by Marie Force
“Deal.” He lifted her tank up and over her head and was shocked to discover she was bare beneath it. “Hope… You’re so beautiful.”
She pulled on his shirt, and he helped her remove it, then rolled to his side, bringing her with him.
He could think of no way to adequately describe the thrill that traveled through him when her breasts pressed against his chest. Recapturing her lips, he kissed her again, more intently this time around, his tongue exploring every sweet corner of her mouth.
Hope squirmed in his arms, trying to get closer, or so it seemed to him. “This is crazy,” she whispered between kisses. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Why not?” He cupped her breast and teased her nipple with his thumb until it was hard and tight.
“I, um… There’s a reason we shouldn’t, but I can’t think of it when you’re doing that.”
“How about when I do this?” He eased her onto her back and took the same nipple into his mouth, running his tongue back and forth over the tip before sucking on it.
She grabbed a handful of his hair and held on so tightly that he winced from the pleasurable pain. Her legs shifted restlessly, so he grasped her thighs and pulled them up around his hips without letting up on her nipple. The heat of her arousal pressed against his cock, making him want so much more.
He switched his attention to the other side, teasing her nipple with his tongue, lips and teeth as she arched rhythmically against him.
“Don’t stop,” she whispered in a tone he’d never heard from her before. It was needy and desperate and incredibly sexy.
Paul pushed harder against her, torturing himself as he gave her what she wanted and needed.
And then she released a keening moan and tightened her legs around his hips.
He wanted so badly to go with her, but he held back, giving her his full focus and attention, until she relaxed into the mattress, breathing hard.
“That,” she said, “has never happened before.”
Inordinately pleased to know he’d given her a new experience, he teased her parted lips and fell into another passionate kiss.
Her hands moved from his chest to his stomach and down to his shorts, which she unbuttoned and unzipped before his brain could catch up with what was happening.
“Hope…” His brain shut down completely when she wrapped her hand around his erection and began to stroke him.
“Definitely shouldn’t be doing this.”
“No, you should. You really should.”
Her laughter made him smile, even as he tried to hold back the orgasm that had wanted out from the second her bare breasts touched his chest.
He closed his eyes and gave himself over to the incredible high of being with her this way. The heat of her hand and the pleasure of her gentle yet firm touch made for the perfect combination. Paul groaned as he came, his fingers digging into her hips to keep her close to him.
She kissed him softly and sweetly.
He opened his eyes to find her watching him. “I made a mess of you.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Let me get a towel. I’ll be right back.” He kissed her again and disentangled their limbs so he could get up, tugging his shorts back up as he went. The bathroom was across the hall, so he opened the door and looked both ways before leaving the bedroom. He returned with a towel that he used to wipe up her belly and chest.
“I should go and let you sleep,” she said, looking shy all of a sudden despite what they’d done.
Paul dropped the towel on the floor and snuggled up to her, unwilling to let her go just yet. “Or you could stay awhile longer. It’s only midnight.”
“It’s weird to not have Ethan at home for a night, but I’m glad he’s made such good new friends so quickly.”
“I’m glad for him and for you, because you deserve a break every now and then.”
“I guess, but it still feels weird to have him sleeping somewhere else.”
This would be a great time to ask about the boy’s father, but Paul couldn’t bring himself to bring her past into their very lovely present. He dragged his fingertips over her flat belly, which quivered under his touch.
“Please tell me we aren’t making a huge mistake here, Paul.”
“Doesn’t feel like a mistake to me,” he said, though his conscience was still troubled because his father would disapprove of what he was doing with her. “I’m too busy feeling great to think about all the reasons why it might not be a good idea.”
“I don’t do things like this.”
“Like what?”
“Fool around with my boss, for one thing.”
“I’d like to think this situation is a little different than your typical work environment. I’d like to think we’ve become friends over the last few intense weeks with my mom. I’d like to think we’re both adults who can handle whatever complication something like this is sure to cause at some point.”
“You say that as if you’re certain it will.”
“It will,” he said, sighing. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see where it goes. As long as you do, too.”
“I’ve had a crush on you from the first time I saw you with your mom and how amazingly patient you are with her.”
“Is that right?” he asked, amused and touched by her confession.
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, I suppose it’s only fair that I confess to having had a crush myself after watching you in action with Mom and Ethan. You’re so good with both of them, not to mention sexy as all hell.”
“I am not.”
He cupped her breast and kissed her. “Yes, you are. That skirt you wear?”
“What skirt?”
“The denim one.”
“That skirt is a thousand years old!”
“Maybe so, but it does amazing things for your sexy ass.” He ran his hand down her back to give her bottom a squeeze. “I might’ve once had a highly inappropriate thought about my mother’s nurse wearing that skirt, without underwear, while I take her from behind.”
“I never knew you had such a vivid imagination.”
“Are you appalled?”
“Quite the opposite, in fact. You’ve got my imagination running wild now, too.”
Paul laughed at her frank reply and pulled her in closer, keeping her tucked up against him.
“I really ought to go home.”
“Stay.”
“I shouldn’t.”
“Yes, you should.” As he drifted off to sleep, he tightened his hold on her so she couldn’t get away.
Chapter 7
A sniffling whimper woke Seamus from a light sleep. He’d been on alert since the boys went to bed hours earlier, but now he sat up in bed, listening intently. Hearing it again, he disentangled himself from Caro without waking her and went into the room across the hall, where the boys were sleeping.
Another sniffle led him to Kyle’s bed. “Hey, pal,” he whispered.
Kyle turned his face into the pillow, as if he didn’t want to be caught crying.
Seamus rubbed the little boy’s back. “I’m sad, too, you know?” He spoke softly, hoping he wouldn’t wake Jackson. “Maybe you could come and sit with me for a while and we can be sad together. What do you think?”
He continued to rub Kyle’s back, giving the child a minute to decide if he wanted comfort or if he preferred to be left alone.
Slowly, Kyle turned over and held out his arms to Seamus.
His heart ached as he scooped up Kyle and carried him out of the room, closing the door behind him. He went into the living room and sat in Caro’s rocking chair with Kyle’s head resting on his shoulder. For a long time, they were quiet, with only the gentle sway of the rocker breaking the silence.
“Why are you sad?” Kyle asked. “Did your mommy die, too?”
Seamus released a deep breath. “No, but I’m sad that yours did. I’m sad for her and you and Jackson.”
“It’s not fair.”
“Is she really not going to come back?”
Aw, God, Seamus thought. Give me strength and wisdom to get these poor kids through this. “No, honey, she’s not.”
A sob shook the boy’s small body, and his tears soaked through Seamus’s T-shirt. After a while, the sobs morphed into hiccups, but Seamus never stopped rubbing the little back. Eventually, Kyle’s breathing settled, and Seamus wondered if he’d fallen back to sleep. He kept the rocking chair moving until he was certain the boy was back to sleep.
Then he stood carefully and walked back to the bedroom, where he deposited Kyle in his bed, pulled the covers up and over him and kissed his sweaty forehead. He sat on the edge of the bed for a long time, waiting to make sure Kyle had settled into sleep. When he got up to leave the room, he fixed Jackson’s covers and smoothed the hair off his forehead before leaving them to sleep.
Though he was now wide awake and overwhelmed by the weight of the responsibility he and Caro had assumed for these precious children, Seamus got back in bed.
“What’s wrong?” Caro asked as she curled up to him.
Seamus put his arms around her. “Kyle was awake and crying, so we spent some time in the rocker. The poor guy asked me if his mom is really not coming back.”
“Oh Lord. What did you say?”
“I told him the truth. What else could I say?”
“That was the right thing to do. I remember when Joe asked me that after his dad died. I was always honest with him. It took a while for him to understand how long forever really is.”
“I forget that you’ve already been through this with one heartbroken little boy, and now I’ve got you back in the same boat again.”
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but in that boat with you and Kyle and Jackson. We’re going to get them through this, Seamus. It won’t happen overnight, but one day they’ll find a way to accept what’s happened, and when they do, they’ll go back to being the happy little guys they once were.”
“You promise, love?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I sure hope so, because I already love them an awful lot, and I find myself wishing for a magic wand that could make everything right in their world again.”
“Since we don’t have a magic wand handy, we’ll just have to love them through it.”
“We did the right thing taking them in, didn’t we?”
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“Not about wanting them or anything like that.”
“Then what?”
“I guess I worry that I’m not up to the job of being their dad. We know you’ve got this mother gig mastered. You’ve already raised one fantastic son, so you’re an expert. But they’re getting a rookie with me, and I’m feeling out of my league already.”
Her shoulder shook under his hand.
“Are you laughing at me, Carolina O’Grady?”
“I might be.” She cupped his face in her hand and kissed him. “Seamus, my love, every new parent feels the way you do. Outmatched, overwhelmed, certain that disaster is looming around the next corner. Those boys have suffered a terrible tragedy. There’s no way around that. But you’re their silver lining.”
“We are.”
“You are. I’ll give them everything I have to give, but you… You’ll teach them how to be men, and if they’re even half the man you are, you will have done an amazing job.”
“Awww, Caro, that’s a sweet thing for you to say.”
“It’s the truth. What happened to their mom is a terrible stroke of bad luck, but they got lucky the day you decided we needed to be there for them. They may not know it yet, but someday they will.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“When have you ever known me not to be right?”
“Um, how about the months you spent pushing me away when you knew we were meant to be?”
“Other than that.”
“That’s a pretty big other than.”
“Shut up and kiss your wife.”
“My sassy wife, you mean.” Since there was truly nothing else he’d rather do than kiss his wife, he did as he was told like the good husband he was. And as he did every day, he gave thanks to whatever higher power had brought her and her good sense into his life.
They were in for one hell of a challenging ride with their boys, but Seamus was confident that with her by his side to make sure he didn’t screw it up, they’d do right by Kyle and Jackson.
Lizzie James was up before the sun on Sunday morning. She’d been awake for hours thinking about the idea that had taken root the night before and how they might make it happen. It was such a brilliant idea—a place on the island for seniors and others in need of health care so they could remain close to their loved ones. She and Jared certainly had the resources to make it happen, and it might turn out to be an ideal situation for her brother-in-law Quinn, who’d returned from his service as a medic in Afghanistan badly injured and in need of a new direction.
The more she thought about the idea, the more brilliant it became. She made it until seven o’clock before she brought a mug of coffee into the bedroom with her, hoping to butter up Jared.
She kissed him awake.
“Hey,” he said when his eyes finally opened. “What time is it?”
“Seven.”
“It’s Sunday, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“What the heck are you doing up so early on the one day we get to sleep in?” He made himself get up and be productive the other days of the week, lest he become a slovenly “retiree.” Sunday was his day “off.”
“I couldn’t sleep anymore. And I’ve been thinking.”
“Ugh,” he said with a dramatic groan. “Any time you get to thinking, it costs me money.”
Lizzie responded with a big giddy smile.
Grinning, he shook his head. “It’s a good thing you’re so damned cute, or I might be tempted to be annoyed with you for waking me up at the butt crack of dawn.”
“You love me too much to be annoyed with me, and you have to admit I have good ideas.”
He sat up and took the mug from her. “They’re not all bad.”
Lizzie waited until he’d had three big sips of coffee. “So about this home for the aged that everyone was talking about last night…”
“What about it?”
“I want to go see the old school that Paul mentioned. He said the town is about to list it for sale.”
“When do you want to do this?”
“Um, now?”
“Lizzie! It’s seven o’clock in the morning on the one day we take to chill out and do nothing. Does it have to be right now?”
She smiled again, knowing that was all it took to get him to see things her way. He loved to see her smiling and happy, so she played her best card.
“I never knew you were so devious when I married you.”
“You did, too. Now get your lazy butt out of bed and drive me to see this school.” She started to get up, but he took hold of her hand, stopping her from getting away.
“On one condition.”
“What?”
“When we get back, we spend the rest of the morning in bed.”
She raised a saucy brow. “Sleeping?”
“You’ve got me wide awake after a good night’s sleep. I doubt I’ll need more sleep for many, many hours.”
He was so damned sexy, especially first thing in the morning with his blond hair standing on end and his jaw covered in whiskers.
Lizzie pretended to think about his very tempting offer for a moment or two. “Okay, we have a deal. Now get up.” She’d showered an hour ago and was already dressed. She tugged on his hand to “help” him up.
He groaned as he let her pull him out of bed.
Lizzie took a good long look at her gorgeous husband, who stood before her fully nude and fully erect. She licked her lips.
“Don’t do that and then tell me we’ve got to go somewhere.”
“You looked and you licked.”
Lizzie laughed at the foul expression that marred his handsome face. “You’re so grumpy in the morning.”
He hooked an arm around her waist. “I’m only grumpy when I get blasted out of bed far too early by my beautiful but exasperating wife who’s like a little kid at Christmas every time she gets one of her big ideas.”
“But you love me, right?”
“Yeah, baby, I love you so much that I let you drag me out of bed when all I want to do is drag you into bed.” He kissed her neck and nearly had her forgetting why she wanted him up so early.
“No way, buster,” she said, wise to him as she pushed him back. “No nookie until we take a lookie.”
He walked into the bathroom laughing, giving her a great view of his most excellent ass as he went. A few minutes later, he reemerged wearing shorts, a T-shirt and flip-flops. His hair had been combed into submission, and he looked nothing at all like the ex-Wall Street billionaire that he was. She loved him this way—casual, relaxed, removed from the rat race that had once been his life.
Jared grabbed his wallet and keys from the dresser. “You’re so cute when you’re excited about something, Lizzie.”
“I must be really cute right now, then.”
He kissed the tip of her nose and then her lips. “You’re positively adorable. Let’s go see what’s got you all wound up.”
They drove to the north end of the island in Jared’s Porsche. Lizzie opened the window and took deep breaths of the cool, crisp September air. “This might be my favorite month here.”
“You say that every month.”
“I haven’t seen a month yet that I haven’t liked.”
“Wait until December.”
“When I’m marooned with you and a cozy fireplace while it snows outside? I’m not seeing the downside.”
He took hold of her hand and used their joined hands to shift the car. “I’m so glad you’re happy here.”
“I love everything about it, especially the part where I get to be married to you.”
“Sometimes, when I think about how close we came to missing out on what we have now…”
“Don’t think about that.”
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