by Taryn Quinn
He just wanted me to create a human, not take care of one. Even if he did call on me to help.
Would he do the same with my—our—his… God. How would I even classify him or her? Mine?
Ours.
I fisted my hands into my hair and tugged out my messy bun. “Fuck.”
In the hallway, I could hear giggling and Seth’s baritone voice. The love obvious between them. His heart was so huge for that little girl. It might be a little more reserved for others. He used charm to deflect emotions for other people in his life.
I’d seen it firsthand. The way my customers reacted to him. That half-grin and easy way with conversation left everyone at ease. And half the town’s female population would jump at the chance to do what he’d asked me to do.
But they would want more.
Every woman wanted more in his eyes. Mostly because of the lenses that Marjorie had left behind when she’d walked away from Laurie. He just assumed most women wanted something from him. And part of me understood that.
He could grant me opportunities that I’d have to work my ass to achieve. But then again, they would be my achievements. No one else’s.
Part of me wanted to just up and leave this town and start over. Even if that meant I would be in debt up to my eyeballs for the next thirty years. It would be my debt, and my life, and a fresh start.
I lifted the towel that had fallen off Laurie’s head and hung it on the pink unicorn hook on the wall. And because I couldn’t stand to leave the mess in the bathroom, I listened to Seth tell his daughter a bedtime story as I tidied up.
When the rumble of his voice faded and I heard his footfalls, I shut off the light and met him in the hall.
He frowned at me. “I told you—”
I held up my hand. “Already done.” I crossed to him and ducked under his arm to enter Laurie’s room. His burnt sugar cologne mixed with the baby shampoo scent of his kid and my hormones decided that was the perfect aphrodisiac. Did I mention my life was unfair?
I focused on the little lump on the middle of the full-sized mattress. The bed was way too big for her, but she was surrounded by Care Bears and stuffed animals from various Disney movies. Dory, Hank, and the guppy from Little Mermaid guarded her. A nightlight spun from her bedside table, shooting starlight around her room.
Pink and perfect in every way. This little girl had everything I didn’t have growing up. No wonder he wanted to give her the world.
I just wasn’t sure I was the one to help him.
“She’s out.”
I lifted my shoulder in reaction to his deep voice against my ear. He slid his arm around my waist and pulled me away from the doorway. He shut the door most of the way, then pulled me down the hall.
“I don’t want to wake her.”
I nodded. Understandable, of course. He needed to back up though. I couldn’t handle him in my space for extended periods of time. Even if I’d initiated it this time. What the hell had I been thinking?
Oh, right. I wasn’t really thinking. Actually, it had been a luxury I couldn’t afford for years. I was really good at ignoring my feelings for him. Why did he have to go and ruin it? Now all I could imagine was what he tasted like.
Fuck.
I tried to pull away, but he pulled me back against him. “Don’t go.”
I closed my eyes. “Please don’t.”
“Don’t what?” His nose coasted around the shell of my ear. “Touch you?”
“I’m filthy.”
He buried his nose in my hair. “You smell like lilacs and sunshine.”
“Liar.”
“Baby shampoo and lilacs?”
I tried not to smile, but I had no defenses for this man. The worst part was I was sure he knew that. And Seth Hamilton was always on the lookout for weaknesses to exploit to get what he wanted.
How the hell was I supposed to move out of his crosshairs?
Did I want to?
His hand slid along my midriff, his thumb grazing the underside of my breast. I groaned. “Honestly, you have to pick now to do this?”
“I’ve been thinking about this for days.”
I turned in his arms. “So this was all a ruse?”
“No. This was the last act of a desperate man. She’s been a handful all night. She misses you.”
“Low blow.”
“You’ve spent Mother’s Day with us since Marj left.”
I shut my eyes. “I know.” Didn’t he realize how hard this day was for me? Not only because it was Mother’s Day for Laurie, but the first without my mom?
He knew on some level. He’d sent me flowers, hadn’t he? But all my emotions were raw today. It just wasn’t fair that he was right here and finally noticing me.
Except he wasn’t seeing me as a partner. No, he was only seeing me as a woman because I had a functioning uterus.
He wanted something from me. It was just handy that he was attracted to me. It was how the world had propagated all these years. Just a biological response.
He swiped his thumb along my jawline. “I know today was rough. And it was completely unfair of me to push you to come over here and save me.”
I ground my teeth together and growled. I looked up at him. “Don’t be sweet, dammit.”
His fingers slid up into my hair and he gathered it tight at the nape of my neck. “You got it.”
I didn’t have time to dodge or pull away from him. I didn’t have the heart to do it either. I’d had a truly shitty day and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
Finally.
For years I’d seen women come and go from his life. A knowledge always seemed to live in their eyes when they touched him. I wanted that too. I wanted to feel something other than sad and frustrated.
I met his gaze. The dark, turbulent anger swirled with something else. Something I couldn’t define. I had a limited scope with men, but I had some.
Nothing came close to this man though.
I shifted against him and my damp T-shirt met with his wrinkled Oxford blue. Working class and old money between us in every way. And then none of that mattered.
He lowered his mouth and covered mine. My eyes fluttered shut and I fell into the kiss.
Nothing soft and hesitant here. He was no fumbling boy. I was pretty sure he hadn’t been one of those in a very long time.
His other arm wrapped around me from the back, gripping the hem of my shirt until his fingers curled into the belt loops of my shorts. His grip drew me up until I rose on my tiptoes, desperate for more.
He dragged me closer and opened me for his invading tongue. No easy transition into a carnal kiss. Instead it was a tempest of flavors and heat.
I curled my arms around his neck and hung on, giving back as much as I could manage.
I was out of my league. Hell, out of the galaxy, but I was determined to show him I belonged here in his arms.
Before I could allow myself to analyze that little thought, I was swept up into Hurricane Seth. He turned me around and pinned me to the wall, my toes dangling off the floor as he ground his hard cock against my shorts.
God, yes.
My fingers dug into his shoulders and I groaned into his mouth. We were a tangle of tongues and limbs. His hand coasted down my waist to my hip before a groan buzzed through my tongue and along my mouth. Mine? His? Who knew?
Then he swept lower to hook my knee and drag my leg up around his hips. I hopped up with the other and finally his hard length was right where I needed it.
The seam of my cutoffs dug into my panties and the little bit of friction was better than anything I’d done alone. Sweet merciful heaven, there was a God.
Not that I’d tell Seth he was on par with God. He didn’t need that kind of help ego-wise, but yes. So much yes.
My sandal thumped to the floor and my eyes flew wide. We both froze, praying that the noise didn’t wake the little girl across the hall from us.
Right across from us.
What the hell was wrong wit
h me? I struggled and pulled my mouth away from his. “Put me down,” I whispered.
“It’s fine,” he said against my cheek. “She didn’t wake up. She’s a heavy sleeper, except for the nightmares.” He grazed his mouth along my cheek to my jaw and headed for my ear.
Nightmares? I shook my head to clear it. “We can’t do this.”
He jerked his head back. “What? Why?”
“Because we’re right down the hall from her. God, what the hell was I thinking?”
“You weren’t. That was the good part.”
I wiggled until I slid down the wall and my foot hit the floor.
“We can go downstairs.”
“What and make out on the couch like teenagers?”
“We can go to my room if it makes you feel better.”
“No, it doesn’t make me feel better.” I pushed him away from me and jammed my foot into my shoe. “None of this makes me feel better.”
“I promise you I can.” His eyes were hot and his shirt was wrinkled. Oh, and another button had come free thanks to our little mauling make out session against the frigging wall. The little bit of hair at the center of his chest arrowed down his hard abs that were now showing.
Yeah, I was so not looking. I pulled down my shirt and cursed my overstimulated body. Everything was hot and tingling and it was all so wrong.
I spun on my heel and silently sprinted down the hallway to the stairs. I heard him curse under his breath behind me, but I kept going.
Yeah, I was running. Sue me.
There was no way I could handle any of this today. Not emotionally and definitely not intellectually. I’d found out why Seth made all the girls come around.
Five more minutes and I would have come.
And that was five minutes I could never get back, nor live through over and over again.
He caught me at the door and jerked me to a stop before I could make it to the safety of the night. To the normalcy of my piece of shit car.
“Dammit, Al.” He turned me around and gripped both my upper arms. “Why are you running?”
“We can’t do this. Not now.”
His dark eyes fired. “Why not?”
My chest was heaving. My fight or flight instincts were in full-on escape route mode. “Please, let me go.”
I don’t know if it was the please or something he saw in my eyes. Whatever it was, he dropped his hands and I stumbled back and out the door.
I didn’t look back to see if he followed. I could only pray he wouldn’t.
My breath returned to normal when I was inside my car. I finally dared a look and quickly returned my eyes to front and center. To the moonlit water off the bank of his property.
To the lake that had been the only home I’d ever truly known.
I had to.
I couldn’t watch him stand on that huge staircase and drive away from him. So I stared out the back window until I was on the road again, and I didn’t look into my rearview mirror.
Not even once.
Six
Seth
Shaking off the rain on my hair, I stepped into the darkened, intimate atmosphere of the Sherman Inn. My stomach was roaring and my mind was in knots.
As for my dick, I wasn’t going there.
It had taken me days of wearing her down, but Ally had finally agreed to meet me for dinner and “some time” in town on Friday night.
“Some time” probably being an hour or less, considering her skittish tone as we’d talked that afternoon. But hell, after Sunday’s kiss, I considered it huge progress that she was talking to me at all. She’d run awful damn fast the other day.
I couldn’t even really blame her. I’d pushed for the kiss to happen and it had still almost blown my fucking head off.
“Table for two, please,” I told the maître d’. I was running late, but Ally tended to run even later so I felt safe in assuming I’d be snagging our table.
Normally, I would’ve placed a reservation, but this wasn’t supposed to be a date. Reservations screamed dates, according to Ally, so she’d wanted us to try our luck for a table. At one of the busiest restaurants in Crescent Cove on a Friday night at the start of summer.
Right.
“This way, sir,” the maître d’ said, proving me wrong. Even as I followed the tall, severe-looking man in black, Ally’s voice echoed in my head.
Hamilton money buys tables. You don’t need a reservation. Watch.
“Did someone just leave?” I asked.
The maître d’ shot me a cool smile. “On weekend nights, we’re booked solid all day and night. Your table, sir.” He gestured toward a secluded corner table with a lake view and candles flickering under glass domes.
“You know who I am then.” Why I needed the confirmation, I didn’t know. Maybe some part of me hoped Ally was wrong. She had to be wrong now and then.
It wasn’t as if I didn’t know my family’s influence in Crescent Cove. Of course, I did. Hamilton Realty had been a fixture in the community since my grandfather was a young man. I was also a regular at the Sherman Inn. But I’d never seen this guy before in my life.
“Yes, sir.” He pulled out a chair and gestured. “Your server will be here in a moment with the wine list. Your companion’s name so I can direct her to your table?”
“Alison Lawrence. She should be here soon—”
“Right behind you,” she said cheerfully. “Got a table, huh?” she commented as I turned and tried not to swallow my tongue.
She wasn’t wearing anything special. Correction—she wasn’t wearing anything I hadn’t seen her in a hundred times before. She had on a pale-yellow sundress with tiny purple flowers, cowboy boots, and a tight jean jacket, with her long hair flowing in every which direction and matted a little from the misty rain. It didn’t matter. She was simply stunning.
How hadn’t I noticed before?
“Miss,” the maître d’ said, pulling out the chair opposite me while I stood and stared. Mutely.
Smooth, dude. Real smooth.
Ally shot me a sidelong glance as she skirted around me to slip into her seat. “Thank you.”
“Enjoy your meal.” The maître d’ melted away and almost immediately, our server appeared.
I dropped into my chair and accepted the wine list, ordering a bottle of rosé for the table before my brain clicked back into gear.
Ally kicked me as soon as the server went to fulfill my request. “Hi there, remember me? I wanted a martini.”
“Since when?” Oh look, my lips could come unglued long enough to stick my foot between them.
“Since I felt like a damn martini. What is wrong with you?” She leaned forward and laid a hand on my forehead. “You’re flushed. Do you have a fever?”
“Some virus is running through Laurie’s class, so maybe.” I eased away from her hand and she picked up her napkin. Her touching me right now was not the best idea.
My cock thought it was awesome, but that part of me wasn’t known for its good judgment.
“And you left her with a babysitter just to come out with me?”
“She’s not sick,” I snapped irritably. “And I left her with her uncle. Oliver took her to the Faraday party so he doesn’t have to stay long.”
Ally paused midway through spreading her napkin on her lap. “He brought your little girl to a fancy work party? Why didn’t you go?”
“Because I’m having dinner with you.”
“Oh, right, because this is such an important event that you can’t miss it.”
“I haven’t seen you since the weekend. Every time I stop in the diner, you’re not there.”
“Darn. Must’ve missed you.” She glanced out the window. “Damn rain. Can barely see the lake.”
“Yeah, you’re wet.” I brushed a damp curl away from her cheek and she bristled, backing away from my touch just as I’d done.
My words hung in the air between us. Heavy, rich with meaning well beyond what I’d intended.
“In
your dreams, Hamilton,” she said, her taunt falling short of the target.
She didn’t know my dreams. I was only beginning to fathom their scope myself.
Our server returned with our bottle of wine. After pouring it into two glasses, I ordered Ally a martini even though her stare nearly burrowed a hole into the side of my head.
If she wanted a martini, a martini she would have. With an extra olive I could steal.
“He probably thinks I’m a wino,” she muttered as she opened her menu.
“Can’t please you, woman.”
“Sure, you can. Stop ordering for me like this is a date. We never order for each other.”
“I beg to differ. Did you or did you not order the tiramisu for me the last time we went out?”
“That’s because it was a sacrilege you’d never had it. And you licked the plate clean.” She disappeared behind her menu and I grinned down at mine, barely resisting the urge to make a sly remark.
Thankfully, we were back on an even keel. If she stayed hidden behind that menu, I might not be starstruck by just the sight of her again.
Maybe I did have a fever.
Through our salads, braised lamb for me and chicken parm for her, and our tiramisu desserts—hey, I could admit when I’d seen the error of my ways—we kept the conversation light and easy. She had two martinis and a glass of rosé, and I had two glasses of wine. Neither of us were drunk, just relaxed. Easy with each other, as we’d always been.
After the weirdness I’d introduced into our relationship with my contract, it was nice to be chill enough to laugh and tease each other as we usually did. My getting annoyed at her mention of a cute guy seated in her section of tables at the diner was new, but I chalked that up to thinking way too much about her reproductive organs lately. Thoughts in that direction tended to spread.
Kissing her senseless the other night—and being kissed back the exact same way—also probably didn’t help.
I didn’t actually care if she found another man “cute.” Bully for her.
Okay, so I cared. A lot. And that might’ve been when I’d decided to go for that second glass when I usually stopped at one when I was driving. But we wouldn’t be on the road for hours yet, since we intended to walk the shops that lined Main Street and head up the pier to check out the lake. If the freaking rain ever decided to stop screwing with our plans.