Dangerous Embrace (Embrace #1) (17 page)

He was also adamant about her having some protection, and she understood why. She wasn’t ready to be on her own either, not after the break-in, the note, the phone call...the idea of facing her attacker again scared her senseless.

Sarah pressed the play button on her answering machine when she entered the house, while Mark carried in their overnight bags. After the long beep, Gabby’s booming voice echoed out of the machine.

“Sar-rah, it’s Gabby—where the hell have you been? I hope you’re not sitting around getting fat on me, girl. Don’t make me come over there and drag your hot, little ass out of bed.”

Sarah grew warm with affection. Gabby, her personal trainer, was also a pretty good friend.

Gabby left two messages, and while listening to the second, she realized she’d completely flaked on their planned run around Spring Lake on Sunday.

She grabbed the handset and called him back.

“Hey, Gabs, phone tag, you’re it. And no, I’m not getting fat.” She laughed. “Sorry I flaked on our run Sunday. I hurt myself. Gotta take a break—doctor’s orders. Call me back.”

She clicked the phone off and looked up at Mark when he stepped back inside the house.

“You won’t tell family about your attack—”

“I didn’t tell Gabby either, and even if I did, he wouldn’t freak out like my mother.”

Mark smirked. “Gabby is a guy?”

“Yes,
Gabriel
is my personal trainer and a friend.”

“Personal trainer?
Okay
.” He handed her a stack of envelopes. “Here’s your mail. No strange notes this time, but letters for Robert Jennings from Stanford.”

“Ah, snooping through my mail, huh?”

“No, I just...” He stopped when he realized she was kidding. “Robert...brother, right?”

“Yeah, he’s at Stanford. I need to go drop these off within the next couple of days.”

“Drop them off?”

“I have to drop them off at my accountant’s office.”

His eyebrows lifted. “
Your
accountant—
you
pay your little brother’s tuition at Stanford?”

“Yes, I do,” she said, flipping through the mail, hoping like hell he didn’t ask any questions. Some information she planned to keep quiet about, and her money was on a
need-to-know
basis only.

“I have to pick up Jamie from school at two-thirty. Do you want to come with me? He’ll need to finish his homework before we go out.”

“I think I’d like to stay here.” She saw the argument dangling on the tip of his tongue and held her hand up. “Pick me up for dinner later. You can’t be with me every waking moment.” She smiled. “Go spend some time with your son.”

"Fine, but I need you to take some precautions first.”

She rolled her eyes. “Right, lock the doors, set the alarm to stay mode, and keep my phone on me at all times. I got it.” She laughed. “Go on.”

Chuckling, Mark headed for the door. “All right, I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

He stepped outside with a wave, closing the door behind him. She punched the stay button and clicked the locks. When he finally backed out of the driveway, she inhaled deeply, glad to have a moment to herself.

~

She spent the afternoon on her computer, catching up with her family. She wrote messages full of lies about how well she was doing and how much she liked her group of first graders this year. She e-mailed Devon too, hoping to hear from him soon. When she had messages sent off to her mom and dad, she instant messaged with Ava until Ava refused to stop hinting about Mark, or the
superhero,
as she liked to call him.

Sarah liked Mark, but she knew she couldn’t allow anything more than a friendship between them.

She pulled the borrowed cell phone out of her pocket and thumbed the buttons. He was thoughtful and caring—that was clear in the way he treated her. He also liked to make all the decisions.

His single dimple flashed in her head, making her smile. She hated to admit it, but she missed him. The stillness of the house bothered her when it’d never bothered her before. With a grimace, she hit the speed dial button to call him.

“Sarah, what’s wrong? You okay?” he asked when he answered the phone.

“Ah—yeah, fine. What are you doing?” She curled into the sofa with the phone tucked under her ear.

“Everything’s okay?”

“Yes, fine, stop freaking out.”

“If nothing is wrong, why are you calling?”

“Oh, ah...when are you coming back with Jamie?”

The line went silent for a moment, and at first Sarah thought she lost the connection.

“So—you miss me, huh?”

She heard the smile in his voice. “Shut up—I’m going to hang up on you.”

“No, don’t hang up.” He snickered. “We’re done with homework. Do you want us to come over now?”

“Yeah, whenever you’re ready.”
Geez—mental head smack!
How stupid of her to try for breezy now.

He laughed. “Okay, we’re on our way.”

~

Sarah stood and clasped her hands behind her back to keep from fidgeting when Mark came in with Jamie. She felt a little silly for being nervous, but for some reason, meeting Mark’s son was different than being with her students.

After spending so much time with Mark, she felt like she already knew Jamie, but Jamie didn’t know her at all. What if he didn’t like her? What if he hated teachers, or didn’t want to share his dad with a woman? Would Mark reject her if Jamie didn’t like her? Jamie had already been through so much with his parents, would her being in his life add to the stress already brought on by their divorce? Did it matter? It’s not like she was dating Mark, even if it might appear that way to the outside world.

Was she overthinking this? Probably. She did a mental eye roll and smiled at Jamie, determined to focus on having a good time.

“Hello,” Mark said with a smug smile, reminding Sarah of their conversation on the phone.

She returned his grin even when she didn’t want to. She couldn’t help herself. He was right, she had missed him while he was gone.

“Hi.”

“Sarah, this is Jamie.” He waved a hand at Sarah. “This is Ms. Jennings.”

“No, call me Sarah. It’s nice to meet you.” Jamie’s eyes darted to her face before dropping to her feet.

“Oh fine—clam up now, you wouldn’t stop talking on the way over here.”

Jamie’s cheeks turned bright pink.

“Can you say hi to Sarah? You don’t want to hurt her feelings, do you?”

She looked from Jamie to Mark. “That’s okay. I don’t want him to be uncomfortable.”

“Where would you like to go for dinner?” Mark asked.

“Your choice, I’m not picky.” She tried not to stare at Jamie—his smile was identical to his dad’s, only smaller.

“Hey, buddy, why don’t you go sit down and watch TV until it’s time to go.” Mark walked over and turned the TV on and handed Jamie the remote control.

Before he turned, Sarah got a good look at those beautiful, dark blue eyes. He had light brown hair that was cut short and parted on the side, neatly combed in place. She could see a sprinkling of freckles across his nose and cheeks. Big for an eight-year-old...eight years old. She closed her eyes when butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

Would my child have been like Jamie?

Would she be healthy, strong, and beautiful?

Would she take after me?

Sarah opened her eyes and looked into Mark’s. “I...I’ll be right back.”

When the bathroom door closed behind her, she sat down on the edge of the bathtub, taking deep breaths.
What is your problem? Geez—get over it.

She stood up when Mark tapped on the door.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah—fine.”

“Are you sure. Can I come in?”

“I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute. You guys can figure out where we’re going for dinner.”

“Okay...,” he said, and finally walked away several seconds later.

She splashed water on her face and stood for minute, staring in the mirror.

She didn't look like herself. The zombie complexion and hollow eyes made her want to cry. When did she stop caring about her appearance? Why did she let everything slide from her grasp? Her expression turned stony, and she wanted to slap the weak woman in the mirror staring back at her.

With a decided nod, she began applying her makeup and working on her hair. The process relaxed her, as if applying the war paint had given her a shield to hide behind.

Mark had never seen her with makeup. The realization surprised her. She’d easily opened up to him, which was completely out of character for her. She pictured him in the diner parking lot, after leaving the beach. She'd wanted his strength wrapped around her like she'd never wanted anything in her life before. That scared her more than she wanted to admit.

She glanced at her reflection again. The last time she’d made any effort to look halfway decent had been the morning before her attack.

No—no, no thinking about that tonight. Okay, only happy thoughts for the rest of the evening
.

Less than twenty minutes later, she took one last look and plastered a smile on her face.

When she opened the door, Mark was perched on her bed waiting for her. From his position, he could watch Jamie and still see the bathroom door.

She smiled at him. “Sorry to make you wait.”

He stood and walked toward her. “You okay?”

“Yes, of course.”

“You’re beautiful.” His tense expression didn’t soften when he said it and that made her nervous.

“Thanks, you too,” she stammered, “no—I mean." She shook her head to clear it. "Not beautiful, you look good. Fatherhood works for you...he’s sweet, like his dad.”

They stood facing each other for a long moment before Mark said, “When you left the room you looked upset.”

“I’m fine...I need to change my clothes. Jamie must have seen the bruises on my arms.” She looked down at her wrists to avoid his eyes.

“I’m sure he didn’t notice...but you should be wearing your sling.” He took her hand and rubbed at the yellowing bruises on her wrist. He held her hand up to examine it. “They’re finally fading.”

“Yeah, and the scratches on my face are almost gone.” She reached up and lifted the hair off her forehead to show him.

His expression changed, and he ran his finger across her eyebrow. “How did you get this scar? That’s not recent, is it?”

“I got punched in the face.” When the words left her mouth, she knew she shouldn’t have said them.

His eyebrows snapped together. “Someone punched you?”

“Yeah, can you believe it?” She forced a chuckle, hoping he’d laugh it off too. “He split my face wide open, bled like crazy.”

She turned toward her closet, holding the smile on her face...but damn, she’d said too much.

His voice went hard. “Are you telling me a guy hit you in the face?”

Without turning, she could picture his expression. She closed her eyes.
Stupid, stupid woman.
When she turned, his face was set and dangerous, exactly like she'd expected.

“It’s not a big deal.”

They both knew it was a lie.

“Son of a bitch. I thought you were going to tell me you fell and hit your head when you were a kid. Who the hell hit you, Sarah?” His teeth clenched when he said her name.

She waved him off. “It was a long time ago—it doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter—goddammit!” He marched over and took her face in his hands to get a better look.

Sarah felt the tension radiating through him as his quickened breath brushed her face. Mark rubbed his thumb over the scar until she reached up and touched his hand.

“It’s okay, really.” His concern touched her. She loved that he cared for her enough to be angry, but she felt bad for upsetting him.

“It. Is. Not. Okay.” He took a shuddering breath and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry someone hurt you.”

“Stop, I’m okay.” At first she stiffened at the embrace, but then melted into his warm chest. A lie would have been smarter. His question caught her off guard.

“I’m sorry, I’m stupid for telling you that,” she mumbled into his chest.

“No, don’t say that.” He pulled away and stared into her eyes. “You’re not stupid, don’t do that. It is not okay when someone hurts you,
and
you can talk to me about anything—you can trust me.”

“I’ll talk to you, but not tonight. I want to have a nice evening with you and Jamie. Now get out, I need to change my clothes.” She brushed him away, now thoroughly uncomfortable at the closeness.

Before closing the door, their eyes met for a brief moment, and Sarah felt the naked stare clear to her bones. She dropped down on the bed and rested her head in her hands, her stomach quivering with nervous energy. The things he did to her when he touched her. It’d been so long since anyone had stirred her like that.