Dare To Tempt (Dare Nation 2)
He leaned forward. “Imagine if you did your best but were punished for it because it didn’t meet your father’s standards. Or you were belittled because the physical part of the game didn’t come naturally to you. Or worse, because you weren’t as naturally talented as your older brother.”
“I’m really sorry,” she murmured. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“Hey, if I’d tell anyone, it’d be you. The thing was, Jesse, my dad, lost out on a pro career due to an injury that sidelined him. He lived for the past and was determined that his kids would damn well succeed where he didn’t.” Damon took a sip of water. “But later, after finding out about Uncle Paul, I realized there was more to it. Jesse was just a man who felt inadequate about a lot of things, and he took it out on us kids.”
When she didn’t say anything, he continued. “Each of us was different. Austin was more the golden child. Sports came naturally to him. Jaxon wanted to play baseball and he was damned good at it. You can imagine how well that went over. And Braden…” Damon shook his head. “He was the brain. The smartest one. Now a doctor. But was Dad proud? Hell no. Because he couldn’t meet the old man’s standards for being a man by playing football.”
“He’s with Doctors Without Borders, right?” she asked.
“Yep.” And Damon was damn proud of his brother.
“What about Bri?” Evie reached out and took his hand across the table.
“He made her play sports. For her he accepted softball and soccer, but she wasn’t his focus. She slipped under the radar more than the boys.”
A waiter walked over and they both glanced up. “Finished, folks?” he asked.
“Yes, please,” Evie said, and Damon nodded.
When the server had removed their dishes, returned, and taken their dessert orders, he left them alone.
“Why did your mother stay with him?” Evie asked.
He rolled his shoulders. It was a question he’d asked himself many times. “Sometimes I can’t figure out whether she loved him or settled because she couldn’t have Uncle Paul.” He paused. “They grew up together, best friends, and she was in love with him. But you know why that didn’t happen.”
She looked entranced by the story. “Unrequited love. Or impossible love. Either way, she couldn’t have Paul.” She paused in thought. “I guess you’ll never know the answer to that one.”
“Yeah.” He knew that. “As for why she stayed? I’m pretty sure she believed she could be a buffer between Jesse and us, but it never worked out that way.”
Evie squeezed his hand and he more than appreciated her understanding.
“You know,” she said, obviously speaking carefully, “if your mom married Jesse because she couldn’t have the person she really loved, that’s sad. But I’m sure she thought she wanted a husband and a family. And I would guess she loved him in her own way.”
He nodded. “I know. She was and is a great mother.”
“And that’s why you’re a great guy.” Evie’s smile lit up the room.
“Thanks.”
They finished their apple pie a la mode and decided to walk back to the house, hand in hand, taking the route along the beach. He was in shorts, she was in a knee-length dress, and they edged the water, waves lapping over their feet, shoes dangling from their free hand.
After those games of touch football on the beach, his ankle bothered him, aching like it did during a game, making him wish he’d agreed to the shot Doc had suggested. But he wouldn’t trade this moment and didn’t mind the pain.
Silence surrounded them except for the sound of the ocean. He didn’t feel compelled to speak, not after spilling his guts over dinner. He’d often thought about his father’s heavy-handed ways and beaten himself up for not living up to Jesse’s standards.
Not anymore. He wasn’t going to torture himself over his childhood again. Revealing his torment had him looking at his past like an observer. And it had been Jesse’s issues, not his, causing him to act like a bully. Jesse’s behavior that was wrong, not Damon’s or his siblings’.
He glanced at Evie’s profile and smiled. She’d lightened his burden. And even better, he hadn’t thought about his suspension all night, at least until now, anyway.
And he owed it all to the woman by his side.
* * *
The next two days followed the same pattern. Damon worked out in the morning, they had lazy days on the beach, and before dinner, Evie would take an hour or two to do some digging into the college pasts of Gregory Emerson’s father and Dr. Jonas. What she’d found was interesting, and she intended to discuss it with Damon on the flight home. No reason to intrude on their vacation when there was nothing to be done. Yet.
She enjoyed another dinner alone with Damon, and they’d had incredible sex in their massively huge bedroom with a king-size bed. Knowing how hard it had been for him to confide in her about his childhood, she’d treated him to stories of her growing up with four brothers and discovered she and his sister, Bri, had a lot in common. They’d both tagged along with their big brothers, driving them crazy, making them worry about them as they grew up. His father aside, there was as much love in his big family as she had in hers.