Breathless (Meadowlarks) (7 page)

I don’t speak about it again with her, but as soon as I could steal a minute with Addison I was going to have a freaking meltdown.

***

The entire drive into town was agonizing for me. Once again after babysitting, Addison drove Sadee into town, this time to her home instead of work. As soon as Sadee got out of the back
seat and closed the door, I didn’t let Addison even shift her car into reverse before I exploded.

“I think Dane was at the house today!” I sa
id, rushing my words out of my mouth.

She turn
ed to me and her eyes widened. “What do you mean
at the house
? My house? How do you know?”

I
told her about what Sadee said, and how I was positive the person she described was Dane. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around why he would be in Wyoming, and why he would show up looking for me.

“Can you call him? Maybe find out if it really was him?”

“I don't have his number, I mean, I’m sure it wouldn't be hard to find...”

“Don't say anything to Alex just yet, Riley. He'll freak out, with good reason. Dane's bad news,” Addison suggest
ed, gripping her steering wheel tightly.

I exhal
ed through pursed lips, and looked out the window as we drove back down Porter Road. She dropped Scarlett and me off at home, as Isaac's bus would be here any minute.

“We'll get to the bottom of this, don't stress. Promise?”

I forced a smile. “Promise.”

As soon as I got in the door, I tucked a sleeping Scarlett into her bed and ran into the kitchen to find the envelope that Dane's latest check came in. My hands scramble
d through the mail on the counter and when I came across the opened white envelope I froze.

My fingertips trace
d along the black ink on the paper, outlining my name and address. In the corner Dane's name and a P.O. Box in Augusta was the location of return.

“Thank you, Alex,” I whisper
ed, smiling that he opened this before I did, saving it from its impending doom.

Inside the envelope
was a folded piece of paper, and inside that was this month's support check for Isaac. I tilted the paper and let the check slide out into my hand. That's all I had ever done in the past, never opened the paper, never read what he had written. If he had written anything at all, for all I knew it could just be a statement of payments made.

“Oh, Dane. You arrogant son of a bitch,” I hissed. “There's no way any of that's going to happen.”

I crumple
d the paper, throwing it on the counter.

Oh, shit
...

D
id Alex read that when he opened the mail?

“Hi, mom!”

I turned and saw my son coming through the door after the bus dropped him off from school. His smile was exactly what I needed to see, I smiled back at him and held my arms out.

“Hi, baby. How was school?” I hug
ged him, smelling his hair and kissing his cheek. Which he hated, but I do it anyway. He always squirms and wipes any trace of my lips from his face, a typical boy.

“Do you have any homework?” I ask
ed.

Isaac roo
ted through his backpack and pulled out a yellow piece of paper. “Field trip! Sign it, mom, please!”

I
took the paper, scanning it thoroughly. “Wow! They want to take the class to Yellowstone, that's awesome, baby.”

“Well, can I go?”

“Of course you can. Pass me that pen,” I asked, giving him a big smile.

***

I
couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned, my body mimicking my brain. It was flipping around like a fish out of water; I didn’t know what to do about Dane. I was too chicken to ask Alex when he got home tonight if he had read the letter or not, and I was taking Addison's advice and not telling him about the mysterious visitor just yet.

But, I fe
lt so guilty. Alex was my partner, we were supposed to be in this together—all in. If he kept something like this from me I would lose my freaking mind in an instant, probably carrying the grudge around like a weighted ball on a chain.

His breathing
was soft and his lips were curled into a sexy smirk. I wondered what he was dreaming about; if he was dreaming of me. My fingers slowly reached up and I held my breath when I let them ease into his hair, feeling the soft tendrils on the tips and between each finger. I loved this man so much, I really couldn’t picture my life without him in it. My lips kissed Alex's forehead and I slowly climbed out of bed, leaving him sleeping peaceful and alone.

Dane
answered my call in two rings. His phone number was on the letterhead of the paper, just like he said it would be. Right underneath a logo with
DS Industries
printed in bold letters.

“Hello, Riley,” he
said, slyly.

“Dane, what are you doing in Wyoming?”

“How did you know it was me? I didn't say who I was,” Dane asked in a low, raspy voice.

I swallow
ed, willing myself to stay strong. “The girl you spoke to described you to a tee.”

“Oh, did she? Speaking of girls, your daughter is as beautiful as you are.”

I inhaled and held it in until it hurt. “Don't come near my family again.”

“
Awe, don't be mean. A member of your family is also
my
family, that gives me some sort of right, doesn't it?”

“Isaac is nothing to you, Dane. You made that quite clear when I was pregnant with him.” I
was livid then, and it took so much of my being to keep quiet. I wanted to shriek into the phone, but I knew it would wake everyone in the house.

Instead, I tip
-toed outside and stood on the porch.

The air
was cool and it soothed my heated skin, the moon was a just a sliver in the dark night sky. I leaned against a wooden beam holding up the roof over the porch, sighing to myself quietly.

“Let's not rehash the past, Riley. Why don't you come and see me?” Dane ask
ed, in a tone that made my body betray my heart by fluttering my stomach. “I’m hard just looking at you.”

I almost drop
ped the phone when my brain registered what he had just said to me. I breathed rapidly, looking all around me, expecting to see him lurking there in the darkness. Instead, there was a quick flash of headlights on the road, right at the edge of the property, signalling me to where Dane was parked.

“You
are such a creep, Dane. What are you doing?” I hissed. I was infuriated that he had come to my home.

“That's right baby, show those teeth,” he
said. “All I want to do is talk to you, what's the harm in that?”

“How about you could have picked up the phone to do that?”

“Come here, just for a sec.”

I
was such an idiot, damn it. They made scary moves that started out like that; beautiful girl walked outside in the middle of the night, enticed by some raving lunatic on the other end of her phone. I had seen enough TV to know this can only end in one of two ways: as a horror flick, or a porno.

“Oh
shit, Riley...” I breathed, scolding myself as I step down off the porch. “I am not getting in the car with you, Dane. You walk to me.”

As I slowly ma
de my way down the driveway, I cautiously turned to see if there are any lights on in the house, only the small light in the kitchen illuminated and I let out a sigh of relief.

The interior light of—sure enough—
a red Mercedes, shone and I saw Dane get out of the car. I could tell from this distance that he had dressed with the intent of driving me completely crazy. The closer he got the more I was starting to really question my sanity, I probably should just turn and run back inside. Lock the door behind me, and pray this big and bad wolf doesn't blow my freaking house down.

Dane walk
ed up to me, the moonlight graciously giving me full view of him. He was wearing jeans and a tight white t-shirt underneath a black suit jacket.

Oh, s
hiiiit.

His eyes
were even more menacing in the light of the night sky, they pierced me as he gazed on me, like he had some sort of secret ability. I took two steps back when he got too close for comfort, and he smirked. “Well, the country life really is becoming of you, Riley. You look even more gorgeous right now than you did at The Club.” He grinned, and narrowed his eyes.

“You
wanted to talk, so talk,” I bit out, crossing my arms protectively on my chest.

Dane rushe
d me and wrapped his strong arms around me, forcing me to stay entwined in him, unable to move. His mouth assaulted my lips, totally devouring me and I cried out against his mouth. I didn’t want that, I haven't wanted that in a very long time.

When he finally release
d me from his onslaught, but kept his arms on me, I glared at him. My chest heaved now that I was finally able to breathe again.

“Don't touch me, let me go!” I hiss
ed, wriggling in the stockade of his arms. “I am going to scream in two seconds if you don't, and Alex will be out to find me.”

“Oh baby, you think that little shit's got anything on me?” Dane laugh
ed. “Don't fight me. Let me in.”

I gape
d. “I'm not letting you into anything! Not me, not my house!”

He laugh
ed again. “So quick to assume...I don't want in your house.”

Dane's body
was pressed so hard against me that I could feel the impressive length of the tantalizing ridge formed in his jeans. The thought of that perfect mixture of hard and soft in my hands again, in my mouth, and into the depths of my body made me want to do
very
bad things...

I
struggled and finally he let me go, but he kept his hands on my arms, holding me in place. I pushed away from his hands and when he attempted to grab me again I slapped his face, my hand prickling from the tingle of the forcefulness.

He turn
ed his face back to me, and I knew I should start running for my life, his eyes flared so wide they almost didn’t look real.

I back
ed up a few feet, and surprisingly he didn’t follow me.

Just run, Riley, you idiot!

“Go, Dane. Please,” I pleaded.

“Guess I deserved that.” H
e smiled. “After everything...”

“
Go,
” I said, softly.

He turn
ed to leave, but stopped in his tracks and looked back at me. Dane narrowed his eyes and slowly licked his bottom lip, his tongue gently cascading over his soft flesh. “Tell me one thing,” he said, his voice raspy and low. “Tell me how it made you feel when I didn't want you anymore.”

Someone order this guy a shrink, stat.

I couldn’t handle the mind games and I forced a sarcastic smile. “You did me a favour then, and I want you to do another one for me now.”

“What's that?” he ask
ed, an eyebrow raised in interest.

“Stop sending the money. In fact, take it all back. Isaac doesn't need it.” I turn
ed and walked back toward the house, giving myself secret props for not turning around to see what his face must have looked like right at that very moment.

Why after all these years
did Dane want back in my life? We had been in the same state since my son was born and he didn't bother with us when we lived in Maine. Now that we were in Wyoming, almost two thousand miles away, he showed up and wanted to play house.

Well, no way,
buddy. Alex and my children were the most important people in my life, they were all that matters and if Dane thought he was going to show up and automatically get access—he was mental.

I peer
ed out the kitchen window to make sure that Dane's car had indeed driven away. A whisper of a smile crosses my lips as I envisioned his face when I walked away; I pictured him looking sullen or enraged. Either emotion would do, in hopes that I had got under his skin.