Solid Soul (Forged of Steele #1)

A stubborn expression settled on Marcus’s face. “She’s not just any girl, Dad. Tiffany is the girl I plan to marry one day.”

“Marry!” Chance nearly swallowed the word in shock. “How did marriage get into the picture? You’re only sixteen! I know you think you really care for this girl and—”

“It’s more than that, Dad, and the sooner you and Tiffany’s mother realize it, the better. Tiffany and I are madly in love and we want to be together forever. There’s nothing either of you can say or do to stop us, so you may as well accept it.”

“Like hell I will.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Marcus said as he walked out of the kitchen toward his bedroom.

Total shock kept Chance from going after his son and wringing his neck.

Kylie paced the floor. Her nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Tiffany hadn’t come out of her room yet, which was probably the best thing.

Love!

At fifteen her daughter thought she was in love. Madly in love at that! Kylie swallowed a thickness in her throat when she realized how her mother must have felt sixteen years ago, dealing with her when she’d been obsessed with Sam Miller.

She paused when she heard the phone ring and quickly crossed the room to pick it up, thinking it was probably Lena checking to see how things with Tiffany had gone. “Hello.”

“We need to talk, Ms. Hagan.”

Kylie blinked at the sound of the ultra sexy male voice. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who the caller was, or to know he’d evidently had had another talk with his son. She sighed. Yes, they did need to talk. “You name the place and I’ll be there.”

“All right.” After a quiet pause, he said. “They think they’re in love. Madly in love.”

Kylie shook her head. “So I heard. Louder than I really cared to, in fact.”

“Same here. Do you know where the Racetrack Café is?”

“Yes.”

“Can you meet me there around noon tomorrow?”

Considering what was going on with Tiffany and his son, she really didn’t have a choice. Hopefully, together they could devise a way to stop the young couple before they got into more trouble than they could handle. “Yes, I can meet you there.”

“Fine, I’ll see you then.”

Chance arrived at the restaurant early to make sure they got a table. Jointly owned by several race car drivers on the NASCAR circuit, the Racetrack Café was a popular eatery in town. He hadn’t been seated more than five minutes when he glanced over at the entrance to see Kylie Hagan walk in.

He had hoped his mental picture of her from yesterday had been wrong, but it hadn’t. Kylie Hagan was an attractive woman. Every man in the place apparently thought so, too, judging by the looks they gave her. Not for the first time he wondered about her age and how someone who looked so young could have a fifteen-year-old daughter.

He watched her glance around before she spotted him. There wasn’t even a hint of a smile on her face as she walked toward him. But, he quickly decided, it didn’t matter. Smiling or not, she looked gorgeous dressed in a pair of black slacks and a blue pullover sweater. And those same curves that he’d convinced himself had to be a figment of his imagination made her slacks a perfect fit for her body. Even her walk was mesmerizing and sexy.

When she got closer, he saw the wariness around her eyes, which led him to believe that she’d probably gone a round or two with her daughter sometime during that day, as he’d done with Marcus. He wondered if the discussion had been about the “his and hers” tattoos Marcus had indicated he and Tiffany were thinking about getting.

Chance stood when she reached the table. “Ms. Hagan.”

“Mr. Steele.”

He thought they were overdoing the formality, but felt it was best to keep things that way for now. After all, this was nothing more than a business meeting, and the only item on the agenda was a discussion about their children.

After they had taken their seats, he asked, “Would you like to order anything? They have the best hamburgers and French fries in town.”

A small smile touched Kylie’s lips. “So I’ve heard. But no, I’m fine, you go ahead and order something if you’d like. It’s just that my most recent conversation with Tiffany has killed my appetite.”

Chance heard the quiver in her voice and recalled his own conversation with Marcus that morning before he’d left for school. “I take it Tiffany told you about the tattoo.”

He watched her nostrils flare as she drew in a silent breath. “Yes, she told me. Matching lovebirds on their tummies right above their navels, I understand.”