"You lived here?"
"I was born here."
"So you're back for a visit?"
"I guess so."
"Family?"
He looked up into her eyes, and his gaze transfixed her. She felt like a deer caught in the gaze of a wolf. Something about the intensity of his stare, the power of it, robbed her of her ability to think. Her mind went blank.
"I guess that depends on how you define family."
His face was like something out of a magazine, his jawline defined, his cheekbones high, his eyes deep and intense.
"What do you mean?" she faltered.
"Well, if by family you mean the people who love you and take care of you, then no, I'm not here to visit family."
"I see," she said, thinking about what he was trying to say. "And if by family I simply mean the people who brought you into the world?"
He smiled. "In that case, I suppose, yes. That's who I'm here for."
The man's gaze dropped down to the letter, and Elle realized she was still holding the coffee pot. She began to pour the hot liquid into his mug. As she was pouring, without saying a word, the man reached out and touched her hand. It was a strange moment, an unusually tentative and affectionate gesture to show a stranger. It surprised Elle so much that she forgot to stop pouring, and the coffee overflowed the cup and spilled over the table and onto the man's lap, burning him.
"Holy crap," Elle said, snapping back to attention. "What am I doing?"
The coffee flowed over the edge of the table, onto the man's jeans, and he had to stand up to stop it from burning him further.
"I'm so sorry," Elle gasped.
The man shook his head. "No, it's me. I don't know what I was thinking. I shouldn't have touched your hand. I wasn't myself."
He stuffed his hand into his pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill, which he threw on the table.
"No, it's all right," Elle said. "I don't mind."
But he was already gone, striding across the diner and out the door. It took Elle a moment to gather her wits, then she hurried back over to the counter for a cloth to wipe up the mess.
"What was that all about?" Kelly said.
Elle stopped. She looked at Kelly for a moment. "You know what?" she said. "I have no idea."
Chapter 7
Forrester
FORRESTER LOOKED AT THE WOMAN in front of him. He felt a strange emotion toward her. It wasn't just his usual sexual desire telling him to grab hold of her and pull her toward him, it was something else, something deeper. He'd been reading the letter from his father's lawyer, and his mind was full of the things he had to accomplish during the next couple of days. It was daunting. He had to bury a father he hated. He had to settle an estate he wanted nothing to do with. He had to face the demons that had been haunting him since his childhood. And for the first time in a long while, probably since he'd been adopted by Lacey's father and brought into the mansion, he felt scared and alone.
He knew he wasn't really alone. At any moment he could call his adoptive brothers, Jackson, Grant and Grady. He could also depend on Faith and Lacey to do anything for him. They'd take a bullet for him and he knew it. But this was something he knew he couldn't put in their hands. This was something he had to take care of himself.
But he'd touched this girl's hand.
Why did he do that? He didn't even know her. He knew nothing about her. Like a fool, he rushed out of the diner and didn't look back. He was making a scene and he knew it, but he couldn't help it.
He practically ran to his truck and once he was back in the driver's seat he lost it. He was gasping for air, he couldn't catch his breath. He pressed his hands into fists and brought them down on the steering wheel. What the hell was wrong with him?
He'd spent the last sixteen hours sitting in his truck and now that he was finally at his destination he couldn't seem to handle it.
What would that waitress think? That he was a freak, that's what.
He hadn't even realized he'd reached out and touched her until he'd already done it. He'd embarrassed her, causing her to spill coffee all over him. He didn't even care about the burn. It was nothing. What he cared about was looking like a freak, especially in front of such a pretty girl.
He thought back to the moment his hand had touched hers. Her skin was smooth and soft, with the slightest tint of gold in the tan. It made him think she'd arrived in this place recently, from somewhere that got a little more sun. Her eyes were big and bright, the kind of eyes that could calm you. But there was nothing calm about her body. Her body was like an instrument built for passion. Forrester had seen his share of women, but none of them ever looked so perfectly designed for seduction. The girl wasn't a waif, she had some curves, and they were the kind of curves that Forrester had always had a weakness for. She'd been wearing a skirt, and her long legs slid up into it in the most alluring way. He could only imagine the butt underneath the skirt, the seductive little bubble of lust and pleasure that the girl didn't even know had such an effect on men.
He knew the type of girl she was, or thought he did. It always amazed him that such girls existed. They were like creatures that had no idea of their own power. He'd read once about elephants in India that never tried to escape their masters, even when they were only tied up with a small rope, because they didn't know they were strong enough to break the rope. This waitress was like that. She wouldn't have tried to seduce men, she wouldn't have tried to use her body to get what she wanted, because she didn't believe she was so incredibly attractive to them. She'd have grown up thinking she was a little plump, a little plain. Never in a million years would it have crossed her mind that she'd grown up into a beautiful swan, a creature that men would give their lives to taste the pleasure of.
It was always one of life's mysteries to Forrester. The world was full of completely average, ordinary girls who thought they were hot shit, and all the while, without even realizing it, the real sirens of men's hearts were living ordinary lives, working in stores and diners and offices, and never having the faintest inkling of the sexual allure they possessed.
Forrester felt his cock harden as he thought of her. It throbbed with desire. He briefly considered going back into the diner and pulling her out with him. He'd take her to the nearest motel and pound her brains out. That was what he needed, that was the kind of release the tension in his body craved.
He sighed. He hated that he'd let the town get to him. He'd been gone a long time, more than ten years, and he was a completely different man from the abused, traumatized boy who'd left. He would have thought that everything he'd learned in the years since his leaving, all the skills and strength he'd picked up, would have protected him from the ghosts that lived here.
He'd been wrong.
Being back here was like being a boy again, a frightened, brutalized, broken down boy.
Chapter 8
Elle
ELLE'S MIND WAS ON THE man as she finished up her shift. Kelly and Grace both watched her as if she'd suddenly grown two heads.
"What is it?" she demanded when she couldn't ignore it any longer.
Kelly looked away. Grace grinned. "You're smitten, girl, that's what."
"Smitten?"
"You haven't been able to get that man out of your mind since he came in and caused that scene."
"Oh, come on."
Gracie looked at Kelly and shrugged.
"I'm just thinking about him," Elle said. "It was strange. He touched me, and then I spilled coffee all over his lap, and then he was gone."
"It was weird," Kelly said.
"Not all that weird, in the grand scheme of things," Grace said.
"I think it was pretty weird," Kelly repeated. "And I'd be careful about seeking out a guy like that, Elle. He looked like he could mean trouble."
Elle had to agree with that. He certainly wasn't your run of the mill character. His arms were thick with detailed tattoos. He walked with the kind of confidence and swagger that often got men into trouble. But he was also amazingly handsome. His eyes had pierced right into her soul. Try as she would, Elle just couldn't get him out of her mind. He'd burned himself into her the moment he'd looked into her eyes.
"He was hot though," Gracie said.
Kelly and Elle burst out laughing.
"Oh, don't be shy, Gracie," Kelly teased. "Just call them like you see them."
"I might look old to you two," Gracie replied, laughing herself, "but don't think for a minute that I wouldn't know what to do with that man if I ever had the good luck to find him in my bedroom."