Once More Chance (Chance #2; Rosemary Beach #8)

by Abbi Glines

  Made sure she would never doubt that she was mine.

  “Can we do it again?” Harlow asked after we both caught our breath.

  Chuckling, I rolled over and pulled her over on top of me. “Not right yet. I’d rather put you in a bath and let you soak while I get us some room service. Then I intend to give you a foot massage and hold you on that big-ass sofa out there in front of the fireplace.” She needed pampering. Hadn’t she been listening to the doctor?

  “I like foot massages . . . but I like sex better.”

  “No overdoing it. You heard the doctor. Let’s take it easy on you, OK? Let me take care of you. Please,” I said, needing her to understand.

  She let out an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. I guess I’ll let you bathe me and spoil me. Sacrifices.”

  Laughing, I kissed her head and moved to get up. I couldn’t sit here with her in my arms like this and not get carried away. I only needed a little encouragement. “You stay put. I’ll go get your bath ready. Then I’ll come get you,” I told her before grabbing my jeans and tugging them back on.

  She rolled over to watch me. “You could get into the bath with me,” she said, with her eyes on the zipper of my jeans.

  “Not that strong, baby. I’ll have to settle for bathing you instead.” I headed for the bathroom before I caved in and did whatever she asked me to.

  “Grant,” she called out after me.

  “Yeah?” I turned back to see her sitting up in the bed with the sheet at her waist so that her beautiful, much larger tits were right there for me to drool over.

  “I don’t have to get off for us to . . . do things. I can always take care of you. I like doing that.”

  Grabbing the door handle before my knees buckled, I sucked in a deep breath. Holy hell. Gulping, I forced a smile. “Harlow, I’m not sure I’m strong enough for this. You’re gonna drive me crazy.”

  She grinned and shrugged, causing her chest to bounce, capturing my undivided attention again. They were so beautiful, round, soft . . . fuck! I had to get away from her for a minute.

  Jerking my head around, I looked into the bathroom. “Gonna run your bathwater now,” I said in a strangled voice.

  Harlow laughed behind me, and the musical sound almost made the fact that I already had a raging hard-on again OK. She was happy. I wanted her happy. Even if it was at my expense.

  Once I had the water temperature right, I added some of the bath salts the hotel had provided and turned to get her, only to find her standing there with the sheet wrapped around her and all that dark hair in a rumpled mess. I just stood and stared at her. She was beautiful. Everything about her was beautiful. I’d known that the first time I met her. It was something you could see in her eyes. The beauty inside shone through.

  But now . . . she was mine.

  She was all mine.

  “Sure you won’t get in with me?” she asked, letting the sheet drop to the floor.

  “Harlow,” I said as my eyes took in her body. The small scar on her chest, which I had ignored before, jumped out at me now. In the bathroom lighting, it stood out, reminding me of everything I could lose. Of everything I would die to protect. My Harlow.

  “Get into the bath and relax. Let me order you something to eat. Then I’ll be back to wash your back and anything else you’ll let me wash,” I said as she moved toward me.

  She stuck out her bottom lip. It was so unlike Harlow that I was taken aback and a little speechless. My sweet girl had become a seductress, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. She could control me so easily. “If you insist, but I have several places I need washed,” she said, brushing past me and stepping into the tub.

  Fuck me. “This new Harlow isn’t making things easy on me,” I told her.

  She glanced back over her shoulder as she sank slowly into the water. “I’m the same Harlow. I’m just secure in the man who loves me. I have nothing to hide from you.”

  That right there was the reason this woman owned me.

  Harlow

  Grant brought a tray of fruit and cheese into the bathroom, along with sparkling water. I let him feed me and tried not to tease him too badly. He was trying so hard to take care of me. If this made him feel like he was protecting me, then I would let him do it.

  Once he finished bathing me and drying me off, he carried me to the living room and tucked us under a blanket on the sofa. The gas fireplace was lit, and he opened the window wide so we had a view of the Gulf.

  We didn’t talk much. Instead, we just watched the waves crash on the shore and the people walking up and down the beach. When someone swam out into the water, I wondered if Grant’s thoughts went to Jace. I didn’t know him, but even mine did. It made me sad for everyone who had lost him, especially Bethy. Now that I had Grant, I couldn’t imagine what she was going through.

  “We get to hear the heartbeat next week,” he finally said, breaking the silence. There was a pained sound to his voice, as if he weren’t sure what he thought about that.

  “I know. I’m anxious,” I told him, but I didn’t look up at him. I couldn’t right now. I was excited and hopeful, but I knew his face would portray something completely different.

  “I don’t want you to think that I don’t want a child with you. You’re the only woman on earth I want to have my baby. But I want you more. I just . . . I don’t think I can do this without you. If I lost you . . .” He stopped and swallowed hard. I could hear it.

  I turned in his arms and laid my head on his chest. I knew what he was saying. If I died, he didn’t think he could be a father to the baby. I knew otherwise. It would take him time, but I knew he would become the world’s best father. “We’re going to be OK,” I assured him.

  His arms tightened around me, and he held me close. The beating of his heart comforted me. Closing my eyes, I embraced the moment and decided I would create a vault in my brain to keep the memories of times like this one. Maybe even write some of them down. Yes, that was what I would do: I would write moments like this one down for our baby to read one day . . . just in case.

  If I wasn’t around to raise the child, then I wanted our baby to know how much I loved it and that it was born out of love. Until a few months ago, I hadn’t known just how much love I had been born from. Seeing Kiro with Emily had changed everything for me. I had heard that he loved my mother, but growing up and watching him treat women as if they were nothing but toys made it a little hard to believe. Then I saw him with my mother. I saw him brush her hair, heard him talk to her so sweetly. She couldn’t talk back—she didn’t even know he was there—but he adored her. Even now. After all this time.

  I wish I had known that as a child. It would have given me more security and trust. I wanted our child never to question that Grant and I loved each other.

  But now wasn’t the time to tell Grant about my idea to write notes to the baby. He didn’t need reminders of the future. I believed I was strong enough to make it. I wanted him to believe that, too.

  “Rush said that your dad doesn’t know about the pregnancy,” Grant said, threading his fingers through mine.

  I hadn’t told Dad, because I knew he would be furious that I was going through with it. He had enough to deal with right now, protecting Emily from the world. Slacker Demon was no longer touring, and everything had changed for him in a few short months.

  “I don’t think he needs anything else to deal with right now. He has his hands full,” I explained.

  “He’s gonna find out. The doctor’s office today . . .” He trailed off.

  I hadn’t thought about that. Would the media mention that I was visiting an ob-gyn? Would they say something about Grant being with me? Oh, crap. “Do you think they’ll even mention that? They didn’t get a photo of either of us.”

  Grant let out a sigh and squeezed my hand. “Yeah, baby. I think they will. Right now, you’re hard to get any info on, and they’ve been trying. With your dad off the grid, they’re searching for anything. And they don’t necessarily need ev
idence to stir up some drama.”

  I would have to call my dad. He couldn’t find out this way.

  “I’ll call him tomorrow when we get home. Actually, are we going home today or tomorrow?” I asked, looking around the suite he had booked just so we could have sex. Did he intend for us to stay here tonight?

  “I want you in my bed,” he said as he brushed his thumb over my bottom lip.

  I wanted to be in his bed, too. I wanted to get back to Rosemary Beach, and I wanted to be with him. Seeing Blaire was a plus. There were things about pregnancy that I wanted to ask her about. And I wanted to see Nate.

  “You ready to go?” I asked him.

  A cocky grin touched his sexy lips. “Yeah, but first, I want something to eat.”

  We had just eaten. I frowned, and Grant’s sexy grin stayed in place as he laid me back on the sofa. He leaned down over me and brushed his lips against mine. “I wasn’t talking about food,” he whispered.

  I managed to grab onto the sofa and hold on tight while he moved down my body and began to love me with his very talented mouth.

  “Ah! OK . . . you can’t . . . do this . . . Ah! Oh, God! But I get to do the same to you next.” I panted as his tongue circled my clit. He lifted his head to look up at me. Seeing his beautiful mouth right there, hovering over me, made me tremble. It was a breathtaking sight.

  “You don’t have to bargain with me to get me to let you put that sexy mouth on me,” he said. He kept his eyes on me as he flicked his tongue over my swollen, aching bud. “Tastes so damn good. I missed this.” He placed both of his hands on my thighs and pushed them open farther. “Could eat this all fucking day and never get tired of it.”

  His naughty words had me crying out things I wasn’t sure made sense. I was lost to the sensation. Nothing mattered at the moment but him. And this.

  Grant

  I had been woken up by two texts and a call from the job site in Sandestin. We had a condo going up there, and they had some issues I had to handle. Leaving Harlow curled up in my big bed like an angel wasn’t easy.

  She had been asleep when we got home last night, and I’d carried her to bed and undressed her. All she had managed was a few mumbled sentences that didn’t make sense, but they’d been damn cute.

  I fixed my thermos of coffee and swept up the mud that had piled up by the door, because I really didn’t want Harlow seeing that. I’d have to get someone else to come in and clean the rest of the place today. Glancing at my phone, I knew I needed to go, but I was waiting for Rush to wake up Blaire and get her to call me. If I had to leave Harlow, I wanted someone keeping her company today.

  The screen lit up, and I sighed in relief at Blaire’s name.

  “Hey,” I said, walking away from the bedroom door so I wouldn’t wake Harlow.

  “Good morning. You’re back?” Blaire asked.

  “We’re back,” I replied. “She needs sleep, but she’ll want to see you and needs a friend while I’m gone. I won’t be but a few hours. I wouldn’t normally go, but it’s a big client, and I need to fix some shit.”

  “I’m dressing now. Rush is going to spend the day with Nate, and I’ll take care of Harlow. Don’t worry about her. I won’t leave her.”

  I didn’t have a sister, but Blaire was a damn good alternative. “Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome, but this is for me as much as you. I want to see her. You weren’t the only one who missed her.”

  Smiling, I grabbed my keys and made sure to leave the note on the counter where she would see it. “Yeah, but I missed her the most.”

  Blaire chuckled. “I won’t argue with that.”

  “Thanks again, Blaire. I left her a note to call you when she gets up. But she may not call. I never know with her. She worries about bothering people.”

  “I’ll just show up in an hour or so. Go to work, Grant. I got this.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I hung up and stuck my phone into my pocket. Glancing back at the bedroom door, I saw it open slowly. Harlow walked out, dressed in one of my T-shirts, which I had put on her last night. Her hair was all over the place, and her face had pillow creases on it. I had never seen anything more beautiful.

  “You leaving?” she asked in a sleepy voice.

  I walked back to her. “I didn’t want to wake you. I’ve got an issue at one of the job sites,” I explained as I slid my arms around her waist.

  “OK. I heard you talking,” she said, blinking slowly while her eyes adjusted to the sunlight pouring into the room.

  “I called Blaire. She’s coming to keep you company today. She missed you.”

  A smile lit up her face. “Oh, good. I wanted to see her.”

  Leaving sucked, but this made it a little easier. I was giving her space to be alone and have girl time. Harlow had very little of that in her life, and I wanted her to have good friendships. The girl I’d first met didn’t have anyone. She lived for her books and stayed in her room. I wanted more for Harlow than that.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can. You enjoy your time with Blaire, but call me if you need anything.” I kissed her lips. Nothing was ever as good as kissing Harlow.

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and melted into me. This didn’t make leaving easier. I was about ready to say screw the job site when she stepped back and pressed a hand to her now-swollen lips. “OK, go. We can do that when you get back.”

  “You be ready for me, because I have plans for you when I get home,” I told her, then blew her a kiss before finally leaving. I was going to be a little late, but they could wait. I’d get there when I got there.

  To my precious baby,

  The day I first saw him, my knees went a little weak, and my stomach fluttered. Like that feeling of butterflies taking off. That was how I felt when I laid eyes on your dad for the first time. He was beautiful. I had never considered a man beautiful before, but Grant Carter was beautiful.

  I never imagined he would notice me. I was quiet and introverted. I didn’t make friends easily, and I didn’t trust others. Those are things I never want you to experience or feel. I’ve overcome them because I’ve found your father.

  That night, he cornered me and sent my tiny infatuation into a full-blown crush with only a few words. But I was terrified. Completely scared out of my wits. I wasn’t used to dealing with men when they flirted with me. I didn’t know then that he would change my life.

  I also didn’t know that life was full of color and excitement. I had hidden away and remained alone for so long. I was missing out on so much. But your dad taught me to live. He taught me about love, and he gave me the greatest gift anyone could ever give me: you.

  When you are old enough to read this letter, I hope I’m sitting there beside you. I hope I’m the one who gets to read it to you. But if I’m not there physically, know that I am there with you in spirit. Always. I will never leave your side. And I will love you forever.

  You were created from a love so strong, a love that should be grown and shared.

  And now we have you to share it with.

  Love you always,

  Mommy

  Harlow

  I didn’t have friends until Blaire. She was engaged to Rush Finlay when I met her, and I immediately liked her, because there was a kindness in her eyes. Also, if someone could make Rush fall in love with her, she had to be special. He used to be one of the most cynical people I knew . . . until he met Blaire. And now they had their son, Nate. Rush was a totally different person now.

  Having Blaire to talk to was wonderful, but walking into Kerrington Country Club wasn’t something I wanted to do just yet. Blaire had casually mentioned that my evil half sister was in Paris right now, but I was still on edge. I didn’t want to see Nan. Ever again, if possible.

  Grant had been with Nan once. Forgetting that was easier now. He loved me; I knew that, and I was secure in that. But still, Nan was the kind of beautiful that I couldn’t compete with. I had hidden from the Nans of the world until my dad had sent
me to live with her while he went on tour.

  “You look like you want to throw up. Are you OK?” Blaire asked as I walked beside her toward the entrance to the restaurant at the club where we’d be having breakfast this morning.

  “I’m fine,” I assured her.

  The door opened, and we were greeted by a guy dressed in the typical uniform of slacks and a polo with the Kerrington Club monogram on it.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Finlay, Miss Manning,” the guy said with a polite smile.

  “Morning, Clint. Is Jimmy working the morning shift?” Blaire asked.

  The guy’s grin got bigger, almost as if hearing Jimmy’s name made him happy. “Yes, he is.”

  Blaire chuckled softly and thanked him, then we walked to the hostess.

  “Two, Mrs. Finlay?” the girl asked, her eyes quickly darting away from me as if she was trying not to stare but wanted to be sure she was seeing me. I hated this sudden fame that came with my dad.

  “Please, and we’d like to sit in Jimmy’s section,” she replied.

  The girl nodded, still staring at me with wide eyes. Crap, this could not be good.

  “And”—Blaire paused and looked at the girl’s name badge—“April, if media of any kind were to show up at the club, Mr. Kerrington would be very upset. I’ll be sending him and Della a text once we’re seated asking them to up the security. Do you understand what I am telling you?” Blaire was a badass. I wanted to be like her.

  The girl bobbed her head and swallowed nervously. “Yes, Mrs. Finlay, of course.”

  Blaire beamed a smile at the girl. “Thank you, April. I appreciate your help.”

  April blushed as if Blaire had just paid her a high compliment, then led us to our seats. I don’t think the girl wanted to leave our table; I was almost prepared for her to ask for an autograph.