Most Eligible Baby Daddy(16)

"No, not at all. At least not as far as I can tell."

"And she turned you down?"

"Well, not exactly. She came back to my room last night."

"Oh, Forrester, that sounds like things are going right according to plan."

"Yeah, except for the fact that she was gone when I woke up."

It was Lacey's turn to laugh.

"It's not funny," he protested.

"Well," Lacey said, "now you know what it's like for girls. You guys pull that shit all the time."

"I guess we do."

"Yes, you do."

Forrester cleared his throat. "Why would she have left? Because the sex wasn't good?"

"Calm down, casanova. Don't start doubting yourself just yet. You really are clueless about girls, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. I'm a guy."

Forrester could hear in Lacey's voice how much she was enjoying the  conversation. "Well, let me set you straight, sweetie. Girls don't slip  out in the morning because the sex wasn't good. We slip out because  we're afraid you're not going to want to see us there in the morning."

"Why on earth wouldn't I want to see her? I'm falling for her, Lacey. Plus, I woke up with a hard on for her like crazy."

"You don't have to give me every detail."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, if you want my advice, you have to get her guard down. Girls  aren't stupid. They just don't want to get hurt, Forrester. Especially  by a guy like you."

"A guy like me?"

"Yes, believe it or not, you're not exactly the average dude that asks a  girl for her number. You're different. You're more intense. And if this  girl is anything like me, she'll be afraid that you're just having a  fling with her, and that you're not going to get invested in the  relationship. The last thing she'll want, is to feel like an idiot.  She's not going to put herself in the position where it looks like she's  trying to cling on to you and you don't want her. Believe me, that's  the way I'd feel if I was in her position."

"So, you're saying that if she realizes how much I'm into her, she'll jump right back into my bed."

He could tell from her voice that Lacey was shaking her head.

"It might not be as simple as all that, Forrester, but I'd bet once she  knows how you feel about her, she'll be able to get over her own fear of  rejection a lot easier."

"All right, thanks for the pep talk."

"Anytime, bro. Anyway, when are you coming home?"

"Not until I can get a plan together with this girl."

"Bring her here. We'll look after her."

"I know. Maybe I will, if I can convince her. I also have to take care  of my father's estate, so that will probably take a few days too."

"Okay. Well, call me if you need anything. And be nice to the girl.  Remember, the most important thing a man can be to a woman, is kind. If  you're kind to her, the rest will fall into place."





Chapter 18

Elle

ELLE JUST BARELY MADE IT to the diner in time for opening. When she got  there, Kelly and Gracie were gossiping, and they both looked up at her  expectantly.                       
       
           



       

Kelly handed her a cup of coffee.

"Well?" Kelly said. "How'd it go?"

"How did what go?"

"You're night with lover boy."

"Oh come on," Elle protested, "it wasn't like that."

"It looked like that," Kelly said, grinning at Gracie.

Elle sighed. She realized how scared she was of appearing like an idiot  in front of her new friends. "It was just a fling," she said, praying to  herself that it wasn't true. She wanted more than anything to have  something real with Forrester.

"Just a fling? Oh come on," Kelly said.

"Really, until I hear otherwise, that's all I'm treating it as. I don't  know who Forrester is, I don't know where he comes from, I don't know  what his personal life is like. Until I know more, I'm not getting my  hopes up."

Grace cleared her throat. She had a look of compassion on her face and her voice was full of kindness.

"Elle, dear, it sounds to me like you're being very cautious."

"I am not."

"Tell me you didn't slip out of his room this morning."

Elle was about to respond when her voice caught in her throat. She was  caught off guard by the fact that Grace could read her so easily.

"So what if I did," she said defensively. "Boys do that all the time."

"I know it makes you feel safe to have walls around your heart," Grace  said, "but believe me, until you let them come down, you won't be able  to find happiness."

"I'm not, I don't," Elle sighed in frustration, unable to finish her sentence.

"Relax, child. No one's accusing you of anything. I'm just telling you, I  know how you feel. I've been there. Believe me. I've been treated so  badly by men I thought I loved, that it took me years to learn how to  trust again. But let me just tell you this much. Unless you open up your  heart to danger, it can never truly find happiness."

Then Grace pulled Kelly into the kitchen. "Come on, you. Let the girl  have a cup of coffee in peace. She'll be run off her feet soon enough."

Kelly went into the kitchen with Grace and then came back out and sat  with Elle. Elle noticed that she didn't bring up the Forrester issue  again. Grace must have told her to let it lie. Elle knew they were  right. She'd taken psychology classes. She knew how it worked. She'd  been hurt. Now she was afraid to be hurt again. That's why she slipped  out of Forrester's room. She didn't need the whole world analyzing it  for her. She just needed some time to learn how to feel safe with  Forrester, then she'd be fine. There was nothing wrong with her. It  wasn't a crime to be careful with her heart.

Elle was violently yanked out of her little reverie when a man came crashing angrily through the door of the diner.

Oh great, the first customer of the day and he's an asshole.

But then Elle stopped dead in her tracks. This wasn't just any asshole,  it wasn't even the assholes she'd already met in Stone Peak, Phil and  company.

It was Gris.

"I knew I'd find you here you little bitch," Gris said, stumbling into the diner.

He'd been drinking. He was unshaved, unwashed, and very angry.

"Gris," she gasped. "What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, you little bitch. I'm going to make you pay for wrecking my Camaro."

"Gris, please, not here."

"Look at you. You see me and within two minutes you're begging again. I told you you were a worthless little whore."

"Gris, you have to get out of here right now. If you don't, I'll call the cops."

"Oh, you'll call the cops. Maybe I've spoken to them myself already.  Maybe they called me, to tell me you were here. You forget, that piece  of shit car you drive is in my name."

"You can take it back, Gris. You can keep the car."

"Shut the fuck up, bitch. I didn't come here for the car. I came here  for you. You're coming home with me, where you belong, and you're never  going to run off like this again."                       
       
           



       

"I'm not going back with you Gris, not now, not ever."

Elle didn't know what to do, what to think. She was terrified. She'd  lived for three years under Gris's abusive thumb, and she was only just  beginning to come to terms with the fact that she might have gotten free  of him.

"Come on, get in my car. Your holiday's over."

Elle looked at him. She looked into the cold, hard face of the man she'd given everything to for so long.

"No," she said.

"No?"

Elle shook with every violent word from Gris.

Then she heard Grace's voice, and suddenly remembered that she was no  longer alone. She had friends now. They might not be able to protect her  from someone like Gris forever, but they stood with her, and they had  her back.

"That's right, fuck head," Grace said. "The lady said, no. Now get out of here before I blow your fucking brains out."

Elle turned and saw that Grace was pointing a hefty shotgun right at  Gris's face. Gris put his hands up in self-defense. "Oh, you stupid old  hag. You're going to pay for this. The sherif's on my side. This girl  took my car, smashed my other car. She's mine. She's my fucking  property."

Grace just looked at him, waited for him to finish his rant, and then cocked the shotgun menacingly.

Reluctantly, Gris backed out of the diner.

When he was gone, Elle realized just how terrified she'd been. She sat  down on a stool at the counter and burst into tears. Her entire body  quivered in fear.

"Oh my, God," Kelly said. "That's your ex?"

"That's my ex," Elle said.

"He's even worse than Phil," Kelly said.