by Helen Lacey
When it was over, Connie drew air into her lungs. She didn’t move. Her legs were numb, every part of her body suddenly übersensitive. Her breasts ached and she noticed that her nipples were peaked and hard. But she felt good. She felt wonderful.
She met Jonah’s gaze. His chest was rising and falling, and he sounded raspy and out of breath as he swung his legs off the bed.
“Where are you going?” she asked, laying on the bed, her hair mussed, her body still craving him.
“Bathroom. Be back in a moment,” he promised and left the room.
When he returned, Connie was lying on her side, the sheet draped over herself. As soon as he reached the bed, he tugged the sheet from her.
“You won’t be needing that,” he said and reached for her. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you?”
She shook her head. “You didn’t hurt me. It was wonderful.”
He rolled her over and she took a moment, waiting for the fear and feeling of suffocation to come. But it didn’t. She felt only a yearning to feel him inside her again.
“Promise me something,” he insisted.
“What?”
“That if anything I do ever makes you feel uncomfortable when we’re together like this, you’ll tell me.”
His consideration and sweetness touched Connie to her very core. “I will,” she promised. “But that’s not likely, is it, considering what just happened.”
“I hope not,” he said and kissed her softly. “You feel so good,” he said and ran his hand along her hip, dipping gently between her legs.
Connie giggled and searched for his mouth, dragging it down to hers. His hands and fingers wreaked magic. And when he possessed her again, he was in complete command, making her mindless with pleasure, both giving and taking. It was beautiful and soulful, and afterward she cried a little as he held her.
“I don’t want this night to end,” she admitted later.
“Me, either,” he said and tucked her head beneath his chin, cradling her safely in his arms.
They talked for a while, earnest words that she’d kept locked inside herself for so long. Afterward, he held her as though she was the most precious thing in the world.
And then, when she was drifting off to sleep in his embrace, Connie sighed, content and irrevocably in love with him.
Chapter Nine
“You know, you really don’t have to bring this much stuff,” Jonah said as he watched Connie pack a second basket with food. “There’s only going to be the three of us.”
She shrugged, looking effortlessly beautiful in a long-sleeved red dress and cowboy boots. Her incredible hair was down, and all he wanted to do was fist a handful of it and drag her mouth to his. He couldn’t get enough of the feel of her, the scent of her, the taste of her. They’d made love that morning, but he wanted her again.
“I know,” she said and shrugged. “I want the day to be special, that’s all.”
“It will be,” he promised. “Although I should warn you, Mom’s matchmaking is going to be in overdrive.”
Connie looked pensive. “Are you going to tell her the truth about us?”
“I don’t kiss and tell.”
“I meant,” Connie said and tapped his arm, “are you going to say we’re...you know...involved?”
“Connie,” he said and grasped her chin and kissed her briefly and soundly. “I think it’s pretty obvious to the world that you and I are involved. I won’t need to spell it out to my mom. She’s going to take one look at me and know that I’m crazy about you.”
She smiled. “Are you?”
“Absolutely,” he admitted and then promptly changed the subject. “Let’s go or we’ll be late.”
Of course, they weren’t going to be late. They were actually early. It was barely two o’clock when they pulled up outside his mother’s house. Jonah grabbed the baskets from the back seat and opened the gate, ushering Connie up the path and onto the porch.
“Sweetie,” his mother said as she opened the door. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me, too, Mom,” he said and kissed her cheek.
“And it’s lovely to have you join us, Connie.”
Jonah looked at his mother, saw her cat-that-got-the-cream smile and knew he was totally busted. His mom could read him like a book. “Yes, Mom,” he said before the inquisition started as they headed up the hallway and into the kitchen. “Connie and I are here together.”
“I’m delighted to hear it.”
He knew she would be. Jonah began to smile and then noticed there were four place settings on the table. He frowned and looked out the window, spotting a familiar SUV parked at the rear of the house. His suspicions soared and he looked at his mother, thinking that she looked uncharacteristically frazzled.
Jonah placed the baskets on the counter and spoke. “Mom, what’s going on?”
“It was all my idea,” she said and then turned at a sound coming from the doorway.
J.D.
“You’re not serious,” he demanded, his irritation rising.
“Perfectly,” his mother replied. “I thought it would be a good chance for the two of you to spend some time together.”
Jonah didn’t dare look at J.D. “We spent time together on Monday,” he reminded her, since he’d told her about the meeting during their weekly telephone call.
“That was for an hour,” she said and sighed. “I mean some quality time.”
“If you’d rather I leave,” J.D. said quietly, “then I—”
“Am I talking to you?” Jonah said, his anger gaining momentum.
He felt Connie’s hand on his wrist, squeezing hard. “It’ll be okay,” she assured him and nodded, then whispered. “Just try. Please.”
But he didn’t want to try. He didn’t want J.D. encroaching on his life, his mother or Connie. But he didn’t want a scene, either. Not in front of Connie. “Sure,” he shrugged. “Whatever.”
He sat at the table and watched as the two most important women in his life unpacked the baskets and began chatting about food and Thanksgiving and how he and Connie had spent an hour visiting the veterans’ home earlier that morning, distributing the cookies she’d baked for the residents.
And J.D. stood on the sidelines, watching, saying nothing. Exactly how it should be.
“This looks amazing, Connie,” his mother said. “I can’t thank you enough.”
Jonah didn’t miss the edge in her words. Kathleen had been itching for him to get a girlfriend for ages, but Jonah’s previous relationships had been fleeting at best. But Connie was different—and he sensed his mother knew as much.
Jonah sat on his temper and endured a torturous hour of cocktails and chitchat, pretending that he was fine with sharing a family occasion with J.D. Because he wasn’t fine. Far from it.
“Why aren’t you at Liam’s today?” he asked when they had all taken their seats at the table and the meal was served. He knew why, since Liam had mentioned the fact at Kieran’s wedding, but he wanted to hear it directly from J.D.
J.D. shifted in his chair. “Gwen is there. I didn’t want to make this difficult for her.”
“No, just for us,” Jonah muttered harshly.
“I asked your father to join us today,” his mother added.
Jonah felt Connie’s fingers digging into his thigh. “Why?” He shrugged. “Oh, yeah. So we can bond.”
“Would that be so terrible?” Kathleen asked.
The tension around the table was palpable, but Jonah wasn’t about to back down. It didn’t matter that his mother had asked him to come. As far as he was concerned, J.D. was intruding on his family. “I don’t know what you think is going to happen here. But it’s not going to end in all of us being some happy family.”
“We could at least find some common ground,” J.D. said quietly. “If you’d st
op behaving like a spoiled child.”
Jonah sprang to his feet and pushed the chair back. “I will when you stop behaving as though you have some right to be here.”
J.D. stood. “I do have the right. I’m your father.”
Jonah tossed his napkin onto his half-empty plate. “You’re nothing to me. I’m a mistake, remember?”
He walked from the room, so wound up he could barely draw air into his lungs. It was not how he’d imagined the day would go. He’d thought it would be a relaxing, happy afternoon with the two most important women in his life. That he’d take Connie home and make love to her. Not this. Not J.D. continuing to insinuate himself into his life at every turn.
He was by the window when he heard his name. Connie stood in the doorway, her arms crossed. He didn’t need to meet her gaze to know he was in for a lecture.
“What are you doing?”
“Letting off steam.”
“Is this really how you want things to play out with your father today?”
He met her stare. “Stop calling him that.”
“You can’t deny the truth, Jonah. Can’t you at least try, for your mom’s sake?”
“What does my mother have to do with it?” he demanded.
Connie’s expression softened. “Surely you can see what I see.”
He didn’t like what she was suggesting. That after so many years, his mother might still... He couldn’t even bear the thought. And yet, he understood. And it increased his anger tenfold. “That’s impossible. Not after all this time.”
Connie shrugged. “It’s obvious they care about one another. I also see a woman who is desperately trying to bring you and your dad back together. She clearly has a great capacity for love and doesn’t know how to get you to—”
“Spare me the lecture about my mother,” he said irritably and moved around the room, looking at things that were both familiar and new. “I think I know her a little better than you do.”
“Are you sure? If you’d get out of the way of your own ego for a moment, you’d see that it hurts her every time you turn away from J.D.”
“My ego?” he echoed incredulously. “Is that how it’s going to be? We’re going to get into an argument over J.D.? You’re taking his side?”
“I’m on your side,” she said quickly. “But you’re not thinking about this straight. He’s not a bad person. And he desperately wants to be a part of your life. You’re so angry at him, you don’t know how lucky you really are. I’d give anything to have parents who care about me as much as yours care about you. I haven’t seen my parents for three years and they can barely spare the time to send me a birthday card. And after I was assaulted, they came back even less, probably scared that the incident might somehow taint their academic reputation.”
Guilt hit him between the shoulders, and he was about to consider her argument when he knocked one of the easels with his shoulder and the cover slipped off. Jonah stared at the painting, recognizing his mother’s work immediately. He also recognized the subject.
It was J.D.
He swore loudly and recoiled a little when Connie winced. But it was too much. The picture was new, a work in progress, and J.D. looked as he did now. And something else. Jonah was no art buff, but he saw the emotion in the strokes. The feeling. The love.
He felt sick.
It took about ten seconds for J.D. to enter the room, and Jonah glared at the older man, his rage gathering momentum with every breath. J.D. looked at him and Jonah knew what he was seeing in the portrait was real.
“We wanted to tell you,” J.D. said rawly. “We just didn’t know how.”
He saw his mother move up behind J.D. and place a hand on his shoulder, and Jonah experienced an acute sense of betrayal. And Connie wasn’t beside him. She was neutral. It made him as mad as hell all over again. He looked at his mother and she nodded.
“Are you out of your mind, Mom?”
“Don’t talk to your mother like that,” J.D. said.
Jonah clenched his fists, holding on to his temper. “You don’t get to tell me what to do,” he snapped. “You gave up that right the moment my mother left this town to save your ass thirty years ago!”
J.D. recoiled and stepped back, shaking Kathleen’s hand from his shoulder. “We did what we thought was best.”
“We?” Jonah shot back. “You had nothing to do with it. My mom did what was best, for me, for you, for everyone but herself. And growing up I had to stand by and watch her, knowing she missed her family, knowing she’d given everything up to make sure no one else got hurt because of your selfishness. I hate you for doing that. So much.”
“I know,” J.D. replied. “But I love you, and there’s not a damned thing you can do about it.”
It wasn’t what he wanted to hear, and the words simply fueled his rage. “Why can’t you leave us alone?” he said, suddenly pounding his fist on the wall.
“Jonah!”
Connie’s voice, pulling him back to the land of civility and good sense, to that place where anger and rage couldn’t hold him hostage. He turned and saw Connie staring at him incredulously, shaking her head, looking shocked and utterly disappointed.
J.D. spoke again. “Because I love you both too much. I always have. And one day, if you have a child with the woman you love more than life itself, you’ll understand why I could never leave you. You’re a part of me,” J.D. said, and Jonah saw tears in the other man’s eyes. “Whatever you think, you need to know that you were never some terrible secret I wanted to hide from the world.” J.D. brushed the wetness from his face. “You’re my son. My flesh and blood, just like Liam and Kieran and Sean. And if you have to hate me, then hate me. But don’t ever disrespect your mother again.”
Jonah’s throat burned and he swallowed hard. All he wanted to do was grab Connie and leave, putting as much space between himself and J.D. as possible. He met her gaze and tried to make a connection—but she was staring at him blankly.
Please don’t bail on me.
I need you.
“Jonah?”
His mother’s voice.
“Yes, Mom.”
“Try to understand,” she implored. “Your dad and I...we have history. And a long time ago, we loved each other very much. Please don’t be mad at me for wanting to feel that again.”
“I don’t. But he hurt you, Mom. Over and over. He was never there.”
“He was there,” she said and came up beside J.D. “He was always in my heart.”
Jonah shook his head, suddenly spent. “I love you, Mom, but I think you’d be a fool to trust him again.” He turned toward Connie. “Let’s go.”
He ignored J.D., kissed his mother on the cheek and walked down the hallway, lingering on the porch for a moment, waiting for Connie to catch up. When she reached the door she remained beneath the threshold.
“You should go home and cool off,” she said quietly.
His gaze narrowed instantly. He knew what that meant. “You’re staying?”
She nodded. “I need to help your mom clean up and—”
“I need you,” he implored.
She shook her head. “No, you don’t. You’re too busy hating your father to need anything else.”
Jonah ran a hand through his hair. “Okay...I lost my cool. Forget about it. I’ll be fine.”
“I don’t doubt it,” she said quietly. “It’s not you I’m concerned about. It’s your mom and J.D.”
“You’re choosing him over me?”
She made an impatient sound. “I’m choosing to be where I can be the most help.”
Jonah was so mad he couldn’t think straight. “There’s that blind loyalty again. I suppose it’s to be expected, since you got your big promotion.”
Her eyes glistened. “You’re such a jerk.”
“And you’re as gullible as my
mom.”
“I guess I’d have to be to get involved with you.”
It was a direct hit. And a good one. Jonah took the steps two at a time and headed off to his car. To hell with them. To hell with everybody.
He just wanted to be left alone.
* * *
By the time Connie walked back in the kitchen, Kathleen was washing dishes and J.D. was wrapping bowls in plastic wrap. It looked like a cozy domestic scene, except for the palpable undercurrent of hurt in the room.
“He’s gone,” she said and rested a hand on the counter.
Kathleen smiled brittlely. “You stayed. He’ll take that personally.”
She shrugged. “He’s a big boy—he’ll get over it.”
“Probably. Once he’s finished brooding.”
Connie laughed. “Yeah.”
“You love him,” Kathleen said quietly. “Don’t you?”
She thought about denying it but shrugged instead. “Yes, I do. Although right at this moment, I’m not sure why.”
“Because he’s honest and strong and caring. He gets that from his father.”
“Don’t tell him that,” J.D. quipped and grinned. “Kid hates my guts.”
“I don’t think he does,” Connie said gently. “He’s trying to, I admit. But he’s not good at hate—that’s why he’s so torn up about it.”
J.D. nodded. “It kills me to see him hurting.”
“Me, too,” Connie admitted. “But sometimes you have to leave the wounded bear alone.”
J.D. pressed a hand to his belly and frowned. “Maybe.”
“Ulcer acting up?” she asked.
He nodded. “Probably. But don’t worry... I’ll be fine.”