One Night of Scandal

An indulgent smile lifted her lips. Reed got the feeling that she rarely said no to her son, not if she could help it.

“Sounds good to me.” Her grateful gaze shifted to Reed. “Thank you. You’ve been wonderful with him.”

His cheeks warmed up from the praise. “My pleasure. He’s a great kid.” Reed ruffled Devon’s hair again. “I’ll see you next Sunday, kiddo.”

There was a spring to his step as he left the building. Man, he truly loved spending time with that kid.

And he also loved spending time with Darcy, which he was also about to do.

It had been two weeks since their illicit visit to the farmers market, and in those two weeks, Reed had steadily been making headway with her. All those pesky rules she’d initially tried to enforce were crumbling away one by one.

No sleepovers? They crashed at each other’s places all the time.

No dinners? They’d gone for Italian just the other night.

No heavy conversation? Last week they’d stayed up all night talking about their families.

Oh yeah, he was definitely wearing her down.

Even though Darcy still insisted it was a fling, he knew damn well that it wasn’t. At least not for him. He loved every second he spent with her, and not just the sex part. He loved sending her those cheesy text messages that he knew made her smile. He loved her silly jokes. Her laughter. Snuggling in bed together after they’d rocked each other’s worlds.

Christ, he liked her so damn much.

No, it was more than like. He was falling for her, and he was helpless to stop it.

He didn’t want to stop it.

And he was confident that sooner or later Darcy would admit she was falling for him, too. She had to. He was trying so damn hard to show her that she could count on him, but he’d also promised himself not to push her—he wanted her to reach that conclusion all by herself.

Reed had two hours before he needed to head over to Sin, which gave him and Darcy plenty of time to get into all sorts of wicked trouble, but when he knocked on her door twenty minutes later, his anticipation was instantly snuffed out.

“Oh, crap,” she blurted when she saw him. “Didn’t you get my message? I can’t hang out today.”

He furrowed his brow, then reached into his pocket for his phone. When a black screen greeted him, he cursed under his breath. “It’s dead. I guess I forgot to charge it this morning.” Reed studied her flustered expression. “What’s going on?”

Darcy raked a hand through her hair. She’d worn it loose and it fell over one shoulder, the wavy strands hovering over the V neckline of her white T-shirt. Her dark-blue skinny jeans hugged her shapely legs, and when Reed glanced at her feet, her yellow flip-flops and bright red toenails made him smile. She was so f**king pretty his heart squeezed.

“My dad’s in town.” Her flat tone revealed her precise thoughts on the matter.

During one of their many no-longer-forbidden conversations, Darcy had told him all about her father and how he swept into town a few times a year before disappearing again for months. In Reed’s opinion, the man sounded like a total jackass. A selfish jerk who’d run out on his wife and daughter.

But he hadn’t voiced his opinion to Darcy. No matter how unreliable her old man was, he was still her old man.

“Did you know he was coming?” Reed asked.

She shook her head, her jaw tighter than a drum. “Of course not. I never know when he’s coming.” A buzzing drew her gaze to the phone in her hand. She looked at the screen, then groaned in annoyance. “God, this is insane. He says he wants to see me, but he keeps changing the plans. We were supposed to have lunch at the harbor, but now he wants to meet at the Starbucks around the corner from here.”

“I guess I’ll head out then.” Reed leaned in to brush a kiss over her lips. He was tempted to turn it into a hot make-out session, but he knew now wasn’t the time.

When he pulled back, he found Darcy eyeing him miserably. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Her next words startled him. “Do you… Will you come with me?”

Reed tried not to gape at her. She was inviting him to meet her father?

Granted, that hadn’t been one of the items on her no list, but that was probably because it hadn’t even occurred to her that it could happen.

“I just think…” She shrugged. “Maybe if I bring someone along it won’t be as awkward as it usually is.”

Or it would be a hundred times more awkward, Reed almost pointed out.

When he hesitated, Darcy’s blue eyes grew resigned. “Sorry, forget it. I guess it’s a stupid idea—”

“Sure,” he interrupted. “I’ll come.”

“You will?”

Reed nodded.

The next thing he knew, Darcy threw her arms around him, stood up on her tiptoes, and kissed him. No tongue, but he tasted the overpowering relief on her lips as their mouths met. His heart clenched again, a wave of emotion floating through him. He was entirely touched that she trusted him enough to introduce him to her dad, to expose him to what he knew was a painful relationship in her life.

Reed stroked her cheek with his thumb, then smiled. “When do we have to go?”

“Now,” she said glumly.

His index finger teased her bottom lip. “Aw, quit being a brat. I’m sure it won’t be as bad as you think.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

But Reed was wrong.