I turned away from him, feeling the tears well up again. “Not soon enough,” I whispered.
His hand grasped my knee, and a shot of electricity zipped through my body. “You got away.”
I bit my lip and looked at where his hand was. “Sorry,” he apologized as he pulled his hand back, and I wanted to cry out, beg him to touch me again.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t take that chance again. Richard had seemed nice when we met. I was twenty-one and in my last year of college. We married a year later and started trying for a family immediately.
After we found Frankie, Richard changed. It was the same with Clay. He seemed so nice. So stable. He’d love-bombed me into believing he was my knight in shining armor. My Prince Charming.
When really, he was the villain. In his defense, he wasn’t anywhere near as bad as Richard, but Clay had seen a scared, vulnerable woman and taken advantage of that. He’d convinced me that he was the answer to all my problems, when in fact, all he did was add to them.
I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Chapter Three
Derek
“How’d it go?” my brother asked as I stepped inside the house.
“Uncle Derek!” Charlie ran toward me, giving me barely enough time to drop my things before she threw herself into my arms.
God, I loved this little girl. She’d taught me so fucking much about love. Charlie didn’t see the bastard I was. She didn’t see what I’d come from. To her, I was the hero. Yes, I’d saved her when Marsha had kidnapped her, but I didn’t count myself as a hero.
Everything that had happened to Charlie and Sam had been my fault. Everything that had happened to Frankie had been my fault. If I’d stuck around, I would have seen what Marsha was doing. If I’d taken responsibility for Frankie when the social worker came to see me, that bastard never would have touched her.
“Dad went to jail for hurting us.”
Frankie’s words cut through my heart. I’d walked away from my daughter hoping to spare her from what I went through, fearing history would repeat itself. And she went through it anyway.
“It went fine. It was an easy fix.”
I walked into the kitchen with Charlie on my hip, stopping to look in on the sleeping twins in the playpen. How they slept with Charlie awake was a mystery to me.
“Did you meet Kat?” Sam asked with a smile on her face.
“I did. And her daughter,” I answered before she could ask.
“What did you think?”
I looked at Sam. Her eyes slipped past me at Jack before coming back to mine.
“I didn’t think anything. I fixed the pipe, and I left.”
Sam’s shoulders slumped and she sighed.
“I told you, Sam, I’m not looking to have any kind of relationship. I’m not built for it.”
“Derek—”
I set Charlie on the floor. “I’ve told you both. I am happy to be here. Getting to know Jack and Charlie, and now the twins. Diamond Creek is a great little town, and I’m even considering staying after the work is done. But you’ve got to stop trying to set me up with women.”
“I just thought, maybe...”
I placed my hands on Sam’s shoulders. This had been a breakthrough for me. Even getting close enough to put my hands on her had taken time.
“I appreciate that you’re worried about me. But I’m happy. I promise. I’m not lonely. If that ever changes, you’ll be the first person to know.”
