A Daddy for Jacoby(40)

“Like I said, it’s no big deal.”

Get in the car. Now.

The words flashed inside Gina’s head and she shouldered past him. It took two tries but she managed to get her key into the lock without crushing the rolled picture from Jacoby.

“I—I would’ve done the same for anyone,” she sputtered. “And don’t think twice about that kiss. It was no big deal.”

Silence filled the air before he spoke. “No big deal?”

He echoed her words in a low tone that warmed her neck. He must’ve moved in behind her. If she leaned back the slightest bit…

She twisted the key, popped the lock and yanked her door open. “Yes, just a spur-of-the-moment thing. It’d been a long weekend, you were exhausted and I caught you off guard.” She was babbling, which was better than letting him talk, so she kept at it as she wiggled into the driver’s seat.

“It was just a friendly kiss between two consenting adults. We can do that, you know? Be friends? So, let it go. Okay?”



Friends?

Justin watched the taillights of Gina’s car fade in the distance as he stood next to his idling truck.

What the hell just happened?

When Jacoby first asked to come to the library’s story hour specifically to see Gina, Justin had tried to talk him out of it. Not even a burger and fries from Sherry’s Diner had been enough to change the kid’s mind. Finally admitting he wanted to see Gina as much as Jacoby did, he’d relented and they arrived after the story hour had already started. The sight of her bright blue eyes, brown curls still sporting that vivid pink band and her golden tanned skin had him mesmerized.

He’d watched her smile, listened to the natural huskiness of her voice as she’d told the story and even with his head still in a fog over all Leeann had told him earlier, he was more determined than ever to give Gina the apology she deserved.

The apology he should’ve given her in his darkened kitchen after he’d managed to do the last thing in the world he’d wanted and pulled away from her.

So, how had their conversation gone from his trying to say he was sorry to her declaring they were friends? And the kiss she’d laid on him was no big deal? What did that mean? She would’ve done that for anyone?

He doubted she meant it the way it sounded, but it bugged him all the same. It’d been easy to tell she didn’t have a lot of experience in the kissing department, but what she lacked in style, she more than made up for with untapped passion.

A passion that almost drove him to do the stupidest thing in his life.

Hope.

Hope that she’d meant it when she crawled into his arms, sighed into his mouth and wrapped that sweet body around him. Hope that she might care for the boy who seemed to have too few people concerned about him in his young life. Hope that maybe he, too, could have the same things in life that other people took for granted.

Friends?

Damn, he was really in trouble now.

Justin turned, but when his hand landed on the truck’s door handle, he knew he wasn’t alone. Widening his stance, he quickly pivoted back again.

“I think it’s a disgrace,” a woman said, staring at him.

Justin guessed that she and the man with her were in their midfifties. He didn’t think he knew them, but something was familiar. “Pardon me?”

“There is no excuse for you.” The woman, dressed in a long overcoat and sensible shoes, her hair pulled back off her face, continued. “We don’t think you’re a proper guardian for that young boy.”

Justin was dumbfounded. “Is that right?”

“That’s right.” The man beside her spoke up, the Stetson pulled low over his eyes making it impossible to see his face. “Believe me, child services is watching you. You’re too much like your old man and your brother to be any good for that kid. The last thing we need is someone raising another Dillon to cause nothing but trouble.”

“And just because your sister managed to hook up with the good sheriff doesn’t mean you’ve earned the right to be here.” The woman tugged on the man’s arm. “We don’t want your kind in our town. Come on, Harold. Let’s go.”

Shock turned to anger, rushing to life in a black fury that boiled in his veins. A veiled voice of caution struggled to overcome his rage. When it reached him it sounded sweet and soothing.

It sounded like Gina.

He pressed his boots to the concrete, successfully fighting the urge to race after the couple and show them just what he thought of their advice. Intense gratitude filled him that the rolled-up windows kept Jacoby from hearing the couple’s words as Justin watched the two of them walk away.