Starlight and the Single Dad
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Michelle Major
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19
Chapter One
Tessa Reynolds drew in a deep breath of the steaming air surrounding her then tried to bite back a coughing fit. She concentrated on pulling oxygen in and out of her lungs and reminded herself that this was normal. Nothing more than a little cough. Healthy people did it all the time. It didn’t mean anything.
Still, her heart hammered in her chest because Tessa wasn’t healthy. Or rather she was now, but even three years of being normal weren’t enough to counter two decades of chronic kidney disease.
She dipped her hand into the bubbling surface of the natural hot spring in which she sat. Although it was mid-April in the Cascade Mountains of western Washington, the day had been unseasonably cool. That’s part of the reason Tessa had made the mile and a half hike from her cabin to the hot springs she remembered from her childhood.
She hadn’t been able to walk the whole way when she was younger, and the memory of her aunt and her sister leaving her behind grated like an itch she couldn’t quite scratch.
It was nearly dusk, the temperature dropping fast, and she’d have to leave in a couple of minutes if she was going to make it back up the hill before night fell in earnest.
She might have come to the small town of Starlight in order to reinvent herself, to start over as something other than Tessa the sick girl. To become the wild woman she’d always believed herself to be on the inside. Wild was one thing. Stupid was another, and it would be ten kinds of foolish to stay out in the thick forest past dark.
Her breathing slowed and her lungs stopped constricting. She was almost positive she’d inhaled a bug and that was to blame for her coughing jag.
Then she heard the crack of a branch nearby and went stock-still. It was an animal. It had to be an animal. No one would be out in this part of the mountain except...
“You’re trespassing.”
She resisted the urge to cover her naked breasts at the sound of the deep voice. Shadows played across the water and the hot springs were naturally dark. Her rational brain knew there was no way the man approaching could see any part of her body other than her shoulders, neck and head. She was as covered as if she were wrapped in a thick blanket.
That didn’t stop the nerves from skittering through her.
“I’m most certainly not trespassing,” she answered, proud that her voice didn’t waver. “We’re on my property and you, sir, are both trespassing and rude. This is a private pool and I don’t appreciate you being here. Please leave.”
Carson Campbell looked around as if she must be talking to somebody besides him. She wasn’t about to admit that she recognized him, her surly neighbor who she’d managed to avoid eye contact with since he’d moved into the cabin down the road from hers a month earlier.
“You’re on my property,” he said. “Although the sir is a nice touch. But get out.” His steely gaze tracked to the pile of clothes sitting on a nearby boulder then flicked to her again. “Now.”
Tessa wouldn’t have guessed it was possible for a man like Carson to get any more intimidating than he was on a regular day. He had an athlete’s body with broad shoulders and a muscled chest that tapered into lean hips and hard thighs. Not that she made a habit of noticing male thighs. She happened to be driving through town one day when Carson bent over to pick up something his daughter dropped on the sidewalk.
Tessa had nearly rear-ended the car in front of her.
But he wasn’t her type, especially with evening quickly descending. She could clearly make out the frown that pulled his full lips into a thin line. It wasn’t fair that he had a mouth like that. Lush and ripe and made for sin. That mouth did not belong on him. Not when his gaze was always so guarded and angry.
A mouth like that should smile and laugh and kiss. Tessa dreamed of being kissed by—
What was she doing? Her stupid penchant for daydreaming, spinning off into a fantasy world at the most inopportune times, was on full display.
Because while she’d been contemplating Carson’s mouth, he’d been moving closer. “Stay back,” she yelled then splashed water toward him, a completely ineffectual deterrent.
“You should have considered your modesty before you decided to go skinny-dipping in a place where you’re not welcome.”
Oh, but if Tessa had allowed being unwelcomed to deter her, she’d have even less of a life than she already did.
“I’m not modest,” she said, a blatant lie but she doubted Carson would be able to see her flaming cheeks with the steam rising around her. Or he’d hopefully blame the color on the hot water. “I’m annoyed.” That part was true.
“You’re annoyed?” Carson let out a rusty laugh. “That’s rich, sweetheart.”
“For your information...” She moved across the pool, which was built into the rocks on the side of the mountain, a true natural spring. “I was having a peaceful meditative interlude on my aunt’s property. Land that I have every right to occupy.”
His thick brows drew together. “Who is your aunt?”
“Marsha Reynolds. She lives in Tucson now. I’m staying at her cabin.”
“You’re my neighbor.” He said the words like an accusation. “The one with the obnoxious red car.”
“Julian is an adorable Jeep. Jeeps aren’t obnoxious. It’s impossible.”
“She named her car,” he muttered. “Why am I not surprised?”
Before she could answer, he pointed a finger in her direction. “You drive too fast and listen to your music too loud. I’ve seen you and I don’t like it. You’re dangerous.”
“Do you think so?” Tessa asked, unable to hide her shock. “That’s amazing.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, you have no right to judge me.” She kept the smile out of her voice, just barely. “My driving is none of your business, just like me being in this pool is not your concern. My aunt has been coming to this hot springs for as long as I can remember.”
“The Realtor told me it was on my land.”
“He lied.”
“The Realtor is a she.”
“The pronoun changes but nothing else.” Tessa wanted to be mean, but it really wasn’t in her nature and her aunt might have made a mistake. “This land has been in my family for generations. Who knows about the property lines? But what I do know is that I’m not trespassing.”
“I’m not either,” her bossy new neighbor said definitively. Carson Campbell was a certified grump. Had Tessa ever sounded that sure of herself?
“You should leave anyway. I don’t appreciate you looming over me like some sort of malevolent threat.”
“You think I’m a threat?” Carson asked, his voice silky smooth.
To her equilibrium undoubtedly. But she wasn’t about to admit that. “I don’t scare easily,” she lied. Most of her life had been spent in fear. Fear of being sick or weak or having her body give out on her. And in the moments she’d forgotten to be scared, her family had been more than willing to take up the reins of that particular horse. If Tessa’s mother had her way, her younger daughter wouldn’t have left the house unless she was encased in a thick roll of bubble wrap.
Tessa hadn’t talked to her mom since moving to Starlight, and she missed her. They exchanged texts that more often than not resulted in her mother sending long, lecturing messages about Tessa taking care of herself and being safe.
It was easy enough to ignore the messages, but Tessa didn’t want to hear the worry in her mom’s voice or deal with the fact that no one in her family believed that at twenty-seven, she was capable of living on her own.
“Maybe I came down here to use the hot springs,” he said. “How do you feel about company?”
There was a teasing lilt to his voice, but even Tessa had her limits. “No thanks.” The two words came out as more of a squeak than a sentence.
One corner of Carson’s delicious mouth lifted, as if all of her posturing had been for naught. Like he knew she was a born and bred coward no matter how she acted.
Fear might have been Tessa’s most stalwart companion over the years, but that didn’t make her hate it any less.
“I’m done here anyway. It’s getting dark. I need to get home. Big plans for the night and all that.”
“I’m sure,” Carson agreed. He folded his arms over his chest but didn’t move.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
One bulky shoulder rose and fell. “The rocks are slippery. I figured I’d wait and make sure you got out okay.” He lifted her sweatshirt off the boulder. “I’m sure anyone who goes skinny-dipping in the middle of the woods isn’t a big proponent of modesty.”
Heat burned through Tessa. She could tell by the gleam in his eye that he was calling her out. Calling her bluff.
It was as if the past few months and all the new things she’d done and the courage she’d discovered vanished in an instant. This infuriating man saw her for who she was and, as always, she came up lacking.
“But if you need privacy...”
“No.” The word came out on a husky breath. If she wasn’t mistaken, a shiver passed through Carson. She’d well and truly shocked him, and the knowledge of it fanned the spark of her bravery into a white-hot flame.
Before she could think better of it, she stood, hoping the shadows would prevent Carson from truly noticing the details of her body as she made this stand...literally. Her knees were shaking, but she didn’t let that stop her. She gasped as the cool night air hit her naked body. The difference in temperature between in the water and out was jarring. Goose bumps rose along her arms and legs, and she felt her nipples pucker in the cold.
Or was that a reaction to the way Carson’s stormy gaze went molten?
He tossed the sweatshirt in her direction and spun on his heel. “Woman, you have no sense. You can’t just stand up naked in front of a stranger.”
She scrambled out of the pool and tossed her sweatshirt over her head then stepped into her sweatpants, not bothering with underpants or the bra. “We’re neighbors,” she reminded him. “You’re not exactly a stranger.”
“Even so,” he ground out.
“I’m glad we had this little talk,” she said, trying to sound bolder than she felt. “At first glance, I wouldn’t peg you for a stick-in-the-mud. Good to know you are. I’m not interested in getting to know people like you.”
“The feeling is mutual.” She could see his hands clenched at his sides even in the dim light and decided she needed to get out of there before he realized how big of a liar she truly was.
“Have a good night, neighbor.” She toed on her gym shoes and headed up the trail.
Tessa might want adventure in this new chapter of her life, but she realized her inherent self-preservation instinct remained intact. Nothing in the world could have forced her to turn around and look at Carson Campbell again.
Carson slammed the door of his cabin behind him then cringed when his daughter, Lauren, startled and knocked over the glass of water sitting in front of her on the kitchen table.
“Sorry, Laur,” he said as he rushed forward.
“Oh, my God, Dad. My math homework is ruined.”
“We can fix it,” he promised, although he wasn’t certain he could handle even this one small catastrophe, let alone the mountain of challenges resting on his shoulders at the moment.
If a few months of full-time parenting had taught him one thing, it was to keep moving forward. Keep moving—period. He grabbed a roll of paper towels and began blotting at the sopping wet math worksheet. “At least this is a better excuse than the dog ate my homework,” he said as Lauren moved her other papers and textbooks out of the way.
“I didn’t need an excuse,” she told him in the annoyed tone he’d become so used to hearing. “I did the homework.”
“And it will dry.” He lifted the slip of paper and tried not to wince as a trickle of water dripped from the edge.
He blamed this mess, along with his jumbled emotions, on his irritating—if gorgeous—neighbor. He didn’t even know her name, he realized as he carried the math homework into the laundry room and used a wooden clothespin to hang it on the drying line.
He was well aware of the stranger. Her flaming hair, which matched her cherry red car, was hard to miss.
It had irritated him—she had irritated him—on sight. There was a time in his life when Carson had appreciated a bad girl. He’d liked the adrenaline rush of drama and found himself caught up with women who appreciated the same in him.
His need for adrenaline to make him feel alive was what had first led him to the navy and flight school. But he’d grown up during his time in the military. Grown up and past his penchant for trouble.
He didn’t make stupid decisions anymore. Or rather he didn’t make them on purpose.
He’d made the dumbest decision of his life with the blind faith that his ex-wife was taking care of the daughter they shared.
They’d been too young to get married. That much was clear now, but many of his friends in the squadron had been settling down in their early twenties. Carson had figured putting a ring on Delilah’s finger was the logical thing to do after she’d ended up pregnant a few months into their tumultuous relationship.
And as much as she loved Lauren, Delilah had chafed under the constraints of being a navy wife. She simply wasn’t cut out for it and blamed Carson for selling her a false bill of goods. He still didn’t understand how it was his fault that she’d assumed real life was like something out of Top Gun. All smart white uniforms and being serenaded in bars, and not as much deployment and service and the rigors of military life.
Maybe he should have done a better job of preparing her, but that would have been difficult since he’d had no idea what he was getting into until he was there. But he’d thrived on the structure and the duty.
So much so that when Delilah left him and filed for full custody of their nine-month-old daughter, he hadn’t even considered fighting her. How was he supposed to take care of a baby and his career at the same time?
For the next decade, he’d done his best to be a decent, if somewhat absentee, father. He’d never missed a childcare payment or a birthday. He sent Lauren gifts from his different ports of call. During the few weeks of downtime he got, he made time for her.
He’d become a cliché. The long-distance dad who tried to make up for not being a real part of his daughter’s life with gifts and Disney vacations. In the meantime, he’d ignored the warning signs about his ex-wife. Marriage number two and marriage number three. The fact that her house address changed even more often than the ring on her finger.
Then just before Christmas, he’d received a panicked call from his daughter. It was a miracle he’d had service that night out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Lauren had tearfully told him that Delilah was getting married for a fourth time and embarking on a European tour with her soon-to-be rocker husband right after the holidays.
She was sending their daughter to live with an aunt she’d never met before. Delilah had hated her rural Kentucky roots, and Carson at first hadn’t believed she would seriously consider leaving their child behind. Carson also hadn’t known how he was going to help. But when he tried to explain as much to Lauren, she let out a world-weary sigh and muttered something about her mom being right that he wouldn’t want her either.
Talk about being gutted.
He’d upended his life, resigned his commission and picked her up in a hotel in Atlanta on Christmas Eve.
An old navy buddy had gotten him a job as a pilot in Washington state and here they were. Here he was failing every single day just like his ex-wife had told him he would because he could do discipline and training but being a caring human seemed to be beyond his scope of expertise.
Just like his parents had always told him.
But Carson wasn’t the troublemaker he’d been as a teenager. He might not know what the hell he was doing as a father, but he was damn sure going to figure it out.
One thing he knew for certain was that it wouldn’t involve any fierce and fiery women being part of his sweet, shy daughter’s life.
He’d seen the way Lauren’s gaze followed the red Jeep when she was out in the front yard as it drove past their house. He imagined the driver with her thumping music and flowing red hair seemed exciting, especially since Lauren had grown up with a mom who thrived on any sort of feverish thrill.
Carson couldn’t deny the way his heartbeat picked up speed as well. His gorgeous neighbor threw him off-balance and he was already floundering for purchase in almost every area of his life.
He couldn’t take any more disturbances to the calm, quiet, stable home he was trying to build.
His decision to bait her tonight in that hot springs had been another colossal mistake because now he couldn’t get the image of her rising out of the steaming water like some sort of modern-day siren.
“Stick with multiplication and division,” he said aloud, forcing himself to concentrate on his daughter’s homework. Anything to distract himself from his neighbor.
“Dad, is it going to be okay?” Lauren asked quietly from the door to the laundry room.
Her soft tone was filled with doubt, and he hated that she had no reason to believe in him. He was determined to be the kind of father she could trust no matter what he had to sacrifice to accomplish it.
“It sure is, baby girl. It sure is.”
