Jordan

Running a business was no fucking joke. When I first started the Carlton Resort and Spa I assumed at some point, I’d be able to spend most of the time on the course, or talking up members at the restaurant. Instead, I spent most of the days dealing with vendors falling through on previously made deals and a management staff with little spine to force it through. Don’t get me wrong, my employees, all of them were fantastic people. Good-hearted, strong working Midwest American grit and bone. That didn’t mean they had guts when it came to standing up to someone deciding to jack our costs fifteen percent only a few months after signing on the dotted line.

Which also meant since this wasn’t Pam’s first time refusing to do this part of her job, I would soon be looking for a new Food and Beverage Manager.

Just what I needed after the week I’d had, trying to figure out what in the hell to do with Destiny and Toby. She was as beautiful as ever and every time I saw her a burn ignited in my chest, slowly spreading south of my belt.

Time to forgive her, to push through the carousel of luggage we had between us, wasn’t on my side.

She was still planning on leaving at the end of the summer which meant I had weeks to try to convince my skittish ex that taking a chance on me would be the best decision she ever made.

And then there was Toby. Every time I saw him or talked to him, it killed me to hang up the phone. How in the hell did I worm my way into the life of a ten-year-old kid who called me Jordan instead of Dad?

Parenting was so far outside my wheelhouse it wasn’t funny. Plus the fact he didn’t know I existed for the first decade of his life made it worse.

What I wouldn’t give to be outside, club in my hand and sweat trickling down my back where the irritation of a sand trap or misaligned putt were my biggest frustrations.

I blew out a breath, refocused on the vendor reports and contracts and was finally in the work mindset when my assistant, Alicia, opened my door.

She peeked her head in, blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders and glanced back at the reception area. She turned slowly back to me.

“Yes?” I asked.

Her face had some weird pinched look she never wore, and I was already pushing away from my desk and standing before I asked, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Um. There are people here to see you.”

“So let them in.” Swear to God. If I had to tell one more person how to do their job today—

“It’s a woman and boy.”

“And?”

“She said it’s your son.”

Oh. That. “Yeah. He’s mine. Thanks, Alicia.”

“It’s just that, I’ve worked here for three years now, and you’ve never mentioned.”

I pulled my door open. It fell out of her hands and made her jump backward. “That’s because I didn’t know.”

She gasped. I ignored it because holy shit.

Destiny was here, in my office, with my son. Both of them stood by a couch in the waiting room, grinning like the cat who finally got its cream.

“This place is so cool. Even better than seeing it from outside,” Toby said.

“It’s amazing, Jordan. I mean, you said you ran this…own it…built it…but I never imagined it to be so beautiful.”

“Think I’d be more neon bar lights and pool tables than top of the line spas and local brewery beers?”

“Well.” She shrugged in that innocently cute way she always had. Like she didn’t realize how funny she could be and was just hoping someone laughed at her joke. “Yeah.”

And that… that right there, was exactly what I needed to see. Destiny as Destiny. Not whatever Jane bullshit she’d tried to pull. Not the fearful and sorrowful woman I’d seen the last week. It was her…being her that drew me to her.

“I hired a designer. Trust me, she hated almost all my ideas.”

She laughed and covered her mouth, hiding it, but that first damn flash I got of her unhindered laugh went straight to my balls. She pulled her mouth away and the smile went with it. “I’m proud of you. This is really something.”

I’d won National Championships. My first game pitching for the Rockies, I was on the mound, bottom of the ninth, up by one run, two men on base and the league’s number one home run hitter up to bat with a full count and two outs. I struck him out. Won the game for my team. Cemented my role as a starter. It had been the highlight of my life.

It didn’t compare to the blast of heat surging down my spine at her praise.

“Thanks, Des.” I went to her, pressed my hand to her hip and brushed my lips over her cheek. She went straight as an arrow and her breath caught as I whispered, “That means a lot to me.” Her breath skated across my cheek and I pulled back. “So what brings you two here?”

A faint hint of pink rimmed her cheeks and she looked down at Toby, ruffled his hair, before coming back to me. “I thought, maybe, if you weren’t busy tonight, we could do dinner?”

I had a Friday Night League Tournament teeing off at six and I always liked to be around for the beginning of them to make sure everything started smoothly even though the clubhouse manager never needed me.

“I’ll be done here around six-thirty.” I grinned down at Toby. “Your place or mine?”

“Actually,” Destiny said, “I was thinking you and me. Dinner out somewhere?”

A date? Was she asking me out? That heat in my spine settled to a comfortable warmth and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from teasing her and asking. This was a lot for her. I schooled my features and lowered my voice, made sure she could see I knew exactly what she was asking. “You ready for that?”

She gave that cute little shrug, the wide cut of her shirt causing her sleeve to dip down slightly. It took all my resistance not to fix it for her. But I stared at the spot of her skin. The edge of her collarbone. A tiny, moon shaped freckle I knew was still there, hidden beneath that wide strap.

“I figured if we were staying…temporarily, I mean…I should get used to it.”

My gaze whipped to hers. Temporarily my ass. A muscle jumped in my cheek. “Where were you thinking?”

“Um. Down Home?”

“Jesus. Jumping right into the fire, aren’t you?”

She glanced at Toby and winked. He was watching both of us with a mixture of curiosity and boredom. Maybe a little fear. Basically, it was the expression he always regarded me with. Hesitant and hopeful.

“I guess I’m feeling a little brave tonight.” Her words barely reached my ears, but they still hit my chest with the force of a sledgehammer.

“Then Down Home it is. I’ll come get you at seven.” My brows jumped together, and I looked at Toby. “What are you going to do?”

“He’s old enough to stay home for a few hours, Jordan.”

Toby shrugged. “I’ll play some games. Drink too much pop and eat all the cookies Mom and I bought at the store today.”

Sounded like a heavenly Friday night, actually. Junk food and games. Boring though, and he hadn’t done much else since he’d been here. “What about the ranch? You could finally see those goats?”

“Oh, can I?” His head whipped toward his mom.

She bit her bottom lip. “Do you think Rebecca would mind? You could call her, but yeah, I’d be okay with that.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and held it out to her. “How about you call her? I bet she’d loved being asked.”

She stared at the phone like a rattlesnake was wrapped around it. It took her forever to decide. At her side, Toby bounced on his feet, almost begging her to do it. But a thousand thoughts raced through her mind before she finally straightened her back, like she had to pick herself up one vertebra at a time. “Um. Yeah. Okay. I can do that.”

Destiny fished her own phone out of her purse, smiled at me, and asked, “What’s her number? I’ll put it in my phone so if something happens, she has it.”

This was it. This was what I needed. Things weren’t easy between Rebecca and Destiny, but she was trying. It was all I wanted to see. Some effort.

I rattled off the digits and after she typed them in, pointed to my office. “You can use my office for privacy. While you’re calling her, I’m going to show Toby around the place. When you’re done, can you meet us in the lobby?”

“I can do that.” She grinned, but it was wobbly.

Someday, she’d believed she didn’t have anything to fear. Had never had anything to fear when it came to me. “I think you can do anything you want, Destiny, anything you set your mind to. You just have to believe that for yourself.” I scrubbed a hand over the top of Jordan’s head, shoving him playfully. “Let’s go little man. I’ll show you all the cool stuff.”

I took off with Destiny’s shocked look softening to something more beautiful. Something that had always called to me. That vulnerable part of her she’d only ever let me see. Only now, I was realizing I’d barely scraped the surface of all her fears all those years ago.

But we were kids young and stupid and naive to all the real difficulties life faced.

Hopefully we had both grown and matured enough to handle everything that could still be thrown our way.