Page 7 of Secret Redemption

Chapter Three

The Range Rover was plush, and the cream leather upholstery was soft to the touch. It was the height of luxury, and yet Ava wanted to run to escape the feelings that were coursing through her body. Zack had always had that effect on her. From their very first kiss, he had owned her; body, soul, and mind.

She had been under no illusions that things would turn out like a picture-perfect fairy tale. Zack had been career military, and she had known she couldn’t do that to her family. It hadn’t stopped the fantasies though. The ones where he told her she was his world and he loved her more than life and would happily leave the SAS for her.

She glanced sideways and watched as he drove through the quiet Sunday evening streets. Zack was so handsome; his jaw was like granite and his neck long and graceful. Everything about him screamed hot sweaty nights of the most intense sex a person could have. His forearms were strong and muscled with a dusting of hair over tan skin. For a blond, he was incredibly tanned. Ava wondered if he had any Latin ancestors in his bloodline. That would certainly explain a few things, not the least of which was his temper.

It was a shame he was a stubborn, selfish ass that didn’t return phone calls. Yes, she accepted that he had been through an awful lot, but they had parted on good terms. So why hadn’t he returned any of the thousand calls and all the messages she had left? When he had gotten back to the UK. She had tried so hard to tell him the news, would have given anything for him to know.

In the end, she had given up. It was his loss, she had tried, and then cried each time she got no response. Then she had been too busy to worry about Zack. At least that was what she told herself, except at night she remembered him and the way he felt when he kissed and touched her. Many a night it had been his face she saw as she brought herself to climax with her trusted battery-operated boyfriend.

Pushing the thoughts of the past from her mind, she thought of Riley. She couldn’t wait to see him, and as they pulled into the carpark of the hotel, she practically jumped from the moving car to race to her son. She could hear Zack swearing as he jumped out behind her and raced to catch up.

He grabbed her arm to stop her. “Will you slow the fuck down. You’re gonna get us both killed. Not once did you check your surroundings,” Zack growled, and she knew he was right. But she was so close to seeing her baby boy.

“I’m sorry,” she answered, and pulled her arm out of his grasp. They both walked to the lift and luckily for her nerves, the doors pinged open as soon as she pressed the button. They stood side by side, arms barely touching as they went up to the fourth floor. Her hands were clammy, and she could feel the pulse hammering in her neck.

Would he guess? How could he not? It was plain for any idiot to see, and Zack was no idiot.

The doors opened, and Zack held her back with his hand stretched across her stomach as he exited first. After deciding it was safe, he quickly hurried her to her door. She had her key card ready, but her fingers wouldn’t work, and she kept fumbling with the lock.

Zack looked at her quizzically and gently took the key from her and slid the card in on the first try.

She offered him a smile, and he grinned back. Immediately all the old feelings came rushing back, and he looked at her with such longing she wanted to cry. It was D-day, and she doubted he would look at her with anything other than scorn for a very long time.

Regret and pain hit her in the chest, but she shoved them down tight as she pushed down on the handle and went to see her son.

~~~

Zack followed behind Ava, his eyes on her ass in that sexy pencil skirt. He loved it, but he kinda missed the tight jeans she used to wear. He couldn’t help but think that this new way of dressing was armour. It was sexy armour, but armour none the less. They reached the living area of the suite that had been her home for the last few months, and he stopped dead.

Standing in the living room was General Frank Drake and in his arms, was what could only be his son. He stood frozen, his body unable to move as his brain whirred. Beside the General was a petite older lady who had to be Ava’s mother. She looked at Zack, and the smile that had started on her lips turned to stone, which matched the sudden pallor of her skin.

Ava seeing her mother’s look, twisted from taking her son, no fuck that, their son, from her father and looked at him. The guilt in her deceitful face was all the confirmation he needed. Not that he needed any. The boy was his spitting image. It was like looking at a photograph of himself at the same age.

He felt his rage build knowing that he had a son, and he had known nothing about him. He’d lost the first two years of his life. He watched as though he was a fly on the wall as Ava pulled her son close and cradled the boy, burying her nose in his neck and holding him tight.

He girded himself as he saw tears slip from her eyes. Her love for their son was obvious, and a pang of guilt hit him for keeping her away from him for so long. But he hadn’t known, had never even considered it.

Coming unstuck, he moved closer. Riley tipped his head from where it rested on his mother’s shoulder and looked at him with all the curiosity of youth. The boy regarded him openly, and then his plump little boy hand lifted, and he waved and smiled.

Zack felt his mouth tilt upwards, and his heart melted. How could a look, an acknowledgement from someone so small mean so much? How could he have such power, that it took all his energy to stay still and not grab the boy and tell him how much he loved him? How in that split second had he fallen in love and decided he would lay down his life for this tiny human?

This is what it must feel like, this instantaneous love for your flesh and blood. Ava looked up then, and he felt his heart harden. She had kept him from his son. How could she? And yet the repentant look in her eyes made him want to kiss away her fears.

He straightened his features, and a closed his expression. She didn’t deserve his forgiveness. What she had done was reprehensible.

“Zack,” she said in a husky voice, that despite his new-found hatred for her, made his balls tighten, “I’d like you to meet Riley.”

“Riley, this is Daddy. Do remember mommy showing you the pictures?”

Zack felt like he’d been hit in the solar-plexus. She’d told Riley about him.

Zack’s jaw nearly hit the floor when Riley turned and held out his arms. Ava stepped forward and gently passed Riley over to Zack. He held the boy in his arms, and he weighed nothing. Riley regarded him and then put a hand on each of Zack’s cheeks.

“Daddy!” he said, and leaning down he rested his little head on Zack’s chest and stuck his thumb in his mouth. Never in his whole life had Zack felt less worthy than he did right then. He had gone from a man with no commitments except those to his team to a man with the biggest commitment in the world, and he couldn’t be happier.

What was the song, ‘What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours.’ In the last 24 hours, his life had become unrecognisable.

“I think we need to talk,” he said to Ava who was in her father’s arms and trying valiantly to hold the tears in. She nodded.

“You two aren’t the only ones that need to talk,” growled Frank Drake, who looked as surprised by it all as he did.

Zack nodded, and out of respect for the older man agreed. “Yes Sir, I think we do. But first, I need to apprise you of the situation that’s currently happening. In light of this development,” he said, nodding his head to his now sleeping son, “we need to do it now.”

Ava’s mother stepped forward and went to take his son away from him. Zack instinctively moved back, a growl in his throat.

She hesitated, “I was just going to put him in his room so that you can talk.” Helen once again held out her arms for Riley.

Zack knew she was right and gently as if he’d had years of experience switched his son into his grandmother’s arms.

He watched as she left and Ava followed. “I’ll just be a minute,” she said as she turned back to look at him.

“Ava,” he said, and she stopped again. “Pack. You are all coming to stay with me.” His tone brooked no argument, and for once in her life, she did as he asked without argument and nodded.