Page 12 of Not Quite Perfect

Within seconds I understood why—and my whole world turned on its axis.

Veronica—or Roni, as he affectionately called her—wasn’t another bimbo who’d divorce him when she got tired of banging an old dude. And her kids weren’t some snot-nosed brats who’d drive me crazy with their incessant whining. No, Roni was a beautiful, elegant older woman, and the two sons greeting my dad with firm handshakes were tall, bearded men close to my own age. When they moved aside revealing a third, younger man I realized he’d been in one of my courses the semester before.

With a laugh, I stepped forward to say hello. But then my former student shifted to reveal a blonde woman stepping out of the back of the limousine. He took her hand to steady her when the spiky heel she wore sank into the gravel.

My breath caught in my lungs, and I watched, transfixed, as the woman laughed, the tinkling sound lodging low in my gut.

I knew that hand. It had spent countless hours caressing my body the night before.

I knew that laugh. It had filled me with joy when she’d wrapped sudsy arms around my neck in the shower this morning and kissed me senseless.

In less than a day, Victoria Witherspoon had managed to work her way inside my heart and break down all the walls I’d built around that battered organ.

Now, we were minutes away from her mother marrying my father.

Moments away from her becoming my step-sister.

Seconds away from her being off-limits. Forever.

Because the way my dad looked at her mother? He’d never looked at a woman like that before. And that included my own mother. I could tell he loved Roni, truly. It was written plain as day in the reverent way he held her hand, how his body swayed toward hers like he was captured by her gravitational pull.

I’d known Victoria for less than twenty-four hours. I liked her. Hell, I adored her. But my fatherworshippedher mother. And she might be his last chance for real, lasting love.

The knowledge hit me like a grenade, shattering my heart and blowing my hopes and dreams to smithereens. I groaned and dropped my head back to stare at the sky. If I’d believed in God, I would have cursed him.

Through the pounding in my ears, I heard my dad calling my name. I took a deep breath and dropped my face forward. Steeling my resolve and schooling my features, I forced one foot in front of the other until I stood before Veronica and her four adult children. Drew Witherspoon’s eyes grew wide as saucers, and his gaze bounced nervously between his sister and me.

“Everyone, allow me to introduce my son, Richard Carstairs, Jr. Richard, this is Veronica Witherspoon. And these are her children Theodore, Alexander, Victoria, and Andrew.”

I couldn’t meet Victoria’s eyes. I didn’t want her to see the horror written in my own.

Theodore pushed his hand forward. “Pleasure to meet you. Please, call me Theo.”

Alexander followed suit, and then I couldn’t avoid it any longer.

I turned to face the most beautiful woman I’d ever had the good fortune to call my own—even if it had only been for a day. Victoria, with hair the color of frost on a cold winter’s morning, was naturally pale with rosy pink cheeks, but standing in front of me, all the color had leached from her face.

Numbly, she extended a hand. “Richard?” My name came out sounding breathy and slight, but no one—save my former student—seemed to pick up on her confusion.

I pressed our palms together and forced fake cheerfulness into my voice. “Please, call me David. I stopped going by Richard when I was eight years old and a classmate called me ‘Little Dick.’”

Everyone in the group laughed—my dad slapping me on the back with a hearty guffaw—and Victoria slid her hand from my grip.

With reluctance, I dragged my eyes to the youngest Witherspoon. “How’ve you been, Drew?”

He swallowed, and for a brief moment, appeared utterly spooked. But then he pulled a deep breath into his lungs, and I watched as a calm mask of indifference settled over his features. “Great, Professor Carstairs. Yourself?”

Unbidden, my gaze found Victoria’s, but she looked away, her bottom lip clamped tight between her teeth. “I’ve been well.” I forced myself to look at all of them. “A little surprised to meet you though.” I glowered at my father who, to his credit, appeared guilty.

Victoria sucked in a quick, tiny gasp and wrapped her arms around her middle, diverting Alex’s focus. “You okay, Vick?”

She nodded. “I’m fine. Just a chill.”

He eyed her for a few brief seconds, suspicion marring his brow, before turning his attention back to his mother. “Yeah, I don’t thinkanyof us were expecting the other,” he growled.

That was putting it mildly.

I’d never expected a woman like Victoria to show up in my life. Nor had I expected to fall so completely for her in the span of one night. And this morning, as we’d said goodbye-for-now outside her hotel, I’dneverexpected it would become permanent.

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