They had the rest of their lives.
“Promise me you’ll come back,” she whispered, her mouth only a breath away from his.
He opened his eyes and held her gaze. “I’ll do everything in my power to come back. That’s all I can promise.” Water rained down his arms as he lifted his hands out of the water and bracketed her face. “But know this, Serena. Never in my entire life have I ever cared about coming back as much as I care now. I’ll admit that I was reluctant to get married. But you’re mine now. You, Riker, and this baby. I’ve never cared about anything as much as I care about you. It scares the hell out of me to feel this much. I never knew a chest could ache with gladness. I can’t even describe what I feel, because I’ve never felt it before.”
She felt the tears sting her eyes as his arms came around her and he hugged her tightly. “Hunter—”
And then as though what he felt was beyond words, he tangled his fingers through her hair, gently pulled her head down, and latched his mouth onto hers, pouring whatever he was experiencing into the kiss.
She couldn’t help but wonder if it might be love. If a man of his past would even know what love felt like, would recognize it if it grew within him to embrace those around him.
What she was coming to feel for him was beyond words, beyond anything she’d ever known. It frightened her as well, because she didn’t want to contemplate not having him with her first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and all the minutes in between.
Rising up out of the water on her knees, she slid her body along his, breasts to chest, as he rained kisses over her flesh, a thousand heated sparks. And when she glided down, he was waiting, hot and hard as she welcomed him home. The bubbles surrounding them made tiny popping sounds as each ceased to exist. His kiss turned feral, his low growls guttural. Their skin was slick as they found their rhythm, the water undulating with their movements as the pleasure increased. She hadn’t thought it possible for their lovemaking to become any more intense. But it did.
Every nerve ending cried out for release. She clutched him, felt him holding her tightly. Her fulfillment arrived in tandem with his, their bodies tensing in glorious rapture. Together, complete, with the possibility of love flickering in the candlelight.
Tonight they were husband and wife. Tomorrow they would become a family.
Chapter 22
From what Hunter had seen so far after coming through the front door, Serena’s house was exactly as he’d envisioned it. Bright colors. Clean. Cheery.
Having arrived only a few moments before, they now stood in the living room while Serena quizzed Larry on Riker’s night: what he’d eaten, how he’d slept, what he’d done. Listening, Hunter felt like an intruder, although he supposed that he’d be part of all future moments like this, and her inquisitiveness would extend to their child. While he appreciated her involvement with her son, he also was concerned that she was too overprotective. The kid was nine. By the time Hunter was that age, he was pretty much on his own.
Based on Larry’s ready responses, he was accustomed to the interrogation. So far, Hunter had gleaned that all had gone well and that Riker was presently next door playing with Jason.
“And I think I’ll just mosey on home now,” Larry said, with a clap of his hands as though to signal the end to the questions.
“Dad, you don’t have to rush off,” Serena said. “Stay for a couple of days.”
Larry shook his head. “Honey, your new family needs time to become a family. And you don’t need me around for that.”
“At least stay for supper.”
Larry smiled gently and touched her cheek. “My bags are packed, in my car, and I’m ready to go. I want to be home before dark. I’m going to go next door and say good-bye to my grandson. But I’ll say good-bye to you now.”
“Oh, Dad.”
Hunter looked away as Serena hugged her father. He felt an unaccustomed knot in his throat because his child would be raised in a family where parents displayed affection. He was as grateful for that as he was uncomfortable with it, because it was alien to him. But for his children, his new family, he’d learn how to embrace and show affection. It might take a while, but he’d learn.
“Well, son.”
Hunter turned to his fatherin-law. That was certainly a term he’d never expected to apply to anyone in his life. “Larry.”
“You take good care of my daughter and grandson.”
Hunter shook the offered hand. “I will, sir.”
“I don’t doubt that for a minute. Take good care of yourself, too.” He patted Hunter’s shoulder. “Come back home safe from this business trip you’re going on.”
Hunter suddenly realized with startling clarity why they selected only men who had no family for the missions he went on. It was difficult to think about leaving knowing there was a good chance he might not come back home—and to know people would be waiting. Never before had there been anyone waiting.
He shifted his gaze to Serena. She looked as though she was anxiously awaiting his promise to her father that he would return. “I’ll try, sir,” was the best he could offer.
“According to Yoda there is no try.”
“Yoda?”
Larry chuckled. “Ask Riker.”
Hunter waited while Serena walked her father to the door. He figured they’d need one more good-bye before Larry truly left. He was learning that this family wasn’t the most efficient. They hugged, re-hugged, and then for good measure, usually hugged again. A kiss on the cheek. Another hug.
Not that he minded. He much preferred their way to the one he’d grown up with. A slap. A re-slap. Then another for good measure.
He wandered over to the far wall. A television was in the center. Shelves holding various entertainment systems were on one side of the TV. On the other side were shelves holding books. The two lower shelves held a set of encyclopedias, various National Geographic books, and other books that were obviously Riker’s. The remaining shelves held books that he was fairly certain belonged to Serena.
He heard her quiet footsteps and slowly turned.
She smiled softly. “Well, Dad’s gone to say good-bye to Riker, and then he’ll drive away.” She crossed her arms over her chest and released a deep sigh, as though she suddenly didn’t know what to do with this man in her house.
Hunter jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Have you read all those?”
She nodded, her smile growing. “Those are my keeper shelves.”
“Keeper shelves?”
“The books that I really enjoy reading, I place on those shelves in case I want to read them again. I donate the rest to the library.”
“You read a lot.”
“Not as much since I met you.” She took a step back. “Let me show you the rest of the house.”
“I like what I’ve seen so far.”
She beamed at that.
“I assume all your windows have Window Dressing originals,” he said.
“Of course.”
“Maybe I should let you do the windows out at the lake.”
“I could work up some designs.”
“I need to get you a key.” Hunter needed to get her a lot of things, before he left. Needed to have all his affairs in order before he left on his mission.
As though she realized the direction his thoughts had just gone in, her smile left her eyes. “Come on. Let me show you upstairs.”
Hunter followed her up the staircase. One side opened onto the living room, the other side was a wall lined with photos of her son. He’d never seen so much organized clutter in a house. She had flowers, statuettes, knickknacks—items he’d never think to purchase much less to display. And yet everything seemed as though it belonged exactly where she’d placed it.
The top of the stairs opened onto a large room that had another TV in it, a couple of recliners, a toy box, and a wall of shelves with more books.
“This is the game room,” Serena said. “Riker plays his video games on that TV.”
&nb
sp; “More keeper shelves.”
She blushed at that. “Yes. Well, sorta. Some are keepers, some I haven’t read yet.”
“I’ve never known anyone who reads that much.”
“I love reading. It’s an escape. I probably rely on it too much sometimes, but books keep me company. Do you read?”
“Yeah, but not like that.”
She walked past him toward the hallway. “You’re welcome to read any of my books.”
Based on the titles he’d read he figured they weren’t his type of reading. “I’ll pass, thanks.”
“Jack reads them.”
“You’re kidding.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Nope. Don’t be a snob. I bet a romance novel isn’t anything like you think it is.”
He grimaced. No way was he reading a romance. All that lovey-dovey stuff. “I’ll stick with nonfiction, thanks all the same.”
“Suit yourself. This is Riker’s room.”
He peered inside. Spiderman was on the walls, bed, and window. It was the kind of room that a boy would feel at home in.
“The Spiderman on the walls is glow in the dark,” she said. “I thought I should warn you because it nearly gave my dad a heart attack the first time he walked down the hallway in the dark, looked in on Riker, and saw Spiderman leaping toward him.”
“Appreciate the warning.”
“This room down here is another bedroom, but I use it mostly for storage. I’ve been meaning to get Jack to put planks down in the attic so I can move the boxes up there and make this a real guest room.”
“I can do that for you,” he said. She didn’t need Jack doing for her now that she was married to Hunter. He could take care of his own.
She looked over at him. “I thought we might use it for the nursery now, rather than a guest room.”
“Right. A nursery.” A room where his kid would sleep. It was like a punch in the gut. The reality that he was going to have a child who would need a room to sleep in.
“I know it seems kind of soon, but since you don’t know how long you’ll be gone, I thought maybe we could decorate the room before you left, so you’d at least know what it looks like.”
“I’d like that.”
Worry lines eased between her brows. “Will I be able to write you?”
He shook his head. “You could, but I won’t get the letters until the mission is completed. And then I’ll be on my way back, and you can tell me whatever you wrote me.”
She nodded jerkily. “I’ll keep a journal, so you can read about what happened when you were gone. Because I know I’ll forget something that I wanted to tell you.”
He saw a tear escape out of the corner of her eye. He didn’t know if in his entire life anyone had cried for him. He certainly didn’t want this brave woman to cry over him. Reaching out, he wiped the tear away with his thumb. “Babe, don’t think about it yet. We’ve got a couple of more weeks.”
“I know. I can’t change it. I need to focus on the present.” She gave him a shaky smile. “Come on. I’ll show you our room.”
Our room. He followed her back down the hallway to a door across from Riker’s. She opened the door and stepped inside.
Their bedroom was lace, frills, and femininity. Yellow, pink, flowers, and gewgaws.
And a king-size sleigh bed.
“I can redecorate it if you don’t like it,” she said.
He slid his gaze over to her, wondering why she was so worried about what he liked and what he didn’t. She could have bare walls and he wouldn’t care. Reaching out, he pulled her up against him, looped his arms loosely around her. “I’d like to have a few things changed.”
“Like what?”
He grinned. “I’d like to have you naked.”
Laughing, she broke free and stepped back. “You’re crazy.”
“Crazy about you.” He took a step toward her. “Take your clothes off.”
“No, it’s the middle of the afternoon.”
“So I’ll have the opportunity to see you better. Take your clothes off.”
“Riker could be home at any minute.”
“I’ll hear him the second his feet hit the yard.” He stepped toward her. “Come on. Let me see how the room looks with you naked in it.”
She shook her head, but her smile and sparkling eyes belied her actions.
“I won’t know if I like the decorating until I’ve seen you naked,” he assured her.
“The honeymoon is over.”
“For us, it’s never going to be over.”
He rushed her as gently as he could, tumbling her onto the bed, pinning her arms over her head, straddling her hips while her shrieks and laughter echoed around him.
“You can’t do this,” she said.
“Watch me.”
He lowered his head and silenced her protests with a searing kiss. The fact that she returned it as eagerly as he delivered it told him that her objections were insincere. Her tongue parried with his. She didn’t try to free her hands from his light grip, didn’t try to buck him off.
He trailed his mouth along her throat. “So far I like the bed,” he rasped.
Still holding her wrists with one hand, he reached down with the other and began to tug up her top, over her breasts, up over her head, along her arms, releasing her hands for only a second so he could move it over them. He tossed her shirt onto the floor, then closed his hand back around her wrists.
He skimmed his hand over the curve of her breast.
“We really shouldn’t do this.” Her words came out breathy, sexy.
“Yeah, we really should.” He eased the cup of her bra down. “We definitely should be doing this.” With his tongue he circled her nipple.
Moaning, she twisted her body up toward him, giving him easier access. He closed his mouth around her hardened nipple and suckled.
“Let go of my hands,” she ordered.
He complied. She tugged on his shirt, eased it out of his jeans, and began undoing the buttons. To hell with that. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside. He shifted his weight until he was nestled between her thighs.
While she combed her fingers through his hair, he dipped his tongue into her navel. She wrapped her long legs around him and squeezed. Oh, God, he thought he might explode before he ever got their jeans off and buried himself inside—
“Mom!”
Her knee came up, hitting him in the nose. Fire burst through his face. Tears stung his eyes.
“Get off!” she whispered frantically, “Get off!”
He didn’t think his nose was broken, but it still hurt.
“Move!” she whispered.
“Just a minute.”
“We don’t have a minute.”
“Mom!”
He heard the footsteps now. On the stairs. He rolled off the bed, grabbed a shirt off the floor, and tossed it to her. Snatched the other up and put it over his head, slid his arm into a sleeve—damn thing had shrunk.
Riker bounded into the room. “Mom?”
“Riker, honey, you’re home,” Serena said, her voice a little too high, a little too cheerful.
“What are you doing?” Riker asked.
“Nothing,” she said.
Riker’s brows puckered as he pointed at Hunter. “Why is he wearing your shirt?”
Serena spun around, horror in her eyes as her gaze fell on Hunter, her shirt wrapped around his neck with only one of his arms stuck in a sleeve. In her panic, she’d obviously not realized that she was wearing his. Hunter couldn’t wait to hear her explanation for this mess.
“Uh,” she began. “Uh.”
Hunter pulled off the shirt. “I was looking for a shirt that I could use when I lift weights. I like to wear them tight. I thought your mom’s might work, but it’s a little too small.”
“Cool! You lift weights?” Riker asked.
He’d figured Riker would latch onto the manly part of the story instead of the stupid part. “Yeah. I like to work out in
a gym three times a week.”
“We don’t have a gym,” Serena said.
Hunter shook his head. She wasn’t helping to divert her son’s attention from the true state of their affairs.
“Wish you’d told me that before I tried to put on your shirt.”
He saw comprehension dawn and she turned to her son. “Riker, why don’t you go downstairs and give us a minute up here?”
“Why?”
“Because we just got home and we’re trying to get settled,” Serena said. She waved her hand toward him. “Go on. Do as I say.”
With a shrug, Riker disappeared from view. Serena pressed a hand to her mouth and started laughing softly. “A shirt to exercise in?”
“It was better than uh, uh, uh,” Hunter pointed out in his own defense.
She fell against him, her shoulders quaking with her laughter. “I tried to warn you.”
“That kid is too quiet. We need to lace bells to his shoes.”
Her shoulders shook harder as she lifted her face, tears of mirth in her eyes. “Maybe I’m just good at distracting you.”
“Oh, you are definitely good at that.”
“Riker probably didn’t know what to think. I’ve never had a man in my bedroom.”
Although he’d known that, he still didn’t mind hearing it. “From now on we close and lock the door.”
“Definitely.”
He kissed her. “I’ll take my shirt back now.”
“This is the deck,” Riker said as he and Hunter stepped out through the back door that led from the kitchen. “Uncle Jack built it.”
Of course. Uncle Jack had hung pictures and put in shelves and been a regular handyman for Serena.
“It’s nice.”
“Be better if we had a pool.”
“Why don’t you have a pool?”
“Too expensive.”
“How much are they?”
Riker blinked, furrowed his brow, and shrugged. “About a million dollars.”
“That seems a little unreasonable.”
Riker shrugged again. “Mom says they’re too expensive, so I figured that’s about what it costs. Come on. I’ll show you my fort.”
Hunter followed him across the well-maintained yard. Flowers surrounded the house, lined the fence. If he were a betting man, he’d bet that Serena was responsible for the colorful flowers and her neighbor for the manicured lawn.
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