She thought about all the other times that Richard had said he was leaving for two days and then didn't return for a week or more. Those times were even worse. The persistent feeling that he could show at any second unannounced ensure that she wouldn't rest.
She didn't dare pack it try to disappear because he could literally show up in a blink. A year. Twelve months. Every day had felt like a prison sentence,like being locked in solitary confinement. Protecting her father had been her initial marching order. And then Colin's father complicated the situation. Angelina had come along,giving Melissa a reason to live but also a reason to stay.
As long as Richard had thought the baby was his,she was given everything she could want. The best doctor in Tyler. The best care . And the best part was that he'd left her alone physically. But if he'd suspected for one minute that Angelina wasn't his......
Melissa couldn
Wind had picked up and the spring Thunderstorms was rolling in as promised. Some of the worst storms came late in the season after a cold winter. And this one had been freezing. Warm air clashed with frigid temperatures,causing all kind of destruction where they met. "She'll have protection around her 24/7", Melissa said as her hair whipped around her face,the intensity of the threatening storm growing."Is she in the family business?" Colin didn't budge.Not even when the first droplets of rain splattered around them. Before Melissa could respond,he launched towards her.Melissa reacted quickly,rolling just out of Colin's reach. Good. "Your reflexes are honed. I don't think I want to know why you automatically flinch when a man comes towards you,but I can work with your instincts", he said,lying chest dow
Colin wasn't normally at a loss of words. Standing there in the kitchen,her body vibrating from anger,he couldn't think of one positive thing to say to calm her down.His own body was chorded with tension,strung so tight he thought his muscles might snap,so he threw all rational to the wind, pulled her into his arms and kissed her.Her muscles tensed against him and he half figured she'd pull away and throw a punch like she had on the shore. Instead, she leaned into him and popped up onto her tiptoes to deepen the kiss. Colin groaned against her mouth and then pulled back. All he'd hoped to do was calm her down,not stir up bc a bunch of......feelings. That kiss was like a shotgun blast to the chest and stirred up an inappropriate reaction down south. He took a step back,put his hands behind him and gripped the edge of the counter to keep from doing any further damage. The thought that both of them were a na
COLIN LAY ON the couch, facing the ceiling. Thunder cracked in the sky overhead and he half expected Melissa to bolt through the door or the baby to wake. Neither budged. He flipped onto his side. The thin blanket covering him slipped off and landed on the floor. He picked up the tan piece of cotton and repositioned,trying to get comfortable. The material wasn't much bigger than the bath towel Melissa had been wearing earlier. Sleep was about as realistic as an ice cream in a Texas summer. He sat up.Something was bothering him and he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. Melissa wasn't telling him everything. It was clear that she was afraid of husband___correction,her soon-to-be ex. And there was something else niggling at the back of his mind.Obviously Rancic was a ruthless criminal. Figuring out how to find him wasn't as cut-and-dried, especially with Angelina in the picture. Taking care of a three-month-old was already a ful
"How come you possibly be smiling?" Melissa asked as she broke into a smile,too,as she helped finish up the bottle. He just shook his head and kept on grinning.Angelina immediately settled down as soon as she started sucking on the nipple and the warm milk passed her lips."Hearing her cry is the worst",Colin said, situating himself on a chair in the kitchen so he could hold his daughter more comfortably without fear of dropping her. "Believe me,I know", She said. "She sounds so pitiful".He nodded. "The first few weeks were awful. She'd cry and I didn't have the first idea how to handle it. I just wanted to comfort her but I felt like I was doing everything wrong. Then,I don't know, I guess I started getting more confident with being a mother", she said.Melissa had been an only child and didn't
By the time the sun came up, Colin needed a strong cup of black coffee more than he needed air. There was no way he was going to leave Melissa or the baby alone to get one, though.He woke with the last words spoken between him and Melissa fresh on his mind. Seeing her and the baby together,knowing Angelina was his, threatened to chip away at his armor and they felt like his family. Colin couldn't believe his own stupidity. He'd started tripping down the road that could only lead to diaster with Melissa. He mentally slapped himself for momentarily forgetting just how burned he'd been before. *Don't get too comfortable, O'Brien*Darkness loomed on the horizon and Colin needed to focus all his attention on keeping his daughter and Melissa safe. At least the storm had abated, if only for a little while. He'd checked the weather and it w
"I've been thinking about a few possibilities to bring the right to Richard's doorstep. I keep coming around to one. We have to pull him out of hiding and get him back in the area. We have to____" Melissa held her hand up. Richard could still play his card against the O'Brien family and they needed to be prepared."Before we go down this road any further,I need to tell you something,Colin". She left no room for doubt with the seriousness of those words. A lump was forming in her throat and she didn't want to be the one to tell him this news___news that could scatter him. Colin motioned toward the small kitchen table with a three sided bench seat,the back of which was attached to the wall. Talking to him while she wore an oversized T-shirt with the word Bahamas plastered across the front made her so much more aware of how vulnerable she felt being close to him."Give me a minute to
Melissa didn't want to look Colin in the face or let him see that she was about to cry. "Don't run away from me, Melissa", he said. "Not this time"."Low blow, Colin", she shot back ,trying to regain her equilibrium. "Is it? You keep running and I'm just trying to help you",he said. "You're not telling me everything. I still know you well enough to know that. And that's fine if you don't want to talk to me. I get that there are things between a husband and a wife that other people don't need to Know. I can see that you don't trust me. You didn't before and that's most likely why you walked out in the first place".Melissa sucked in a burst of air. "You don't think I believed in you" she fired the words like buckshot. "In us? After everything I've told you? You still don't get it?""Don't worry about it. I'
She didn't immediately answer. "What do you mean?" She finally asked."You hear my question",he said. "We're getting off track here", Melissa said.Colin paused before asking,, "Tell me more about the Colorado deal". "One of his buddies planned to sell the hotel to him and they kept talking about using offshore accounts and a dummy company". Richard had set up several networks to help other criminals disappear. Any one of the men he'd harbored would help him in a heartbeat if asked."It would be a very good way to launder money",Colin said. "Isn't that one of his forms of income?" She nodded. It was one of many illegal activities that Richard managed to keep a hand in."Maybe we should start there",Colin said. "I have to say that I don't like the idea of getting close to R