Who Do You Trust? by Melissa James Read Free Book Online Page B

Bob’s…or anywhere else. As if he knew the last place on earth she wanted to be was with him.
    Three eager, pleading little faces turned to hers. “C’mon, Mum, please —we haven’t been to Bob’s since we first came here,” Luke begged.
    “And it’s the best place,” Matt added.
    Mitch grinned. “I loved the place when I was a kid,” he agreed. “I never had a better pizza since.”
    “It’s still the best!” Matt and Luke yelled together.
    “ Please, Mummy?” Jenny’s big baby blues were full of wistful wishes. “And I’ll tell Daddy we only went with Matt and Lukey’s daddy—he isn’t gonna go kissin’ you or nothin’,” she added ingenuously with her sweet lisp. “Then Daddy won’t be sad.”
    After a moment’s silence, Lissa felt Mitch’s gaze on her. On her eyes. On her mouth. Like he’d planned the exact act Jenny denied. To put his mouth on hers…his lips dancing with sensual care over her throat, her shoulders, and down…
    Matt sniggered.
    She felt the color rising up her throat and into her face until it scorched her from the inside.
    “Jenny, you’re a loser,” Matt said, laughing, ruffling her golden curls and winking at Mitch, as if he was nineteen instead of nine. “C’mon, get into your togs, kid. I’ll play on the water slide with you.”
    “Cool!” Jenny squealed, and ran to her room for her bathing suit.
    “Wanna come, Dad?” Luke asked Mitch, his eyes bright. Bright with hope, and a fear that was too adult, too world-weary. Not wanting to let his dad out of his sight.
    Lissa ached for the boy she loved so dearly. Luke still suffered nightmares, with both greater regularity and stronger intensity than the more resilient Matt. Most nights she’d find him sleeping with his twin or with Jenny. She had a nightmare, Mum, he’d mumble the next morning. I was looking after her.
    Sweet, vulnerable, innocent Luke, with a facade of strength to hide his terrified heart. Just like his father.
    Lissa watched in hidden hunger as Mitch, his face filled with tender understanding, held his son close. “I’m not going anywhere, mate. Promise. I’m here for good.”
    “You swear?” Luke whispered.
    Mitch crouched down before his son. “Have I ever lied to you, Luke?” Eyes enormous, Luke slowly shook his head. “I promise I’ll stay right here. I’ll talk to Mum for a little while, and book a table at Bob’s. Then I’ll jump in the pool with you, all right?”
    Even behind closed eyes, the vision remained to haunt her mind. A half-naked Mitch, strong, dark and muscular, playing in the cool, slippery blue depths of her pool…
    Just like we used
    Memories flooded her: the sweetest taboo, the forbidden too enticing to deny. Mitch would sneak out the window on hot summer nights, and she’d be waiting for him. And they’d swim and play in scared silence, in the exhilaration of a shared secret. Knowing that if her parents or Old Man Taggart saw them, they’d put a far less innocent connotation on their water frolics.
    But it had all been innocent—just as she’d been back then, when she’d believed in love and happy-ever-after with a boy, a man who’d love her and her alone. Forever.
    The dream of forever love had stumbled when Mitch left her, then died during her marriage to Tim.
    “Yes, Dad,” Luke said softly.
    Lissa’s eyes snapped open to see Mitch mock-slap Luke’s bottom. “Then off you go, matey, and have fun. Mum will make sure I don’t leave—won’t you, Mum?”
    Neatly boxed into a corner, she could only nod; but she couldn’t hold on to the anger when she saw the soft light filling Luke’s dark eyes. The first sign of healing, with the security he so desperately needed. Someone to call his own. A family.
    Like father like son.
    Within a minute all three kids dashed past on their way to the pool. “Take clean towels,” she yelled, knowing that, as usual, she’d have to bring them out later.
    Mitch stood watching her in silence.
    She turned and