The Forgotten Heiress novel Chapter 2

Jessica shook her head. No one was getting her information.

"There's no need. A collision between us was avoided. My bike is fine and I will reimburse the home owners for the yard."

That said, Jessica unzipped her jacket and reached inside a hidden pocket. She took out a piece of paper, a pen and some of the extra cash she carried for emergencies. Hastily, she penned an apology on the piece of paper and when she was done she turned and looked towards the front door.

The longer she looked at it, the longer the distance grew. In her pain filled mind, fifteen paces became fifteen-hundred. Giving her injured ankle a twist, she judged it well enough to make the trip.

She didn't give herself time to over think it. Bracing herself, she took a deep breath and jogged to the front door. It took everything within her to not give herself away.

Taking the hair tie from her wrist she wrapped it around the bills and the note. She crouched down, slipped them in through the mail slot and hoped there were no paper eating pets inside.

Getting back up she took a deep breath and promised herself twenty-four hours of sleep and all the chocolate cake she could eat if she made it back to the bike without making a complete idiot of herself.

She managed to make it to her bike, picking up her helmet and back pack on way, and hopped on it because she couldn't trust her legs to keep her upright another minute.

"Are you sure you're okay?" The guy asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Jessica could feel the heat of his touch even through the layers of her clothing. She looked down at his hand and shrugged it off. It was the second time he'd managed to catch her unaware.

"I'm positive." She told him as she pulled on her helmet and slid the visor down.

With her eyes hidden, Jessica allowed herself to study every inch of his body. Jessica judged him to be at least a foot taller than her five feet-three inches and not an ounce of him appeared to be fat. His broad shoulders almost blocked out the sun and his shirt did little to conceal his wide chest and slim waist.

But it wasn't his body that attracted her most, it was his eyes. She'd been wrong before, they weren't brown. His eyes were the color of honey with thick, long eyelashes that any female would envy.

And then he smiled, drawing her eyes down to his mouth. A small scar on the corner of his upper lip didn't detract from his appeal. If anything it only enhanced it.

Marshaling up her courage, Jessica took a deep breath and jumped off her bike. Making her way up the drive way was pure hell. Now that the adrenaline had ebbed her ankle throbbed and pain shot up her leg every time it was jostled.

Once she reached the front door she wiped her damp hands on the front of her jeans and ordered them to stop shaking. Taking a deep breath proved to be a futile attempt to settle the butterflies in her stomach and it took her a couple of moments to work up the nerve to knock on the door.

And when she did, she came face to face with an older version of herself.

Shock rendered her speechless. She'd played such a scenario a million times in her mind but when it counted, all of her practiced pleasantries flew out the window.

"Oh God it's you, it's really you!" Cried the woman who, Jessica deduced, was her birth mother, Lauren.

"Her? Mom, you mean it's her?" Jessica snapped her gaze towards the intruder and was shocked out of her socks. She had a brother! He had to be her brother; the similarities between them told her so.

Jessica's mother gave him a watery smile and nodded while wiping away the tears streaking down her face.