Waking Up with the Boss

by Sheri WhiteFeather

  Was that why he’d started buying properties? To give other people nice, safe places to live? He’d never really analyzed the emotional impact of his investments.

  He turned onto his long-ago street and parked in front of the ranch-style house. It looked different yet somehow the same. The paint was changed, the windows trimmed in blue instead of red. The lawn was less green, a result, most likely, of water conservation associated with the current California drought. The tree that graced the yard was bigger, though, its branches reaching toward the sky.

  When Jake was small, he used to offer to help with the yard work. Then later, it became a chore that had been expected of him. Sometimes he’d complained, but mostly he’d enjoyed spending time alone with his dad.

  Reflective, Jake sat back in his seat. Since he didn’t want to intrude on the new residents, he stayed in the car. He couldn’t tell if they had kids. There were no outward signs of children, not like when he used to leave his bike in the walkway.

  It felt good to be here, to think about the sweetness from his youth. He wanted to provide that kind of family for his daughter. He wanted it for himself and Carol, too. Being afraid to love her was wrong. He needed to give her his heart, openly, fully.

  He understood his feelings now. They were so clear, so obvious. But was he ready to do this, to admit that he loved her?

  Yes, he thought. He was ready, willing and able.

  Should he text Carol ahead of time or just show up unannounced? He opted for the phone, giving her a chance to prepare. He typed, A lot going on. Need to talk.

  After he sent the message, he waited. Then waited some more.

  He tried not to panic about Carol not responding. She might not be in the vicinity of her phone. It didn’t mean that she was ignoring him.

  Trying to keep from going stir-crazy, he shifted his attention to the tree that had grown so big. Sometimes his sisters used to sit beneath it, surrounded by their friends, paging through fashion magazines and yapping about the styles they liked. He also remembered when a neighbor’s cat had gotten caught in the tree. Nobody called the fire department the way they did on TV. Jake’s bold and beautiful mother had climbed up there, via a ladder, and coaxed the cat down. The frightened little tabby went home to its owner, only to run away another time and never be seen or heard from again.

  Jake frowned, disturbed that the story didn’t end well. But that didn’t change the purpose of coming back to his family, of seeking them out. It didn’t change how he felt about Carol, either. If anything, it was a reminder that life was neither good nor bad. It was simply what you made of it, and he wanted it to be good and happy and whole.

  When his phone pinged, he grappled with the device and nearly dropped it.

  Carol’s response was What’s going on?

  Sitting in front of my old house.

  What old house?

  From when I was a kid.

  I don’t understand.

  Will explain in person. Things are different with me now. Can I come over?

  She agreed with a simple Yes.

  But that was all the encouragement Jake needed.

  Grateful for a second chance, he took one final look at the house. He was wrong about his family’s spirits being here. They’d moved on a long time ago. What Jake had encountered was his own spirit, the boy he once was, growing into the man he’d become.

  * * *

  Carol was anxious to know what Jake meant when he’d texted that things were different now. But she was nervous about seeing him, too. Overall, she was a mess, inside and out.

  Before she’d seen his text, she’d been watching TV, mindlessly, in her pajamas, without a stitch of makeup. So now, she rushed to get herself together, applying lip gloss and mascara and putting on a maternity blouse and leggings.

  She hadn’t told Shirley that Jake was coming over. The older woman was napping in her room.

  As soon as a knock sounded on the door, Carol tried to center herself with a calming breath. But it didn’t do any good. She was still nervous.

  She opened the door, and there he was. The father of her child. The man she loved with every troubled, aching beat of her heart.

  He looked strong and beautifully wild, much as he always did. Yet something about him did seem different. It was his eyes, she thought. She saw a sense of calmness beneath the wild, as if the restlessness that normally drove him was gone. So what did that mean? How did that affect what was happening between them?

  Carol gestured to her surroundings. “Come in.”

  “Thanks.”

  He entered the suite, and they stood in the living room. She longed to touch him, to put her hand against his jaw and feel the slight bristle of beard stubble there, but she fussed with the hem of her blouse instead.

  “Where’s Shirley?” he asked.

  “She’s resting. Do you want to go to the guest room where I’m staying?” She didn’t want to have a private discussion out in the open, in case Shirley got up.

  “Sure. That would be good.”

  She led him down a short hallway, and they went into the colorfully decorated room and closed the door, silence streaming between them.

  Then he said, “I’m sorry I hurt you, Carol.”

  “I’m sorry I hurt you, too.” She’d never meant to cause him pain. “I still don’t understand why you’re here, though, and how going to your old house factors into it.”

  “I was searching for my family, hoping to feel their spirits and find a sense of peace. Since you left me, I’ve been having nightmares again, like I did after they first died.”

  “Did it work? Did you connect with your family?”

  “No. But I connected with myself and the reason I couldn’t commit fully to you. It was because I was afraid that if I loved you the way my parents loved each other, something would go wrong. But if I only went halfway, loving our child but keeping you at arm’s length, everything would be okay.”

  Now she wanted to touch him even more. But she listened to him instead, letting him get all of his thoughts out.

  He said, “After you got pregnant, and I started worrying about you finding another husband and involving him in our daughter’s life, I didn’t even stop to consider that I might be falling in love with you. Or that you were on the verge of falling for me.” He moved closer to her. “So when you finally told me how you felt, I panicked and pushed you away. But I do love you, Carol, and I want to marry you for all the right reasons.”

  Tears rushed to her eyes, and she reached out to skim his jaw, allowing herself the touch she craved. Beneath her fingers, his skin was warm, his beard stubble rough. She ran her hands over his entire face, smoothing back his hair to trace his childhood scar.

  “I would be honored to marry you. For all the right reasons,” she added. What she’d seen in his eyes when he’d first arrived, the change in them, was love. She knew that now. “I missed wearing the ring you gave me.”

  “Wear it now.”

  “I’ll wear it forever.” She removed it from her medicine bag and placed it on her left hand, putting it in the engaged position and sealing their future with a diamond heart, an Irish crown and a Choctaw feather.

  He leaned in to kiss her, and she reveled in the life they would be building together. Carol couldn’t imagine a more beautiful moment. This was the proposal she’d always longed for—a dream come true.

  * * *

  Jake and Carol waited for Shirley to awaken from her nap to tell her the news. She was thrilled, of course, hugging them like there was no tomorrow.

  But there would be plenty of tomorrows, Jake thought. He and Carol had the rest of their lives to be together.

  He took his new fiancée back to his house, and as soon as they entered the mansion, he said, “I can sell this place and we can get som
ething homier. Like what I was going to buy for you and the baby. Only, all of us can live there together.”

  She cocked her head. “Really? Are you sure you want to relocate?”

  “I’d rather start fresh with a home that complements both of us. But it still needs to be big enough for more kids.”

  Her eyelids fluttered. They were standing in the foyer, with a chandelier shining above them. “More kids? Are you expecting the condoms to fail again?”

  “No. I’m thinking we could actually plan to expand our family. We don’t want Artichoke to be an only child, do we?”

  “You’re right.” She smiled like the dickens. “We should give her some siblings.”

  “We can have three altogether.” There had been three kids in his family, just as there had been in hers. “We’ll make that our lucky number.” Jake put his hand on Carol’s tummy. “But first we need to bring this one safely into the world.”

  “We will. Our little girl is going to be just fine.”

  “Yes, everything will be okay.” He’d found his peace, his life, his woman. “My parents would have adored you.”

  “Mine would have been crazy about you, too. They’d be so happy for me right now.”

  “When we get resettled, we can display all of our pictures, old and new.” He studied her, thinking how amazing she was. “I have a bunch of photos stored away from when I was kid. But now I want to bring them out in the open.”

  “Pictures of my family have always given me comfort. But I’ve never been back to the house where they died. Maybe I should go there, like you did with your old house, just to come full circle, too.” She studied him with the same kind of admiration he felt for her. “You were right when you said that I overcompensated after I lost them, that I was trying to be so good. I didn’t let myself grieve the way I should have. I even felt guilty and weak when I used to cry in the middle of the night. I wanted to be stronger than that.”

  “You are strong. So am I. But we’re stronger as a couple than we are apart.” He took her in his arms. “Come lie down with me, Carol. I want to hold you.”

  She nuzzled against him. “I want to hold you, too.”

  They proceeded to his room. After removing their shoes, they climbed into bed. Sunlight streamed into the room, slipping through the blinds.

  “I’ve missed being with you,” he said.

  “You’re with me now, and you always will be.” She leaned onto her side to face him. “I’m so happy that you love me. I feel like I’m dreaming.”

  “But you aren’t. We’re both wide-awake.” He unbuttoned the first few buttons of her blouse to get a peek at her bra. He noticed that it was made of cotton and bits of lace. “Look how pretty you are.” He toyed with the lace. “Pretty and pregnant.”

  “I like being pregnant. Shirley told me that I glow.”

  “You do. So do you want to get married at the beach?”

  She nodded. “With you in a tuxedo and me in a long, breezy white dress. I can carry a red rose bouquet since that’s the type of flower I always envisioned in my wedding.”

  Jake remembered her telling him that before. She’d even put a red rose pattern on the quilt she’d made herself when she was younger, with patches of material that represented her future. A future that was now coming true. “We can have the wedding at Garrett’s resort. Lots of people get married there, along the shore.”

  Her eyes lit up. “That would be perfect. I want Shirley to be part of the ceremony. She’s as close to a mother as either of us has now. Oh, and maybe we can hire Lena to perform at the reception.”

  Jake teased her, thinking about the party that had started it all. “Yeah, and we can have our first dance inside of a cage.”

  She laughed. “We can make ‘Couples Only’ our wedding song.”

  “Sure. Why not? But we need to set Lena straight about Susanne.”

  “Of course, and we’ll clear it up with Kristen, too. You should introduce me to Susanne so we can invite her to be a guest.”

  “I’m sure she would be glad to attend.”

  “Good. I don’t want there to be any bad feelings or gossip. I want our wedding to be as joyous as we feel.”

  “I’m going to ask both of my foster brothers to be my best men. Max will be back from his sabbatical soon, so we can set the date anytime. First, we’ll have to talk to Garrett about his schedule and when he can make the resort available to us. He has an event planner on staff that can help us, too.”

  She untucked Jake’s T-shirt from his jeans, lifted the material and skimmed her fingers along his abs. “The honeymoon is going to be sexy, that’s for sure. I won’t be able to stop touching my groom.”

  “Likewise, with my bride.” He pushed his hand into the waistband of her leggings and past her panties. He rubbed her in hot little circles, just the way he knew she liked it.

  She gasped, and he kissed her, sweet and slow. They hadn’t made love since they’d made their baby, and it felt damned good to be together again. The citrus perfume she routinely wore was a welcoming scent. Everything about her worked like an aphrodisiac.

  They took turns undressing each other, and he explored the changes in her body. The bump in her tummy was beautifully round, and her breasts were bigger, her nipples and areolas a darker shade of pink.

  Jake moved lower, putting his mouth between her legs. He used his tongue, and he didn’t stop until she was arching toward him, coming with dizzying pleasure.

  “What are you doing to me?” she asked.

  “Making you feel good.” Making her shake and shiver and tug at the sheets.

  In the afterglow, she sat forward, dewy from her orgasm, her body flushed. “I want you inside me.”

  Heavens, yes. He was already fully aroused from having touched her in such an intimate way. “Climb on top of me.”

  Carol went for it, straddling him, moaning as she impaled herself, taking him deep. She rode him, stealing his breath from his lungs. He watched her with adoration.

  Sleek and warm, she moved up and down, flesh-to-flesh. They clasped hands and looked into each other’s eyes. Hers were a shade of green that could’ve stemmed from the sea.

  She was his mermaid. His lady. His future wife.

  He said, “We can get married at dusk with a sandcastle as the backdrop, decorated with hundreds of candles, like how it was in the Caribbean.”

  “I’m so glad I took that trip with you.” She leaned forward to kiss him, brushing her lips against his. “What happened between us was meant to be.”

  And it would be this way forever, he thought. Together they were friends, lovers, parents...

  A family in every way.

  * * * * *

  Look for more BILLIONAIRE BROTHERS CLUB books, coming soon from Harlequin Desire! Garrett Snow’s story is next!

  And if you liked this novel, pick up these other sexy reads from Sheri WhiteFeather

  A KEPT WOMAN

  APACHE NIGHTS

  EXPECTING THUNDER’S BABY

  MARRIAGE OF REVENGE

  THE MORNING-AFTER PROPOSAL

  All available now from Harlequin Desire!

  ***

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  Keep reading for an excerpt from FOR BABY’S SAKE by Janice Maynard.

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  For Baby’s Sake

  by Janice Maynard

  One

  James Kavanagh liked working with his hands. Unlike his oldest brother, Liam, who spent his days wearing an Italian tailored suit, James was most comfortable in old jeans and T-shirts. Truth be told, it was a good disguise. No one expected a rich man to look like a guy who labored for a paycheck.

  That was fine with James. He didn’t need people sucking up to him because he was a Kavanagh. He wanted to be judged on his own merits. Sure, he was entitled to a share of the family fortune. And yes, he’d added to that considerable pot with his own endeavors.

  But at the end of the day, a man was only as rich as his reputation.

  At the moment, James was painting the soffits on his own house in the heart of Silver Glen, North Carolina. The 1920s bungalow was a beauty; original hardwood floors, large windows that let in plenty of light and a front porch that was made for enjoying warm summer evenings.