“What did you tell that bastard?”
“I told him I’d think about it and I was sure I could come up with a reasonable amount that would benefit both of us.”
“You are unbelievable,” I scowled at her.
“If you really think I’m taking his money, then you don’t know me at all. I’m playing the game, Lucas. I’m letting him think he has the upper hand.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game and you need to stop. You don’t know my father.”
“I know enough, and I know you feel trapped in the strings he has attached to you. Just like I did with my parents.”
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” I pointed my finger at her.
“Yes, I do. What happened in your past? Your father gave some lame line about if you feel, you stop thinking, and when you stop thinking, everything goes to hell. He said you have firsthand experience with that.”
I swallowed hard as I narrowed my eye at her. Suddenly, I heard a timer go off.
“Hold that thought. I have to take the spaghetti out of the oven.”
“Can you just forget about the damn spaghetti for a moment!” I yelled.
“Um. No. We’re hungry!” I waved my hand over my belly. “Plus, if I don’t take it out, it’ll burn and create smoke which will set off the smoke detector and then the fire company will come out. Do you really want that? Because when they ask me what happened, I’ll be more than happy to tell them that you demanded I leave it in the oven so we could continue discussing your piece of shit father!”
I stared at her as I clenched my jaw, unable to say a word.
“That’s what I thought.” She turned and opened the oven door. “You know, I thought my parents were bad, but your father—”
“Just stop. You’ve only known him for a couple days. I’ve had to deal with his bullshit my entire life.”
“Care to talk about it over some baked spaghetti?” She held a plate up.
As much as I didn’t have an appetite, it sure smelled delicious.
“Come on. You know you want some.” She grinned.
“Fine. Just a small portion.”
While Jenna took the plates over to the table, I grabbed the bottle of scotch off the counter.
“Why do you even have this? You better not be drinking.”
“I stopped on my way home and bought it for you because I knew you’d be needing it.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“I’m sorry I told him the truth. I never would have if—”
“It’s not your fault. I know my father and he always gets the truth out of people one way or another. I’m sure he manipulated the conversation.”
“Pretty much.” She nodded her head as she twirled some spaghetti around her fork.
“You didn’t have to tell me, but you did. Why?”
“Because regardless of what you believe, I’m your friend, and I wanted to give you a heads up before he got to you. He never married, did he?”
“No,” I spoke. “But there was never a shortage of women always coming and going.”
“Reminds me of someone else I know.” She smirked.
I let out a light chuckle.
“He’s worse. When I was younger and did something he didn’t like, he would tell me I should be grateful that he decided to keep me instead of putting me up for adoption. Sometimes, I wish he would have.” I finished off my scotch.
Chapter 20
Jenna
Little by little he was opening up to me. I felt for him because no child should ever have to hear those words. He was more broken inside than I originally thought. I guess we both were, which had me concerned for our child. Getting up from my chair, I walked over to him, grabbed his hand and led him over to the couch.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
I held onto his hand as I faced him.
“I’m going to tell you a little something about yourself and I want you to listen. Can you do that for me?” I gave him a small smile as he narrowed his eye at me.
“I suppose I could.”
“Good. You have spent your entire life trying to get your father’s approval. You want so badly to prove to him that he made the right decision by keeping you. You only buried your true self deeper by making choices based on the approval of him. In doing that, you lost who you really are, and you need to find out who the man inside you really is.”
He looked away from me and inhaled a sharp breath.
“I didn’t know you had a degree in psychology.”
“I don’t. But I don’t need one to see what’s really going on.”
“And what about you?” he asked as he stared into my eyes.
“Me?” I laughed. “I spent my entire life trying to hide who I really was. We talked about that before. But I’m not hiding anymore. I’m letting people know who I really am and if they don’t like it or can’t accept it, they need to move on. The only approval I need is from myself.”
He brought his hand up to my cheek as we stared into each other’s eyes.
“You’re a wise woman, Jenna Larson.”
“I know I am.” I gave him a small smile as he softly stroked my cheek and brushed his lips against mine.
It didn’t take long for our kiss to become passionate as his hand wrapped around the back of my neck.
“I thought we were keeping things strictly professional,” I spoke with bated breath.
“For tonight, we can forget that. Unless you don’t want to?” He pulled back and looked at me.
“Oh no. I can totally forget that. In fact, I’ve already forgotten.”
“Me too.” He gave me a wink as he stood up and held out his hand.
Placing mine in his, he helped me up from the couch and led me to the bedroom where we spent the next hour making each other forget our troubles.
“You were a wild animal,” he spoke as my head laid on his chest and his arm was wrapped tightly around me.
“Hormones, Lucas. Hormones.”
He let out a chuckle. “I like your hormones.” He kissed the top of my head and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Are you staying the night?” I asked.
“I planned on it. Unless you’d like me to leave. But these sheets are amazing.”
“Right?” I lifted my head and grinned at him. “The sheets and I want you to stay.”
“Consider it done.” He sat up, rolled me on my back and hovered over me. “One more round before we go to sleep?”
“Like you even need to ask.” A wide grin crossed my lips.
Lucas
I lay there before the alarm went off and stared at her while she peacefully slept. A smile crossed my face as she stirred and opened her eyes.
“Good morning,” I said.
“Good morning.” She pressed her lips against my chest.
“The alarm is about to go off and I need to get upstairs to shower and change clothes.”
“I know. Let me make us some coffee first and you can take it up with you.”
When she climbed out of bed, she grabbed her robe from the chair. As she turned to slip it on, my eyes caught sight of the baby bump that I felt against me last night. I sighed as I climbed out of bed and slipped my pants on. Sitting on her nightstand was the book What To Expect When You’re Expecting. Picking it up, I flipped through the pages.