by Unknown
To Summer’s relief, Amelia didn’t argue. She relinquished JR and pivoted on the balls of her feet. She stomped to the door and left without a backward glance. Summer blew out a calming breath and sank into Ian’s chair holding JR to her chest. She peeked down at JR and watched his thick dark lashes fluttering over his eyes. Soon he was fast asleep, and she smiled. She’d chased off that mommy skank and successfully put the baby down for the first time. Great morning so far.
Summer dozed for a good half hour before her ringing cell phone woke her up. She fumbled around in the baby bag for it and answered before the ringing disturbed the baby. “Tony?”
“Summer, mm, your voice is just as sexy as it was the last time I spoke to you,” he said. “How are you, honey?”
She frowned. “It’s been six weeks since we broke up, Tony. Not so long for my voice to change. I’m fine, thanks. Why are you calling?”
“I wanted to see if you’d like to come with me to Cozumel. Nothing starts a great summer season like spending it naked on the beach.”
A glimmer of interest stirred in her. “Uh-huh, I know how you like nudist beaches.”
“All the better to enjoy the view of your great body.”
She rolled her eyes and shifted JR to the opposite shoulder. “Yeah, my body, okay. I believe that.”
“Your sarcasm hurts me, honey.” He chuckled. “You can’t deny you always had a good time with me, didn’t you?”
“I’m not denying that.” She should tell him it was good and over and not to call again, but she kept the conversation going. “We had a lot of good times, flying all over the world. I had no real choice but to change my career a little to keep up with you.”
“Then what’s the problem?” He dropped his voice low, making it deep and husky. Just hearing it made her recall all the different places they’d had sex, all the hotel rooms, beaches, and restaurants. Damn, she’d been crazy with him.
“I…I’m seeing someone.” Crap, she sounded like a schoolgirl, young and in love. Hopefully, he hadn’t heard that, especially when she wasn’t sure of where it was going with Ian. One minute she wanted to take flight, and the next…well… She glanced down at JR and kissed the top of his curly head. He was warm and smelled like baby powder. Looking after him scared her, but she cared about him. Maybe it was only because he was a part of Ian, but it was true nonetheless.
“Not your old boyfriend.” Tony pulled her from her thoughts. “Fuck, Summer, you know he wasn’t good for you.”
How had he guessed? “Who do you think you are making that determination for me?”
“Come on, honey, don’t lie to yourself. Neither of us wants kids.
That’s why we worked so well together. You chickened out when it got serious.”
She sucked her teeth. “I didn’t chicken out. You asked me to marry you, and I wasn’t sure.”
“Yeah, and you broke it off the next day. Thanks for thinking it over.”
Summer didn’t respond. He was right. She had fled, but not because of him. Thinking of being with anyone other than Ian had sent her into a tailspin. For some reason she’d thought Tony wasn’t the marrying kind.
She’d actually counted on the two of them having fun with no commitments forever. Maybe that was unrealistic. “You complicated things.”
“I thought that was my line.”
When Ian strode into the office, she froze. Damn, she should have told Tony it was over and asked him not to call again. Now it looked like she was cheating, because she had no doubt guilt was written all over her face.
Ian watched her for a few moments, and then he smiled. He moved around the desk and reached for JR. She let him take the baby and didn’t take her eyes off him until he’d laid his son in the playpen on his stomach.
JR’s tiny thumb found its way to the baby’s mouth, and he sucked in total contentment.
“I have to go,” she said into the phone.
“Wait.”
She paused.
“If you change your mind…if you need me…call. I’ll whisk you away like I always did.”
Summer stabbed the disconnect button as temptation rose to a feverish pitch inside of her. Ian sat on the side of his desk, legs crossed at the ankles as he waited for her to vacate his chair. She stood up and moved to pass him, but he reached out to pull her close. “You okay?”
“Yeah, of course.” She turned her head away, but he forced it back and kissed her. She couldn’t help resting her hands on his shoulders and leaning into his warmth. No amount of outside temptation could change her need for this man. Why were they so connected? Why did it feel like he half occupied her soul, like he had the right to be there? She searched her mind for something to say. “How did the meeting go?”
“I missed you.”
She raised her gaze to his and saw the sincerity there. Why did he love her?
“Oh.”
He frowned. “That’s all you have to say? Oh? Summer, who was that on the phone? The way you looked when I walked in was like you’d been caught doing something wrong.”
She straightened her back and shoved out of his arms. “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I can damn well speak to anyone I choose to.”
“I never said you couldn’t.”
“Yeah, well I don’t appreciate being questioned.” She turned away.
“Why are you picking a fight?”
She stopped. He was right. There hadn’t been a tone to his question.
He’d just been curious. Ian wasn’t the type to be jealous over nothing. Not to say he didn’t blow a gasket when a man got in her face and didn’t take no for an answer. She’d seen his reaction to that type of thing, and it wasn’t pretty. Not for the guy with the bloody nose. Ian was gentle and kind, but he had a temper just like anyone else.
“It was my ex. He didn’t know I had moved on,” she said. “Not a big deal. I told him I was seeing you now.”
“Okay.”
She turned back to him. The word had sounded like simple acceptance of her explanation, but the tension in his shoulders showed he didn’t like it. His head was bowed, eyes focused on some point just past her. She waited for him to say more, but he remained unmoving.
“I don’t want to disturb your work. Just pretend I’m not here.”
He came out of his reverie and ran a finger along her cheek. “Is that possible?” He shook his head.
She swallowed. “Ian, maybe I should…”
He placed her hand on his crotch, and white-hot desire arrowed through her system when she felt that he was hard.
“We can’t do that here.”
“Why not?” He pinched the button of his jeans open, lowered the zipper, and then put her hand inside his boxers to wrap around his cock.
She couldn’t look away at the ecstasy in his expression when she squeezed. “Summer, do you know how good that feels?”
She tried to draw back, but he held her hand in place. “Let go. Ian, you’re an important person in this company. You could lose your job. I can’t let you take that kind of risk.”
All of a sudden, he took her by the arms and shifted their positions.
She bumped the desk, and he pushed her a little. She clung to him so he wouldn’t lay her down. The intensity in his eyes captured her just as strongly as his physical grip.
“Then kiss me like I’m the only man who can ever please you.”
There it was, the anger, the command. The call had upset Ian more than he’d let on. He wanted her to prove to him that he was the one for her and no one else.
“Who says you’re the only one?” she demanded. “Maybe I don’t want to be tied down to this life. Did you ever consider that?”
She hadn’t meant to say it, but the words came tumbling from her lips anyway. Tony couldn’t hold a candle to Ian, and aside from that she didn’t mean to be so blunt about whether she wanted the role of JR’s stepmother.
Ian was asking a lot, and it was unfair for him to act like this wasn’t a big deal, s
omething to take her time considering.
His expression closed down, and he leaned up and moved away. The air conditioning in the office was cool, but not as cold as he left her. She straightened her clothes while he zipped and buttoned his pants.
“I have a few things to take care of. We can have lunch at noon.” He sat down behind his desk, and when he slid in closer to it, his knee brushed hers. An array of emotions passed through her at the contact, strongest of all being desire. He didn’t even flinch. “You can occupy yourself exploring the building, or if you want, there are a few shops at the bottom of the hill. They’re not as far as it sounds.”
She’d hurt him, and she never meant to do that. “Ian, I’m sorry.”
He bent his head to the paperwork on his desk, ignoring her. Summer clenched her hands into fists. She hated being ignored, but she didn’t blame him. This was his way. Ian always got quiet when he was really angry. She was the one who liked to hash it out, fussing until she got her point across. Something told her yelling about the unfairness of him expecting her to take on a ready-made family was pointless. He behaved like no time had passed between them, and she just didn’t see it that way.
She gathered her purse and headed out the door. A little walking might do her some good. Let him wonder where she’d gone, because it was for sure she wasn’t having lunch with his pig-headed, controlling ass.
Chapter Five
Summer strolled into her apartment, hands full of bags, and kicked the door shut behind her. She waited until she’d dumped the lot on the couch before she fumbled for a light switch. Her favorite lamp toppled over when she misjudged its distance, and she swore.
Light flooded the apartment without her turning it on herself, and she gasped in alarm. Ian sat in the armchair across from her, his face a mask of fury. “Where were you?”
She put her hands on her hips. “Excuse me?”
He took his time standing. “We agreed we’d have lunch, didn’t we?
You said you’d help me with Ian Junior at the office today. Instead you disappeared for hours and didn’t answer any of my calls. I drove around the area at the bottom of the hill and checked every shop there, but there was no sign of you. So tell me, where were you?”
“Like you can’t tell from all these bags I—”
He shook her, and she screeched, struggling to break his hold. He wasn’t hurting her, but his anger was palpable, setting her teeth on edge.
“Let me go, Ian.”
“Were you with your ex?”
She stilled, staring up at him. In an instant, the anger disappeared to be replaced by pain. The emotion floored her and caused the muscles in her stomach to contract. She forgot how pissed she still was at him and how she’d gotten angrier as the afternoon passed. All she wanted was to reassure him. Ian had never been vulnerable. Neither of them really. Their love had consumed them both, and no one had come close to standing between them. She didn’t like seeing Ian this way.
Before she could speak, the pain in his eyes melted away to be replaced again by his anger. “I thought we were giving this a chance, to see where it would go.”
She clenched her jaw. “You thought I was going to be your ready-made mommy since the real one skipped out on you.” Damn, why do I keep saying that stuff? Get a grip and tell him you’re just really scared you’re not good enough and that you never will be. “All I see is a life with no fun, no nothing except raising your baby like a nursemaid. I used to travel all over the world at the drop of a hat. I flew to the Caribbean three times in one year.”
His hands dug into her arms, and she winced. She refused to cry out again.
“When did you become so shallow?” he demanded. “I thought you were different.”
She raised her chin. “Maybe I’m not. Maybe you should stop looking for a fairytale and come back to reality. I did—four years ago.”
Without warning, she found herself standing alone. In silence, he moved to the door, and slammed it behind him as he left. Summer sank to the floor, tears streaming down her face.
* * * *
Half awake, Summer heard her front door open and close. Someone walked across the living room, and her bedroom door opened. She was too tired and too worn emotionally to roll over. All night, she’d lain awake, unable to sleep. The words she’d spoken to Ian swirled in her head, mocking her. He was right. She did sound shallow and uncaring. She wasn’t that way, but she also felt he had no right to put expectations on her when they were just feeling their way in this relationship, or whatever it was. She’d hurt him. That much was clear, and she hadn’t expected to hear from him again after he walked out.
“Summer.” He shook her shoulder. She didn’t respond. Let him think she was asleep. He didn’t back off. “Summer, baby, wake up. We have to go.”
She yawned and sat up. Through tired, aching eyes, she observed him.
He was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. A bag sat just outside her closet, and she recognized it as the one she kept on the top shelf for when she planned to go on a trip. “What’s going on?”
“We have a flight in less than two hours. Come on, honey, get showered and dressed.”
She squinted at him and rose. Her mind must be foggy. Maybe she’d slept and didn’t realize it. “Aren’t you pissed off at me? Didn’t you storm out last night?”
He kissed the top of her head on his way to her closet. Summer watched him scraping hangers aside as he examined the contents. “I was, and I did. Then I made arrangements for us to go to Barbados for a few days. Have you been there?”
Her mouth dropped open. “Barbados? Are you serious? I thought you were in the middle of transitioning your company to a new location and a host of other stuff, a merger or takeover or whatever.”
“I’ve made arrangements. Don’t worry. The next few days belong to you.” He removed a couple sundresses from her closet and laid them on the bed. Then he came over to her and directed her toward the bathroom.
A gentle push and a slap on the ass got her moving. Summer replayed his actions in her mind while she showered. She couldn’t believe he didn’t write her off. Instead, he was giving her what she’d complained of not having. Ian was the most unusual man she’d ever met.
When she was dressed and packed, after selecting what she wanted to take on the trip and not what he chose, they headed down to the car.
Summer stopped when she spotted the older woman sitting in the back next to JR in his car seat. “Who’s that?”
“The nanny.” He moved past her and packed her bag in the trunk.
“Nanny?” She was dumbfounded but greeted the woman when Ian introduced them. He’d gone all out, but she was worried. One didn’t select a person to care for a baby overnight. Even she knew that much. “Um…”
“I’ve used her previously after a thorough background check. She has glowing recommendations from previous employers and personal references. Sometimes Kelly can’t take Ian, and my mom isn’t in condition health wise to take him. Mrs. Cumberland is a widow, and she’s watched Ian Junior a few times before.”
“The baby’s staying here?”
He shook his head while putting the car in gear. “She’s coming along. I hope that won’t be a problem.”
“Of course not.”
He’d covered all her worries, but the man must be making good change to afford to take her and the nanny on vacation, as well as pay the woman’s salary. Summer didn’t go for a guy just because he had money, but she didn’t date losers with no prospects either.
She noticed the tickets in his hand and reached for them, but he moved them away. “I can cover my ticket if you let me see the price.”
“No.”
“Ian, don’t be stubborn.”
He eyed her a second and then focused on the road again. “You’re not paying for it, and that’s the end of the conversation.”
“Stubborn ass,” she muttered.
“What was that?”
She offered a fake smile. “N
othing.”
He chuckled. When he reached over and took her hand, threading his fingers between hers, she didn’t resist. She loved him more than any woman should love a man. If she wasn’t careful, she could lose herself, and that was not happening.
The flight there was just over seven hours, but the luxury hotel made up for the long ride with beauty and elegance. The clear blue water she glimpsed out past the lobby took her breath away, and when they entered their penthouse suite, she rushed in to get a view from the balcony. The place was incredible. An archway led from the hotel’s patio straight to the water. Other guests strolled along the white sandy beach, making Summer recall how warm and soft it was under her feet. She leaned on the railing and took in a deep breath, closing her eyes. Bananas, flowers, and the sea Wow, even the air is vibrant here.
Ian strolled up behind her and set his hands on her hips. He kissed her cheek. “You rushed past the room. I hope you like it.”
“Do you have to ask?” She took in the French doors leading back into the room. On each side of a living room tastefully decorated with rattan furniture covered with plump pillows, was a short hallway leading to a bedroom. Off from the living room was a spacious dining room, and beyond the half counter to one side was the kitchen with full size refrigerator and stove, along with whatever else they might need to prepare meals. “You didn’t have to do this, Ian. I wasn’t hinting that you should spirit me around the world on your dime.”
He gave her a squeeze. “Don’t you think you’re worth it?”
She sucked her teeth. “Oh hell, yeah.” She laughed and turned into his arms. Ian drew her closer and ran his hand down her back. Desire began building in her core, and she dipped her head to his shoulder. One touch from Ian always set her off. She wanted to wrap her legs around him and beg him to make her come. Thoughts of what she’d said to him the day before sobered her. “I’m sorry for what I said. You don’t deserve to be treated that way, and I don’t want to be the one to do it.”