She blinked at him, then gave him a soft peck on the lips. “I think I’m going to get those words tattooed on me.” She locked her fingers with his and led him to their bedroom, the towel slipping off her damp body as she did.
“Are you? Where?”
“On my ass. I know it’s your favorite part of my body.”
He chuckled. “I’m partial to you all, love. Your ears turn me on.”
“Good.” She lay down on the bed and stared expectantly at him. “Come show me how much.”
* * *
“Thank you,” Mr. Cassum said for the fifteenth time as he vigorously pumped Colin’s hand. “My father is going to love this.”
Colin felt Cherri’s eyes on him as he showed Mr. Cassum the vintage milk machine that they had painstakingly restored. The man had tears in his eyes and a huge smile on his face. It was beautiful, if a milk machine could be so. Shiny, cornflower blue. Cherri had done the lettering by hand in bright yellow. Colin had scraped and scrounged for every original part, and the ones he couldn’t find, he made. He had probably restored dozens of old vending machines, but this one he took a little longer with. Mr. Cassum’s father was turning ninety-five, and the man wanted to restore a piece of his father’s childhood before he passed on. Colin admired the man for doing something for his father. He liked that the two men remained so close. It made him anxious to meet his own son.
“It was my pleasure, sir. It was really nothing at all. Let me show you how it works one more time.” He walked over to the machine. “It only takes dimes. So keep plenty of them on hand. Beauty,” he called to his hovering wife. “You wouldn’t happen to have any dimes on hand, would you?”
“Of course.” She gave him a little smile.
She was growing lovelier as she progressed in her pregnancy. He was surprised how much more attracted he was to her now. But her cheeks were rosy and her hair was shiny and there was something about her that kept him staring at her all day. And because he kept staring at her he knew something was off in her world. She had been quiet the past few days. At first he thought it was still about Serena, about the box of things that she’d found, but that couldn’t be it. They had talked. Everything was okay. Everything seemed to be okay for a little while.
Then what is it?
He pulled his eyes off his beautiful, pensive-looking wife and turned his attention back to his customer.
He spent a few more minutes with Mr. Cassum, helping him load his truck before he returned to Cherri. He stared at her as she worked in the office. She was on the phone with a customer, explaining the process of restoring a bicycle. It was as if she had been working with him for a lifetime. She was so comfortable in the shop. She didn’t mind getting dirty. She never got in his way. It made him kick himself for not going after her sooner. He’d never thought he would marry a girl who always had paint staining her fingers, but he was glad she did.
“Mr. Cassum asked me to restore a little red wagon for him next,” he said when she hung up the phone. “I told him to bring it by on Friday.”
She wrote that down on the calendar before getting up and coming to him.
“Colin.” She went to him, wrapping her arms around his middle. “I think you might need to stop taking in new projects for a while.”
“What?” He kissed her forehead, letting his lips linger on her skin. “We’re a little busy, but we can manage.”
“No, baby. I don’t think we can. I’ve got a whole room’s worth of furniture to paint. Plus you have fifteen projects lined up. Three of them, I might add, are going to take at least twenty hours of work to complete. We’re more than busy. If you want to keep going at this pace you might want to think about hiring somebody.”
“Hmm.” He kissed the curve of her neck, his attraction to her kicking into overdrive when he felt her belly press into him. “I’ve got you. I don’t need anybody else.”
“What about…” She lost her train of thought for a moment because his hands grabbed her behind. “After I have the baby? You didn’t expect me to keep up the same workload, did you?”
“No, I’d let you rest for a few days and then we’ll strap the kid to your chest and get you back in the shop. I don’t have to pay you.”
“Colin,” she laughed, and the slight tightness in his chest loosened. He wanted to wipe the sadness off her face for good.
“I understand what you’re saying, love. I might have to consider it in the future, but I like working with you. I don’t want anybody else here. I couldn’t shag your brains out in this office if I hired somebody, now could I?”
He moved his hands under her baggy T-shirt and rubbed her lower back.
“No, I guess not.” She slumped into him, letting all of her weight rest on him for a moment. “I’m glad I married you, Col. I want you to know that.”
He was surprised by her words, especially after this past week when she sometimes felt so far away that she might as well have been on another planet.
“I like to hear that. Sometimes I wonder.”
“I’m sorry.” She blinked at him, her eyes going sad again.
“Don’t apologize. I’m shit at being a husband sometimes. I know that.” He stroked his hand up her back, under her bra, unhooking it. He needed to make what feeling she was feeling go away. He needed to make her feel good, him feel good. He needed for her to feel the connection. “I know I make a pregnant lady do too much work and sometimes I don’t think to ask how you’re feeling. But you can always tell me if something is bothering you. I’ll try to fix it. You know that.”
“I’m fine.”
“Then why do I feel like there is something wrong?”
“It’s gas.”
He frowned at her, studying her for a long moment, trying to piece together the puzzle that was his wife. But he gave up and kissed her cheeks. “You’re lying to me, love, and if I wasn’t so crazy about you I would spank you.”
“You’re crazy about me?”
“Totally apeshit crazy mad about you.” His hands traveled around to her front to cup her breasts. “I think about you all the time. I want to touch you all the time.” He smoothed his hands down her torso to her belly, where he caressed her and his unborn child. “I want to be with you every damn minute of every day.”
“Every minute of every day? Why?”
“Why? Because you’re as randy as a teenage boy watching his first dirty movie.”
She threw her head back and laughed, and more of the heaviness seeped away.
“Am not!”
His hands found their way upward, stroking her nipples until she was humming with pleasure. “Three times last night. I’m getting old, lass. You’ll be the death of me. I’m surprised I can stand up straight. I’m surprised all my work hasn’t been complete rubbish since I married you.”
“Mmm.” She kissed his Adam’s apple.
“I should get on my knees and thank the Lord that he’s given me a woman who never says no.”
“You make me sound like a skank.”
“No.” He gently pushed her down on the couch. “What you are is a very good wife.”
For a few minutes all they did was kiss. Scratch that. They were making out. Like oversexed teenagers in the back of a car. Only it was sweeter.
He loved her. This may have not been the life she planned for herself but it was the life they had and he was going to try damn hard to make sure she was happy.
She broke the kiss and looked up at him. “Colin?”
“Yes, darling.”
“I—I…”
“What, my love?” He gave her belly another rub. “Want me to stop?”
“Don’t be dumb.”
He grinned. “Want to take this to our bedroom? We’d have more space there.”
“Too far.” She slid her hand up his shirt to stroke his back. “Listen. I—I—I want to talk to you about something.”
“Later.” He kissed her throat. “I can’t think when you’re this close to me.”
&nbs
p; “Should I dump a bucket o’ water on you two or should I just come back later? I know most fathers would be a bit uncomfortable seeing their lad about to shag but it makes me proud. It nearly brings a tear to me eye.”
* * *
“Pop.” Colin looked up, horrified. “What the hell are you doing here? I’d not think you had the nerve to show your face here after our row. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I’ve come to see yer wife and looking at the lass I can tell you did well.” He winked at her. “Hullo, gorgeous, by the way and thank you for inviting me. She ain’t no moon pig, son. I can tell you that. A real beauty. I should have known you would have ended up with a soft one. Like father, like son. Big titties and perfect ass.” Magnus tipped his hat to her. “Begging your pardon, love. Don’t mean to be discussing you like that in front of your face but you are quite enough to get a man’s blood going for days.”
“Pop!”
“What?” He shrugged. “You know Magnus always tells the truth. Well, get up, lad. I guess you’ll be wanting a proper hello. I can’t promise you a slow run and embrace like in the movies but would you settle for a Hiya, lad. You know yer pop is sorry for missing yer wedding.” He looked around the little office and then back to them. “I’ve come all the way to this bloody dull place to see you. Now stop being a shit and greet me properly.”
Laughter was not the right response in that moment but Cherri couldn’t help herself, even though she knew she was about to be in major trouble with her husband. She giggled like an idiot, laughing so hard that her sides hurt. She had been hiding this from him for over a week, but they needed this. Colin needed his father and they needed a family.
Magnus and Colin were like bookends, but where Colin had a calm sort of quiet around him Magnus was bigger than life and crass and gorgeous. Being in the room with two O’Connell men was enough to make her head spin. She tried to pull it together, though. Ever since she had found Serena’s things she had been in a funk, and she hated herself for letting a woman who was long gone sneak in and make her doubt herself. She would never be as beautiful as Serena, or as slender or graceful or worldly, but she had something up on the woman. She could give Colin the family he always wanted.
And that’s why she’d called his father.
“I can’t fucking believe it.”
Poor Colin. She could feel the frustration rumble through his body. She could hear it in the thickening of his accent but she would not regret her decision. This reunion should have happened a long time ago.
“Charlotte,” Colin barked. “Stop laughing.”
“I can’t.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“You invited my father here without my permission?”
“Yes,” she snorted, still unable to control herself.
“Why?”
“I did what I thought was best. Our baby needs a grandfather. And I want him to have one. If you don’t want to talk to your father it’s fine. But he’s my guest and our baby will know him.”
“A granddad!” Magnus let out a loud whoop. “I’m going to be a granddad. I always wanted a wee one to jiggle on my knee.”
Before either one of them could say a word Magnus was upon them giving them kisses and pats, practically squishing them into the sofa.
“For fuck’s sake, Pop! We’re Irish. You’re not supposed to be slobbering on me like a bloody Saint Bernard.”
Magnus smiled as he dropped one last kiss on Cherri’s cheek. “I can’t help it. I’m going to be a granddad.”
* * *
There was nothing more American than a barbecue, Magnus O’Connell announced. He had been in New York less than twelve hours and he had thrown together a little party. Typical. There were few times in Colin’s life where he hadn’t seen Magnus with a drink in one hand and a woman’s behind in the other. Today was no different.
“We’re celebrating life, my lad. And family and happiness.”
Colin could barely suppress a snort, listening to his father’s bullshit. Since when did family become so important to him? He let a woman take one of his children out of his life; the other he barely had time for. Why the change all of a sudden?
Charlotte.
He watched his wife from his spot under the big oak tree in their backyard. She had invited his father to come for a visit. Something he had been trying and failing at for the better part of five years. One phone call from a pretty girl and his father was busting his ass to be here. Maybe Colin should have tried that long ago.
Magnus was on his game today. He told wild stories. He laughed with their guests. He smiled lavishly at Cherri. He kissed her cheeks a dozen times. He patted her growing belly. He stared at her ass. Colin tried to swallow the big ball of jealousy that lodged itself in his throat. His father wouldn’t try anything with Cherri. He wouldn’t do that to him. Again. Would he? Cherri was more than a girlfriend. She was his wife.
And she looked damn cute in the short red checkered sundress Ellis had made for her. It was very warm for early May. Over eighty degrees and she was walking around the backyard with her long legs and pink-polished toes bare.
“I thought once you married her all the creepy staring would stop.”
Colin looked over at Mike and grinned. “Would you rather me stare at your ugly arse?”
Mike took a long swig of his beer. “I thought you would never ask.”
Mike could only hold Colin’s attention for a moment. Then he looked back to his wife, whom he had barely spoken with since Magnus showed up yesterday. He understood why she’d invited him here. She wanted a family and so did he. But he’d learned long ago that he couldn’t count on his father for shit. That any family of his had to be one of his creation. Even now his father’s arm was wrapped around Cherri’s waist as they studied whatever Magnus was cooking up on the grill. It would never occur to him to touch another man’s wife that way. Especially if that man was his son.
“You look like you’re about to shit a bag of nails,” Mike said, tearing his attention away from his father and his wife.
“Do you see how he’s touching her?”
“Yes, I’d swear on my life I saw him with his hand on my wife’s ass earlier. But that’s Magnus. If they’re female, they’re fair game. I know what you’re thinking, but even your father isn’t a big enough asshole to do that to you twice. And you know Cherri would never cheat on you.”
He’d never thought Arabella would cheat on him, either, but when he came home one day to find his father shagging her in the kitchen his faith in love diminished. And when he found Serena screwing her co-worker, he stopped trusting altogether. But he would like to think that he knew Cherri, more than he trusted her, knew how her mind worked. He knew that it would never cross her mind to be unfaithful. “No, I don’t think so,” he finally answered Mike after becoming briefly lost in thought.
She must have felt his gaze because she locked eyes and pulled away from Magnus, crossing the yard to sit on his lap.
“Stop scowling at me.” She looped her arms around his neck, resting her head in the crook of her shoulder. “Hi, Mike.” She smiled at his friend before returning her attention to him. “You’re very ugly when you scowl.”
“I’m not scowling.” Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her. “That’s how my face looks.”
“It doesn’t. You’re quite gorgeous normally. You know that’s the only reason I married you. I think you’re still mad at me. Are you?”
He didn’t answer. Instead he slid his hand under her dress and pinched her bottom.
“Ouch!” She squirmed in his lap. “I didn’t actually expect him to show up yesterday. He said he needed to settle some things before he left. I thought he was going to give me some warning before he arrived.”
“But that’s just the way my Pop is.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry for shocking you, but I’m not sorry for what I did. You need to make things better with your father. I refuse to have a totally dysfunctional
family. Besides, I honestly thought I would have time to butter you up before he came. And trust me, you would have really enjoyed all the buttering.” She glanced at Mike and her cheeks turned red. “Sorry, Mike, but I got half of my ideas from Ellis. Congratulations, you have a very freaky wife.”
Colin pinched her butt again.
“Damn it! Stop that.” She folded her arms beneath her breasts. How could she still not know how that affected him? “You know what? I don’t care if you’re mad at me. You can shove it.” She pressed a long soft kiss to his mouth, breaking it just as it started to melt his mind. “I lied. I do care. I don’t like it when you’re mad at me.” She sighed dramatically. “My only job in life is to make sure you’re happy and I am sucking at it. I’m surprised you haven’t divorced me yet.”
He forced himself to keep a straight face, even though the corners of his mouth had another idea. He kissed her briefly and patted her bottom. “Go on back to your friends, love, before I start getting ideas.”
She kissed both him and Mike on the cheek before she made her way back to Ellis and Belinda.
“She’s got your balls in a vise grip.”
“Aye,” he nodded. There was no denying it.
“You’re not really mad at her, are you? Hell, I would have broken the moment she turned those puppy-dog eyes on me.”
“I’m not mad, merely irritated. For fuck’s sake, I’m not even sure about that anymore.”
“That’s what happens when you fall in love.”
Colin scrubbed his face in frustration. “I’m literally going mad over her. She looks at me sideways and my whole worldview changes. What the hell happened to the man I used to be?”
“You’re getting old.”
“I must be,” he agreed.
“I take back what I said,” Mike said quietly.
“What?”
“About you and Cherri. About you taking advantage of her. About you ruining her life. I always thought that you had it out for her, but it was the other way around. You didn’t stand a chance against Cherri Rudy, did you?”
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