Yearning for Love (7 page)

As more of the participants of the bachelor party spilled from the bar, Walker put the truck in reverse and left.  He didn’t have a destination in mind, all he knew was he needed to get away from the humiliation of what the day had been for him.

Chapter Four

Nicole finished brushing her teeth and taking her medicine.  Turning off the light in the bathroom, she went over to the bed and pulled the bedspread back.  Taking off her robe, she threw it on the end of the bed and crawled between the cool sheets.  The bed was comfortable, and her head sunk into the soft plushness of the pillows easing her tension.  She was exhausted and couldn’t wait until the wedding was over tomorrow.  All the affection from Patty and her family was alien to her and made her uncomfortable.  Someone was bound to notice her hugs were manufactured and not genuine and heartfelt.  Either way, she was tired of faking and ready to return home.

She tried closing her eyes, but they wouldn’t stay closed.  There was a lot of work waiting for her at home.  The office was relocating to a new building and the technical headaches of dealing with that weighed on her.  Which she didn’t know why she was letting it bother her, she might not be going forward with the company.  AeroFusion announced layoffs would affect a number of people in order to accommodate the reduced space since advanced technology would be taking over the duties humans once handled.

She turned on her side folding her hands under her head. She wished she could turn back the clock and redesign her plans for life.  Fashion was a risky busy, but one she loved. She could design and sell clothes for wholesale stores or even other high-end boutiques, but that was no fun.  Having the rich and famous seek her label exclusively in a store she owned had been a dream since childhood.

Nicole blamed her father for destroying her dreams.  He pounded daily into her head that she was throwing his hard-earned money he was spending on a college education, away on a pipedream and quit paying her tuition. He flatly refused to support her fashion career.  No words of encouragement ever came from him only degrading remarks about her style.  He even went as far as to say Michelle Obama made a wise choice in going with another designer instead of the lame dress she’d created.

Her mother was not exactly against her wanting to switch to a career in fashion, but agreed with her father, she should continue with her degree in computer science.  The benefits from being employed with a sound company such as AeroFusion guaranteed her future.  Not only did she have health care, but a pension and other security a self-employed business could not offer.

Flopping on her back she stared at the ceiling.  There was no one she could express her feelings too.  She was an only child with limited access to aunts or cousins.  Her father was a bastard and kept her isolated from other family once he gained notoriety in the political world.  Now a United States senator, he didn’t want anyone to learn he’d stashed away his mother in a dilapidated nursing home instead of taking her into their grand mansion to live.

Nicole snuck behind his back to help her grandmother by arranging to move her to a better facility.  She’d almost completed the move until her father intervened, cutting off any contact Nicole had with the new nursing home.  In retaliation, she threatened to go to the media and tell everything if he didn’t complete the transfer of her grandmother to a place that would care for her.

Reluctantly, he did.

But, he also promised to make her suffer for causing him to pay thousands of dollars a month to take care of the woman who effortlessly took care of him when he was a child.

The tension mounted in the household as Nicole rebelled against her parents.  The fights with her father intensified. Her mother listened and did nothing.  She was the weakest woman she’d ever met.  Not once did her mother stand up to his bullying or take her side on any issues.  Octavia Carpenter was content kissing Theodore Carpenter’s butt from every angle. She let the outside world believe they were a loving, and stable family, knowing when the doors closed, it was hell—pure hell.

The final blow came when Nicole voted for the opponent running against her father for governor of Ohio.  He felt she was determined to ruin his career by sabotage.  Although he lost by big numbers, he accused her of treason and ordered her from the family home.  He’d discontinued her living expenses, took the car she was driving, and cut off her medical care.  She could fall into a diabetic coma and die for all he cared.  She was no longer his daughter or a part of his life.

Nicole left the house with nothing and nowhere to go.  She finally went to live with her former nanny.  She detested her father so much she legally changed her last name using the nanny’s surname to disassociate herself from Theodore Carpenter. She applied and got a grant and student loans to finish college, and when she earned enough money, she rented her first apartment.  She was completely on her own living incognito in Columbus, Ohio.

She didn’t consider herself bitter, but she wanted to see her father suffer.  Nothing would satisfy her more than to drive down the street and see him panhandling for his supper.  In her mind, the only way he would ever value life would be to lose everything he had and start over from scratch.

Very few people knew her true identity and that’s how she wanted it.  Her father kept her away from the limelight and she was rarely seen or mentioned in the media.  However, the tell-all book she was writing would be the bomb to bring both her parents to reality.  Octavia didn’t have to be dragged through the mud and portrayed as weak and spineless individual had she opened her eyes.

She begged her mother to come clean but she refused.  Her career as a bankruptcy judge and the wife of a prominent senator was far more important than exposing her husband as a shady politician who took bribes, shook down businessmen, or twisted the law to work in his favor.

A dry imaginary tear slid from her eye.  She had to imagine she produced tears since no real tears would fall.  “
What a wonderful life
,” she mumbled to herself.  Reaching over to turn off the lamp, she heard a light knocking on the door.  She sat up grabbing her robe.  She slipped it on praying it wasn’t Patty checking on her again.

Her bare feet padded across the dimly lit room to open the door.  Surprised by the visitor she could only ask. “Walker, what are you doing here so late?”

His head was down as he spoke. “I know it’s late.  I was driving and before I knew it, I ended up here.  I need to talk, Nicole.  I need to talk to you.”

She stepped aside allowing him to enter the room.  “Sure, come in and have a seat.”

Nicole closed the door not sure what was going on.  Pulling her robe together, she tied the silk strings tight to make sure her body stayed covered.  They had flirted heavily earlier, but she was standing by her decision not to do anything foolish with him no matter how her body reacted when she was near him.  He sat on the couch with his head looking down at the floor.

She sat in the chair he’d moved earlier, keeping a distance and using the coffee table as a low barrier between them.  She asked. “Well, are you going to talk or do you need to be alone?”

He rubbed his forehead with two fingers leaving a red streak in its path.  “Have you ever had one of those day when getting out of bed was a mistake?”

She grunted. “I’ve had my share of those days.”

He leaned back on the couch letting the back of his head thump against the wall. “I’ll admit I don’t have many, but boy, has this been one of those days.”

Nicole noticed his hands when he folded them.  The knuckles on his right hand were bright red and smeared with blood. She also noticed he didn’t have on a coat.  She bit down on her lower lip to avoid asking questions.  “You want to talk about what happened when you left?  You look like you’ve been in a fight.  Did a fight break out at the bar?”

He covered the redness spreading across his knuckles; the cuts from Jeremy’s teeth were stinging a bit. “Yeah, it did.”

“Did anyone get arrested?  Did Jeremy get arrested?  Have you told Patty?” She asked getting agitated.

“Nobody got arrested, Nicole.  I got in an argument with Jeremy and punched him.”

She took a deep breath releasing it slow and low. “That’s not good.”

“No it’s not.”  He got off the couch and went to the window to look out.  “I won’t be at the wedding or reception tomorrow.  I wanted to see you before you left town.”

Nicole decided not to comment on the fight since she didn’t have any facts concerning the history of the brothers.  Letting him talk by lending an ear was the best she could offer.  “I’m disappointed you won’t be there.  I don’t know anyone in the family but the three of you.”

“I don’t belong in their family.  It’s high time I realized that and go my own way.”

“Walker, I don’t understand.”

“Jeremy is my half-brother.”

Nicole steadied her balance in the chair as she reeled from the news. “Huh, I didn’t know that.  May I ask what parent you share?”

He turned around leaning against the window frame.  “Unfortunately, I’m the bastard child of Mitch Collingsworth.”

“Phew…I’m at a loss for words to be truthful.”

“You hadn’t notice Jeremy and I don’t share a lot of resemblances to each other.”

“I was aware you are taller, more muscular, and….”

“And, what? Go ahead say what is on your mind.”

“Okay, I was going to say handsome, but Jeremy is not unattractive.  He reminds me of a preppy frat boy, with the sweater vests, and leather loafers he wears.”

“That’s because he grew up with money and went to private schools. I grew up dirt poor and wore whatever clothes my mother could afford to buy.”

“You two seem so close.  Why were you fighting?”

“There isn’t enough time to explain my troubles.  Although, I’ve come to the conclusion I’m not a Collingsworth and I don’t want to be.  My brother and Patty have been lying to me for years and I’m left to figure out a way to pay off a debt caused by them.”

She walked over to stand in front of him.  His eyes were downcast and his long body positioned for defending the pain from cutting deeper.  He was hurting.  The strong man that’d saved her life earlier was in need of saving and she didn’t know where to start.  She lifted her hand hesitating to touch him.

Extending her arms she closed them around him not sure what to do next.  He smelled of smoke and stale beer and he was cold even though the hotel room was warm.  She didn’t flinch when his head rested on her shoulder like a child in need of comforting.  Smoothing down his hair with one hand, she held him, not saying anything.

The backs of her legs set off a trembling to rumble through her body when his arms went around her waist bringing her closer to him. 

He asked. “Why are you trembling?”

Nicole was uncomfortable with his closeness and he felt it.  Although she could smile on contact, her body language she could not control so easily. “People don’t usually come to me for comfort.  I’m a little out of my element.”

“Your arms are built for comfort and you smell good.  I know I stink like an old bar bum,” he said nuzzling his head on the nook of her shoulder and neck.

His breath tickled her ear setting off another round of fridge shivers to run down the backs of her legs.  Not only that, his closeness was causing a knot to tighten in the pit of her stomach.  “I didn’t want to say anything but you do.  Walker, why don’t you go home, take a bath and sleep off the alcohol.  Tomorrow will bring a better perspective for you to work with.”

He waited an excruciatingly long moment to move away from her.  “Home is not a place I want to be right now.  I have to deal with Mary Ellen’s stuff there and other crap I’m not ready to deal with.” He straightened his body fingering his hair.  “I’m going to leave and let you go to bed. My problems are not your problems to deal with.”

Wringing her fingers she waited until he was almost to the door. “You can stay—that is if you don’t mind sleeping on the couch.”

She saw his face brightened in the dimness of the room.  He closed the door and locked it. “I’ll take the couch or the floor, doesn’t, matter as long as another person is in the room with me.”

“Feel free to use the shower and I believe there may be extra sheets and blankets on the shelf in the closet.”

“Go to bed.  You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow,” he said stripping off his shirt. “I’ll find what I need.”

Nicole’s gaze fell to his masculine chest.  He was just as she’d imagined—firm, ripped, and sexy.  She stepped backwards getting her foot caught in the hem of her floor-length robe.  Tangled in her own clothing, Walker caught her as she stumbled across the floor falling into him head first.

She quickly removed her hands from his chest.  The feel of his hard body seared on her palms; she couldn’t rub the sensation away. She cleared her throat. “I’m okay.  I’ll see you in the morning….I’m going to bed now.”

“Yes, you will see me in the morning.”

His arms remained circled her waist, and his deep voice rumbled through her like an earthquake suffering magnitude 3 aftershocks. “Thank you again,” she said in a low voice tugging his hands from around her waist.  She moved to stand by the bed.

He smiled. “The pleasure is mine.  Nicole, since I won’t be at the wedding, will you go out with me later, after the wedding?  We can meet for a drink or a late dinner.”

Nicole slipped off the robe covering the sheer red negligee, laying it across the end of the bed.  She saw Walker’s Adam’s apple rise and fall as he ogled her in the sexy nightgown that she damn near broke her neck stumbling over.  “Won’t it be a little late to go out?”

“I see it as the perfect hour for a date. You can relax and deprogram after spending a long day with a bunch of high-society strangers.”

She nodded.  His motions were cat-like as he was standing in front of her and she hadn’t realized he’d moved. “I really like Patty but I am not looking forward to tomorrow.  I don’t do well in large crowds at all.”

“Our party will be an intimate gathering for two.  So, do we have a date?”