Love to Believe: Fireflies ~ Book 2

by Lisa Ricard Claro

  Sean took another sip of coffee then set the container on his desk. “My brother was killed by a drunk driver, so I’m sensitive to people getting behind the wheel after drinking. Nate was wasted that night, and I had no problem sending him home in a cab. In fact, I was happy to do it. And then I had the pleasure of sharing coffee, dessert, and conversation with a beautiful woman. That doesn’t qualify as a hardship. Neither does driving you home and kissing you senseless.” Rebecca’s face heated and Sean’s lips curved in a slow smile, no doubt pleased to have earned a point. He waited a beat. “My house is less than two minutes away from yours by car, so driving you home wasn’t out of my way. You don’t owe me anything.”

  “All the same, I wish you’d accept it. You may feel that you aren’t owed anything, but it will make me feel better to pay you back.” She regarded him, unflinching, and he returned her gaze for taut moments before tucking his hands in his pockets and stepping back. She welcomed the distance and used it to stroll around the spacious office, stopping to admire a series of watercolors created by a local artist while she pondered a way to make Sean understand her reasoning.

  “So Nate finally apologized for his behavior. It took him long enough. Does that mean you two patched things up?”

  “Yes. No—not the way you mean.” She turned from her perusal of the landscapes and moved toward the door. “I’ll find a way to get the money to you, Sean. You could save me a lot of trouble by just taking it now.”

  “I don’t want your money. I did nothing with the expectation of recompense, and all you’re doing right now is insulting me.”

  Rebecca’s cheeks heated. “I’m sorry. That isn’t my intent.”

  Sean held her gaze with his, and her senses tingled in warning when he walked toward her, narrowing the distance between them to a few scant inches. Liquid warmth pulsed through her veins as the seconds lengthened, and her knees wobbled. They stared at each other until the air crackled between them.

  Sean’s voice broke the silence, low and vibrating with restrained energy. “Are you back with Nate or not?”

  “Not,” she said, and her breath caught when his eyes darkened to midnight blue.

  They flew at each other, mouths fused, bodies core to core. Sean’s weight pressed Rebecca against the door and it clicked shut under their combined weight. She slid her hands through his dark hair, having spent an inordinate amount of time imaging how that black silk would slide against her skin. She closed her hands in it and held on, forcing a deeper kiss, thrilled when Sean complied with equal urgency and then demanded more. His hands pushed aside her coat and moved beneath her cable-knit sweater, sliding hot and hard over the smooth skin of her back, bringing her closer still.

  “Sean,” she managed to gasp when his mouth released hers to cruise over her cheek and jaw to her throat. Heat shot through her in an undulating wave as he nibbled at the tender skin along the curve of her shoulder and neck while his hands roamed the smooth lines of her spine and ribs. “Does this mean the arrangement is on?”

  His hands stilled and he drew back to look at her, his eyes dark and his breathing ragged. “If you have to ask, then I’m doing this wrong,” he said, and an involuntary laugh bubbled out of her, teasing a laugh from him as well. “Will you be home later tonight?”

  “No. I’ll be at my mom’s baking pies and peeling potatoes. What are you doing tomorrow night? After the whole Thanksgiving thing, I mean.”

  “Poor baby. No one warned you.”

  “About what?”

  He kissed her again before answering. “This Thanksgiving night has been decreed by our mothers to be the first annual Kinkaid-Walker Christmas movie marathon. We’re watching It’s a Wonderful Life, Christmas Story, and if our eyes haven’t glazed over yet, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the cartoon version.”

  Rebecca closed her eyes. “Dear god.”

  “At least it isn’t The Notebook.”

  “That isn’t a Christmas show. And I love The Notebook.”

  “Of course you do,” Sean murmured against the tender skin near her ear, eliciting a shiver from her. “So what about Black Friday? I suppose you’re shopping.”

  She shivered again when his five o’clock stubble scraped the sensitive skin of her throat, clutched his hair tighter, and brought his mouth back to hers for another long kiss. “No,” she answered, breathless, when they came up for air. “No shopping. I’m committed as a volunteer for the Giving You Paws pet adoption day with Maddie and Brenna. Saturday?”

  Sean shook his head. “I’ll be down in Atlanta prepping a client for a deposition on Monday. Sunday?”

  Rebecca puffed out a frustrated laugh. “Busy after one. Crime show marathon with Maddie and Brenna.”

  “They get you on Friday and Sunday? Those two are a pain in the ass.”

  “Well, there’s always now.”

  Sean’s lips curved and his eyes darkened further.

  Rebecca blew out a breath. “Never mind. Neither of us expected—I mean, you probably don’t have—you know, aren’t prepared—”

  “I was an Eagle scout.” The deep roughness of his voice made her toes curl inside her boots.

  “Really.” Her skin tingled from the curve of his mouth against her neck.

  She made no protest when he murmured, “Yes, really,” before sliding her coat over her shoulders to pool in a forgotten heap at her feet.

  Chapter 5

  Thanksgiving Day blessed North Georgia with an azure sky that stretched on forever with not even a wispy cloud in the expanse of blue. By the time Rebecca parked her car in the Kinkaids’ driveway at noon, the temperature had climbed to a comfortable sixty degrees, and she tossed her denim jacket into the backseat of her Civic before collecting her contribution to the pot luck—chocolate chip cookie bars and sweet potato pie. She balanced the pie atop the cookie container lid, grabbed her purse, and set her course on the flagstone pathway leading toward the house. She took her time, tried to identify the abundant and varying flora that marked Edie Kinkaid as a gardener extraordinaire. The place really did look like a Thomas Kinkade painting, and Rebecca stopped several times along the way just to admire her surroundings.

  And, if in doing so, she bought herself a few extra moments to gather her wits before seeing Sean again after yesterday afternoon’s unexpected—albeit sensational—event, then so be it. She chewed the skin around her thumb for a few seconds and dug deep for a modicum of poise. “Okay. Man up.” She straightened her posture and marched up the path with more confidence than she felt. The front door swung wide before she reached the porch and her mother bustled out.

  “Hi, honey.” Sada planted a kiss on Rebecca’s cheek and relieved her of the pie. “I saw you coming up the drive. Can you believe this gorgeous day after that nasty storm a few weeks ago?”

  “Typical, unpredictable, Georgia weather. Yesterday was freezing.” Rebecca followed her mother into the house and down the hallway to the kitchen. Her stomach lurched when she stepped through the doorway, but a quick scan told her Sean was elsewhere. She glanced into the empty family room and then down the stairs toward Papa Ron’s man cave when a loud chorus of male whooping and hollering exploded. She recognized Grandpa Boone’s “Hot damn!”

  “Football,” Edie said and held her arms out to Rebecca for a hug. “We ladies have abandoned the games for kitchen gossip and mimosas. You want one?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Rebecca said. Praise God. Liquid fortification.

  “Auntie Becca!”

  Rebecca’s smile erupted. She leaned down and held out her arms to TJ, Caleb’s five-year-old son, as he bulleted through the doorway from the basement stairs with his three-legged dog, Pirate, hot on his heels. The little boy flew into Rebecca’s arms. She captured him and nom-nom-nommed on his neck, eliciting maniacal giggles while he squirmed to get away. Pirate woofed and lolled his tongue, tail wagging. The second Rebecca allowed TJ his freedom, he and the dog took off into the dining room across the hall, and when she didn’t follow he
ran back and threw himself at her, catching her legs in a hug, his head pressed against her belly.

  She tousled TJ’s hair, thick and wavy like his father’s, and loosened his hold so she could drop down to his level and give him a proper hug.

  “I’ve missed you.” Rebecca held him tight. She kissed his forehead and leaned back to smile at him. “You’ve been too busy to hang out with me.”

  “You missed my last football game,” he said, his tone accusing. “I got a touchdown.” From the other side of the kitchen Maddie cleared her throat in an exaggerated way. TJ glanced over his shoulder and threw her a mutinous look before turning back to Rebecca. “Well, it was almost a touchdown. Prob’ly if you had been there my luck woulda been better.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. Forgive me?”

  TJ grinned. “If you come out and play monster with me, I will.”

  “You drive a hard bargain, mister.”

  “Will you play? Will you play monster?”

  Rebecca ruffled TJ’s hair again and laughed. “Don’t I always, you spoiled little stink bomb?”

  “Sweet!” TJ ran for the basement stairs. He disappeared through the door and sounded like a baby rhino tromping down to the man cave. Pirate trotted behind him, tail a blur, leaving Rebecca staring after both of them.

  “Hey,” she called to him, “I said I’d play. Why are you ditching me?” She exchanged a shrug with Maddie and accepted a mimosa from Brenna. “I haven’t seen the little skunk for two weeks, and he’s abandoning me. What gives?”

  “He must have something up his sleeve,” Maddie said. “He’s smart as a whip and a master manipulator.”

  Sada chuckled and picked up the mimosa pitcher to freshen her own drink. “That grandson of mine is something else.”

  Edie gave Maddie a sidelong look from beneath her lashes. “I bet he’d love to have a little brother or sister.”

  “I’m sure he would,” Maddie said, “but I’d like to get married first, if you don’t mind.”

  “If you must.” Edie took a long sip of her mimosa. “But I want to go on record as saying I’m more than ready to be a grandmother, so after the wedding I hope you and Caleb get busy.”

  “We’ve talked about it, and we don’t want to wait too long. TJ’s almost six, so if I get pregnant by the end of next year he’ll be seven when his brother or sister is born.”

  “Omigod! You’ve actually talked about it?” Edie wriggled her hips in a happy dance and tugged Sada off the stool to dance with her. “We’re going to have a baby!”

  Maddie laughed, tightened her ponytail with a tug, and pushed her glasses up her nose. “At least I won’t have trouble finding a sitter.”

  “Are you kidding? Sada, honey, we’ll have to take turns.” Edie laughed and clapped her hands with glee.

  Rebecca exchanged an amused glance with Maddie, who rolled her eyes but couldn’t hold back her delight with the baby talk. Rebecca imagined Maddie would be one of those pregnant women who glowed for nine months and lost all her baby weight three weeks after the kid popped out.

  Brenna downed her mimosa in one long pull and refilled the glass. “What?” She looked wide-eyed at Rebecca. “Don’t judge me. This baby talk makes me nervous.”

  Rebecca held out her glass for a fill up. “You can’t get pregnant from talking about it.”

  Brenna emptied the contents of the pitcher into Rebecca’s glass. “Thank god for that.”

  “When do you think it will occur to your mom that Maddie and Caleb’s baby won’t technically be her grandchild?”

  “Never.” Brenna’s smile widened and her eyes crinkled at the corners. “Maddie became ours the second she married Jack, so we lay claim to any and all children she produces.”

  “And now she’s ours, too, because she’s marrying Caleb.” Rebecca glanced at Maddie and thought how adorable she looked with her curling ponytail and glasses sliding down her nose. “And we’ve inherited all of you, so it’s a pretty good deal.”

  “That’s what I think, too.” Brenna looped her arm with Rebecca’s. “Let’s go mix another batch of these things.”

  TJ’s tromping announced his arrival before he burst through the door and into the kitchen. He hollered down the stairs, “C’mon, Uncle Sean.”

  “I’m right here, Batman.” Sean stepped into the kitchen and lifted TJ up and onto his shoulders.

  Rebecca spun toward the counter and steeled herself. She poured orange juice into the mimosa pitcher, her back to TJ and Sean, as a mix of excitement, unexpected shyness, and a hefty blast of desire tumbled through her, with embarrassment chasing their heels. She schooled her expression and forced herself to turn around.

  Nonchalant. Be nonchalant.

  “Honey, are you okay?” Sada’s brows knit in concern. “You’re all flushed. You need to sit down? C’mere, sweetheart. Take my seat.” She stood and patted the stool.

  Rebecca ground her teeth. “No, thanks. I’m fine, Mom.” She held her arms at her sides, so she wouldn’t bite at her thumb, and directed her gaze at Sean who watched her with mischief in his eyes and, if she read him right, a strong dose of lust.

  “You know, Sada’s right. It is warm in here.” He grinned and Rebecca’s cheeks flamed hotter.

  “Uncle Sean’s playing monster.” TJ’s face flushed with excitement.

  “I thought you wanted to play monster with me?” Rebecca said. TJ’s legs dangled over Sean’s shoulders and his sneakered feet rested against Sean’s ribs. Rebecca grabbed TJ by his ankles and tugged. “How come you’re ditching me?”

  “I’m not.” TJ looked down at her from his lofty perch. “Uncle Sean is gonna play, too. He’s gonna be the monster.”

  Rebecca put her hands on her hips and frowned. “I’m always the monster.”

  “Not this time. This time you hafta be the princess.”

  “What?” Rebecca dropped her mouth open in feigned outrage. “I’m never a princess. I’m the monster.”

  “Aunt Becca, c’mon. I’m Batman and Uncle Sean’s the monster. You hafta be the princess so I can rescue you.”

  Rebecca narrowed her eyes at Sean. “Did you put him up to this?”

  Sean laughed and his eyes ate her up. “No, I swear. He asked me to play and I said okay, because, well, how do you say no to Batman?”

  “Batman doesn’t save princesses. He saves Gotham City from villains.” Rebecca tugged TJ by his ankles again. “Are you really going to make me be all girly?”

  “You hafta, ‘cause Uncle Sean can’t be the princess. That would just be silly.”

  “Agreed,” Sean said.

  “Oh, fine.” Rebecca emitted an exaggerated huff. “I’ll be the princess just this once. But I’m going to be a warrior princess so I can kick butt.”

  “Xena,” Sean purred. “Too bad we don’t have costumes.”

  “Yeah,” TJ nodded. “That’d be cool. Maybe next time.”

  Sean grinned as he moved past Rebecca toward the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard. “C’mon, Xena,” he called over his shoulder. “Batman’s ready to save Gotham.”

  ***

  An hour later Rebecca dropped into a padded chair at the kitchen table and guzzled a bottle of water she’d taken from the fridge. TJ had run her ragged. Sean hadn’t fared much better, pleading exhaustion and escaping to the man cave for a cold beer after his Olympic battle with Batman and Xena for control of Gotham City.

  “I don’t know how you handle a classroom full of kids TJ’s age.” Rebecca regarded Maddie with respect. “I wouldn’t last a day.”

  “Neither would I if I chased them all over the classroom the way you and Sean ran around after TJ.” Maddie patted Rebecca’s shoulder. “You’re a fun auntie.”

  “I try. But damn, the kid has boundless energy. He followed Sean downstairs,” she said with a grin. “No rest for the weary.”

  Maddie chuckled. “Yeah, there’s some hero worship going on there. TJ never even asked about calling Sean uncle, he just started doing it, a
nd Edie is Grandma Edie. He’s called Brenna aunt a couple times, but I think she scares him.”

  “She scares everybody,” Rebecca said.

  Brenna faced them with her hands on her hips. “I heard that. I’m right here, you know?”

  “Dinner is on.” Sada poked her head into the kitchen, having come from the dining room. “While you were outside saving the world we were slaving over the meal. Will you please hunt down your brother and father? I think they’re on the porch.” Sada picked up her glass and jiggled it. “I’m busy. I have to get a refill.”

  Rebecca finished off her water, tossed the empty bottle in the recycle bin, and left the kitchen to do her mother’s bidding. She glanced into the Kinkaids’ impressive dining room, the long mahogany table burdened with more food than the two families would ever eat, and made her way down the hallway toward the foyer. She opened the front door, peeked out to the porch, and drew a breath to speak, but caught Caleb mid-sentence and swallowed her words.

  “…for Rebecca. You don’t give her enough credit, Dad. I can’t figure out what your problem is.”

  “I’ve already told you. Traipsing around construction sites isn’t the place for a young woman.”

  “Rebecca has been traipsing around construction sites since she was old enough to walk. She knows more than most of the guys on the job—who, by the way, like and respect her. You don’t have to go by my word. Talk to the guys. They’ll tell you. She knows what she’s doing, Dad.”

  “Of course, that’s what they’ll say. She’s got the power to hire and fire right now. You think any one of them will say a word against her?”

  “Yes, I do. Especially guys like Howard and Miguel, who’ve been with Walker & Son forever. You think either of those men would hesitate to complain if he had a problem?”

  Big Will scratched his head and frowned. “I just don’t like it. She’s a young lady. She doesn’t need to be—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. Traipsing around construction sites.” Caleb shook his tawny head and sighed. “She’s a grown up. And she knows the business inside and out. You know that, right?”