by Amy Andrews
She couldn’t go on, dissolving into tears again.
He rubbed her arm some more and dropped a kiss on top of her head. It didn’t seem strange, it felt right.
He held her like that for a long time until her tears stopped and the weeping faded to the odd hiccoughy sobs.
‘If it’s any consolation,’ he murmured, somewhere above her head as she quieted, ‘I don’t think you’re the first mother to find letting their kid go emotionally challenging.’
The word’s rumbled through his ribcage. Trinity heard them through the wall of his chest where her ear was half pressed.
‘I suppose not,’ she said with a wry smile as she glanced at him. ‘If only my parents could see me now. Not much of the Matrix Trinity about me today, huh?’
‘Tough guys have their low moments too. It’s how they keep getting up again that has us rooting for them.’
He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead this time and Trinity felt so much better. So damn good and comforted.
For the first time in her life she actually felt she had someone on her side. Someone rooting for her.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered. And then they were both smiling at each other.
CHAPTER TEN
TRINITY WASN’T SURE who kissed who. All she knew was their mouths fitted together perfectly and it was just what the doctor ordered. His warm, male scent swirled around her like fairy dust, his chest was hard and his heart beat a steady thump beneath her palms and she wanted more.
So much more.
He pulled away though and she moaned in protest.
‘Trinity...’
The look in his eyes was raw and untamed and her breath hitched. With only one lover to her name, Trinity was no expert in this kind of thing. But she did recognise the potency of desire, could see it in someone else.
‘Reid,’ she whispered.
She opened to him as he came back for more on a strangled groan, her pulse roaring in her ears, her senses filling with the warm, heady scent of him. The bristles of his beard prickled at her mouth and she whimpered against his lips as the sensation headed south, hitting all her good spots.
Her throat. Her nipples. Deep inside her belly. The nerve endings at the base of her spine. Between her legs.
Her body burned for him, slick and achy.
She jammed her hands in his hair, turning to press herself more fully against him, needing to be closer, to feel all of him, to touch all of him. Keeping her lips locked with his, she slid her hands over his shoulders and her leg over his lap, turning until she was straddling him.
He groaned again, breaking away. ‘Trinity...’
His voice was a crazy low rumble as they stared at each other, chests heaving, their mouths wet. She was speechless in the presence of her desire. She didn’t know how to ask for what she wanted. How to articulate herself in the presence of his intoxicating masculinity. His denim-clad quads rubbed deliciously against the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs, his taste flooded her tongue and his scent filled her nostrils.
They shouldn’t be doing this, she knew, yet she was hungry for the physical contact. Starving. For this man to lose herself in.
She grabbed at the shoulder muscles beneath her palms and pushed him back. He didn’t resist, going down at her insistence, his tattooed arms loose by his sides, his hips pressing warm and firm against the inside of each knee. He didn’t say anything for long moments, just searched her gaze, his chest chugging air in and out as their gazes locked and blood throbbed at her temples.
Then he lifted his head and lunged for her mouth. Trinity gasped as their lips made contact, moaning long and loud as she accepted the almost brutal demand of his mouth. She followed his head back down, their mouths fused as his hands slid up the backs of her thighs to her butt. He squeezed and yanked her down to him.
She went willingly, her body collapsing on top of his, aligning perfectly as he urged her thighs apart, splaying wide over the bulge behind his fly, one big hand holding her fast right where it felt best.
* * *
Reid could barely think as his senses infused with the taste and smell and the sounds of Trinity indulging. Panting and gasping as their heads twisted and turned, their tongues duelling, stoking the passion between them as she rocked and grinded on top of him.
He shoved a hand into her hair at her nape, pressing her mouth closer and harder at the same time he pressed her hips closer and harder. The rub of her pelvis against the taut line of his erection was almost painful but there was something to be said for hurting so good and he wanted every inch of her along every inch of him.
There was no coherence of strategy. Just feeling and moving and instinct. Going with what was good. And damned if her hot, deep kisses didn’t taste good. And if the little noises at the back of her throat didn’t sound good. And if the rock of her pelvis over his didn’t feel good.
Really freaking good.
She gasped, wrenching her mouth from his, throwing her head back, her eyes squeezed shut, her neck bare and exposed and right there. The look of ecstasy on her face was like a shot of testosterone to his already overloaded system and he ground up hard against her as he nuzzled her neck.
‘Feels good, huh?’ he said, keeping up the grind as he deliberately scraped his whiskers across the pale, delicate skin of her throat.
Her eyes flew open on another gasp, her gaze fixing on his, her tawny eyes wide, turning dark as whiskey. ‘I’m coming,’ she moaned.
Reid blinked. She was what now?
The sudden violent arch of her back and the intense trembling of her arms bracketing his shoulders confirmed it.
‘Oh, God...oh, God...oh, God!’ she gasped, her eyes screwed shut, drumming the flats of her feet against the mattress either side of his hips as she rode him and the powerful wave of her orgasm.
Reid’s chest pounded as he held her through it but it was like the bucket of proverbial cold water. She was oblivious to his stillness as she got off on him. She didn’t need him to do anything, she was taking what she wanted—what she obviously needed—grinding hard against him, gasping and panting and wringing every single second out of her climax.
He wouldn’t have denied her a few moments of sexual abandon for the world. For God’s sake, the woman was so starved of sex and human affection that she’d just come fully clothed from a spot of dry humping.
But it should not have been with him.
What the hell had he done? Where the hell had his resolve to keep away from her gone?
Because, regardless of how much he’d wanted her, she was still a poor, highly vulnerable single mother and he was a well-off guy who was offering refuge and paying her to look after his grandfather.
And he’d gone and taken advantage of her situation. Or at least let things get out of control. Not much better than the douchebag who’d demanded sex in turn for accommodation.
Where the hell was his honour?
With one last moan and still oblivious to Reid’s turmoil, she collapsed on top of him, gasping and shuddering, her fingers curled into the balls of his shoulders.
His hands automatically slid to her back, cradling her as the pound of her heart reverberated through her ribcage. Her weight against him was hardly anything at all but the weight on his conscience was significant.
He lay there, his heart also pounding but not from exertion, from uncertainty. He didn’t want to mess with her bliss. God knew if anyone deserved a bit of bliss it was her. But he doubted she was going to be too pleased at what had occurred between them when the bliss wore off. Ever since the kiss in the kitchen she’d been all sparks and prickles. Like an electric hedgehog.
If he knew Trinity at all after three weeks in her company, he knew there were bound to be regrets after this little tête-à-tête.
She stir
red, lifted her head and looked at him, although both actions appeared to take a supreme effort, as did keeping her head upright. A very satisfied, Mona Lisa smile played on her mouth and slugged him straight in the heart.
There was nothing more satisfying, as a man, than putting that look on a woman’s face.
He watched though as her gaze became clearer. She frowned at him, tentatively touching her finger to the tense line of his mouth. ‘What’s wrong?’
The pad of her finger was like an erotic brand and Reid fought the urge to suck it into his mouth.
She searched his face some more. ‘Oh, God, I’m sorry.’ She planted an elbow on his chest, levering herself up some more. ‘I just...got off and left you hanging and—’ She halted abruptly and slid her hand between their bodies.
‘Let me...’
Her hand cupping him, still hard and throbbing despite his mental self-flagellation, had a galvanising effect.
‘Oookay. No.’
He rolled her off him and practically fell from the bed in his haste to put some distance between them, adjusting himself as he went. He stopped just short of the door and turned to face her.
Slowly she rose into a sitting position. Her beautiful full mouth was a deep red from the plunder of his mouth. Her too-big T-shirt had slipped off one shoulder. ‘I guess we stepped over the line, huh?’ she said, her cheeks almost as red as her mouth.
‘You could say that.’
She pushed a hand through her hair. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘It was as much my fault.’
The kiss had come out of nowhere, sure, but maybe it had been inevitable the second he’d sat on the bed with her and put his arm around her. He should have known he was vulnerable to her.
To her situation. And her gumption. And her damn mouth.
But that was no excuse to let things get out of hand.
‘I was a wreck, Reid. You were just trying to comfort me. Put it down to...extraordinary circumstances.’
‘You were crying, Trinity. Stop the press.’
‘Trust me, for me that is extraordinary.’
Reid laughed at her self-deprecation. ‘Crying is good for you.’ He suspected she needed to do it more often.
‘Oh, yeah?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ He grinned. ‘I learned that in med school.’
She lifted an eyebrow at him. ‘You do it a lot, do you?’
‘Every night. Twice on Sundays.’
She laughed and Reid’s breath hitched. She laughed so little it made the times she did that much more memorable.
At least the atmosphere was a little lighter now.
‘We can’t do that again,’ Reid said. ‘Overstep the line. I’m not some creep who opens up his home with some sick ulterior motive. That’s not the arrangement here.’
‘I know that,’ she said quietly.
‘I think it’s best if we keep things...platonic.’ He was a grown-ass man, he could keep this attraction in check, surely?
She nodded. ‘I agree.’
‘I want you to be able to trust me.’
‘I do trust you. I know I’ve been...wary. And distant. I know I don’t trust easily and that’s a hard habit to break. Especially when something too good to be true happens. But I do know you’re a good guy.’
Well, well, despite the awkwardness of the situation it looked as if they’d made some kind of breakthrough. Maybe they should have had almost-sex two weeks ago.
‘Does this mean you’re going to stop looking at me like I might just shove you and Oscar in the oven at any moment?’
She laughed. ‘Sure.’
Considering what had just gone down between them, Reid was relieved by the outcome. ‘I like to think we could be friends,’ he ventured.
It was a tentative suggestion—not one he was sure she’d go for—but it made sense. Putting Trinity in the friend zone and vice versa, establishing that kind of rock-solid boundary between them, should help keep the attraction at bay.
‘I’d like that.’
‘Let’s start over.’ He strode towards her, sticking his hand out to be shaken. ‘Welcome, friend.’
She took his hand and shook briefly. ‘Thank you.’
A weird tingle flared to life as their palms pressed together. Reid ignored it.
Friends did not suffer from weird tingles.
* * *
The weeks flew by and it was mid-November before Trinity knew it. Her relationship with Reid had become easier, more relaxed, as he’d hoped for that day she’d totally lost her mind and had the world’s fastest orgasm. They’d both put extraordinary effort into it and it didn’t feel awkward or fraught between them any more.
It felt as if she’d finally been able to take that breath and relax.
Sure, her attraction was still there. She still dreamed inappropriate dreams about him that woke her in the middle of the night with his name on her lips and an ache between her legs. And she spent an extraordinary amount of time reliving that unorthodox climax he’d given her—or rather, she’d taken—despite the fact her cheeks flamed every single time.
But that was a first world problem if ever there was one. She could live with it.
Not that she’d have to for much longer. By her calculations, she’d have enough money put aside in two weeks to start contacting real-estate agencies about an apartment to rent.
They’d be in their own place by Christmas.
‘Hey.’
Trinity startled. She’d been so caught up in her thoughts and memories, she hadn’t sensed Reid approach and she always sensed him approaching.
It was like some really screwed-up super power.
‘Hey, Reid.’ Eddie grinned as Reid shrugged out of his jacket and threw it around the back of the folding chair that had been set up for him beside his grandfather.
‘Hi,’ she said. He nodded but she couldn’t see his eyes from the sunglasses fixed firmly on his face.
‘What’s the score?’ he asked, turning his attention to the match being played out in the centre.
‘Four for twenty-six,’ Eddie said. ‘Oscar’s batting. He’s on three.’
Eddie and Reid had accompanied her to every one of Oscar’s Saturday school cricket fixtures. Reid didn’t show till after work but he hadn’t missed a match. Considering the truly terrible calibre of cricket on display that was dedication. Untrained five-and six-year-olds had no bat-and-ball skills to speak of. But, they were getting better and Eddie and Reid sat and cheered and supported regardless.
And Oscar loved having them amongst the spectators.
‘God, it’s hot,’ Reid said, reaching into the Esky between the two chairs and pulling out a chilled bottle of water.
Neither she nor Eddie bothered to respond. November in Australia might be spring but it was still painfully hot. They, along with the other parent supporters dotted around the ground, had staked out a spot under an overhang of some gum trees. But the shady patch was retreating at a rate of knots as the sun blazed directly above them.
It was stinking hot.
Trinity had worried about Oscar playing in such conditions, that he didn’t have the stamina for it. But he’d taken to it like a duck to water, giving her hope that he truly was over the worst of his ill health.
Suddenly a crack rent the hot, still air and the ball, smacked by Oscar, hurtled along the ground towards the boundary rope. Eddie and Reid whooped and jumped to their feet as a member of the opposing team chased the ball trying to prevent it from becoming a four. Trinity leapt up as well.
‘Run,’ Eddie yelled at the two stationary boys in the middle who were both staring at it as if they couldn’t quite believe what had happened.
It was the first time any of them had hit the ball well and Tr
inity’s heart burst with pride. ‘Go, Oscar,’ she cheered as the boys put their heads down and ran like the blazes.
They need not have though; the ball reached the boundary and the umpire signalled four runs. Reid cupped his hands around his face and called out, ‘Awesome work, Oscar.’
Oscar turned, shot Reid the thumbs up and grinned so big, Trinity thought his face was going to split in two. Her lungs suddenly felt too large for her chest and Trinity was glad she was wearing sunnies too.
Her son had blossomed under the influence of the Hamilton men. Particularly Reid. Oscar always stood a foot taller whenever Reid praised him and constantly sought his approval.
‘Phew,’ Reid said as he sat again, pulling his T-shirt off his abdomen and fanning it. Trinity found her gaze was drawn helplessly to the action, knowing how firm and flat those abs were, and she was pleased for the presence of her sunglasses.
‘This heat is ridiculous,’ he announced.
Trinity couldn’t agree more. She supposed wearing long leather bike pants and big boots made things about a hundred times worse for Reid. At least she was in shorts. Her gaze was drawn to where his fingers fanned his shirt.
Surely no shirt would be cooler?
‘What say we head to Bondi after this?’ he said suddenly, glancing at her. She looked swiftly away, hoping like hell he hadn’t caught her ogling his abs.
‘Go for a refreshing dip in the ocean? We can get some fish and chips for tea to celebrate that magnificent four. Would Oscar like that?’
Trinity blinked away a hot rush of tears. It seemed once you let the damn things flow you couldn’t turn the suckers off. ‘Oscar would love it.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE ENDLESS BLUE arc of the sky met the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean at the distant horizon. The brilliant yellow of sun and sand was dazzling to the eye and even at four in the afternoon the soft grains were still warm beneath her feet. The breakers were rolling in and a line of surfers sat on their boards further out.
Red and yellow flags flapped in the stiffening afternoon breeze and surf lifesavers in their yellow shirts and red bathers with Bondi emblazoned across the butt patrolled the flagged area.