The Creek Series: Complete Set: Parts I, II, & III Read online

  Grandfather was right. I wasn’t prepared to be told “no”. Essentially, I had nothing to lose and everything to gain, and if this were a business deal, it would’ve been my nature to be all in for the kill.

  “Hi,” she answered the phone.

  “How’s your morning going?”

  “Great. Karina and I going to breakfast before graduation.”

  Shit, I’d forgotten it was her graduation day. I had to make a quick recovery. “Is it possible for me to attend?”

  “If you want.” Her voice was a bit aloof, but she didn’t say no.

  “I’d love to, and if you’re up to it, I’d like to take you out for ice cream afterwards. I know this—”

  “Oh my God, ice cream sounds so good right now. Deal. Do you want to pick me up at one and go to graduation with me?”

  “Love to. See you soon.”

  That was too easy, and I ended up having to tell Grandfather he was right.

  “I told you so. You’ll take me fishin’ tomorrow?”

  “Yes, tomorrow. Thanks, Grandfather.”

  “Boy, one of these days you’ll learn to trust an old man.”

  I left Grandfather in great hands and went shopping for a graduation gift for Wrenn.

  Patiently waiting wasn’t one of my strongest character traits. I paced for over an hour, waiting on the clock, so I could see her again. The drive to her place seemed to take forever, and when she came to the door wearing a simple black dress, my breath hitched. Her face was bright and her dark hair, normally in a ponytail, was flowing around her bare shoulders, now glowing with a tan.

  “You’re stunning.”

  “You’re blind. Come in.” Her eyes twinkled.

  I followed her into the living room where Karina and Aaron were waiting, and suddenly, they started laughing. Instead of her normal snarl, Karina actually gave me a hug and a wink.

  Wrenn sat down on the edge of the sofa, and I handed her the gift wrapped box. “Something to celebrate the day,” I uttered nervously. I’d never known a woman to control my emotions the way Wrenn could.

  Her eyes lit up in delight. I realized that with no family it was probably the only gift she’d received. When she opened the black box to reveal the pearls, she gasped. As she studied them, I noticed a tear made its way down her cheek.

  She looked up at me. “I love pearls. They’re beautiful. Will you help me put them on?”

  I obliged with trembling hands.

  She ran her finger over them slowly. “Mom had a set and had to sell those years ago.” Her voice broke.

  They were lovely on her. She walked to the mirror in the bathroom to look at them, and I followed.

  I stood behind her and admired the beautiful reflection that was her. She kept touching the choker-length graduated set, which drew my eye to her breasts. They were enlarging from the pregnancy. The sight of her and the thoughts of my child developing within her caused me to grow painfully hard against my zipper.

  I reached my arm around her and pulled her against me. I could feel the enlarging baby bump underneath my fingers.

  Jealous, I want to feel the baby like she does. I swallowed hard to keep from choking up.

  She darted her gaze up to mine in the mirror and smiled. “I’ll cherish them forever.”

  “I love you.” My declaration simply slipped out. Shit. Putting pressure on her wasn’t my intent.

  “I know,” she replied, sadness gripped her voice, and her face visibly strained with some kind of invisible turmoil.

  I needed to make some kind of quick recovery. “Hey, what kind of ice cream are you craving? Because I’ve been thinking about it since this morning.”

  “Me too! I love Baskin-Robbins Pralines ’N Cream.”

  “I may try a dip of yours along with my favorite, Mint Chocolate Chip.”

  “Oooh, love that one too, maybe we can share.”

  Jubilation returned to her spirit, and I was extremely grateful. Thank you, Grandfather.

  My seat at graduation was reserved and adjoined Aaron and Karina’s family in the same row. The seat to my left on the aisle was empty. A knot came into my throat. I wondered if Wrenn had reserved that seat for her mother.

  Right before the ceremony was to start, Aaron and I were talking, and I caught a glimpse of movement to my left. I turned to find Grandfather in his wheelchair and Peggy helping him get in the seat next to me.

  “Grandfather, what are you doing here?”

  “I was invited. What took you so long to get your invitation, huh?” He gloated.

  I thought for a moment about what he’d said. Then it occurred to me that perhaps I’d been played. “You knew this whole time?”

  “I talk to her every day. We have plans for dinner afterward with Karina and the rest of the family.”

  “I should know better.” I shook my head.

  I was beyond dumbfounded. I supposed lately I’d had my head up my ass.

  Aaron got a kick out of it and leaned toward me. “Dude, Karina let the cat out of the bag when you walked in. That’s what we were laughing about.”

  “Man, I totally missed it.”

  After graduation, Grandfather showed us all a great time at his home with a classic barbeque, but as his energy faded, he left to retire in his room with me in charge as host. That was when everything changed.

  “Can I help you with something?” the soft, familiar voice behind me asked.

  I turned to her and stumbled over my two feet, dropping the tray of dirty dishes.

  “No, I think I’m doing a great job of making a mess on my own. You might want to stay clear. I’m a hazard to myself.” I joked.

  “Here, let me help you.”

  We both knelt down at the same time to pick up the dishes, but all I wanted was to touch her. There was no turning back.

  Quickly, I laid the tray on the floor and took her face in my hands. I crushed her lips with mine. I couldn’t get enough of her.

  She responded with eager need, leaning in to me and opening her lips for my tongue’s entrance. My weight shifted, and her movements caused me to lose my footing. We tumbled to the floor and rolled around in the kitchen, pawing, grinding, and practically making love with our clothes on.

  “Do you two need help or privacy?” Karina asked with a laugh.

  Wrenn and I broke our embrace and looked at one another and over to Karina and Aaron, who were standing on the other side of the counter, bearing amused grins.

  “Privacy,” I answered with grin.

  “Privacy,” Wrenn echoed.

  Thank God!

  Karina and Aaron quickly disappeared.

  I helped Wrenn up from the floor. “I want you and need you to myself. How soon can we get away?”

  She winked. “I’ll get Karina’s help. She’ll get everyone to head home.”

  Wrenn and I changed our clothes at her house and were driving down the highway to get ice cream, my hand gripping hers as if the end of time was coming.

  “Grandfather never said a word about coming today, nor did he mention talking to you every day, until he finally spilled the beans when I questioned him at graduation.”

  “I didn’t ask him not to. I’m sorry, Dane. I’ve been a basket case. Besides the news about the baby, I needed time to grieve the loss of my mom, study for school, and really process what I wanted to do. I’ve got two homes and lots of land that need someone looking after them in Arkansas, and quite frankly, I’m homesick.”

  “Baby, I’m sorry. Sorry for everything you’re going through, sorry I wasn’t there for you, and sorry I put pressure on you. I shouldn’t have sent all those things. Instead, I should have given you the peace and space you asked for, but I simply couldn’t help myself. I had to be connected to you in some way.”

  “It’s more than okay,” she ran her fingers across her new pearls, “and the pizza was delicious. I appreciate the research. I’ve been back in there twice to get it again.” She giggled, and then she snorted. It was cute.
r />   “That’s news to me. What’s going on? Is there a revolt against me?” I teased.

  She looked ahead at the road. “How far do we have to go to get ice cream?”

  “We’re almost there.”

  We pulled into the parking lot, and she all but bolted out of the car, giggling.

  As we ate, she even moaned a time or two. “This is so good.”

  We shared bites of each other’s selections and also had quite a few PDA moments. I looked at my bowl of ice cream and sinful thoughts filtered through my brain. When I trailed my eyes from her bowl to find her face, her eyes were bright and sparkly as if she had a secret, but I’d learned my lesson about pushing her.

  On the way home, I noticed she had her right hand over her stomach in a protective pose. My heart skipped a few beats. She was going to be a great mom, of that I was certain, but would we be parenting together or sharing custody?

  “Have you been sick much?”

  “Yeah, quite a bit, but it comes and goes. I can tell now, and it doesn’t catch me off guard as much.”

  “I couldn’t help but notice your breasts today in your dress. Beautiful.”

  “Really? Yeah, I’m finally getting some.” She leaned over the console and gave me a kiss on the cheek, then trailed her lips to mine. “Find a private place to pull over,” she said against my ear.

  I caught the private part of her request. She didn’t have to tell me twice.

  Chapter 26

  Wrenn

  I sat on my bed, surfing through pages of notes of cardiac arrhythmias and various treatments, and my mind began to wonder.

  Before my mother’s death, I’d found myself falling in love with Dane and I knew it. But after the communication problems and the strange woman answering his phone, I reverted back to my old thoughts that men couldn’t be trusted.

  Then along came baby.

  Children alone couldn’t make a relationship or marriage work, and my conviction was that Dane would want to do the “right” thing by society’s standards, but would it be the right thing for the three of us? What was the right thing?

  I needed breathing room to figure out who I was and what I wanted. After all, I was alone with zero family and a half-finished education plan. At least as a nurse, I’d be able to support the baby and myself, anywhere I wanted to live. But what about baby? Keeping him or her away from his or her father was history repeating itself, and Dane didn’t deserve that.

  When I stopped thinking about what I wanted and started considering someone else’s thoughts and feelings, I realized I wasn’t alone. I had family. Blood didn’t make someone family; love, kindness, and actions did. It was the heart of the human being that makes us want to spend every second of every day with that person. That realization made me start craving Dane in every way.

  I thought about him until I fell asleep, and I woke up thinking about him and what he might be doing that day. The gifts and surprises he’d started sending over didn’t help. Each time the doorbell rang, I’d get excited about what I was going to receive next.

  I laughed, but very much enjoyed the pizza and the cupcakes from Crave Bakery. However, the crème brûlée had me in tears.

  The notes were the sweetest. What man delivered a bag full of batteries with a straight face? He could claim they were for baby, but I knew what he had on his mind.

  Yes, he was definitely swimming with sharks. But he wasn’t the only one who had been on bad behavior, and somehow, I needed to make it up to him.

  That was where Mr. Lawrence came to the rescue.

  The week before graduation, I’d been leaving the hospital cafeteria when I ran into Mr. Lawrence and Peggy.

  “How’s my beautiful bride?” he’d teased.

  “Awesome. How’s my favorite patient?”

  “I’m getting some blood work done. First, they try to starve you, then tell you to eat a ton afterwards. Can’t make ’em happy.”

  “Well, go enjoy yourself. There’s plenty to choose from.”

  “Wrenn, do you mind if I have your new phone number?”

  “Not at all. Hand me your phone, and I’ll put it in.”

  We’d texted or spoke at least twice every day, and I was happy I could still be a part of his life. I didn’t know how he would handle the news about the baby, but he was thrilled at the idea of another boy named Asher Dane Lawrence in the family. He said he would do the right thing for his great grandchild, and when he said it, my heart was gripped in thorns. It wasn’t my desire to be in someone’s will. I wanted to be in their life, their present—their future.

  I didn’t think he would actually come when I’d invited him to my graduation, but I’d wanted him to know I was thinking about him as my family. I didn’t have anyone else to put in my reserved seats.

  Then it had occurred to me he could help me get Dane there, but I wasn’t sure how.

  “Leave that part up to me. I know exactly how to work that boy.”

  Dane’s call came out of the blue on the morning of graduation. I wasn’t certain of what to expect when he arrived at my house, except that he was going to be charming as usual, but the pearls were a beautiful surprise and meant more to me than he would ever know.

  When we were standing in the bathroom, he had his hand on my stomach with his fingers splayed out over the baby, and it had been a sweet moment of affection. I didn’t think it was an intentional gesture, but I loved the image just the same.

  By the time the guests started leaving his grandfather’s house, I was feeling like my old self. His grandfather had needed rest, and Dane had played the likeable host and included me by his side. Unlike when I’d first met him, he wasn’t pushy, and he was giving me the space I needed. But when our lips had collided in the kitchen, the passionate fire was there and neither of us had intended on stopping it, until we were interrupted.

  I watched as his tongue licked the spoon of ice cream and remembered other good ways he’d used his mouth. The sinful thoughts had me squirming in the plastic seats of the bright ice cream parlor. There were no tablecloths to hide my hands, and I fought for control. Getting arrested for indecency in a public place wasn’t on my agenda.

  After ice cream, I had more sexual frustration built up than I could stand to hold in. Days and nights fantasizing about Dane had me on overload. Call it pregnancy hormones or just plain horniness, but I had no intention of waiting. I was ready to climb him in the car, and from the fullness in his shorts, he was going to be happy to oblige me of the release I craved.

  “Find a place to pull over,” I whispered against his ear.

  And, he did.

  He turned off the main highway onto a county road that was dark, with no houses in sight. Sex in a sports car was almost impossible, but we managed to tangle.

  “We could go to jail for this,” he said with a groan.

  “Then I suggest you hurry and give me what I need.”

  “When I’m with you, there’s no hurry. I intend on savoring this moment.”

  My body was stinging with every nerve ending sensitive, on fire by my desire for him. It had been too long since we’d been complete, and the exhilaration of possibly getting caught made the moment even hotter, if that was possible.

  The feeling of him completing my body filled the void and healed my wounded soul. It had been my mistake to stay away from him for so long.

  He was my safety net, my friend; even more, he was the best part of me.

  On the way back to my house, he passed the turnoff to the loop and kept driving.

  “Where are we going?”

  “My ranch. There’s no one there, and we have complete privacy.”

  “Can I stop by my place and get some clothes?”

  “You won’t need them. I’m planning on keeping you naked in my bed for the next—however long, until we decide to crawl out.”

  “Sounds delicious, I like your plan.”

  He stopped the car at the gate and punched in a code. I sat in my seat, anxiously await
ing the moment I would be lying in his arms.

  I loved his home and found it very masculine. Dark stained woods, earth tones, and lots of leather, hide rugs, and furniture. When he led me to his bedroom, I had that giddy, first-sex moment again—like everything was new. In reality, it was because we were morphing into a couple again. A new couple with a baby on the way.

  He sat down on the bed and pulled me onto his lap. He stroked my arm with his fingers, but we were both quiet for some time.

  With my shoulder turned, I leaned back, so I could see his face. “What’s wrong?”

  “Not a thing. You’re here and I’m happy. I’m really happy. I didn’t think this day would come.”

  “I’m sorry I put you through all of that, I-I just had to find myself. I thought I’d lost everything. My life has been so broken and filled with empty promises.”

  He nuzzled my neck with his day-old scruff and nibbled my jaw, but he kept me wrapped tightly in his arms. “When I met you a year ago over a dead battery, I thought about you non-stop for days. Curious where you were headed and who you were really. I waited for a message that never came. I even sat there at the same store countless times, hoping I’d see your car. I figured you must not have returned to school.”

  “What did I do that morning to catch your eye?”

  “Well, your ass looked great in those jeans, when you leaned over into your car. I’m not gonna lie,” he paused and reached under me to give my ass a grip. “But, when you said you were going home to see the only person you had in this world, I thought how true that was for me too. Grandfather was all I had until I met you. When he’s gone, you and our baby will make us a family.”

  I turned to face him, sitting cross-legged in between his spread thighs. His heart was visible to me, laid out with his love for me to see—to feel.

  I placed my hand on his chest, feeling the thunderous race of beats under my fingers. “Loving someone is very risky. You never know if they’re going to return your love or stay with you out of pity. At first, I loved you from a distance, afraid that if I let you in, I’d be hurt when you left me. Scared of losing myself, I looked for an out and easily got it when that woman answered your phone. After Stephan died, I knew I wasn’t ready to open my heart again, and I didn’t trust myself, much less anyone else. But I now know I don’t have to keep you at a distance. I can love with all my heart and believe that if God takes you from me, that he’s left me with the most precious gift of your child. I’m saying I love you, and I want to be with you forever—for however long we have—if you’ll have me.”