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“There’s no reason to get upset, Dad. What’s the big deal if I decided to hang around here and go to college? One university is just as good as another.”
Chance rubbed his hand down his face, trying to fight for composure, and quickly decided to use another approach. “Marcus,” he said calmly, “I’m sure Tiffany Hagan is a nice girl, but you’re only sixteen. In another couple of years you’ll finish high school and go to college where you will meet plenty of other nice girls. You have such a bright future ahead of you. I’d hate to see you get too serious about any girl now.”
A stubborn expression settled on Marcus’s face. “She’s not just any girl, Dad. Tiffany is the girl I plan to marry one day.”
“Marry!” Chance nearly swallowed the word in shock. “How did marriage get into the picture? You’re only sixteen! I know you think you really care for this girl and—”
“It’s more than that, Dad, and the sooner you and Tiffany’s mother realize it, the better. Tiffany and I are madly in love and we want to be together forever. There’s nothing either of you can say or do to stop us, so you may as well accept it.”
“Like hell I will.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Marcus said as he walked out of the kitchen toward his bedroom.
Total shock kept Chance from going after his son and wringing his neck.
Kylie paced the floor. Her nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Tiffany hadn’t come out of her room yet, which was probably the best thing.
Love!
At fifteen her daughter thought she was in love. Madly in love at that! Kylie swallowed a thickness in her throat when she realized how her mother must have felt sixteen years ago, dealing with her when she’d been obsessed with Sam Miller.
She paused when she heard the phone ring and quickly crossed the room to pick it up, thinking it was probably Lena checking to see how things with Tiffany had gone. “Hello.”
“We need to talk, Ms. Hagan.”
Kylie blinked at the sound of the ultra sexy male voice. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who the caller was, or to know he’d evidently had had another talk with his son. She sighed. Yes, they did need to talk. “You name the place and I’ll be there.”
“All right.” After a quiet pause, he said. “They think they’re in love. Madly in love.”
Kylie shook her head. “So I heard. Louder than I really cared to, in fact.”
“Same here. Do you know where the Racetrack Café is?”
“Yes.”
“Can you meet me there around noon tomorrow?”
Considering what was going on with Tiffany and his son, she really didn’t have a choice. Hopefully, together they could devise a way to stop the young couple before they got into more trouble than they could handle. “Yes, I can meet you there.”
“Fine, I’ll see you then.”
Chance arrived at the restaurant early to make sure they got a table. Jointly owned by several race car drivers on the NASCAR circuit, the Racetrack Café was a popular eatery in town. He hadn’t been seated more than five minutes when he glanced over at the entrance to see Kylie Hagan walk in.
He had hoped his mental picture of her from yesterday had been wrong, but it hadn’t. Kylie Hagan was an attractive woman. Every man in the place apparently thought so, too, judging by the looks they gave her. Not for the first time he wondered about her age and how someone who looked so young could have a fifteen-year-old daughter.
He watched her glance around before she spotted him. There wasn’t even a hint of a smile on her face as she walked toward him. But, he quickly decided, it didn’t matter. Smiling or not, she looked gorgeous dressed in a pair of black slacks and a blue pullover sweater. And those same curves that he’d convinced himself had to be a figment of his imagination made her slacks a perfect fit for her body. Even her walk was mesmerizing and sexy.
When she got closer, he saw the wariness around her eyes, which led him to believe that she’d probably gone a round or two with her daughter sometime during that day, as he’d done with Marcus. He wondered if the discussion had been about the “his and hers” tattoos Marcus had indicated he and Tiffany were thinking about getting.
Chance stood when she reached the table. “Ms. Hagan.”
“Mr. Steele.”
He thought they were overdoing the formality, but felt it was best to keep things that way for now. After all, this was nothing more than a business meeting, and the only item on the agenda was a discussion about their children.
After they had taken their seats, he asked, “Would you like to order anything? They have the best hamburgers and French fries in town.”
A small smile touched Kylie’s lips. “So I’ve heard. But no, I’m fine, you go ahead and order something if you’d like. It’s just that my most recent conversation with Tiffany has killed my appetite.”
Chance heard the quiver in her voice and recalled his own conversation with Marcus that morning before he’d left for school. “I take it Tiffany told you about the tattoo.”
He watched her nostrils flare as she drew in a silent breath. “Yes, she told me. Matching lovebirds on their tummies right above their navels, I understand.”
“That’s my understanding as well.” A soft chuckle erupted from his throat. There was a cloud hanging over his head that refused to go away and he had to find amusement anywhere he could to keep his sanity. But he had to believe this was just one part of parenthood that he would get through, and for some reason it was important to him for Kylie Hagan to believe that as well.
“Things are going to be all right, Ms. Hagan,” he said soothingly. “That’s why we’re meeting today, to make sure of it.” He flashed her a smile.
She glanced up and met his gaze. “I want to believe that,” she said quietly. “Under the circumstances I think we should forgo formality. Please call me Kylie.”
“Okay, and I’m Chance.” After a pause he said, “Kylie, I want you to believe things will work out. We have to think positively that we’ll get through this particular episode in our children’s lives. We have good kids—they’re just a little headstrong and stubborn. But I believe with some parental guidance they’ll be fine.”
“I hope so. Otherwise if they continue with the route they’re going, they’re bound to make a mistake.”
Chance raised a brow. “By mistake you mean…?”
“Taking their relationship to a level they aren’t ready for, Chance.”
He liked the way his name easily flowed from her lips. “I take it you mean sex.”
“Yes, that’s precisely what I’m talking about. Over the years, I’ve had the mother-daughter talks with Tiffany, but when teenagers are in love, or think they’re in love, they believe that sex is just another way to show how much they care.”
They paused in their conversation when a waitress came to give Chance his beer, hand them menus and fill their water glasses.
“And you think that’s going to be on their minds?” he asked.
“Of course. Raging teenage hormones are the worst kind.”
He picked up his glass to take a sip of beer. “Are they?”
“Yes, trust me, I know. I had Tiffany when I was sixteen.”
Chance’s glass stopped midway to his lips. His mouth opened in surprise. “Sixteen?”
“Yes. So I hope you can understand why I’m upset with all of this. I don’t want Tiffany to make the same mistake I made as a teenager.”
Chance nodded. That explained the reason Kylie didn’t look old enough to have a fifteen-year-old daughter. That meant she was around thirty-one, but still she didn’t look a day over twenty-five. “Did you and Tiffany’s father get married?”
Her laugh was bitter. “Are you kidding? He had to make a choice between me and a football scholarship to Hampton University. He chose college.”
“I didn’t.”
Kylie glanced up from studying her water glass. “You didn’t what?”
“I was faced with the same decision as Tiffany’s father. My girlfriend, Marcus’s mother, got pregnant when we were seniors in high school. We were both eighteen and had plans for college. We acknowledged our mistake and felt that no matter what, we loved each other and loved the child we had made. Instead of going to college, we got married, remained here in Charlotte and made the best of things. I later went to college at night. My wife died of cancer when Marcus was nine.”
Chance finished his beer. A part of him regretted that the man who had gotten Kylie pregnant hadn’t done the responsible thing. “It must have been hard for you, pregnant at sixteen,” he said.
“It was.” He could tell by the way her lips were quivering their conversation was bringing back painful memories for her. “I disappointed my parents tremendously, embarrassed them. When it was determined that the father didn’t want me or his child as part of his future, my parents tried talking me into giving up my baby for adoption, but I refused. That caused friction between us the entire nine months. Things got so bad at home that I had to go live with my best friend and her mother the last couple months of my pregnancy.”
After taking a sip of water, she said, “The day the nurse brought Tiffany to me for the first time after I’d given birth to her, I gazed down at my beautiful daughter and knew I had made the right decision, no matter how my parents felt.”
“Did they eventually come around to your way of thinking?”
“Years later when they realized they were denying themselves the chance to get to know their granddaughter. But at first they wanted me to know what a mistake I’d made in keeping her. They’d intended to teach me a lesson. I couldn’t move back home so I continued to live with my friend’s family until I was able to get an apartment at seventeen. I finished high school at night while working at a grocery store as a cashier during the day. My best friend, who also became Tiffany’s godmother, kept her at night so I could finish school. It was hard but I was determined to make it work. After high school, I went to college and I struggled for years as a single parent before I finally earned a degree. I got a management position and later purchased a modest home for me and Tiffany.”
“What made you decide to move here?”
“The company where I worked as a supervisor decided to downsize. My position was no longer needed so they gave me a pretty nice severance package. Instead of seeing losing my job as the end of the world, I decided to turn it into an opportunity to do something I’d always wanted to do.”
“Open up a florist shop?”
“Yes. The reason I decided on Charlotte was that Lena had moved here after college and I liked the area the couple of times I’d come to visit her.”
“Lena?”
“Helena Spears, my best friend from high school.”
Chance smiled. “Helena Spears? I’ve met her on several occasions. She’s a Realtor in town and is very active with the Cancer Society. I think her father died of the disease some years ago.”
“He did, when Lena was fourteen. In recent years her mother has taken ill. I admire Lena for taking on the responsibility of her mother’s care the way she has.”
Kylie leaned back in her chair. “So knowing my history, Chance, I hope you can understand why I don’t want Tiffany to make the same mistakes I did. I don’t have anything against your son personally. I’m sure he’s a fine young man. I just don’t think he and Tiffany are ready for any sort of a relationship just yet.”
“And I totally agree. So what do you think we should do?”
“I think we should meet with them, tell them our feelings, let them know we understand how they feel, or how they think they feel, since we were young once. But we should try to do whatever we can to slow down things between them. They’re moving too fast. One day I didn’t even know Marcus existed and now my daughter is claiming to be madly in love with him.”
When the waitress came back to take their order, Chance glanced over at Kylie. “You’re still not hungry?”
Kylie smiled. “Yes, in fact I think I’m going to try a hamburger and fries.”
Chance returned her smile. “I think I will, too.”
“I’m glad we had our little talk,” Chance said as he walked Kylie to her car an hour or so later.
“So am I,” she said honestly, although the whole time she’d sat across from him she’d had to fight back her drool. She was amazed at the thoughts that had crept into her mind. Thoughts of how Chance Steele had to have one of the sexiest mouths she’d ever seen. And the type of physique that drew feminine attention. Watching him eat had been quite an ordeal. She’d had to fight the urge to squirm in her seat each time he bit into his hamburger. Her attraction to him was truly bizarre, considering the real problem was finding a way to keep their kids in line.
But she would be crazy not to acknowledge that she was drawn to him in a way she hadn’t been drawn to a man in years. Sexual longings were something she hadn’t had to deal with for quite some time. Being in Chance’s company she had been reminded of just how long it had been.
“So we’ve decided that I’m to bring Marcus over to your place for Sunday dinner so the four of us can sit down and talk,” he said when they reached her car.
“Yes, that’s the plan.”
“And I think it’s a good one. We need to talk to them, but even more importantly, we need to let them talk to us. And no matter what, we’re going to have to keep our cool, even when we’d like nothing better than to ring their little necks. The situation we’re dealing with calls for strategy and tact, not anger.”
She tilted her head up and looked at him. “Strategy and tact I can handle, but it’s going to be hard keeping my anger in check,” she said, thinking of the conversation she’d had with Tiffany that morning before the girl had left for school. Her daughter was intent on being stubborn, no matter what.
“We’ll not only get through it, we’ll succeed,” Chance said.
Kylie knew he was trying to alleviate some of her worries and she appreciated it. “Okay, then I’ll see you and Marcus on Sunday. I’m looking forward to meeting him.”
“And I’m looking forward to meeting Tiffany as well.” As he held the car door for her he shook his head and laughed. “Matching lovebird tattoos. Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous?”
Chance drew Kylie into his amusement. “No, and what’s really crazy is that Tiffany is petrified of needles.”
“Well, it’s been said that love makes you do foolish things.”
Later that night Chance swore as he got out of bed. For the first time in eight years, a woman other than his wife had invaded his dreams. Every time he’d closed his eyes, he’d seen Kylie Hagan’s face.
It seemed as if he couldn’t keep his mind from dredging up memories of her. First there was her appearance yesterday when a T-shirt and a pair of shorts covered her shapely body. And today, at the café, the slacks and sweater she’d been wearing had made him appreciate the fact that he was a male.
And then there were the times she would do something as simple as drink water from her glass. He couldn’t help but watch the long, smooth column of her throat as water passed down it. He had wanted to kiss every inch of her neck and had wondered how it would feel for her to grip him the way she was gripping her glass.
Chance dragged a hand down his face thinking it had been a long time for him. Way too long. Sexual cravings were something he’d barely had to deal with, but now he was having several sharp attacks. In addition to the lust he was feeling for her, he also felt a deep sense of admiration.
She had given birth to a child at sixteen, hadn’t given in to her parents’ demand that she give the child up for adoption, and had struggled the past fifteen years as a single parent who’d gotten a college education and had provided for herself and her daughter. He considered what she’d done a success story. What he really appreciated was the fact that her past experiences enabled her to foresee what could be a potentially dangerous situation for Tiffany and Marcus. It was clear as glass that she didn’t want them to make the same mistake she’d made.
As he left the bedroom and headed for the kitchen, he thought about his own situation with Cyndi. They had been blessed in that both sets of parents had been supportive of their decision to keep their child and marry. And when Marcus was born, there was no doubt in Chance’s mind that Cyndi’s parents, as well as his own, loved their first grandchild unconditionally. His heart went out to both Kylie and Tiffany when he thought about what they had been denied.
His pulse began racing when he thought about dinner at Kylie’s place on Sunday when he would be seeing her again. That was one dinner engagement that he was looking forward to.
Kylie awoke with a start, finding that she was drenched in sweat…or heat, since what had awakened her was an erotic dream.
Chance Steele had kissed her, touched her, made love to her. At first she had moaned in protest but then they’d become moans of pleasure. But at the exact moment he was about to do away with all the mind-blowing foreplay and enter her body to take total possession, she had awakened.
She pulled herself into a sitting position and struggled to calm her ragged breath. Perspiration cloaked her body, a sign of just how long she had been in denial. For a brief moment, everything had seemed real, including the way his skin felt beneath her palms, how thick and solid his muscles were against her body and just how good those same muscles felt melding into hers.
With a deep sigh of disgust, she threw the covers back and got out of bed. Why, after fifteen years, did she finally become attracted to a man who just happened to the be the father of the boy who could become her worst nightmare? On the way to the bathroom, she inwardly cursed for finding Chance so damn handsome.
As she turned on the shower and began stripping out of her damp nightclothes, she thought about how her life had been over the past fifteen years. Sam was the first and only man she had slept with. Once Tiffany had been born, her precious little girl had become the most important thing to her, her very reason for existing, and the years that followed had been busy ones as a single parent. Although a number of men had shown interest, a relationship with any of them had taken a backseat. It was either bad timing or a lack of desire on her part to share herself with anyone other than Tiffany. In essence, she had placed her needs aside to take care of the needs of her child.
But now it seemed that those needs were catching up with her. Something sharp, unexpected and mind-blowingly stimulating was taking its toll. For years she had been able to keep those urges under control, but now it seemed a losing battle. It was as if her body was saying, I won’t let you deny me any longer.
As she stepped into the shower and stood beneath the spray of water, she knew that she was in deep trouble. Not only did she have to deal with the situation going on with Tiffany and Marcus, but she had to deal with her own attraction to Chance. It was sheer foolishness to become this enamored with a man she had only met a couple of days ago, and the very thought that she had gone so far as to dream about him making love to her was totally unacceptable.
No matter how intense the sexual longings invading her body, she had to get a grip. And more than anything, she had to remember that men couldn’t be depended on to always do the right thing. Sam had proven that to her in a big way, and so had her father. He had let her down when he’d meekly gone along with her mother’s treatment of her when she’d gotten pregnant.
Moments later when she stepped out of the shower, dried off and donned a fresh nightgown, she had to concede that the water hadn’t washed any thoughts of Chance from her mind. She had a feeling that even when she went back to bed she wouldn’t experience anything close to a peaceful sleep.
