CHAPTER FOURTEEN #2
“Phew, that’s a relief.” She swiped her hand across her brow and blew out an exaggerated breath. “Because, Eddie, I love you, too. I always have.”
Without a single word, he yanked her against him, wrapped his arms around her, and proceeded to kiss the stuffing out of her.
Years of longing exploded between them, turning it into the most potent kiss she’d ever experienced.
His hands slid down her back. He cupped her butt cheeks and lifted her up onto the counter without breaking their kiss.
They’d always had a very physical and passionate relationship, but Lucia had tried desperately to forget what it felt like to be held by him, to be kissed by him, and to make love to him.
But all of those feelings she’d tried for years to deny, all of the hunger that had always been between them, returned in a wave of heat that scorched through her body.
He framed her face with his hands and turned her head to deepen the kiss. The warm breath from his nose brushed across her cheek. He was devouring her, and she was letting him.
“You’re kissing my mom.” Isabella’s voice was like a needle scratching across a record.
Lucia dragged her mouth from his and opened her eyes. She stroked her fingers across her tingling lips and tried to get her breathing under control. He stepped back, helped her hop down from the counter, and they faced her little girl.
Isabella focused her attention on Eddie, and for some strange reason, Lucia felt the urge to defend him.
“We kissed each other.” Eddie spoke first. “Because when two people love each other, they like to kiss.”
“You love my mom?” She tilted her head to one side, analyzing his sincerity.
“I love your mom very much.” He circled his arm around the back of Lucia’s waist.
Her gaze swept from Eddie to her mom.
“Do you love him, too?” She pointed at Eddie.
“I do love him, very much.” Lucia smiled up at him and leaned into his side to emphasize the point.
“You okay with that?” he asked her daughter.
“Sure.” She gave a dismissive, one-shoulder shrug. “Can I eat my peanut butter jelly sammich now?”
“May I,” Lucia corrected her.
“May I eat my peanut butter jelly sammich now?”
“Did you wash your hands?” Lucia asked.
“Uh-huh.” She lifted her hands and turned them.
“Then, yes, you may eat your sandwich.”
She strolled over and climbed into her regular seat. She sat on her knees and leaned forward with her elbows on the counter. Her long, wet hair lay against her back and had soaked the middle of her shirt.
“Mom told me you’re allergic to strawberries, so I made it with blackberry jam.” Eddie nodded once toward the plastic cup in front of her. “And there’s some milk there for you, too.”
“Thank you.” She picked up a piece of her sandwich and took a big bite.
Viking, Hawk, and Boone ambled into the kitchen from the garage. All three sets of eyes dropped to where Eddie had his arm around her.
“’Bout time, dude,” Boone mumbled as he walked by on his way to the fridge.
He swung the door open and filled his arms with a couple of packages of lunch meat, three kinds of cheese, pickles, condiments, and lettuce, and set all of them on the island.
Hawk and Viking reheated some leftovers, filled their plates, and settled into chairs around Isabella.
He snagged the loaf of bread from in front of Eddie. He laid a few slices out on the cutting board and started building two mile-high sandwiches.
In between patrolling the property and watching over them, these folks were either in the home gym lifting weights or outside, on long runs.
She had no idea how they managed that in the south Texas heat, but it explained how they were able to take in an amount of food in three days that she and Isabella could live off of for a month.
Eddie kissed Lucia on the temple, held out a chair for her, then sat next to her.
They all sat around the island, eating their lunch, talking about neutral topics that were kid-friendly.
The entire time, Eddie stroked his hand up and down her thigh beneath the counter, getting her all hot and bothered. Their kiss seemed to have unleashed some kind of dormant lust, and she had to concentrate just to taste her food.
Isabella chattered their ears off about wanting a kitty, but her mom wouldn’t let her have a kitty, how she wanted them to watch her swim, and then she casually tossed out how she saw her mom kissing Eddie.
They stopped mid-chew, and their heads all lifted to look at them. Every single one had some form of a smirk on their face.
“Mom was kissing Eddie, huh?” Boone grinned.
“Yeah.” Isabella nodded. “But I said it was okay.”
“That was nice of you.” Hawk lifted his sandwich to his mouth to hide a smile.
A deep chuckle rumbled up from Viking’s chest, but he didn’t say anything.
Unused to having her personal life be the topic of such casual conversation, Lucia became suddenly interested in the pattern on the plate in front of her as her face heated.
Eddie winked at her and gave her hand a comforting squeeze.
The big front door swung open, and the alarm beeped. Cole stepped into the large foyer and wiped his boots on the mat.
Lucia was proud of herself for not flinching. She considered that a victory, since she’d been a jumpy mess ever since the day they left the school.
Being around these brave, incredible people had given her a level of comfort and peace that couldn’t be measured.
“Mark not coming in?” Eddie asked.
He’d mentioned a bit ago that Cole caught a ride to the Border Patrol office with Mark. They wanted to talk with the commander about his rogue employee.
“He needed to get back to the office.” Cole booped Isabella’s nose as he walked by.
She giggled and even blushed.
Lucia would have to deal with her daughter’s emotional fallout when all of these people returned to Virginia. She was slammed by the sudden realization that Eddie would be leaving, too.
As if sensing her unease, he turned to her and winked.
She forced a smile and took a bite of pasta salad.
Could fate be so cruel as to bring them back together, only to rip them apart again?
“I just spoke with Lucas. He and Calliope are going to pick up Caleb, then grab some lunch.” Cole moved to the sink, flipped on the faucet, and washed his hands.
“How’d it go with Border Patrol?” Eddie took a bite of the leftover enchiladas his mother made for his team.
“Commander Jacobs confirmed that the new surveillance cameras are in place and operational. Luna now has twenty-four seven direct access and is using facial recognition software to help identify Munoz.” He shook water from his hands and dried them with a paper towel.
Then he moved over to the island and started building himself a sandwich.
“If he crosses the border at that station, she’ll get an alert and will let us know. ”
“I think it’s more a case of when he crosses the border.” Eddie set his fork on his plate.
“Agreed.” Cole plopped a thick piece of tomato on top of the tower of lunch meat and cheese and topped it with a slice of bread.
Isabella didn’t need to hear all of this, so Lucia came up with the perfect distraction.
“Isabella, how ’bout we go in the movie room and I’ll let you pick out the movie you want to watch.” Lucia wiped her napkin over her mouth, slid her chair back, and picked up her plate.
“Can we make popcorn?” The little girl finished the last of her milk and dragged her forearm over her mouth.
“Isabella, please use your napkin.” Lucia shook her head. “And you just had lunch.” Her daughter was either going through another growth spurt, or all of that pool time was increasing her appetite.
“But I have room for popcorn right here.” She lifted the bottom of her T-shirt just enough to expose her tummy and pointed at a spot next to her belly button. “See?”
Everyone laughed.
“Okay, you can have popcorn.” Lucia had learned to pick her battles. Arguing over popcorn wasn’t one she chose to have.
“Yay!” Isabella looked at all of the people around here. “Do you guys want to watch a movie with us?”
“Maybe in a little while.” Cole rubbed his hand over the top of her head. “I need to talk to these guys about boring work stuff.”
“Honey, throw your plate in the garbage and go wash your hands in the bathroom by the movie room. You can pick a movie from the ones on the list.” She rinsed her plate and set it in the dishwasher. “I’ll be there as soon as I make the popcorn.”
“Bye!” Isabella stuffed her paper plate in the trash, gave them a little wave, and dashed down the hall.
Lucia heard her daughter singing a familiar tune about wanting to build a snowman and knew exactly which movie she was going to pick.
She grabbed a bag of popcorn from the walk-in pantry, stuck it in the microwave, and turned it on. Kernels popped, and the air was filled with the yummy smell of popcorn. What was it about popcorn that made it impossible to turn down?
Beep. Beep. Beep.
She grabbed the corner of the bag, tore it open, and shook it into a bowl.
“I’ll leave you all to it.” Lucia started to turn away.
Eddie grabbed her hand to stop her. He stood. Then right there in front of everyone, he pulled her in and kissed her. He released her and sat back down, casual as you please. “I’ll be in when we’re done here.”
Lucia was dazed and could only nod before leaving to join her daughter.