"Tomorrow we can tell them that we've decided to start seeing each other."

She took a step back. "No, I don't think that's a good idea."

Chance rubbed his hand down his face. "Don't tell me we're back to that again."

"As far as I'm concerned we never left it."

"Then what was this weekend about, Kylie?"

"It was about us indulging in our fantasies. But now it's time to return to the real world, Chance, and there's no way I can let Tiffany know that I was involved in a weekend affair with you."

Angrily, he reached out and gripped her shoulders. "A weekend affair? That's all this was to you?"

She yanked away from him. "Why? Was it supposed to be something else?"

"I had hoped so," he said quietly, trying to get his anger and frustrations under control. "The start of a committed relationship was how I saw things."

"But I can't become involved with anyone until Tiffany leaves home."

"Why?"

"Because I can't!"

"Then let me tell you what I think is your reason, which in my opinion is a d.a.m.n poor excuse. Your parents have convinced you that getting pregnant at sixteen was a bad thing, and every since then you have worked your a.s.s off trying to be a good girl in their eyes. So much so that you won't allow a man in your life. At first I thought it was all about the men in your life letting you down and not being dependable, and that still may be a part of it. But since you claim you trust me, why are you so afraid of letting me into your life?"

"I have to set an example for my daughter. Why can't you understand that?"

He frowned. "And not having a real life, not having a man around to show her how two people can share a loving relationship is setting an example for her?"

"There's more to life than people getting involved, Chance."

"What about people falling in love? Would it mean anything if I were to tell you that I love you? That I fell in love with you probably the first time I saw you that day?"

Kylie's eyes widened and then she shook her head and felt the tears that stung her eyes. "No, it wouldn't matter because I could tell you the same thing, Chance. I love you, too. And I probably fell in love with you that day as well."

"But then-"

"No. You loving me and me loving you won't make it okay. We still have to put our kids first. They think they're in love, too, and we can't downplay their feelings just because we've discovered ours. Just think of how it will look. The father loves the mother and the daughter loves the son. How dysfunctional can that be?"

His frown deepened. "So what are you suggesting? That we wait to see what becomes of our kids' romance before seeking our own? Well, I don't plan to do that. If you love me, and I mean truly love me, you'll know that we'll work things out together. But you have to be willing to step out on love and believe it."

She bowed her head and took a deep breath and then she looked back at him. "No, it won't work, Chance. Please try to understand. There are times in life when sacrifices have to be made."

"Well, if you're willing to let your love for me be the sacrificial lamb then it must not be the real thing, Kylie, because I can't think of anything that will ever stop me from loving you and wanting a committed relationship with you."

Without saying anything else he walked out of the room, and moments later Kylie heard the door slam shut behind him.

Chapter 14.

"Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Kylie pulled two bottles of apple juice out of the refrigerator before turning to her daughter. "I'm okay, sweetheart. What makes you think I'm not?"

Tiffany lifted one shoulder in a dainty shrug. "I don't know. It's just a feeling I have. Every since you picked me up from the airport yesterday you've been quiet."

"Well, I guess I have a lot on my mind, but I'm okay."

"Why are you still wearing that scarf? You usually don't wear scarfs."

Kylie's hand automatically went to the scarf around her neck, the one she was wearing to hide the two hickeys that Chance had placed there. "My throat had gotten sort of scratchy with the changing of the weather, I guess. I thought I'd take all precautions. The last thing I need to catch is a cold."

"But you're wearing it in the house."

Kylie gave Tiffany a pointed look. "I'm aware of where I am Tiffany. Is wearing a scarf in the house a crime?"

"No, ma'am."

"Okay, then."

The kitchen got silent and Kylie regretted having gotten upset with Tiffany when she was only showing her concern. With a mantle of guilt on her shoulders, Kylie crossed the room and sat down at the table opposite her daughter. "Hey, how about you and I going to a movie this weekend?" she asked, trying to reclaim the easy camaraderie they'd started recently, at least before this past weekend.

Tiffany smiled. "Oh, that'll be neat. Will it be okay to invite Marcus and his dad?"

Kylie's body tensed with her daughter's question. The last person she wanted to be around this weekend was Chance. "I was hoping we could make it a girls' thing. We could even invite Lena to come with us."

"That sounds like fun, Mom, but I was hoping I could get to see Marcus this weekend."

"Didn't you see him at school today?"

"Yes."

"And won't you see him again tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"And the next day and the day after?"

"Yes, Mom, but you and Mr. Steele promised that we could have supervised outings and it's been almost three weeks since we went camping."

Kylie sighed. A part of her regretted having made that promise but at the time both she and Chance had known it was the best thing to keep the budding romance between their offspring under control. "Okay, then I'll take the both of you. There's no need to bother Chance this weekend and-"

"Mom, if you take us, it'll seem as if you're babysitting us. If both you and Mr. Steele go then it will be a foursome and it won't be so obvious that you're there to spy on us."

Kylie rolled her eyes. "I'd be there as a chaperone, Tiffany."

"Same difference."

Not wanting to get into an argument with her daughter, Kylie stood and said, "Have Marcus check to see if his father is free this weekend. Chance is a busy man and might have made other plans."

Later that night Kylie lay in bed and every so often she would glance over at the phone. Chance had made it a habit to call her around this time every night, but she knew after Sunday chances were that he wouldn't be calling any time soon, if ever. And a part of her thought maybe it was for the best. He thought he had all the answers, but he would never understand the guilt trip her parents had placed on her shoulders after she'd gotten pregnant.

As she cuddled under the covers she thought about the weekend she had spent with Chance. There was no denying that it had been a fantasy come true, and heat flooded through her just thinking about all they had done. In fact today at the florist when she'd been alone her body actually trembled with the memories that were so vivid in her mind.

Their first date had been everything a first date should be, and what he probably hadn't even realized was, although it had been their first date, it had been her first first date period. She and Sam had been too young to actually date and she hadn't gone out to dinner with any other man. So in reality, Chance had been her first in a lot of ways. date period. She and Sam had been too young to actually date and she hadn't gone out to dinner with any other man. So in reality, Chance had been her first in a lot of ways.

Tears blurring her eyes, she glanced over at the phone. She might as well get used to him not calling her ever again.

Chance threw onto his desk the doc.u.ment he'd been reading and glanced at the clock. Not that he was counting, but it had been three days, sixteen hours and forty-five minutes since he had last seen and talked to Kylie.

After what she had said to him on Sunday evening, she should have been the last person on his mind. She had decided that love or no love, there would not be a future for them.

Chance leaned back in his chair and hooked his hands behind his head. Dammit, he didn't want that. He wanted a life with her, a life that included marriage. Kylie was being more than stubborn. She was being downright difficult.

He couldn't help but remember their weekend together, and the days and nights they had shared. Those memories would sustain him in the coming months. He would need them.

He walked over to the window and stared out at Charlotte's skyline. It was almost two in the afternoon. Kylie would be at her shop. Was she thinking about him the way he was thinking about her? Probably not.

But she had admitted that she loved him.

He should have known that when a woman gave herself as completely to a man as Kylie had done to him this past weekend that love was involved. One thing was for certain: there was still Marcus and Tiffany to deal with, and because of their kids, Kylie couldn't put distance between them regardless of how much she might want to.

Whether she liked it or not, she hadn't seen the last of him.

"I don't know what, but something happened this weekend between our parents, Marcus," Tiffany whispered.

Marcus, who was sitting across from her in the library, glanced around to make sure Mrs. Kennard, the librarian who had a strict no-talking policy, wasn't anywhere close by. "Yes, I know," he whispered back. "This weekend was supposed to get them to together, not pull them apart. What do you think happened?"

Tiffany shook her head. "I don't know but I do know they spent time together this weekend."

Marcus lifted a brow. "And how do you know that?"

"Because Carly Owens said she saw them together at the grocery store."

"The grocery store? What were they doing at the grocery store?"

"Carly said they were actually shopping together. They didn't see her but she saw them. She said my mom had her cart and your dad had his, but they had come together in the same car."

"And she's sure it was our our parents?" parents?"

"Yes, she's sure. She's met the both of them before but at different times."

"Umm, I find that interesting. If they were friendly enough to go grocery shopping together then what happened?"

Tiffany sighed. "I don't know. And there's also something else." She leaned in closer to make sure the students sitting at the other table didn't hear her. "My mom had a hickey on her neck and I think your dad put it there."

Disbelief flickered in Marcus's eyes. "You're kidding."

"No. She's been wearing a scarf to hide it, but I saw it anyway when she took the scarf off thinking I wasn't around."

Marcus nodded. "That means they had to have kissed."

"Right."

"Then what happened to make them start acting funny?"

Tiffany shook her head. "Who knows? Adults can be weird that way. Did your dad say that he would be available to go to the movies with us on Sat.u.r.day?" Tiffany asked.

"I haven't asked him yet. He hasn't been in the best of moods since I got back."

"Neither has my mom. If after this weekend at the movies they're still not getting along, then we have to do something. I know they really like each other, but now I'm worried because your dad hasn't been calling at night like he used to do. I've been checking the caller ID every morning but your phone number isn't showing up."

"So what do you think we should do?"

Tiffany scrunched her forehead and then moments later a smile touched her features. "I have an idea but we may have to get an adult to help us pull it off."

Marcus glanced around again for Mrs. Kennard, and then turned back to Tiffany. "An adult like who?"

Tiffany thought about her G.o.dmother and decided it wouldn't be a good idea to solicit her help. "How about one of your uncles? The one you said who likes to have fun."

Marcus sighed. "That's Uncle Donovan, and this sounds serious."

"It is. We'll see how things go with them this weekend, but if they still aren't on the best of terms, we go to Plan B."

"What's Plan B?" Marcus asked.

Tiffany leaned in closer. "Here it is, so listen up."