Remember When...

by Scarlett Finn

  Nodding, Ginger pouted and twisted herself toward him. Hooking an elbow over the back of the swing, she skimmed her thumb nail along the seam of her lips. “You were incredible,” she purred, enlivened by this ability to share her dreams with their subject. Shane groaned again and his eyes grew heavy. “In your bed… all by myself… I was lonely… so I had to pretend you were with me…” She pouted again and glanced at the yard to check Owen was still busy, boosting up a little, she checked Murphy was still in the kitchen before she let her bare foot rise over Shane’s thigh to press it against his groin. He slouched and his head bumped down on the back of the swing.

  His hand curled over her foot and he pressed it harder against the solid lump behind his fly. “Bit…” Shane exhaled, a growling edge in his voice. “Did you dream about me?”

  Parting her legs so she could lean between them, Shane tipped his head to accept her lips against his ear. “I’ve been dreaming about you for days,” Ginger breathed and he shivered.

  Sliding his hand up her bare shin, he curved it to the inside of her thigh. “Your guy likes to hear that…” With one shin now resting along his outer thigh, her other foot slipped away from his groin to settle on the arm of the swing by his opposite thigh, so her knee was on his chest. Resting her temple against the back of the swing, his turned head meant their faces were within a couple of inches of each other; so much for being discreet. “Did it get you wet, baby?”

  Biting her lip, Ginger twisted the edge of her thumb between her teeth, and nodded. “It got me off,” she murmured, and Shane blinked, his surprise overtaking his desire for a second. “In your bed.” His grip on her knee tightened and there was something intoxicating about exploring this connection. Walking her fingers up his torso, Ginger pressed the pads of her first two fingers to his lips. “Do you think I’ll taste the same?”

  His eyes flared, aflame with a burning need. She could feel the tattoo of his strong heart beneath her knee and she was desperate to slide herself into his lap, but a grumble from the monitor on the swing seat behind her gave her a cue. “Only one way to find out,” Shane growled and seized her wrist.

  “Ah,” Ginger said and slid off the seat as his lips parted. “Duty calls.” Picking up the monitor, she shook it at him, forcing Shane to let her hand slide away from his grip as he grunted.

  Smiling, Ginger sashayed and peeked at him over her shoulder. He was distracted while fixated on her. Knowing that he had only one thing on his mind, and that she’d put it there, Ginger had never felt so powerful, or so close to the woman she’d seen on those videos.

  Murphy was on his way out as she was going in and she laughed at his expression that was still as confused by hers as it had been before. Cam was making more noises in the monitor, so she tried to forget about teasing Shane and focus on being a mommy. She was only two stairs up when there was a knock on the front door. She paused, considered ignoring it, but then spun around to run to it.

  When she opened the door, she saw the same lodge employee who’d delivered the apples, holding another clipboard. “Ah, Mrs. Warren, we have another delivery.”

  He gave her the clipboard and she signed as Cam screamed through the monitor at the top of his lungs. Yes, her baby was impatient. She backed away from the door. “Just dump it there,” she said pointing just inside the door. “Thank you.”

  Turning around, Ginger sprinted up the stairs and picked up her baby. She changed his diaper and bounced him on her hip. Rocky barked outside, so Cam began to babble at the window. Ginger took him onto the upper balcony and her son screeched at the sight of Rocky who started to bark at him.

  Boy and dog had definitely bonded.

  Ginger had some tidying up to do, but Cam would do better playing. So she took him out of the bedroom with intentions of handing him over to his father, who hadn’t connected with his son since before he’d left the cabin for his brunch meeting that ran late.

  Halfway down the stairs, Ginger noticed the boxes stacked high just inside the door. There wasn’t just one parcel, there were at least twenty. Everything was brand new. There were all kinds of toys and accessories for Cam. Everything was for Cam. There were trains that ran on a track, cars, a ball pool, a bouncy chair, a brand-new top of the line changing table carved from solid oak. This was more than her son had received all year.

  A flare of anger made her squeeze Cam tight against her although he tried to struggle free. A large trampoline that required assembly stood in a box behind the others. And there was a motorized police car behind that. A fortune had been spent and while Cam was trying to clamber down, she held him tighter still. Huge boxes from baby clothing stores were at the base and more bags of toys circled the castle.

  The shock wasn’t enough to dampen her anger; in fact, it enhanced it. “Shane Warren! Get your butt in here now, you bastard! And bring your buddies with you! Shane!”

  A few seconds later she heard the scramble of feet and the rush of heavy bodies hurrying through the kitchen. The screen door bumped closed after the scratch of claws scrabbled on the kitchen floor. All the boys were coming to her, even the furry one.

  Supporting her baby on her hip, Ginger met the men in the shadow of the stairs. “Who is responsible for this?” she asked, glaring at them all. “Come on, don’t be shy, which one of you is responsible?”

  “Responsible for what, Bit?” Shane asked, reaching for her.

  Whipping around, she walked away from his outstretched arm to march toward the hoard. Halfway there, she stopped to spin on them and thrust her arm toward it. “This! Who is responsible for this and why the hell didn’t you—”

  “Cool!” Owen declared, his gasp and expression a picture of excitement. “Trains! I love electric trains!” He came to try to take Cam, but Ginger spun her son out of his uncle’s reach.

  “No! No, you are not going to encourage him.” Her anger dwindled and hurt took over when she turned to Shane. “How could you think that we’re like this? How could you believe that you have to buy our love? Am I so shallow? Is Cam? Do you think we need this ridiculous display of wealth to—”

  “It wasn’t me,” Shane said, slipping his hands into his pockets as he glanced at Murphy and Owen. “If I check the accounts, am I going to find receipts?”

  Murphy turned out his lip as he lifted his shoulders. Owen shook his head furiously. “It wasn’t me,” Owen said. “I kind of wish it was because look at his little face.”

  Cam was grinning, kicking and trying to buck down. Owen thought that the baby wanted the toys; but the truth was, Cam was probably more interested in exploring what to him probably looked like a cardboard castle. But she was confused. Shane could be lying, but would he risk doing that after what it did to them before?

  She sighed and gave in. “Can you move the boxes so they’re lined up? We can’t have a tower of heavy packages with a dog and a baby in the house… one of them will get hurt.”

  All three men began to move toward the packages, but she sidestepped into Shane’s path, stopping him in his tracks. She moved right in close until their bodies touched, and while he looked into her eyes, he stroked a hand over the back of Cam’s head.

  “It wasn’t me, baby,” he said, reading the question in her eyes.

  Ginger hoped that was true. As angry as she was at the extravagance, she’d have gotten over it. But if he was lying to her, that would do more damage than they might be able to repair. “If it was, please just tell me,” she begged. “Please… Spoiling him I can get over, ok? I’ll get over it. But if you lie to me again… it won’t be such an easy fix and I… I really don’t want us to be broken again. It’s been easier today… it’s easier when we’re a team.”

  He cupped her cheek. “It wasn’t me, Bit… I’ll check the accounts, make sure nothing came from his uncles or the company… I did tell Nell the new place should be kid proof, but…” He looked over her head to scrutinize the parcels. “Everything there looks roughly age appropriate… except maybe the car and trampoline. A
nd it looks like there are clothes… she’d have no way to know how old the kid was to buy those.”

  “Boo—”

  “Hey,” he said, curling a finger beneath her chin to make sure she saw his smile. “You always loved big romantic gestures… but they rarely had anything to do with money. That’s not what you value… we’re the same that way. And shit like that.” He nodded at the bags and boxes. “That’s why you have credit cards, if we need things like clothes and toys, buy them. But as far as me buying him things? I know you’re not comfortable with the money yet. Course I’ve been tempted to go nuts, but I figured that it’s his birthday in a few weeks, I was going to wait until then to spoil him.” He scowled at the packages, and she was relieved to see him look as confused as she felt. “And there’s no point having all this stuff here. We’re on vacation, how will we transport it when we leave?”

  There were courier companies that would transport it, but that was inconvenient and meant more costs, another waste of money. This made no sense.

  “Did you tell Julianna about him?” she asked. “Maybe your business associate—”

  “Uh, guys,” Owen said, picking up a sheet from the top of a box. “I have a delivery notice.”

  “Let me see it,” Shane said and edged her aside to go to her brother.

  Paling, Owen tried to move away, but there was a wall behind him. “I don’t think I want to show you,” Owen said, but Shane snatched the sheets from him.

  As Shane read it, his confusion became anger. “I’m gonna rip his fucking face off.”

  “Language!” Ginger said, resting her lips on Cam.

  “It’s from Calvin,” Owen said as Shane went through the pages. There were so many that he was still reading while she processed. “Diane’s name’s on there as a contact too.”

  This could only mean one thing. “Oh no,” Ginger said and took Cam to Murphy. She passed her baby off to his uncle and went to Shane.

  Grabbing Shane’s sleeve, Ginger pulled him across the room, ignoring Murphy and Owen’s questions. Dragging him into the dining room, she rounded him to close the door. “He knows,” she hissed and turned to drop back against the door.

  “Knows what?” Shane asked, coming over to stroke her face, hair, and shoulders.

  A smile brought on by his affection broke her tension. “You’re always touching me,” she said. “Why are you always touching me?”

  “I’m terrified you’ll tell me you don’t want to be touched again.”

  If she needed proof that she’d hurt him, there it was. Picking up his hand, she kissed his palm. “I like how your hands feel on my body… the way you touch me… your hands don’t feel like anyone else’s.”

  They didn’t feel like Calvin’s. Her fiancé had never been tactile, and she hadn’t known what she was missing until Shane came into her life. “Good,” Shane said, getting closer to take her hips and align their forms. “Now you gonna tell me why Bishop did this?”

  She worried her lip, and ran her finger around a tendril of hair. “He has to know.”

  “Know what?”

  That was what she didn’t know and it made her nervous to think Calvin was just waiting to confront her about something. She didn’t know why, but her anger didn’t quite trump her anxiety. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “Did you see him today? At the lodge? You were in the function suites at about the same time that he was there.”

  “What do you think I said? ‘Hey, asshole, my wife knows you’re a scumbag liar. She spent the night in my bed, we’re back together. Ha. Ha. You lose.’ Don’t you think I’d have told you that? You told me not to say anything and I didn’t. I’m not going to do anything to wreck this, trust me on that.”

  Searching him, she had to wonder. “Are we?”

  “Are we what?”

  “Back together?” she asked. “We didn’t have sex or—”

  “I told you, sex can wait until you’re ready,” he said, brushing her hair from her temple with a fingertip. “I love you and yes, we’re together. As far as I was concerned, we were never split up.”

  Her stomach did a flip. She wasn’t going to remind him of her other wedding day. “Outside on the swing, I… I’m sorry, I took that too far. I got carried away and—”

  He bent his knees to line up their eyes. “With us, there is no too far, ok? Anytime you want to flirt or torture me with thoughts of you touching yourself… or touching me… you go for it, Bit. It doesn’t mean I expect you to have sex with me next time we’re alone. All of this is at your pace, ok? All of it. You’re leading the dance.”

  Touching one of his shirt buttons, she watched herself circle it. “And touching you? Is touching you ok? I never asked I… I climbed into your bed last night without permission… I pleasured myself in your bed this afternoon and I… on the porch, I was in your lap.”

  He growled again and kissed her jaw. Rubbing his cheek on hers, he smelled her hair before whispering, “That coy thing you do drives me wild, Bit… You know damn well I want your body on mine every minute of the day.”

  “Really?” she asked, sucking on her lower lip as she turned her innocent eyes up to his. “I… I’ve never flirted or played these sex games before.” Her chaste tone made him grumble, it was working, playing up the naïve act was turning him on.

  Grabbing her waist, Shane thrust her against the door so hard that she gasped… he wasn’t the only aroused one. “You’ve played me before, baby, you just don’t remember. We’ll play ‘em all again, sweetheart. I’ve got all kinds of fun lined up for you.”

  “Shane,” she whimpered, stroking his chest. “I… I do want you.”

  His forehead bumped on her hair when he ducked to try to kiss her and she lowered her chin. “Oh, you got me, Bit. Got me all to yourself.”

  Turning her fingers in as she stroked his body, she wanted to test that and learn everything he had to teach, but she had to hold onto her last thread of control. “We have to back off.”

  That cooled his arousal. “We have to… what?”

  “Calvin, he has to know… out there, those toys, he’s never… He’s always accepted Cam, but he’s never been interested in fatherhood. He gave us everything we needed, but Cam was never showered with gifts, not like this. He has to know I slept with you.”

  Shane thought about this for a second, examining her as he did. “You told him about before? About us kissing?”

  She nodded. “He went insane. He was shouting and… he wanted to confront you. Doctor Guinness explained it was natural for me to be curious and how you have residual feelings for your wife.”

  “Residual… wait, what the fuck? There’s nothing residual about my feelings.”

  “Don’t get defensive,” she soothed and wrapped her arms around him; she’d figured out that his blood pressure seemed to be directly related to how many inches of her body were touching him at any given second. “He said my feelings for you are… new. So it’s only right I get swept into the initial pangs of romance.” She frowned. “But I…”

  “What, baby?” Shane asked, stroking her back.

  “Sometimes when I look at you, I feel like… like there’s something so…” She couldn’t explain it and he smiled and stroked her face. “I’m sorry, I can’t explain it.”

  “It’s ok,” he said and kissed her head. “I understand, like no one else can.”

  “Da!” the scream from outside made her hold Shane tighter.

  “He loves you so much… he’s never connected with anyone the way he connected with you. He recognized you. He’d never met you but…” Leaning back, Ginger gazed up at him. “He knew you.”

  Sensing her melancholy, Shane cupped her face, trapping her hair against her cheeks. “We’re going to be ok. We’re a family and we’re going to stick together.”

  But that wasn’t enough, she needed more from him. Even if it wasn’t fair to ask, she had to push him, something in her told her that it was important. Her encroaching dread might be paranoia, or maybe it
was some kind of sixth sense foresight.

  “Promise me you’ll always look after him,” she said, “that Cam will always be your priority.”

  “Gin—”

  “Please,” she said. “Listen to what I’m saying and take me seriously, I need you to hear me. Cam, he has to be the most important thing in your life, over me, over the money, the business, the—”

  “He is the most important thing in the world,” Shane said. “Him and every other baby we’re going to have.”

  Trust him to break an intense moment with his arrogant humor. Tutting at him, Ginger pushed his chest. “I need to be sane before I can bear more children.”

  “Sane?” he asked. “You’ve dumped the ringer and got back with the star pitcher. Baby, you’re well on the road to recovery.”

  “Dada! Dadadadada!”

  Ginger smiled, hearing her son calling out for the man who’d protect him with his life pleased her, it excited and aroused her too. Overwhelming pride in their son warmed her. “He’s really got that down, hasn’t he?” she said. Instead of being jealous of their bond, she admired it. But they still had an issue to deal with. “I could ask Calvin to take me away somewhere for a couple of days. Away from here.”

  Shane tensed. “Why would you do that?”

  “If he knows we spent the night together and he bought all those things… he’s playing us, and I don’t like him doing that when you have business on the table.”

  He wasn’t the best at hiding his emotions and he exhaled an irritated groan. “Would you forget about the business?” he said. “And I think you’re paranoid. There’s no way he could know. It’s possible he knows you found the rings.”

  Considering it, she angled her head. “Possible, but unlikely. They were in a place he doesn’t use much. So unless he was looking for them… But why wouldn’t he confront me if he knew?”

  “He didn’t say anything?”