Homecoming (Downeast #1)

Chapter 9

Chapter

Nine

When he got back to Bertha’s, he was surprised to find Kara still asleep. Before her pregnancy, she’d rarely slept past nine o’clock, even on a day off. Now, she couldn’t seem to get enough sleep. He kissed her forehead and left her to rest.

“Hey.”

Dan winced over having woken her and returned to stretch out next to her. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I need to get up.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s what people do in the morning.”

“I hate to tell you it’s afternoon now, and pregnant people can sleep the day away if they wish to.”

“Lying around in bed makes the exhaustion worse sometimes.” She reached over to link her fingers with his. “How’d it go in court?”

“Mixed bag. They were held without bail, but I’m working on that for Kirby. The good news is that Matt showed up to represent Keith and completely humiliated himself in front of the judge. I quite enjoyed that.”

“He does real estate stuff mostly. He’s got no business defending anyone.”

“Oh, I know. That quickly became apparent. And get this, he suggested we work together because, and I quote, ‘We’re on the same side in this.’”

“Stop it. What’d you say? Don’t leave anything out.”

“I told him that he and I would never be on the same side of anything. Then I thanked him—and his wife—for being lying, cheating assholes because their actions sent you to Gansett, where we found each other. I told him you’re the best thing to ever happen to me, and I said he can fuck off.”

“I’ve never been hotter for you than I am right now.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah. On fire, baby.”

He moved closer to her and put an arm around her. “We should do something about that.”

“Not in my grandmother’s home.”

“She would approve.”

“She probably would, but I still don’t think I can.”

“We should try. Just so you’ll know for sure.”

“You’re shameless.”

“My baby mama is on fire for me. What would you do if you were me?”

“I need to brush my teeth.”

“Be quick about it. I’m already halfway to the finish line.”

She glanced down at the bulge in his pants. “You’re so easy.”

“Move it or lose it.”

“You say that as if it’ll actually go away when we both know it won’t.”

He loved her sassy mouth almost as much as he adored her sharp wit, her intelligence and sexy body. Her sassiness was next level, though, and sparring with her had become his favorite activity, second only to making sweet love with her.

While she was gone, he shed the suit and stripped down to his boxer briefs. He lay on his side, head propped on his upturned hand as he waited for her.

She returned to bed wearing only a T-shirt and a big smile on her gorgeous face, which was glowing from her morning ritual of creams and potions.

Dan held out a hand to her. “I look at you and I wonder every day what I did to get so lucky.”

“You drove me crazy for weeks, bothering me until I gave in and took mercy on you.”

He laughed as he wrapped his arms around her. “I was charming you. How quickly you forget.”

“Your version of charm resembled a battering ram.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is, but I’m thankful my prickliness never drove you away, because I would’ve hated to miss what we’ve become.”

“I love you so much. All the time. But when you say things like that…” He placed her hand over his heart. “It hits me right here in all the feels.”

“You really told Matt to fuck off?”

“I really did.”

She slid her hand down his chest, over his abdomen and into his briefs to stroke his hard cock. “That makes me hotter for you than I’ve ever been.”

“Is that right? Tell me all about it.”

As she stroked him to the point of madness, she said, “I’m picturing him going home to Kelly and telling her how mean old Dan told him to fuck off when he suggested they work together. And then I’m picturing Kelly, thinking about you telling me what you said, and it’s just the best thing ever.”

“My vindictive little she-cat. You’re so sexy when you’re mean.”

Kara laughed. “I’m never mean until their names are mentioned.”

“They gave you good reason to be.”

“Mmm, and you… You’re my sweet revenge.”

“Yes, I am, and you’re mine.” He kissed her as fiercely as he ever did these days, always mindful of her pregnancy. She told him she didn’t want him to be careful with her, but he couldn’t help it. She was the most precious thing in the world to him, and he’d never be anything other than careful with her.

He loved the sound that came from the back of her throat when he removed her T-shirt and sucked on her ultrasensitive nipple. Would it be weird to ask her to record that particular sound so he could listen to it any time he wanted? Probably. Instead, he committed it to memory, so he’d never forget the way she responded to him.

They’d always been hot together, but pregnancy had made it even better. He wouldn’t have thought that was possible until she showed him.

“We need to be quick in case Bertha and Buster take a half day.”

“When was the last time they did that?”

“Never, but there’s always a first time.”

“You’re so cute when you’re worried about your grandmother catching you having sex with your husband.”

“In her house!”

“She loves me. She’d want you to get your groove on with me as often as you can, even in her house.”

“Whatever you say, stud. You’d better get on with it before I change my mind.”

He held himself up on his arms so he wouldn’t put weight on the baby bump and pushed into her, loving the way her eyes rolled back in her head when he filled her. “You’re not going to change your mind.”

“No, I’m not, but I still want to hurry up. I feel like a teenager sneaking around with my boyfriend.”

“Don’t talk about him while your husband is inside you.”

She started to laugh and couldn’t stop.

“And don’t laugh when I’m inside you either!”

That only made her laugh harder.

This called for emergency measures, he thought as he picked up the pace and redirected her attention to the task at hand.

When the laughter stopped and her fingers dug into the muscles of his back, he wanted to let out a victory whoop but knew better than to interrupt the “flow” of things a second time.

The thought nearly made him laugh, but he held it back and doubled down until she cried out from the orgasm that hit her like a bolt of lightning. That was new with her pregnancy—the slow climb had become a far more intense flash point that finished him off every time.

“Holy crap, woman,” he said, panting as he crashed down next to her on the bed. He missed snuggling on top of her afterward and looked forward to the day they could do that again.

She curled up to him, arms and legs around him, smothering him with her sweetness and love.

How had he lived before he’d had her? He could barely remember a time without her. It was like she’d blotted out most of his life before her and given him a fresh new start that he’d badly needed after catching his fiancée in bed with his best man the night before the wedding that hadn’t happened. He rarely thought of either of them now that he had everything with Kara.

“I can’t stop thinking about Kelly hearing you told Matt to fuck off.”

“Maybe he won’t tell her because he’s too humiliated.”

“Oh, he’ll tell her. He records every little slight and never forgets it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you saw her yesterday?”

“Honestly? I never gave it another thought after it happened. It was no big deal.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep. Renata handed her her ass, and it was spectacular.”

“Tell me everything. Leave nothing out.”

As she recited the play-by-play of the encounter with Kelly, her eyes danced with glee when they would’ve been dull with pain only a few years earlier.

He thought she ought to know that, so he told her.

“I really look different when I talk about her?”

“Night and day, babe. You’re full of glee for the retribution rather than aching from the treachery.”

“I feel like a bitch for enjoying the retribution so much.”

“Don’t do that. You deserve every delicious bit of retribution you can find with her.”

“Connor is a cutie. I felt bad acting that way in front of him.”

“You didn’t cause this. His mother did, and he’ll find that out one day and understand why you are the way you are.”

“I’d like to have a relationship with him if it can be separate from his parents. He’s an innocent bystander.”

“Maybe when he’s older, he can come visit us on his own.”

“That’d be fun.”

“He’ll know you. Don’t worry.”

“I want him to know his cousin, too. And speaking of cousins, my sister Kendra invited us to dinner. I’d like to see her and my nieces, if you don’t mind.”

“I’m with you, babe. Whatever you want to do is fine with me.”

“I’ll tell her we’re in.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting her.”

“She was so bummed she couldn’t come to the wedding because both girls were sick.”

“I remember how bummed you were.”

“She’s always been good to me.”

“What’s the age difference between you again?”

“Eight years. She was more like a second mom to me than a sister.”

“Is she close with Kelly?”

“Not really. Kendra was furious about what Kelly and Matt did. There’s no love lost there.”

“I hope it was worth it to Kelly to have Matt after everything she had to give up.”

“She’d never admit that it was anything other than worth it.”

“I told your dad he needs to get Keith a real lawyer before that ‘mall cop’ does more harm than good.”

“You called him a mall cop?” she asked, raising her head off his chest to smile at him.

“I did. That might be giving him too much credit.”

“Just when I think I can’t love you more than I already do…”

“That’s all I gotta do?”

She returned her head to his chest. “That’s it.”

“I’ll see what other ways I can come up with to describe him while we’re here.”

“I look forward to hearing all of them.”

“Dogcatcher?”

“That’s an insult to dogs.”

They laughed—hard.

“I’m so glad you don’t hurt over them anymore,” Dan said. “They don’t deserve it.”

“No, they don’t. I’m not proud of my vindictive streak where they’re concerned, but it is what it is.”

“While they don’t deserve your hurt, they do deserve every bit of vindictiveness we can come up with.

“They sure do.”

Renata got to work twenty minutes late, hoping that would be enough to annoy Myles to the point that he’d keep their interactions to a minimum that day.

No such luck.

When he heard her arrive, he came out of his office, smiling at her with a tall Americano in hand that he placed on her desk. She didn’t have to check to know it’d been made to her exacting specifications with oat milk and frothing.

“Thank you.”

“Everything okay? You’re never late.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It happens.”

“You’re supposed to be pissed when I’m late. Be a normal boss, would you?”

“Why would I get pissed at my most productive, effective employee? The one who keeps the wheels from coming off the bus every day? I don’t care if you’re late.”

“Don’t say that! I’ll take advantage of you.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed hard.

Renata instantly regretted her choice of words, since it seemed he might enjoy that.

“You, um, you wouldn’t do that.”

“Yes, I would, Myles. Quit acting like I’m not capable of bad things.”

“What bad things are you capable of?”

“The same things as anyone else. If my boss tells me he doesn’t care that I’m late, it might become a habit.”

“No, it won’t.”

“You can also quit acting like you know me so well, because you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Shut up and go to work.”

“I have a favor to ask of you, but I’m kind of scared of you right now.”

Renata bared her teeth at him.

The jerk laughed.

“What favor?”

“You can say no if you want to. In fact, I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“Spit it out, Myles. I have shit to do and so do you.”

“My, um… My cousin is getting married next month, and the RSVP deadline is coming up. I’m under tremendous pressure to bring a date. In fact, it’d be good to have a date, so I won’t have to answer questions about why I’m not dating anyone… And, um, I thought if you weren’t doing anything, you might, you know…”

Renata stared at him, shocked to realize he was asking her out in an awkward, bumbling, roundabout sort of way.

“Will you be my plus-one to this wedding, so I can enjoy it without being hassled by large groups of aunts and uncles, who won’t be happy until we’re all married with four kids each?”

Both families were woven into the fabric of the area. Everyone knew his mother was one of fourteen and his father one of eleven. Myles had sixty-two first cousins. She knew that because one of them, Ellery, was her friend. It was hard to find anyone who wasn’t connected to one of them in some way or another.

“Renata?”

She’d zoned out on him while he waited, twisting in the wind, for her to reply to his invitation to attend his cousin’s wedding. Ellery had told her that their cousin Nathan’s wedding would be an extravaganza, with the entire family invited.

“Yes, Myles?” Why did her mouth feel so dry, while the palms of her hands were sweaty? Neither of those things ever happened to her.

He grimaced. “Are you trying to torment me by any chance?”

“Why would I do that?”

“I, um, I don’t know, but it’d be nice if you’d just say, ‘Yes, Myles, I’ll go to the wedding with you,’ or ‘No, thank you, Myles, I can’t make it.’”

“ If I said yes, and that’s a very big if , it’d be a one-time thing as a favor. Nothing more. Am I clear?”

“Yes.”

“And you wouldn’t tell anyone that we’re dating or blow it up to be more than it actually is.”

“Right.”

“You have to swear to God you won’t tell anyone I’m your girlfriend.”

“I swear to God I won’t do that.”

“No matter how many aunts pressure you for details, you won’t share any because there are none to share.”

His lips quivered with the start of laughter.

“What’s so funny?”

“You are.”

If she asked him to elaborate, that’d be encouraging the continuation of an excruciating conversation that she desperately wanted out of. However, she was too curious not to ask, “Why am I funny?”

“You’re terrified of anyone thinking we might be a real couple.”

“Because we’re not a real couple.”

“Yes, I know. Any other conditions?”

“There’d be absolutely no dating privileges of any kind.”

He sat on the corner of her desk, settling in, which wouldn’t do at all.

“Don’t you have work to do?” she asked. “If you don’t, I do.”

“We both do, so let’s complete this negotiation and get on with our day.”

“I haven’t said I’d go with you yet.”

“I’m aware of your lack of confirmation.”

The son of a bitch was enjoying this a little too much. So are you , her brain said. Shut up. No, you shut up.

“Renata?”

Startled out of the fight with herself, she glanced at him and saw that he was watching her with a warm, affectionate look on his face. She didn’t want to encourage that.

“I don’t think I can go with you, but thanks for asking.”

His smile quickly transformed to a frown that reminded her of a little boy who’d dropped his ice cream on the sidewalk.

“Don’t be that way,” she said.

“What way?”

“All sad and pouty. You had to know I was a huge long shot on this favor.”

“I did know that, but I was still hopeful you might remember that time I drove more than an hour—in a snowstorm—to pick you up when your car broke down, or that other time when I fixed the roof on your house when it was raining inside, or that one time when I?—”

“You’ve made your point.” Clearly, she needed to stop calling him when she found herself in a jam. “What’s the dress code for this thing?”

“Formal.”

“Of course it is. Fine. I’ll go. But we are not dating, you will not tell anyone we are, and there’ll be no romantic shit of any kind. Am I clear?”

“Crystal.” He was smiling brightly again. “Thank you for doing this for me. You’re saving my life with the aunts.”

As he walked away, whistling, Renata dropped her head into her hands as she wondered when exactly she’d lost control of that so-called negotiation. It’d been more like bribery. Whatever. She’d go with him to the wedding, keep her distance while they were there and get things back on track afterward by being nothing more than coworkers.

That was all they would ever be, even if he hadn’t figured that out yet.