The Seduction 2(23)

For now.

But the money is the last thing on my mind. “I have to go,” I tell her quickly. “Thanks, for...”

I stop. For what? Tearing apart my memories of my family? Making my head ache with a hundred questions about my past?

“I’ll call you later,” Justine promises. “Try not to freak out.”

It’s easy for her to say. I hang up, staring blankly around at the cartons of flyers. I need to get out of here, so I bolt, grabbing my purse and racing back to my car without even saying goodbye. I start the engine, but I don’t know where I’m going, so I just drive, aimlessly circling the busy streets, too caught up in my thoughts to care.

Ashcroft was my father. All this time, I never knew the truth.

I wonder what my mom was thinking -- what could have possibly driven her to lie all this time? Did Ashcroft not want me, is that why she never told me the truth? Something must have happened to make her run like that: move across the country and start a whole new life with a different guy.

And dad... My father was a good man. Kind and patient, funny and loving. I have eighteen years of happy memories with him, and even though I know this new revelation doesn’t take them away from me, I wonder if he knew all along. Did he look at me and see some other guy’s kid?

Who am I now?

I gulp back the tears. My heart is breaking. I’ve been so alone since the car accident stole my family from me -- but all along, I had someone out there. I just didn’t know it.

And now I’ll never have the chance to know him.

I think back over my few brief meetings with Ashcroft. The jokes he cracked, the stories he told me about his life. I enjoyed our time together, but I didn’t think twice about it. Now, I ache with the missed opportunity.

If he’d only told me, I could have known the truth. We wouldn’t have had long together, but it would have been something.

Why did he seek me out after all this time? What changed? I run through the possibilities in my mind, trying to make sense of it. Maybe there was a reason things didn’t work out with my mom, maybe he regrets the way it ended. Or maybe he just felt guilty after all this time, and was trying to pay me off from beyond the grave.

So many questions. I’ll probably never know the answers now.

All I’m left with are regrets.

I look up, paying attention to the road for the first time. I realize that I’ve driven up towards the Hollywood Hills. Towards Vaughn’s house.

I feel a sudden flash of recklessness. I know I’m all mixed up, reeling from the bombshell news, but suddenly, I crave him more than ever.

Time slips away so soon. Anything could happen. People can be gone from your life in the blink of an eye, and you never get a second chance.

I don’t want Vaughn to be just a memory. I don’t want to regret missing out on this too. Nothing about the last few weeks has made any sense. But the desire already clenching in my body, this is something real.

Something I can hold onto.

I take the turning up through the Canyon, my determination growing. I pull into his driveway and hurry around to the door before I can change my mind. The entrance is set back from the driveway, off a platform overlooking the canyon. I ring the bell and wait, my stomach tied up in knots.

For the first time, I’m the one making the first move. Tonight, I need to lose myself in him.

And this time, I won’t hold back.





17

VAUGHN

The doorbell drags me away from my computer screen. Fuck. I slam my laptop shut with a crash and sweep the printouts into a drawer. I’ve spent long enough on this twisted trip down memory lane. I need to get it out of my head before I lose my fucking mind.

“What?” I demand, yanking the door open.

It’s her.

Keely fucking Fawes. The woman I’ve been trying my best to push away, and she’s here in front of me. Looking like she wants to rip all her clothes off and spread wide right there on my doorstep. Biting her juicy lip in a way that makes me need to drag her inside and fuck that ripe mouth until she can’t take it anymore.

“What do you want?” I demand, my cock already stiff just at the sight of her. I swore I wouldn’t get any deeper, but fuck, a man can only take so much.

She blinks, frozen for a moment. Then those wet lips form in a single word.

“You.”

Lust crashes through me. “Don’t test me, sweetheart,” I force the words through gritted teeth. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll get the fuck out of here, and never look back.”

She shakes her head. “I want you,” she says again, the sweetest fucking sound in the world. “I don’t care what you’re hiding, or what it is you want. I just need you. All of you.”