Now she was confident, the mother with the child. That was it! That was the key! She was confident and comfortable when Cam was around. “No,” Shane said and to combat his discomfort he stretched his thumb so the edge of it grazed her flesh. Except he hadn’t expected the contact to be so combustible. At the same second their eyes collided, she shivered. Recognizing that tremble and the interest in her eyes, Shane lowered to kiss her, but stopped before he got there. “I don’t… I don’t know the rules here.”
“Cam’s feeding,” she smiled and uncurled her arm from over Cam to hook it around his neck. “When he’s eating, my boobs belong to him.”
“And when he’s not?” Shane asked, with a hopeful brow raise. “Who do they belong to then?”
Laughing made her relax and he loved to see her glow, it reminded him of the first moment he’d seen her. “Do you really think you’ll ever be turned on by my breasts again after witnessing this?”
But he was actually more aroused by them now knowing they’d sustained his son. This woman had borne his son. Her body had given his seed life. Literally, she was his mate. He hoped last night was the watershed that meant she was his again.
Someone tried his bedroom door handle. Thankfully, the door didn’t give. He hadn’t locked it, so Ginger must have. Smart. Panic seized her and she looked from him to Cam and back. “If I take him off he’ll shout,” she whispered.
“So would I,” Shane said and her expression told him this wasn’t the time for jokes. He was going to get up, so he started to toss back the covers, then Shane remembered he wasn’t wearing anything. “Uh, I’m naked.”
But her lips curled and she stifled a laugh. “Are you asking me to avert my eyes?” she whispered.
“Nope, giving you tickets for the show,” he said, moving to the edge of the bed.
“Shane? Are you awake?” Owen hissed through the door.
“He can’t know I’m here,” she said. “We can’t tell anyone what happened last night.”
The part where she found the rings or the part where she spent the night in his bed? Shane didn’t have time to ask. Instead of going to the drawer for underwear, he went straight to the door and unlocked it to open it an inch, keeping his hips on the inside of the door, Ginger would have a view of his naked ass, but Owen would see nothing more than a bare hip.
“Geez, are you still in bed?” Owen asked, and glanced down then held a hand up to cover his below-the-waist view, though there was nothing to cover. “You’re naked? Why are you still in bed naked at this time?”
Shane didn’t even know what time it was, but slid a hand up the door and shrugged. “Well you know, it’s been sixteen months… and being around Gin all the time…”
“What?” Owen squawked. It was funny to see his brother-in-law’s blinking surprise, it kind of reminded Shane of Ginger’s, especially when he got pissed off straight after. “Well while you’re in there jerking off, Julianna is expecting you for brunch.”
“What?” Shane asked.
“Is jerking off worth ten billion dollars to you?”
No, but sharing this morning with his wife and son was. Shane didn’t say that, instead he went with, “Brunch wasn’t on the schedule.”
Owen sighed. “I know, she brought the later meeting forward. She has some conference call this evening or something. Does it matter?” He backed off a step and gestured. “Get changed. We think Gin is out with Cam, but if you’re quick, you’ll make it back before his naptime.”
“Naptime?” Shane whined, he didn’t want to spend all day dealing with business when he’d just got his woman and his boy in his bed.
“Yes, come on now, chop, chop.”
Owen clapped his hands and took another step back, so Shane closed the door and locked it again before he turned. Ginny’s grin dropped and she lifted a hand to cover her view, not unlike what Owen had just done. Apparently she was fine when he was giving her the ass view, but full-frontal was too much.
Lumbering back to the bed, Shane sat on the edge, facing her, and pulled the sheet over his lap, which uncovered Ginny’s legs, so he stroked her calf. “I have to go to work.”
“I heard,” she said.
“Your idea to bring Julianna here wasn’t so great after all.”
“It was if it strengthens your business,” she said, admiring their son again.
“Means I might miss therapy… and I don’t want to leave you alone with… him.” Shane didn’t even want to refer to Bishop by his last name.
How Ginger could be so calm was a mystery to him. “We’ll be fine,” she said. “I have my new computer to play with. Doctor Guinness wants individual sessions today anyway, so I won’t have to confront… anyone.”
“Are you going to tell Guinness?” Shane asked. “You said you didn’t want to tell anyone, but—”
“I’m not going to tell him,” she said. “I’m not going to take the risk of anyone else knowing, not until Julianna is on a plane. I said it last night, I meant it. So if you’re in with Doctor Guinness, I’d appreciate it if you held off on sharing your feelings about last night… I know I’m not supposed to tell you to withhold, but—”
“I won’t say a word,” Shane said. “If we have feelings to talk about, we can talk about them after she’s gone… My feelings are all positive, I’m not repressing anything evil that might leap out.”
“All positive?” she asked. “You’re happy that Calvin misled me and lied to us all? That he—“
Showing her his palm, he silenced her. “Don’t remind me of that part,” he said. “I’ll do my best to keep my head down, but I already didn’t like the guy. This new information makes it harder to… be patient.”
“I have faith in you,” she said, finger-combing Cam’s hair. “Have you ever seen such a beautiful boy?”
Turning to crawl up the bed, Shane turned and sat right up beside her so his dick was pressed to the satin covering her hip. “Never seen such a beautiful sight,” he said and kissed her shoulder. “If you have feelings you want to share… you can share them with me.”
He hadn’t meant for that to sound so non-subtle, Ginger smiled at him like she thought he was referring to the obvious. Them. But they’d been talking about the doctor, so he was actually thinking about feelings she might share in therapy but couldn’t because they were keeping a secret. Instead he came off sounding like a clingy girlfriend looking for an affirmation of love.
“Anything that’s on your mind I mean,” he said, “that you might want to share with Guinness but can’t.”
Ginger inhaled and got serious. “To be honest, there’s only one imminent thing I’m worried about.”
“What’s that?” Shane asked, kissing the soft skin of her shoulder again because she hadn’t objected last time he’d done it and he couldn’t restrain himself, his wife tasted amazing, like him and her and sleep… like the old days.
“Calvin agreed to give me two more days on the divorce papers, Boyd’s updating them apparently… which means he’ll come at me with them tomorrow.”
“And what are you going to do?” he asked, trying to remember he was playing shrink and not outraged husband.
“I’m going to… I’m going to… I don’t know,” she said and thought about it for a minute. “It depends when he brings it up.”
“Before or after Julianna leaves?” he asked and Ginger nodded. Sure, because after they could tell Bishop to shove the papers up his ass and kick him out. But Bishop wasn’t patient, he’d pressure her if he thought he could get her alone. “What if it’s before?”
“I guess it’s not as much my problem as it is yours,” she said.
Joy and pride made his chest swell and he felt himself puff up. “That’s right, baby. Your man takes care of business. I’ll make him eat the damn things.”
Again, she was laughing as her hand covered his cheek. Shane loved it when she did that, touched him like that, and he turned his head to kiss her palm. No objection. In fact, she was still smili
ng. “I didn’t mean that,” Ginger said. “I meant because he has to get you to sign too. If he corners me and I end up having to put pen to paper, it won’t mean anything unless he gets you to do it as well… and you have to keep your cool if he asks, no fighting in front of Cam.”
Cam turned his head away from her breast when he heard his name. His drowsy eyes took a minute to focus on his mother. But Shane was more interested in the nipple his son had just liberated, plump and glistening, Ginger had never seemed more whole to him, more womanly.
“Ca!” Cam said and shoved away from his mother to climb off the bed.
“I better get him dressed,” Ginger said and was about to get up when Shane put his arm across her body to pin her back. Her arm was crooked beneath his with the strap of her slip in her hand, breast still exposed.
Cam was still in the room, climbing over Rocky, busy on the floor. Now Shane was a man alone in bed with his woman, he was a bit clearer on the rules and the aroused intrigue in her eyes fired him on. “My turn,” he grumbled and dipped his head.
But before he could make contact, Ginger’s hand caught his forehead and she curled her fingers into his hair. “No,” she whispered. “I’ll be too sensitive for your mouth. It’ll feel… weird.” Damn. He’d never been more disappointed, but it was worth a try. He’d learn this stuff as they went along, and he’d put up with whatever she needed, even if that meant he was on emergency rations. Except, instead of getting up, Ginger peeked to make sure Cam was busy. Interesting. Shane was intrigued by his wife’s thoughts. Then she slid down to her back and bit her lip. Curling her other arm, she hooked the other strap of her slip around her finger and drew it down her arm. “You can play with this one.”
His woman was a vixen, a hot viper coiled to tease him. Shane ducked forward to kiss the tip of her nipple and that was enough to make her gasp. Sliding his hand up her ribs, he cupped the breast she’d offered to him and squeezed, being gentle as he opened his mouth and circled it with his tongue.
He didn’t remember her being this responsive. Her reaction to his mouth was incredible. Writhing beneath his tongue, she was gasping and whimpering little breaths that were hardening his dick beyond anything it had been before. He needed her. Now.
“Oh, God, Boo, no, you can’t,” she said, grabbing his hair to pull his mouth away from her breast. “I don’t know what I was thinking, I’m sorry.”
She tried to push away to free herself, but Shane caught her and put her on her back again. Pressing his body against her side to hold her down, he explored her face. “You can say no, baby. You don’t need to run away. Just say no and I’ll stop.”
Was she scared? Sad? Guilty? There was so much going on behind her eyes that he struggled to pinpoint what caused her panic. “It feels too good,” she breathed and managed to give him the ego boost he’d waited sixteen months for. “You feel too good… this feels too good.”
“Listen to me,” Shane said, stroking her hair from her face because as she gave him what he needed, he had to return the favor. “You’re not gonna marry him, right?” Ginger shook her head, and her teeth went into her lip again as she fumbled to finger her hair. His hips thrust into her of their own involuntary will. His dick wanted to be inside her and this was as close as he’d come since she disappeared… Except their son was on the floor, so he had to keep his cool. “You are married to me. You are my wife.” She nodded again. “So we’re gonna work all this out, together… It’s supposed to feel good, being with someone you care about, someone you love, it’s supposed to feel like this. This is why we deal with the downs and stick together, we do it for moments like this. You deserve to be happy and that’s what this morning is, this is our happy.” Clearing his throat, Shane wanted to give her perspective, but wasn’t sure he wanted to hear her answer to his next question. “Did it ever feel like this with him?”
The chewing on her lip got faster, either she felt guilt because of what she was about to confess to him or what she was going to confess about Calvin. When Ginger slowly shook her head, Shane’s heart almost leaped out of his chest. Yes, he had her. He knew it. This woman was the key to his happiness, the key to his joy, and she was back in his bed.
“Four,” she whispered and he had no clue what she was on about. “I think I want four children.” Shane upgraded his thoughts of dreams or delusions and began to consider that he might be dead because this was as close to heaven as he could get. “Not right now, there are things… other things to deal with first and I…”
He soothed, hoping to keep her from descending into a panic. “What, baby? You can tell me anything.”
Ginger blinked before confessing her secret. “Watching you with Cam turns me on too. I’m so grateful that you’re his father and… I never said thank you to you for giving him to me. He was a gift. The piece of you that I carried with me through all of this, even if I didn’t know who you were. Thank you… I wouldn’t have gotten through it without him… without you. I know now that he was the only truth I had.”
“I love you, Bit,” Shane said, running his fingers over her face to come to a stop on her lips. “I don’t want you to say anything… I’m not forcing your hand. I’m telling you I love you because I can’t give you happiness like this, I can’t give you as much happiness as you give me… and anything I can ever give you, it will only be a fraction of what you do for me. You never have to say thank you.”
If they weren’t back together now, after this, Shane figured he didn’t know anything about how the world worked at all.
“Da!” Cam was standing at the side of the bed, trying to pull himself up.
Shane reached over to offer a hand and Cam pulled himself up only to climb onto his mother and shove his father away. “Hey,” Shane said.
Cam was concentrating on trying to cover Ginger’s breasts, she laughed and helped him then scooped him into her arms. “Come on, you three, the world is waiting for us.”
The world could keep waiting as far as Shane was concerned, he’d live all his life in this room and never see another soul as long as he lived and he’d be happy.
But he followed Ginger into the bathroom and watched her turn on the shower, she felt the spray while Cam shouted at it. His girl retrieved a towel from beneath the vanity and brought it over to him. Neither mother nor son seemed bothered about his nakedness now and their acceptance inspired him. This was the life he wanted and it was starting to come to life.
Cam wriggled from his mom’s arms, so she put him on the floor.
“Do you need anything, Boo?” Ginger asked. “You have to get to your meeting. So if I can help with anything…?”
“In the shower together?” he said because he couldn’t help himself even though he knew she wouldn’t join him.
She smiled and caught sight of Cameron sitting on the floor by the bath dumping his ducks over the edge into the tub. “Oh no, Angel… Daddy needs to get clean now.”
Rushing over to take the ducks out, Ginger was hindered by Cam throwing them straight back in. Then Rocky trotted in and sniffed Cam. The dog picked up a duck in his mouth but instead of running off with it, he put it in the bath then sniffed the shower spray.
This was his family, crazy and disorganized, sometimes working against each other, but they were his and Shane had never been happier.
18
Yawning, Ginger stretched out on the bed and listened for Cam. She didn’t hear her son, but she did hear male voices downstairs; and from the rush of cool air on her shoulders, she guessed the front door had been opened.
It was late in the afternoon already. Everything was happening later today because Cam had gone to bed late and overslept. She, herself, shouldn’t have given into sleep while Cam was napping, but she sat up and wiggled her toes. Being in Shane’s bed didn’t feel weird; it should, but it didn’t. It hadn’t even felt weird the first night she’d slept here when Shane was in her bed.
Forcing herself to get out from under the cozy sheet, Ginger went through to h
er bedroom to check Cam was still in his crib. Brushing her fingertips on his cheek, she smiled at her angel and retrieved his monitor.
She headed downstairs to find out who was home, and was happy to see that Calvin was still out. He’d had some emergency business thing with Boyd, and they’d run off to the lodge over an hour ago. Rocky had been asleep on the hearth when she went upstairs, but the living room was abandoned now.
The sound of a hearty bark coming from the back yard widened her already beaming smile.
Murphy was in the kitchen and she had to calm herself to exchange a nod with her brother-in-law. He seemed curious, but she drew her eyes away and her smile took over again. Tiptoeing through the screen, she found that Owen throwing a stick for Rocky on the grass. She paused to watch her brother and the dog. Hooking her thumbs into the cuffs of her oversized cardigan, Ginger ignored the man on the swing beside her for a second.
Sidestepping, she swayed her hips as she went to the swing and lowered onto it beside him. Although she could feel Shane admiring her, she played it coy and kept watching her brother and the dog.
“Murph’s getting drinks, you want something?” he asked. Ginger shook her head and tried to subdue her smile, but she was failing. “We not talking?”
Drawing her feet onto the swing, she forced him to brace it. Ginger curled her arms around her bent knees and let one side up so she could catch her thumb nail in her teeth through her cardigan. They were supposed to be playing it cool. They weren’t supposed to be letting anyone know what had happened last night, so she had to be discreet. Yet, she was overwhelmed by the urge to share.
“I thought of you today,” she mumbled.
“I think about you constantly,” Shane said like this was any normal conversation. But to her, it wasn’t.
The flirtation could get away from her, she was a novice after all, but Ginger was excited by the idea that it might. “Thinking of you… made me naughty,” she whispered.
He did a double take at her profile. “Made you…” Maybe he caught on because her tone was quite saucy, but she noticed the curl of his lips in her peripheral vision and the air between them began to crackle. “Oh, baby,” he groaned.
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