Summer laughed softly. “It’s not that easy, honey. First, you have to fall in love and live in the same town and…fall in love.”
“Then do that.”
“It’s not that easy,” she said again, at a loss for how to end this. But Mav saved her by waking up, stretching, and padding his way up the bed to sleep next to Destiny.
“Here’s your co-star,” Summer said, happy to change the subject.
“Hi, Mavvie.” Destiny kissed him on the head, then looked up at Summer. “I love Mavvie, Mommy. It was easy.” She stroked the dog’s little head.
“But it won’t be easy when you have to say goodbye.”
Destiny slowly shook her head, but Summer put a stop to wherever this was going with a good-night kiss. “Time to sleep, Destiny Rose.”
“Good night, Mommy.” She reached up and gave Summer a big hug. “It was the best day of my whole life.”
“Definitely one of mine, too,” she agreed, kissing her again before she turned out the light. “Now, sleep and dream, angel.”
“’Kay. But, Mommy?”
“Yeah?”
“I love John. It wasn’t so hard.”
Summer felt her shoulders sink on the next sigh. “Night, honey. Night, Mav.”
She closed the door behind her and stepped into the hallway, suddenly aware that she wasn’t alone.
John was in the living room, which was dark but for a soft light from the kitchen and one from his phone.
“I didn’t expect you up here,” she said as she stepped into the room.
He held his phone up from the sofa where he sat. “I was going to show this to you and Destiny, but…”
She slowed her step, her gaze shifting to the baby monitor she’d left on the coffee table, the red light indicating it was on. Oh.
How much of that conversation did he hear?
He held up his phone and used it to gesture her closer. “You have to see this.”
“What is it?”
“Two thousand views already, is what it is.” He tapped the phone, and the familiar colors of Facebook showed up. “It’s on the Family First page.”
The sounds of Destiny and Mav came through the speaker.
“Look, Summer.” He held the phone out, not saying a word about the monitor. “This thing could go viral, because it is ridiculously cute. She edited it so you can see Destiny get her trophy and run to you. So, you’re okay with that, right? Because I could have Cassie take it down from their page.”
She just watched and listened for a moment, the thrill of the night muted as she wondered exactly how much of that conversation he’d heard. “It’s fine. She’s gonna go nuts.”
“You want to show her now?”
“After I spent an hour and twelve minutes getting her to sleep?”
“But who’s counting?” He put the phone on the table and wrapped her in his arms. “Other than me, I mean.”
She melted into a kiss that she felt she’d been holding back all day. Longer. The heat built fast, sending a shock of electricity down her body the moment their tongues tangled.
“You know what I’m counting?” she asked as she nuzzled into his neck. “The number of steps to my room.”
“Mmm. I’d say twelve. Maybe thirteen. And is that too close to Destiny?”
“Thirteen steps is too far.” She lifted her chin and let him plant kisses on her throat. “And she sleeps like the dead. Plus…I have that monitor.” She looked hard at it and raised a brow in question.
“And I have everything else we need.”
“Everything?”
He put his hands on her face and looked into her eyes. “It wouldn’t be that hard, you know.”
She blinked, then realized what he was saying. What he heard. “I know.”
“I’m halfway there already.”
Halfway in love. “Then let’s…” She slid his glasses off and put them on the table, grabbed the baby monitor, and pulled him in the direction of her bedroom. “Go all the way.”
“Hey, I can’t see.”
She laughed softly. “Then just…feel.”
* * *
Feel. Feel. Feel.
For once, that was all John wanted to do, without an assist from a single rational thought.
They kissed in the hall, at the door when she locked it, and just inside the moonlit bedroom that smelled like citrus and sweetness. Each time they stopped to wrap their arms around each other and start this incredible new dance with one kiss, then another, John let his body respond and his brain go silent.
This was not the time to think about a single word of that conversation he’d heard. He’d tried to find the volume button or a way to turn the receiver off, but he’d heard anyway.
Not now. Not now. Now was a time—the time—to do nothing but touch and explore and skim and stroke.
Because it all felt so damn good. Summer’s corn-silk-soft hair in his fingers, her woman’s body arched against him, her warm, taut skin as he lifted her top and splayed his hands around her, even the cloud of comfort they dropped onto when they rolled onto the bed together.
Thinking—about what he heard, what she said, what that meant—might throw light and logic on just how far gone he was. Much further than he should be with a woman who thought falling in love would be hard.
He yanked his thoughts back to her body, her sighs, her…her. There was nothing logical about love, not after knowing her for such a brief time, and thinking about it would distract him from this.
This wasn’t love…not now, not yet. This was pleasure and satisfaction and, oh, this was Summer. This was the fling his body wanted, and he needed to revel in every perfect minute of it.
She whispered his name and stroked his hair and beard, moaning when he unclipped her bra and caressed her breast. Instantly, the first shock of intimacy fueled his body with blood and need and a blissfully blank brain.
“How much did you hear?” she whispered.
He stilled his hand, letting out a nearly inaudible grunt. It was one thing to fight his thoughts, but a whole different prospect to silence hers.
He answered by pressing his mouth to her body, using his tongue to further arouse her, and finding the button of her white jeans.
That did the trick.
She rocked her hips against him, letting him work the zipper down while he showered her breasts with admiration and kisses.
“John, I think…”
He lifted his head and blinked into the darkness, the first adjustment to the light helping him see the question in her eyes. “Don’t think, Summer. Just feel.”
She smiled. “Oh, I’m feeling.”
He slid his fingers into her now open jeans and watched her eyes widen and lips part with a soft breath.
“Everything,” he whispered. “Don’t miss a single thing.” He stroked her silky smooth skin, loving the look of ecstasy on her face.
“Oh…” She whimpered and lifted her hips, helping him slide her jeans off and send them to the floor, grasping his shoulders to push him down to kiss more of her body. Lost, he tasted everything, all the sweet sunshine and warmth of Summer.
He took his time, finding secret places and gentle curves and getting insanely turned on by her fiery response. She clutched him and dragged him back up to kiss her lips, wrapping her legs around his hips and already moving against him before he even had his khaki shorts unbuttoned and discarded.
She helped, with trembling fingers and precious little cries of desperation, until they were both undressed. With tangled limbs and long, wet kisses and easy laughs, they awkwardly tried to get under the covers without physically separating.
They did, though, long enough for him to snag the condom he’d grabbed before he’d come up here.
“You came prepared,” she said between kisses on his chest when he slid back under the comforter.
“We knew where this was going.” He tunneled his fingers into her hair and pulled it back to lift her face to him. “I did, anyway.�
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“But then you heard us on the monitor.”
He gave a sly smile. “Determined to take this there, are you?”
She just lifted a brow.
“Doesn’t matter.” Did it? Nothing mattered. Nothing but this.
He dragged his hands down to coast them over her body again, up and down, front and back, here and, oh, there.
“Are you sure? Because…”
“Shhh.” He kissed her quiet. “It didn’t stop…this.” Because nothing could, even knowing she’d come here to find another man who might very well have been able to woo her back.
Destiny’s little voice saying daddy still echoed.
“No more talking, Sunshine.”
“Sunshine?”
“That’s what Aidan calls you.” He leaned over her, kissing her lips. “Sunshine. Like the song. Well, like the song used to be before our little songwriter changed the words.”
Her eyes flickered at the use of the word our, but he didn’t care. He was too hard, too ready, and way too far gone over her to worry about something like that.
“Okay.” She leaned up and pressed a long, eager kiss on his chest, flattening her hand over the spot. “Your heart’s pounding.”
“Summer.” He flicked the foil packet before he tore it open. “Honey, everything’s pounding.”
That made her smile, then she helped him open the condom and slide it on. “I just want to be sure you didn’t misunderstand…”
He choked a half laugh, half moan as her fingers tortured him. “Seriously? Now?” His brain was officially shut down, and all other systems were in high gear. “No.”
“I know, I just…” She tightened her legs around his hips, drawing him closer to the center of her. “I said it wouldn’t be that easy…”
“Hey…stop talking and let me…” He cupped his hands on her backside and boosted her up. Let me love you.
But he caught himself before he said that out loud, hissing in a breath instead as he found exactly where he needed to be. At the very instant they joined together, they both stared at each other, silent, as heat and friction and need intensified with every long, slow stroke of his body in hers.
She turned her head from side to side as pleasure overtook her, closing her eyes and biting back a noisy reaction to the perfect connection they’d found. But John never closed his eyes. This close, his vision was flawless…and so was she.
Finally, his brain was wiped clean, and all he could do was feel. The heat and the silk and the pressure and the tension and the need that took him right to the edge, where he stayed, suspended in sustained pleasure, until she caught up to him.
Then, still lost in each other’s gaze, she let go in a raw, ragged, uncontrolled release, and John followed a second or two later.
As the exquisite moment passed, he lowered himself completely, wrapping Summer into him to enjoy the way her body quivered with the aftermath of making love. Too exhausted to move or talk, they stayed still and silent except for the sounds of their breathing. The soft snores of Mav came through the baby monitor she’d carried in.
The baby monitor.
And of course, everything came crashing back.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, placing a tender hand on his cheek.
“Nothing.”
“You tensed up.”
“Aftershock,” he murmured, kissing her hair. “Very high on the Richter scale, too.”
Drawing back, she forced his gaze on her. “I don’t even quite remember what we were saying in there.”
“Summer, we just made love.”
She smiled. “Yeah. We did. I liked it.”
“So think about that, not anything else.”
“I can’t help it. I said things…”
“Shh.” He brushed her hair back. “You were having a conversation with your five-year-old. I’m not going to hold you to anything you said.”
He would, however, be sure to protect his heart, which, at that moment, was wretchedly vulnerable. He’d already lost one woman because he’d thought the noble thing to do was step back and wait for her to decide what she wanted—and he wasn’t interested in doing that again.
Except, if she wanted this Travis guy to be—
“She’s fallen hard for you, I think.”
He smiled. “One Jackson girl down, one more to go.”
She arched into him. “I’d say you got that one, too.”
In bed. But would that be enough? He already knew it wouldn’t. He already knew he wanted her to stay and be in his life and—
“There you go, getting tense again.”
He laughed. “I didn’t move a muscle.”
“Your brain is moving. I can see it when it happens. Your eyes change. They narrow when you’re thinking hard, then your jaw clenches.”
“I have a beard. You can’t see my jaw.”
“I can see plenty. I can…” She ran her hand over his arm and nestled it around his neck. “I can feel what you feel.”
He stared at her for a long time, imagining how she’d react if he told her how he truly felt about her. Would it scare her or bring her closer?
Now might be the time to take that chance. Why not just tell her and get this out in the open?
“If you can feel what I feel, then you’d know that I—”
They both jumped when Maverick barked, the sound deep and loud through the monitor.
“Oh.” Summer sat up. “When he barks, it usually means Destiny’s asleep. That’s when I go get him and bring him down. Should I…”
“Hush, puppy.” Destiny’s tiny voice came through the speaker, silencing Summer. “Mommy will take you away.”
“You think she’s asleep,” John joked. “But she’s so on to you.”
Summer fell back onto the pillow. “She’s awake.”
“Should I go? Will she want to come in here?”
“Not usually. But I might have to go—”
Mav barked again.
“Should I get him?” John asked.
“Wait…she was really tired. She won’t come in here, though. I’ll have to—”
“Hush, little puppy, don’t you cry…” Destiny’s singing echoed, making them both smile.
“I sing this one to her,” Summer said. “But no guarantee you’ll get the real lyrics.”
“We are never gonna say bye-bye,” she crooned.
They both laughed softly.
“She really should be a songwriter or a poet,” John said.
“We’re gonna live together soon…” The next line was muffled by Summer moving and getting out of bed.
“Are you going to her?” John asked, missing her warmth already.
“I want to turn this down.”
“Why? It’s adorable. And you can hear if she needs anything.”
Her finger hovered over volume button. “When Mommy marries John!” She finished with typical Destiny high-note drama.
For a second, they were silent, and Summer was just far enough away in a dark room that he couldn’t quite make out her expression, but he heard the sigh she let out.
“She’s just a kid, Summer,” he said. “Don’t go having some kind of guilt trip over it or me.”
She lowered the volume, but left the monitor on, coming back to bed with slow, tentative moves.
“So, you can feel what I feel, too,” she whispered. “You know that hearing her say that makes me feel guilty.”
“Of course it does. You think you’re going to disappoint her.” Or me.
She searched his face, melting into him with a soft moan. “So much for a sweet post-lovemaking conversation.”
“Hush, puppy,” he teased, caressing her back with long, steady strokes. “It was very sweet. She’s a little kid on a summer vacation with a new furry friend, and I am, God help me for saying this, a nice man who’s spending a lot of time with her single mom. What do you expect her to think? It doesn’t mean anything.”
But even as he said the words, he knew it
meant something. Hell, it meant everything.
Summer, and Destiny, meant way too much to him. This made no sense to a man who lived as logically as he did.
“You’re right,” Summer said, cuddling closer. “Please stay with me tonight.”
As if there was any chance he’d say no to that. “I’ll leave when Mav barks for the six a.m. visit to the grass.”
She let out a little whimper of satisfaction. “You weren’t kidding about nice, you know. That was…beyond nice. That was…” She bit her lip. “The first time in a long time for me.”
“Second time’ll be even nicer.”
She looked up at him, just enough moonlight through the blinds for him to see the desire in her eyes. “Looking forward to it.”
“Me, too.” He kissed her, closing his eyes and still hearing the echo of Destiny’s song in his head.
When Mommy marries John.
It was his last thought before he fell asleep and still there when he woke in the middle of the night and made love to her again.
Chapter Twenty-one
Taking her first weekday off since she’d started working at Santorini’s nearly three weeks earlier, Summer planned a nice long afternoon in Bitter Bark. After she and John dropped Destiny off, Summer had slipped away on foot to run a few errands in town. She’d gotten a pedicure, and was now crossing Bushrod Square, soaking up the sunshine and peace of the park. She let out a sigh at the thought of leaving this precious town tucked in the foothills, full of dogs and family and…John. Everything gave her a bittersweet sense of longing lately, although she wasn’t exactly sure what she was longing for.
More time here? Maybe.
She was far too aware that Tails and Trails was over this weekend, and she and Destiny would have no real reason to stay in Bitter Bark. John hadn’t hired a full-time hostess yet, but Summer couldn’t do the job if Destiny wasn’t in camp during the day. Staying an extra day or a few more weeks would make leaving only that much harder.
The past few weeks had been filled with laughter, good food, evenings in the yard with Des, late nights by the fire pit, and then hours and hours of making love until the sun came up. There’d been meals at Waterford Farm and a wonderful couples-only dinner at Overlook Glen Vineyards. That night, Summer had a chance to really get to know John’s brother, sister, stepcousins, and all the significant others while Pru, along with Daniel and Katie, babysat all the little ones.
Hush, Puppy Page 23