by Natalie Ann
“No. I get enough at work. If I have time to do anything with another man, it’s with my brother, Adam. We are pretty close still, but he’s busy with his life and as I said. It’s not like I’ve got an abundance of time.”
“Is that a warning for me?” she asked.
“No,” he said firmly. “I’ll make the time for you because I want to. I guess therein lies the difference. I haven’t wanted to make the time before.”
And she really couldn’t get a better answer than that.
19
What He Lost
The next morning Seth rolled over and saw Ava still sound asleep on her side in his T-shirt. He looked at the clock and noticed it was only seven. For the first night with someone else in his bed with him, he slept like a baby.
He’d never been one to snuggle into sleep and it seemed Ava wasn’t either.
Sure, they’d made use of their alone time and got a few more rounds in before both falling into an exhausted slumber.
He moved his hand across the sheets and then under his shirt that was bunched up around her hips. He spread his fingers out and tapped her light enough with his pads. Enough to tease, maybe a whisper of one, to see if she’d wake up.
She made a grunting sound, not a pleasant one either, and he stilled and smiled. When she flopped over on her back, he let his fingers go to work more on her flat belly.
She had one hell of a body on her. Thin and toned, but not a lot of muscle, enough to know that she did some kind of activity but didn’t live and breathe by it or skate by on her good genetics.
He suspected that would cause some jealousy with people too if she did. Women could be harsh, he knew. He’d seen it with Ellen’s half-sisters. One from her mother and one from her father. Both were spoiled and almost nasty to Ellen at times in life.
No, he didn’t say those things to Ava because they weren’t relevant. Ellen was five when her parents divorced. She was seven years older than one half-sister, eight years older than the other. She had a half-brother she was ten years older than. No one was close with her and he was almost thankful for that making it easier for her to walk away.
He hoped she had no regrets. Then he wondered how many times he’d lain awake in bed wondering what Ellen’s last thoughts were.
He had to remind himself that she lost consciousness in the ambulance and never regained it. She’d been bleeding internally in her uterus with the placenta blocking her cervix and no one knew how long it’d been going on that day.
Ava had wondered if he had demons. He knew that. He wouldn’t lie either when she’d asked him once.
There were days he thought too much of what he lost and wondered why it happened to him. Then there were times he told himself he had to move on and push forward for his daughter. As long as Adele was happy, that was all that mattered.
But he was learning that wasn’t all that mattered. That he deserved to be happy too.
And right now, he was. The woman in his bed next to him was everything he could have asked for and he was stunned how it came about.
He opened his hand up, spread it out on her stomach, covering most of it. She sure was small and he liked that in a woman. Did it make him feel protective? Yeah, it did. And for someone who wondered if he didn’t do enough to save Ellen, he needed every little bit he could get now.
His palm and fingers gently rubbed and then squeezed Ava’s stomach and her eyes fluttered open. “Morning,” he said. “I was wondering if you were going to start snoring soon.”
“Only when I’m up for over twenty-four hours straight.”
“I was joking,” he said.
“I wasn’t. It happens during a residency. When you get a chance to nap, you do, but sometimes your body has other ideas.”
He couldn’t imagine that. “Hopefully you don’t find yourself up that long anymore,” he said.
“I hope not either, but stranger things have happened.” She stretched her arms over her head and he’d bet her toes were pointed under the covers.
“So, what is the plan today?”
“First thing on the list is a shower and then some food. I’m famished. That might have been the most exercise I’ve had in a night in years.”
“Me too,” he said.
“Cardio or something else?” she asked, her hand sliding under the sheets and grabbing a hold of his growing cock. He’d slept naked and it felt glorious after a few years of having shorts or pajama pants on in case Adele came into his room.
“Maybe both,” he said. “I wish we could have more of these.”
“I’m not sure my body could even handle it,” she said, letting out a little sigh, “but yours looks up to it.” She moved so fast, he didn’t have time to process anything before her mouth covered him under the sheets.
Thoughts of telling her she didn’t need to do that flew out of his brain when she all but swallowed him whole.
How was it possible to have this strong of a need again after what they’d shared last night?
“Lie back and relax,” she told him and he did what she said because he wasn’t sure he could argue with her.
She gripped the covers and pulled them over her head like a sealed tent and he wasn’t sure why she did that but then when she started to change her pressure and movements and caught him off guard he realized she knew exactly what she was doing.
Five minutes later, he was grunting out and then moaning as she didn’t let up or stop. She was sucking and licking up every drop of him, and he was sure he had never experienced that before.
When the covers lifted up over her head, he opened one eye to see her grinning at him. “Why do you look so worn out? I did all the work.”
He laughed and looked down. Guess he was wrong because there was a bit of mess, but not as much as there should be.
“I’m not sure what you did, but it sure the hell felt fabulous.”
“I’m a professional when it comes to body parts.”
“That’s women’s bodies,” he said.
“Believe what you want. Maybe I’ve studied up on men too.”
He wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, but felt the least he could do was return the favor and flipped her on her back. “If you’re such a pro, then tell me exactly what you want and where you want it.”
He spread her legs wide, his mouth going right to her core. Oh yeah, she was dripping wet and must have been turned on by what she’d done to him.
“The key is multiple actions and sensations at once,” she said.
He believed it because he couldn’t even focus on what she’d been doing to him nor could he have seen it. “Keep instructing me if I do it wrong,” he said, his tongue darting at her swollen bud, two fingers sliding inside of her and curving at the tip. She let out a little gasp and he said, “I’ve got some tricks of my own.”
“Yes, you do,” she said. “Keep doing that.”
He didn’t move his fingers other than using his fingertips inside to curve and straighten out. Her legs were twitching and he knew she was getting as worked up as he had been.
He closed his lips over her bud and started to suck at the same time.
She was lifting her hips trying to get him deeper so he moved his hand to help out.
The faster he flicked at his fingers, the more pressure he applied with his lips.
She started to moan, then she began to screech as he felt every vibration she seemed to have in her body.
When her hips went limp on the mattress he moved up and whispered in her ear, “Now who did all the work.”
She didn’t reply, but she smiled.
Ava was cleaning up breakfast while Seth threw his sheets in the washing machine. They’d dirtied them up pretty well last night and this morning and she was proud of it.
Adele would be here in about thirty minutes. Seth’s mother had texted and said Adele was begging to come home and if she could bring her earlier, but wanted to check.
Ava didn’t have a problem with it and she suspected that Mary
Young wanted to meet the woman making time with her son rather than Seth going to get Adele at noon as was the original plan.
“Thanks,” Seth said when he walked back into the kitchen. “You didn’t need to clean up.”
“You cooked so it was the least I could do.”
“My mother will be here any minute. When she says ten that means nine fifty. Easily.”
“It’s fine. I’m always early too. I believe she probably wants to meet me.”
“She does. And just so you know, she’d never met the other women I’ve dated since Ellen’s passing.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Really. She knew I was seeing people. She knew the last one because her mother and my mother were friends, but she’d never seen us together if that makes sense. I’d never keep that from her, but Adele didn’t know and, well, as I said last night, it didn’t work out with them.”
“We don’t know how things will work out with us either,” she said.
“We don’t, but this is different. At least it is for me.”
She turned and wrapped her arms around Seth’s waist and gave him a hug. “It is for me too. Maybe starting so slow was a good thing though neither of us planned it that way.”
“There are a lot of things in my life that weren’t planned for. You could say the same.”
She wasn’t sure if that was a bad memory for him or not but didn’t have time to ask before there was a knock at the door and it opened. She supposed it was nice Mary knocked and assumed she didn’t normally.
“Daddy,” Adele said, running in the door and toward him first for a hug, then she turned and came over to her and hugged her legs too. “I’m so glad you came back to see me.”
She returned the embrace, her hands on the little girls’ shoulders and looked over at Seth to see him flush, then Mary wink at her.
“Adele, why don’t you go put your clothes in your hamper and your toys away while Grandma meets Daddy’s new friend,” Mary said.
“You’ll like Ava,” Adele said. “She’s great.”
Adele took off fast and Ava was at least thrilled to have that vote of confidence sent her way. She moved forward and put her hand out. “It’s so nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about you.”
“You have?” Mary asked.
Seth had said that his mother had short hair and she did. The back was resting at the nape of her neck, the top longer and straight, parted to the side. This was a stylish woman in her retirement wearing leather sandals that Ava wouldn’t mind owning and a pair of tan shorts with a plain red T-shirt.
“I’ve told Ava what a great strong mother you were raising two boys,” Seth said.
“You’re going to make my head swell. But I can say I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about you from my granddaughter,” Mary said. “And by the tired look in my son’s eyes and the smile on his face, I’d say he probably has plenty of nice things to say about you too. Just maybe not to his mother.”
This time she was pretty sure she was matching the flush that Seth had.
20
Excited And Giddy
After dinner, Ava said her goodbyes to Adele and Seth. She was glad he’d brought her bag to her car before Adele arrived so there wouldn’t be any questions from the little girl who seemed to see more than she should.
That also meant no kiss goodbye either, but considering how much she and Seth had their hands and mouths all over each other the past twenty-four hours, she wasn’t feeling deprived.
But she was feeling excited and giddy and she needed to talk to someone. Since she’d been honest about not having a lot of friends, at least on the island or ones she could call last minute like this, she decided to see if her parents were home.
When she pulled in, she hadn’t expected to see Hudson’s car there and wondered if both her brothers were at the house or not. One of them was bad enough, but both might require more energy than she had.
She wouldn’t turn around and leave though because that would be cowardly.
She shut her car off and got out, then went in the front door. Yep, both her brothers were there. “Don’t you guys ever work?”
“I’m off today,” Hudson said.
“I’m on call,” Carson said. “Mom was cooking dinner and asked us over.”
“How come I wasn’t invited?” she asked, crossing her arms.
“Because you said you had plans yesterday and I wasn’t sure if that bled over to today. But there is plenty, so join us.”
“No, thanks,” she said. “I ate at Seth’s.”
“So I was right,” her mother said. “And you came here to talk so come in and tell us everything.”
There was no way she was saying everything with her father and brothers looking at her. She walked into the kitchen and got a diet soda and then came back. “There isn’t much to say. You know we are dating.”
“So it’s going well?” Hudson asked.
“Considering we spent a month apart and most of it spent talking on the phone, yes.”
“But you’ve been on the island for over two weeks now,” Carson said.
“Working,” she said. “I’ve been busy and then on call. I’m still on call, but we went out anyway last night and Adele spent the night at her grandmother’s.”
She shouldn’t have said that when her father lifted his eyebrow at her. Yeah, they all knew what that meant but she was a grown woman.
“And you just left there now? So Adele has been gone the whole time?” her mother asked.
“No. Adele was aware Seth and I were together last night. She didn’t know I spent the night but asked if I would come back today to see her.”
She figured why hide the fact where she was. Her brothers scowled at her and she just stuck her tongue out at them.
“Real classy, Ava,” Hudson said.
“Just because you’re the oldest by six minutes doesn’t mean anything. You aren’t the boss of me.”
“Now children,” her father said. “Your mother and I heard enough of that when you were growing up.”
“I heard it a lot more than you, Michael,” her mother said. It wasn’t said negatively at all. More like lovingly.
“That’s because you’ve got more patience than I do. I use mine all up at work,” her father said.
“Regardless,” Ava said. “I can do what I want when I want.”
“So you like this guy?” Hudson asked.
“I think it’s pretty obvious. You guys have all said you like him. So, what is the big deal?”
“No big deal,” her mother said. “But he has other obligations. Are you okay with that?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? Adele is a sweetheart. I know what happened to his wife, Ellen. I told you that. I also know his daughter comes first and I understand that and would expect no differently.”
“It’s just in the past you’ve gotten...shall we say crapped on...for putting other things first in your life than those you were in a relationship with. Now it might happen to you and I’m curious what you think of it,” Carson said.
“Not much to think about. That was different than this. That was my career. It’s not like I’m putting that first or he is either. This is a child we are talking about. One that lost a parent and needs the other one. She has Seth’s mother who lives on the island.”
“Who is that?” her mother asked.
“Mary Young. She moved here permanently years ago when she retired. It was a second home she’d had with her husband and she got it in the divorce.”
“So a nasty split?” her father said.
“I didn’t ask those details and they don’t concern me. Seth’s father lives in California where he’s remarried and has been since he left them when Seth was in high school. He doesn’t have a close relationship with the man and that is his father’s loss.”
“She’s defending him,” Carson said, looking at Hudson.
“So I can hear. Well, I guess if you are happy tha
t is all that matters,” Hudson said.
“Exactly,” she said and prayed that they would drop it now. So much for the girl talk she was hoping for.
The minute Ava pulled away, Seth told Adele, “Bath time. You’ve been wound all afternoon and need to settle in.”
“But I had so much fun with Ava.”
“I know you did. And you thanked her a few times for spending the day and playing with you. It was very nice of you to do that.”
“I know she’s your friend, but she seems like mine too,” his daughter said.
For a split second he debated on if she should say Ava was more than a friend and then reminded himself that Adele was six. This would lead into a conversation he wasn’t prepared for, and didn’t know the right words.
It was best that Adele thought he and Ava were friends for now. At least until they spent some more time together.
All that phone and text talk for a month and not seeing each other could have been sexual frustration on both their parts.
They didn’t necessarily do “sex” talk, but there’d been plenty of flirting and underlying sexual tension between them. Maybe last night was combustion once they were together and it would slow down the need.
No, he didn’t see that happening. They had too much in common. Had too much fun together. And his daughter loved Ava.
The sad and somewhat scary part was that he might be falling in love with Ava too and wasn’t sure if he should try to stop it or not.
21
Not Completely Unexpected
Over a week later, Seth was in his office working when his phone rang. He looked briefly and saw it was his secretary calling. “Yes.”
“Dr. Hudson Mills is in the lobby asking to see you.”
Hmm, interesting and not completely unexpected.
Last weekend, even though Ava was still on call, they did indeed have their celebration day with Adele for her last week of school. Once Adele heard the plan, there was no getting her to wait. She logically said it had to be last weekend because school had ended that week.