by Jacie Floyd
“Your history does put things into perspective. I can relate to you a lot better now.”
He stared at her in disbelief, then took a seat beside her, pushing the merry-go-round with his feet. “Can you? How? It looks like you had the storybook-perfect childhood.”
She pulled back, and he felt like a jerk for causing the pain that flitted across her face. “I’ve seen terrible things happen in the lives of my students. My heart breaks for them. Their reactions run the gamut, from shock to defiance to denial, withdrawal, disruption. And yes, my childhood was pretty ordinary, if there is such a thing, but nobody gets through life unscathed, you know. My grandmother recently died. My parents are getting divorced.”
He wanted to scoff, but she looked so earnest, he didn’t. Still, his tone revealed his lack of empathy. “And you’re how old?”
“Twenty-eight, but they’re still people I love. Losing someone you love hurts, whether you’re eight or twenty-eight.”
He draped his arm across her shoulders, thought better of it, withdrew, and then got to his feet again, standing in front of her. He wanted to move away from this subject and onto the spontaneity she enjoyed.
To relieve some of the tension gripping him, he took hold of the support and ran in a circle several times, then let go. He let it spin her away and bring her back, reaching out to give it another hearty push with every rotation. Finally, when he had it spinning as fast as it would go, he jumped back into the section with her, tumbling her backward as he landed beside her.
Keeping his arm around her, he made his apology. “Sorry, I don’t mean to make light of your pain.”
Propping herself on one elbow, she looked down at him. “I only meant that since I know how I feel, I can see how much worse it would be for a child. But look at the great family you have. It sounds like you were raised with a whole gaggle of close relatives, and my family circle has gotten pretty small.”
The merry-go-round slowed with each revolution. He closed his eyes, blocking out the tree branches and stars above him, and tried not to imagine the relief he’d feel if only he had less family. “Fewer relatives. That sounds like a blessing, not a curse.”
She gave his shoulder a playful shove. “You don’t mean that. It’s obvious you’re close to Sierra. And your niece and your grandfather. Even Terry and Dominic.”
He huffed out a breath. “I can’t imagine my life without them, which is why I put up with all the rest. And why I need the Sleeping Lotus.”
“Ah, now we’re getting to it. I wondered how long you’d wait to bring it up again. Go ahead and give me the pitch. I’ll listen with an open mind. How does your family figure into it? Start at the beginning.” She snuggled against him like it was storytime in the park.
He took a deep breath. “Life with Granddad was always an adventure. We never knew from week to week if there’d be enough money to go around. He always found a way to get us what we needed, but that hard-scraping life wasn’t the one I wanted. I studied and worked hard, got some scholarships, went to college. Got double majors in marketing and computer programming, did an internship and got hired at P&G.” He shook his head, unable to believe he was telling her this.
She nudged him to keep him talking.
“They were paying for me to get my MBA. I made good money and had a nice office, great condo on the river, gorgeous fiancée, cool car, and motorcycle. The American dream, all very up-and-coming.” He extended his hand in front of him, gesturing broadly to display the limitless future ahead.
She’d been watching him closely, nodding at the appropriate moments, but when he paused, she spoke. “Fiancée?” Her voice climbed an octave on the last syllable.
He scowled on the outside, grinned on the inside. “Past tense. Very ancient history. Is that the only thing you heard?”
“No, I was listening. Just wanted to check on the status of the relationship before I let you grope me any further.”
“Did I pass the groping test?” His hand slid down to the side of her breast.
She tried to look all prim and standoffish, but she grinned and couldn’t pull it off. But she moved his hand back to her shoulder. “Not yet.”
“Okay, with high hopes for future groping, here goes the rest of it.” He pulled her more tightly against him, tight enough to feel her every breath and heartbeat against his chest. “I’d get calls from Granddad to bail one of the others out of trouble, mostly financial, but not always. I’d have let them pay the consequences once or twice, but Granddad thinks if it’s family, you do what you have to do to help them.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“I thought you would.” Testing the no-groping rule, he smoothed his hand down her side again. Toned and supple, not rock hard. Curvy and luscious, but not overly round.
With his hand inching back toward her breast, she stopped him with one of the looks that probably worked on persistent students. “What happened next?”
“He kept after me to do more to help them, and he has a way of wearing me down. Finally, a couple of years ago, I gave in and began putting together a plan for Contract Communications. I was going to keep my job, oversee the contract business on the side and employ all these relatives. Who oddly enough are perfect for the kind of work we do. You have to be able to think logically and creatively, not be bound by existing parameters, and that’s where they all excel.”
“They sound a lot like third graders.”
“What?”
“I spend my days with third graders, remember? They’ve developed some logic, but they’re still creative enough to think outside the box. It’s in fourth grade where the education system starts drumming the creativity out of them.”
“I’ll keep that in mind if I have to start hiring people. Most of my relatives have the maturity level of third graders, too.”
She chewed her bottom lip. “So you started your business before you were ready. I figure something happened to change your plans. Something big, something bad. Sierra’s accident?”
He nodded.
“Tell me.” This time she put her arm around him and pulled him closer.
Sierra’s accident. Another one of the elephants they never talked about. A whole herd of pachyderms lived in the Shaw household, come to think of it. The house was so crowded with them that he didn’t know how any of the humans maneuvered without getting trampled. Maybe they didn’t. Maybe they got stomped on every day, but were so used to it that they didn’t notice anymore.
His stomach flipped over as he remembered the stark terror he felt on the night of Sierra’s accident. Disjointed words poured out as he sat up. “Car wreck. Drunk driver. Lots of surgeries. The loser boyfriend who was Chloe’s father took off. Granddad did what he could, but he’s getting up there, and he couldn’t do it alone. Sierra and Chloe needed more help than I could provide with the long hours I worked at my job and getting my MBA. So we revised the plan, put it in motion before we were ready, and here we are, managing on a shoestring.”
Molly sat up, too, rubbing small, comforting circles on his back. “How much work does Sierra do for you?”
“She works more than anyone else. Lots of nights she has trouble sleeping. So she puts Chloe to bed and logs onto a computer at home, or goes back to the office and works. Since she won’t socialize much anymore, she’s there most weekends, too. Plus, we can’t afford to offer the kind of group insurance she needs, so she keeps her accounting job. One of the many reasons I’m determined to make a success of this business.”
Molly looked at him then, full on, and he saw so much in her eyes. Warmth, sympathy, understanding, admiration. If he could have, he would have erased all of it. He didn’t want or deserve any of the emotion she directed his way.
“You’re a good man.” Molly leaned over to plant a kiss on his cheek.
Christ, no, not a kiss on the cheek. A kiss on the cheek was a pat on the head’s asthmatic sister. He rebelled against accepting a tepid kiss from her, like one she’d give her favorite uncle.<
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A need for something hot and satisfying and physical gripped him. He wanted something from her, but not too much. Not too permanent, or too emotional. He turned from her and tightened his knuckles around the support bar. “Don’t make me out to be something I’m not. I’m frustrated, I’m broke, and I’m sick and tired of all the responsibility, but I’m not sure about good.”
“I’m sure. I told you I’d consider selling the Sleeping Lotus, and I will. You don’t believe in the curse, although how you can doubt it with your family history is beyond me. But me, I’m absolutely certain the curse is related to Bella’s death on the Titanic, my grandfather’s death over Russia, and my mom and dad’s separation. I’d like to figure out a way to buy your half and give the joined sections to Mom. Then you’d have the money you need, and if there’s any chance for my parents to reconcile, they’d have it.” She tilted up a determined chin.
He clamped his teeth together, holding back his protest. He didn’t have time to wait for her to “find a way” to buy his half of the Lotus, sweet as the notion was. “That’s an awful expensive chance.”
“I keep telling you. Some things are about more than money.” She pinned him with that look again.
With his feet dragging on the ground, he stacked his hands behind his head. “Message received.”
“Good enough. You’ve been sending me in circles all night, now I’m going to take you for a spin.” Hopping off the merry-go-round, she grabbed hold of a support, kicked off her sandals, and started running. When she had it circling at top speed, she jumped into the section with him and snuggled into his side. “Do you know what I’m going to do now?” Drifting her fingers idly around his ear, she leaned toward him and drew near enough for him to feel her breath on his cheek. “I’m going to tell you, because you’re a person who always like to know what’s going to happen next.”
Even with his head spinning wildly, he had a pretty good idea of what she had planned.
“I’m going to kiss you.” Her words whispered softly into his ear. “Really kiss you. With no one watching, with no cameras, and no interruptions.” She raised her eyebrows impishly. His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, which wasn’t at all where he wanted it stuck. “Not a kiss on the cheek. I’ve been dying to do this, ever since the restaurant.”
The merry-go-round began slowing down. His tongue finally came unglued. “Only if it’s going to be bad.”
Her lips grazed his as she asked, “What?”
“I only like to know what’s going to happen if it’s going to be bad.” And so many things did turn out badly. And while the kiss would be fabulous, it didn’t take one of Sierra’s crystal balls to foresee that Gabe and Molly’s future had disaster written all over it.
Well, to hell with it. Tonight he’d let his Shaw-persona reign and go wherever this path led them. He’d find a way to get everything under control and back on track tomorrow.
“You be the judge,” she murmured.
Her lips curved in a smile when his mouth claimed them. She wasn’t kissing him so much as being kissed. But hell, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but devouring her, inside and out.
He inhaled deeply, breathing in her scent, not just her Dreamsicle fragrance, but her deep-down, depths-of-her-soul, never-to-be-forgotten scent. Her hair, her neck, her soft skin, her sweet breath. Nothing smelled more tantalizing than Essence of Molly.
Their tongues danced, entwined, tentative and sweet, deepening to something intense. More real. More unique, yet completely familiar.
Surrounded by darkness inside a small pocket of light, he could have kissed her all night. But a sense of urgency spurred Gabe’s desperation for her. He rolled Molly on top of him. Eagerly, she stretched out along the length of him. With his arms wrapped around her, he fit her hips precisely against his.
He meant to ease up on the heat, give them some air, or at least, that’s what he thought he meant to do. When he dragged his feet on the ground, the motion lifted his hips, increasing the pressure, heightening the friction. His fingers played along the ridge of her spine, until his palms flattened against her back and then he pulled her close. Closer.
Desire had Gabe by the throat, urging him to explore every inch of her, but Molly tilted the moment into something else. Laughing in pure fun, she turned them in a different direction, rolling them onto their sides, arching into him. Sexy, plenty sexy, but bringing her special brand of joy to the moment. And that’s when the truth slammed into Gabe’s heart and brain.
Watching her laughing face, deep down he understood that he wanted Molly in any and every mood, in any and every part of his life. Stunned that he didn’t just want the Sleeping Lotus and/or sex from her. Stunned that he wanted Molly. Only Molly. Abruptly he sat up.
The timing couldn’t be worse. Nothing could be less convenient or welcome, at this moment in his life. He sure didn’t have the time or money, patience or temperament for anything called love. And more to the point, he didn’t have the strength to squeeze one more person he cared about onto his already over-loaded plate. But it didn’t matter what he thought. Thinking didn’t enter into it any longer.
Even with the money from the Sleeping Lotus, it would be years before the company would be stable enough for him to do as he pleased. Hell, before it would be stable enough for him to buy a car, or afford his own place, let alone—let alone— His breathing came a little too fast for him to contemplate the larger steps he’d have to take to keep Molly in his life. He inhaled her delicious scent and pushed his fingers into the hair at the back of her head, massaging her scalp, meeting her eyes, enjoying the wonder of every part of her.
And he knew he couldn’t use her to get the money from the Sleeping Lotus. After all the big talk about wooing her into letting him do as he pleased with it, his conscience wouldn’t let him. His heart wouldn’t let him.
If she chose to sell her piece with his at some point, he sure wouldn’t refuse, but he wouldn’t persuade her into it before she was ready. She thought it had the power to help her parents, and maybe, it did. Maybe just believing something was enough to make it happen.
She sat up beside him, pressing against his side and wrapping her arms around him. Plastered firmly against him, she nibbled his ear. He slid his hands down her sides to her hips and back up. Pushing the thin straps off her shoulders, one of them broke.
“It’s all right,” she whispered, laughing. “Don’t stop.”
He tugged the top of her dress down. The moonlight caressed and highlighted her plump, delicious breasts, creating an enticing show of light and shadow. As he drank in the sight of her, she looked at him expectantly, impatiently, then pulled his head forward.
“This?” he said, licking first one and then the other dusky nipple ripe for attention.
“God, yes.” Her breath became ragged as he pulled one of them into his mouth and sucked. They fell back again with Molly undoing his shirt. She thrust her hands inside, letting her fingernails skim the muscles that tensed beneath her touch.
The full skirt of her dress had eased up her thighs and floated around them. The slick wetness of her panties teased the erection pressing hard against his zipper. He pushed his hips up against her, and she angled back, increasing the pressure. Smiling wickedly, she slid herself back and forth across him.
Tongue, tongue! He had to have her tongue in his mouth again, or his tongue in her mouth again, it didn’t matter. When he swooped down for more mouth-and-tongue contact, his thumbs moved up to circle and rub against nipples that beaded as hard as diamonds.
His hand slipped under her skirt and up her thighs. When his fingers dipped inside her moist heat, her muscles tensed around him. Molly moaned into his mouth. She rubbed her hand against the length of his erection. She was close, but not close enough to give him what he wanted. She fumbled to undo his belt and pants then pushed her hand inside. Her fingers encircled him, and he came close to losing it right then. Sucking his tongue harder, she strained against him, determined
and desperate to get what she wanted. His fingers against her slick folds matched the rhythm of their mouths.
A door slammed nearby. A dog barked.
Damn it to freaking hell! Gabe went perfectly still, but Molly continued to squirm and pump him with her hand. Which pushed him to the limit of his control.
Footsteps sounded on the path that surrounded the playground. Dog tags jingled, and a dog growled. “Quiet down, Bongo,” a male voice ordered in the darkness. “It’s just kids playing.”
“Don’t stop. If you stop,” Molly said into his ear, “I may have to kill you.”
“But—the dog—” He gasped. “The man.”
“You heard him. We’re just kids playing in the park.” She bit his earlobe. She hooked her leg over his hip, and leaned her head back, grinding her heat against him. “Hurry, before he sees us.”
The hair on Gabe’s neck stood up, his spine tingled, and heat spread through him at the idea of someone seeing them. Watching them. God, just the thought of it made him harder.
“Don’t stop,” Molly urged. “Don’t stop. Oh, God, don’t stop.”
He couldn’t if he wanted to. Moving his fingers again, he pushed into her, pulling back out to rub against her swollen flesh.
Her low moan increased in volume to something higher and louder and unmistakably carnal. Her grip and rhythm on his cock increased. He grit his teeth, hanging on just a little longer, letting the powerful need build until he felt her inner muscles tensing around him. “Now?” he said into her ear. “Now!”
He took her mouth with his, swallowing her chant of “Yes! Yes, yes!”
With his fingers on her, in her, he felt her orgasm ripple through every incredible inch of her from fingertips to toes and all the hot and enchanting places in between. He exploded when she did, his climax pulsing hot and hard into her hand.
She followed five beats of stunned silence with equally stunned laughter, a sound of sheer joy and satisfaction that made Gabe swell with pride for having caused that reaction.