There would be no hiding.
"Nice try," Noah murmured as he sauntered past on his way to the fridge. He extracted several beers, handing one to Caleb and then his dad. "You want one?"
She shook her head. "No."
The men filed outside, with Jonah in their wake, his head tilted back as if he couldn't quite take in being surrounded by so many tall men. The door shut, leaving her and Mary alone in the kitchen.
"You know, Luke had asthma when he was small," Mary said as she opened a cabinet and pulled plates from the shelf. "We were lucky. He grew out of it fairly quickly—before the twins arrived—but it can be quite terrifying. You must be worn out having to deal with it on your own."
"I had my parents," Leah said, but she didn't say anything else as Mary's steady gaze met hers. Leah was the first to look away.
"Like I said, it can be hard to deal with as a single parent."
Leah jammed her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "I did try to contact Caleb, Mrs. Allred."
"Call me Mary. I don't doubt that for a minute."
"Caleb does."
"He's learned to be a cynic, I'm afraid, but he'll come around."
Leah nodded, but she wasn't sure what he was going to come around to. What did she want out of this? It was a question that repeated itself in her head through the course of the evening. Caleb's parents were wonderful. They more than made up for the cynical glances and occasional snide remarks from Noah. Leah tried to put it down as him being protective of his twin, but there was more to it.
He also hadn't stopped with the one beer. He wasn't loud as he drank, but he consumed beer at a pretty steady pace. By the time they prepared to leave, his dad held his hand out for Noah's keys. To give him credit, he turned them over without a protest.
After the SUV disappeared around a bend in the driveway, Leah felt as if she could relax. Caleb stepped up behind her and set his hands on her shoulders.
"You okay?"
"Yes. Your parents are so easygoing."
"I'm sorry I sprung it on you. Why don't you get Jonah to bed while I take care of the mess in the kitchen? Then come back down. We can have a cup of coffee on the patio and enjoy the stars."
He watched her as she gathered a sleepy Jonah and moved toward the stairs. Leah had a feeling Caleb had more on his mind than watching stars. Her stomach fluttered. So did she.
Chapter 16
Caleb set about cleaning the kitchen on autopilot. Years working in the food service industry, not to mention all those family dinners when he was a kid, made getting the job done as rote as though he were putting on his shoes.
It left his mind free to roam. Two people who occupied his thoughts. Leah and his twin. The first was a source of pleasure he hoped to explore in more depth in a few minutes. The second was a ticking time bomb, and had Caleb more worried than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Noah had never been as sociable as him. As identical as they had been in looks, they were as different in personality. Noah had been far more introspective, but now his introspection was sinking into withdrawal. Along with it, Noah was drinking. Caleb had noticed it at Becca's wedding too. Noah wasn't loud or obnoxious. He just steadily downed alcohol as if it would help numb his anguish.
Caleb was getting ready to launch his bar in less than a week. How was Noah drinking there going to work? He didn't want to think about having to kick his own brother out, but it really seemed like the current scenario was heading right there.
"Jonah was out like a light."
Caleb hung the dish towel on a hook near the sink, grateful for Leah's interruption. As selfish as it might be, he would much rather spend the rest of this evening concentrating on her than thinking about his brother.
"It was a busy day for him. For you too." Caleb grabbed two mugs from the cabinet and set them on the counter. "The coffee's ready. Get what you need to doctor yours while I pour."
They worked in silence. Caleb absorbed the energy between the two of them, letting it sink in and recharge him. It wasn't tension, at least not the bad kind. Their fingers brushed as he handed her the mug. Their gazes met.
Did she know how beautiful her gray eyes were? Without the heavy makeup she'd worn when they first met, her eyes were framed by long, pale lashes like a dusting of shimmering sugar over the depth of her dove gray eyes. He held back the urge to lean forward and touch his lips to each lid. He wanted to pull her against him, mold her body to his and let her feel how she affected him.
"Why don't we sit out on the patio? We can close the screen door and still hear Jonah if he wakes up."
"Okay."
Leah set the spoon she'd used to stir her coffee in the sink before picking up her mug. Caleb followed her, his gaze drifting to her hips. His body pulsed in rhythm with her movements.
There were still issues they needed to clear up, but now wasn't the time for it. Now was the time to reestablish their connection from the first night, the one that had left him searching for a woman who had vanished into thin air.
She chose the glider in the darkest corner of the patio. It was the place he chose on those nights he had come out by himself to watch the night sky and think.
"Do you mind if we rock a bit?" he asked once they were seated.
"No. It's relaxing, don't you think?"
He set up a gentle sway with his foot. The silence stretched while they sipped their coffee and watched the night sky. Caleb took a deep breath and the tension of the evening drained from him.
"It's so beautiful here." Leah's gaze wandered over the hills around them. "Peaceful."
Not like where she had grown up, Caleb mentally finished for her.
"I want you to feel like you can relax here. I want you to be comfortable. Happy."
He wanted to take her into his arms.
Caleb set his mug aside and turned slightly toward her. "Are you happy here, Leah?"
"I suppose I must be. I feel safe. I feel like I can let down my guard."
"And you couldn't before?" He stroked along her shoulder with his fingertips.
"No. Living with my father was like walking on glass all the time. You could never be sure when something might cut you."
They were silent again for a few minutes.
"I don't know how to thank you for helping us." She stared down at her hands. "There's such a difference in Jonah, just in a couple days. I don't mean just his asthma. He's talking more. He's more outgoing." She paused. "He laughs. Do you know how wonderful it is to hear? He never laughed at my parents' house."
Caleb scooted next to her, put his arm around her shoulders, and tucked her into his side. "You don't have to thank me Leah. This is us, trying to figure out how we go on from here, how I build a relationship with my son...and you."
"I never forgot the night at the hotel," she whispered. "I never forgot you." Her words made his heart pound.
"I don't want to live on memories, not when we have a chance to make more."
In the end, it was Leah who initiated this kiss. This time they weren’t at the nursery. There was no need to rush. Caleb sucked in a deep breath as her hand slipped up to caress his cheek and she shifted position so she could brush the corner of his mouth with her lips. It brought the softness of her breast against his chest and made his body ache with the need to take this so much further than it probably needed to go.
He had thought he was the one in control, the one setting the stage for them to reclaim some level of intimacy, but Leah changed the script. She had his face cradled in both her hands, and her mouth explored his with a thoroughness that made his heart pound.
As they both paused for breath, he whispered, "I don't want you to do this because you think you need to thank me for anything."
She sighed. "I'm not. I'm doing this because every time I look at you it's hard to think about anything other than climbing into your lap and kissing you."
"Then do it."
She straddled him and returned to brushing her mouth
over his. She tasted of coffee, sugar, and woman. Caleb slid his hands around to cup her butt cheeks. As slender as she was, she was still curvy in all the right places. Her fingers worked the buttons on his shirt.
Oh God. Yes. "Touch me."
Her hands and fingers caressed his pecs, sliding across his nipples and making his body leap in response. He squeezed her butt and she moaned against his mouth. He needed to feel more of her, skin to skin. Slowly, he eased his hands under her shirt, sliding them along the slight ridges of her ribcage until his thumbs rested beneath the curve of her breasts.
"I want to take this off you," he said with a slight tug to her shirt.
"I'll do it." She sat up on his lap. The soft light coming from the fixture over the kitchen stove and bleeding through the screen door highlighted her enough for him to feast on the sight of her pulling her shirt over her head. Before he had time to absorb that, she reached behind her to release the hooks on her barely there bra.
"You're so pretty," he told her. When she shook her head as if to brush away his compliment, he stretched his arms out, cradling her face in his hands this time. "You are, Leah. You're moonlight and magic, like an elf queen at home in her own domain."
She pressed a kiss to his palm, then leaned her cheek against him. She didn't believe him, he could see, but Caleb would convince her no matter how long it might take. For now, his patience was at an end. He needed to feel her close to him. He drew her in, pressing her breasts against him, taking her mouth, and pulling her hips in so she could feel his arousal.
Caleb wanted it all, didn't want to wait. It was more than lust, though that was off the charts. A tenderness he'd never before experienced tightened his chest and gentled his kiss. She moved against him, drawing a groan of pleasure from his lips. He wasn't sure how much more he could take, or how much further he should let this go.
But the decision wasn't his.
"Mama?"
They both heard Jonah's voice at the same time, heard the wheeze that accompanied it. In a heartbeat, Leah was on her feet and pulling her shirt over her head. Caleb jumped up, pulling his shirt tails and buttoning his shirt at least part way if for no other reason than to cover the raging hard on in his pants.
"I'm coming," Leah called out and sprinted for the screen door. Caleb was a step behind her, hastily shoving her bra into the back pocket of his jeans. She squatted next to Jonah with an inhaler in her hand. For a split second, Caleb wondered how she'd gotten hold of it so fast, then he remembered she had stashed one on the counter right next to the fridge.
Although every emotion within him screamed for him to move in, Caleb hung back, giving them space.
"Breathe, Jonah," Leah said. Her tone was calming, no doubt from having too much practice at this very thing. Over the next several minutes, Jonah's breathing eased, his expression lost the pinched, panicked look. Caleb’s fists unclenched, his tension beginning to dissipate.
How the hell had she gone through this on her own since Jonah's birth?
That again brought up the question of her claim she'd tried to contact him, and his total ignorance of Jonah's existence. Somewhere, something had gone terribly wrong. The only other possibility was Leah was lying, and Caleb refused to believe that. He might have at first, but he knew too much about her to believe it now. So they had a problem on their hands they needed to resolve.
Caleb carried Jonah back upstairs. The little boy soon snuggled back into bed as if nothing had disturbed him in the first place. Caleb crooked his finger and pointed toward the door. As Leah joined him in the hallway, Caleb asked, "Is there something we need to do to the house? Have professional cleaners come in?
Leah shook her head. "No. I think it was the excitement today. This wasn't bad. The emergency inhaler did what it was supposed to."
Caleb blew out a breath. "I see now why you insist there's always one nearby."
"If he doesn't have it, a little episode like that one could turn life-threatening in pretty short order."
Caleb wanted to talk to her more, bring up the subject of what had happened in the past again, but Leah looked washed out, and she had to get up early to get to work. "I'll say good night then if you're sure everything is okay."
"Absolutely. Thanks, Caleb."
"For what?"
"Just being there, knowing there was support." She shrugged.
Caleb pulled her into his arms. He had intended to keep things purely platonic given how quickly they'd started taking clothes off earlier, but he needed her to feel his support in a more tangible way.
"I don't want you to ever feel like you can't count on me."
Caleb leaned in, tilted her chin up and kissed her. Leah's lips parted instantly and every hair and cell in his body stood at attention. Oh no. He couldn't go there again. With a smile of regret, he set her away from him. "Good night, baby."
He waited for her to go back inside the room and shut the door. In a few minutes, he had the house secured and the lights turned off. Upstairs in his own room, Caleb stripped off his clothes, automatically going through his pants pockets to remove everything. His fingers encountered something out of the ordinary, and he plucked Leah's lacy scrap of bra from his pocket.
Holding it to his nose, he inhaled. It carried her fragrance, and it was as if he'd imbibed the most powerful aphrodisiac in the world.
"Down boy," Caleb muttered to his hardening dick. "You are getting nowhere with that tonight."
He tossed the lingerie aside as if he suddenly discovered he held a live snake in his hands. Dressed only in his shorts, Caleb yanked open the doors to the deck and stepped out into the now cool night. Fall had added enough of a bite to the air his arousal disappeared as he braced his hands on the railing and stared off into the distance.
Life had turned a ton more complicated than he had anticipated when he made the decision to return home. Caleb had naively thought he would be exchanging the frantic pace of working a bar at the coast for opening a sports bar in a sleepy little mountain town. What a load of crap that was turning out to be. Mountain Meadow was a far cry from sleepy, and his life was so tangled he sometimes wondered if he was keeping any of it straight.
The soft opening of Last Call was only days away. Overnight he had become father to a toddler who already controlled his heartstrings, not to mention the mother of that little boy. Somehow, some way, he and Leah would have to come to grips with their situation. Decide if they had a relationship, and if they did, then they needed to build on it and make it truly a relationship. The final nail in the coffin of his sleepy dream of giving up the hustle and bustle of beach season to relax in the mountains was Noah.
Caleb had no idea where his twin was going, but he was afraid nowhere good.
What he wouldn't give right now to be able to step back inside, go down to the next level and crawl into bed with Leah and Jonah. He would hold them close and keep them safe.
Caleb shook his head. Leah had worked hard and kept Jonah safe. Caleb wanted the opportunity to ease her burden. In the short amount of time she had been with him and out of her parents' home, he'd seen a change. She was more confident and more outspoken than he had thought. Far from the mousy person he'd seen when he came back, her personality now reminded him a lot more of the woman he had met the night they'd conceived Jonah. The woman he'd never quite been able to get out of his mind.
He wanted to help the woman he'd met that first night emerge, and he had a very good idea how to do it. The major quandary would be in getting Leah to lower that stiff-necked pride of hers enough to accept the help he was willing and able to provide.
Chapter 17
Leah was up early the next morning, slipping from bed silently so that Jonah continued to sleep. He looked so sweet with his slightly flushed cheeks and dark curls. So like his dad, though she would hardly describe Caleb as sweet.
Instantly, her thoughts filled with the image of him aroused and hard as she straddled his lap and stripped off her shirt and bra. She stopped right there
. Her bra. In her haste to get to Jonah, she had pulled on her shirt minus that little bit of lingerie. Was it still somewhere on the patio?
As quietly as she could, Leah slipped down the steps and into the kitchen, padding barefoot across the floor. After disarming the alarm system, she stepped onto the patio, her gaze searching frantically for her bra.
"Looking for this?"
Leah spun around to face a grinning Caleb, her bra dangling from his fingers by a narrow strap. She snatched it from him.
"Thanks." Leah started to brush past him. Caleb stopped her with a hand on her arm. She knew her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, but she forced herself to meet his gaze. The expression in his dark green eyes was no longer teasing. It was tender, but maybe that was her imagination. What she wanted to see or hoped would be there.
"I have one regret about last night," he said. "Do you want to know what it is?"
Leah tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let her go.
"I wish we could have finished what we started. I wish I had awakened this morning next to you and Jonah. I can't imagine anything I'd enjoy much more."
She blinked the sudden moisture from her eyes. As much as his words, his expression told her he meant every word. She had no idea what to say. Me too seemed wholly inadequate for the moment, so she stepped in and wrapped her arms around him. After the briefest of hesitations, he hugged her back. Leah leaned her cheek against his chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart.
This was someone she could depend on, and the only thing making her hold back was the hurt she'd experienced when he had never responded to her attempts to get in touch with him after she discovered she was pregnant. It didn't fit with the man she was coming to know now.
"Get ready. I'll make breakfast for you and run you to work. I can keep an eye on Jonah this morning, but I have to go to Last Call this afternoon. We're going to be moving the rest of the liquor and the food in for our pre-opening party."
Last Call (A Place to Call Home Book 3) Page 11
