A Child of Her Own

by Beverly Barton

  While he kissed her over and over again, he delved his hand inside her bikini panties. He cupped her mound, then stroked her feminine core. She squirmed and moaned and clung to Rick, saying his name repeatedly between heated kisses. He slid two fingers inside her, testing her readiness. She was wet and hot with need.

  She cried out. Her body tightened around his fingers. He jerked her panties down and off. She kicked them aside.

  He loosened himself from his jeans and boxer shorts, leaned over and plunged into Lori Lee. She clawed his back with her nails, clutched his hips with her knees and bit into his shoulder.

  He rode her hard and fast. She met him thrust for thrust, lunge for lunge. Giving and taking, they mated with primitive abandon. He told her how much he wanted her, how wonderful it was to be inside her, how good loving her felt. She begged him to give her all of himself, and he did.

  Then almost before it had begun, it ended, the two of them exploding into spasms of release, like a couple of blazing meteorites crashing to earth. They clung to each other, their breaths ragged, sweat coating their bodies, and the aftershocks of pleasure continued rippling through them.

  “Oh, Rick, I...” Her chest rose and fell rapidly.

  He took her face in his hands and looked deeply into her eyes. “This wasn’t the way I wanted our first time to be, honey. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t stop.”

  “Don’t blame yourself.” She laid her hand on his chest and felt the powerful beat of his heart. “This was as much my fault as yours. I should have stopped you.” Suddenly she felt naked and vulnerable. She glanced at her panties and jeans lying on the dirty floor.

  Pulling away from her, Rick reached down, picked up her jeans and panties and then helped her put them on. He kissed the side of her neck. “Have I screwed things up so badly that you’ll never forgive me?” He zipped up his own jeans.

  Standing, she slipped her arm around his waist. “I suppose this was inevitable. We’ve both wondered about what it would be like if we... Now, we know.”

  “Yeah. Now we know.” Now we know that we’re explosive together, that we go wild in each other’s arms, that nothing has ever been this good.

  “I came here to offer you friendship,” Lori Lee told him. “I’d like to think we can still be friends, that you’ll still allow me to help you and Darcie.”

  “Is that all you want us to be, Lori Lee, friends?” he asked.

  “What do you want?”

  “I want you, honey. I’ve always wanted you.”

  He tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away. “No, I mean what do you want out of life, for you and Darcie?”

  “You know what I want,” he said. “I want to be sole owner of Bobo’s business. I want to marry a good woman and give Darcie the right kind of mother. And someday I’d like to have a couple of more kids. I want my family to be accepted here in Tuscumbia, to be part of this town.”

  “I’d like to see you get what you want. I don’t know if people will ever totally accept you. It may take years for you to prove to them that you’re a changed man.”

  “I’ve got the rest of my life.”

  “I’ll do whatever I can to help you. We can start by putting what happened tonight behind us and—”

  “What the hell’s wrong with you?” he asked. “Are you trying to tell me that I might be good enough for a quickie, but I’m not good enough to marry?”

  “No. I...I...”

  He closed his eyes momentarily, not wanting to see the regret in her blue eyes. Then he opened them again and looked directly at her, his focused stare challenging her as surely as his words did. “Do you honestly think that this one time got all the lust out of our systems? Don’t you know we’re going to want to have sex again and again and again?”

  “There’s no future for us as anything except friends. That’s all I can offer you.”

  Grabbing her shoulders, he shook her soundly. “Dammit, woman, don’t do this to us!”

  Tears welled up in her eyes, but she blinked them away. “What happened between us tonight was sex, wasn’t it? You just said so. It had nothing to do with love or marriage or forever after. Please, try to understand—”

  He flung her away from him. She staggered, almost falling. Standing there with tears clouding her vision and her body trembling, she wished she had the courage to be completely honest with him.

  “I understand all right,” he said. “The apology and the offer of friendship were just excuses, weren’t they? You came here wanting to get laid.” She gasped. He laughed mockingly. “Well, you got what you came for, you can leave now. I’ve got work to do.”

  “Rick, please don’t act this way. Don’t—”

  “Get out!” he demanded, then turned his back on her and pretended to inspect the tools laid out on the floor at his feet.

  Quivering from head to toe, her stomach twisted into knots and her weak legs uncooperative, Lori Lee lifted one foot and then the other, forcing herself to walk out of the garage. The moment she opened her car and slid inside, she gripped the steering wheel, lowered her head and cried. Her body shook with sobs as she released the pain and disillusionment in her heart.

  What had she expected from a man like Rick Warrick? She was such a fool. She had played with fire and gotten badly burned. From now on, she’d be more careful.

  Five

  “I think it’s absolutely sinful for one woman to get so many flowers on Valentine’s day.” Deanie Webber flitted from arrangement to arrangement, sniffing the roses like a bee collecting pollen. “Five dozen roses! Three dozen red and two dozen pink.”

  “I thought you stayed after the twirlers’ party to help me clean up.” Lori Lee gathered up red paper plates, napkins and cups scattered around the studio.

  “I did. See. I’m working.” Deanie swept cupcake crumbs from the floor into a dustpan. “Tell me, how does it feel to be the most popular single woman in Tuscumbia?”

  “At the moment I feel tired. Between preparing for this Valentine’s party and getting the girls ready to go to Clanton this weekend, I’m exhausted.”

  Deanie glanced at her daughter, Katie, and at Darcie Warrick. Both girls sat on the sofa, nibbling candy hearts and comparing Valentine cards they’d received at school today and during the Dixie Twirlers party.

  Deanie swept her way over to the wastebasket where Lori Lee was dumping the trash. “I couldn’t help but notice that Rick didn’t send you any flowers.”

  “Why should Rick send me flowers?”

  “Because he’s one of your many admirers, isn’t he?”

  “I don’t know how Rick thinks of me,” Lori Lee lied. “I’d like to be his friend, but—”

  “His friend?” Deanie rolled her eyes heavenward. “If I were you, I’d want to be more than just friends with him. At the very least, I’d want to be lovers.”

  “Deanie, will you hush. Little ears hear everything.” Lori Lee nodded toward Katie and Darcie.

  “They’re not paying any attention to us, so don’t try to change the subject.”

  “I have no relationship with Rick. Not now, nor will I have one in the future. He may have changed in a lot of ways, but he’s still the type who reaches out and grabs what he wants when he wants it, and—” she lowered her voice to a whisper “—to hell with the consequences.”

  Manacling Lori Lee’s wrist, Deanie pulled her friend to her side. “Something happened between you two, didn’t it?”

  A pale pink flush covered Lori Lee’s cheeks. “Let’s just say that Rick Warrick is still a little too crude and roughedged for me.” She jerked her wrist out of Deanie’s grasp. “Keep an eye on things for me for a few minutes. I’ve got to take out the trash.”

  Lori Lee lifted the plastic bag liner from the wastebasket, pulled the drawstrings and carried it through the storage room and into the alley. She dumped the bag into the garbage bin, then leaned against the brick wall.

  The tingling heat of remembrance consumed her, taking her mind and body back to t
hose stolen moments with Rick. Unless he had told someone, only the two of them knew about what had happened at the garage four nights ago. She fervently wished she could forget, but she couldn’t. For as long as she lived, she would remember her wild, animalistic coupling with Rick. She’d never known desire so strong, need so powerful, hunger so overwhelming.

  Even if Rick told someone, they wouldn’t believe him. Everyone knew that Lori Lee Guy was a lady, and by today’s standards, a rather old-fashioned lady. People said she was beautiful, talented and intelligent. Men didn’t just date her—they courted her. She’d been told, by more than one admirer, that she was the type of woman a man put up on a pedestal and worshiped.

  Rick Warrick hadn’t courted her, hadn’t set her on a pedestal and worshiped her. He had taken her with savage abandon, releasing the untamed part of her that no other man had ever touched. For her, their coupling had been an earth-shattering experience, but she suspected that for him it had been nothing more than one more in a long line of conquests.

  Lori Lee couldn’t deny the sexual attraction she felt for Rick. But people couldn’t build a future together on nothing but sex. She wanted and needed certain things in her life, the things that had always been important to her. She had a place in the social structure, here in Tuscumbia. She was a member of the church where her family had attended services for generations. She belonged to the same clubs that her mother and grandmother had. She dated welleducated, wealthy men who shared her interests. If and when she committed herself to a second marriage, she would fall in love with one of her own kind, a man to whom marriage would mean a lifetime commitment.

  A frigid evening wind tousled her hair. Shivering, Lori Lee rubbed her hands together, then rushed into the storage room. The sound of girlish giggles drifted on the air. The party had ended twenty minutes ago, but Rick hadn’t picked up his daughter. Had he overslept again?

  She hadn’t seen him since the night they’d made love—if you could call what they’d done together making love. And she didn’t want to see him again. She wasn’t ready to face him after what had happened.

  Dear God, she’d been a fool to give herself to him the way she had. How many other women had been seduced by his raw, compelling masculinity? Even if other barriers didn’t stand between them, Rick’s womanizing ways would.

  Just as she’d done every day since their last encounter, Lori Lee mentally listed all the reasons she and Rick could never make a relationship work. They were from different worlds, with different backgrounds and different friends. Her social set would never accept him. He was a ladies’ man, with an earthy sex appeal that drew women to him like moths to a flame. He probably hadn’t ever been faithful to a woman in his life. How could she believe he’d be faithful to her?

  If Lori Lee were truly honest with herself, she’d have to admit that she really didn’t care what anyone thought about Rick. She was no longer a teenage girl, restrained by society’s rules and afraid to take a chance on loving the town bad boy. She was a woman now, a woman not concerned with Rick Warrick’s social standing, but a woman worried about being hurt again, of having the man she loved be unfaithful to her.

  But the biggest barrier between them—between her and any man who wanted children—was her infertility. If and when Rick remarried, he wanted more children. She couldn’t have a child of her own, and she suspected a macho guy like Rick wouldn’t want to raise kids that weren’t his.

  “Hey, Lori Lee,” Deanie called out from the studio. “I’ve got to run. Want me to take Darcie home?”

  “No, that’s okay.” Lori Lee plastered a phony smile on her face and walked into the studio. “If Rick doesn’t show up in a few minutes, I’ll drop Darcie by Eve’s on my way home.”

  “You won’t have to do that,” Darcie said, peering out the glass door. “I see Daddy’s truck. He’s just pulling into a parking place out front.”

  “Don’t forget to ask him if you can spend the night with me sometime soon,” Katie said.

  Lori Lee held Darcie’s jacket while the child slipped her arms into the sleeves. “I’ll ask him,” Darcie promised, then looked up at Lori Lee. “I told my daddy that I want him to go to Clanton with us Saturday for the competition, and he’s promised me he’ll go.”

  “That’s wonderful, Darcie.” Lori Lee zipped up the little girl’s jacket and lifted the attached hood over her head. “He’s going to be so proud of you when he sees you perform.”

  Rick held the door open for Deanie and her daughter with one hand, while clutching a single yellow rose behind his back. Deanie smiled and spoke. Lori Lee’s best friend was always cordial and friendly. He wished the other members of her social circle were half as nice.

  He’d thought about asking Eve to pick up Darcie today, but decided he couldn’t put off facing Lori Lee any longer. Four nights ago, she had left the garage angry and hurt. He had handled the situation all wrong. God, he’d been an idiot to take her the way he had. Lori Lee was no good-time girl. She was a lady. An angel. A dream. And he was as unworthy of her as a man could be.

  He had wanted her for such a long time. And when she’d finally given herself to him, what had he done? He’d taken her with all the finesse of a rutting bull! She had told him that what had happened between them had nothing to do with love or marriage or forever after. Maybe she was right. Hell, he didn’t know. Maybe it had been lust and nothing more. He’d never truly loved a woman, and wasn’t sure what to call the way he felt about Lori Lee. Lust? Definitely. Obsession? Maybe. But love? He didn’t know.

  What he did know was that, after thinking things over, he’d decided the one thing he knew he did want from Lori Lee Guy was friendship. If her offer to help Darcie was sincere, he’d be crazy to refuse. Despite his feelings for Lori Lee—whatever they were—his main concern had to be his child. If he didn’t take care of her, give her a good life, then he would have failed at what mattered most to him.

  He didn’t want his little girl ever to suffer the way he had. He’d always been on the outside looking in. It wasn’t going to be that way for Darcie!

  And if he had a prayer of building any kind of relationship with Lori Lee, he’d have to change his tactics. Whether the end result would be a friendship or a love affair, only time would tell. But he had to go about this slow and easy. Instead of taking what he wanted from her, he had to wait until she was willing to give. So willing that there would be no regrets later.

  Rick closed the door behind him, shutting out the cold February evening. He glanced across the room to where Lori Lee was tying the strings on Darcie’s hood into a bow. He closed his eyes at the sight of the beautiful golden woman and the child who was her very image.

  Before returning to Tuscumbia, he had marveled at his daughter’s resemblance to Lori Lee. But since it had been so many years since he’d seen Lori Lee, he thought he might have imagined how much Darcie looked like her. But seeing the two together was a true revelation.

  April had been a blue-eyed blonde. He’d been attracted to her because she reminded him of Lori Lee. But for some odd reason, Darcie looked more like Lori Lee than she did her own mother. Or maybe he saw only what he wanted to see.

  Lori Lee Guy represented everything Rick had ever wanted. If Darcie could be like Lori Lee, then it was reasonable to assume she could live Lori Lee’s storybook life.

  “Daddy!” Darcie ran to her father and grabbed his hand. “Come say hello to Lori Lee. I’ve been telling her that you can go with us to Clanton this Saturday.”

  Rick glanced hesitantly at Lori Lee while he held Darcie’s hand and kept the single rose hidden behind his back.

  “Hello, Rick.”

  Seeing him again was more difficult than she’d thought it would be. He was so incredibly, tantalizingly male. Her nipples tightened; her body moistened. He’d been right when he said having sex once wouldn’t be enough for either of them.

  Rick knew it wasn’t going to be easy seeing Lori Lee again. He just hadn’t realized it would be this
difficult. Why did she have to be so damn beautiful? Just looking at her turned him on. She was the stuff of male fantasies. Large breasts, long legs, sultry lips and a mane of blond curls. Her red leather, calf-length skirt had a side slit that revealed one shapely thigh. A soft, beige cashmere sweater hugged her lush figure and a gold locket rested between her breasts.

  “Sorry I’m late,” he said. “I had an errand to run that took longer than I expected.” At the last minute, he’d decided to stop by the florist shop and get a rose for Lori Lee—a combination peace offering and Valentine gift. He wished that he could have bought her a dozen, but they were too expensive, so he’d bought the one yellow rose. Yellow roses always reminded him of Lori Lee—all sunshine, bright and golden as springtime.

  “No problem.” Lori Lee had thought she could see Rick again without succumbing to his potent charisma. She’d been wrong. Just looking at him made her want him. It wasn’t just one thing that made him so irresistible, but a combination. His big, hard body. His devilish smile. His penetrating brown eyes. His lips. His hands. His—“Uh, er, I’m glad you’ll get to go to Clanton with us, especially since this will be Darcie’s first competition. I’m amazed at how quickly she learns. She seems to have a natural talent for performing.” .

  “I’m looking forward to going,” he said.

  “Good.” Think of something to say, she told herself. Don’t just stand here acting like a fool. “Uh, would you like a cupcake and some punch? There’s plenty left over from the party.”

  “No, thanks.” He glanced around the studio, noticing how Lori Lee had decorated for Valentine’s Day. Big red hearts and cupids covered the walls, along with a variety of Valentine cards. Red and white streamers hung from the ceiling. And dozens of red and pink roses decorated Lori Lee’s desk as well as the coffee and end tables.

  “Isn’t everything pretty?” Darcie said. “Lori Lee makes everything fun.” She tugged on her father’s hand. “Come look at the beautiful flowers all of Lori Lee’s boyfriends sent her. Katie’s mommy said that Lori Lee’s the most popular girl in Tuscumbia.”