Building the Perfect Daddy

by Brenda Harlen

  “Okay,” she said. “But the slip is not coming off.”

  “If you really want to keep it on, I won’t object...this time.”

  Despite his opposition to the silk covering her body, it didn’t seem to get in his way or inhibit his exploration of her body—or her enjoyment. He brushed his thumbs over her nipples, already tightly beaded beneath the silk, the brief contact making her gasp as arrows of pleasure streaked toward her core. Then he lowered his head and suckled her through the fabric until she was panting and squirming and desperately wishing that his mouth was on her bare flesh.

  Thankfully, he had no inhibitions about his own body. And why would he? He was hard and strong and so perfectly put together he might have been sculpted by a master. But he wasn’t a monument of cold, hard marble—he was a man, warm and strong. And he was in her bed. All those yummy muscles were right there for her to explore with her hands and lips and body.

  His hands slid beneath the fabric, his fingertips trailing along the sensitive skin on the inside of her thighs, gently urging them apart. When he parted the soft folds of skin at the apex of her thighs, he hummed his approval.

  Not quite brave enough to slide her hand beneath the waistband of his boxers, she explored the size and shape of him through the fabric.

  She bit down on her lip when his hands slid between her thighs again. Keeping his gaze focused on her face, he dallied beneath the hem of her slip. When his thumb grazed the aching nub at her center, the light touch set off a myriad of sensations that made her gasp with shock and pleasure.

  “I think I found a sensitive spot,” he teased, brushing his thumb over it again.

  “Ryder...please.”

  He slid a finger deep inside of her and slowly withdrew it. She clenched her teeth together to prevent herself from making any sound as he repeated the action, with two fingers this time. Then his thumb found that ultrasensitive spot again and circled around it. Her breath caught in her lungs as everything inside her tensed and tightened...and...finally...shattered.

  He captured her mouth with his, swallowing the cries she could no longer hold back and holding her close while the aftershocks continued to shudder through her body.

  “Definitely a sensitive spot,” he mused, smiling against her mouth.

  “I told you it’s been a really long time for me,” she said, her tone accusing.

  “So you did,” he acknowledged. “And I wanted to make sure the experience was enjoyable for you.”

  “Do you have any doubts?”

  He grinned as he discarded his boxers. “Not one. And we’re not close to being done yet.”

  “Condom,” she said, suddenly remembering the box she’d bought just in case. “In the night table drawer.”

  “I’ve already got that covered,” he said. “Or I will in a second.”

  It took a little longer than that, but once he’d ensured her protection, he parted her thighs with his knees and, in one smooth, powerful stroke, buried himself inside of her. She closed her eyes and sighed her appreciation. He was so hard and so deep...and it felt so good.

  Then he began to move, thrusting deep, deeper, and sending fresh waves of pleasure straight to her core. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, anchoring herself to him as wave after wave of sensation washed over her. She tried to hold on, but it was too much. So she gave herself over to the storm and let it carry her away, and finally Ryder let himself sink into the abyss with her.

  * * *

  It was a long time later before her breathing evened out. Minutes? Hours? Days? She didn’t know; she didn’t care. She felt too completely sated to worry about anything.

  Several more minutes passed after that before Ryder eased himself off her and brushed her hair away from her face. “You were...wow.”

  She shook her head. “The wow was all your doing.”

  “Or maybe the wow was the two of us together,” he suggested, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her against his body.

  She smiled as she laid her head on his shoulder and her palm on his chest, beneath which she could feel the still-rapid beating of his heart. “I’m convinced,” she told him. “This was definitely the bestest Halloween ever.”

  “For me, too.”

  He continued just to hold her for a long time, his hand stroking leisurely down her back. She felt comfortable and contented and was starting to drift off to sleep when reality jolted her awake again.

  She lifted her head to look at him. “You can’t stay.”

  “I know,” he admitted.

  “I wish you could, but—”

  “You don’t have to explain,” he told her. “I understand.”

  He eased himself into a sitting position, then brought her mouth to his and kissed her, long and slow and deep.

  When he finally pulled away and reached for his shirt, she glanced at the clock. “You know, it really isn’t that late,” she decided.

  He paused, one arm in a sleeve. “There are still a lot of hours before sunrise,” he agreed.

  “So you can stay a little longer, if you want.”

  The shirt dropped back to the floor.

  “I want,” he said, and proceeded to show her how much.

  * * *

  When Lauryn arrived home the next day and saw Ryder’s truck still in her driveway, her heart did a happy dance inside her chest. While the rational part of her brain warned that she was venturing into dangerous territory, she didn’t care. All that mattered was that he was there.

  And when she finally got the kids into the house and he smiled at her, the intensity of his gaze made her suspect that he’d been thinking about her as much as she’d been thinking about him throughout the day.

  “I missed you,” he told her.

  The simple sincerity of the words filled her heart, but she kept her own tone casual and light when she said, “I would have hoped you’d be too busy finishing my kitchen to miss me.”

  “We finished at two,” he told her. “The unveiling is tomorrow morning, if you can be here.”

  She would have to call Adam to open the store for her, but she didn’t want to wait a minute longer than necessary to see her new kitchen. “I will be here,” she promised.

  “Good.”

  “What’s in the microwave?” she asked, when she heard the appliance ding.

  “Pasta sauce.”

  “You’re making dinner again?”

  “Last night I grilled,” he said, as if that didn’t count. “And this is just spaghetti.”

  But it wasn’t “just” anything to Lauryn. Finding a handsome man in her ad hoc kitchen, making dinner for her family, was a big deal to her. And it made her question again the wisdom of what she was doing.

  Could she really have a physical relationship with him—and the greatest sex she’d ever imagined—and not expect it to develop into something more? After one night, it was already more. Because even more than she enjoyed being with him, she loved how comfortable and natural he was with Kylie and Zachary. Not surprisingly, her children were both becoming more attached to Ryder every day, and maybe that should have been the biggest warning sign—her signal to back off. But she knew it was already too late for that, and she was already more than halfway in love with him.

  Her sisters had encouraged her to have a fling—and she hadn’t been looking for anything more than that. But Ryder tempted her to want more. A lot more. And though it was undoubtedly foolish to be falling for another man only weeks after her divorce was finalized, she couldn’t deny that she was.

  He stirred the pasta, peeked into the living room to make sure the kids were otherwise occupied, then tugged Lauryn out of sight to put his arms around her. “I’ve been thinking about kissing you all day.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that, too—and all
of the other fun things that go along with kissing,” she admitted.

  He slid his hands up her back and slowly down again. “Does that mean I might get an invitation to stay late tonight?”

  “You can stay as late as you want,” she promised.

  * * *

  Since Tristyn and Jordyn had been part of the introductory segment, Lauryn invited them back for the unveiling. Over the past five weeks, Kylie had become accustomed to the presence of Ryder’s crew and the cameras, and so both children would be with her when she entered their new kitchen for the first time.

  She’d watched countless episodes of Ryder to the Rescue since the project started and never failed to be impressed by the transformations effected by his crew. There was absolutely no reason to be nervous, but she couldn’t deny that she was.

  Ryder went through his usual introductory spiel before he turned to face Lauryn. “Are you ready for this?”

  She nodded.

  “Are you excited or apprehensive?” he asked.

  “A little of both,” she admitted.

  “Then let’s not keep you in suspense any longer,” he said, gesturing for Stan to open the door.

  “Oh.” Her eyes went wide and almost immediately filled with tears. “Wow.”

  She stepped into the center of the room and slowly turned in a circle so that she could take in the view from all angles. “It doesn’t even look like the same room.”

  Ryder smiled. “Wasn’t that the idea?”

  “It was,” she agreed. “I just never expected anything like this.”

  “You picked the white shaker-style cabinets, the charcoal granite countertops, glass-and-polished-stone-mosaic backsplash and graphite ceramic floor tiles, even the stainless steel hardware,” he reminded her.

  There were also brand-new stainless steel appliances, including a countertop range, chimney-style range hood, double wall ovens, French door refrigerator and dishwasher.

  “You’ve got the island you wanted, with lots of extra storage and pendant lights over the breakfast bar. The sink has been moved to the short wall, so you’ve got a lot more usable counter space. And instead of a single window looking into the backyard, you now have a whole wall of windows, which will let in tons of natural light and allow you to keep an eye on the kids when they’re out there.”

  “Everything is...perfect.”

  “But there’s one more little surprise,” Ryder said, opening the double doors of a pantry-style cupboard with pullout drawers.

  Lauryn stepped closer, already loving the drawers that would make all of the space so much more accessible. Then she saw that the drawer was already stocked with baking supplies—different kinds of flours and sugars and more. The next drawer held baking trays, measuring cups and utensils—and her cookie cutters, neatly organized in clear stackable containers so that she could see what was inside.

  The whole kitchen was amazing, but this cupboard showed her more clearly than anything else that Ryder really knew her. And despite the public unveiling, she understood that this was his personal gift to her.

  “When you were packing up your old kitchen, you mentioned that you wished you had time to do more of the baking you used to enjoy. Unfortunately, we couldn’t put more hours into your days, but we wanted to ensure that everything was available for you whenever you might find the time.”

  Conscious of the cameras that were rolling, she blinked back the tears. “This is so much more than I ever expected,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any way that I could ever thank you and your crew enough.”

  She heard a voice—she thought maybe it was Brody’s—pipe up from the background. “You could start by baking us some cookies.”

  Lauryn laughed as she wiped an errant tear from her cheek. “I’ll be baking this weekend,” she promised.

  While Ryder said a final few words for the benefit of his television viewers, she gestured for Tristyn and Jordyn to come in to check out the space.

  After they’d opened all of the cupboards and drawers, her sisters flanked her by the island. “Does this mean we’re forgiven?” Jordyn asked.

  “You think I’m going to forget that you forged my signature on the application just because I have a fabulous new kitchen?”

  “How about the fact that you have a fabulous new man?” Tristyn suggested.

  “That’s more likely,” she acknowledged.

  “So...things are good between you and the hunky handyman?” Jordyn prompted.

  She was helpless to prevent the smile that curved her lips. “Things are very good.”

  Tristyn had started to say something else when her cell phone chimed. She pulled it out of her pocket, then cursed softly beneath her breath. “Shoot, I’ve gotta run—no sharing any details until Saturday.”

  “What’s Saturday?”

  “Spa day,” Jordyn answered, because Tristyn had already gone.

  “I can’t make this Saturday,” Lauryn told her.

  “Why not?” her sister demanded.

  “Because Mom and Dad are going to Emerald Isle for the Goodens anniversary party, which means I don’t have a babysitter.”

  “Isn’t there someone else you usually call if Mom’s busy?” Jordyn asked.

  “Yeah,” she admitted. “You.”

  “Well, that won’t work,” Jordyn said glumly. Then she brightened. “What about Ryder?”

  Lauryn shook her head. “I’m not going to ask Ryder.”

  “Why not? Kylie and Zachary love him.”

  “Because Saturday is one of his rare days off and I’m not going to ask him to give it up to babysit my kids.”

  “Then I’ll ask him,” Jordyn said.

  “Ask who what?” Ryder asked, coming over to join their conversation.

  “No, you won’t,” Lauryn said pointedly.

  Jordyn sighed but kept her lips zipped.

  Ryder’s glance shifted from one to the other questioningly until Lauryn finally explained. “Tristyn scheduled a spa day for Saturday, but my parents are going to be out of town.”

  “If you need someone to look after Kylie and Zachary, I’d be happy to,” he said.

  Jordyn shot her a triumphant look.

  “I’ll be gone most of the afternoon,” she told him.

  “And we might want to go for dinner after the spa,” Jordyn added.

  “That’s not a problem. But if you end up at Marg & Rita’s—” he winked at Lauryn “—I’d suggest taking it easy on the tequila.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  After the big reveal episode had finished taping, Ryder helped Lauryn move her dishes and cookware back into the kitchen. Of course, the unpacking took twice as long as the packing because Kylie was running around the kitchen with her arms outstretched, pretending to be an airplane circling the island. Of course, Zachary thought his sister’s antics were the funniest thing ever, and as he watched her through the mesh screen of his playpen, his whole body shook with his giggles.

  “I love to listen to his laugh,” Lauryn said to Ryder. “And to know, after wondering and worrying for so long, that they’re both settled and happy now.”

  He slid an arm across her shoulders and drew her close to his side. “It doesn’t look like you have anything to worry about now.”

  “Today has been a very good day,” she agreed. “Thanks to you and your crew.”

  “While your words are appreciated, the guys are going to expect cookies when they come back on Monday,” he told her.

  “Then I guess I’ll have to bake some cookies this weekend.”

  And she did. She found her favorite sugar cookie recipe and she spent Friday afternoon measuring and mixing and rolling and cutting. Of course, Kylie wanted to help, too, so she gave her daughter a portion of the dough and let her do
her own thing. By the time Ryder showed up with pizza for dinner, she had six-dozen cookies in the shapes of hammers, saws and tape measures cooling on racks—and flour on every horizontal surface.

  After they ate, they cleaned up the kitchen together. It didn’t seem to matter to Ryder that she and Kylie had made the mess—he never hesitated to pitch in and help. Which gave her an idea...

  “I was thinking about something we might do tonight, after the kids are in bed,” she told him, as she was loading their dinner plates into her sparkling new dishwasher.

  He finished wiping down the island, then folded the cloth over the faucet. “What’s that?”

  “It’s something you suggested a while back but that I’ve resisted until now,” she said.

  “You have my complete and undivided attention,” he assured her.

  “It could get messy and sweaty,” she warned, her tone deliberately provocative.

  “Tell me more,” he urged.

  She laughed softly. “You don’t have any idea what I’m suggesting, do you?”

  “No,” he admitted. “But I’m keeping an open mind.”

  “I’m talking about stripping—”

  “Yes,” he said, the word a heartfelt plea. “Please.”

  “—wallpaper.”

  “Oh.”

  She folded her arms over her chest. “That’s a disappointing response considering how many times you’ve mentioned that you hate the plaid in the bedroom.”

  “Have I said a single word about it recently?” he asked.

  “No,” she admitted.

  “Because when I’m with you, I don’t see the wallpaper,” he told her. “I don’t see anything but you.”

  Her heart did a slow roll inside her chest. “You’re good at that.”

  He put his arms around her. “At what?”

  “Saying just the right thing so that I completely forget what we were talking about and just want to jump your bones.”

  He grinned. “Go ahead and jump—I’ll catch you.”

  * * *

  Ryder was happy to spend the day with Kylie and Zachary on Saturday, but he missed Lauryn. Somehow, in less than a week, he’d become accustomed to spending most of his free time with her. Regardless of whether they were hanging out with the kids or cuddling on the sofa together to watch television or snuggling naked in her bed, he was happy just to be with her.