Page 4 of Forbidden Kisses
“What’s wrong?” her mother asked, shuffling into the room.
Grace straightened and put on a smile. “Nothing.”
Her mother inspected her and shook her head. “You’ve never been a good liar.” She sat in an old blue recliner in the living room. Their apartment was small. The kitchen and living room were divided only by a metal line in the floor. “It’s my fault. I’m too much of a burden on you. I should leave.”
Grace rolled her eyes and, despite her mixed emotions, smiled. “You have nowhere to go, Mom.”
“Mrs. Smith down the street is looking for a caretaker.”
Grace resisted her need to laugh. Her mother was the one who needed taking care of. “I didn’t find a job today, but I’ll keep looking. Something will turn up.”
Her mother sighed. “You always were a stubborn one.”
“Job searching until you find something isn’t being stubborn, Mom.” But her mother had never been the type to actually get a job. More of the type to find a rich husband who adored her until she messed things up royally. “Did you take your medication today?” Grace asked.
Her mom frowned, her thin lips trembling as they dipped toward her chin. “Yes, of course I did.”
“It’s a beautiful summer day. Would you like to go for a walk? The doctor said to stay active.”
“Did he also assign you as my warden? I walked all around the apartment today cleaning. All I want to do right now is read my book.” She pulled a paperback onto her lap and shakily flipped it open.
Grace nodded. “Okay. Well, they say reading is good exercise for your brain.”
Her mother scowled like a rebellious teenager, but kept her gaze on the book’s pages. Grace couldn’t help it if she was overbearing. Her mother was the only family she had, and she didn’t want to lose her. Grace had researched all the ways to help her mother stay healthy with her Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. Eat well, stay active, and take the prescribed medication—the one that Grace wouldn’t be able to afford if she didn’t find employment soon.
Fear settled back in her chest. It pissed her off that she was letting emotion fuel her. Maybe she was the one who needed to go for a walk. Slipping her feet into a pair of flip-flops, she grabbed the prepaid cellphone she kept around for emergencies. “I have my phone on, Mom. Call if you need anything.”
Her mother ignored her and kept reading.
Grace headed out the front door, across the street, and through one row of housing toward the ocean. She felt small here, which in turn meant her problems were smaller. Her breaths became deeper as she strolled, pulling the salt-tinged air into her lungs. The Atlantic Ocean roared and rolled toward her. This was her idea of heaven.
“Grace?”
She froze, pulling her eyes from the endless water and planting them on the man in front of her. He’d seemed to appear out of nowhere, like a mirage that for a moment she wanted to rush over to. Pulling up her defenses, she reminded herself that she was nothing to Jack anymore—not if he could turn on her and her mother so easily. “Twice in one day,” she said.
In contrast to her, Jack stood relaxed. “You disappeared this morning.”
“You seemed a little busy.” She suddenly didn’t know what to do with her hands. Why did Jack make her so nervous? Her gaze skittered up to meet his Ray-Bans. “How did the interviews go?” She immediately regretted asking because she didn’t want him to think she still wanted the job for herself. That had been a moment of desperation.
He shrugged, then bent to grab a shell from under his foot. He sent it skipping out into the water. “All right, I guess. It’ll be hard to replace Aunt Mira. Who else will bring homemade fudge for us to eat once a week?”
Grace laughed. “She still did that?”
Jack grinned—the expression a visual aphrodisiac. “Still does it, even though she’s retired. The woman is a saint.”
Grace fidgeted some more. “She’s always loved taking care of you guys…Anyway, I guess I’ll see you around.” And avoid him wherever possible just like she’d been doing for the last fifteen years since Pete and her mother divorced. Although for some reason today, the moon and stars seemed to have collided and pulled them together.
Jack gently reached for her arm as she started to pass. His touch was like an electric current zipping through her. Every cell awakened. She turned to look at him standing so close. Big mistake. He’d pushed his sunglasses on his head, revealing eyes equally as stimulating as his grin. Heat crawled down her body from her cheeks to her chest, settling low in her belly. Her gaze flicked to his mouth. She’d kissed those lips once when they were teenagers. Or he’d kissed her. They’d never agreed on exactly how the kiss had come about. Just on the fact that it should never happen again. He’d been her stepbrother. Kissing him had been against an unspoken rule.
“Don’t run off just yet,” he said.
Part of her was relieved. Part of her had wanted him to stop her. The other part of her, the weaker part, wanted to run like the ocean wind, fast, kicking up sand in its wake.
She took a small step backward and braced herself. “What do you want?”
—
Jack never walked by the ocean anymore. All it turned up were seashells and bad memories. But today, a woman he wasn’t supposed to like, much less be attracted to, made him breathe in the salty air with appreciation.
