Middle of Knight (14 page)

“I’m driving.” Jessica
punched as much confidence into her demand as possible when Luke picked her up to meet her family for dinner. They decided to wait until he met her parents before they jumped into cohabitation.

“Get in, babe.” He shook his head as she went to open his door, but not before he slammed down the lock.

The scowl on her face held great promise of a beating later that night. She reined in her stubbornness and got in the passenger side, but only because they were going to dinner with her parents.

“If I didn’t love you so damn much, I’d hate you for being so possessive and selfish. You have four siblings. How is it you don’t know how to share?”

Luke smiled as he pulled away from the curb.

They were the last to arrive, only because her parents and Jude arrived early. It was no surprise they wanted to interrogate her brother to see what he knew about the man she deemed worthy of meeting her parents. Jessica’s secret was safe, although Jude was not happy that her brilliant therapist had crossed all ethical lines with her.

“Hey!” She released Luke’s hand to hug her parents as all three stood to greet them.

“This is a mistake,” Jude warned in her ear when she hugged him.

“Shut it.” She batted her eyes at him, feigning innocence. “Mom and Dad…” she gave Jude a barely-detectable scowl “…
and Jude,
this is Luke Jones, my … boyfriend.” She said it like a question as she looked up at Luke with a bit of apprehension. Boyfriend seemed so childish for a distinguished psychiatrist.

He kept his eyes and friendly smile focused on her family, so she assumed the label was okay.

“Luke, these are my parents, Grant and Sunny, and my brother, Jude.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He shook their hands, then they all sat down at the table two seconds before the waiter rushed over to get their drink order.

Jessica ordered wine. Luke ordered beer—a local brew. Grant nodded in approval. Jessica rested her hand on Luke’s leg. A silent thank you.

“So Jessica told us you’re a doctor.” Sunny smiled.

Yes, she had told them that, but they already knew. They knew more about Luke than she did. Since Claire’s death, her father made every move Jessica made his highest priority. He and Jude had both offered to fill her in on all the details, but she didn’t want to know, at least not that way. Luke would share his past on his own time.

“Yes. I’m a psychiatrist.”

They nodded.

“Our daughter’s psychiatrist?” Grant questioned.

That … that was the one piece of information they didn’t know. She begged Jude to keep it a secret, to make sure their father never found out.

“I was.”

Jessica turned toward Luke. Stunned. There was no other word. Not in her wildest dreams did she imagine him telling them that, not with his professional career at stake. A bubble of silence enveloped their table.

Grant looked at Jude. Of course he wondered how that bit of information failed to make it to him. Jude glared at Jessica with apparent anger over the secrecy that was blown with two simple words from the good doctor himself.

Grant cleared his throat. He was a dark-haired, burly man with a Tom Selleck mustache. Most people found him intimidating. Jessica, however, was a daddy’s girl and knew his softest side. That side wasn’t on display during dinner. “And now you’re romantically involved?”

“I’m in love with your daughter.”

“Enough to risk ending your career?” her father continued as Jude and Sunny watched like spectators at a Wimbledon match.

Jessica feared the answer. The question weighed heavily on her own mind. Truthfully, she didn’t know what she wanted his answer to be. Thinking of herself as a monster for so long made it easy to feel unworthy of Luke’s love, and even more unworthy of him taking such a life-changing risk for her.

“Yes.”

Sunny looked at Jessica, both of them teary eyed.

Grant nodded. “And dealing with her past?”

“It’s my number one priority.”

Another nod. “If you hurt her—”

“I’m certain I won’t live to tell about it, sir.” Luke smiled and finally, so did her father.

It seemed Luke had passed her father’s test and everyone relaxed, except Jude. The thing she loved most about him was also the thing she hated the most. He believed no man would ever be worthy of his “little” sister. There was a better chance of San Andreas making Vegas a beach town than Jude accepting Luke as a worthy man.

“So … we have a bit of news.” Taking a breath of courage, she forced an uneasy smile.

“You’re getting married?” Sunny jumped in with a hopeful guess. Jessica inherited her mother’s beaming smile, but not her curly auburn hair that she wore long and wild like the seventies hippy her name implied.

“Uh … no.” Jessica gave Luke an apologetic look. They had never discussed marriage. He almost went down that road, and perhaps he didn’t care to do it again. It didn’t matter to Jessica. She would take him however she could get him. Everything else was inconsequential details.

“You’re pregnant?” Jude crossed his arms over his chest, a devilish grin on his face. The smug pot-stirrer knew better. He just liked fishing for a reaction. Some things never changed between them.

Sunny went from hopeful to terrified and Grant looked ready to kill.

“No! Jesus, Jude. Stop being such an ass.”

The urge to stick her tongue out at him overwhelmed her. Another habit that felt impossible to break. However, the one thing she wanted more than to be that childish twin was to make Luke proud, so she pulled on her big girl pants to regain her composure.

“Luke got me a dog, Jones. He’s amazing.”

The frown on Luke’s face showed his objection to that statement, but he didn’t say anything so she continued.

“He asked us to move in with him and I said yes.”

“You live in a safe part of town?” Grant asked.

Jessica rolled her eyes. It was a ridiculous question. In all his background checks, Luke’s address had to be at the top of the list. It was possible he had a satellite put in space just to follow his daughter.

“Yes. It’s a newer building with underground parking and video surveillance.”

Jessica opened her mouth to speak, then closed it before the words came out. She wanted to remind her father that she had the skills to take care of herself, but once Claire died her father trusted no one, not even his own daughter.

“Well, I hope you two are happy and maybe someday you’ll make a real commitment beyond just playing house.” Grant tipped back his tall glass of beer, keeping his eyes on Luke.

“So … shall we get the waiter back over here to take our order?” Sunny, God bless her, she knew how to save the day, even if she was the one to first mention marriage.

*

They survived dinner,
just barely. There wasn’t much to say on the drive back to Jessica’s. Luke shut off the engine and they both sat in more silence.

“I’m going to marry you.” Luke kept his eyes trained on the parked car in front of them.

“You don’t have to say that. It doesn’t matter what they think. I’m not waiting for you to get down on one knee.”

He climbed out of the car and opened her door, offering his hand. She took it and let him lead her up the stairs. Before she could fish out her keys, he kissed her. His touch healed her more than anything. Luke gave her strength, he gave her hope, he gave her life.

“I won’t get down on one knee,” he whispered over her lips. “I’ll get down on both knees because I won’t ask you to marry me, I’ll beg you to marry me.” Feathering his lips down her neck, he continued to whisper, “But for now, I need to give you back the life you lost. I want you whole … complete. When I marry you, I don’t want to share you with your past. I want it to only be us and our future.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him like her life depended on it, and maybe it did. “I love you … I love you … oh my God I love you so much.” She hung from his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist.

He chuckled and kissed her on the lips at the same time. “Pack an overnight bag and we’ll get the rest tomorrow. We need to get home and let your mutt out of his kennel.”

Home.

They were going
home
. Really, Jessica was already there. Luke was her home. He would
forever
be her home.

Knight

F
orty.

Over the hill.

The view was good from the other side. The forty-something had a birthday date with her twenty-something daughter and thirty-something boyfriend. Boyfriend? While the term implied something more than friends, “boy” screamed cradle-robbing cougar.

Jackson Knight had become more than a fun-banter-role-playing fantasy. She fell for him for one reason: he loved his sister. Who falls for a guy because he loves his sister? Someone who lived her entire adult life wishing a man would wrap her in his protective arms, kiss her on the head and say, “You’ve got this,” in her darkest hour.

That man deserved to see Ryn in a new dress, one that said, “This is how sexy you make me feel.” As an unexpected gift, Maddie rearranged her work schedule to spend the day with her. Though instead of a spa day, they decided on shopping, but only after Ryn agreed to buy Maddie a new dress as well.

The new adult age was a difficult time. She remembered it all too well. The early twenties felt like legal freedom without the maturity to go with it. Too old to justify holding onto the selfishness of adolescence, too young to really let it go. At least that’s how Ryn saw it from the outside. She went from child to mother and skipped the wild freedom of her twenties.

“So tell me about this Jackson guy,” Maddie asked as Ryn slipped into her black strapless dress that showed a lot of leg and too much cleavage that was not perky enough to hold it in place well. Maddie assured her she looked hot “for a mom.”

As expected, she regretted caving to Maddie insisting she buy that dress. It didn’t make her feel young, it made her feel like a forty-year-old woman trying and failing to hold onto her youth. But once she saw past her insecurities to the woman in the mirror, she had to admit the reflection had a little sex appeal going on in that dress.

Ryn turned, letting Maddie zip it for her. “He’s from New York and he teaches piano lessons.”

“Piano lessons? Really?” Maddie wrinkled her nose. “What is he like … eighty?”

Nerves hijacked her body, starting with her heart pounding in her chest. They’d had dinner several times since she last cleaned his house, and each night ended with kissing that felt more like mouth fucking and Jackson’s hands making bolder moves exploring her body, but always on the outside of her clothes. Wound tight and ready to self-combust was an accurate assessment by that point.

“Actually, he’s a little younger than I am.”

Maddie applied a thick coat of dark purple lipstick that looked quite hideous, but Ryn didn’t dare say anything.

“Is he weird?”

Ryn laughed. “I don’t know how to answer that. I’m not sure how your generation defines ‘weird.’”

“Well, what kind of car does he drive?”

“A PT Cruiser.” Ryn’s voice bubbled with amusement.

Maddie paused mid stroke, wide eyes looking at Ryn’s reflection in the mirror. “You’re kidding.”

Ryn shook her head.

“Oh my God, only old people drive those things. Is he short and suffering from male-pattern baldness? He wears plaid pants pulled up to his armpits with a bowtie and a fedora, doesn’t he? Oh, Mom, you can do better than that.”

“He’s good looking. Just keep an open mind, okay?” She slipped into her black heels.

“Have grandma and grandpa met him?”

“No. This will be their first time meeting him as well.”

“I’m sure they’ll love him because he sounds nothing like Dad, which is unfortunate because all my friends think he’s hot. It’s pretty weird hearing that because he’s my dad, but it’s kind of cool too.”

Ryn bit her tongue, she always did—but she wouldn’t forever. Maddie’s days of believing her father walked on water were numbered.

“So where is he taking us for dinner?”

“I don’t know. Some place fancy I assume since he insisted we dress to the nines tonight.”

“He’s paying?”

Ryn nodded as they walked down the stairs with Gunner in tow.

“Is he rich?”

“I don’t know anything about his bank account.”

“Well he teaches piano lessons for God’s sake, he can’t be that rich.”

“Money isn’t everything, my dear child.”

“Clearly it isn’t to you, or you wouldn’t have left Dad.”

Another dig that kept getting harder to ignore.

“Oh my God, Mom!” Maddie called looking out the front window. “It’s not just a PT Cruiser … it’s a purple PT cruiser with wood panels. It’s totally like Barney meets National Lampoon’s Vacation.”

“Be nice,
please
.” Ryn grabbed her purse and kissed Gunner on the head.

“Oh. Fuck …”

“Madison!” Ryn scolded.

“Sorry but … he … he just got out. No way … no freaking way.” Maddie plastered her face and both hands to the window.