“You are?”
“How could I not be?”
“Our kids are pretty different,” she reminded him.
He nodded. “Yin and yang.”
She sighed, but it was a happy, contented sound. “I’m kind of crazy about your son, too.”
Gabe’s heart turned over in his chest, and he moved his hand to the back of her head. “You wore a blue dress today.”
“Yeah.”
“Because he told you blue was his favorite color.”
She shrugged. “I thought maybe it would make him feel better about sitting with me on the boat.” Her cheeks got pink. “Probably silly.”
Gabe’s throat felt tight as he pulled her in and put his nose against her neck. “Not silly,” he said gruffly. “And you do smell fucking amazing. I’d sit next to you anywhere.”
Addison gave a little moan as he ran his lips up and down her neck, then turned her head and met his mouth.
The kiss, as always, fired his blood and wound everything in him tight, but tonight it felt like his heart was clenching as well. He wanted her. But he wanted all of her. Everything there was. Everything she’d give him.
They kissed leisurely for several long minutes. Their hands wandered but stayed, somehow, on the outside of their clothing, since there were kids in the house. Gabe ran his fingers through her hair, and Addison ran her hands over his chest and shoulders.
Finally, Addison pulled back, breathing hard. “Okay, so, we need to stop.”
“But it’s so good,” he protested, nipping her bottom lip.
“Yeah, well, I was about to tell you that the laundry room is just down the hall, has a door, and has a table that could be shoved in front of it. And that if Stella gets started on a bead project, we’ve got a good twenty minutes of uninterrupted time.”
Gabe stared at her. “Why the hell were you about to tell me that? As if you’d decided not to?”
“Because Cooper’s here, too. And that’s probably not very good parenting.”
“Cooper’s attention span is scary long anyway, and he’s never done a bead project—whatever that is—which means that attention span will be even longer. He loves doing new things.”
She smiled up at him. “What about the not-very-good-parenting part?”
“Are there sharp objects, fire, or anything toxic involved?” Gabe asked.
Addison shook her head, giving him a look of desire and mischief that he couldn’t resist. “No, none of the above.”
“And I think they’re both old enough not to eat the beads,” he said. “Though we could remind them of that while we get them set up.”
“True.”
“And it’s not like we’re leaving. We’ll be right down the hall.” He leaned in and kissed her. “And I can be fast.”
She laughed. “Is finishing fast something to brag about?”
He ran his hand down her back, cupped her butt, and lifted her into his lap. She straddled his thighs, and he pressed her down against his hard cock. Her skirt hiked up, putting her silk panties right against his fly. “I promise that you’ll finish first.” He kissed her hot and hard. He knew he’d hear the kids coming down the stairs, based on the noise they were making on the ceiling above, so he slipped one of the straps of her dress off her shoulder and pulled the front of the dress below her breast. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and he cupped her breast, teasing the nipple, then put his mouth to her ear. “Please let me fuck you on your washing machine so that every time you go in there to wash clothes, you’ll think of just how dirty I can make you.”
Her pupils dilated. “Yes. Definitely yes.” She shifted on his lap, pulling a groan from his throat.
“Meet you in the laundry room in five minutes.”
She kissed him hard. “Should I bring a condom?”
He pinched her ass. “I’ve got it covered.”
She giggled—actually giggled—and pushed herself off his lap while she pulled her dress back into place. They headed upstairs, giving each other heated, playful looks as they got the kids settled stringing beads onto strings and pipe cleaners to create pieces of art. Predictably, Cooper was interested but eased into the project, concentrating on sorting his beads by color and size before starting, while Stella dove in, combining the beads in a colorful, varied pattern.
“Okay, we’ll be just downstairs,” Addison told them, inching toward the door.
“Okay,” Stella said without looking up.
Cooper didn’t reply.
“Hey, bud, yell if you need anything, okay?” Gabe said.
Cooper looked up. “Okay.”
“Or he can tell me,” Stella said. “I know where everything is.”
Cooper looked at her and smiled. “Yeah, Stella can help me.”
Gabe shot Addison a look. She just nodded with a little shrug.
“Okay,” Gabe said. “Still, we’ll just be downstairs.”
“Yeah, we really should go downstairs,” Addison said, stepping through the door and giving him a wide-eyed, let’s-go-already look.
“Hey, guys, no eating the beads, okay?” Gabe asked as he moved toward the door.
Cooper frowned. “Why would we eat the beads?”
Gabe grinned. “I was just being funny.”
Cooper shook his head. “I don’t think you’re as funny as you think you are, Dad.”
Gabe gave a short laugh. “Got it. I’ll remember that.”
He and Addison ran down the stairs together and got the table shoved in front of the door of the laundry room. Addison slipped out of her panties and boosted herself up on the washing machine, hiking her skirt up around her waist. Gabe watched her, fire licking along his limbs as he undid his fly. He stepped close, and Addison ran her hands up under his shirt over his abs and chest.
“Wow, this was a good idea,” she said, skimming her nails over his nipples.
Gabe growled and kissed her neck, working the strap of her dress down again so he could get at a nipple himself. But as he ran his thumb over it, and even as he knew that this wasn’t the kind of talking they should be doing, he said, “The kids are fine, right?”
Addison paused, then looked up at him. “I’m sure they are.”
“But Stella won’t really try to fix anything, right?” he asked. “If there’s something big, she’ll come yelling for us?”
Addison flattened her palms on his ribs on either side. “Yes, she will,” she assured him. “Stella is really responsible. And she knows the rules around here—what she can do and get for herself and what she needs help for.”
“Okay.”
“But,” she went on, looking at him seriously, “as much as I’d love to think that we can figure out a way to have sex even with two kids in the house, if you’re not comfortable with this tonight, that’s okay.”
“I really want this, Ad,” he said, dropping his hands to her hips.
“I know. And so do I. But I’ve never had sex with Stella in the house. And I’m guessing with the whole living-with-your-mom thing and the apartment over the bar, you haven’t had sex with Cooper in the house before, either.”
He shook his head. “Nope. Never occurred to me.”
“So maybe we shouldn’t—”
“But parents do have sex with their kids in the house,” he said. “I’m sure married couples with kids find a way to have sex even when their kids are home.”
Addison smiled. “I’m sure they do. That’s how families of more than one happen, I’m guessing.”
“Exactly. And I think it’s important that you—okay, we—prove to ourselves that we can do this.”
Addison nodded. “I get it. But Gabe, you have to follow your gut. Sometimes your head will tell you things about your kid that make perfect sense and should be absolutely right, but something will still bug you about it or will tell you it’s not right. I think you have to trust that.”
He thought about that for a second, then blew out a breath. He leaned to rest his forehead on hers. “I can’t bel
ieve that you—the careful, prepared one, the woman who carries wet wipes and Band-Aids in her purse—is right here, pantiless, ready and willing, and I’m the one hesitating.”
She slid her hands out of his shirt and looped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a hug. Gabe wrapped his arms around her, the action feeling as natural as taking her hips in his hands and sinking deep. Or kissing her. Or holding her hand walking down Decatur. Or sharing a private look across a support-group circle. Or admitting that he wasn’t sure about how sex in the laundry room with Addison fit into his parenting plan. Or admitting that he didn’t really have a parenting plan.
“Gabe Trahan, I will take my panties off and get up on any washing machine for you anytime,” Addison said in his ear. “It doesn’t have to be tonight. We’re not losing any opportunity that we can’t get back. If this doesn’t feel right to you, then we shouldn’t do it.”
He breathed out, calling himself a million kinds of idiot, but finally he nodded. “Maybe Coop and I should get home.”
“Okay.” She leaned back, kissed him, and then pulled up her dress.
Watching her cover that breast made Gabe curse himself again, but he pulled his boxers and jeans back on while she stepped into her panties and they left the laundry room together.
They headed back upstairs and exclaimed over the beaded artwork, then Gabe had Cooper say goodbye to Stella, and they started downstairs.
At the door, Gabe turned to Addison. “I was invited to a masquerade ball next Saturday. Be my plus-one.”
Addison hesitated. “Just us?”
“Just us.”
“So a date. Without kids.”
“Yes.”
She appeared to be thinking it over. Did that seem more serious than getting their kids together? Maybe. But Gabe knew this woman. “You can buy a big, fancy gown, and there will be a live jazz band and mint juleps,” he said, naming off the most southern things he could think of.
As expected, her eyes widened. “I’ve never had a mint julep,” she said.
“And you really should have your first at a big southern plantation during a ball,” he said.
Her eyes got even wider. “It’s at a plantation?”
He nodded.
She tried to act nonchalant about it as she said, “I guess that might be kind of cool.”
He grinned. “I wasn’t going to go, but then realized that this is right up your alley.”
“You’d go just for me?”
He ran a hand over her head. “I’d do anything for you, Ad.”
And damn, he meant that. More than he’d even realized.
“Well, how can I not go to the ball with you, then, Prince Charming?” But a second later, she frowned. “I don’t know who I’d have sit for Stella. Maybe Lexi? Or I guess I could ask Elena. I haven’t needed anyone at night except for support-group night. But I don’t think that gal would want to stay until midnight.”
“Or later,” Gabe said, suddenly really liking the whole Cinderella imagery she’d planted. He would love to whisk her away from her worries.
Which, of course, was funny, considering it was because of his worries that he was still physically aching for her and would possibly have a date with his hand later.
“Or later,” she agreed.
“Well, you can share my sitter that night,” Gabe told her. That seemed like the easiest, most obvious solution anyway. “Right, bud?” he asked Cooper, who’d been standing by the door, patiently waiting. “Stella could come over and play with you while Addison and I go to a party next weekend?”
Cooper nodded. “Sure. I can show her my room then.”
“Exactly.” Gabe turned back to Addison. “What do you say?”
She lifted a brow. “Maybe. As long as it’s not your mom or something.”
Gabe grinned. “Of course it’s my mom.”
Addison groaned.
“Oh, come on,” he said, stepping close. “She’s great.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about, and you know it,” Addison told him.
“Then what?”
“I’ve met your—” She glanced at Cooper. “O-f-f-s-p-r-i-n-g,” she spelled out. “I think maybe meeting your mom is a little fast.”
Gabe laughed. “She already knows all about you.”
“She does?”
“Of course.”
“You told her about me?” Addison looked surprised and, maybe, a little touched.
“Cooper did,” Gabe said. “But I confirmed everything he said.”
“What did he say?” she asked, looking at Cooper with a soft expression.
“That you’re sweet, and smell good, and are pretty, and funny, and that you like to kiss boys.”
Addison’s eyes flew to his. “What?”
“Well, okay, you said that girls sometimes start the kissing,” Gabe added, letting his gaze drop to her lips so she knew that he was most definitely thinking about all of their kissing. “And I think he also told her . . . What was that last part, Coop?”
Cooper giggled. “That she’s full of beans.”
Gabe winked at her. “Right.”
Addison pointed at Cooper. “Remind me that none of my secrets are safe with you,” she told him.
Cooper just laughed harder.
“Come on, go to the ball with me,” Gabe said. “Let my mom spoil Stella, and let my son spend some time with that bright, shiny girl who he already feels safe with.”
Addison tipped her head back with a groan. “How am I supposed to resist that?”
“You’re not supposed to.”
“Okay.” She looked at him again. “I’ll go. But I should warn you, I’m going to knock your socks off with my dress.”
“Yeah, you will,” he said sincerely. Then, following his gut exactly as Addison had encouraged, he wrapped an arm around her waist, dipped her back, and, much to Cooper’s delight, kissed her good night.
“I can’t wait,” Caroline Trahan said, taking Addison’s hand and pulling her into the living room. “He’s going to be speechless.”
Addison had been just about to ring the doorbell to Caroline’s house when the door had swung open and Gabe’s mother had greeted Addison and Stella with a huge warm smile and a finger over her lips, indicating they should be quiet.
Apparently, Gabe was upstairs getting dressed, and Caroline wanted to greet Addison and Stella without him present. And she wanted to see Gabe’s reaction when he saw Addison.
Which was sweet. But Addison touched her hair, suddenly self-conscious and realizing that this evening was a bigger deal than Gabe and her just going to some party.
She’d known that. On some level. And she’d ignored it. Because she really wanted to go. Not just for the plantation house and mint juleps.
But now she was in the living room where Gabe had grown up, with his mother beaming—beaming—at her. Stella had picked up on the excitement and was shifting from foot to foot and trying to muffle her giggles.
Addison grinned at her daughter. “Mrs. Trahan, this is Stella. Stella, this is Gabe’s mom and Cooper’s grandma, Mrs. Trahan.”
“Oh my goodness,” Caroline said with a laugh. “You can’t call me Mrs. Trahan,” she told Stella. “That’s way too hard. You can call me Caro.”
“Okay,” Stella told her with a wide smile.
“And I hope you like grilled cheese and carrot sticks,” Caroline said.
“I do,” Stella said enthusiastically.
Addison and Caroline had talked on the phone earlier in the week to go over some of Stella’s preferences and routines, which Addison appreciated greatly. The other woman was warm and sweet and so genuine in wanting to make Stella’s evening with her successful.
“And I was wondering if you would help me with something,” Caroline said to Stella.
“Okay.”
Addison felt pride warm her heart, as her daughter readily agreed to help Caroline without even knowing what she needed and with the realization that Stella trust
ed Caroline.
“Well, I have some old coffee cans that I want to turn into containers that I can grow flowers in for my friends. And I need some help painting and decorating them.”
Stella’s mouth fell open at the idea of doing a craft project. “I’m a really good artist,” she said solemnly. “I can do a good job on that.”
Caroline smiled widely. “Oh, that’s wonderful news. I can’t wait to get started.”
“Holy shit, Addison.”
They all swung to face Gabe as he stepped into the room. He was staring at Addison as he came forward, as if he didn’t even see anyone else. And she knew the feeling. Holy shit was right. He was in a tux. And, evidently, that was all it took to make her nipples perk up and everything to go hot and wet.
“Language, Gabe.” This came from Logan, who had just come into the room with Cooper. He bit into the apple he held as he looked over at Addison, froze, checked her out from head to toe, and then said, “But yeah, holy shit, Addison.”
She was very pleased with the off-the-shoulder, floor-length dress. The fitted bodice was a rich ocean blue, with the color slowly fading to a pale-blue at the hem. There were silvery threads throughout the bodice that sparkled in the light when she moved. She had her hair up in a twist and had gone a little dramatic with her makeup, especially around her eyes.
She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t even spare Logan a reply because suddenly Gabe was nearly on top of her.
“I need to talk to you in the kitchen,” he said.
Addison felt her eyes widen. “Um, okay.” She glanced at Caroline.
Caroline and Logan were both watching Gabe with a combination of surprise and amusement.
“Stella, I’m going to go talk to Gabe for a minute, okay?”
“Sure, Mommy,” Stella told her. She made a beeline for Cooper. “Show me your room.”
“Okay.” Cooper turned and led the way out of the room.
Gabe grabbed Addison’s hand and started in the opposite direction.
“Hey, Gabe?” Caroline called.
“Yeah?” he asked, not stopping but giving his mom a quick glance.
“Don’t mess up her hair. It looks perfect.”
Going Down Easy (Boys of the Big Easy) Page 14