Slow Burn (Dynasties Seven Sins #7) - Janice Maynard Page 0,10

complexion. Now he could almost count the smattering of freckles on the bridge of her nose. “Absolutely not,” she said, her tone fierce. “I won’t have you playing at fatherhood and then walking away. Emma is happy and well-adjusted. She doesn’t need you, Jake.”

Perhaps Nikki realized her rejection was harsh. She circled back to the beginning. “You’re a good man, but you’re not father material. Emma is better off having no father than one who flits in and out whenever the wind blows.”

He ground his jaw, trying to control his temper. “You’re making a lot of assumptions about me, Nik.”

“It’s been fifteen years since you walked away from Falling Brook. From your family. From me. You’ve never been back. Not once. You juggle demons, Jake.”

He felt raw. Only someone who had known him so well would dare to diagnose his behavior. “At least I don’t keep secrets,” he muttered.

She stood abruptly and gathered her coat and clutch purse. “Take me home, please. I want to go now.”

Three

Nikki was angry. And scared. Once upon a time Jake had held her entire heart in his hands. She had adored him. They had been friends forever, and then, just as she began to grow into her feelings for him in a very adult way, their fathers had ruined everything. Jake fled, and Nikki and her mom had fled, too.

But not in the same direction.

As they walked outside, Nikki barely felt the cold. At least not on her face, hands or feet. Her chest felt frozen from the inside out. How dare he blame her? Didn’t he know how many times she had cried herself to sleep, wondering again and again if she had made the right choice for her daughter? For the absent Jake...

Jake started the car but left it in Park. He reached for her wrist, not letting go even when she jerked backward. “I don’t want to fight with you, Nikki.” He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand with a mesmerizing stroke. “The past is the past. We can’t change any of it.”

In the dimly lit interior, his face was hard to read. “But your father is back,” she said quietly. “That’s why you’re here. In New Jersey, I mean. To see him?”

Jake shrugged, his posture and expression moody. “Joshua and I are being summoned to the prison tomorrow. But to be clear, I came back because Josh asked, not for my rat bastard of a father.”

His palpable misery twisted her heart and dissolved some of her animosity. She flipped her hand over and twined her fingers with his. “I’m sorry you have to see him. But maybe it will help. For closure, I mean.”

“He won’t answer our questions. We’ll never know why he did it or what happened to the money. I can tell you that right now. My father never let us boys talk back to him...ever. He was always king. Arrogant. Proud. The worst part is, he turned his back on our mother, and for that alone, I’ll never forgive him.”

Nikki cupped his cheek with her free hand, feeling the late-day stubble. “Forever is a long time. Bitterness and anger poison your soul. I want you to be happy, Jake.”

It was true. Despite everything that had happened, Nikki didn’t want Jake Lowell to suffer. She could have found him when she turned up pregnant after their night in Atlantic City. Possibly. And told him he was a father. But he had hurt her so badly once in her life, she had been reluctant to trust him with the truth. Instinctively, she had known he could hurt her again. And she knew it now.

Jake sucked in a sharp breath. Audible. Ragged. “You’re right. It’s time to take you home.” He released her, so she was no longer touching him.

Something shimmered in the air between them. Was it sexual chemistry that refused to die? Nostalgia, grief and hormones were a dangerous combination.

Nikki cleared her throat. “Sure,” she said.

Jake put the car in motion. Traffic was only now beginning to taper off as commuters found their way home. Nikki stared out the window, searching for answers. Was she wrong to keep Jake away from his daughter?

When he parked in front of her house, she bit her lip and stayed put. “I’ll have to think about it,” she said. “You and Emma. I need time. Please.”

“Okay.” His voice was quiet. “I don’t blame you for not telling me earlier. But I know now, and we’ll start from here.”

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