He started to move, slowly at first. My body grew wetter and wetter with each stroke. His pace increased until Nick pounded in and out of me ferociously.
I’d never felt something so animalistic in my life as the energy rolled off of him in waves as he pounded into me. And the hottest part about it was, as wild and visceral as that was, he never stopped tenderly stroking my hair and planting gentle kisses on my forehead.
I came then, for the third time, just as Nick did the same.
As our breathing slowed and our heart rates returned to something resembling normal, Nick rolled to the side and pulled me on top of him. I snuggled into his chest and his arms were wrapped around me, holding me to him. He pulled the throw that was lying on the top of the couch down until it covered our naked bodies. It was the coziest and most content I’d ever felt. I was floating on a cloud; it was a dream come true.
I felt like nothing could ever shatter my happiness.
“Evelyn?” Nick’s voice was a soft whisper.
“Yes?” I looked up into his face expectantly, thinking he was going to ask me if it was good for me, or make some other tender remark. After the gentle way he’d just made love to me, it was all I could imagine him saying.
“I think we need to keep this to ourselves for now. We don’t want to confuse Olive. Or my sister-in-law and her husband.”
My throat congested painfully with unshed tears. Of course, he was right. It was a hard dose of reality—and apparently one I’d needed. But it sure did bring me crashing back down to earth in a hurry.
I nodded. It was all I could do.
Chapter 23
Nick
“WE’RE HERE! ANYBODY home?” My sister-in-law Lisa’s voice rang out through the cabin, reaching me where I stood with Evelyn in the kitchen, and I froze.
Evelyn gave me a calming smile and touched my arm lightly. “It’s okay,” she whispered.
Damn, the tension I felt must be radiating from me. Getting that shit quickly under wraps, I straightened and plastered a smile on my face. I didn’t want Lisa or Brian picking up on anything, and I certainly didn’t want my little human-tension-detector, the one with the adorable red curls, picking up on a weird vibe and blurting it out, either.
I walked out to the living room, Evelyn trailing after me. I spotted Olive standing behind Lisa’s legs. Her face lit up, and my heart melted. I knelt down and spread my arms open. “Hey, Bug! I missed you.”
“Evelyn!” she shrieked, running right past my outstretched arms as if she didn’t even see them. She leapt into Evelyn’s embrace and wrapped herself around her torso, hanging on like a spider monkey.
Evelyn hugged her back. “Hi, sweet girl! How was your drive? Fun?”
“It was for forever. I watched my shows. It was fun. I missed you!”
“Hey!” I interjected. “What about me? You didn’t miss me?”
“Yeah. You too,” she clarified, her face still buried in Evelyn’s neck.
Evelyn stood, freeing herself from Olive’s limbs. As soon as she was upright, Olive latched onto her leg, and Evelyn ruffled her strawberry curls, looking down at her affectionately.
God, of all the things I found irresistible about this girl, how much she loved my kid, and vice versa, was right at the top of that list. When I watched the two of them together, it was like a scene in a movie, and they were lit in soft, hazy focus. It was perfect.
I heard a distinctly impatient throat-clearing and turned to see Lisa looking at me, one eyebrow raised. Shit! I’d forgotten they were even in the room, and it was apparent from the tight set of her features that fact wasn’t lost on her.
I quickly cleared my throat for introductions. “Oh, Evelyn, this is my sister-in-law, Lisa. Her husband, Brian. Guys, this is—”
“Evelyn. Yes. We heard. In fact, we’ve been hearing about little else for the past twenty-four hours.”
Oh, shit. So, Evelyn had been onto something when she said I should’ve given Lisa a heads up that she was coming. I still didn’t really understand why, but you couldn’t argue with the evidence—Lisa was clearly pissed.
Evelyn, on the other hand, was as poised and classy as usual. She smiled widely and extended her hand to Lisa. Her voice was bright and friendly when she said, “Hey! It’s so great to meet you.”
Lisa looked down at her outstretched hand for far longer than was comfortable, then looked up into Evelyn’s face. Wearing a huge plastic smile, she reached into her pocket, pulled out her car keys, and pressed them into Evelyn’s hand.
Evelyn’s fingers closed over them reflexively, and she drew her hand back, opening it when it was close to her body and looking at the fob and keys with her head tilted, brows drawn together. I figured my face must’ve looked largely the same.
What the fuck?
“The bags are in the trunk, dear. We’re in the downstairs master suite. Please be careful not to scuff them.”
Oh, hell, no. Evelyn looked at me with hollow eyes, her cheeks draining of color.
My vision clouded with red. I was so mad I could barely speak. But I did have enough presence of mind to know I didn’t want my daughter to see me rip her aunt a fucking new one. That would be traumatizing.
As calmly as I could manage, I took the car keys out of Evelyn’s hand and kept my voice calm and measured despite the storm of rage roiling in my gut. “Hey, Evelyn—do you think you could show Olive where her room is? Maybe you guys could play with some of those toys we brought?”
That was enough to bring Olive’s face out from where it was buried against Evelyn’s side. “Toys?”
Evelyn looked down at her, a forced smile on her lips. “Yep. And some games, too. They’re upstairs in your room. Wanna go see?”
Olive nodded vigorously and grabbed Evelyn’s hand, dragging her off happily toward the stairs.
When I heard the door shut in the upstairs hallway and was certain they were out of earshot, I spun on Lisa, keeping my voice low despite its growling intensity. “She’s Olive’s babysitter, not a servant.”
Lisa had a condescending half-smile on her face. “Isn’t that exactly what she is, though? The help?”
My entire body shook with outrage. I wanted to punch a hole in the wall.
“Lisa, that’s enough.”
It wasn’t me, but rather Brian, that made the low, frustrated statement. I was glad. I wouldn’t have been half that civilized if I’d tried to tell her to shut her fucking mouth. I couldn’t let it pass entirely, though, no matter how angry I was.
“I’ll tell you what she is, Lisa. She’s one of the most important people in Olive’s life… and in mine. She’s family. And if you ever, ever, pull that shit again…then you won’t be either one of those. And I’m dead fucking serious about that.”
I threw the keys down at her feet and spat out, “Get your own bags. I’m not your servant, either.”
Without looking back, I headed up the stairs to go play Barbies with my two favorite ladies.
Chapter 24
Nick
ABOUT AN HOUR later, the smell of food floated into Olive’s room—AKA, Barbie’s twenty-acre ranch. About twenty minutes after that, there was a light knock on the door.
Olive popped her head up. “Come in, please!” she called out in a high, clear voice.
The door opened and Brian stood there, a smile on his face I recognized. It was the one that everyone wore when Olive said something adorable.
“Thank you, young lady, don’t mind if I do.” He turned to look at Evelyn and me. “Dinner’s ready. Is now a good time?”
“I’m starving!” Olive yelled, and then jumped up, ran past Brian and into the hallway.
Evelyn laughed. I thought I detected a nervous undertone. “I guess that answers that,” she said as we stood from our spots on the floor. As we walked out of the bedroom, Brian caught my arm. “Nick…can I have a word?”
Evelyn looked at me, unsure. It broke my heart. I was on the verge of saying no when he interjected, “It’ll be
fast. I promise.”
Evelyn put on a brave face and said, “No worries, Nick. I’ll be fine.” Then she headed gamely down the stairs.
I turned to look at Brian. I still had some residual anger, but shit, I’d known this guy—had a good relationship with him—for over a decade. I tried to put my feelings aside and listen to whatever he had to say.
He sighed deeply. “Look, what Lisa said down there was out of line—”
“You’re damn right it was—”
“Yes,” he interjected, not letting me take over the conversation. “And you’re pissed, and I don’t blame you. I’m just asking you to understand how hard this is for her.”
The fuck?
“How hard what is for her?”
He looked at me like I was an idiot. Maybe he was right.
“How hard it is to see Olive love another woman like she would a mother. It makes her miss her sister so much.
“Every time Lisa sees Olive, there’s this undercurrent of pain—don’t get me wrong, we love spending time with Olive, but, especially now that she’s getting older, doing and saying so many more cute things…it just drives the point home to Lisa all the time: Jen will never see her do this. Jen will never hear her say that.
“She’ll never call Jen ‘Mommy.’ She’ll never love Jen. She’ll never even know her, really. She won’t remember her.”
It hit me like a punch in the gut. Motherfucker, did I recognize those thoughts and feelings. They all came rushing back to me right then like a tidal wave of emotion.
But what had made them go away in the first place was…Evelyn.
“Yeah,” I said. “I get that.”
“So, when she hears Olive talking non-stop about this girl…Evelyn this, Evelyn that…and then she sees her fly into her arms and hug her like that…It just took her out. She feels terrible about it. I’m sure she’ll apologize. It’s just… still raw. But I wanted you to understand.”
I nodded. “I do.”
“Good. We’d better not keep them waiting, then.”
As we headed downstairs, I gave him a friendly punch in the shoulder. “Shit, Brian. I think that might be more than you’ve ever said to me at once in all the time I’ve known you.”
Chapter 25
Evelyn
“OKAY, BUG. TIME for bed,” Nick said as he ruffled Olive’s hair. My heart skipped a beat at the look of pure love that shone from his face as he looked down at her. God, it was tough to catch my breath when I watched the two of them together.
Her tiny nose wrinkled adorably. “No, Daddy. It’s early. Look at the clock again.”
He made a big show of looking at his watch again, shaking his wrist, and then holding it up to his ear. He nodded solemnly. “Yep. Still ticking. The time is correct. And that time is bedtime.”
She scrunched her lips and shrugged in defeat. Then, the little bargainer that she was, she looked up hopefully. “But Evelyn can put me to bed?”
Nick looked at me. I had to tear my gaze away. The energy passing between us was palpable and electric. It caused the hairs on the back of my arm to stand on end. If we had maintained eye contact much longer, there would’ve been no chance of either Lisa or Brian failing to pick up on it. I bent over and scooped Olive into my arms, moving the situation briskly along.
“Come on, sweet girl. Let’s wash your teeth and brush your face.”
She giggled. “That’s not how it goes!”
I crossed my eyes and stuck my tongue to the side in a silly expression that caused her giggles to erupt into fits of laughter. I sighed in a cartoonish exaggeration. “Well, I guess you’re just gonna have to show me how.”
“You’re silly!”
Now that the potential threat of a bedtime tantrum had passed, I set her back down on the ground. “Okay, dollface. Go hug Daddy and your aunt and uncle goodnight. Then we’ll go put on your hair and comb your pajamas.”
Giggling some more, she ran to each adult in turn and said her goodnights. As Nick hugged her, his back to Lisa and Brian, he mouthed, “Thank you,” over Olive’s shoulder.
She scurried back to me and tucked her small, warm hand into mine. We walked up the stairs and into her room where we did a modified vacation version of her regular bedtime routine.
Because she was so hyped up about being on a trip, being with her aunt and uncle, and everything else that was out of the ordinary, it took four stories before she was even approaching sleepiness.
When I saw her eyelids drooping, and her yawns come every few seconds, I knew I had to strike while the iron was hot. I tucked the quilt she was under extra tight around her and started singing softly, stroking her hair as I serenaded her to sleep.
Out of all the times I spent with Olive, these were some of the dearest to my heart—stroking her hair, singing her to sleep. It was the only time she stayed still long enough to get any kind of extended cuddling in, and I took full advantage.
I loved the way her curls were so soft and springy under my fingers, the way her breathing evened out as the song helped her drift further and further down into slumber.
This was the essence of caring for someone. Seeing to their most basic need for sleep. This was how you truly expressed love. And I loved this little girl, there was no question about that. With all my heart.
Chapter 26
Nick
THE SOFT SOUNDS of Evelyn’s voice as she sang Olive to sleep blended with Olive’s steady, even breathing. My heart felt like it would squeeze itself flat inside my chest. There were so many things to love about Evelyn, but her sweetness was what I treasured most. The way she was so patient with Olive and the look in her eye when she talked about her or interacted with her… It was a combination of fierce protectiveness, amusement at Olive’s endless cleverness, lovability, and heart-grabbing affection.
I knew it well. I recognized it because it was the one I wore when I looked at Olive, too.
Shit, I really had to stop lurking outside doorways when Evelyn thought she was unobserved. For one thing, it was kind of a creeper move. I recognized that. For another, it was making my feelings grow by the moment, and I was afraid that soon they’d be bigger and stronger than I could handle.
I heard the covers rustle and bedspring creak, and I knew Evelyn must be getting up from her perch next to Olive on the edge of the bed. I took two fast steps across the hall and ducked into my bedroom. I listened from the other side of my door as her footsteps echoed down the hallway. It was like the thump of each footfall on the rustic wood floor echoed straight to my cock.
What I’d just listened to had fired up my need for her to a tipping point. It was so close to being out of control. Everything about her made me want her more. Her nurturing, her gentleness, her sweetness. Her touch, her smile, her humor. Her passion, her grace, and her beauty.
The ache for her that had lived in my chest as a constant low-level hum since pretty much the day I’d met her was rising fast in both volume and power.
I heard the door to her room open and then click shut. I told myself to just go to bed. Don’t even entertain thoughts of sneaking into her room. It was too risky with Olive asleep in the next room, and Lisa and Brian just downstairs. Just climb in bed and try to descend into sweet fucking oblivion, however pointless that attempt might be.
I had almost convinced myself to follow that very logical advice when I heard the shower go on.
Oh. Shit.
God, there was no way I was going to be able to resist now. I didn’t even make a decision; my body made it for me. I slid my door open as quietly as I could and shut it soundlessly behind me, stealth-walked down the hall to Evelyn’s room, and crept in the same way I’d left mine.
I quietly undressed and slid open the shower door and stepped inside, sliding it shut behind me. Evelyn was so adorable, singing softly to herself as she moved her face and hair under the spray, soaking them with the steaming water. She was sexy as fuck.
Water ran down her body in rivulets, highlighting her lu
scious curves. It covered her naked skin in a glimmering sheen that just begged to be touched. The movement of the water flow, combined with the movement of her muscles as she swayed slightly and turned herself back and forth, was just about the most erotic fucking thing I’d ever seen.
Now I had a dilemma. How to let her know I was there without scaring her? I definitely didn’t want her to scream. That would ruin the whole “clandestine op” thing. I should’ve thought this through before ever coming into the room, let alone the shower, but I hadn’t exactly been operating on rationality. More like instinct. No, that wasn’t quite it. More like undeniable compulsion.
I settled on just saying her name softly. “Evelyn.”
She whirled her head around, eyes wide, but she didn’t cry out or jump and lose her footing—a possibility I hadn’t even considered until I saw the speed with which she spun toward me. But, thank goodness, she stayed on her feet.
A wicked grin settled on her wet lips, and a mischievous gleam in her eye gave me high hopes about things to come. There were worlds of sexy ideas spinning in her mind, that much was obvious. My dick got hard, trying to imagine all of the things she might be thinking.
“Do you want me to stay?” I asked. It wasn’t a serious question, really. I could tell by her expression that she did. It was really more of an excuse to employ my cocky grin than anything else.
She took a step forward. “I do. Ever since what we did last night, I’ve been wanting to do this.”
With those words, she reached her hand out and grasped my cock. She moved her closed fingers up and down my shaft, slowly at first, but rapidly building speed. Fuuuuuuck. It felt amazing. Better than I could’ve dreamed.
I closed my eyes and reveled in all of the sensations pummeling me: her hand jerking me off, the spray stinging my skin where it hit, and the hot, moist steam curling around our bodies.
Then, I felt a difference on my cock—her strokes were longer, somehow both softer and harder at the same time. I opened my eyes and looked down. She’d dropped to her knees and engulfed my dick in her mouth. She moved her head up and down on my steel shaft, never breaking the suction.
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