C.J. sat at one end of a wooden bench, with Liam on the other end, Liam’s jutting jaw a small replica of C.J.’s as both wore the same mulish expression. Liam obviously wouldn’t let C.J. take him into the pool, exactly as she’d hoped.
When he saw her, Liam jumped down from the bench and ran over.
“No running beside the pool,” she said. He slammed into her legs and nearly knocked her over. She laughed. “Are you ready to go swimming?”
He nodded and giggled.
She took his hand and led him to the shallow end.
C.J. followed and said, “No deep end. He only likes the shallow end.”
“I know. You’ve already told me.”
She bent forward to talk to Liam.
“I’ll get in first and then I’ll lift you in, okay?”
“’Kay.”
Janey slid into the pool, then turned around and lifted Liam in. His legs folded into accordion pleats when his toes hit the cool water.
Liam wrapped his legs around her waist and she dipped him into the water. They bobbed up and down together and watched the children. His precious body nestled trustingly against her.
“Look!” Liam pointed to a little girl floating by on a big blow-up alligator.
“That’s an alligator,” Janey said.
“Aggle Ator,” Liam repeated.
A shrill whistle rent the air, louder than the children’s shouts and laughter.
Within moments the pool was empty save for Janey and Liam in the shallow end and the empty alligator meandering across the surface of the water. Janey had dawdled upstairs long enough. She and Liam would get the pool to themselves. Good.
“Roll call,” Hank shouted. He read from a list of names and got answers to every one. “Time to head inside, dry off and change. We’re about to light up the barbecues.”
There were complaints, but also squeals of delight. The kids had worked up an appetite.
They started to run but more than one adult voice yelled, “Walk. Don’t run.”
They ran for towels, shoulders hunched against the air cooling the water on their skin. The ranch hands pulled pool toys out of the water and each child took at least one to lay it neatly in a row along the pool edge to dry in the sun.
Janey knew that Hank would come along later and put everything away in the shed.
C.J. came to stand beside the pool. “C’mon, Liam. Time to get changed for dinner.”
Liam stared at his father and shook his head.
“Want to go in for supper?” she asked.
Liam said, “No!” just as she’d hoped. She didn’t like the crushed look on C.J.’s face, but it couldn’t be helped. This would be all for the good in the end.
“I can stay here with him. I’m not hungry,” she said.
“I’ll sit here till you’re finished,” C.J. answered, but little Liam stuck his hand up, palm out and waved him toward the gate.
“No. Go. I want Jane.”
“Okay, Tarzan, let’s play.” Janey started to splash water on his shoulders and he giggled.
She stopped when C.J. turned and walked into the house. It hurt to watch him look so dejected. She had to make this right for him.
Her hands trembled. What if this all backfired somehow? It wouldn’t. Hank would be nearby, watching.
Slowly, she spun in the water with Liam snug against her chest.
She peeked toward the pool shed and saw a wisp of shadow from behind it. Hank was in place. No danger.
She swirled around slowly so she could see the back door. Just as she’d thought would happen, C.J. stood and watched them through the door’s window.
Janey inched toward the deep end. Her hands shook. She was nuts to even consider what she was about to do.
Certifiable.
C.J. WATCHED from the back door and fumed. Why had Janey taken so long to come down to swim? Liam hadn’t wanted to go in the water with C.J.
Story of his life with the boy. C.J.’s frustration level was about to shoot through the stratosphere. The situation promised to get worse once the sale of the store was completed and Liam was forced to spend most of his time with C.J. and no Janey to act as buffer. Not something he wanted to think about now.As it was, he was feeling impatient at Janey and Liam still being in the pool. The three of them could be inside hanging out with everyone else.
C.J. frowned. What the heck?
Janey was moving awfully close to the deep end. Closer still.
Their heads fell below the surface of the water and C.J. flew out of the house.
Dammit, he’d told her, had ordered her not to go near the deep end.
Just as he got to the gate, Janey screamed, “Help!” Liam cried.
C.J.’s heart pounded. “Liam!” he yelled.
Janey flailed around.
She’d told him she could swim! C.J. ran along the edge of the pool and dove into the deep end. He swam for them and grabbed Liam from her arms.
Liam wrapped himself around his father and C.J. hugged him hard, propelling them both toward the edge, keeping Liam’s head above water.
C.J. held on to the edge of the pool and hugged Liam, breathing hard. “You’re safe. You’re safe.” As he soothed his son, he spared a glance for Janey, who seemed to have gotten her feet under her in the shallow end.
Liam’s tears dripped from his face, along with a little snot, and landed on C.J.’s shoulder. He hiccuped.
C.J. couldn’t move for a minute, just wanted to hold Liam in his arms. Liam hugged him as if he never wanted to let go and it warmed C.J. to the tips of his fingers and toes.
Ah, Liam, my beautiful boy. C.J. had to get out of the water this second, away from Janey.
He tried to set Liam on the pool cement, but Liam howled, “Daddy, no.”
C.J. maneuvered himself and Liam along the edge of the pool to the steps and hauled them both out of the water.
When he walked past Janey, Liam’s little head popped up from C.J.’s shoulder and he pointed at her. “Bad Janey. Bad.”
Janey watched them.
C.J. couldn’t tell what was going on in her head, but he shot her a look of anger and she seemed to shrivel.
He carried his son inside and strode upstairs.
IT TOOK ALL OF AN HOUR for C.J. to stop shaking. Liam lay beside him on one of the lower bunk beds in the room they’d changed in earlier. C.J. had taken off Liam’s bathing suit and his own and had dried them both then had dressed Liam and himself. Liam had let him do whatever he needed to, clinging to him, had even curled against C.J.’s chest while he cried.
He lay with his head on C.J.’s bicep, playing with C.J.’s shirt buttons, humming a formless tune. C.J. held himself still, afraid to break the spell of this precious, unprecedented moment.C.J. touched Liam’s baby-fine hair, smoothed it from his brow.
My boy.
He was going to kill that crazy woman. How could he have ever trusted her with something as precious as his son? He should have known better. He hadn’t trusted her at the start and he should have kept it that way.
The bedroom door creaked open and a small girl entered. She wore one red sock and one green sock. She’d tucked her white T-shirt into her shorts and had pulled them up high, with the seam twisted toward one hip. Big green eyes stared at him. A mist of red hair painted her scalp.
“I want him,” she said, pointing to Liam on C.J.’s other side.
C.J. said, “Pardon?”
“I want that boy,” she repeated.
Liam’s head popped up. He saw the girl, then threw himself across C.J. to get a closer look.
C.J. placed his hand on Liam’s back. Liam didn’t shrug it off as he would have done even that morning.
C.J. felt in serious danger of spilling his emotional guts in front of these two kids.
“Who are you?” Liam asked.
“Katie. Boy, come on. Let’s play.”
“I’m not boy. I’m Leem.”
“C’mon, Leem.” She gestured toward the stairs.
“Let’s play.”
“Wiff what?” Liam asked.
“Hank gave me trucks and cars.”
Liam hurtled toward the edge of the bed and, with C.J.’s help so he wouldn’t land on his head, slid to the floor.
“What colors?” Liam asked as Katie led the way to the stairs.
“Red and yellow and blue.”
“Red!” Liam shouted and followed her down the stairs.
C.J. stared at the underside of the top bunk. At least one good thing had come out of Janey nearly killing his son. Liam had called him Daddy. Just now, he’d used him as a jungle gym. Like a real father.
Dazed, bemused and insanely happy, C.J. doubted he’d ever had a better moment in his life.
But what if he hadn’t stayed to watch them through the back-door window?
If only Janey had gotten down to the pool earlier so they could have been out of the pool with the other children. If only C.J. hadn’t gone inside, Liam need never have been frightened half to death.
If only—C.J. stopped. That was an awful lot of ifs.
Too many. “Son of a—”
He bolted upright. She’d done it on purpose. He didn’t know how he knew that, but he did. He felt it in his bones.
But why?
To get his son to see him as a protector, a rescuer, a knight in shining armor, someone strong on whom he could depend.
It had worked.
But at what cost? Liam would probably be nervous around the water for a while. And had Janey lost Liam’s affection? How forgiving were children? Had she deliberately sacrificed her own relationship with a child to give C.J. this amazing gift of his own son?
He thought of her kindness toward Kurt, a homeless man most of the town took for granted and largely ignored, allowing the church to take care of him rather than take personal responsibility. He remembered her feeding Calvin Hooks.
He thought about how patient she had been with Liam when every movement he made, every glancing touch, reminded her that her own daughter was dead.
She didn’t have a cruel bone in her beautiful generous body.
Yeah. She was the kind of person who would give him this awesome gift.
He rubbed his chest. He could no longer deny what his heart had been trying to tell him all along. He loved her. C. J. Wright loved Janey Wilson…and planned to do something about it.
He jumped up out of the bunk bed and smacked his head on the top bunk. Cursing, he scrubbed his scalp, then headed for the stairs, taking them down two at a time.
Hank came out of the living room to make sure C.J. wasn’t a child falling down the stairs. When he noted the determination on C.J.’s face, he pointed with his thumb toward the front door.
“Beside the willow tree for the past hour,” Hank said.
C.J. hesitated, saw Liam playing with Katie and glanced at Hank.
“He’s fine,” Hank said, “I’ll watch him. I’ll make sure he gets fed.”
C.J.’s own stomach grumbled but he ran toward the front door. To Janey. Then he stopped. For what he had planned, he’d need the whole night.
He stepped back into the living room.
“Hank, can I ask a big favour?”
Hank walked over. “Sure. Name it.”
“Can you keep Liam for the night?”
Hank’s gaze sharpened. “Does this have anything to do with Janey?”
C.J. nodded.
“That girl’s like a daughter to me,” Hank said. “You’re not planning to hurt her, are you?”
“Nope. If I have my way, Janey won’t ever leave Ordinary again.”
Hank smiled. “In that case, sure, I’ll keep Liam tonight.”
Liam ran over when he heard his name. C.J. crouched in front of him and gently pulled his son into the V made by his legs. Liam, little sweetheart, let him.
“Liam,” C.J. said, “how would you like to stay with Hank and your new friend tonight?” He nodded with his head toward Katie.
“Yeah, Leem,” Katie piped up. “Stay.”
“Okay.”
“You sure?” C.J. asked. If Liam showed the least concern, C.J. would skip his plans for a celebration with Janey.
“Want to stay.”
“Okay.” C.J. moved to stand, but Liam shoved his head forward and puckered his lips.
C.J. set his own lips against his son’s tiny mouth for a second, smelled milk, then pulled back.
Sweetness. Pure, unadulterated, shit-kicking sweetness. His son was truly and finally his. He couldn’t leave him here tonight. Just couldn’t do it.
He said, “I should take you home with me.”
“No!” Liam shouted. “Go! Want to stay with Katie.”
“Okay, then, see you tomorrow,” C.J. said, his voice none too steady.
Such trust and innocence. Such an amazing gift from the woman he loved.
When the screen slammed shut behind him, Janey jumped out of the Adirondack chair in the shade of the willow.
She tucked one hand inside the other and watched him warily, probably afraid of what he might do to her.
He stepped down from the veranda and joined her.
This crazy, gut-wrenching compulsion to lay her down in the cool grass and love the daylights out of her pushed him hard.
“Do you need anything from the house?”
“What do you mean?”
“You aren’t staying here tonight, are you?”
“No, I’m going back to the store.” She still looked wary.
“Can I join you there?”
A frown marred her forehead. “What?”
He rested his fingers on her shoulders. “I want to come home with you tonight.”
“And Liam?”
“He’s great.” C.J. grinned. “He’s staying here with Hank.”
“He is?”
He took her hands in his, turned them palms up and planted a pair of smackers on them, then flattened them on his chest.
“He is.”
Her frown eased, her face relaxed. She knew he wasn’t angry, and she knew what he wanted to do at her apartment.
A faint flush fanned across her cheeks. She bowed her head, bit her lip and scuffed a toe in the grass.
“Okay,” she whispered.
His heart sailed above the willow tree like a yellow kite flashing in the sun. She was his.
He couldn’t wait to give himself to her for the rest of his life, and his son, too, but that news could wait until he’d thanked her properly for the amazing gift she’d given him today.
Leaning forward, he rested his forehead on hers.
“I’m not sure how this is going to work, Janey. I just know we have to try. Trust me?”
“Yes.” She sounded as breathless as he felt.
They climbed into the Jeep. He gunned the engine and they took off down Hank’s driveway, leaving a trail of dust in their wake.
At the store, he took her upstairs, holding her trembling hand.
They’d lived a lifetime in the past few weeks and had both changed because of it.
In the bedroom, evening sunlight streamed in with cooling air.
C.J. turned to Janey, found her watching him with wide, dark eyes, a mix of hope and fear on her face.
The hope gratified him. The fear troubled him.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you did with Liam. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
The fear eased from her eyes. “You’re not angry?”
He shook his head.
Taking the ends of her ponytail in one hand, he said, “I like your hair.”
He brushed his fingers down her cheek, “I like your skin,” then along her jawbone, “I like this sharp little chin,” then down her chest and she held her breath.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
COME ON, Janey thought, kiss me.
Through her shirt, he caressed her breast.His big hand warmed her while a thrill ran from her breast to her stomach. She closed her eyes, felt his hand skimming over her other breast, t
hen down her stomach.
Touch me more. She’d been starving. Starving.
He touched her there and her eyes flew open.
“Come here,” he said.
She stepped toward him.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he whispered. His hands shook.
He held her face between his palms.
When he bent to kiss her, her eyelids drifted shut.
A tiny murmur sounded low in her throat. Oh, C.J.
Sensations flooded her, heat and need and desire and dizzyness. She reveled in it, accepted the warm moisture on his lips, his chlorine-soap scent, the heat of his body.
“You okay?” he murmured.
She leaned close.
“I can’t—I wish I knew how to kiss.”
Flames burned her cheeks.
“That’s okay,” he said with a broad smile, “I do. I can teach you.”
She closed her eyes and moved closer, looking for more.
He lowered his mouth to hers again, but instead of kissing her, he licked her lips.
“Open,” he ordered, and she did, and he slipped his tongue inside.
Goodness, the kisses kept getting better and better.
They lulled her, eased tension, softened her fears.
With only a little hesitation, the tip of her tongue touched his. He tasted like all of the things she’d missed in her adolescent years, and had never dared to hope for as an adult. He stood still, letting her enter and explore his mouth.
She wanted to make out all night, and all day tomorrow and all of next week.
Kissing C.J. was so freaking wonderful.
The sun streaming through the window onto her back warmed her. So did C.J.’s hands. He ran his hand to the back of her waist and pulled her close, let her feel what she did to him.
She stiffened, pulled away and stared at him wide-eyed.
“It’s okay,” he said. “We can go as slowly as you need to.” He swallowed. “We can even stop if you want to.”
She shook her head. “No.” Stopping was the last thing on her mind.
He let go of her and walked to the bed, sat on the edge of it and waited for her to approach.
She was in control. Not him.
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