Page 29 of Securing His Family

Because no one ever did anything for her. Not quite true, Sally and Terence helped her when she’d needed it. Her parents, well they hadn’t even met Charlee, so no way could she call on them if she needed anything. And Patrick had never gone out of his way to do something nice for her, even if their relationship wasn’t one in the true sense of the word. Whenever he turned up for a hook-up, he never said or did anything to make her think she was special. She’d been so entrenched in her angry, rebellious teenage stage she hadn’t noticed it.

Reed touched her fingers, and she pulled herself out of her head. She needed to live in the moment and this moment was with Reed. “I want to spend time with you, Ren. Just you.”

Her immediate thought was to say he didn’t mean that and surely he had better things to do, but she was going to try and stop thinking that way. Stop thinking that she didn’t deserve the attention of someone as handsome and strong as Reed. “I’d like that,” she said shyly, and the megawatt smile he directed at her made it all worth it.

“Excellent. Now I don’t mean to rush but we need to leave in about twenty minutes.”

“I’ll be ready, don’t worry.”

“I won’t,” he said with a wink.

Lauren rushed down to the bathroom she shared with Charlee, which was twice the size of the one they’d had in her little house. Everything about this place was so much nicer and if she wasn’t careful she’d start thinking of a future where she didn’t leave Reed’s home—ever.

* * *

“Where are we going?” Lauren asked for the third time in twenty minutes. She knew they were heading south. Was he taking her to Mandurah?

“You’ll see, we’re almost there.”

Okay, so maybe not Mandurah because that was still about another thirty minutes away from where they were.

After they’d dropped Charlee to school and said hi to Andy who was watching the school that day, they’d headed south on the freeway.

Their conversation was light, mostly about their favorite foods, drinks, TV shows, and movies. Every time she tried to bring up the subject of Patrick, which was only a couple of times, but she thought with Charlee not around it would be a good time to talk, Reed told her it was in hand.

What did that even mean?

Maybe once they got to their destination he would be more open to talking to her about it. There hadn’t been any more photos. Well, none that had been sent, some could’ve been taken but she hadn’t seen anyone with a camera.

Reed pulled into a parking lot, and fifty meters in front of her, the ocean sparkled, enticing her to dip her toes in. “You’re not about to make me do some PT are you? Because I’m totally not dressed for it.”

Her wardrobe wasn’t expansive. There was never any money for nice clothes. Most of what lived in her closet were items she’d picked up at the thrift store. Some, like the pale blue sundress she was wearing now, had only been worn a couple of times and was a good brand.

“You’re dressed fine. In fact…” He stopped and flexed his fingers around the steering wheel. “I shouldn’t say what is going on in my mind.”

Now she was intrigued and worried at the same time. Was he going to say he’d changed his mind about everything and that she and Charlee needed to go back to their place because he was tired of having them around?

“What? I need you to tell me,” she pleaded.

Concern lit in his eyes. He unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned toward her, framing her face with his hands. When he did that, she felt as if she was the most important thing in his life, as though there was nothing more precious to him, than her. “Hey, it’s all good. I promise.”

“Really?” Could she believe him? He certainly wasn’t acting as if he wanted to kick her out of his house.

“Yes. What did you think I was thinking?”

Lauren didn’t want to say it now because it sounded so pathetic, as if she was a child that needed constant assurance that they were liked. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters if it has you looking like you’re expecting the world to come crashing down on you.”

Over the short time she’d known Reed she’d discovered that he was infinitely patient with her. Always giving her time to say things, now wasn’t any different. It was time for her to start giving back to him. “I thought you were going to kick me and Charlee out. That you’d had enough of us being there.”

For endless moments he didn’t say anything, his hands still framed her face, so she took that as a good sign. “Ahh Lauren, that’s the farthest thing on my mind. I love having you and Charlee in my home. I love hearing her giggles. I love seeing the way you two interact. You’ve brought my house to life.”

With her not being able to look away from him, she watched his face the whole time he spoke. There was nothing but truth in those words. “You’ve given us a safe place, and I can’t thank you enough for that.”

And it was the truth. The last few days they’d been staying with Reed had been the happiest she’d been in a long, long time. The ability to have her own space was something she was appreciative for, because when it was all over, and Patrick had been caught or he’d crawled back into whatever hole he’d recently crawled out of, she’d have to move back to her little cottage and go back to sharing a room with Charlee.

“Do you want to know what I was thinking when we parked and you said you weren’t dressed for PT?”

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