Page 89 of Totally Off Limits

“Why in the—”

“I’m not going to try to explain why I’ve fallen in love with him—but I will no longer deny letting my child know her father and vice versa. It was selfish of me. Actually, it was cowardly—all because I wanted your love and approval, something I will never earn no matter what I do. And I don’t care anymore. I know now that I will only be happy if I listen to my heart.” Again she turned to the man who’d been preparing to propose. “And I’m sorry, Austin,” she said, touching his arm, “but I don’t want to saddle you with a wife whose heart you will never have.”

She could read his face—but he wasn’t saying a word.

“Sierra—” Paul said.

“I’m done here. There’s nothing else to say—and you’re not talking me out of it. I’ve made up my mind.” With that, she shifted her attention to Layne. “Can you give me a ride, bro?”

“Hell, yeah. Let me get my keys.”

After her mother drained her glass of wine, she said, “Sierra Hayden, we are not done discussing this.”

“You can discuss it all you want, mom, but I won’t be here. Mia, come here, honey.”

Her daughter, hunkering down next to the dog, continued stroking his soft ear but she looked up at her mother. “Jasper needs a bone.”

Oh, that sweet little girl. Sierra felt immense relief that her child had missed most of the conversation. “Layne can get it for him later, but you and I need to go.”

“Can we see the fireworks?”

“Yes—but we need to go see your daddy first.”

“Mydaddy?” Her ebony eyes looked just like her father in that moment, and Sierra had to choke back a sob.

“Yes.”

If only he hadn’t left town yet.

CHAPTER29

“It’s right around the corner, I think,” Sierra said as Layne drove his car up the road toward the Church home.

“You sure? You said that a mile back.”

“I onlydrovethere once and it was in the dark. I can’t remember exactly where it is.”

“But this is the right road?”

“Yeah. You went to the wedding, too. Don’t you think it’s right?”

“You’re assuming I paid attention to any of that. For all you know, I was high.”

If Sierra hadn’t been so tense, she might have grilled him about that—but she’d leave it for another day. As he wound around the corner, Sierra saw what had to be Katie and Johnny’s home. “That’s it.”

As Layne steered his car up the drive, Sierra had to force herself to not open the door and jump out before he stopped. Once he did, though, close to the house, Sierra’s heart sank to her feet as reality washed over her.

There were no vehicles around the house. Sure, there was a garage, but there had been a couple of vehicles outside when she’d visited, including a sexy Corvette. But there wasn’t even a sign of the sensible Honda that Mickey had replaced it with.

Still…that didn’t mean anything. The only way to find out for sure was to knock on the door.

Which she did. She rang the bell like a crazy woman, alternately knocking, but there was no response.

But she wasn’t ready to give up.

She kept knocking and ringing and shouting, “Mickey? Are you in there?”

It wasn’t until Layne touched her shoulder and she turned to see the worried look in his eyes that she took a breath. Mia, in her uncle’s arms, held her hands out to her mother.

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