by Amber Kelly
“Vixen,” he accuses.
I roll up onto an elbow and begin to pepper kisses up his side and around to his chest. I nip at one of his nipples, and he swats at me, which urges me forward.
I glide one hand under the covers and find his hard shaft waiting for my attention.
I wrap my fingers around his velvety flesh and get a firm hold.
He groans as he pushes the sheets away from his hips, so he can watch as I begin to slowly pump my fist up and down as he grows harder in my grip.
His hand that my head is cradled on top, moves to rub circles on my rib cage and then comes under my arm to squeeze one of my breasts.
I slide my left leg over the top of his and bring my core to his side. I begin to glide against him as I continue to pull and rotate his sensitive flesh.
He watches me intently as his breath quickens.
My hips start to move faster against him, seeking the friction I need. I watch in fascination as the muscles of his abdomen contract with each pump of my fist. Just when I think he is about to explode, I release him, and a soft curse escapes his lips.
I slide my leg on over his lap, and he groans as my wetness catches the tip of his cock.
I pull up, and he reaches for my hips to bring me back down on him, but I slide downward before he can stop me. I kiss the inside of his thigh, and it twitches. Then, I take him back in my hand and hold him up, so I can find his balls with my tongue.
His hips jump up off the bed, and I wait until he settles back down to run my tongue up his length. I lick the salty bead that has escaped. Then, I suck his tip into my mouth, swirling my tongue as I do.
“Fuck,” he mutters as he gathers my hair away from my face so he can see me.
I begin to suck him deeper until he hits the back of my throat.
“There’s nothing sexier than watching you take me in your mouth,” he says, his eyes boring into mine as I take him deeply again and again.
I listen as his breaths come faster, and that’s when I rake my teeth across his tip.
“I’m going to come, baby,” he warns.
Instead of backing off, I suck harder, and he explodes. His warm release hits the back of my throat.
His head is thrown back against the pillow, and his eyes are shut as I swallow every drop until he is completely spent.
Then, I crawl up his body and wrap myself around him, and he holds me, skin to skin.
“Now, that’s a good morning,” he mumbles, and I snuggle in closer and drift back off to sleep.
We awaken to a knock at the door.
I jump up to look at the clock on the nightstand, and it’s almost noon.
I grab my robe from the floor beside the bed and pull it on.
“You expecting company?” Graham asks as he watches me frantically trying to locate my underwear.
“No. You?” I ask.
“Nobody even knows I’m here,” he tells me.
“Your truck is in the driveway.”
“Oh yeah,” he says.
“You stay here, and I’ll get rid of whoever it is,” I instruct, and he gives me a salute.
I roll my eyes and sprint to the front door.
I peer out the peephole and see my son’s face staring back at me.
Shit.
Panic wells up in my chest as his impatient knuckles pound on the wood again.
I run back into the bedroom to find Graham pulling on his jeans.
“It’s Caleb. Oh my God, oh my God,” I whisper-yell.
His eyes come up to mine.
The bastard grins.
“Graham, what do I do?” I ask.
“Nothing. Just stay here,” he says before casually strolling out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
I place my ear against it and strain to listen.
Graham opens the door, and I hear Caleb ask him what he’s doing here.
“Sara-Beth sent me over to look at the new dishwasher. She said your mom called last night because it was making a racket,” Graham replies.
“Where’s Mom?” Caleb asks.
“She said she was going to take a shower while I fixed this thing, so she would be ready when it was time to pick you up. I guess she’s still in there.”
“One of the boys got stung by a bee during breakfast, and his face swelled up like a balloon. It was gnarly. The troop leader had to take him to the emergency room, so he called everyone’s parents to pick us up early. Tucker’s dad dropped me off.”
“A bee sting, huh? That sucks.”
“Yeah, he’s allergic. He had his EpiPen in his backpack, but his face was messed up.”
“Speaking of breakfast, maybe you and I should make some for your mom. She’s going to be surprised when she walks out and you’re already home.”
“What about the dishwasher?” Caleb asks him.
“Already done. It was a loose bolt. I should have known better than to let Weston install it.”
“Yeah, you should have.”
Caleb giggles, and I back away from the door, careful not to make any noise. Then, I slip into the shower and let the spray wash over me quickly.
When I enter the living room about twenty minutes later, I find the two of them at the stove. Caleb is stirring a pan of scrambled eggs, and Graham is browning sausage links.
“What’s this?” I say, and they turn to me.
“Good morning, Mom. Graham and I are making breakfast.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “I can see that. How did you get here?” I ask.
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you over breakfast,” he replies.
“Can I help?” I offer.
“Nope. Graham and I have it under control. Don’t we?” he asks Graham, who looks over his shoulder at me and winks.
“We sure do. You just take a seat at the table, and we’ll be right with you.”
I do as I was told and take a seat, watching my two favorite guys make my breakfast.
Taeli
After breakfast, I walk to my office while Caleb rides with Graham to check on the theme park construction site.
I don’t normally work on Sundays, but it’s been a busy couple of weeks with everyone wanting to get one last family vacation in before schools start back, so I told Sara-Beth I’d come in for a few hours to help her and Erin with checkouts.
When I round the entrance to the campground, I see a truck backed up to the door and a delivery driver hauling roses inside.
I climb the steps and follow him to find the entire office covered in flowers.
Roses of every color.
Dozens and dozens of them.
“What is going on?” I ask.
Sara-Beth’s head pops up from behind the vases that are stacked on my desk.
“Taeli, I think you have an admirer,” she states.
Me?
She doesn’t mean these are for me. When would Graham have ordered them? He wasn’t out of my and Caleb’s presence this morning.
“Yes, you,” Erin says as she comes down the hall.
The driver looks at me. “You must be Mrs. Lowder.”
I nod.
“Here’s the card,” he says, handing me an envelope.
“Wait, you aren’t leaving all of these here, are you?” I ask as he turns to exit.
“Yep. They’re all yours.”
I turn back to the room and the insane display.
“Are you going to open that?” Erin asks.
I look at the envelope in my hand and slide my fingers under the lip.
I tug a slip of paper from inside with a handwritten note. I recognize the handwriting immediately.
Damon.
“What does it say?” Sara-Beth asks as they both come to join me.
“It’s from my husband.”
“Are you serious?” Erin cries.
I hand the card to her, and she reads his words aloud. “Taeli, I’m so sorry. I was stupid. Please forgive me. I love you. Damon.” She looks up at me.
“That man has some nerve,” Sara-Beth says.
“And deep pockets. These things had to have cost a fortune. What are you going to do with all of them?” Erin asks.
“Take them to all the shops and motels in the valley,” I suggest.
“I’ll call Hilton,” Sara-Beth says before hurrying behind the desk and picking up the phone.
Erin moves beside me. “I guess you deciding not to come back really rattled his cage, huh?”
“Yeah, that and a new baby.”
I bet Ivy finally went into labor.
“Hilton and Corbin are on the way to take care of them,” Sara-Beth informs us.
“Good. Now, let’s get some work done,” I say.
We do just that while the guys load the unwanted floral display into their trucks and take them to brighten the day of every working lady in the valley.
Once we are all caught up, Erin drives me home, where we find Damon perched on my new porch swing.
I see red.
“Is that who I think it is?” she asks.
“Yep,” I answer. I don’t even wait until her car comes to a full stop before I open the door and jump out.
Damon stands and meets me at the steps.
“You’re insane. You do realize that, don’t you?” I scream.
“Calm down, Taeli.”
“Don’t tell me what to do. You covered my office in thousands of dollars of roses. I don’t even like roses.”
He gets a perplexed look. “I thought they were your favorite flower,” he says.
“No, irises are my favorite flower.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me that?”
“I did. We had irises at our wedding. I have an iris tattooed on my hip. And I named the puppy you bought me Iris.”
“Oh, I didn’t correlate them.”
“Of course you didn’t.”
Erin gets out of her car, slams her door shut, and stands beside it.
“Who’s that?” Damon asks as he looks over my shoulder to the driveway.
“One of my best friends,” I tell him.
“Don’t be silly. Michelle is your best friend. Has been for years.”
I bristle at that and dig in my purse for my keys.
“Michelle is not my friend. Neither is Amy nor Mandy for that matter.”
“But this person is all of a sudden?”
“That’s right,” I say as I locate my keys and walk past him to the door.
He reaches out and clasps my arm. “Taeli, wait. I just want to talk, please.”
“Do you need me to get the Taser out of my glove compartment?” Erin calls.
I shake my head and then stop and turn back to her. “You have a Taser in your car?”
“Girl, yes. You never know when you’re going to run up on a bear.”
“She’s crazy,” Damon mumbles.
My head snaps back to him. “No, she’s not, but you definitely are. What are you doing here? Isn’t Ivy due any minute now?”
“Probably.”
“You left her and came here? Why would you do that?”
He hangs his head. “Because I love you. I want you. I’ve always wanted you. She was a distraction. A stress reliever. A silly fling that didn’t mean anything,” he blurts out.
“The fuck?” Erin mutters.
I laugh. “Translation: she is hot, fun, and young, and she was convenient until she ended up pregnant, and now, it’s not so fun, right?” I spit.
“Taeli, baby.” His voice cracks with emotion.
“Don’t do that. Don’t think you can show up here and shed tears and make it all better. Just because you want me doesn’t mean you value me, I need to be valued, Damon.”
“This is about him, isn’t it?” he asks.
“Who?”
“Graham Tuttle. Of course you come to Balsam Ridge and link up with one of the Tuttles. What? Were you in search of a bigger, better deal?” He hurls the accusation.
“Are you serious right now?”
“Dead serious. You’re sleeping with him, aren’t you?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“You’re my wife!”
“That didn’t matter to you when you were screwing your assistant, now did it?”
“Damn. I’m calling Jena and telling her to bring some popcorn,” Erin says before pulling her phone from her back pocket.
“You want the truth? You’re right. He is part of it. I like him. I like him a hell of a lot. I might even love him.”
His eyes fill with rage. “And you think you can trust him? You barely know him.”
“I know I can,” I insist.
“Yeah, well, you trusted me once too. So, maybe you aren’t the best judge of character.”
“Did you really just say that, dude?” Erin asks.
He ignores her.
“You don’t get to question me. You broke us. You broke me. I don’t owe you any apologies for what it took to heal what you crushed. So stop with the guilt. I can move on with whomever I choose,” I retort.
“I don’t want you to make another mistake. We can fix this,” he insists.
“You just called me out for being stupid for trusting you and called yourself a mistake,” I say.
“You’re twisting my words.”
“No, I’m pointing out how ridiculous you sound right now.”
“You can’t love him,” he states matter-of-factly.
“Yes, I can. It’s a different kind of love. It’s grown-up love, and it fucking rocks.”
“Oh, snap,” Erin says.
The words hit him like physical blows.
“Taeli,” he pleads.
“You don’t get it. You ruined us and now it’s like the ground split open and we’re standing on opposite sides of this great abyss that neither can cross. Go home, Damon. There is no path back to us.”
He sniffles as I watch the fight leave him.
“I don’t like who I am without you,” he utters.
“Too bad because I love who I am without you.”
He takes a step back, and then he sits on the top step. He honestly thought I’d run into his arms.
“Go home, Damon, and maybe this time around, you can fix all the mistakes we made. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
“I made a mistake, okay? A stupid mistake. We can get past this.”
I take a seat beside him just as Jena pulls up and Erin hurries to her passenger side and gets in.
“No. A mistake I could forgive. You made a choice. A choice to fuck up our family. And if I’m being honest, I’m glad you did. You released me from the Stepford nightmare I was living in.”
“I know I fucked up, but you’re the one who left.”
“You said you were in love with another woman. What did you expect me to do?” I ask.
“I expected you to stay and fight for us like before, but you just walked out.”
“And you let me without so much as shedding a tear. What does that tell you?” I ask.
“I can’t believe it’s over. I never thought we’d get here. That one day, I’d push you too far that we couldn’t find our way back,” he admits.
“Really? You thought I’d sweep a new baby under the rug and still show up at the club for lunch, as if nothing happened?” I ask incredulously.
“I never meant for that to happen, I swear.”
“It’s my fault too. Somewhere along the way, I stopped being me and started being Dr. Lowder’s wife. I played in a neighborhood Bunco league, for goodness’ sake. I forgot who I was.”
“She’s still in there. I see her now.”
“Yeah, she is.”
“What about Caleb? I might have to let you go, but he is my son, and I will not give up on him. I’ll fight for my boy.”
“God, I hope so. He needs to know you want him, but you can work on your relationship with him later. Now, I think you need to get back to Ivy ASAP.”
“Yeah. I can send him some things for his room and maybe a new
television for your living room.”
“No, you can’t buy his love, and you have to stop trying. It just makes things worse. He’s not going to remember the number of presents under the tree on Christmas morning. He won’t be able to recall how much the shoes on his feet cost or the thread count of his sheets on his bunk bed. He’s going to remember the time you spent with him and the memories you put in the effort to make together.”
“I think I’ve already blown it. We don’t have a lot of father-son memories.”
I shrug. “History is always in the making. You can start now and get it right, going forward. Now, about Ivy,” I press.
“She isn’t speaking to me, I’m sure.”
“Well, pal, you deserve her wrath. Maybe a hospital room full of roses will do the trick. It can’t hurt to try.”
I stand, and he stands with me.
“I still love you. I hurt the best person I’ve ever known, and I’m kicking myself for it.”
“Good. Just don’t do it forever. We both need to move forward.”
“Can I wait for Caleb?”
I sigh and point to the swing.
I text Graham and ask him to bring Caleb home. Then, I leave Damon and walk down and climb into the backseat of Jena’s car.
“What’s the verdict? Is he just going to hang outside your house forever?” Jena asks.
“He’s waiting for Graham to bring Caleb home, so he can see him.”
“That won’t be awkward at all,” Jena says.
“Tell me about it.”
“Here.” She hands me a bag.
“You actually brought popcorn?” I ask.
“Yeah, Erin said come quick and bring popcorn. So I grabbed popcorn and sped over.”
“Did she even tell you why?” I ask.
“Dude, she didn’t have to. Come quick and bring popcorn is code for some shit is about to go down and she needs someone to watch it with. You don’t ask questions at that point, you just get in the car,” she explains.
“What if she was in trouble and needed help of some sort?”
“Then she would have said come quick and bring your gun. That’s totally different,” she clarifies.
“Yep, no time for popcorn in that situation,” Erin agrees.
“Got it,” I tell them.
“I did bring a shovel though, just in case. It’s in the trunk,” Jena informs.
“Good thinking. Graham might beat Damon to death and we’ll need it,” Erin says.