Weekend Fling (14 page)

Turning her attention back to her father-in-law, Kara addressed
Austin
’s father. “Thank you, Mr. Delaney, for the apology and for telling me the reasons why things were strained in the beginning. However, that’s all behind us now, and I hope you’ll enjoy your visit with us for the weekend.”

Mrs. Delaney walked in at that moment, and Kara turned to entertaining her in-laws. She still hurt inside, not understanding why
Austin
didn’t tell her about his family, but that could wait until later.

* * * *

“Kara, I’m home.”
Austin
walked into the house and heard noises coming from the kitchen. Expectation at seeing Kara and his son made him hurry. He dropped his jacket and briefcase by the door and walked briskly into the kitchen. Noticing Kara by the oven, he turned looking for David and saw his mother cradling him in her arms. “Hi, Mom. I didn’t know you and Dad would be here so soon.” Reaching over to grab David, he placed his face close to him and inhaled his wonderful baby scent. He had never smelled anything so good.

“Hey, buddy. Daddy missed you today. Are you keeping your mom and grandma busy?” Cradling David in his arms, he went over to Kara and bent down to kiss her on the lips. When she turned her face at the last minute, his lips brushed against her cheek. He raised his brow at that, since she hadn’t done that since they had been together. “Hey, love, how are you feeling?”

“Fine.” He noticed she didn’t turn around and acknowledge him. He realized something was wrong, but knew he would have to wait until later to address it.

“Do you know where Dad is?” Feeling David squirm, he adjusted him in his arms and began a rocking motion. He was shocked at how quickly he had adjusted to being a father. More often than not, he was jumping out of bed ahead of Kara when David made the smallest sound. He knew Kara needed to feed him at night, but he didn’t want to miss a single moment of David’s life, even if that meant he only got three hours of sleep at night.

His mom was the one who answered his question. “He’s in the study reading the paper. I’m sure he’s waiting for you to come home.” He noticed again that Kara hadn’t said much, and he wondered what was wrong.

Walking back over to Kara and giving her another kiss, he whispered in her ear, “Baby, is everything okay?”

“I said I’m fine,
Austin
. Go see your father.” Shit,
Austin
’s mind was whirling. Now he knew he was in trouble. Two “I’m fine’s” in a row was never a good thing. Holding on to David, he walked into the study and sat down next to his dad.

“Hey, Dad, how are you doing? I didn’t realize you and Mom were coming so early. I could have come home early to meet you.”

“Hey, son, your mom was anxious to see David, and I couldn’t deny her. She’s been chomping at the bit to see him for the past few weeks. Now that the time was here, she wouldn’t even think about delaying her trip any longer.” Folding his paper, he turned to
Austin
and took a deep breath. “Plus, it gave me a few minutes to speak with Kara alone.”

At this, David tensed. He didn’t know what his father was going to say, but he knew it wouldn’t be good for him. He had a feeling this had something to do with the cold shoulder he was getting from Kara. “What did you talk about?”

“Well, I wanted to apologize to her. I realized that I had been unfair to her when we first met at the wedding, and I needed her to understand why I was . . . hesitant about her.”

“Yeah, Dad, I wondered what that was about. I figured you were concerned about us getting the marriage first and the grandchild second kind of backwards. You need to know I wouldn’t change one thing about how Kara and I met or my life now. I love her, Dad, and David means the world to me.”

“As you do to me, son.” His father cleared his throat and paused before speaking again. Not knowing what to expect,
Austin
was surprised to hear the thickness and emotion in his father’s voice. “Son, I don’t know how many times I’ve told you over the years, but I need to tell you again. You make me proud to be your father. Every day, in every action, you show me that the best part of me is inside you.”

Straightening back up, he continued on in a stronger voice. “That’s why I had to tell Kara that I no longer was concerned about her being with you partly because of your family’s money. I told her that David, and any of your other children, would never want for anything.” Chuckling, he shook his head. “I don’t think she thought I’d ever approach her in a friendly manner, but she soon got over it. That wife of yours is a gem. She reassured me that she would be able to take care of you as much as you take care of her and that the money for the boys could sit in the bank and accumulate interest. She’s smart, and I like her. I think you made an excellent choice.”

Austin
was hyperventilating.
Oh God, oh God, did he say what I think he just said?
He didn’t tell Kara about his family’s money. Oh, please don’t be true. “Dad, exactly what did you say to Kara about the family’s money?”

“Well, I’m sure I didn’t tell her anything you hadn’t already mentioned. I just thought she needed to know that I was over my foolishness. I think we talked about how much was in the trust fund for my grandson and a little bit about the family history. She wasn’t all that interested in hearing about that. She mainly wanted to hear about me and your mother’s trip to
Switzerland
.” Shaking his head, he lifted himself off the chair. “Speaking of that, I forgot something that I wanted to tell her about the trip. Coming, son?”

“Uh, no, Dad. I’m going to sit with David for a bit. I’ll be in there shortly.” Watching his dad walk into the other room,
Austin
tried to calm his breathing. “Oh crap. David, your dad is in a bucketload of trouble. I think I’m going to hide out with you for a bit until your mommy calms down.”

* * * *

Dinner was a strained affair, not that his parents would have noticed. To them, everything seemed fine, and David kept everyone’s attention. But to
Austin
, he knew he was in deep shit. It wasn’t that he kept the details of his family away from Kara. It was just that those tiny details weren’t very important to him. He had always had money and had never wanted for anything, but he had always made his own way.

His parents had always supported him with whatever decision he made, and he knew that if he needed to tap into his financial resources, he could. Hell, he didn’t even have to touch that bank account when he opened this business. Financial savvy was a strength for him, and he had saved well and invested even better while he’d been in the Navy. Even without his family’s money, he would be able to take care of Kara and David quite well.

Bidding goodnight to his parents, he gave his mother a hug and a kiss and slapped his father on the back. They never stayed at the house when they visited. His mother always claimed it was to give him and Kara privacy.
Austin
knew it was because they were still very active, and very attracted to each other, and simply wanted their own alone time.

Turning around, he noticed Kara walking up the stairs to their bedroom and hung his head. He knew the moment of truth was here, and it was time to come clean. He didn’t want to fight with her tonight and hoped it wouldn’t turn into one. Kara had visited the doctor a few weeks ago and had received a clean bill of health. He wanted to spend the night in his wife’s arms. He missed her touch, her smell, the feel of her long legs wrapped around his body as he plunged into her tight sheath.

Just thinking about it made his cock rise, and he hoped it wouldn’t be a long night. Turning off the lights, he made his way upstairs to face the judge, jury, and executioner.

Chapter Thirteen

Kara was pissed, and
Austin
was up shit creek without a paddle. She knew that her anger wasn’t quite justified, since he had done nothing wrong, but her anger wasn’t going away. Placing David into his crib, she turned on his mobile and walked out of the room. Sitting on the edge of their bed, she waited for him to walk through the door.

When she noticed him coming into the room slowly, she knew he had spoken to his father about their conversation. “Why,
Austin
? Why didn’t you tell me? Didn’t you trust me? I didn’t want your money, and I don’t care whether you have it or not, but you should have told me.” Hearing her voice crack, she tried to stop the flow of tears that were threatening to fall.

She had come to love
Austin
during these past few months they had been together as husband and wife. His not telling her hurt, and she needed to understand why.

Coming into the room,
Austin
sat down next to her and took her hands in his. “Baby, it just never came up. I don’t care how rich my family is. It’s just something that I can put aside for our kids. I’ve never touched the money and probably never will. Everything in my account will be transferred to our kids, and they can use it how they see fit.”

Turning away from the haunted look in his eyes, she turned her gaze into her lap. “How do you think I felt, hearing it from your father for the first time that you’re stinking, filthy rich? I don’t want your mom and dad to think I’m a gold digger, because I’m not. I was doing just fine by myself before you came along.” Still feeling somewhat put out, she couldn’t help but get this last jab in.

“Kara, that’s not the point, and you know it. I will always, always take care of you and David. I love you both so much.”

“I love you too,
Austin
.” When his eyes widened, she realized that this was the first time she’d said the words out loud to him. She noticed a sexy smile come to his face.

“Damn right you do. It was all a part of my master plan to win you over and make you forget about every man that came before me.” Lifting their combined hands, he closed his eyes and kissed her fingertips. She allowed the quiet of the moment to sink in so that he could understand the truth and significance of what she’d just shared.

She saw the impact of her words when
Austin
took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Kara said it again to make sure he understood that she meant what she’d said. “I love you, Austin. With everything I am, with all that I have. You were meant for me.” Lifting her hand to his face, she cradled his jaw and rubbed the short hair that made up his five o’clock shadow. “I know you didn’t mean to hold the information back since it wasn’t something you felt was an important issue, but you should have told me. I deserved to know, even if we never touch the money. Please don’t hide anything from me again.”

“Sweetheart, I won’t. I’m sorry if I hurt you by keeping this information to myself.” Leaning towards her, he tentatively kissed her lips as if he wasn’t sure she was done being pissed at him. She was, but he was going to work for her attention tonight. She was happy that the doctor had given her the go-ahead for her and Austin to make love again. She’d been waiting for this moment for far too long.