NO SECRETS NO LIES (SIN CITY HEAT SERIES Book 3) (21 page)

    
Jerra suddenly became aware of Rob's arm thrown around her shoulder and his
hand caressing her bare skin. Although the gesture was innocent and one of
comfort, the picture they presented would look anything
but
innocent to
anyone seeing them right now.

    
Uncomfortable with his closeness and the emotion she'd just shown, Jerra sat up
and inconspicuously moved away. Rob dropped his arm but kept his hand on top of
hers. Jerra was getting ready to slip her hand onto her lap when the hair on
the back of her neck stood up.  Frowning she raised her eyes, and that's
when they collided with the angry, accusing glare of her husband.

    
Jerra had never fainted before in her life, but at that moment, she showed all
the signs of doing so now. She felt lightheaded, her heart began to palpitate,
and she was finding it difficult to catch her breath. Jerra fought the
impending darkness with everything in her. From the tense set of his square jaw
and tightness of his lips, Jerra knew Darrell was containing his anger by the
thinnest of strings. Her eyes switched to DJ, then Giselle, who glanced over her
shoulder to look at Darrell warily.

    
No! All she needed was a couple of more hours. She’d planned on telling him
tonight.
Tonight!
This wasn’t how she wanted him to find out!

    
Oblivious to the impending danger he was in, Rob's hand tightened around
Jerra's. "Are you okay? You look like you're going to be sick."

    
Jerra swallowed several times, unable to answer as Darrell stood in front of
the table. When his freezing eyes shifted to their still clasped hands, Jerra
sprang into action. She jerked away from Rob’s touch and bounced up out of the
chair.

    
"Darrell!"

    
Rob finally became aware of the fact that they were not alone. He looked at
Darrell then Giselle before he also stood up. "Honey? You okay?"

    
Giselle nodded but hurried over to her father's side. Rob's puzzlement
deepened. His daughter was clearly shaken and the only thing he could attribute
that to was the man cutting his eyes at him with the sharpness of a
switchblade. In a moment of clarity, Rob realized who he was – Jerra's husband.

    
"Darrell...honey...I...what are you doing here?" She cringed and
wished in vain that she could take the question back the second it slipped past
her lips.

    
Darrell's eyes narrowed to thin, cold slits.

    
An awkward silence fell around them. Seeing that Darrell had no intention of
answering Jerra's question, Rob stepped forward to introduce himself.
"Hello. I'm Robert Valentine. "

    
He offered his hand to Darrell, but when Darrell merely looked at it like he
had shit smeared on his palm and insultingly glanced away with a sneer, Robert
self-consciously dropped his hand back down to his side.

    
Jerra sent Rob a look of apology before she inched closer to Darrell. "I
can explain," she whispered.

    
"Damn right you will.” His lips barely moved when he spoke.

    
"Darrell –"

     
“Mama…” Keeping an arm around his father's neck, DJ leaned towards Jerra and
grinned. "Look Mama...Daddee." He jabbed a tiny finger in Darrell's
chest.

    
Jerra gave DJ a tense smile and rubbed her forehead while taking several deep
breaths. Switching to lawyer mode, she quickly decided that she and Darrell
would have to discuss things later. Right now there was no other choice but to
confront the issue at hand head on. "Darrell, this is Robert Valentine.
And this..." Her face softened as her eyes went to Giselle. "This is
his daughter, Giselle.
My
daughter."

Chapter
28

    
When she added the last two words, the expression she gave Darrell pleaded with
him not to cause a scene, and that she would explain everything to him later.
As pissed off as he was, the two of them still had that connection. He was
going to go out on a limb and give her the benefit of the doubt - for now.
 

    
Darrell took a chest expanding breath and the muscle in his jaw jumped several
times before he nodded to Rob. "Wassup."

    
His tone was frigid to the point of being rude, but when he looked at Giselle
his eyes turned liquid gray. A soft smile touched the corner of his mouth.
"Hello, Giselle. It's nice to meet you - formally," he added as the
smile widened. "You're a very beautiful young woman. Just like your
mother."

    
Jerra released a pent up sigh through her nose when she saw Darrell making an
effort to put Giselle at ease. Giselle practically blushed as she stared at
Darrell. Now that he wasn’t glaring at her as if she'd committed a crime, she
relaxed and returned his smile with one of her own. Like most females, she was
powerless to resist Darrell Monroe when he turned on the charm.

    
Jerra lightly touched his arm. "Will you sit down and join us?" She
tensed when the warmth he'd just shown Giselle faded from his eyes as his
attention became fixated on her again, but Jerra sent up a silent prayer of gratitude
when he pulled out a chair. She saw him look over his shoulder and nod at
someone. That's when Jerra noticed Carl, intently watching them as if making
sure he didn’t have to intervene. When Darrell gave the signal that everything
was cool, Carl visibly relaxed and nodded back. Jerra settled DJ in the high
chair then took the seat next to Darrell.

    
Again, silence fell around the table. Finally Darrell spoke and directed his
comment towards Jerra. "So. This is your daughter."

    
Jerra pressed her lips together and nodded. "Yes. I, um...I just found
her. Rob and his wife adopted Giselle when she was a baby, but Rob's raised her
by himself."

    
Darrell's gaze never faltered from Jerra's face. He leaned back and casually
crossed his ankle over the opposite knee. If one didn’t know him, the pose
could be conceived as relaxed and calm, but Jerra wasn’t fooled for a second.

    
She lowered her voice and moved closer to him. "What you saw when you
walked up...it's not what it looked like." Darrell cocked an eyebrow and
waited. "I was upset and he was trying to comfort me. That's all.
Can...can we please talk about it when we get home?"

    
Darrell studied Jerra for a tense few minutes before he slowly bobbed his head
up and down. He saw in her eyes that she was telling the truth. But they were
going to talk about it the second they were alone.

    
Turning his head, he pinned Rob with a guarded look. "Jerra said you and
your wife adopted Giselle but you raised her?"

    
"Yes. My wife and I divorced when Giselle was very young. I guess you
could say I was both mother and father to my daughter."

      
The look on Darrell's face was one of reluctant admiration for the man to have
taken on such a huge responsibility by himself. "Where do you live?"

    
"Lake Tahoe."

    
Jerra saw the surprise that sprung into Darrell's eyes when he realized they
lived in such close proximity. "That's a beautiful part of the
country."

    
"Yes it is," Rob responded. "Have you ever been to the
area?"

    
"Yeah, it's been a long time, though. Years. Not since me and my buddy
moved to Vegas. We visited a few times. Enjoyed some great snowboarding."

    
Giselle's eyes lit up. "You know how to snowboard?"

    
"Yup. Sure do. Why? Do you enjoy it too?"

    
"I tried it a few times, but I just couldn’t get the hang of it,"
Giselle answered, scrunching her nose up.

    
"Maybe Jerra and I can plan a trip there this winter. She's never been
before and we've actually talked about going to one of the resorts there. Maybe
I can give you some pointers." When Darrell saw Rob whip his head around
to stare at Jerra, he added, "If it's okay with your father."

    
"I would love that! Daddy? Is that okay, Daddy?"

    
"Of course, honey. I think that's a great idea."

    
Jerra quietly listened as Darrell and Giselle discussed the sport. She was so
grateful that they seemed to be getting along. Everything would be perfect
right now if it wasn’t for the confrontation she knew she and Darrell would be
having later on.

    
"How long are you two going to be in Vegas?" Darrell asked Rob.

    
"Just through the weekend. We're flying out Sunday afternoon."

    
"After we get some shopping in," Giselle chimed in with a wide grin.
Rob quickly tried to hide the grimace that crossed his face, but he wasn't
successful. "Dad! You promised!"

    
"Yeah. I did, didn’t I?" Rob looked as if he’d rather have a root
canal than go shopping with his teenage daughter. He knew that once Giselle
started, she could live in the mall for hours and hours. Then his face
brightened as he turned to Jerra. "But, uh, maybe Jerra would like to take
you."

    
Jerra's eyes met Giselle's. "I would love it if that's okay with you,
Giselle."

    
"Are sure you wouldn’t mind?"

    
"Not in the least," Jerra smiled. "What about tomorrow? We could
make a day of it. Shopping, a visit to the spa where we can get facials, mani's
and pedi's."

    
"Yes!" Giselle shouted. "Thank you, Jerra. That's gonna be so
much fun!" After cheerleading, shopping was her favorite pastime.  

    
"Then I guess we have a date."

    
After Jerra made plans to pick Giselle up in the morning at the hotel they were
staying at, Rob and Giselle said their goodbyes. Darrell didn’t miss the fact
that Rob subtly tried to catch Jerra's eye, but when he saw Darrell staring at
him, he quickly looked away. The minute they left, the atmosphere at the table
turned decidedly chilly. It was blatantly apparent to Jerra that while Darrell
had put his temper on a low simmer in front Rob and Giselle, the fire had been
turned up and Jerra was now in the hot seat. He didn’t say a word, but then
again, didn’t have to. The accusation in his eyes said it all.

    
Jerra held a hand up. "I can explain."

    
"Yeah. Funny how you keep sayin' that." Darrell glanced at their son
who was about to nod himself out of the high chair. He reached over and
extracted him out of it and stood up. DJ's head immediately found a comfortable
spot on Darrell's shoulder and was out for the count. "Let's go."

    
Jerra sighed and chewed at the corner of her lip. She picked up her purse and
preceded him out the restaurant. It was all she could do to stop from reaching
back and rubbing the back of her neck. She could all but feel the sharp stab of
Darrell's glare.

    
They stood in silence as they waited for the valet to bring her car around.
Although it was the same valet who'd gone gaga over Jerra when she first drove
up, one look at Darrell's stoned faced expression was enough for him to keep
his eyes averted when he opened the passenger door for her to get in.

  
  After Darrell placed DJ in his car seat and snapped him in, Jerra
glanced out of the corner of her eye at him as he got behind the wheel of the
car. When he pulled off without a word, she sighed and looked out of the window.
Of course she realized what a horrible mistake she'd made in keeping this from
him, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Hopefully, he would
listen to her explanation and allow them to move past this, but the angry set
of his jaw said it all.

     
The fuse to the powder keg had been lit and it was only a matter of time before
it exploded.

    
Jerra unlocked the door once they got home and held it open for Darrell as he
carried a still sleeping DJ inside. He ignored the beseeching look she gave him
and stared straight ahead as he brushed past her and climbed the stairs to take
their son up to his room. Jerra's eyes followed him then slowly closed and
locked the door before making her way to the family room. Once there, she
plopped down on the love seat and dropped her head despairingly in her hands.

    
While she waited for Darrell, she went back over the last couple of hours.
Giselle was everything she hoped for and more. Things could’ve turned out a lot
differently today, but her daughter had such a sweet spirit and didn’t seem to
have a mean bone in her body. Jerra had been prepared for indifference,
resentment, and even hatred. She wouldn’t have blamed her for feeling any of
those emotions, but thank God she seemed as eager to get to know Jerra as Jerra
was to get to know her. She couldn’t wait to go shopping with her tomorrow and
have some one on one time.

    
Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted when Darrell strolled into the room. He
went straight to the mini bar set up on the back wall and poured a glass of the
expensive, French cognac he'd developed a taste for. Jerra's eyes stayed on his
face as he picked the glass up and came and sat down in the chair opposite her,
trying to gage his mood.  She was a little unnerved by the way he slowly
sipped the cognac while watching her with an enigmatic expression.