The Family Plan

by Susan Gable

  Finn swore.

  FOR THE FOURTH TIME, Amelia stabbed the redial button on her cell. His phone rang. And rang. Normally he answered her calls by the second ring, even when he was busy in the kitchen. After five rings, it went to his voice mail.

  She hung up without leaving a message.And stewed.

  Five more minutes passed. Then ten. When she dialed again and he still didn’t answer, she pushed herself upright, swung her legs off the bed. If the mountain wouldn’t come to her…

  Outside her room, she paused for a quick peek into Jordan’s. The familiar sight of her daughter sleeping peacefully took Amelia’s tension down a notch.

  She had no idea which of the other bedrooms Finn had moved into or which one belonged to his brother Hayden. She crept down the hall, trying doors.

  To no avail. Though she found their rooms, neither of them was there. Where the hell was Finn?

  Amelia hesitated by the door to the front stairs. She cupped her belly protectively. That would be pushing her luck way too far.

  Then stairs creaked.

  She froze as the door opened and Finn appeared, his brother at his shoulder.

  “Amelia! What the hell are you doing out of bed?” Finn closed the gap between them in a single stride.

  “Don’t forget what I said,” Hayden called.

  Finn saluted him with one finger.

  Before she knew what was happening, he’d swung her into his arms and was carting her down the hall. “You wouldn’t answer my calls. I needed to talk to you.”

  “You’re risking the lives of both your children to talk to me? The ogre who’s holding you captive?”

  “You’re not an ogre.” She sighed. “You misunderstood what I was saying. And I wasn’t up that long. It was like two bathroom trips.”

  He eased her onto the bed. She grabbed for his arms. “Please stay and listen to me.”

  He peeled her fingers from his forearms, then tucked the covers tightly around her. He sat on the edge of the bed beside her. “I don’t appear to have a choice. I’m not going to play any part in your breaking Bethany’s rules.”

  “I’m sure you’ve broken a rule or two.”

  “Not when my daughter’s life…my son’s life…depended on it.”

  “My daughter. My son.”

  “Right. I’m just the sperm donor with temporary daddy privileges. Make sure I don’t ever forget that, huh?” The muscle at his jaw twitched.

  “Best that you do remember. Best that Jordan remembers, too. You said it yourself, you’re not ready to be a dad.”

  “Maybe I could get ready.” His shoulders drooped. Pain, mingled with hope, flickered in his eyes. Like a basset hound at the pound.

  Which was why she never visited the pound.

  He blew out an exasperated breath tinged with the yeasty scent of dark beer. Her mouth watered. She didn’t have one often, but it was nearly a year since she’d indulged in an after-work brew with Sia. And it would be months more before she could again.

  “Damn it.” She latched on to his arms and yanked, drawing him down. When he leaned over her, she threaded one hand into his thick hair.

  “Amelia,” he murmured, “what are you doing?”

  “Kiss me. Please…”

  He groaned. “Woman, you are insane.”

  “Probably. Damn pregnancy hormones.”

  He let her drag his head the rest of the way down. Let her take the lead. Heat spiraled through her as they kissed. Her pulse raced. He was ale and passion…and everything forbidden to her.

  Only when a demanding ache began to throb between her thighs did she push him away.

  He drew in a ragged breath, resting his forehead against hers. “I like the way you kiss and make up,” he murmured.

  “Mmm…gives an all new meaning to kiss the cook.”

  “Hey. I’m a chef, not a cook.”

  “Tomato, to-mah-to.”

  “You like to piss me off, don’t you?” He eased upward, the corners of his mouth twitching.

  “Apparently it’s a gift I possess.”

  “No kidding.”

  “Seriously, Finn. I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful for all the things you’re doing for me. For Jordan.” Amelia fussed with her hair, straightening it. “But try to put yourself in my place.”

  “You don’t like to need help. I get that.”

  “It’s more than that.” She closed her eyes. “You scare me. Not because you’re an ogre,” she quickly added. “I don’t like feeling…vulnerable.”

  When he didn’t answer, she opened her eyes again. His brows were drawn down in a frown.

  “Let’s just say that I’m wary of toads in prince clothing,” she stated. “For good reason. And leave it at that, huh?” She didn’t like to talk about the man who’d charmed and seduced her into a con marriage that turned out to be as fake as he’d been. Jordan had no idea. Sia didn’t either. Amelia’s dirty little secret, one she preferred to keep buried.

  “So, I’m not an ogre, I’m a toad? Is that why you just kissed me? To see if I’d turn into a prince?”

  “That’s just it, Finn. There’s no such thing as a prince. Only toads pretending to be princes.”

  “Nice to know that I’m just one toad of many, then. Or was there one particular toad…?”

  “There was.”

  “Ah.” Finn brushed his fingers over her cheek again. “If I ever meet this guy, I have a cleaver with his name on it. They’ll never find the body when I get done with it. What exactly is his name again? I forget.”

  She smiled. The idea had appeal, she had to admit. The police had never found him. Neither had the P.I. she’d hired when the police turned their attention elsewhere.

  If not for deciding to spend her money, once she’d had some again, on better things—like donor sperm, artificial insemination and Jordan—she’d probably still be obsessed with finding the bastard.

  But she’d come up with a much better plan for her life. “Thanks,” she said. “But he’s not worth dulling your knife over.”

  “Wrong. He made you afraid of me.” Finn cupped her face. “I’m not perfect, Amelia. Far from it. But I won’t hurt you. Abandon you. Smack you around.” He watched her intently as he presented the options. “Whatever he did, I’m not him.”

  She turned her head, pressed a kiss to his palm, but didn’t answer.

  FINN LAY FLAT ON HIS BACK, staring up at the ceiling in his darkened bedroom. Though he’d been in the position only a short time, he already wanted to roll over.

  His appreciation for Amelia and her situation deepened. He’d never met a more amazing woman. Smart, funny, independent…and able to arouse him with a single kiss.She’d blown his mind by initiating that kiss. Just when he thought he knew where he stood with her, she surprised him.

  The attraction they were forbidden to act upon was still mutual.

  And damned frustrating.

  He’d left her room and hit the shower. He’d turned the water cold.

  Now, as was his habit, he reviewed plans for the next day’s menus as he lay there. But an image kept intruding upon his thoughts. Jordan, her pale face lined with pain, her eyes scrunched shut, his heart pounding and palms slick with sweat as he held her hand.

  After his second marriage had failed, he’d accepted that he’d be a career guy and leave the family stuff to his siblings, content to be Uncle instead of Daddy.

  But now there was Jordan. And Chip.

  And Amelia. A smile on his lips, Finn drifted to sleep…

  WITH THE RESTAURANT put to bed for the night, Finn climbed the U-shaped back staircase to the second floor. The wall between the first and second landings was lined with framed pictures, visual reminders of why he worked so damn hard. In ascending order, they chronicled his and Amelia’s life together.

  Their wedding a year after he’d graduated from culinary school.Then Jordan’s birth a year after that, and subsequent christening, surrounded by the Hawkins family, aft
er Amelia and he moved back to Erie from New York City when their daughter was two months old.

  The ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of Amelia’s new practice.

  Jordan’s first day of kindergarten, and a circular frame containing all her school pictures through this year’s eighth-grade photo.

  The last few pictures were the grand opening of Fresh, three years ago, and the ultrasound image that constituted their son’s first photo.

  Pulling his T-shirt over his head as he entered the master bedroom, he dropped it into the laundry basket just inside the door. Strong scents, like the ones that clung to his clothes after a night of cooking, bothered Amelia this pregnancy. He tossed his pants into the basket as well.

  His eyes adjusted to the darkness. The drapes over the sliding glass doors stirred with the night breeze…and their bed was empty.

  “Amelia?” He stepped out onto the deck.

  She turned from the railing. The gossamer cotton nightgown she wore caressed every pregnancy-enhanced curve. With a wicked smile that made his heart hammer, she began to undo buttons.

  When the last one was undone, she slid the fabric down her shoulders, letting it drop at her feet.

  The wind fanned her hair.

  He already ached with need. “Love the outfit.”

  “Words are cheap, hotshot.”

  His boxers hit his ankles a second later, the cool night air doing nothing to kill his very obvious arousal. “Proof enough?” He stepped out of his underwear and started toward her, dodging the chaise longue.

  She shivered as he lowered his mouth to her collarbone. He warmed her flesh with his breath, then stroked her with the tip of his tongue. He grazed his teeth over the sensitive skin, and she shivered again.

  He took her breast into his mouth.

  She moaned, threading her fingers through his hair and holding him there. When he had her squirming, he sank to his knees. He knew just where and how to touch her, to please her.

  The second time she lifted her face, panting his name and crying out her satisfaction, he pulled her toward the chaise longue. He sat on the end, leaning back on his elbows to make room for her.

  She straddled him, guiding him home.

  As she took him into her welcome warmth, he decided home was the exact right word for it.

  Rational thought fled as she made love to him.

  When their appetites had been sated, he looked up at her flushed face, her hair wind-blown. “Have I mentioned recently how much I love you?”

  She smiled. “Why, no, I don’t believe you have.”

  He sat up, wrapping his arms around her. “I love you, Dr. Amelia Young. I’ll never let you down.”

  FINN WOKE EARLY the next morning with a hard-on that wouldn’t quit.

  Another cold-shower morning.Shaved, showered and thoroughly frustrated, he crept down the back staircase, running his fingers along the wall between the landings…. and ground to a halt.

  He stared, remembering the framed photographs along this wall in his dream.

  He shook his head.

  Sex dreams were one thing. But he’d created an entire family life with Amelia and Jordan.

  “I’ll never let you down.”

  He’d made similar promises, in reality, to his wives.

  Look how those had turned out.

  CHAPTER TEN

  JUNE STUTTERED INTO JULY. Amelia kept marking X’s on the calendar on her laptop. She’d spent twenty-six nights in Finn’s bed. Alone.

  The Internet became her main playground.She’d never had quite this much free time to spend surfing.

  Ever since the night she’d gotten out of bed to chase him down—the night they’d “kissed and made up”—Finn had been skittish. He never made her wait more than two rings before he picked up her calls, but he kept his distance.

  Like he wasn’t completely sure just how to handle her.

  Which made two of them. She didn’t know how to handle him, either.

  Amelia scowled at Finn’s sister, Elke, as she practically floated across the bedroom from the bathroom, a dreamy smile on her face.

  This morning, Elke had been preoccupied during the entire ritualized humiliation called a sponge bath, and while that suited Amelia—although humiliated beat smelly—now her curiosity got the better of her. “What’s with you this morning? Pregnant women aren’t supposed to do drugs. Not the kind that makes you smile like that, anyway.”

  The nurse’s cheeks reddened. “What? I can’t smile?”

  “Come on, you know the deal. You’re living for both of us right now.” The pair had bonded quickly—not only because Elke provided her essential, considerate care, but because of their shared pregnancies. Elke was two weeks ahead of Amelia, and was also carrying a boy.

  The woman’s blush deepened.

  “Oh, hell’s bells.” Amelia sighed. “That’s just wrong, coming in here with your I-got-lucky-this-morning glow. Some of us aren’t allowed to get lucky.”

  “Sorry.” Elke flashed a quick grin. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that hormones and horny are such similar words.”

  Amelia groaned. “At least you can do something about it.”

  “You don’t want the details, do you?”

  Amelia put her fingers in her ears and hummed.

  Elke burst into laughter. “I’m kidding. Really. Sorry. I’ll try to take my contentment down a notch.”

  “Thanks. I’m jealous enough that you get to do everything else I can’t.”

  Elke changed the bed linens one half at a time, making Amelia shift from side to side.

  As she was finishing, the door swung open and Jordan staggered in, loaded down with a pair of boxes. “Mom, this stuff came for you. Maybe one of them is my dress for the wedding?”

  “Oh, good. Bring them over here.” Amelia checked the return addresses, pulling out the small box from the eBay seller. She’d been surprised by Shannon’s “rules” of the wedding—all clothes had to be rented or secondhand. But it had handily lent itself to spending hours with her daughter, pouring over eBay in search of the perfect dress for her. The wedding was only days away. “Here it is, baby. Why don’t you run into the bathroom and try it on?”

  “Yes,” Elke said. “Model it for us.”

  “Okay.” Jordan took the box from Amelia and hustled to the bathroom.

  Amelia had Elke open the other box for her. She’d had a field day, searching the Internet for unusual gifts to give her personal chef. It wasn’t like she could run out to the store, and she desperately wanted to show him a little appreciation. At least he’d given up on fighting her over the room and board checks.

  After pawing through the brown paper used as filler, Finn’s sister cooed. “Awww. Is this for anyone I know?” She held out the black apron that said Kiss the Cook in bold red letters.

  “You know any cooks?”

  “Call Finn a cook and you’ll be lucky to get peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of him.” Her eyes widened. She cocked her head. “Ohhh, wait a minute. Now I get it. You’ve been kissing the cook, haven’t you? And can’t get lucky. And that’s why you’re so cranky.”

  Amelia’s face warmed.

  “You’re blushing!”

  “No. I have not been kissing the cook.” Not lately, anyway. The fact that she missed doing so was none of Elke’s business. “And keep your voice down. I don’t want Jordan to hear you talking like that.”

  “Why not? Isn’t it the best thing that could happen? You and Finn share one-point-five children right now. Two children soon enough, so—”

  “Speak for yourself, ‘soon enough.’ The end of this pregnancy can’t come soon enough for me.”

  Elke propped her fists on her hips. “What’s wrong with a little kissing between people who have kids together?”

  “Nothing can come of it, that’s what.”

  “Not right now, but later…”

  “I’m not talking about sex. I’m talking about something more between Finn and me.”
She lifted her shoulders. Not willing to share her secret hurts and fears, she opted for a convenient excuse. “My life is nine hundred miles away. Your brother’s life is here.”

  “Oh, people work that stuff out all the time. You’re just—”

  Jordan opened the bathroom door a crack. “Mom, I can’t tie this.”

  Amelia was halfway upright before she realized what she was doing.

  “I’ll help,” Elke said, hurrying to the bathroom.

  With a sigh, Amelia slumped back against the pillow. Great. She’d managed to buy the dress for her daughter, but couldn’t even help her get into it.

  Hayden walked in, a large black object in one hand. “Morning. Saw the door was open and assumed you were now receiving visitors.”

  Jordan came out of the bathroom hesitantly. “Well? How does it look?” She did a slow twirl.

  The dress had a black halter top and a white skirt with black embroidered flowers at the hem, which hit just below Jordan’s knees.

  The top showed off the fact that her baby wasn’t a baby anymore. At some point during the commotion of the last year, her little girl had transformed into a teenager.

  And Amelia had missed it. Her nose tingled. “Very pretty, sweetheart.”

  “You’ll be the most beautiful girl there,” Hayden said. He set whatever he was carrying on the floor, and moved to take Jordan’s hands. “You’ll dance with me, right?”

  “What will your date say?” Jordan giggled as Hayden lifted her hand to guide her in a circle.

  “I don’t have a date for the wedding.”

  “You don’t?” The note of incredulity in Amelia’s voice made her bite her tongue. But women seemed to eat out of Hayden’s hand. Even Jordan had a little crush on him, hanging on his every word.

  “Broke it off with Teresa last week. Besides, women get funny ideas if you take them to a wedding. Never a good plan.”

  Elke, who’d followed Jordan from the bathroom, gave her younger brother a sharp look. “He doesn’t even bring a girl home for Sunday dinner, Amelia, never mind a wedding.”

  He flashed her a cocky grin. “Hell, no. Again, women expect things if you take them to meet your family. There are rules about this sort of stuff.” He drew Jordan closer. “So I’ll dance with this woman and make all the other guys jealous.”