Mine (Dangerous Love Book 1) (6 page)

“Never mind Frank. We don’t want you to feel any pressure, Nick.  You’d actually be doing us a favor. I don’t like it sitting there empty. We’ve thought about renting it out, but never got around to it. I don’t like the thought of strangers living there. We still do go up occasionally. And we’ve still got so many of our things there. You’d actually be doing us a favor if you go stay there for a bit. And we know you’ll take care of it. So it’s yours as long as you need it, Nick” his aunt had declared as she pressed the key into his hand.

“Are you sure?” He’d tried not to show it, but he was doing backflips inside.

“Of course. You always loved visiting us. I know it’s been a while, but Carrington Crossing hasn’t changed all that much. A little bigger. A Walmart a few miles away. But other than that… the forest preserve behind us it still just as beautiful and pristine as it used to be and it’s less than a mile to the inlet. Come up, do a little fishing in the creek. Go for hikes when you feel up to it.  But take your time. Get your strength back. No rush. No timetable.”

Frank had nodded in agreement. “With Betsy’s nephew Logan running the business on a day to day basis, we’re down in Scottsdale almost year round now. Logan’s based in Tacoma and he’s not interested in the place so you don’t have to feel guilty on his account. The Crossing’s too small for him.

“We hate the thought of the house standing empty all the time. One of the neighbors stops by and mows the lawn and such. Tully’s a good sort we can’t keep imposing. You head up there. Stay as long as you want. Forever, if that’s what you want.”

Nick had turned bright red and tears spill over so he dashed them away. They’d already done so much for him. He had practically grown up there, visiting whenever he could, spending every summer with his aunt and uncle. He’d been wild and his single mother couldn’t handle him so she’d been glad to send him to her mother’s Uncle Frank and Frank’s wife Betsy starting when he was seven. Hearing them say that they felt the same was almost overwhelming. He’d felt it over the years, but to hear the words. He had hugged them tight as he told them how much he loved them both.

Carrington Crossing. Home. Or the close thing to home he’d ever had. He’d been twenty one the last time he visited. He’d driven out to visit Frank and Betsy before he headed to the Naval Special Warfare Preparatory School in
Great Lakes
, Illinois. How he’d loved that car. He smiled to himself. He hadn’t thought about it for years. It had broken down just after he arrived in The Crossing, but luckily a local mechanic had been able to make it run like new. He’d been skeptical when he’d met him. The kid had been a few years younger than his own twenty one, but he’d been a genius under the hood. Paul? Parker? Peter? Peter Parker? He chuckled.

It didn’t matter, really. He hadn’t seen him again, and hadn’t expected to, but they had had some great long conversations over the three day period it took for the kid to fix his ride. He’d been so excited to have a chance to enter the SEAL program. Excited, scared, proud. Afraid to let Frank down. Uncle Frank had been a SEAL and Nick had wanted to follow in his footsteps since he was old enough to know what a SEAL was.

The kid had been a great listener. And it was kind of nice talking to a stranger who he’d never see again.  And he’d liked the kid, although he’d been shocked when he’d offered up details of his own life. Nick shook his head at the memory. Never left Washington State? Married at eighteen? Only ever kissed one woman in his whole life.

Nick at twenty one couldn’t imagine living like that. Nick at thirty two could see the attraction. A woman who loved and who loved you. Doing a job you loved and living in a place that was home. Yes, he could see the attraction. He wondered if the kid was still there. If he was, he’d look him up, buy him the beer he’d turned down twelve years ago because he was under the drinking age, and find out if his life had turned out better than Nick’s had.

And then what? Could he set down roots there? Did he want to? Right now, he wanted to be somewhere familiar to lick his wounds and figure out what to do for the next forty or fifty years.

He imagined that The Crossing had changed a lot in a decade. Aunt Betsy had mentioned a Walmart. The horror! But if he was honest with himself, he really had nowhere else to go.

“Thanks, I’d like that. I’ve got a lot of thinking to do.”

“I know and you don’t have to rush. The house is yours as long as you want it. Forever, if you like but we don’t need to talk about that now. Maybe you’ll want to go back to school or even come to work for me. I can always use a smart one like you at Weldon Construction.”

“No, that’s Logan’s baby. And I don’t know anything about construction. Don’t worry, I’ll find my way.”

“Yes. I know you will.”

His uncle had nodded and his aunt had patted his hand.

“Great” she said. “That’s settled. And while you are there, you can try to find yourself a nice young lady. A man your age should already have a wife and a couple of children. Help you feel settled.”

“Aunt Betsy!”

“She’s right, you know. And there are a number of excellent prospects. We can have Tully introduce you to a few. Fine strapping young man like yourself should have no trouble finding yourself a wife.”

“I can find my own wife, when and if I ever decide I want one, Uncle Frank. Which I don’t right now. Maybe sometime in the future…”  Nick felt his cheeks redden. “That is,” he muttered, “If there’s anyone who wants an unemployed cripple whose face scares small children.” He fingered his cheek.

He looked up expecting a reprimand, or at least a pitying hug from Betsy, but instead he found Betsy and Frank grinning at each other. Maybe they hadn’t even heard his lapse into self-pity.

“Sheila!” His aunt laughed as she said the name. “Sheila would be perfect.” He saw his uncle nod.

“I told you I wasn’t interested in a relationship right now.”

“Oh, Nick. Sheila isn’t that kind of a girl. She flits from man to man. Always has. It will do you good to spend some time with her. She loves everyone and she won’t care if you have a scar or a limp or even if you really did scare small children. Be nice to her and she’ll be really nice back. Really, really nice, if you know what I mean.”

“Aunt Betsy!” He was well and truly shocked by his aunt’s words. “Uncle Frank, what’s she saying?”

His uncle nodded. “Betsy’s right. Betsy loves men, all sorts of men, but especially the big strapping ones like you and me.” Nick felt his jaw drop as his uncle spoke and then he almost had a stroke when his uncle winked at him.
Winked!
Did that wink mean what Nick thought it did? Was Uncle Frank hinting… no, he must be misunderstanding. Maybe he was having a brain aneurysm? He looked over at Aunt Betsy but she was oblivious to the innuendo.

“Frank, remember that time Tim Reynolds found her in bed with his wife Nancy. Oh, the fuss he made.”

Fuss?
A man had caught his wife in bed with another
woman
and Aunt Betsy caused his response a fuss?

“It was pure jealousy, of course, because he could never get her into bed with him.”

Nick shook his head. Damned doctors. They said his concussion had healed with no issues but he must have some kind of brain damage. That was the only explanation for the conversation he was clearly hallucinating.

Betsy and Frank had stayed in San Diego three more days before heading home.  They had visited twice more, the last time on their way to catch a cruise. They had booked the month-long cruise to Tahiti for their fortieth anniversary well before his injury and he assured them that missing the cruise wouldn’t help him heal any quicker. So they’d left, reluctantly, but not before reminding him to look Sheila up when he go to Carrington Crossing.

He’d smiled, but hadn’t committed. She did not sound like his type at all. The last thing he was looking for was a woman who flitted from bed to bed. But over the next few days, as his body continued to heal, he’d had second and then third thoughts. Maybe a brief no-strings-attached fling was just what the doctor ordered. Then again, if she lived in Carrington Crossing, he’d have to see her afterwards. The place was too small to avoid someone.

He had never been a one night stand or casual sex kind of guy. On the other hand, what other options did he have now? What woman would want an unemployed, crippled, scarred veteran with no job prospects? 

He shook his head. He still couldn’t believe that his aunt and uncle were trying to set him up in that way. He must have misunderstood. Whatever. He’d deal with her, that topic, later. He was less than an hour from home.

He turned up the throttle.

Published by DL Publishing

Copyright © 2016 Denise Lafferty

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Published in 2015 by DL Publishing, owned and operated by Denise Lafferty Books.

www.daisyphilipsbooks.com

Daisy Philips, author. Mine

ISBN:

Cover design by: Denise Lafferty

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