“Hello…” Dixie waved her hand in front of Sarah’s face, snapping her from her horny ruminations and bringing her attention back to their conversation. “Wow, you’ve got the look in your eyes that Bullet has when he’s staring at Finlay, and Bones isn’t even in the room.”
Finlay and Bullet had just returned from their honeymoon. The girls had spent the first twenty minutes of their lunch date poring over their honeymoon pictures. They’d gone to Elpitha Island, just off the coast of North Carolina. The island had no cars, and the girls roared at pictures of Bullet riding a ten-speed bicycle. Tinkerbell was in nearly every picture with them, and in each and every one, Bullet and Finlay were holding hands, kissing, or touching in some way. Sarah’s mind had tiptoed into dangerous territory, wondering what it might be like to have that type of alone time with Bones—if she weren’t pregnant. Would they be all over each other? Would we ever leave the bedroom?
Finlay glanced over her shoulder at Bullet, standing behind the bar talking with Jed.
Bullet looked over and lifted his chin. “Need me, lollipop?”
“Always,” Finlay said sweetly, then turned back to the girls and said, “I think Sarah has a bad case of Whiskey fever.”
Dixie rolled her eyes. “That’s not even a thing.”
Crystal, Gemma, and Finlay gave her disbelieving looks and said in unison, “Oh, yes, it is.”
“I don’t have Whiskey fever,” Sarah insisted. “It’s pregnancy hormones.”
“Mm-hm.” With a flick of her chin, Crystal sent her jet-black hair away from her face, revealing her mischief-filled blue eyes. “And when’s the last time you fed those pregnancy hormones?”
“You don’t want to know,” Sarah mumbled, thinking back to the night she’d gotten pregnant and the horrific night that followed a few weeks later. If she were honest with herself, she couldn’t remember ever having fed her emotions or her hormones except with Bones. Maybe at first it was like that with Lewis, but it had never been the feverish, bone-deep desires and emotions she felt with Bones. She’d never known a relationship could be as warm and wonderful as it was sensual and thrilling.
Isabel’s eyes widened. “That long? Have you moved into your new bedroom yet, because, you know…?”
She’d spent several nights thinking about what you know might be like when they had privacy. “The basement carpeting was just installed. Scott’s home now meeting the furniture delivery guys, and my bedroom should be all set up by tonight.” For now the kids would share their current bedroom, Sarah would take Scott’s room, and Scott would move downstairs. Once the baby was born, it would sleep in her room so he or she didn’t wake the other kids.
“Are you excited?” Gemma asked.
Isabel pushed her short dark hair behind her ear and said, “I sure would be. I can’t imagine sharing a bedroom with kids all the time. I mean, how do you flick the bean when you get the urge?”
“Izzy!” Finlay scolded, her cheeks pinking up as badly as Sarah was sure her own were.
“Oh my gosh, you guys…” Until Bones had come along, she hadn’t flicked her bean since before she’d met Lewis. But she swore every breath Bones took had a direct line to her very lonely bean. Thank goodness for the privacy of showers. But she wasn’t about to say that in the presence of Isabel and Dixie, who were as open about sex as Finlay was about adoring Bullet.
“What?” Isabel said with a laugh. “You’re married to a guy who asked you if you wanted to take a ride on the Bullet Train and this embarrasses you?”
“Shh!” Finlay covered her face, making everyone laugh.
Gemma rolled her eyes and said, “Seriously, Sarah. Are you excited to finally have your own room?”
Sarah was as excited as she was nervous about their new accommodations. Mostly because of the possibilities of…you know. Although she wasn’t quite sure how she’d navigate that with Scott around or how she felt about Scott knowing about her sex life, because he’d know exactly why Bones was staying over. “It’s going to be strange after sleeping in the same room as the kids for so long.”
“No, it’s going to feel amazing, because then you and Bones will have a place to bone,” Crystal said with a wink.
“Can we please not talk about my brother boning anyone?” Dixie leaned back in her chair, crossing her long legs and kicking her high-heeled foot up and down.
“Yes, please,” Sarah begged, glad for the reprieve from embarrassment. She was one hundred percent certain that if—when, because she really wanted to—she and Bones did have sex, it wouldn’t be boning.
“Sure,” Gemma said. “How’s this? Sarah, you and Bones will have a place to retire behind closed doors for a sweet evening of sharing secrets.”
“And boning,” Crystal added with a smirk.
Dixie swatted her.
“You’re just jealous because you’re having a dry spell,” Isabel teased.
All the girls looked at Dixie.
“You try hooking up with a bunch of burly buttheads watching over you,” Dixie said.
“So bang Scott,” Crystal said. “He’s gorgeous, and you’re always hanging out with him anyway.”
Sarah cringed. “Stop. Not that I mind the idea of Dixie and Scott, but it would be weird for either of us to…you know…with both of us living there. It would be so obvious.”
“I’m not going to bang Scott,” Dixie said so loud Bullet looked over and said, “Damn right you’re not.”
Dixie flipped him off.
“Scott’s a grown man,” Isabel said, turning the conversation back to Sarah. “He gets laid like everyone else. He knows you and Bones need intimate time alone, and I’m sure he won’t care. It’s not like he’s going to listen at the door.”
“Ohmygod. That’s a thought I didn’t need.” Sarah slumped a little lower in her seat.
Scott had told her more than once that he really liked Bones. He’d even gone so far as to say he approved of him for his little sister. They’d had a good laugh about the little part when Scott had patted her belly. She knew he’d respect their privacy. The truth was, even though she dreamed about making love with Bones and fantasized about doing all sorts of naughty things to his hard body, and him to hers, she was extremely nervous about it. It was one thing to want someone and quite another to try to figure out how to make love with a burgeoning baby bump. She didn’t imagine it would be very sexy. Not to mention the fact that she’d never truly made love with anyone in her life. What if everything she did was off?
“Seriously, you and Bones need alone time,” Crystal said adamantly. “Bear said Bones was all twitchy at the club meeting Monday night.”
Bones had texted her a few times from the meeting, checking on the kids, telling her he missed her and that he wished he was there with them instead of at the meeting. Everything he did pushed the worries that had plagued her farther away.
“He was probably exhausted from sleeping with my children Saturday night and from them laying all over him Sunday afternoon,” she said. “Lila fell asleep on his chest when he was reading on the couch, and he refused to put her in the crib. He was afraid she’d wake up and not go back to sleep. He worries so much about her, and I swear he checked Bradley’s temperature—casually kissing his forehead, as if I didn’t know what he was doing—at least a dozen times over the weekend.”
Gemma sighed. “Isn’t that the best? You can’t fault a guy for loving children.”
“Especially when they’re not his. He turns me into a swoony mess when he’s sweet with them like that,” Sarah admitted, but she kept silent about what else it did to her. She’d wanted to rip his clothes off, but the best they could do was duck into the laundry room while the kids watched television for a few minutes of making out and heavy petting. Goose bumps rose on her arms just thinking about his hard heat pressing into her thigh and how badly she’d wanted it in her hands, her mouth, her body.
“Scott did great babysitting. Can’t he watch them overnight?” Gemma asked.
&
nbsp; “He can, but I hate putting that responsibility on him, and I’ve never left them overnight.”
“Never?” Gemma asked.
Sarah shook her head. “Our lives were never conducive to date nights or anything like that. I had never even been on a real date before the night Bones took me out.”
The girls went wide-eyed with astonishment.
“When are you and Bones going out again?” Crystal asked.
“He’s volunteering at the Parkvale Women’s Shelter Saturday evening, and he asked me out for afterward. I’d really like to volunteer with him, but Scott’s got something going on and I haven’t asked Babs if she can babysit yet.”
“Forget Babs,” Finlay said. “We’ll watch them overnight. Bullet and I want to start a family soon. What better way to prepare than to babysit?”
“Really?” Sarah asked. “I can’t put you guys out like that. You’re fresh off your honeymoon, and the kids are major sexy-stuff blockers.”
“Have you seen my man with Gemma’s kids?” Finlay said. “Children are about the only thing he likes more than sex.”
“TMI,” Dixie chimed in, earning an eye roll from Finlay.
“Bear and I can help,” Crystal said. “We can stay overnight.”
“I’m working,” Isabel said. “Otherwise I’d offer to help.”
“Tru and I can come over with the kids for a little while so Bradley and Kennedy can play,” Gemma offered.
“Wait a second,” Dixie interrupted. “There’s no way any of you are going to fit sleeping on a couch with either of your ginormous men. I’ll stay overnight with the kids. Gemma can bring her kids over to play,” she said to Gemma. “And the rest of y’all can come hang out, but you don’t have to sleep over.”
“I appreciate all of this, but it feels funny,” Sarah said. “Like I’m planning to jump his bones or something.”
“Well, yeah,” Crystal said with a laugh. “That’s the point, isn’t it?”
“Sometimes you have to plan.” Gemma touched Sarah’s hand and said, “Especially with little ones around.”
Laughter burst from Finlay’s lips, and she covered her mouth, her gaze darting around the table. “Sorry,” she said from behind her hand. “I just realized Dixie is the one complaining about knowing what you want to do with her brother and she’s the one who’s babysitting.”
“They’re sharing secrets, remember?” Dixie snapped.
“Text Bones,” Finlay said excitedly. “Tell him you’re on for Saturday night. He’s going to be so pumped!”
Sarah nervously sent him a message. Dixie is going to watch the kids Saturday so I can go out with you, but I’d like to also go with you to volunteer at the shelter if you don’t mind. She decided to leave out the part about Dixie offering to stay overnight, because come hell or high water, she was going to share her real secrets with Bones Saturday night, and she wasn’t sure he’d want to continue seeing her afterward. At least this way if they broke up she could wallow in sadness alone for a few hours before being Mommy again.
After ironing out details so Sarah and Bones could share secrets, Finlay guided the conversation back to the reason they were there, planning the birthday party for Bones and Lila. While the girls discussed balloons, cakes, and games, Sarah thought about her impending date with Bones. Her heart hurt even thinking about the possibility that he might not want to see her anymore after she told him the rest of her story, but every time she tried to tell him—and there had been many times—she’d given in to wanting just one more hour, one more night, with him. She’d played the procrastination game long enough. The guilt was eating away at her.
It was time to come clean, even if it meant losing him.
Chapter Fourteen
BONES HAD BEEN volunteering at the Parkvale Women’s Shelter for years, and although it was on the outskirts of a seedy area, he’d never been nervous about going there. The brick building was beside a gas station on a side street and looked more like a two-story apartment complex than a shelter. It was monitored twenty-four seven, and police made regular rounds in the area. There hadn’t been any incidents at the shelter for a very long time, and there shouldn’t be any reason that the hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he parked behind the building with Sarah sitting by his side.
Except there was.
Sarah had fidgeted nervously with the edge of her thick gray sweater for the past thirty minutes. He had asked several times if she’d changed her mind, but she insisted she wanted to volunteer at the shelter, even if just to talk with some of the residents.
He helped her from the car and drew her into his arms, remembering how scared she’d been to go to a shelter all those years ago, when her friend had driven her to a bus station instead.
“Sarah, we don’t have to do this. If it brings back too many bad memories, we can get in the car and go home right now.”
She lifted her chin, and a lock of hair tumbled in front of her face. When he brushed it away, the look in her eyes made his heart ache. There was fear, yes, but there was also sadness, and beneath it all the strength that had allowed her to survive so much of her life shone through.
“I’m okay,” she said. “I want to do this even if I’m nervous. The women in the shelter need to see that there’s hope, and I can help them see that. I’m living proof that where they are right now doesn’t have to be all there is for them.”
She amazed him in so many ways, not just because she’d somehow learned how to be an incredible, loving mother when she hadn’t had a positive role model, which was a feat in and of itself, but the way she took every responsibility to heart—including this one, which wasn’t hers to own. Her unyielding efforts to conquer her past and help others made her seem even more powerful than the strongest men he knew.
He kissed her tenderly and said, “Where have you been all my life, Sarah Beckley? I wish we’d met years ago.”
She lowered her eyes, and then she smiled up at him and said, “Considering that I’m only twenty-six and you’re thirty…?”
“Something,” he answered with a chuckle.
“Considering you were twentysomething when I left home, I think maybe fate did have a plan after all; otherwise you’d have seen me as jailbait back then, and that would have been that. We might never have gotten to where we are now.” She looked up at the building and said, “At least I’m not crossing this bridge alone. I’ve got you by my side, which is more than I’ve ever had when I’ve walked into a shelter in the past. So, let’s go see who we can help.”
With one arm around her, he scanned their surroundings as they headed toward the front of the building. It wasn’t a safehouse, although Bones had visited plenty of those. The Dark Knights were involved in keeping Peaceful Harbor safe and free from abuse and bullying, and they’d intervened on many occasions and arranged for women and children’s safe departure from their homes.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he said when they reached the building. “When I first started working with shelters, I thought I’d be met with a sense of desperation, embarrassment, self-loathing, and other undeserved emotions. While that was true, I found that hope outshone them all. It took a little longer for some of the women and children to embrace it, but I’m always a little awed by the power of it.”
She looked at him curiously. “I’ve never thought about it that way, but you’re right. I’m glad I’m here, too.”
He held the door open for Sarah, and she stiffened. Then she reached for his hand and held on tight, taking in the nondescript entrance as they ascended the stairs to the shelter entrance on the second floor.
He punched in his code, and the unlocking mechanism sounded. Sarah held his hand a little tighter.
Inside, Eva Yeun’s daughter, Sunny, came around the reception desk to greet them. “Hi, Bones. I’m glad you made it.” She hugged Bones. His big body dwarfed five-foot, slight-as-a-bird Sunny. “And you must be Sarah. Bones told me he was bringing his very special lady friend.” She pushed
her silky black hair over her shoulder, nudged her round spectacles to the bridge of her nose, and opened her arms to Sarah. “I’m a hugger, but I know not everyone is. Your choice.”
Sarah leaned in, a little uncomfortably, and hugged her. “Hi. Thanks for letting me come today. I’m not sure how I can help, but I’m a really good listener.”
“That’s what most of our residents need,” Sunny said as she hurried around the desk and picked up a stack of folders. “But first let me get Bones ready for his evening. There are a number of women and kids for you to see. I’m particularly worried about one little boy. He’s four, and he looks a little pale, but his mother refused to take him to the urgent care center. She had another little one with her, but he looked healthier. I put her folder on top.”
Wicked Whiskey Love Page 17
