Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Sven pushed a piece of pepper away from the edge of the cast-iron skillet, wishing he was anywhere other than sitting next to the woman he’d once expected to marry. Maybe if he kept his gaze on his plate and his mouth full of fajitas, Brenna would stop trying to find ways to make him talk to his former girlfriend. He wasn’t interested in getting reacquainted with Christy Rime, his daughter’s favorite person in the whole damn world. She’d left him and he’d given up on love—the romantic kind.
“Do you have plans for Christmas?” His daughter’s question triggered another lead weight sinking into his gut, especially when the ball of tension radiating off their dinner companion wound tighter.
He refused to subject himself to any more of it. “Bee, do you need a box? We should get going. I have paperwork to do yet tonight.”
She aimed a side-eye at him that told him she saw exactly what he was doing to cut the evening short. “Of course. How about you, Christy?”
Their guest gave a curt nod, making her wavy hair slide over her shoulder. “Yes. It was good, but I guess I wasn’t very hungry.”
Don’t look at her.
With more confidence than she’d shown since her injury, Brenna flagged down their waiter and requested boxes and a single check. “Before you protest, this is to thank you for practically giving me your house, the help when I was stuck in the street, the offer to be my OT, for being nice, and a bunch of other stuff. I can never repay you.”
“I did what anybody would do.” Christy shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable with the attention, but that wasn’t why he was staring at her.
I’m weak and a glutton for punishment.
He struggled against the need to contradict her statement, but she truly deserved full credit. “They haven’t done what you have. I’m paying.”
Bee’s smug expression tempted him to leave her holding the bill. His crumbling resolve was all her doing. “You’re right. Thanks, Dad.”
“Thank you.” The quiet acknowledgment brought his focus back to his daughter’s hero. She seemed focused on transferring most of her meal to the box next to her plate, completely unaware of his obsessive need to memorize every little detail about her.
At least he’d finally won a small victory, no small feat given his adversaries. “You’re welcome.”
When they parted at his truck a few minutes later, she hurried toward her car, her loose hair whipping in the cold wind. Once she climbed inside and closed the driver’s door, he set to work helping Brenna into the passenger seat and loading the wheelchair in the bed. The task had become routine during the last several months.
As he rounded the rear bumper, he allowed himself a last look across the parking lot. Brake lights cast a red glow behind Christy’s car, and he waited for a foggy exhale from the tailpipe so he could go home and bury his thoughts in estimates, billing, and payroll—whatever it took to stop thinking about her.
The slow count of thirty passed with no sign of her leaving. Then she opened the door and put her booted feet on the pavement.
He held up his index finger in a just-a-second gesture to Bee and jogged to the far corner of the lot. “Is something wrong?”
Christy growled as she stood. “My car won’t start. I turn the key and nothing happens. Not even a click. It can’t be the battery since I replaced it in April.”
“Sounds like you might have a bad starter.” His still-bitter heart didn’t justify making a woman wait alone in the dark for a tow. He packed up the ache to save for another day. “Come on. We’ll give you a ride and you can call for road service in the morning.”
She pursed her lips, waking the memory of their first real kiss and sending shockwaves through his body. “I’ll walk.”
“Like hell, you will. Creekside isn’t overrun with crime, but it isn’t as safe as it was thirty years ago, especially at night.” He scowled for good measure and crossed his arms in front of his chest. If she sneered at his upcoming ace in the hole, he would resort to a fireman’s carry. “Besides, Bee will hand me my ass on a platter if I let you walk home by yourself.”
Her pretty mouth twitched, a sure sign she was holding in a laugh at his mostly true argument. “Fine.”
He enjoyed the view while she retrieved her purse and the carryout box of leftovers from the other side of the center console. Her reasons for skipping town didn’t matter to his reawakening hormones.
She was here.
He was here.
Picking up where they’d left off didn’t seem like a bad idea. In fact, it sounded better with each passing moment.
“It’s locked up, not that anybody can steal my car very easily. Let’s go before I change my mind.” She walked ahead of him to his pickup and used the running board to claim the seat behind Brenna.
He caught the tail end of her explanation as he slid behind the steering wheel.
His daughter groaned. “That stinks. It’s a good thing we were still here. I bet my dad knows the best garage to have it towed to.”
Christy’s noncommittal hum said she may or may not want or heed his advice.
“So, Dad, would you mind dropping me off first? I got a text from work about a last-minute change to the design my boss is presenting tomorrow morning. I need to send the updated version to her ASAP.”
He shifted into gear and swiveled to look out the back window, hoping for a glimpse of their guest’s reaction. “As long as Ms. Rime isn’t in a hurry.”
Christy rolled her eyes so hard they should’ve landed on the floor. “Not a problem.”
But calling you Ms. Rime instead of Christy is.
She’d started their game of pretend by calling him Mr. Carlsen. Did she expect him to behave like he knew her and blow their cover?
He flipped on his turn signal to exit the parking lot, caught between what he wanted and what was wise. “Work, it is then, Bee.”
“Thanks, Christy. I really appreciate it.” His daughter tapped on the screen of her phone, probably informing her boss to expect an email shortly. Her barely audible sigh set off his protective-father radar. “I think I’ll go to bed after I’m done. My back’s a little tight from the therapy session. I’m not used to the twisting and lifting I did today. Different movement and different muscles.”
Christy leaned forward. “Be sure to do the stretches we talked about. They’ll help reduce the risk of soreness in your lower back until you get in the habit of prep work and cooking from your chair.”
The concern and compassion in her voice tipped the scales a little farther from wisdom, but he didn’t dare use his tendency to hover over Brenna to offset stupidity. She hated when he bulldozed his way into her independence. “Do you have any pain pills left? Just in case.”
“It doesn’t hurt that much.” She slipped her phone into her purse and leaned against the headrest. “It’s just a twinge, Dad. Pinky promise.”
A shot of warmth spread through his chest from the saying she’d made up because preschooler-Brenna had insisted she wasn’t allowed to swear. The occasional curse word had snuck out of his mouth, earning him a reproachful glare from his little girl.
Silence descended during the short drive to the house he’d bought for them when she was six. The good memories had been drowned out by the strain of her accident this year, but they were finally starting to resurface after the interminable hiatus.
He parked in the driveway and left the engine running as he repeated the motions that gave her the freedom to go places and do things again. By the time she let herself in the house and he climbed back in the driver’s side, Christy had moved to the front passenger seat.
Clearing his throat, he sorted through the mish-mash of thoughts and headed along the familiar route to the house she’d grown up in. “She was struggling to make progress before you stopped to help her last week. And now… You have no idea how much it means to her. To me.”
“I think I might. It’s why I love what I do.” She didn’t look his direction, but her reflection in the window next to her didn’t give even a hint of what was going on in her head. She hadn’t always been so closed up to him.
“Well, you’re very good at it.” As much as he’d like to ask her to stay in Creekside for his daughter’s sake, he wasn’t that much of a masochist. Being near her made him remember how good they’d been together and for each other.
And I still feel something for her, even after she went away without telling me why.
His grief and disappointment had faded somewhat during dinner, slowly being replaced by hope for a chance to rekindle their relationship. Was he an idiot for thinking it was possible?
Too soon, the half-mile drive ended at the darkest spot on the street. No light illuminated the front porch and no window glowed from within.
He shut off the engine and unbuckled his seatbelt. “I’ll walk you to the door.”
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine.” Despite her frequent use of the word, she didn’t seem fine to him. She was tense and standoffish and too willing to depend only on herself.
“Humor me.” He climbed out before she could argue and stalked around the front end to help her down. “Give me your hand. There’s a big crack in the blacktop below the running board.”
She glanced at him with something that resembled fear.
Why was everything so damn difficult between them now?
Swallowing the urge to give up, he reached out to her. “I was also hoping we could talk.”
“We talked while we were eating.” The set of her jaw reminded him how she would resort to logic whenever they’d disagreed about even the smallest thing.
He sucked in a deep breath and took the biggest chance of his life. “We’ve never talked about why I couldn’t go with you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Didn’t.”
“What?” He waited for her to explain the confusing retort.
“ Didn’t go with me, not couldn’t.” Judging by her tone, her hackles were raised and extra stabby.
“How would you know since you didn’t let me tell why I couldn’t ?” Out of patience, he scooped her up, shoved the door closed with his hip, and marched along the sidewalk to the steps.
“Put me down.” Her low growl might’ve scared a guy who didn’t know she wouldn’t hurt a fly.
When she tried to wiggle free, he tightened his hold on her. “After you agree to have a conversation with me about this. I’m tired of wondering what the hell happened that you wouldn’t give me five minutes to tell you my mom had been diagnosed with cancer.”
She froze, the fight going out of her in an instant. “Oh my god, is she okay? She didn’t…”
He lowered her to the porch floor and lit up the doorknob and deadbolt with his phone’s flashlight, but he readied his booted foot in case she tried to close the door in his face. “Unlock it. I’ll answer you once we’re inside.”
“You know I can just ask Brenna.” After a few seconds of fiddling with her key, she turned the knob and motioned for him to go first. A lamp came on in the living room when she swept her hand along the wall.
“Are you ready to tell her our history? Because she’ll figure it out. She’s smart like that.” He grasped her hand, tugged her in behind him, and closed out the cold. The same electrical charge zapped his fingers, even though he was prepared for it. “Mom’s been cancer-free since about a year after the diagnosis. The doctor caught it early. Still, I was scared to death. I needed to be here, and you wanted me to leave. What was I supposed to do? I’d always known I could depend on you, but then you walked away. I felt like you abandoned me.”
Finally being able to share his side of the story and to let her know how deeply she’d hurt him brought relief. The flash of grief on her face didn’t bring the satisfaction he’d hoped it would.
She wilted against him, all the indignation and hostility gone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Her body molded to his as he wrapped his arms around her. The simple apology cleared away the haze he’d lived in for so long, and he tucked a finger under her chin to meet her gaze. Words of forgiveness stuck in his throat at the sight of her parted lips. Unable to resist, he pressed a gentle kiss to the mouth he’d loved to worship.
She chased him when he eased back, dragging him closer for another light touch and then another.
He cupped her cheek and surrendered to a deeper kiss, tangling his tongue with hers. She tasted sweet from the bite of churro she’d eaten for dessert, but the kiss was an irresistible combination of pure sin and absolute heaven. How many times had he dreamed of this moment?
Too many to count, that was for damn sure.
Her fingers tunneled under his shirt, singeing the skin she made contact with a few inches above his button fly. His dick hardened in the snug confines of his jeans. It wasn’t in the mood for teasing. Then she palmed his length, pouring fuel on the raging fire she’d lit.
He broke the kiss and buried his face in her neck. “I missed you.”
When he nibbled a path to her ear, she arched closer. “I need to feel you.”
A groan rumbled out of his throat as his cock pulsed in an attempt to give her what she wanted, what they both wanted. He hoisted her off the ground and carried her down the dark hall to her bedroom, where they’d fumbled through gifting their virginity to each other at seventeen.
Thin slivers of light filtered through the closed blinds, casting shadowy stripes across the twin bed he aimed for. He lowered her to the comforter, switched on the lamp, and stripped off the layers above his waist.
Her sweater, leggings, and everything underneath landed on the floor while he removed his boots. She stared up at him with her smooth skin and soft curves on full display.
Breathtaking.
He swallowed the compliment, not wanting to do anything to break the spell they’d created.
Condom.
His heart pounded in his chest as he finished unfastening the last button and reached for his back pocket. Thank god, he always kept a fresh one in his wallet, not that he’d needed protection for almost a decade. A single stupid decision had taught him the replacement lesson well.
He pulled the foil packet from the money slot and performed a thorough inspection. Thankfully, the wrapper showed no signs of wear and tear.
She traced the trail of hair leading into his jeans, making his abs tense and his erection work harder to free itself. Her fingertips caressed his hipbones when she pushed the denim and his boxer briefs downward. Only the incredible elation at being touched by her after all this time stopped him from taking over the task and getting down to business. If she wanted to undress him, he would willingly submit to it.
At her prompting, he stepped out of his jeans and underwear, leaving them both naked. Her nipples puckered in the cool air. Or maybe she was remembering how he used to lick and suck them until she begged him to love her hard and fast. The F-word hadn’t been part of her vocabulary, but loving her described their physical relationship far more accurately.
She reached out to him as she lay back on the tiny bed.
It was an invitation he couldn’t refuse. He didn’t care about risking his heart again for such a priceless opportunity. The memory of their intimate reunion would last a lifetime, no matter how much time they had together.
Condom first.
Stretching out beside her, he linked his fingers with hers and leaned in to kiss her, first with a light touch and then with all the emotion he’d bottled up over the years. Each desperate stroke of her tongue added to the instant heat lying skin to skin with her created.
When she let him up for air, he nuzzled her throat and licked a path toward her breasts. The gentle swell of their fullness drew him down her body to the tight buds he longed to taste. He circled the left tip with his tongue and the right with his finger before closing his lips around her nipple and sucking on her flesh.
Her breath hitched, encouraging him to continue his exploration. “More.”
The huskiness of her voice went straight to his dick, but he focused on pleasuring her with his hands and mouth.
She clutched at his head, digging her short fingernails of one hand into his scalp as she whimpered. Her other hand glided from his bicep to his upper back. “I need you.”
But do you want me? And for how long?
Those were the million-dollar questions he shouldn’t even be asking.
He flicked across the taut tip in his mouth and released it to scoot down to her belly. If his time with her was limited, he would damn well enjoy every second of it. “Soon.”
His exploration continued over more of her silky skin and toward a tastier treat than the churros they ordered. The sweet scent of desire coaxed him to the end of the bed to settle between her gorgeous thighs. He pressed a dozen kisses from her knee to the edge of her dark curls and blew a warm breath over his intended target.
“ Please .” She shifted her hips, finding his chin instead of his lips.
There’s the magic word.
He closed his mouth over her for the ultimate kiss and swept his tongue through her wetness. Near the top, he found her clit, ready and waiting for him. A few seconds of intense flutters earned him the reaction he wanted—an orgasm paired with a high-pitched cry. A quick switch to hard sucking prolonged the spasms and triggered a choked scream.
Her legs trembled as he kissed her inner thighs. Tiny tremors pulsed through her body on his return trip to her stomach, her nipples, and finally her parted lips.
Positioning his sheathed cock at her entrance, he locked his gaze on her hers. “Are you sure?”