The Good Father

by Kara Lennox

  What if they’d bounced into the water?

  “Got ’em.”

  Relieved, she stood aside and let him open the hatch. She walked down the three steps, her legs shaking. The hatch had scarcely latched behind them when she was in his arms again.

  They started toward her cabin, leaving a trail of clothing as they kissed and caressed one step at a time, but they never actually made it there. Jane found herself on the sofa in the salon, but that proved too small and they ended up on the carpet.

  She couldn’t get enough of the feel of his skin and his hair, long enough that she could grab handfuls of it. He smelled like citrus and his skin tasted faintly of salt from being out on the ocean.

  She tasted his ear, delighting in the way he squirmed. But when he kissed her breast, circling her sensitive nipple with his tongue until it peaked, she was the one driven nearly out of her mind with wanting.

  “Birth control?” she managed to squeak.

  “Got it.”

  In the back of her mind she wondered why he was so well prepared when he’d had no idea they would be together tonight. Was he just optimistic that an opportunity would present itself? Or if things hadn’t worked out in their favor, would he right now be at Old Salt’s trying to seduce some other woman?

  But she pushed those thoughts out of her mind. Tonight was about living in the moment, not worrying, and the moment was pretty darn good.

  By the time Max entered her she was incapable of thinking about much else, anyway. She wanted to scream with passion and excitement and sheer exuberance, but because she didn’t want to alarm anyone who happened to be out for an evening stroll on the dock, she limited herself to heartfelt moans.

  When her feelings threatened to overwhelm her self-control, she pressed her face against Max’s shoulder and cried out one last time as the intense pleasure reached its peak.

  As she rode out the waves of sensation, reveling in the simple physical release, Max thrust inside her harder and faster until he, too, found release.

  A few minutes later, the air conditioner kicking on brought Jane back to the real world, and the fact she was lying on the salon floor with a delicious man on top of her.

  This was crazy. She laughed, because what else could she do when she realized they were complete lunatics?

  Max rolled over and pulled her on top of him. “What’s so funny?”

  “Us. We couldn’t even make it to the bedroom.”

  “I don’t know about you, but I had a lot of suppressed lust built up. Watching you parading around in those little shorts—”

  “I do not ‘parade.’”

  “You can’t help it. Everything about you turns me on. Your smile, your knees, your collarbone. Even your fingernails.” His smile faded. “Jane, I think…I mean, I don’t know much about these things, but…”

  “But what?”

  “Oh, hell, nothing. I never used to worry about anything, and lately I’ve been one big tension knot.”

  She wanted to know what he was worried about. But she sensed whatever it was, pressuring him wouldn’t get results. He would tell her if and when he really wanted her to know.

  She pressed two fingers into each of his temples and gently swirled. “Tonight isn’t about worry, okay? I’ve been doing my best not to think about the future. Not even tomorrow morning.”

  “I have to get up early.”

  “Me, too. Allie will probably bring Kaylee home around 7:30.”

  “I’ll be gone by then. But that gives us—” he raised his left arm and pressed a button on his watch. A cool blue-green light briefly illuminated his face “—nine hours.”

  “Nine hours! That sounds like a lot.”

  “Unless you factor in sleep.”

  “Who needs to sleep?”

  “Not me. But I wouldn’t mind a bed.”

  Reluctantly, Jane eased her body off Max’s and got to her knees, then her feet. She offered a hand to Max. “Bedroom’s this way. But don’t expect much. Everything’s smaller on a boat.”

  Jane had always found the main cabin on the Princess II to be adequate for her needs. But when Max entered, his presence filled it so thoroughly she felt like they’d entered a hobbit house.

  “Good thing I don’t mind cuddling up with you.”

  Jane pulled back the covers and slid between the sheets, and Max joined her. He couldn’t even stretch out all the way, but he didn’t complain. He tucked her against him and idly caressed her breast, and she sighed.

  She’d never known a human being could feel such contentment.

  It was just sex, she reminded herself. But she’d never felt this way with Scott, who by comparison had been a rough and insensitive lover, more interested in conquering her than pleasing her.

  Tentatively she touched Max, pleased that he responded instantly and amazed that she could want him again, already. At this rate, in nine hours they could make love nine or ten times. She suppressed a giggle.

  He probably hadn’t come that prepared.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The second time they made love was slower, almost drowsy. Max thought he’d appreciated every part of Jane before, but now he noticed more things about her. She made little whimpers low in her throat when he found just the right place; she had an adorable freckle right in one of the dimples above her bottom.

  Now thoroughly sated, Max was content to watch Jane as she fell asleep. So much for staying up all night.

  But he had no more condoms anyway.

  This was the point where, with other women, he’d felt a strong urge to flee. He hadn’t spent an entire night with a woman since his breakup with Alicia, and even with her he’d stayed only because she had pressured him about it.

  He had absolutely no desire to leave Jane. In fact, he could have happily stayed here with her for days. It was so easy to put work out of his mind. They could sail the Princess II to some secluded harbor where even Cooper and Allie couldn’t keep an eye on them, and live on love and vanilla wafers.

  Was this love? When you were fascinated with everything about a woman, in bed and out, and you cared more about her welfare than your own, was it love?

  He’d almost told her he loved her. But some small grain of self-preservation instinct, maybe only a holdover from his swinging bachelor days, had stopped him.

  It would be bad to say it if it wasn’t true. And what did he know about love? He only knew that he’d never told any woman he loved her before, not even Alicia. Love—real, true love—implied a future together. Commitment. Marriage.

  He had other priorities right now. The Remington Agency was on the brink of turning a profit. He couldn’t afford to get distracted, worrying about Jane and Kaylee and how to provide for their futures as well as his own.

  It was too much.

  But if he’d fallen in love with her, how did he undo it?

  He fell into a troubled sleep. Jane nuzzled him awake at some point in the early morning hours, when it was still dark out, and though he was out of condoms they still managed to pleasure each other in mind-boggling ways.

  When seven o’clock came, Max had to drag himself out of bed. Tempting though it was to invent some excuse for blowing off the whole day and spending it in bed with Jane, he could just imagine the gossip fallout.

  Jane, however, still snoozed blissfully. Max took one look at the miniscule marine shower and decided to bathe at home. How did Jane live in such tight quarters? The Princess II was large compared to, say, the Dragonfly, but it was still cramped.

  When he was dressed, he woke Jane with a light kiss but pulled back when she reached for him.

  “No, no, gorgeous. If we even get started I’ll never make my meeting in time.”

  Jane sat up, rubbing her eyes like a child. “Wow. What time is it?”

  “Seven-fifteen.”

  “I can’t believe I slept this late. I never sleep past seven.”

  Max grinned. “We didn’t get much sleep last night.”

  She grinn
ed back. “Good point.” Then she frowned. “You’re already dressed.”

  “I have to go. I’m not sure how long this meeting will last—it might be an all-day thing.”

  “You never told me who you’re meeting with. Is it a secret?” Jane slid out of bed, and Max got a glimpse of her lush curves before she grabbed a silk dressing gown from a hook and wrapped it around herself.

  “It’s not a secret, exactly. It’s my brother, Eddie. I’m not sure if he’s here to spy on me, scold me or beg me to come back. But whichever, I figure I owe him the courtesy of a meeting.”

  “So bring him to the office. Show off what you’ve built.”

  “Maybe. We’ll see how it goes.” He looked at his watch. “I have to get going. You won’t be late to work, will you?”

  “Huh, not a chance. I don’t want people saying I slept in because I was up all night boffing the boss. Even if I was.”

  She walked him up to the deck, and they paused at the railing for one last, lingering kiss.

  “Hi, Max!”

  Max and Jane sprang apart as they both searched for the source of the cheerful greeting. Then Jane saw it; Kaylee was at a porthole on the Dragonfly, waving at them and grinning from ear to ear.

  OF COURSE, Jane was left to deal with the fallout alone. Not that she blamed Max; he’d warned her when she invited him to stay the night that he had to leave early. But that meant Jane had to answer Kaylee’s thousand-and-one questions all by herself.

  She showered quickly and dressed for work. By then, Allie had gotten Kaylee into her clothes and was ready to bring her home. They met on the dock for the handoff.

  “She was no trouble at all,” Allie said. “Such a little angel, and so cheerful when she wakes up. I fed her a waffle.”

  “Can you say thank-you to Allie for taking care of you last night?”

  Kaylee hugged Allie fiercely. “Thank you.” But then she turned back to her mother. “Where’s Max?”

  “He’s gone home, sweetie,” Jane said.

  “Did he say thank-you that he got to spend the night with you?”

  Allie snickered, and Jane shot her friend a warning look. “Yes, he did.” There was no point in denying she’d had Max as an overnight guest.

  “Did you give him a waffle?”

  “Is that what they’re calling it now?” Allie asked.

  Jane decided she needed to leave before the conversation deteriorated any further. “We’ll talk to you later, Allie,” she said tartly as she took Kaylee’s hand and made her escape.

  “Did you give him a waffle, Mommy?” Kaylee asked as Jane washed the child’s face and hands and got her into some clean clothes. No time for a bath, but she was marginally clean.

  “No, I didn’t have waffles.”

  “Did you give him cereal?”

  “No, he didn’t eat breakfast.”

  “Won’t he be hungry?”

  “I’m sure he’ll eat something when he gets home.”

  “Where does Max live?”

  “He lives in a condo. It’s like our new apartment that we’re moving to.”

  “Can we go there?”

  Jane hedged. She didn’t want to come right out and discourage Kaylee from her attachment to Max, because that might make her want it even more. “Maybe some time he’ll invite us over and we can see it.”

  “Why doesn’t he live here?”

  Jane prayed for patience and guidance. “Because this is our home, and he has his own home.”

  “When we move to our new ’partment, will he live there?”

  “No, it’ll just be the two of us. Just us girls.”

  Kaylee frowned, and she wiggled her foot making it nearly impossible for Jane to tie her shoe. “I want him to live with us.”

  Jane groaned inwardly. “He can’t live with us, sweetie. He’s not part of our family.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…because families are made up of mommies and daddies and children and…and…” Oh, God, how did she explain this?

  “Max could be my daddy.”

  Oh, boy. “Kaylee, you already have a daddy.” A rotten daddy, but Jane still hoped that Scott would straighten up and form a decent relationship with his daughter once the sting of the divorce had worn off. She wouldn’t do anything to ruin that for the future.

  “But my daddy’s not here.”

  “True, but that doesn’t mean he’s not your daddy.”

  “Then I could have two daddies. Joanie at school has two daddies.”

  Ay-yi-yi. “Kaylee, please, can we talk about something else? Max is a good friend, and he’s my boss, and we owe him a lot, but he’s not your daddy and he doesn’t live with us.”

  Kaylee’s big blue eyes welled up with tears. “Why not?”

  “Oh, baby.” She gathered her little girl into a hug and squeezed her tight. “I know it’s tough that we don’t have a daddy living with us. But I’m your mommy and I love you enough for all the daddies in the whole world. A hundred daddies couldn’t love you the way I do.”

  Jane braced herself for a tantrum, but it didn’t come. Instead, Kaylee cried quietly, almost silently, as if her heart had just been broken, and maybe it had been. Maybe she finally understood that her daddy wasn’t coming back. Jane had thought her daughter’s transition from two parents to one had gone a little too smoothly.

  It was all Jane could do not to cry herself. Seeing her daughter skin a knee or bump her head was hard enough; Jane died a thousand deaths every time anything hurt her baby. But seeing her with her first real, true emotional hurt was almost more than Jane could stand.

  By the time she arrived at the Montessori school, Kaylee had stopped crying, but she still looked and sounded sad and nothing Jane could say would cheer her up—not even promises to take her to her favorite pizza place.

  Miss Martha, Kaylee’s teacher, waved from the porch as Jane got Kaylee out of her car seat.

  “Give me a hug, and I’ll see you at five-fifteen at Mrs. Billingsly’s.”

  Kaylee hugged her, but trouble still brewed in her eyes. “Mommy, will you ask him?”

  “Ask who what?”

  “Ask Max if he wants to be my daddy.”

  Now Jane’s eyes did fill with tears. “I can’t, sweetie. I know you don’t understand, but the world just doesn’t work that way. But he can still be your special friend.”

  Kaylee firmed her mouth in a mutinous line, clearly not buying the comfort Jane offered. She ran off toward Miss Martha without a backward glance.

  Jane got back behind the wheel and moved the car forward, but she didn’t go far. She turned onto the first quiet side street she saw and parked while she pulled herself together.

  She spent several minutes parked there, working through every conceivable solution to this problem, and every time she reached the same conclusion.

  This wasn’t going to work. If she didn’t want to disappoint her daughter over and over and over again, she was going to have to stop seeing Max.

  It was best to find out now, she reasoned, before they’d gotten in too deep. But then she realized she was kidding herself. They’d been involved since the moment she’d walked into his office looking for a job—maybe from the moment he’d first flirted with her, earning Scott’s wrath. Yes, they’d only recently consummated their feelings in bed, but that didn’t mean what they had was slight or shallow.

  She was already in deep. And she had to get out.

  Not only was she losing Max, but she was losing her job, as well. Oh, Max wouldn’t fire her. At least, she didn’t think he would. But it would be too painful to continue working so close to him when she couldn’t have him.

  She would have to resign.

  “EDDIE!” Max spotted his older brother at the baggage claim. They strode toward each other, shook hands in a contest of who could squeeze harder, then broke down and hugged.

  “Man, you look great,” Eddie said. “You got a tan!”

  “I got that before I started the agenc
y,” Max said. “It’s fading fast now that I’m working eighty-hour weeks.”

  “I hear ya.” Eddie, dressed in perfect business casual, grabbed his leather clutch from the baggage carousel. “That’s all. Where to first?”

  Max thought it a little odd that Eddie was letting him call the shots. Normally Eddie was an in-charge kind of guy, scheduling his time down to the minute. Max half expected his brother to produce a typed itinerary and had rehearsed how he would insist that he had his own schedule to keep—meetings and obligations. Max was the in-charge guy now, and he wanted his brother to know it.

  But Eddie didn’t try to control anything. He followed Max to the parking lot, praising the mild weather, the beautiful flowers still in bloom, the palm trees, the scent of the ocean.

  “You really did move to paradise,” he said, almost to himself, as he wedged his bag behind the seats of Max’s ’Vette.

  “It wasn’t paradise in the summer,” Max added for the sake of argument. “It was hotter than hell, even with an ocean breeze. But the winters are supposed to be great. So where to? Your hotel?”

  “I…I thought I’d stay with you.”

  “Hey, great. No problem.” Another departure. Eddie hated bunking with relatives. He traveled a lot and was accustomed to first-class hotels with twenty-four-hour room service and a concierge.

  Eddie grinned. “Let’s get some breakfast, then. Take me to that greasy spoon you’re always going on about.”

  “Old Salt’s?”

  “Yeah, that’s it.”

  Max resisted the urge to ask who this man was and what he’d done with Eddie. Something was up, but Eddie would reveal it when he was ready. Max only hoped it wasn’t some elaborate hoax to get him to come back home.

  During breakfast, Eddie kept gazing out at the ocean, sometimes looking perplexed, and sometimes with a faint smile on his face. He probably couldn’t imagine why Max had thrown away his six-figure income to run a small-potatoes agency in a Podunk town.

  “So, are you going to show me your company?”