Just One Kiss Read Online Free

I’ll be fine.” He turned and entered the house and shut the door in her face.
    Marissa fought the impulse to bang on the door and tell him he was a rude jerk. Instead she reminded herself that pain often made people extremely ill-tempered.
    As a nurse’s aide, she’d seen pain transform rational, intelligent, nice people into cursing, screaming creatures who hardly resembled human beings.
    She turned, went down the stairs and got back into the car, smiling at her son in the rearview mirror. “Well, sweetie, I offered to help him, but he declined. I guess that’s the end of our responsibility.”
    Nathaniel laughed, the childish giggle that always wound itself around Marissa’s heart. As she started the car and drove away from Jack Coffey’s place, she wondered if Bill ever thought of her, ever wondered about his son. She wondered if he realized how much he’d given up when he’d chosen to walk away from them both.
    As she drove to the motel that she and Nathaniel were calling home for the duration of their vacation, she filed thoughts of Bill away.
    She hadn’t realized at the time they were dating just how immature and selfish he was. She hadn’t realized that until she’d gotten pregnant and he’d run for the hills. She didn’t need a scared boy in her life, and Nathaniel certainly didn’t need a scared boy for a father.
    Better to have no father figure in Nathaniel’s life than a bad one. She’d grown up with a father who’d been immature and unwilling to accept responsibility.
    He’d drifted in and out of her life on his whims, bearing expensive gifts she didn’t need, taking her to restaurants she didn’t care about, giving her tangible things when all she wanted and needed was his love.
    He’d been filed away with Bill in her “not worth thinking about” file. And now she had a third man to add. Jack Coffey.
    But Jack simply refused to stay filed away. As she and Nathaniel ate dinner in a restaurant near her motel room, she wondered what Jack was eating for supper. With his splinted and bandaged hand, even making a sandwich could prove difficult.
    Not my problem, she reminded herself. She’d offered to help and he’d declined. From her brief encounter with him, she had a feeling Jack Coffey was a man who would have difficulty asking for help under any circumstances.
    Much later, tucked into bed with Nathaniel sleeping next to her in the crib the motel had provided, the scent of his baby sweetness surrounding her, she once again worried about Jack.
    She couldn’t help feeling responsible for him and his injuries. What if he tried to maneuver down those steep stairs on his own? As isolated as his house was, he could fall and hurt himself badly and it might be days before anyone would find him.
    When she finally fell asleep, her dreams were nightmares of Jack Coffey chasing her down the beach, only in her dreams it was her leg that was encased in heavy plaster. Nathaniel sat on the sand, clapping his hands and laughing with glee each time Jack tried to grab her.
    She awoke with a start just after dawn, grateful to leave the nightmares behind. But the night of restless dreams had made her realize she couldn’t just go on her merry vacation knowing a man was suffering because of her and her son’s actions. Her conscience simply wouldn’t allow it.
    By eight, she and Nathaniel were dressed and on their way back to Jack’s house. In a sack in the backseat she had all the makings of a good, old-fashioned, home-cooked breakfast. She didn’t know a man alive who would say no to biscuits and gravy, thick slabs of ham and fresh eggs.
    When she pulled up outside Jack’s house, she was surprised to see an old, beat-up station wagon. She sat for a moment, wondering if she should go up or not. After all, the station wagon indicated he wasn’t alone.
    As she was trying to make up her mind what