-slung jeans. “And it’s none of your damned business. You gave up any right to know what’s happening in my life when you sent me a Dear Jane email,” she pointed out acerbically.

  Pain lanced through Kirk. He remembered the email. He hadn’t actually written himself. He’d dictated it to one of the staff sergeants and they’d typed it out for him. He vaguely remembered the man urging him to wait a while before making irreparable life decisions. But Kirk hadn’t wanted to wait. He’d known it was over, and that leaving Beth in any doubt for a day longer than was necessary was cruel. His reasons for leaving her were as valid now as they had been then. So why did he reach out and pull her to him, so that her small, neat figure was crushed to his muscled chest? Why did he run his hands through her long blonde hair, breathing in her floral scent?

  Annabeth could only stare up at him. Her body, her treacherous body, was craving more contact. Confusion swirled through her. “Kirk,” she whispered, thinking how his blonde hair shone like stardust in the light cast by the moon.

  “You’re the only girl I’ve ever loved,” he murmured, raking her face with his eyes, and tumbling his hands in her hair.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. “Not enough.” She pushed away from his body, and stared up at the starlit sky. “Not enough.”

  Too much, he thought angrily. He’d loved her too damned much to let her tie herself to him for the rest of her life. She had deserved better than marriage to a man like him.

  “Can I give you a lift?”

  Annabeth’s throat was raw. “No. I’m just around the corner.” She jerked her head towards the water.

  “All the more reason to let me drive you.”

  “No.” She responded emphatically, shaking her head firmly. “Kirk, you’re here for Cam’s wedding. That’s all. Stop… acting as though there’s still something between us. We’re finished. Kaput. I’ll admit, it’s stirred up some weird feelings for me, seeing you again. But that’s not real. It’s just whispers of the past, nothing more. Go home, and leave me alone, okay?”

  He watched her walk across the parking lot, her stride long, her hair blowing in the breeze behind her. She was moving as if she was running from the past. In some ways, she was.

  * * *

  “Any problems?” Annabeth asked quietly, shutting the front door gently behind her.

  Cassandra looked up from re-runs of last year’s The Bachelor. “Of course not. He was an angel.” Cassandra cleaved her substantial frame off the sofa and stood with a groan. “Busy night at the bar?”

  Annabeth nodded. “Yeah. This time of year’s always flat out.” The sun was warm, the beach inviting, and the locals wanted nothing more than to shake off the cold of winter with a few beers and conversation. “Sorry to keep you so late.”

  “Keep me from what? My riveting life as a cat-loving spinster?” She laughed, in that loud, bellowing way of hers. “You know you and Wade are all I’ve got. Happy to help out, honey.”

  “Thanks, Cass. Dad’ll be back in a few weeks. But until then, I’m so grateful you’re happy to fill in.”

  “More than happy. Wade’s just an angel. Gawd, he’s a fast runner too. Took him to the beach for a play and he was off like a sh
ot.”

  Just like his father, Annabeth thought. Physically, Wade was pure Sparks. He had Cassandra’s fair, curling hair, blue eyes, and petite frame. But his personality was pure Robinson. Fire and ice, determined, fiercely intelligent, and yes, he was athletic, too.

  “And to think you used to worry he was too small.” Cassandra was still talking, shaking her mop of short red hair with gusto. “He might be on the littler side of boys his age, but he can outrun any of them.”

  He wasn’t just on the littler side of his own age group, he looked more the size of a two year old than a four year old. Doctor Dan had run all kinds of tests, and sent them to specialists around the country for appraisals. Eventually, it had been agreed that Wade’s premature birth might have been a factor, or maybe genetics, and that there was no way of knowing whether he’d be short for the rest of his life, or hit a growth spurt in his teens. In other words, no one knew anything with any certainty, except for Annabeth, who felt, in her heart of hearts, that her boy was just perfect.

  Cassandra wouldn’t accept money for babysitting, but Annabeth was always sure to send her home with something. Tonight, it was a Cheesecake she’d baked earlier that day.

  “Same time tomorrow?” Cass asked, as she heaved herself into the driver’s seat of her pick up.

  “That’d be great. See you then.”

  “Night, Beth.” She blew a kiss and waved her hand out the window, her gold bangles jingling together noisily.

  Everything about Cassandra was loud. From the tip of her bright red head, to the garish outfits she assembled, to the booming way she put forth her opinions uncaring of who disagreed. Yes, she was loud, but she was an angel. There was a sweet serendipity to the situation, too, that the woman who’d helped raise Annabeth while Horace was running The Whistlestop was now helping so much with Wade.

  By the time Annabeth had showered off the smell of beer, and tried to wash away all thoughts of Kirk Robinson and what he’d once meant to her, she was tired. Only her mind wouldn’t quit. Quietly, she creaked open the door to Wade’s room and tiptoed over. He was fast asleep, a little arm flung above his head, his mouth open as he breathed his sleepy breaths into the room. She looked around his own personal space. She’d let him add bits and pieces to the décor over the years, and the result was a loud tribute to stars, spaceships, aliens, rockets, robots and dinosaurs. She ran her finger over the clay stegosaurus they’d built a few weeks earlier. They’d shaped it together, baked it, then Wade had painted it. Orange and gold. His favorite colors.

  She pressed a kiss to his forehead. He didn’t stir.

  Asleep, he was so like Kirk. She’d never seen that before. But now, having spent an evening staring at the man she’d once loved, his features were freshly imprinted in her mind. She looked down at Wade and sighed. Kirk had left her devastated, but he’d also given her Wade, and that made her the luckiest woman on earth.

  She should have been exhausted, but lying in her bed, sleep eluded her. A curious spark of energy was flowing through her veins, making sleep utterly impossible. She lay in bed, her blonde hair puffed about her face, her legs spread-eagled towards the lower corners of her mattress. And when she shut her eyes, she saw Kirk. Her body remembered what his touch had been like, and her soul felt cravings of old sear through her once more.

  * * *

  “The dorm’s not so bad,” he said hopefully, looking around the tiny space, thinking of the penthouse he’d wanted her to move into while she was at college. A gorgeous view of downtown Boston, space to stretch out in, and luxury furnishings. A far cry from the dorms of Boston College. He’d bought it, anticipating her agreement. Only she’d flat out refused to be kept by him. Her independence was infuriating, but also, it just made him love her more.

  “Not so bad! Talk about damning with faint praise.” When she spun around to face him, her eyes were glowing with excitement. “It’s perfect.”

  “Your enthusiasm is perfect,” he corrected, pulling her into his arms. He looked over at the spare side of the tiny space. “Room mate?”

  Annabeth’s grin unfurled slowly, like a flower opening its bloom. She linked her arms behind Kirk’s back, holding him tight. “Apparently she had a last minute change of plans. I won’t have a room mate. This semester, at least.”

  He raised his brows, and his whole body responded with the realization that they were alone. That she was no longer a high school senior. She was in college, and she was his. And he loved her with all his heart. She was no longer forbidden to him by his own code of moral conduct. When he kissed her, he could still taste the strawberries on her lips that they’d shared after dinner. He groaned, running his hands through her beautiful hair, so fair it shone like gold dust in the flickering fluorescent light of the dorm room.

  Annabeth had been kissed by Kirk before, but she knew this was a kiss that was leading somewhere, and she could hardly breathe for the excitement that was flowing through her body. “Kirk,” she whispered, urgently, her hands pushing at his shirt, straining for contact with his beautiful body.

  He laughed, but he was equally desperate. He tore at his shirt, pulling it free, and holding her against his bare chest. She kissed him. His muscled belly, his nipples, his neck, she drove her mouth over his skin, driving him wild with her sweetly tentative attentions. He growled low in his throat as he slipped the straps down from her dress. It was a long, flowing dress, pale pink that set off her tan, and when he pushed the straps down over her smooth shoulders, the whole thing slipped off her body.

  He swallowed. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and her underwear was just a tiny, pale thong. He tilted his head back. It was the first time he’d seen her naked, and it was a vision he would take with him to his grave.

  He moved his lips over her shoulder, thinking that her whole body tasted sweet like candy, like she was. Delicious and edible, and totally heaven-sent. Without realizing what he was doing, he pushed her with his body, back onto the firm mattress of her dorm bed.

  “Kirk, I want you so bad,” she whispered, and as she fell backwards, her hair formed a perfect halo of gold around her face.

  “I know.” He smiled. “Me too.”

  “Please, don’t make me wait any longer.”

  “Sweetheart, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. My self-control is about all worn out.”

  He kicked his jeans off, then his boxers, and brought his naked body down on hers. Beth’s face was flushed, and he recalled then that this was the first time she’d seen a man’s body. Completely exposed to the raw strength of his arousal.

  “Don’t be nervous,” he whispered against her neck, flicking the skin there with his tongue.

  “I’m not. I’m just… impressed,” she said frankly, earning a slow laugh from her boyfriend.

  “I won’t hurt you.”

  “I know.”

  He ran his hands down her body, her breasts, so small and rounded, her flat chest, to the apex of curls that protected her womanhood. He kissed her lips, and while his mouth worked on hers, he slipped a finger inside her core. She bucked against him, pleasure shooting little arrows of delight through her body. She was so wet he felt his own arousal tense in recognition.

  He was so caught up in the moment that he almost forgot to use protection. But his job in life was to protect Beth. He would never put her at risk. Quickly, because his need was great, he sheathed himself, then came to hover over her.

  “You tell me if I hurt you, Annabeth Sparks,” he whispered against her mouth. His chin was stubbled and the sensation of it rubbing against her cheek made her body throb. Every nerve ending was sensitized to the point of pain. She was a raw pool of lust.

  “Please, Kirk,” she begged, and instinctively, she arched her back, giving him access. He took it, easing himself into her as slowly as his control allowed. He met that invisible, inevitable barrier and forced himself to stop, to check her reaction. Beth’s face showed pain and discomfort briefly, but then pleasure sagged through her, as he rolled her nipples
with his thumb and forefinger, and gently continued to push into her.

  “You’re so tight,” his voice was hoarse. “So wet.”

  She tilted her head back, as sensation began to make her body tremble. Her honey colored skin was sheened with a fine film of perspiration. He wanted to hold her close as she came. He pulled her arms, lifting her from the bed, and held her against his chest. “I’ve got you, Beth,” he murmured against her ear. “You can let go.”

  And he moved inside of her, holding her writhing form in his arms, as she experienced her first orgasm. She shook, and she cried out, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. He caught it with his tongue. “You are amazing,” he said, kissing her lips and easing her back on the mattress.

  “No,” she disagreed. “You are amazing. I’m just lucky.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Damn, damn and blast,” she swore, hitting the steering wheel in angry frustration. “Don’t give up on me now, girl.” She flicked the key in the ignition, waiting for it to spark to life. It turned over once, made a low, keening noise, then shuddered to a decisive halt. “Oh, crap.” She looked down at her wristwatch, impatiently. She had to open the bar or she’d have a line of angry locals on her hands.

  Her old car was a bucket of rust. Even more so now than it had been when she had been in school. But it had always been reliable. Now, it seemed to have colluded with destiny, and broken down just a hundred yards from the wrought iron gates of La Cachette, the Robinson family plantation. Well, wild horses and unreliable Fords couldn’t make Annabeth ask Kirk for help.

  It was a boiling hot Alabama afternoon. The sun was shining but the air was still. Not even a hint of a breeze coming off the bay. Without the car’s ancient air conditioning, she was boiling alive. Annabeth swung her legs out of the driver’s side and jumped down. The road was shimmering in the haze of the heat.

  As she pulled her cell phone out to call for help, the sound of an approaching engine made her breathe a sigh of relief. In a small town like Clearview, locals helped one another. She turned around, in the direction of the engine, a broad smile on her face.