Caleb stood, easily swinging him up and over his shoulders. “We’ll help.”
Anticipation thrummed through her veins. Vainly, she tried to slow the thrill building inside her, but his proximity and super sexy presence completely confused her. “I doubt Jason will be able to do the paperwork and process orders,” Hannah said. She didn’t dare accept Caleb’s help. Not here. Not now. She desperately needed him to get out of her way before she made a complete fool of herself.
He grinned. “Take a break. I’ll help you after we put Jason down to sleep.”
“But you’ve already put in a full day.”
“So have you.” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, gentle and tender as if he truly cared about her wellbeing. “You look like you need a break.”
Her heart punched against her sternum and a lump lodged in her throat. “I can handle this,” she said. She didn’t want to become dependent on him when he’d only be here temporarily. But oh, how she longed to have someone to share the burden permanently.
“Sure you can. But you don’t have to.” Caleb walked to the door and ducked under the top jamb to step out into the hallway with him still firmly held in place. “We’re a team, remember?”
“Well,” she hesitated, wanting to say yes, yet knowing she shouldn’t allow herself the luxury.
He flashed a smile and his eyes creased at the corners as he reached out one hand. “Come on. You know you can’t resist spending time with your two best guys.”
“Momma.” Jason reached for her. “Come.”
The dimple in their little boy’s left cheek matched the one in Caleb’s oh-so-damn-charming face. God. They were a two of a kind and she loved them so much in that moment.
“All right,” she said, shaking her head and smiling at the irresistible pair. Maybe she wouldn’t have a lifetime of moments like this one, but at least she could bottle the few memories Caleb was willing to make with her for the sake of her little boy.
And for herself if she was truly being honest.
###
“Don’t worry about the product you had to toss,” Caleb said later that night as he loaded the last of the dinner plates into the stainless steel top of the line dishwasher. “I’ll pay for the replacements until the insurance kicks in. The deductible is on me, too.”
She stopped wiping the kitchen island’s granite countertop, then pressed her lips together into a razor thin line. He read the objections forming in her mind in every furrow marring her forehead. But he refused to let her shoulder any additional financial burdens.
“Don’t argue.” He shot a quick glance over to the open living area where Jason sat transfixed in front of the big flat screen television as he watched his favorite DVD for the bazillionth time. A reward for eating all his veggies and the rest of the organic goop Hannah called food. “I won’t take no for an answer.”
“You’re not responsible for me. Just Jason.” She squirted more cleaner, then swiped vigorous circles onto the granite. “I’m not happy about the setback, but that’s life. At least it’s only stuff that’s destroyed.”
She talked a big game, but he could hear the defeat in her voice. God, he yearned to hug her, hold her close to comfort her. But he didn’t because that might lower his ability to think clearly and keep things sex-free while he figured out how to win her over.
But still, the night he’d crossed that line stirred his blood. Heat pumped low. He cleared his throat, imagined diving into the Arctic Ocean to ice down his randy thoughts. “Tomorrow I’ll call Kennedy to make sure she puts fixing your boutique at the top of her company’s list. I’ll check in with them every day,” he said after a beat of silence. “All you have to do is worry about restocking your supplies and making sure the water and fire mitigation goes as scheduled. You’ll reopen on time.”
“I hope so, but this is my dream, my future, not yours.” She bit her bottom lip, pausing briefly before speaking again. “I won’t accept your money.”
Frustration tracked down his spine one painful step at a time. Why did Hannah have to make it so hard to do the right thing? “Consider it a payment towards making up for missed child support.”
He popped a dishwasher detergent tab into the holder, hit the control panel’s buttons to set the wash cycle, and closed the door. A bit harder than necessary, but he needed to drive out the sexual frustration along with the guilt for having missed out being there right from the beginning of Jason’s life.
“Your parents have helped...” her voice trailed off and she looked away.
His muscles clamped at the base of his neck. He still couldn’t wrap his brain around the fact that his father had become Grandpa of the Year. Not when Steven had been less than stellar in the parenting department.
“He’s my son, not theirs.” He crossed the floor to Hannah, paper towels bunched in her curled fist. “He’s my responsibility. If you’re not happy, then he won’t be happy either.”
She released the towels and swooped her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “There’s no way your money can fix everything. Who knows? Maybe I won’t be able to reopen in time for the Memorial Day celebration of the historic district’s renovation. That’ll mean months of work down the drain. Or more accurately,” she said ruefully, “up in smoke.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes, but she banked them. Still, he could see her vulnerability trembled beneath the surface of her stoicism. That, and her oh so tantalizing scent of peaches and cream, undid his resolve to keep his hands to himself. He closed the scant distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. ‘You’ll be okay. Everything will work out in time.” He caressed her stiff back, smoothing his palms over her soft T-shirt, trying to ease her tension while desperate to bank his growing desire. “I promise.”
“All of his special stuffed animals, his first pair of shoes and the ceramic cross my parents gave him after we christened him—they’re gone,” she whispered, her voice ragged and shallow. “The quilt your mom made for him. His baby pictures... they’re all ashes or beyond repair.”
His throat felt tight, raw with emotion. Though Caleb had experienced his share of loss amidst the brutality of the battles he fought overseas, the destruction wrought by bombs and guns and chaos beyond comprehension, he had neatly compartmentalized his experiences as being part of the job he had been called to do. But this? He couldn’t pop the picture of what might have happened into a box to distance himself from the nightmare.
He tightened his hold, felt her shoulders loosen. “I know my money can’t replace all that you’ve lost,” Caleb said. “I’m sorry.”
She sniffled and snuggled into the crook of his shoulder. “It’s not your fault.”
Though she absolved him, a wave of regret washed through him. That was his son’s room that had gone up in flames. He might never have known little Jason other than as a name attached to a photograph had his little boy been sleeping in his bed when the electrical fire started.
He wanted to make up the loss, not only the stuff that Hannah had treasured and saved, but of the time he had missed while under deep cover. Caleb tucked his finger under her chin and tilted her face up. “I’ll help you sift through all the Facebook albums everyone has online. We’ll get most of the pictures back,” he said. Plus, the project would give him another way to draw closer to her and find a way to reach past her stubborn refusal to be with a military man again.
“But you barely have time to deal with the corporate takeover threat,” she said. “I won’t let you jeopardize your family’s company.”
“I’ve got it under control,” he said. Though convincing the jackals that had been circling Gibson Technologies to back off had taken a shitload of finesse. He still had to log countless hours with his chief financial officer to hack through the numbers to guarantee that another corporate raider wouldn’t attempt another attack. His business degree had given him the necessary diploma to do the job, but it was his experience out in the field as a leader of an elite military ops
team that solidified his focus in the boardroom.
His dad might have used this situation as an excuse to back out of supporting Caleb’s mother, but Caleb wasn’t that kind of guy. “Nothing will stop me from doing what’s best for my family,” he said. Or for her. Even if she fought him every step of the way due to some misguided sense of pride. Not that he could blame her.
Hell, he’d already fucked up royally the first time he’d issued a marriage order when he knew he’d rejected her two years ago by taking a third tour of duty. He didn’t deserve a second chance as long as he wasn’t willing to give up his career for her.
Yet here, with Hannah anchored in his arms, her body warm and pliant and fitting to his as if she were made for him, he yearned to close the distance between their mouths. He longed to kiss her full, luscious lips and drink her in like a long, tall glass of sweet tea on a hot summer day. He wanted to feel her draw him in, fill her with everything he had as man and as a lover.
###
Hannah stared into Caleb’s indigo eyes, desire and regret and compassion swirled in their azure depths. The noise from the television screen faded and the air seemed to form a bubble around them. He had called them his family when he’d offered to paste together a new album of photos. And she had faith that he would do exactly what he had promised. Protect them. Financially and physically. And, where Jason was concerned, Caleb had already established a clear emotional bond with their son. But he couldn’t protect her heart from breaking again when he left Sweetbriar Springs.
His mouth was dangerously close to hers, making her want to taste him again. But doing so would be like trying to eat one piece of chocolate. She’d never get enough, craving so much more.
Still, he’d jumped right in to take care of the monumental mess the fire in her boutique had caused and maybe, just maybe, that meant he cared for her. She chewed her lower lip, watched his gaze darken even more, and a zip of electricity shot through her.
Her nipples tightened and heat pooled low between her thighs. Oh, how she longed to act on the desire pulsing between them. To be wanted by this glorious, sexy beyond imagination man was intoxicating. But it would be way too addictive. One taste, one slide of his mouth against hers, would never be enough.
Taking a fortifying breath, she held the air until the exquisite ache tugging her sex subsided enough for her to speak clearly. “I’d be a fool not to accept your generous offer. After all, once our apartment above the spa is habitable, we can go home. Then you can get on with your life, too.”
He swallowed hard. “You can stay here as long as you need, but I know how important making that deadline is to you—your business. I’ll make sure the work is completed on schedule.”
“Thanks.” She took a little step back. “Now let’s get our little boy and tuck him into bed.” Best to focus on forging a bond between father and son than on fantasizing about acting on her attraction.
Before she turned, Caleb caught her hand, then brought her palm to his mouth and pressed a feather-light kiss at the center. “Thanks for letting me in,” he said. “And thanks for giving me a chance to know our son.”
Warmth spread through her, making her want with an intensity she’d never thought possible. Stop it. This is about family. There can’t be anything more than mutual respect. Period. The. End. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said. But the truth was she had always hoped for more than shared custody of their son when Caleb returned from his war. But he refused to give her what she needed most which meant she had to let him go.
Unfortunately, what had brought him back, his father’s stroke and the need to handle his family’s vast conglomerate of companies, wouldn’t keep Caleb home.
Still, standing in the circle of his powerful strength, feeling the way his denim clad muscular thighs framed hers, and resting her cheek against the soft jersey shirt covering his broad chest made her wish she could always rely on his solid presence. Her nose prickled and tiny needles stabbed behind her eyes. If only Caleb would let go of the past that haunted him. She’d known for two years that the demons that had driven him to fight battles had more to do with the stigma of being the product of a shotgun marriage. Though she tried to eradicate them from Caleb’s brain the night they’d made love, she wasn’t able to get him to change his way of thinking.
Caleb had never truly felt like he’d been accepted. He carried a weight of responsibility for the misery his mother experienced because of his father’s philandering ways. He’d run from that knowledge all the way to boot camp when he’d been fresh out of high school. Then he’d refused to take the helm of his family’s business after discovering his father had yet another mistress in the wings. That accelerated into a terrible fight with his father. Caleb had left town to sign up for another dangerous, covert mission overseas.
She’d tried to stop Caleb from acting on his anger. But he’d been bullheaded like her ex-boyfriend. Brandon had returned to Los Angeles with a major case of PTSD, refused to seek professional help, choosing alcohol as his medication instead. Then Brandon had taken his anger, frustration, and pain out on her before he’d wrapped his SUV around a street light.
That accident had finally forced her to leave before he killed them both.
“Momma,” Jason called from the living room. “Juice.”
His demands jarred her back to reality. Reluctantly, she broke away from Caleb’s sheltering arms. “One drink then it’s off to bed, little buddy.”
“I’ll get his sippy cup ready,” Caleb said, turning toward the oversized stainless steel fridge.
“Great.” She watched him walk over to it and open the door, her eyes glued on the way his jeans hugged his butt to perfection. Her hormones sighed an oh-my. She shushed them with another dose of reality. “I’ll get his diaper changed while you pour his juice.”
She moved into the living room to where Jason sat on a square patch of blanket with his favorite stuffed animal, the only one remaining because he refused to be without the raggedy gray and fuzzy elephant. “Daddy’s going to tuck you in tonight.”
“Want you,” he said, then pursed his bow shaped lips into a telltale pout.
“You’ve got me until story time.” She scooped him into her arms and moved to get off the floor, almost tumbling before Caleb’s caught her and pulled them up together.
“Gotcha.” Caleb gave him his cup. “Here you go little man.”
Her skin heated and electricity zipped through her nerves. Why did Caleb have to be so there? So perfect? So easy to rely on? His attentiveness confused her more than she cared to admit.
Hannah moved away from his touch again. “Thanks for the save.” She shifted Jason to her left hip. “Let’s get this guy ready for bed before we all fall asleep on our feet.”
“You still doing diaper duty tonight?” Caleb asked hopefully as they walked together toward Jason’s bedroom.
“A deal is a deal.” Their bet during their FaceTime call with Michael while he attended a pre-Olympic swim trial in Atlanta, Georgia had resulted in her pick losing. Caleb’s—with Michael’s input during their call—had won. Much to her chagrin. “Remind me never to gamble against you again.”
“Hey, if you had listened to your big brother then we’d be alternating.”
She laughed. Though Michael’s ALS diagnosis had cast a shadow over her world, his indomitable attitude held everyone’s fears at bay. “If I know Michael, he probably gave you an inside tip. You men always stick together,” she said.
“I take the fifth,” Caleb said, opening the door to Jason’s new, albeit temporary, bedroom.
After a diaper change, and many snuggles, she sat in the gliding rocking chair, holding little Jason as she reread the last stanza of Goodnight Moon for the third time. Caleb sprawled on the floor next to them, glancing up at with one brow raised in question and mouthed is he asleep yet?
She nodded and he quickly stood, his movement silent and swift. Without speaking, he reached out his hand. Hannah hesitated, then
clasped it. He gently helped her out of the chair, giving her the right amount of space to hold Jason and come to her feet.
Caleb wrapped his arm around her weary shoulders. She let her head fall into the comforting curve of his embrace, for once letting go of the invisible barrier she’d erected against succumbing to the desire for his touch. This was about sharing a special moment as parents, nothing more. Wordlessly, he transferred Jason from her and more than the weight of their son lifted. It was as if by sharing this burden, albeit one she loved with her entire being, Caleb had also given her respite from the world of worry. One she’d carried throughout not only this day, but through all the days that had gone by before he had returned.
His lips brushed against the top of her head ever so briefly. An echo of her earlier yearning. A gesture so tender that her heart ached for more. More of these moments. More of the special bond of loving their child together. And more of the shared intimacy of loving each other for that gift.
But yearning for more had always gotten Hannah into trouble. This time she couldn’t get caught up in an illusion. This wasn’t the kiss of a lover, but the kiss of a man who shared a child with her, and nothing more. No matter how much she wanted to believe in the fantasy.
Chapter Five
Caleb didn’t know what had happened after he’d helped Hannah tuck Jason in on Thursday night. But now, as he played his third round of volleyball at Zach’s beach front property, he couldn’t stop thinking about how much he’d wanted to kiss her. And then do a whole lot more. But she had pulled away from him and gotten down to business as a parent. That was the end of that little fantasy coming to life. A good thing, he kept telling himself despite every randy thought in his brain that refused to stand down.
The Marine's Red Hot Homecoming Page 5