One Night with a Star (Second Chances Book 2) (6 page)

Yep. Simon was a realtor’s dream client. She could steer him toward the big price tags without any regret. He could save her career. He could wreck her life.

“How about I put together a portfolio of some possibilities,” she started. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed both Ivy and Laurel watching her, their eyes alight with interest. “I’ll put some things together and come over to Sand Dollar Point to show them to you,” she continued in a quieter voice. There was no way on earth she was going to have Simon come in to the office until and unless she absolutely had to.

“That sounds divine, love,” Simon answered. “Want me to slip into something a little more comfortable for—”

She hung up on him. It was going to be bad enough already. No need to encourage him.

He really shouldn’t bait Jenny. Simon leaned against the railing of Sand Dollar Point’s front porch as Jenny pulled her shiny white car into the empty drive and smiled. He really, really shouldn’t bait her. At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel that she needed someone to tease and poke at her, someone to help her remember that life wasn’t all seriousness and misery. It’d taken him long enough to learn that himself.

“You made it.” He greeted her with a smile as she climbed out of her car and started toward the porch.

He had no idea how she walked in high pink pumps like the ones she had on, but he wasn’t going to complain. She was a picture in a smart baby-pink skirt suit, her long pony tail swishing behind her.

“I’m here to help you find a house,” she said in no uncertain terms as the climbed the stairs to the porch beside him. “That’s it. I’m not here to flirt with you or to get cute with you, and if you try anything at all, I will smack you.”

“Promise?” He couldn’t resist.

“Simon,” she warned him.

He held up his hands in surrender. “I’ll behave.”

“Good.”

She pushed ahead, walking around the porch to the far side. All of Spence and Tasha’s white wicker porch furniture had been put back in place after the wedding. Jenny set her bag on the table and took out a folder.

“I’ve printed out a few listings that I thought might be what you’re looking for,” she said, business from head to toe. “You didn’t give me much to go on, so I used my own judgment to guess.”

“Perfect.” He slipped his hands into his pockets and leaned over the table to see what she had. Standing that close, he could smell the fresh, flowery scent of her. Was it perfume? Her shampoo? How he would love to find out.

“There are a couple further inland, closer to Twin Pines,” she went on.

“Good,” he said. “Not sure I want to live that close to work, but we’ll see.”

“All right,” she went on. “There are a few beach houses too.”

He nodded, scanning the papers she spread out. “Which one is closest to where you live?”

“No,” she answered.

All right, then. He shrugged. “I haven’t ever bought a house before,” he confessed. “How should I go about doing this?”

She looked at him, frowning. “You’ve never bought a house?”

“Nope.”

“But you’re, what, how old?”

“Thirty-eight.”

“And you’ve never owned a home?”

He took his hands out of his pockets and spread his arms in a gesture of surrender. “I’ve lived in flats my whole life. Hotels.” Houses had always been for the normal people, the people who actually knew how to live life. Up until last year, that hadn’t been him.

“Okay.” Jenny blew out a breath. “Why don’t we look at a few houses and as we do, you can give me an idea of what kind of environment you want to live in.”

“Or you could just choose a house for me,” he suggested. The temptation to play with her was too much. “Seeing as you’ll be spending so much time there.”

She turned a look on him that could wither an oak. “No.”

“You like that word, don’t you?” He grinned.

“Where you’re concerned, it’s the only word,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how much I need the business, if you cross the line, I’m out.”

A twist of concern settled his playful spirits. She had sounded down when he first called her. “Things tough at work?”

She opened her mouth, but instead of whatever answer she started out with, she said, “None of your business.”

So that was a yes, then.

He shifted to lean against the table. “You’ll be spending time at whatever house I buy because of Daniel,” he said, perfectly serious. “I told you I want to be part of his life, and I do. That means that when he spends time with me, which I hope he will, you’ll need to come and go from my house. I want you to have a say in the environment where your son will spend time.”

She stared at him. The anger that had been in her eyes softened to something hesitant. She looked at him as though seeing him differently. That was exactly what he wanted.

“Fine,” she said at length. “I’ll give you my input. I won’t choose for you, though.”

“Works for me,” he said. “So when do we get started?”

She turned back to the table. “Let me know which of these listings you like and I’ll set up appointments to view them. I’ll also give you a logon to our website so that you can go through listings yourself and save them to a queue. If you find one you like, you can make an offer, and we’ll take it from there.”

“Sounds good,” he said and nodded. He turned to her. “Now that that’s done, why don’t we go pick up Daniel and make a day of it?”

She blinked at him. “What?”

He shrugged. “Your work here is done. We’ll go see some houses. I like the look of this one.” He picked up a paper that showed a large house with a beach view, memorizing the address listed at the top of the page. He’d log on to Jenny’s website and get serious about picking houses to view later. Right now, he had other plans. “Your boss thinks you’re out working. You are. But let’s go pick Daniel up from wherever he is and—where does Daniel stay during the day anyhow?”

Jenny’s scowl had grown throughout his speech. “My mom watches him during the day. She’s retired. It saves me money.”

“Brilliant,” he said. “I only knew one of my grans, but she was the best thing in the world. I’m glad Daniel has family he can rely on. Let’s go see him.”

“Now?” Her face was dark with suspicion, but the pull of her son was definitely there.

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” he teased her. “Come on. Daniel is waiting.”

She shook her head. “Simon, I can’t just drop everything in the middle of the day to take you on a play date with Daniel.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not what grown-ups do,” she growled.

Getting under her skin was the most fun he’d had all week. If he got under her skin deep enough, maybe he could find his way back into her heart.

“I have yet to be entirely convinced that I am one of the grown-ups,” he said with a smile to prove it.

“I can believe that,” Jenny muttered. She planted her hands on her hips. “There’s more to it than just that. I’m already on my boss’s bad list. I don’t want to tempt fate further. And besides, my dad is home today for—”

She stopped. Her mouth twitched. If Simon wasn’t mistaken, a flash came to her eyes. It hit him with the pulsing tickle of something explosive about to happen. For that one instant, the Jenny who he’d fallen so hard for last summer was back.

“All right,” she said, voice unusually calm. “Let’s go home and get Daniel.”

“Really?” Simon smiled.

“Of course.” Her answering smile was entirely too cunning. “You want to be a part of your son’s life, after all, right?”

“I do.”

“Then let’s go.” She packed up all of the loose papers and shoved them back into her bag. They started around the porch to the front drive. “I’ll drive. I hope you don’t mind the mess.”

“I’m sure I’ve seen worse,” he said.

She could have had her car piled with dirt and rusted nails for all he was concerned. He was with her, they were going to pick up Daniel. Things were playing out exactly as he hoped they would.

Chapter Six

Her dad was home. As far as Jenny was concerned, that was all that mattered. If Simon thought he could mess with her, he had another thing coming. She wouldn’t even mind the collateral damage that would inevitably come with what she was about to do. It would be worth it. She didn’t bother to suppress her grin as they pulled into the drive. Yep, her dad’s SUV was parked right where it usually was.

“We’re here,” she told Simon with a deceptively pleasant smile.

“It’s nice,” Simon replied, getting out of the car and surveying the house.

The big house in Saco had been in her family for three generations now. It had a hint of the distinctive Victorian design of Sand Dollar Point, but with more of a utilitarian, sturdy feel. The house had been through more storms than Jenny wanted to think about. She felt bad that she had brought another one under the roof.

“I moved here a couple of weeks after Daniel was born,” she explained as they walked to the front door’s covered entryway. She didn’t know why she was telling Simon. The words just came out. “I wanted to keep my apartment and raise Daniel without any help, but a newborn is a lot more work than you’d think.”

“I can imagine,” Simon said.

Yeah right. There was no way.

“By two weeks, Mom was over at my apartment so much she told me I should just move home. Then things started going south at work and….” She left off the rest, pausing at the door. “My little sister, Kim, was more than happy to move out of the house and switch places with me. It worked out.”

“So you’re happy here?” Simon asked as she opened the door and stepped into the front hall.

“It’ll do for now,” she said. Really, she wanted to get out and land on her own two feet again as soon as she could. If Simon bought a really expensive house, that just might happen. “Mom, Dad,” she called out. “You home?”

Under any other circumstance, she would have been as quiet as possible coming into the house in case Daniel was asleep. At that moment, however, she had huge ulterior motives. If she woke Daniel up and he caused a fuss, it would be icing on the cake and exactly what Simon deserved.

“Jenny?” her dad called back from his office around the corner and down the hall. She heard his chair creak, and a moment later, he poked his head out into the hall. “It’s the middle of the day. Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” she answered, smiling. “I came by to see if Daniel was up, maybe to take him out.”

“Honey, what are you doing home?” Her mother wandered into the hall next, bouncing Daniel on her hip.

Jenny’s heart swelled the moment she saw her darling boy. He burst into a gummy, open-mouthed smile at the sight of her and reached out. Jenny swooped over to take him from her mom’s arms, hugging him.

“Hi, sweetie.” She kissed his head, squeezing him close. Daniel could improve her mood in no time. Almost enough to make her change her mind about what she had in store for Simon. Almost.

“Simon Mercer,” her dad said as soon as he noticed Simon lingering in the front hall behind Jenny. “What brings you to our humble abode?”

Her dad spoke with all the neighborly delight of a man who was thrilled to be able to count a mega-star as a friend. Her mom wore the same look. Simon, on the other hand, was on the verge of catching on to the plan Jenny had in store. As her dad grasped Simon’s hand in a hearty, New England handshake, a note of desperation filled Simon’s eyes.

“Dad, Mom, you met Simon at the wedding, right?” she started.

“We did,” her mom said. “We had a nice conversation, but it was too short.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll get to have a lot more conversations in the future,” Jenny went on, her smile bigger than ever. “Simon is Daniel’s father. He knocked me up after a one-night stand last summer when he was visiting Spence at Sand Dollar Point. He wants to be part of Daniel’s life now.”

Everyone froze. She could hear the grandfather clock ticking in the hall. Then, boom!

“What?” her dad barked. His cheery greeting turned into a tower of rage that would have men far better than Simon quivering in their boots.

Simon raised his hands in defense so fast that he looked as though someone was holding him up. “It was not a one-night stand,” he said, all color draining from his face. “Jenny and I got along really well.”

“I guess so.” Her father closed in on Simon, backing him toward the door.

“Now Robbie, calm down,” Jenny’s mom said.

“You seduced my daughter? Like she was one of your Hollywood groupies?” her dad pressed on.

Daniel began to fuss at his granddaddy’s shouting, so Jenny backed up into the doorway to the kitchen, rubbing his back and soothing him with kisses. She may have been the only one in the house who was actually enjoying the scene.

“Sir, I have complete respect for your daughter,” Simon stammered in an attempt to defend himself. “What happened was a mistake.”

“Do you have these mistakes with lots of girls?” her dad boomed on.

“No, no, sir. Jenny is special.”

“You’re damned right she’s special.”

“I care for her a lot and I want to do the right thing.”

“That’s all well and good now,” her father said. “What about then? I assume you didn’t use protection. You could have made her sick, you stupid limey jerk.”

“That wasn’t the intention at all, sir. We were just carried away by—”

“How many other babies do you have out there that we don’t know about? Have you been tested for HIV and all that? If you’ve done anything to put my baby girl’s life in jeopardy—”

“I don’t sleep around,” Simon came back to him. “I’ve always been very careful. I swear, I don’t have anything that I could have given her.”

“Are you sure about that? Do we need to go down to the clinic right now and get you tested?”

“Dad,” Jenny stepped in. Things had taken a turn that she hadn’t expected. “I’m fine. I was tested last summer and all throughout my pregnancy.”

Her dad twisted back toward her. “Did he take advantage of you, pumpkin?”

“Robbie, really,” her mother hissed, narrowing her eyes.

“No, Dad,” Jenny admitted with a sigh. The joke had gone on long enough. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay,” her dad blustered on, turning back to Simon. “If I ever hear that you’ve hurt my daughter or anyone else’s daughter again, celebrity or no celebrity, I’ll rip your throat out and feed it to the dogs. Do I make myself clear?”

“I swear to you, sir, I have nothing but respect and admiration for your daughter,” Simon did his best to stand up against the onslaught. “She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen and I was infatuated with her from the first.”

“Is that so?” Her dad pulled himself up to his full height as though that was an insult.

“Yes, sir. I’ve never met anyone like her. Of course I fell for her and…and things happened.”

“But you didn’t think to use protection?”

“
Dad
.” Jenny’s face burned bright red and Daniel squirmed in her arms. Time to bring the drama to an end…if she could.

“Long story,” Simon bluffed. Actually, it was a short story. They’d been too hot for each other to worry about condoms. Stupid, but true. “I want to make things right now, sir. Daniel is my son and I intend to take full responsibility for him.”

“Damn right you’ll take full responsibility,” her father railed.

“Jenny is helping me buy a house in the area, so I’ll be here to spend time with him. Any money that Daniel needs for education, his future, whatever, I’ll provide. I’ll do anything that you want.”

If he hadn’t sounded so much like he was negotiating for his life, Jenny would have been warmed by Simon’s promise of help. It was the kind of promise she needed right then. She needed to know that everything would be all right.

“So help me God,” her father went on, “if you make all these promises and bail later, I will call you out. Every tabloid and talk show will hear about this.”

Simon shifted from the defensive to angry in his own right. “You’d do that to your grandson?” he asked. “You’d put Jenny through that? Because believe me, I’ve been there. I’ve had my name and my reputation dragged through the mud because of a few stupid mistakes. You wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I would never, ever wish that on Jenny or my son. That’s why I separated myself from Jenny in the first place last summer. The second I knew I had feelings for her, I backed off to spare her that freak show.”

The bottom dropped out of Jenny’s stomach.
That’s
why he’d walked out? To…to protect her or something? Protect her from what? People finding out that Simon Mercer was dating a regular girl? It hadn’t hurt Spence’s reputation at all.

Unless there
was
something that was going on that he hadn’t told her about. She’d heard a couple of vague rumors right after everything had happened, but then she’d found out Daniel was on the way, and checking the rag-mags for gossip about Simon hadn’t seemed important.

“Do you want some coffee?” her mom asked into the awkward silence that had fallen over the group.

“No, Mom, thanks,” she answered. Neither Simon nor her dad looked like they should open their mouths to say anything at that point. “Simon and I were going to take Daniel out so the two of them could get to know each other a little. You okay with that?”

Her mom shrugged. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were splashed with pink. “I guess it doesn’t matter what I think. He’s your son.”

“We’re just going to the mall,” she went on, crossing between her dad and Simon. “Does Daniel’s diaper bag have all the usual stuff in it?”

“I think so,” her mother said, blinking back to sense. “He just got up from his nap about fifteen minutes ago, so he should be good for a while.”

“Thanks, Mom.” She sent her mom a wary smile, then dared to look at her dad. “It’s okay,” was the only thing she could think to say to him. Thank God he didn’t  have blood-pressure problems or they may have ended up making a trip to the ER instead of the mall. “We’ll talk about this later.”

He dragged his glare away from Simon to look at her. “You bet we’ll talk about this later,” he said the same way he had let her know she was about to be grounded when she was in high school. “And as for you,” he turned back to Simon.

“Leave him alone for now, Dad,” Jenny said. “He’ll get what he deserves.”

“Oh yeah, he will.” It was a threat, plain and simple. Jenny didn’t know whether to be proud of her dad for sticking up for her or just as embarrassed as she’d been all those times in high school when he’d intimidated her dates.

“Again, I’m sincerely sorry that this has happened the way it has,” Simon said. “I swear I will make it up to you, sir.”

“How?” Her dad crossed his arms.

Jenny sighed, tempted to roll her eyes. This definitely hadn’t gone the way she’d envisioned it. “We’ll deal with it later.” She turned to Simon. “Come on.”

They managed to make it out the door without any more fireworks. It was a good start. Now all she had to do was make it through the rest of the afternoon.

Somehow, by some miracle of divine intervention, Simon had managed to not piss himself during the confrontation with Jenny’s father. It had taken him most of the entire drive up to the Maine Mall for his heartrate so slow down from stroke level to normal.

“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” he asked as she drove.

“Yeah, I did,” she replied with a wicked grin. She checked on Daniel through the rear-view mirror.

“You planned it too,” he went on.

“Yep.”

He couldn’t help but burst into a peal of laughter. Jenny glanced to him in surprise, then focused on the road ahead. He had to laugh. Not only did he know that he deserved that on some level, it was just the kind of bold move that he loved about her.

“Your dad is something else,” he went on, having a hard time settling his laughter now that it was out. It was a pressure-release if nothing else. “I’m going to have to call him ‘Sir’ for the rest of my life now.”

Jenny’s self-satisfied grin flopped to a frown. “Who says you’re going to be doing anything with him for the rest of your life?”

“Oh, come on, Jenny,” he continued to smile as his laughter dried up. “What are we doing all this for? So that I can be a part of Daniel’s life. Right, little guy?” He twisted to peek at Daniel through the gap in the front seats of Jenny’s sedan. Daniel burbled at him. “I can’t very well avoid your father and still see Daniel as much as I plan to.”

“How much to you plan to see him?” Jenny asked in alarm.

The last thing Simon wanted was for her to get riled up. She may have gotten the better of him with her little joke, but she’d been relaxed, close to her old self, while doing it. He gave a casual shrug and said, “As much as I can. I like the little guy.”

“You don’t know him,” Jenny mumbled.

“That’s all about to change,” Simon replied, determined to keep a light attitude. He was determined to get to know Jenny again too. A few days last summer had only whet his appetite for everything about her. Going off to get his life in order hadn’t stopped him from thinking about her in the least.