by Eve Gaddy
He slid his hand down to her bare butt and patted it. “Just say the word.”
“Word,” she said with a throaty chuckle.
They made love again, then both of them fell into an exhausted sleep. She woke in the night to Zack kissing her neck, his hands on her breasts and the feel of his length hard against her butt. This time wasn’t fast but slow and erotic. He explored every inch of her body, leaving her aching and tingling, and then she did the same to him until he flipped her onto her back and thrust inside her, driving into her again and again until they both came, straining together as he stayed buried inside her.
Later when she could talk she said, “Do you suppose you can die from sexual satisfaction?”
“God, I hope not.” Propping himself up on his arm, he said, “You’re amazing.” He kissed her. “And sexy.” Kissed her again. “And beautiful.”
“You’re making me blush.”
“Why? I’m just telling the truth.”
Laurel cupped his face in her hands and drew him down to kiss him. “I’m really glad I waited until you came along to make love again.”
Zack picked up her hand and kissed it. “My pleasure. And I mean that literally.” He cuddled her close and said, “Go to sleep. You’re bound to be tired.”
She rubbed her cheek against his chest and sighed. Tired, happy and extremely satisfied. How long could it last?
No point worrying about that. Just enjoy yourself in the now.
*
The following day, after Zack had reluctantly left Laurel, he went looking for Travis. He had no intention of hiding his relationship with Laurel, so he figured he might as well talk to Travis and get it out there.
He found his friend at the airport, messing around with his trainer plane. “Hey, Travis.”
Travis looked up. “Hey, Zack.”
“You busy?”
“Not really. I have a client coming in half an hour.” Travis straightened and leaned back against the Cessna, crossing his arms over his chest. “What’s up?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Okay. What about?”
“Who, not what. Laurel and I are—” He hesitated, unsure how to describe it. He finally settled on, “We’re seeing each other.”
Travis’s eyebrows drew together in a frown. “What does that mean? Seeing each other?”
“We’re together.”
“Together?” He stared at Zack. “As in—you’re sleeping with her?” Travis leaned back against his plane again, jammed his hands through his hair in a gesture Zack knew meant he was really troubled. “Are you just screwing around? Or does it mean something? We’re talking about Laurel. She’s hardly dated since she got divorced. She’s…vulnerable.”
Zack thought about Laurel the night before. Vulnerable was the last description that came to mind. Sexy, exciting, but sure as hell not vulnerable. “It means everything. I’m in love with her.”
Travis stared at him. “You’re in love with Laurel.”
“That’s what I said.”
“I’ll be damned. Tobi called it. She told me when she first came back that you had a thing for Laurel, but I didn’t believe her.”
“The point is, Laurel and I are together. If you have any objections you’d better tell me now.”
“What if I did? Would you back off?”
“No. But I’d listen to your objections.”
“And blow them off?”
“That depends. What are you objecting to?”
“Not objecting, exactly.” He dropped his arms and stood up straight. “You’re in love with Laurel. You’re serious about this? About her?”
“Are you asking my intentions? Don’t you think you’re carrying this overprotective brother a bit too far?”
“No. Tell me, is this just a fling for you or are you serious about her?”
He sighed and answered truthfully. “It’s not a fling for me. I’m not sure what it is for Laurel. What happens from here on out depends on Laurel. We just started dating. We haven’t had time to know where this is going.”
“You had time to talk her into the sack,” he said dryly.
Zack counted to ten. “Come on, Travis. She’s a grown woman. Divorced with two kids. She’s perfectly capable of deciding what she wants without me having to talk her into it.”
Travis shrugged. “Does she know you’re in love with her?”
“No. I haven’t told her yet.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s too soon. And it’s too important for me to rush things.”
Travis looked a little mollified. “What made you suddenly decide you were in love with her?”
“It wasn’t sudden.” Deciding to do something about it was sudden, but his feelings weren’t.
“How long?”
“Jesus, Travis, how much more are you going to interrogate me? A long time, okay?”
“So why the hell have you waited this long to do something? She’s been divorced for two years.” Travis waited for an answer and when he didn’t get one he said, “Since before she met the turd?”
The turd was the nicest thing Travis ever called Laurel’s ex. At least since he’d left her with two kids, no money and a mountain of debt. “It’s been a long time. Can we, for fuck’s sake, quit talking about this?”
“She was in high school? High school?” Travis repeated, his voice rising.
“Goddamn, Travis.” He ran a hand through his hair, wishing he’d never started this conversation. But it had to be done. “Yes. Both of us were. She was too young and I knew it and then I went to college and law school and she wound up with that shithead Lewis.”
Travis shook his head. “Wow. How could I not know any of this?”
“Because I didn’t admit it to myself until recently. You know I was dating Sabrina until a few months ago. She wanted to get married. I didn’t. And the reason I didn’t was because I’ve never been able to get Laurel out of my head.” The reason he couldn’t make a commitment to a woman was because none of them were Laurel.
“What about Laurel’s kids?”
“What about them? I like them. I haven’t been around them that much but they seem like good kids.”
“They are.” He drew in a breath and sighed. “You and my sister,” he muttered. “Is that why you offered her the job?” he asked suspiciously.
Zack struggled to contain his irritation. “Of course not. We had to have an accountant and she had to have a second job. I knew she’d be good and trustworthy. And yeah, I felt bad that she’d lost her job at Jalisco’s. But it wasn’t charity. We needed her as much as she needed another job. We couldn’t go on using Levi’s people indefinitely.”
“True. Poor guy can’t be happy about taking us on, but he also can’t afford to piss off his biggest client.” He paused and added, “Sometimes I have a hard time remembering how rich Levi is. Until I see his cars.”
Levi collected cars, housing them in a huge car barn behind his dilapidated mansion. God help the person who thought they’d burglarize any of Levi’s babies. The barn had the latest in alarm systems, not to mention Levi’s prototype inventions, added to make the place as secure as Fort Knox.
Zack looked at the hangar opening, seeing a man walking toward them. “Here’s my student,” Travis said.
“I’ll let you get to work.” He turned to go.
“Zack?”
Zack stopped and looked at him.
“Don’t hurt her.”
“I won’t.” But would she hurt him?
Chapter Ten
Laurel took the kids over to Harlan and Savannah’s apartment that Saturday. She still felt a little guilty leaving her kids overnight with them. Harlan met them at the door. “It’s about time you two got here,” he told Cody and Katrina with mock severity. “I thought I’d have to go get supplies alone.”
“What supplies, Uncle Harlan?” Cody asked.
“Dinner and dessert. I thought we could have pickled pig’s feet and snake l
ips. How does that sound?”
There was a chorus of “eew” and “gross.”
“Do we hafta, Uncle Harlan?” Katrina asked. “We don’t like that.”
Harlan looked astonished. “You don’t? But you’ve never had them before, have you?”
“Nuh-uh.” They both shook their heads vigorously.
“Then how do you know you don’t like them?”
“We just know,” Cody said firmly.
“Well, okay. I guess we’ll have to have pizza and ice cream instead.”
“Yay!” they both said.
“Go wait for the elevator and I’ll be there in a minute.”
They ran off chanting “ice cream and pizza, yay!”
“I was feeling guilty for dumping them on you but something tells me you don’t mind,” Laurel said, knowing her brother’s two favorite food groups.
“Are you kidding? We love having them. Now, I’m on a mission to get ice cream and pizza.”
“And there we have it. The kids are an excuse for you to have your favorite foods.”
Harlan laughed but didn’t deny it. “Travis and I are just glad you’re finally letting us do something to help you. I’m coming,” he called to the kids. “See you later.”
Laurel went in to talk to Savannah and found her sitting on the floor in the midst of a mountain of yarn. “What in the world are you doing?”
She held up two knitting needles with a tangle of yarn semi-covering one. “I’m knitting. Or trying to.”
“I didn’t know you knew how to knit.”
“I don’t. But I’m determined to learn.” She picked up a book she had open beside her and showed Laurel. “I’m supposed to be able to teach myself.”
“Why?” Knitting wasn’t something she’d ever wanted to do. But it might be fun, she thought, looking at the variety of colors Savannah had.
“Because that’s what you do when you’re pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant? Savannah, that’s wonderful,” Laurel said, hugging her. “I’m sure Harlan is over the moon.”
“He is. We both are. But I want to make something for the baby. Do you know how to knit?”
Laurel laughed. “No, but I know how to buy knitted things. Why do you have so much yarn?”
Savannah looked a little shame-faced. “Every time I saw a pretty color in a magazine I ordered it. It took me a while to figure out I wanted baby yarn. Who knew there were a million different types?”
“Baby yarn?”
“It’s really soft, which makes sense, of course. Anyway, when I finally decided it was time to actually start knitting—” she waved a hand at the yarn “—I discovered I’d ordered way more than I needed.”
“I’ll say,” Laurel agreed. “This should last your entire pregnancy.”
“And beyond,” Savannah said with a laugh. “Tell me, how are things with you and the hunk?”
Laurel smiled. “He is a hunk, isn’t he?”
“Yes, indeed.” She patted her heart. “So?”
“Good. They’re good. Cody and Katrina adore him.”
“Why do you look worried when you say that?”
“Oh, I’m not. Not really. It’s just…I don’t want them to get hurt. You know, if we break up.”
“Wait a minute. You just got together and you’re already planning a breakup?”
“I’m not planning it. But things happen. People aren’t… They aren’t always who you think they are.”
“Like your ex.”
“Yes, like him.”
“I don’t know anything about your ex beyond what Harlan and Travis say. The nicest thing they call him is a son of a bitch. But you can’t judge every man by what your ex did. I know. I have an ex-husband too.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.” Not exactly, anyway. After all, she didn’t believe Zack would become a drug addict like Stan had. “Can I ask you something personal?”
“How personal?” Savannah laughed at Laurel’s expression. “Just kidding. Of course you can.”
“I know you and Harlan had to work out what happened in your past. But how did you trust him again after what he did? After he left you like he did?”
“Well, first of all, Harlan didn’t leave me by choice. I’d forgiven him, but when I found out what my father had done to keep us apart, I understood why Harlan had felt that he had no other choice but to call things off.” She looked at Laurel for a moment. “Has Zack done something wrong?”
“No. No, he’s been great. But my ex-husband was a good guy too. At first.”
“You’re afraid Zack will change.”
“Maybe a little. I don’t know why I’m worrying about it. We’ve only been together a few weeks and neither of us is serious.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“We’re just having fun,” Laurel said firmly. That’s what she told herself, anyway. Because thinking about more was entirely too scary. And she had to admit, Zack was a whole lot of fun. Not that sex was all she appreciated about him. He was good with her kids, and they loved him. He was good to her. He did things like bring her flowers for no reason. Or bring her cookies from Cookies and S’more(s), the ones she’d mentioned only once were her favorite. Or he’d watch a chick flick she knew he wouldn’t like and hardly complain, she thought, remembering that he’d fallen asleep during the last one. And while he’d offered the airport accounting job to her, he trusted her to do her job without micro-managing her.
In fact, he was almost too good to be true. And that’s what worried her. Stan had been good to her. He’d loved her—she knew he had. At first. Before the drugs had ruled him.
Zack wasn’t Stan. She knew that and she’d known him too long to think he would change like Stan had. She trusted him. But there was still a fear, buried deep inside, that one day something would happen and she’d be on her own again with no one but herself to rely on and no other choice but to take her brothers’ charity in order to survive.
And having that happen again would destroy her.
*
Laurel returned home after dropping off her kids. Zack wanted to go to Baron’s Steakhouse and had said he’d come over around six and they could go from there. By six thirty, there was still no sign of him. Which was totally unlike him. He was almost never late and the few times he had been, he’d called to tell her. He finally showed up at six forty-five.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said, after kissing her hello.
“That’s okay.”
“I would have called but I was hung up on the phone with a new client.”
“Oh, is someone new keeping their plane at the airport?”
“Not that kind of client. A law case.”
“I thought you’d given up your law practice?”
“Not completely, but I’ve cut way back. I take on mostly pro bono cases, when I take one. This one’s a custody case.” His cell phone rang. Frowning, he pulled it out of his pocket. “Excuse me,” he said, walking away as he answered.
Laurel couldn’t distinguish his words but his tone was very soothing and supportive, so she assumed he was talking to his client. After a few minutes, he ended the call.
“We’d better hurry if we don’t want to be late for our reservation,” Zack said.
“Is Baron’s that crowded?”
“On the weekends it is. Not as much during the week.”
Baron’s Steakhouse was the quintessential western-style restaurant with wooden chairs and tables, red leather seats and booths of the same red leather. There was a beautiful mahogany bar running the length of the main room. Pictures of times past, particularly of the Kelly family, adorned the walls. Baron’s was well known for its delicious food as well as the romantic ambience.
Once seated at the restaurant and having ordered drinks, Laurel asked Zack about his case. “I know you can’t discuss it specifically, but is the custody case you’re working on difficult?”
“I’m hoping it won’t be, but you can’t always tell.”
“The hardest I ever had was one in which the father wanted custody. The courts tend to be more sympathetic to the mother. Often with good reason.”
“But not in that case.”
“No. The mother was a real piece of work. She only wanted the kids—there were two of them—so she could demand child support. The children were terrified of her and begged the dad to let them live with him.”
“Did you win?”
“Yes, thank God.”
Their drinks arrived and Zack waited until the server had left to continue. “The mother had visitation but she only saw the kids a couple of times in the six months before she died. Wrapped her car around a tree while driving drunk. Luckily the kids weren’t with her.”
“That’s scary to think they might have been.”
“The father was really broken up about her death. He kept saying she wasn’t the woman he married. That the alcohol did it to her.”
“You don’t sound like you believe that.”
He shrugged. “All I know is what I saw and her kids’ reactions to her. She wasn’t a nice person, by any stretch. Could she have been once? I don’t know.”
“Sometimes people change. Or maybe they drop the act. Anyway, it’s hard to believe that someone you once loved can change that dramatically.”
Not being stupid, Zack figured out who she was talking about and patted her hand comfortingly. “I’m sure it would be.”
“I can’t imagine anything worse than losing custody of my children. Especially to my ex. But then, he won’t pay child support, much less ask for custody. Not to mention, it’s hard to award a person custody when they’ve disappeared.”
“I can’t imagine any court not awarding you custody. You’re a really good mother.”
“Thanks.” She tried, even though she felt like she fell down on the job a lot.
The waitress came by to see if they wanted more drinks.
“Do you want another drink?” Zack asked.
“Not now, but with dinner.”
They ordered dinner and wine to be served with it. After the waitress left Zack said, “I wouldn’t have taken the case if I didn’t believe the father was the best parent to have custody. I hope you know that.”