Stepbrother: Instant Spark (Stepbrother Billionaire Romance) (Stepbrother Romantic Suspense) (16 page)

There was a jazz band already playing when they got to the park, but there were still plenty of prime spots left on the cool, lush grass to choose from. They chose a spot that was close enough to have a great view of the stage, but far enough away that they could carry on a conversation that wasn’t full of ‘
hu?
’ and ‘
what?
’. Rayne sat down the blanket that she had packed and they took a seat next to each other.

It was a beautiful evening. The sun was just about to set and the temperature was perfect. There was a slight breeze that, while she wasn’t complaining, made it difficult for Rayne to keep her hat on or the hair out of her eyes, so she was forced to shove the hat in her bag and put it up in a ponytail. She was more comfortable that way anyway, so she was only mildly aggravated.

John was enjoying himself thoroughly though. “I’m a total dork for admitting this, but I really like instrumental music.”

“Why does that make you a dork?”

“I’m 24. It’s not exactly what we should be listening to.”

“You’re sophisticated. I’d rather you tell me that than tell me that you listen to death metal or something.” Rayne giggled.

John chuckled, “Yeah. Right.”

“Seriously. I think it’s cool. I like it too, so who cares what anyone else thinks. We’re here together so nobody else’s opinion matters anyway.”

“You’re right,” John agreed as he grabbed Rayne and playfully tackled her backward to the ground, then laid down beside her.

By then, sunset was already in full swing, so they took a few minutes to enjoy the beautiful view. Just as the sun went down, John rolled over and gave Rayne a soft, sweet, long kiss. A kiss that meant he was interested in her. A kiss that scared her to her core. But she kissed him back.

“There is something so comfortable and familiar about you. I don’t want to seem like an ass, so if I’m moving too quickly, just tell me. It seems so natural to want to kiss you every time I’m around you though.” John confessed.

Rayne wasn’t sure how she felt. Part of her wanted him to kiss her again, but the other part wanted to run back home and lock herself in her room. “I’m flattered, John, but the truth is that I don’t have time for distractions right now. And you are getting dangerously close to becoming one. I have to get through this year, and I have to maintain my grades to keep my scholarship. This is my future, ya know?”

“Maybe I’m supposed to be in your future, too.” John suggested.

Rayne laid there, silent for a moment. “Let’s just enjoy tonight, shall we?”

They ate their chicken and pasta salad and enjoyed their wine. She didn’t know if she had had too much to drink or if she was feeling comfortable with him too, but she opened up and told him about her parents. She explained to him where she was from originally and how she ended up living with her grandmother after her parents had died.

She seemed so sad when she talked about them. John couldn’t help but lift her chin and give her a tender kiss. But one didn’t seem to be enough. He kissed her again, then hugged her and held her in his arms and laid her down beside him. As they were laying there, her head on his chest, his hand caressing her back, a subtle breeze blew her hair in his face. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He couldn’t get enough of her scent. So mysteriously familiar, it had become his obsession.

By the end of the evening they both knew that their friendship had blossomed into something more. They decided to walk home instead of getting a complimentary ride in the park’s shuttle bus. It was only about a mile to Rayne’s house from the park and John scheduled a cab meet him there. They walked slowly, hand in hand, relishing in each other’s company, but sad knowing that the evening was about to come to an end.

“Where do we go from here, Rayne? The last thing I want to do is come between you and your graduation. I know how much it means to you. But I can’t help but want to be greedy and take up every second of your free time. I think I’m becoming addicted to you.” John confessed.

“Are we moving too fast with this? Aren’t we supposed to just like each other for a while before all the heavy stuff comes along?” Rayne asked as she tried to come to terms with all the raw emotions running through her at the moment.

John stopped and turned her toward him. He grabbed her hands and pulled her as close to his body as he could. He looked deeply into her eyes. “Maybe it’s my imagination, maybe I knew you in a different life, I don’t know why, but I definitely know that I know you. I keep saying that I know it sounds crazy, but you make me feel like a carefree kid again. I can’t stop thinking about you. I don’t want to stop thinking about you. Can’t we just see where this goes?”

Rayne pulled away. “There is this strange connection, I feel it, too. But I don’t know that I’m capable of loving anyone, John. I would never want to hurt you. You are an amazing guy and any girl would be lucky to have you, but I don’t think I can give you what you want. I’m not an emotionally stable person. I try to tell myself that I will learn to love someone someday, but I can’t guarantee that.”

There was too much emotion, she couldn’t take it anymore. She ran away, leaving John standing on the sidewalk stunned by what had just happened. This wasn’t how the night was supposed to end. He didn’t mean to push her away, he just wanted her to know that he wanted to be with her. He put himself out there like he had never done before. And now, just as quickly as she had come into his life, she was gone.

*****

Rayne ran all the way home. She was shaking so badly when she reached the garage that it took her a good five minutes to unlock the door to her suite. Finally, she was able to open the door. She rushed in and threw herself on the bed. Why? Why did she have to be so screwed up? Why did her parents have to die and make her incapable of loving another soul? Why did John have to come into her life? Why hadn’t she just said no when Mrs. Patterson asked her to go to coffee with him? None of this would be happening if she had just said, no.

She must have cried herself to sleep because she woke up about 3:00 a.m. in the same position she had been in and the door to her suite was still open. She closed the door, almost disappointed that he hadn’t followed her home to try to convince her to love him. It was for the best though. Living a life without love was burden she was going to have to learn to live with. She closed and locked the door and found her way back to her bed.

A week came and went and Rayne didn’t hear a word from John. She was relieved, she supposed, but she longed to hear his voice. But this was for the best for both of them. It was better this way. Ellie only had one more golfing lesson and Mr. Patterson said he would make sure he was available to pick her up so Rayne didn’t have to face John. After that, she doubted she would ever have an opportunity to see him again. He would be busy training and traveling and she would be in her suite with her nose in the books for the next several months. After that, she would be long gone. Yes, it was better this way.

She went on about her days the same as she had before John had come into her life. She fought hard to keep busy enough to keep him off her mind. After ten days of not seeing him, she woke up on Wednesday and thought that she might be over him. She didn’t wake up feeling sad that day. She went to her classes and actually paid attention to the instructors, which was something she hadn’t done in over a month. She had either had her head in the clouds or her mind in the dumps, but she was now alert and focused. She felt so good that she thought she would surprise the Patterson’s and cook them a special meal for dinner. She hadn’t eaten a meal with them in over a week. She simply hadn’t felt like eating or being around anyone, so the second one of the kids’ parents came home, she went to her suite to be alone. She was in the mood for some good food and good company. And she was sure they would enjoy the break from cooking and cleaning.

She was on her way to the grocery store after her last class to pick up the ingredients she would need for dinner when her phone rang. It was Mr. Patterson.

“Rayne. I hate to do this to you, but we had an emergency and I’m not going to be able to get away and pick up Ellie from golf lessons. I feel really bad about this, but I really need you to pick her up for me. Mrs. Patterson won’t be back in town for a few hours, so I really need this favor.”

Rayne’s heart stopped. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t face him.

“Rayne. Rayne, are you there?” Mr. Patterson asked repeatedly.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m here. Okay, I’ll stop by and pick her up.”

“I owe you one. I’m really sorry. You can do this though. Maybe it will help you get some closure. See you at home.”

Rayne pulled up to the country club, but couldn’t bring herself to get out of her car.
Just breathe, Rayne. Just wait by the door and she can come to you. ‘He’ll probably run in the other direction when he sees you anyway,’
she thought to herself. After a minute or two of deep breathes and pep talks, she got out of her car and swiftly walked up the steps to the entry of the club. She could see Ellie and John practicing on the practice greens through the large glass windows on the opposite side of the country club entrance. She stood there waiting for Ellie to look at her, but she didn’t. Finally Rayne had no choice but to get Ellie from the greens herself.

John saw her coming and took a few steps backward. His first instinct was to find a wall to hide behind, but he knew that she had already seen him. Plus, this couldn’t be easy for her either. If she was brave enough to face him, he was strong enough to face her. Besides, she looked so cute with her low pigtails swinging on each side of her head. She almost looked like a little girl walking toward him. Then it dawned on him. There was a reason she seemed so familiar to him. She was the little girl named Rain that he knew from his childhood. Sure, she was taller and lost the chubbiness in her face, but without a doubt, she was the little girl that was best friends with his neighbor growing up.

The closer she got to Ellie and John, the bigger the knot in her throat got. She wasn’t going to cry though. She wasn’t going to show him that she was sorry for what she had done on her last date. She wasn’t going to let him see how badly she wanted to throw herself into his arms and let him hold her and tell her that life was going to work out. She wasn’t going to tell him that she thought she loved him. She wasn’t going to tear down those walls that she had worked so hard to build around her heart.

“Rayne. You’re the girl.”

“Hi, John.”

“No. You don’t understand. You’re the girl. I know why you seem so familiar. You’re the girl.”

Rayne gave John a puzzled look. “What girl?”

John grabbed Rayne’s hand. “I need to talk to you. Please, just give me five minutes.”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you okay? Do I need to call someone to help? You’re kind of scaring me.”

“Ellie, keep practicing your putting. Way and I are going to go sit right over there for a minute, okay?” John told Ellie as he pointed to the picnic table a few feet from the practice greens.

He sat Rayne down and put her hands in his. “When I was a kid, I lived in the same town as you. We lived on 7
th
street.”

Rayne sat quietly giving John a blank stare as he continued, “My neighbor was a girl name Amy Anderson.” He paused to see if anything he was saying was jogging Rayne’s memory, but she showed no emotion.

“Amy had a best friend who would come over to play with her a few times a week. Since we were all about the same age, I played at Amy’s house with her and her friend all the time.” He continued. “I’ll admit, I had a little crush on Amy’s friend. She smelled so pretty. She smelled like… like baby powder and bubble gum.”

Rayne’s eyes opened wide. “You can’t be serious.”

“And her name was Rain, probably spelled, R-A-Y-N-E.”

The blank stare had returned to Rayne’s face. Was this guy a stalker? He went to great lengths to figure out a way to try to connect them. It was kind of sick in a way. Had she been completely wrong about him the entire time? Had she dodged a bullet by breaking things off sooner than later? She had to wonder.

“Ellie, are you ready, sweetie? We need to get going.” Rayne insisted as she quickly walked toward the glass doors and away from John.

“Wait. Rayne, you have to believe me. Why would I make this up?” John pleaded as he chased behind her.

Rayne decided not to respond to him. She couldn’t be held responsible for what would come out of her mouth if she opened it. She grabbed Ellie’s hand and led her off of the practice greens, through the doors and to the car. John stopped following her at the door. She had made her point.

*****

Rayne marched straight to her suite when she got home and immediately called her grandmother. She had never let her grandma tell her any stories about her childhood. It was too painful for her to hear him. She preferred to live with the fact that she had very little memory of her family before the accident. It’ was easier that way. Her grandmother couldn’t bear to see her granddaughter hurt, so she had obliged Rayne and didn’t push the information on her. She figured Rayne would come to her when she was ready to face her past.

“Grandma. I have questions.” Rayne said when her grandmother answered the phone.

Instinctively, her grandma knew what she was talking about, so she sat down and got comfortable. She had a feeling they were going to be having a long conversation.

“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, honey. All you have to do is ask.” She assured.

“Do you remember the name of any of my friends when I was little?”

“That’s an interesting first question.”

“I have a reason for asking. Maybe this will open the doors for more, but for right now, I just want to know if you remember any of my friends.”

“I remember a couple. Mostly because your mom had grown up with their moms, so I kept up with their children. Jessica Adams was one of your best little friends. Your mom had been her mom’s roommate in college. And then there was Jim and Joan Anderson’s daughter. I think her name was Amy. They lived about a block from you guys and you two girls were always at one house or the other. I guess I can’t think of any others, but you had many friends. You’ve always been such a sweet girl. Everybody wanted to be your friend.”

Rayne had heard everything she needed to know. She broke into tears and told her the story that John had told her.

“His story makes sense, Rayne. All of his facts are correct. Your mother always wore a perfume called Sweet Dreams. I suspect you wear the same perfume as her. I think you recognize that scent from your mom and you subconsciously want to smell like her. She always smelled like baby powder and candy, just like you. As unbelievable as it may seem, I think he’s telling you the truth.” Her grandma said with a firm voice. “I don’t think he’s a stalker. He’s probably just as surprised by all of this as you are. I think you owe somebody an apology.”

Rayne agreed with her grandmother and hung up the phone. Was she ready to open this part of her life up? As scared as she was thinking about it, she knew that John was worth the risk. She wanted to love him. She wanted to set her heart free and let him in. She was ready.

She called his number, but he didn’t answer. She didn’t blame him. She had been horrible. She hadn’t even shown him enough respect to tell him to go to hell earlier, much less let him explain his story further. But, what he didn’t understand is that she was scared to consider the fact that he might be telling the truth. That would mean having to remember. It would mean having to have memories. To open mental pictures of that she refused to let her mind see. It was too sudden and too painful.

She left a message at the voicemail prompt. “John. I’m so sorry. I was scared to feel. I didn’t want to believe that I was face to face with my past. But, if you were in my past, then I want to learn about it. I want to remember. Please, call me.”

As soon as she hung up there was a knock at her door. John was standing on the other side with his phone in his hand. He grabbed her in his arms as soon as the door was open and kissed her with every ounce of passion in his body.

“You won’t go through this alone. We’ll relive your past together so we can start living our future together.” John whispered.

Rayne let herself melt into him. All of the stress of her life faded from her body. And as she exhaled all of her worries, she simply said, “I believe you.”

THE END