by Jane Toombs
He frowned.
“No levity allowed where safety is concerned?” she teased.
“You got that right.” He didn’t smile as he said it.
Maybe cops tended to be paranoid about safety. She dropped the subject. “Want anything?” she asked.
That earned her a grin. “What do you think?”
“I meant to eat or drink.”
“Nothing like that.”
“I thought we were going to talk. You need to explain what you meant about us needing time.”
He sighed. “Never met such a woman for nailing every comment to the wall.”
“Come into the living room where we can be comfortable.”
“On the couch,” he suggested.
She raised her eyebrows. “If you promise to explain before getting too ‘comfortable.’”
He put a hand over his heart as he followed her into the room. “Your wish is my command.”
“Why don’t I believe that?”
Dan settled himself on the couch. “Because your father raised you to know better?”
She eased down near him, but not touching. “That’s another thing. No matter what my father may think or say, you know perfectly well I have no intention of marrying you—or any man.”
He nodded. “Since marriage isn’t in the picture for either of us, that’s why I figured we needed a little time to get used to what’s between us.”
“Which is?”
“You define it. With no ‘ums.’”
She started to say lust, then didn’t. Her feelings for him were more complicated than pure lust. “I can’t define it,” she said finally. “I guess we’ve invented an inexplicable relationship.”
“So you don’t have an answer either.” He reached over and pulled her close to him. “Since neither of us has, let’s get comfortable.”
“Without knowing why?” She heard the breathlessness in her voice, induced by his hand caressing the nape of her neck.
“I’d rather think about how. I saw baby powder in the nursery. Make you think of anything other than powdering the baby’s bottom?”
“I don’t use the powder—it was a gift.”
“I’ve got another use for it. Back rub.”
“I thought lotion was the usual method.”
“Both work. Especially if the first requirement of getting naked is met.”
“I thought you only needed a bare back.”
“Tunnel vision.” He rose, pulled her up off the couch and led her into the bedroom. “Tonight we get undressed first. Not in the middle of action.”
“You first.”
“Okay.” He reached out and pulled her shirt over her head.
“I didn’t mean we’d undress each other,” she sputtered.
“But I did.”
Hesitantly she reached for the buttons on his shirt and undid them. She’d never actually undressed a man before and, as she slid the shirt off his arms she found it surprisingly arousing.
He backed her against the bed until she sat on it, then got down on one knee and removed her sandals.
“Shoes it is,” she murmured. He obediently sat and she crouched to remove his shoes and socks. His feet were longer and wider than hers, powerful-looking, just like his hands. She could hardly wait to have those hands touching her.
“Before we go any further, I’ll liberate the powder,” he told her. “Just in case we get distracted later on.”
She was already distracted and took several deep and calming breaths while he collected the powder from the nursery and set the can on the bedside table.
“A man’s dream, the front-opening bra,” he said, releasing the clasp and easing it off her shoulders. He shook his head. “No, this man’s dream is what I see now that the bra is gone.”
A sizzle shot along her nerves at the look in his eyes. She swallowed. “No undershirt, so I guess…” Her words trailed off as she unfastened his belt and unhooked the fastener at the top of his pants. Her fingers trembled as she found the zipper and slid it slowly and carefully over his obvious arousal before pushing the pants down so they fell around his ankles. He stepped out of them, kicking them aside.
He unbuttoned her skirt at the side opening and slid the zipper down, allowing the skirt to puddle at her feet.
She took great care to lower his undershorts past his arousal. Down they went, leaving him naked.
“Oh, my,” she said involuntarily. She definitely liked what she saw.
He slipped a finger under the elastic band of her bikinis and pulled them down to the floor. She stepped free of them and stood before him, heart pounding at the admiration in his gaze.
“Good thing I got the powder when I did,” he said huskily. “It sure would be too late now. Going to be too late anyway, if you don’t get facedown on that bed in a hurry.”
She pulled the covers back to the foot of the bed and lay down. He sat beside her and she felt him sprinkle powder onto the small of her back, its faintly flowery scent drifting to her nostrils. And then his hands touched her, spreading the powder up her spine, down her sides, pausing to caress what he could reach of her breasts. When he came to the small of her back again, he ran his hands over the curves of her rear and down her legs to her heels.
She could feel herself dissolve as he started back up, her insides pure liquid, the touch of his hands sending erotic messages to every cell in her body.
Over and over he caressed her until, wanting to make him as helplessly aroused as she was, she murmured, “My turn now.”
Instead of lying face-down, he turned sideways. She had to clear her throat before she was able to speak, even then her voice was husky. “Aren’t you supposed to be on your stomach?”
“Got a problem with that,” he told her. She smiled, realizing why.
She poured powder onto her hands and knelt beside him on the bed, doing her best to reach all of his back. Running her hands over his bare flesh was every bit as arousing as having him touch her. How much more of this teasing could she stand? As much as he could, anyway. She slid her hands over his butt and on down to his heels, then up his back again, repeating the movements until the last time, when she let her hands linger on his butt, then deliberately allowed them to wander on the way back up, brushing his arousal.
He flung himself onto his back and pulled her over him.
“I was just getting started,” she murmured, as she rearranged herself so his arousal was between her legs.
“Stop wiggling or we’ll be in trouble,” he told her.
She reached her hand down to guide him as she raised herself up so he could slide inside. She tried to tease him by drawing back, then easing down, but her own need compelled her to let him thrust deeply again and again. Holding her to him, he turned them both onto their sides, then over until he was on top. His mouth covered hers in a kiss so passionate she felt she was on fire, burning with need.
“Fay,” he whispered. “My beautiful Fay.”
As if his words were the trigger, she reached the peak, crying out with release, hearing his cry echo hers. He held her close until they were all the way down, then turned them both onto their sides.
When she felt able to talk, she started to tell him that was the most fantastic back rub anyone ever had, then heard his deep breathing and realized he’d fallen asleep. At the same time she heard Danny Marie begin to fuss.
Fay eased herself from his arms, found a robe and went to her daughter. “What a good sense of timing you have,” she murmured as she picked up the baby, changed her, then used a wipe to clean herself before she sat down to nurse her daughter.
She thought about Dan sleeping in her bed. He would be the first man to stay overnight if she decided to allow that. Ken had been angry about her rule, but she’d held to it. The rule, she’d decided long ago, was part of being an only child. She’d always slept alone. Slumber parties with other girls didn’t count because everyone brought a sleeping bag and you were alone in it. As far as actually sleeping
was concerned, she just didn’t feel right with anyone in her bed.
What about Dan? She sighed. After all, in the cabin hadn’t she slept many nights in the same room with him? What was so different about this?
Him being in her bed with her was the difference.
She finished nursing the baby and rocked her until Danny Marie fell asleep again, then laid her in the crib, all the time wondering how she was going to tell Dan about her rule. She hadn’t come to any decision by the time she took off her robe and slid back into her bed. Because she couldn’t bear to wake him up, she turned her back to him, prepared to wait to say anything until he roused by himself. He mumbled something unintelligible, rolled over and drew her close so they lay spoon fashion, her back to his front, his arm draped over her. She found herself relaxing as she relished the feeling of coziness.
After a time his arm tightened its hold, he pulled her closer until her rear pressed his arousal. Involuntarily, she wiggled her butt against him.
“Mmm,” he murmured sleepily, turning her to face him. “Nice surprise. Thought I was dreaming.”
His kiss was languorous, drawing her into an invitation to passion. His hands, caressing her body, moved slowly, finding new places to explore. In turn, she searched out corresponding sites on him, enjoying the sensation of his bare skin under her fingers.
“You feel so good,” she murmured against his lips.
“Touching you is addictive,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m hooked.”
Their lips met again, the kiss deepening. She would know Dan’s taste anywhere, a taste that belonged to him alone and one she couldn’t get enough of.
Dan breathed in Fay’s own special scent, spicier than roses. With her in his arms he had everything he wanted. Which scared the hell out of him sometimes. At the moment, though, nothing else mattered but making love with her.
He’d always tried to satisfy the woman he was with, but she was special. Her satisfaction was more important to him than his own climax. Maybe that was why every time with her was so good. Better than with any other woman. But then his stubborn, risk-taking Fay wasn’t like any other woman.
His? For now, yes. For this moment when she trembled in his embrace, ready for him, wanting what he wanted.
She made the world go away when she welcomed him inside her. His mind blanked into pure sensation as they danced the lovemaking waltz together.
Afterward he longed to stay in her bed, holding her in his arms while they fell asleep. But falling asleep here was exactly what he couldn’t do. To be with her, he’d already taken too much time away from the case he was working on. He needed to check out that Huron Street tavern before it closed for the night.
Leaning to Fay, he kissed her quickly. “I can’t stay,” he told her. “I already played truant to be with you.”
“The new case?”
“Right.” He rolled out of bed, fumbling on the floor for his scattered clothes by the meager illumination of the night-light.
“Um, I was just going to mention that I’d rather you didn’t sleep over,” she said as he dressed hurriedly.
He paused for a moment. Um? That meant she wasn’t telling the whole story. At the same time he felt a flare of annoyance. She didn’t want him sleeping in her bed? It made him feel like some guy she’d picked up in a bar.
“Worried about the neighbors?” he asked.
“Not exactly.”
There was no time to get into it. “I’ve got to high-tail it,” he told her. “Don’t forget to put the chain back on.”
As he pulled away in his car, he tried to clear his mind so he could focus on what he needed to be doing. Nothing in his life had ever distracted him from work, but he wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t prove to be the exception.
Sunday didn’t turn out to be Fay’s favorite day. She’d had trouble getting back to sleep after she’d put the blasted chain back on and that, combined with the sleep she hadn’t gotten for other reasons, made her edgy. Danny Marie, ordinarily the most amiable of babies fussed off and on for most of the day. When taking her temperature showed she had no fever, Fay couldn’t understand what was wrong. Finally she called Clara.
“How’s your cold?” she asked.
“Better, dear. I think I can take care of the baby on Wednesday.”
“That’s good news, but she’s been fussy all day. No fever. I’m worried.”
“Are her gums red and swollen?” Clara asked
“I don’t know. I didn’t look.”
“She could be cutting a tooth. Do you have a teething ring?”
“I think somebody gave me one.”
“Put it in the freezer for a bit until it gets cold, then let her chew on it. Sometimes the cold helps.”
Clara’s diagnosis turned out to be spot on and her suggestion for treatment did help. But Danny Marie was far from her usual happy self. Fay worried about having to leave her with Yvonne in the morning. For the first time she could recall, she resented the fact she had to go to work. Her client, though, would be back from New York and would want her input on what had gone on there.
She’d thought Dan might call, but she supposed she ought to get used to the fact he was working on a case. She wondered if her telling him she didn’t want him spending the night in her bed had bothered him. Too bad if it did. On her turf, they played by her rules.
The strange thing was that she almost hadn’t told him her rule. Not until he’d said he had to go. Why was it they so often seemed on the verge of a disagreement? Was it because neither of them was quite sure just where they were headed with each other?
When the phone finally rang, she hurried to answer it. “Oh, hello, Dad,” she said hoping she didn’t sound disappointed because the call hadn’t been from Dan.
“Thanks for coming by for lunch yesterday,” he said. “Nell was so pleased you could make it.”
“I enjoyed meeting her,” Fay said truthfully, juggling the baby from one arm to the other.
“I can hear the baby fussing. Is she sick?”
Without warning, Fay burst into tears, surprising her and alarming her father. When she finally was able to speak, she assured her father the baby was all right, just cutting a tooth.
“Sounds like you’re not all right, though,” he said. “I think Nell and I better come over.”
“No, no,” she protested. “I don’t—” But she was too late, he’d already hung up.
That was all she needed. A fussy baby, a father she’d barely forgiven and a step-mother-to-be she hardly knew.
When they rang the bell twenty minutes later, still holding Danny Marie, she remembered to use the chain.
After her father was inside, he said. “You didn’t used to have a chain. Bet it was Dan’s idea. It’s a good safety measure.”
Fay gritted her teeth. “Please don’t go on about Dan,” she said.
“What’s the matter? You two have a spat?”
She shook her head, not wanting to blow up at him, but feeling she was going to.
“Don’t make Fay feel worse,” Nell put in. “A fussy baby is more than enough to frazzle any mother.” She glanced at Fay as if to say, men.
“Let me take the baby,” Nell said.
Fay handed over Danny Marie without hesitation, relieved to have the older woman look after her for a bit. She’d moved the cradle back into the living room and Nell spotted it as she sat in a nearby chair. “What a lovely old cradle. You can tell it was hand-crafted. Your work, Hank?”
He shook his head. “I’m not up to fancy carpentry like that.”
“It came from Dan’s family,” Fay said, reluctantly. Heaven only knew what her father might read into that. “Can I get you anything?”
“No, thanks.” Nell and her father spoke as one.
“We stopped at the drug store,” Nell added, “and bought something to soothe the poor little baby’s gums. It’s perfectly harmless.” She looked from the baby to Nell. “I don’t believe I ever did hear your daughter’s real n
ame.”
Fay had known this moment would come, so had prepared herself. “Her name is Danielle Marie, I call her Danny Marie. But Dan doesn’t know I named her after him. Actually, he thinks her name is Marie, but he always calls her Peanut. I’d rather he didn’t find out.”
Her father gave her an odd look. “I think Dan would be proud you named your baby after him.”
“Dad, I just told you—”
“Your father won’t mention it to Dan and neither will I,” Nell said soothingly. “Will we, Hank?”
“No, no, of course not.”
“Now, let’s try out these drops to rub on the baby’s gums,” Nell said. “Give her the bottle, Hank.”
Fay took it from her father and read the ingredients, which seemed harmless enough, then the directions.
“I’ll hold her while you rub the magic potion on,” Nell said.
“I hope it is magic,” Fay told her. “She’s usually such a good baby. The way she’s acting I can tell she’s in real distress and I feel so helpless.”
“That’s what we mothers all have to go through,” Nell agreed.
“Fathers, too,” Hank said. “I nearly went out of my mind that night when you weren’t yet two and had croup so bad. Finally I remembered an old remedy of my grandmother’s. You and I spent hours on a kitchen chair near the stove with pans of water boiling on all the burners. We steamed up the whole room before your breathing eased and you fell asleep in my arms.”
All of Fay’s irritation with her father dissipated as she listened to a part of her growing up that she’d known nothing about.
“I was never so glad to see my pretty little baby sleep as I was then,” he added. “Never forgot it.”
Pretty little baby. From the lullaby she sang to Danny Marie. The same one her father had sung to her.
Blinking back tears, Fay managed to rub some of the liquid on her baby’s swollen gum. While she was doing it, her father picked up the cradle and brought it close to a chair.
Easing down into the chair, he said, “Put Danny Marie in the cradle and I’ll rock her with my foot ’til she falls asleep.”