Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (216 page)

He laughed and sat up, taking her with him.  "No love.  I will not make you put on the condom."

He reached into the nightstand and pulled one out, moving back slightly so that he could put it on.  Then he lay back on the bed with her still on his chest.  "Now it's up to you though.”

Sighing, half with frustration and half with desire, she moved back slightly and straddled him, taking him inside of her.  Once he was inside of her, it was much easier.  Though her eyes were tightly closed the whole time so she couldn't even catch a glimpse of the look on his face, it was definitely a pleasurable experience.

When she moved off of him he said "I told you so."

"Stuff it Daylin."

He chuckled.  "Oh, the things I could teach you about sex Jess."

"No thanks.”

"You break my heart Jess."

"Yeah, yeah.  Shower and then bed.  I’m leaving in the morning remember?"

"You don't have to leave and don't remind me."

She insisted on showering alone, leaving Daylin laughing at her in the bedroom.  When she was finished she went back into the bedroom and said "Your turn."

"Uh huh.”

"What?" 

"Quit looking at my butt.  You make me feel dirty."

"You are dirty Daylin.”

"Only for you Jess," he said as he shut the bathroom door.

She snorted.  He took forever in the shower.  She wondered if she had used too much of the hot water. 

She was half asleep when he came back to the bedroom, wearing a pair of pajama pants with big red lips all over them.

"Nice pants."  She closed her eyes.

"Jess," he said when he'd crawled into bed with her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Hmm.”

"I want you to know that even if you do decide that this is too much for you, and you don't want me to be a part of your life, that these last few days have been the best days I've had in years."

"Thank you Daylin," she said softly, her eyes still closed.  "I feel the same way."  She might as well admit it she thought, so that he'd let her go to sleep.

He kissed the top of her head.  "Goodnight Jess.  Sweet dreams, and may they all include me."

"Goodnight Daylin.  And may your dreams not include me."

"You are a piece of work woman.”

"I never said I wasn't."  She yawned.

"True.” 

She snuggled more comfortably into his arms and was asleep within minutes.

Chapter 5

The next morning when she woke up and looked at the clock she groaned.  It was after ten o'clock in the morning.

"Daylin," she called.  "Why in the hell did you let me sleep so late?"

He came into the bedroom with a travel mug of coffee.  "You look beautiful when you're sleeping."

She reached for a cigarette.  "You lay on the bullshit really thick don't you?"

He laughed and gave her a big pair of hazel puppy dog eyes.  "It's one of my many talents.  What's the hurry?"

She sighed.  "Hell, I don't know.  It's not like there's a reason to rush to my dead father's headstone.  I guess I just want to get settled into a place here until I can figure out where I’m going to go, what I’m going to do with my life.”

"You have a place here.  I could probably get you a job too."

"Daylin please don't start."  She leaned over and put her cigarette out and got up, headed to the bathroom.

He intercepted her and held her tightly for a moment that lasted all too long and not long enough at the same time.  She knew that like it or not, she was going to miss the feeling of being in his arms. 

"I'm going to miss you Jess.”

"Miss me later.  I have to pee." 

He laughed and released her.

She used the bathroom, grimacing when she saw that there was a hickey on her neck.  When she had finished washing her hands and face and brushing her teeth, she stalked back to the
bedroom.  He was lounging on the bed like he was content to stay there all day, which he probably was.

"You are an asshole Daylin.”

"What did I do this time?"

She pointed to the hickey on her neck.  "That is what you did.  I don't know when you did it, but you did it and I don't appreciate it."

He grinned.  "It's tiny Jess, no one will ever notice.  I think you were a little distracted when I gave it to you.  Very distracted actually."

"Ha.  Flattery gets you nowhere when you sucked on my neck like a damned vampire.  Can we go now please?"

He made a face.  "Do we have to?"

"Yes Daylin, we very much have to."

"Are you sure you don't want breakfast?"

"No, I will survive without it."  She searched the bedroom to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything and spotted a pair of her panties on his side of the bed.  "Will you hand me my underwear please?" 

When he was handing them to her, he managed to pin her to the bed for a kiss that made her wish she didn't have to leave.  When he let her up, she said "Are you finished trying to convince me to stay now?"

He sighed.  "I must be losing my touch."

She rolled her eyes and shoved the panties in the side pocket of her duffel bag.  "You are not losing your touch Daylin, believe me."

He grinned and followed her out to the living room.

Once they were outside, she put her duffel bag into the trunk and sighed as she ran her hand over her father's jacket.  "I miss you Daddy," she said softly.

Daylin was standing against the driver's door of his car, looking like a model.  She cursed him for being so good looking as he blew her a kiss.  At least she wouldn't be able to smell him since he'd be in his car Jess thought. 

“Do you know of any decent apartment buildings around town?”

He made a face at her.  “There aren’t many apartments around here and they’re almost as bad as the motel rooms.  You can always stay with me.  It’ll give you time to save money until you’ve figured out what you want to do.”

She hid a smile.  And if she was at his house, he’d be sure to talk her or seduce her into staying with him.  "No way Daylin.  I am not staying with you and I have plenty of money.  I’ll follow you to the apartment building."

Daylin sighed.  “If you’re sure.”  Then he smiled.  “At least you’re not trying to run away from me completely.”

Jess shook her head at him.  She had a feeling that the longer she stayed in Welton, the harder it was going to be to leave Daylin.  She had a feeling he knew it too, so she didn’t plan on staying long.

The drive to the apartment building was short, though Welton was small enough that Jess was pretty sure the drive to anything in town would be.  The building didn’t look like it was in the greatest shape.  Daylin made a face at her when she got out of her car.

“You really don’t have to stay here you know.  My bed is big enough for two.”  He gave her a cocky grin.

“Enough Daylin.  I am not staying at your house, not matter how much you try to convince me.  Besides, I am admittedly stubborn as hell.  If you don’t shut up about me living with you, maybe I will leave Welton.”

He gave her a pout.  “C’mon Jess, I was just teasing.  Let’s look at this shithole.  At least this place is better than Lucy’s apartment building.  Now that place is a dump.”

Jess followed him to a door marked office.  There was an older woman behind the desk.  She looked up when they entered. 

“Hello.  How can I help you?”

“Do you have any apartments for rent?”

The woman nodded.  “It’s a little small for two though.”

“It’s just me.  Do you have a lease period?  I’m not sure how long I’m planning on being here.”

Daylin made another face at her, but she ignored him.  The woman laughed.  “No lease honey.  Month to month.  Rent is $500.  We pay the electricity and you pay us.  Deposit is equal to the rent.  No dogs.  You want a cat, that’s a $250 deposit.”

“Okay.  Can we take a look?”

“Sure.”  The woman pulled out a key ring.  They followed her out of the office after she’d put a sign up on the door that said ‘back in five minutes.’

The apartment was on the first floor in the corner.  It was small and dusty, but Jess had lived in worse.  Daylin was making all kinds of faces behind her back, but she figured that once it was furnished it would suit her just fine until she could figure out her destination after Welton now that she knew what had happened to her father.  She held back a sigh as she thought of her father.

“I’ll take it,” she said to the woman.

“Great.  There’s an application back in the office.  Nothing complicated, just need to have your information on file.  Just make sure your rent’s paid on time and try to give us some notice when you get ready to leave.”

“Sure.”

Jess and Daylin followed the woman back to the office.  Jess filled out the application and then had to go out to her car to get her money, which she kept in a lock box in her trunk.  Daylin made a face at her.

“Why do you have that much cash on hand?  Have you never heard of a checking account?”

“Come on Daylin, it’s not like with what’s gone on in the banking industry lately that I’m the only person in the world without a bank account.”

“Yeah I guess so.  I just want you to be safe Jess.  It doesn’t seem safe for a woman as beautiful as you to be carrying around so much cash.”

“I’ve been perfectly safe for six years Daylin.  Nothing has changed now.”

Daylin pressed her against the side of the car.  “Hasn’t it?”

He gave her a kiss that left her wanting more, but she wasn’t going to admit that to him.  She pulled away and shook her head at him.  “The only thing that has changed in my life is that my search for my father ended in a way I didn’t want it to.”

“You’re cold woman.  Admit that you want me half as much as I want you and I’ll be happy.”

Jess rolled her eyes.  “I want you Daylin, but that’s just my body telling me that it enjoys sex after not having it for seven years and doing it with somebody who actually knows what they’re doing.”

“Very cold.  It’s not wrong to care Jess.”

“I’m not having this discussion with you Daylin.”

She turned and stalked to the office, wondering if it was even a good idea to pay to move into the apartment.  She wasn’t sure how long she was going to be able to stand being around Daylin without cracking, without admitting just how much she wanted him.

When she returned from taking care of business in the office, Daylin was leaning against his car, a sour expression on his face.  She felt a little bad, so she crossed to him and gave him a quick kiss.  He seemed to soften a little. 

“Do you know where the cemetery is?”

“Sure.  Oh, is your dad buried here?”

“Yeah.  Can we go there please?”

Daylin squeezed her hand.  “Sure babe.  Follow me.”

He gave her a kiss and then released her after a brief hug.  She didn’t like to admit to herself how right it felt to be in his arms.  She didn’t want to take the comfort he was offering either, though she felt she desperately needed it at the moment.

The drive to the cemetery was short.  Jess took a deep breath and let it out after she’d gotten out of the car.  Daylin pulled her into his arms and held her.  She pulled away from him a minute later, not really wanting to but knowing that it was better for both of them.  They wandered the well-tended rows, checking out the names on the stones.  She had to remind herself that she was looking for Craig Sheffield and not Forrest Brewster.  She wished she'd brought flowers.

They found him after about five minutes.  For Jess it was all too soon.  The stone was a pretty polished marble.  When she looked at her father's birth date she realized she'd never known that her father had been five years older than her mother.  Ned was actually a few years younger than her mother.  Two, maybe three.  She could never remember, and didn't really care.

Her eyes blurred with tears as she looked at her father's final resting place.  "Oh Daddy."  She felt Daylin's arms tighten around her.  "I'm so sorry.  I should have tried harder to find you.  Why didn't Mom tell me?" 

Then she was sobbing and Daylin was murmuring softly in her ear “It's okay baby."

"No it's not."  She wiped her eyes.  "My mother should have told me.  What right did she have to keep him from me?"

"Honey, I’m sure she's sorry.  I'm sure she would have done things differently if she would have known.  A lot of things."

She shook her head.  "She loves Ned and they've got two kids now.  I can't tell her what he did.  It's not fair to her."

"She should know Jess."

"Like I should have known that my father didn't leave me because he didn't love me right?"

"We all make mistakes love.  Believe me, I know."

"Let's go Daylin."

She turned back to the gravestone.  "I love you Daddy.  Wherever you are."

He took her hand and led her back towards the cars.  She pushed the button on her remote to unlock her door.  He insisted on opening it for her. 

“So where to now babe?  Do you want me to help you find furniture for that dump you insisted on moving into?”

Jess sighed.  “It’s not that bad Daylin.  And there is no way I am moving in with you when I just met you.  That is so not a good idea.”

“It could be if you let it be.  I can change for you Jess.  I already feel like we could have something special together if you’d just let us.  Take a chance Jess.  You won’t regret it.”

She shook her head at him.  “We’ll take it as it comes Daylin, but I’m not going to rush into anything when I have no idea how long I’m going to be here.  Is there a thrift store or something where I can buy furniture?  And is there anywhere around here where I could get a job?  Somewhere it won’t be too big of a deal if I end up leaving in a couple months?”

“How many times are you going to break my heart Jess?  Please don’t talk about leaving like it’s inevitable.  It doesn’t have to be.”

She gave him what felt like a weak smile.  “Sure Daylin.  You know where I can buy furniture right?  Can we get out of here?”

“Yeah.  I’ll buy you brand new furniture.”

“No.  Used is just fine for me.”

He made another face at her but nodded.  “There’s a thrift store.  We are going to buy you a cell phone though.  You need some way to stay in touch.”

“Yeah, I suppose so.  Let’s go.”

He tried to kiss her again, but she pushed him away.  “Later.”

He grinned and winked at her before he went back to his car.  She followed him to the thrift store and was lucky enough to find a bed that was in good condition, and a loveseat, and picked up a small table for the kitchen, a coffee table and a small bookshelf.  Daylin wanted to buy her a TV, but she refused, saying she'd never turn it on.

The furniture wouldn't be delivered until the next day which Daylin didn't like, but she had a backup plan in her trunk, an air mattress that was pretty comfortable and had gotten her through many a night waiting for furniture.

They stopped at a discount store where Daylin insisted on buying her the fanciest prepaid cell phone he could find because she refused to get one with any kind of contract.  She broke down and bought an inexpensive laptop and a prepaid broadband modem but wouldn't let Daylin pay for it. 

While they were waiting for the guy that worked in the electronics section to get her laptop out of the back because the display model was all they had out front, she caught Daylin looking at jewelry.

"Don't even think about it," she said.