Score one for her, I think. Maybe I haven’t given her enough credit. “Only if you had issues with it.”
“Issues like what? It was so good I want to do it again?”
Her admission both shocks and arouses me.
Her eyes open wide at the words that escaped. “And I haven’t even had a glass of wine as an excuse for being so honest,” she mutters with a shake of her head.
“Good thing I want to do it again, too,” I say, deadly serious. I reach across the table and grasp her hand, my thumb running across her skin.
I let the silence surround us for a few moments before speaking again. “I admit I didn’t plan for you, but you’re here, you’re in my life, and not only am I going to protect you, I’m going to have you,” I say, my words as serious as the growing feelings that keep taking me off-guard. “Any argument?” I ask.
She swallows hard. “No.”
“Good.” Satisfaction rushes through me. I felt the power in that kiss and know we are destined to do it again… and again. I want my mouth and tongue on other parts of her body, tasting the innate sweetness that is Faith.
“Wine!” Gino says, coming up to the table and uncorking the bottle. He pours some for me to taste.
I enjoy the flavor and nod. The older man fills each glass. The restaurant is starting to fill up, and I’m glad we made it here in time to snag my favorite, more isolated table.
“Would it be okay if I brought out the house special?” Gino asks. “My Rosa would love to treat you and she cooked it with love.”
Faith smiles at the older man. “That would be fine with me,” she says.
“Me, too.”
Gino strides off, and Faith meets my gaze. “So tell me, Jason Dare, what is your situation with women? You haven’t wanted to introduce any to your mother, and these people are like close friends and they’ve never met one of your dates. I know you’re not gay. What are you hiding?” Faith tucks her hands beneath her chin, grinning as she puts me on the spot.
I was prepared for this question, and I choose the easiest issue in my past to admit. “My father’s a bigamist. Or as close to being a bigamist as one can get without marrying both women at the same time.”
Ihatetalking about Robert Dare. The man raised my siblings and me, was there for us, and I thought we had a great family… only to discover the truth.
“I’m sorry… what?” Faith asks, stunned as any rational person would be.
“My father had another family with a woman he was legally married to, and five kids, including me, while he had an affair with my mother and raised me and my siblings with her. She knew, or found out, and stayed with him anyway.” A pain throbs in my temple as it always does when this subject comes up. But it is nothing compared to the pain of losing my best friend, so as much as it hurts, I’ll stick with this part of my past for now.
“Wow. That’s… awful. I’m sorry,” Faith murmurs.
I nod. “It’s complicated. He married Emma St. Claire as part of a merger of two families. It wasn’t a love match, and instead of trying to create one, my father, Robert, met my mom and fell in love. I think that’s how he justified what he did.” I shake my head. “Although we didn’t know it at the time, he told his other family that he was traveling on business for his hotels when he was really with us.” I swallow hard. “He missed major events in their lives like graduations and birthdays but came to ours. Again, justifying it because he was in love with my mother and not theirs.”
“What a pig,” Faith mutters honestly and I manage a laugh.
“Truer words were never spoken,” I say.
“How did you find out?”
I take a long sip of wine, and she does the same. “Well, that’s where Sienna’s illness comes in. She had been diagnosed with leukemia. Chemo and treatments didn’t work, so they wanted to do a bone marrow transplant. None of us were matches, so Robert decided to go to hisotherfamily and ask them to be tested.”
Faith leans in, utterly engrossed in the story, and I don’t blame her.
“He dropped the bomb on his legitimate family, destroyed them, and yet his wife… Emma… was gracious enough to test her kids. Avery, the youngest, was a match, and she donated her bone marrow to my sister.”
I recall those difficult days and sigh. “I guess you could say I was left with a bad taste in my mouth for relationships and issues with trust.” I also have a problem fearing that the people I love will leave me, which stems from my father’s behavior as well.
“All the siblings have made their peace with each other. The girls are the closest, but we’re all a family.”
“And your parents? What’s their story now?” Faith asks.
I scowl. “My father is currently in love with another woman and in the process of divorcing my mother. It’s been difficult,” I say, swirling the wine around in the glass. “My mother knew about his first wife. She got my father by cheating, not that she knew it when the relationship began. But now she’s losing him the same way.”
