by Noelle Adams
“Because I’m not quite done exploring you yet.”
Heather’s eyes went wide, right before his words sank in. Then she gave him a sexy grin and said, “Lucy, we have to talk!”
***
Two weeks later, Chris walked in the door after work and smiled. Heather was in the kitchen feeding Lucy, and something was cooking on the stove. She turned when she heard the door close. “Hey!” she said with a smile.
He walked right over to her and kissed her soundly. “Sorry I’m late.”
“It’s fine. I stopped to do some grocery shopping on the way home so I just got in a few minutes ago myself.”
“Something smells good. What are you making?”
Walking over to the stove, she gave the skillet a quick shake. “It’s a Chinese stir-fry with shrimp and scallops. I’ve got some rice going too.”
“Sounds good.” He walked over to the refrigerator, grabbed a beer and looked around to see if she was drinking anything yet. When he spotted her glass of wine, he knew she was good. “You know, you still have never made me any cookies.”
She looked surprised. “Why would I?”
“I don’t know. You make them for everyone else. I’m a big fan of cookies, you know.”
She laughed, her expression fond. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I saw your dad’s car at the office today. I was going from the Martin job to the Lawson one and didn’t have time to stop in. Is he doing okay?”
For the next few minutes, she talked about her father and his health while she continued to cook. Chris set the table and then played with Lucy for a bit. This was their routine now, and even though it was far more domesticated than anything he had ever imagined for himself, he was loving every minute of it.
“I’m going to take her out while you finish cooking,” he said.
“Thanks.”
As was their habit, he and Lucy made their way downstairs and out the front door where she wandered the yard and did her business quickly. By the time they were back up in the apartment, Heather had their dinner on the table. Chris gave Lucy a treat to keep her busy while they ate.
“So I was thinking,” Heather said as they sat down, “Dad is really feeling a little left out of the loop because of his recovery. What if we had him over for dinner one night?”
That surprised Chris. Not that he didn’t want Tom to come over, but they hadn’t talked about how they would handle things in front of him. “And you’re comfortable with that? With him being here…with us?”
She looked at him oddly. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I just thought that since we…I don’t know…I guess I wasn’t sure you were comfortable with him knowing about us.”
Then she gave him a patient smile. “I’m not ashamed of us, Chris. And I’m not trying to hide it. I know we’ve been busy at the office, and you’ve got a lot of job sites to manage right now so we haven’t exactly been out on the town but—”
“I’m not ashamed or trying to hide us either,” he said quickly. “I just don’t want to shock Tom or freak him out. I mean, this was all his idea—us living together—but I’m not sure whether he’s prepared for what it…led to.”
“Us being lovers?” She wasn’t angry. If anything, she was smirking at him.
“I was going to say that he didn’t think it would lead to us being boyfriend and girlfriend,” he countered.
“Boyfriend and girlfriend? What are we, in high school?” she teased.
Okay, she had a point. That did sound a little ridiculous. “How about we just say we’re together. Lovers is going to have people thinking thoughts that I don’t want people imagining about us.”
“Naked thoughts?” she said with a laugh.
“Exactly! And the only one who is allowed to think of you naked is me.”
“Right back at ya.”
“Good. As long as we’re clear on that.” Then he turned and looked at Lucy and shook his fork at her. “And that goes for you too. If you don’t quit sneaking in the room or scratching at the door, I’m going to get you a kennel and keep you in there!”
“She said she was sorry,” Heather said, unable to hide her amusement. “And that accident she had in your shoe? Well, that was more upsetting for her than it was for you.”
“Was it upsetting for her?” he mocked playfully. “Because I was the one with poop on my foot, not her.”
“And the whole incident with Flo…”
Chris held up a hand to stop her. “Just…don’t. It’s still too hard to talk about it.”
Heather rolled her eyes. “It’s just a small tear! I told you I’d fix it.”
“It’s not the tear that hurt but the intent.” He glared over at Lucy. “She’s pissed at me and she went right for the jugular.”
“It’s just a chair.”
He gasped dramatically. “And my foot. Let’s not forget about that, shall we?”
And then they both burst out laughing. And yeah, he really was kind of annoyed that in this whole great new phase of life Lucy was seriously messing around with him, but he hoped she’d get over it. Sooner rather than later. Who knew a dog could be so spiteful?
“Maybe the two of you can watch some TV together after dinner. I’d really love to take a nice bubble bath. It’s been ages since I’ve soaked in that wonderful tub.”
Chris remembered the last time she’d done it. “And I’m supposed to settle for snuggling with killer over there while I know you’re naked and covered in bubbles only a few feet away? How is that fair?”
“How about this? I take my bubble bath, you and Lucy make nice and watch some TV, and when I’m done, you can help me dry off?”
He considered his options. “I kind of prefer making you wet,” he teased, waggling his eyebrows.
“I’m totally on board with that too.”
Thirteen
The following Wednesday, Heather was sitting at the desk in her office, trying to clear out some email but mostly wondering what Chris and her father were talking about.
Her father had finally been allowed to come back to the office for a few hours a day this week, and she’d been vigilant about his not overdoing it. It was almost time for him to leave for the day, but Chris had gone in to say hello twenty minutes ago, and he was still in there talking to her dad.
With the office door closed.
She attempted to push her curiosity away and focus on the words on the computer screen, but she wasn’t particularly successful.
What the hell were they talking about in there for so long? And why had Chris closed the door? If they were talking about the business, then she had a right to hear what was said. And if they were talking about something personal, then what on earth could it be?
She knew she was more sensitive to private conversations than she should have been because of her parents’ tense conversations in their bedroom before her mother walked out. So she breathed deeply and told herself to get a grip.
She loved and trusted her father. She cared about Chris…a lot. They weren’t in there talking about anything that was going to hurt her. She wasn’t going to let her insecurities from the past affect her happiness right now.
And she was happy. She was doing the work she’d always wanted to do. Her father was getting a lot better.
And she had Chris. Something she’d never even knew she wanted.
She pretended to work for another ten minutes, until her father’s office door finally swung open and Chris appeared, his back facing out as he said a few last words to her dad.
“Sounds good, then,” Chris said. “We’ll talk later.”
Heather fought another swell of curiosity and smiled as Chris turned in her direction. He grinned and walked into her office.
“Hello,” she said, turning her chair away from the computer. “That was a long conversation.”
“Yeah.” He was grinning at her, and he didn’t appear to notice that her comment had invited him to explain the subject of the
ir long conversation. He walked around her desk so he could lean down and kiss her lightly on the lips. “I’ve been waiting all day to do that.”
She experienced an immediate wash of pleasure at the words and gesture, but it was tempered by lingering questions and a good dose of common sense. “Yeah, right.” She quirked her lips up to show she was teasing. “I bet you haven’t thought about kissing me all day.”
“You’d definitely lose that bet.” His voice was warm and textured in that way she really liked. She couldn’t believe she was dating him. She couldn’t believe it was going so well.
She wasn’t going to act like some sort of jealous, insecure child and demand he tell her what he was talking to her father about. “So what were you and Dad talking about for so long?”
Chris’s expression changed. For a moment, he looked almost trapped, but it was gone before she could fully recognize it. He gave her a casual smile. “Nothing. Just a couple of jobs that are giving me trouble.”
“What jobs are giving you trouble?” Her eyes widened, since she was genuinely surprised to hear anything of the kind. Chris seemed to have everything totally under control. He was going to be as good at this work as her father was.
“It’s no big deal.” He shrugged, clearly trying to brush off the topic. “So what did you have in mind for dinner tonight?”
“Chris,” she said frowning, “is something going on? If it involves the business, then I need to know what it is.”
“It’s nothing. It’s not really about the business. We’re not trying to wrest control away from you, you know.”
“I know that. I’d never think anything like that. I was just wondering what you were talking about, and you won’t tell me.”
He was starting to look a little impatient. “It’s nothing, Heather. Don’t nag.”
She sucked in a breath. He couldn’t have said anything else that would have made her shut up more quickly if he’d been trying. She didn’t ask again, but she was left feeling confused and anxious.
Chris and her father shouldn’t have any secrets from her, but if they didn’t, then why wouldn’t Chris tell her what was going on?
She didn’t like secrets. She didn’t like private conversations. She knew all too well the heartbreak they could lead to.
***
She was still stewing about it that evening, even as she kept giving herself mental lectures about not blowing something little out of proportion.
Both of them stayed at work later than normal, so they just made soup for dinner, and they ate as they watched television after they got home. On the surface, everything seemed perfectly fine between them, but Heather couldn’t help but wonder why he wouldn’t just tell her what he’d been talking about to her father.
She’d gone over every possibility in her mind, and nothing she could possibly think of would demand to be kept secret—not from her, anyway.
Chris came into her room at bedtime, but she was too unsettled to have sex. He pulled her into his arms and held her in the dark, and she felt a little better.
He was a good guy. He was into this relationship as much as she was. Whatever was going on couldn’t be bad.
“What’s the matter, baby?” he murmured, evidently feeling some kind of tension in her body.
“Nothing. Not really. I mean, it’s nothing big.”
“But it’s something. What is it? You’ve been quiet all evening.”
She cleared her throat, determined to be mature and honest about her feelings, since this relationship felt like it might be for real. “It’s just… You know, before my mom left us, when I was a girl, she and my dad had all kinds of secrets and private conversations. They…they still make me kind of nervous.”
“I can understand that. It’s hard to shake feelings like that.”
Since he sounded sincere—and very sweet—she found the courage to ask, “Anyway, I just mention it because secrets still make me…unreasonably anxious. And I’m still wondering what you and Dad were talking about this afternoon in his office. And I’m wondering why you wouldn’t tell me.”
“Oh.” He paused, and it felt to Heather like he was searching for the right thing to say. “It was nothing, Heather. Nothing for you to be anxious about. Just work stuff.”
“If it was work stuff, then why can’t you tell me what it is?”
“I can’t even really remember. I get that you still have some issues from your mom, but you’re not actually going to make a big deal about something so silly, are you?”
His question effectively silenced her. She didn’t want to have issues. She didn’t want to be silly. She wanted to do the right thing, and maybe that meant swallowing over her mental discomfort and the lingering sick feeling in her gut. “Okay,” she managed to say. “Sorry to make a big deal about nothing.”
“It really is nothing,” Chris murmured, brushing a few kisses into her hair. “You know I’d never do anything to hurt you. And your dad would die before he let something like that happen to you.”
“I know.”
“So there’s nothing to worry about, right?”
He was trying to make her feel better. It was nice.
But she would rather have had the truth.
“Right,” she said, feeling trapped between her urgent questions and a resistance to behaving unreasonably.
Sometimes it was really hard to be a reasonable adult.
“If you need some way to channel any of that anxiety, I can think of something we might do,” he drawled.
She smiled, rolling over to face him. “Can you?”
“Oh, yeah.”
She hadn’t really been in the mood, but he looked so adorably rumpled and sexy—and he was trying so hard to make her happy—that she changed her mind.
So they ended up having sex after all.
***
The following day, Chris had to work late at a job site, so Heather went to visit her father after work.
She liked to stop by at least a couple of days a week, so she could pick up a little and make sure he had groceries in the refrigerator. He was sitting in his recliner, as usual, watching the evening news rather drowsily, but he perked up immediately when he saw she’d stopped at the Italian restaurant in town and brought in takeout.
“Thanks,” he said, sticking a finger into his pasta to see how hot it was, and then immediately digging in. “I’m starving.”
She chuckled and opened a bottle of beer before handing it to him. “You’ve got a fridge full of food.”
“Yeah, but all of it is healthy. I wanted something good.”
She opened her takeout container and sat on the couch near him to eat. “So you’ve been feeling all right today?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled, his mouth full.
“You did some exercise?”
He rolled his eyes. After he swallowed, he said, “I walked around the neighborhood. I’m doing fine, Heather.”
Her chest tightened slightly, remembering how scared she’d been when he was taken to the hospital. She might want him to live forever, but that wasn’t going to happen. One day, she would lose him.
One day, she’d be all that was left of her family.
“Don’t get all morbid on me,” he grumbled.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“I could see morbidity on your face.”
She chuckled. “I’m not being morbid. I promise.”
“Good.” He paused while he took another bite. “How’s Chris?”
“He’s fine.” She felt slightly uncomfortable because of her worries from yesterday, and she didn’t meet her father’s eyes.
This was evidently all the clues he needed to pick up that something was wrong. “He’s treating you right, isn’t he?”
“Yeah. Yes, of course he is.” She smiled, trying to clear her face. She’d never been any good at hiding her feelings—especially from her father. “He’s a good guy.”
“I think this time he’s going to stick around, you know.”
She nodded. “I hope so.”
“You’re still not sure? I thought you two were all lovey-dovey now.”
She giggled at his choice of words. “We’re…we’re doing good. But we haven’t been together very long. You don’t make commitments that soon.”
“I don’t know why not,” her father said, his forehead wrinkling. “In my day, we didn’t dilly-dally around, like you kids seem to do.”
“Yeah, but it’s different now. And I’m not going to jump into something without knowing for sure it’s going to work out.”
He frowned again, differently this time. “You never know for sure if it’s going to work out.”
There was a bittersweet edge to his tone, and she knew immediately he was thinking about her mother. When he’d fallen in love with her, when they’d gotten engaged and then married, he must have genuinely believed it would last forever.
He couldn’t have known she would walk out on him ten years later and never look back.
The thought made Heather’s throat hurt, and her eyes blurred over slightly. She still didn’t understand how her mom could have done that to her father, to her, but it happened in this world—every day.
The day might come when Chris would walk out on her.
She was suddenly terrified, realizing how much she’d already invested emotionally in this relationship. They may have just been together for a few weeks, but she would be utterly crushed if he left her.
“Now you’re stewing again,” her father said, looking like his normal self again as he focused on another forkful. “If you’re not willing to take a risk, you’ll never get to experience love.”
“I know.” She swallowed hard. “I know that. It just seems smart to be careful until it really seems like the right…the right person. A person who’s really going to be open and honest with you, who will share their whole life with you.”
“No argument here.”
She sighed and leaned back against the couch. Then she asked before she could stop herself. “What were you and Chris talking about in the office yesterday?”
She didn’t want to be a person who would obsess over something so trivial, but evidently she was.
Her dad blinked. “What? Oh, nothing. Just some work stuff.”