A Daddy for Jacoby - By Christyne Butler Page 0,24
“Ah, let me get this and we’ll finish… Hello?”
“Gina?”
Her breath caught, and again she lost the ability to speak. It was as if thinking about the man had caused him to dial her number. And how had he gotten her number?
“It’s Justin.”
As if she didn’t recognize the unhurried, seductive timbre of his voice. She nodded and then realized what she did. “Ah, hi…hello.”
“Look, I hate to do this, but I wonder if you’d—” He broke off and heaved a deep sigh. A sigh so sexy that Gina’s toes curled.
“Would you mind coming out to the cabin?”
Would she mind— Her gaze flicked to the clock radio on her bedside table. It was nearly eleven o’clock. “Now?”
“I know it’s late, but— Dammit!” The frustration in his voice was clear, and she pictured him tunneling his fingers through his hair as he paced. Justin struck her as a pacing kind of guy.
“Gina…” He paused for a moment. “I need your help.”
A long silence filled the air.
“Hello? You still there?”
She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Justin was asking for help. From her.
“Y-yes, I’m here. What’s going on?”
“Jacoby’s— Well, he’s upset and he’s asking for you.”
Oh, the poor kid. His entire world had been turned upside down in the last forty-eight hours. And no matter the reasons his mother had for doing what she did, Jacoby must be missing her.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said.
After promising Giselle she’d keep the topic just between them and to finish their talk later, Gina changed her clothes, gave a quick explanation to her mother and headed out the door. Less than twenty minutes later she was parking her car next to Justin’s truck.
He held open the screen door as she got to the porch and a sense of déjà vu swept over her as she stepped inside. The cardboard boxes were gone and a variety of books, from oversize hardbound textbooks to paperbacks, filled the shelves which flanked the fireplace. The power tools, scraps of wood and the oversize toolbox she’d barely been able to lift had disappeared, too.
But those changes paled in comparison to the sight of Justin, wearing a washed-out Destiny High Blue Devils T-shirt and faded jeans, his features etched with worry.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
He pointed to a doorway on the opposite side of the room. “Jacoby’s locked himself in the bathroom. He won’t open the door. Hell, he won’t even talk to me.”
“Why’d he do that?”
“I don’t know.” Justin pushed the wayward locks of hair off his forehead with the back of one hand. The worry on his face had quickly morphed into exasperation. “I’ve been trying to get him in bed for over an hour, but he refuses. We spent all day cleaning the place and set up the bed, but he says he wants to sleep out here again.”
Gina saw the sleeping bags laid out in front of the fire. “Are you planning to sleep out here?”
“Yeah, my bed’s still missing a mattress.”
“But you had a bed at your apartment.”
Justin stilled, his gaze locked with hers, the chocolate brown of his eyes deepening.
Was he thinking about that night? How she’d tried to make him lie down after she’d followed him upstairs? How he’d insisted if she was going to stick around she should be the one to get some sleep? She’d been afraid he’d had a concussion, but when he’d taken the only chair, she’d had nowhere else to sit but on the rumpled bed. Eventually, she’d crawled beneath the covers to get warm and had indeed fallen asleep.
“I got rid of that bed when I moved here.”
She didn’t know what that meant, if it meant anything at all, but she refused to ask him to explain.
Moving toward the small hallway, she stopped in front of the only closed door. The other two, at opposite ends of the hall, stood open, leading to Jacoby’s and Justin’s bedrooms.
She knocked gently. “Jacoby? It’s Gina. Are you okay?”
No reply. She tried again. “Hey, I heard you wanted to see me. Well, here I am. Can you come out?”
Still nothing. Gina looked over her shoulder at Justin, standing with his shoulder braced against the doorjamb. Then a click sounded and the door slowly opened. Jacoby stood inside, his bear at his side.
She dropped to her knees to meet his eyes. “Hey, there.”
“Hey.”
“So, what’s going on?”
Jacoby looked over her shoulder at Justin. “He wants me to go to bed.”
“It’s late. Everyone should be in bed by now,” Justin