by Claire Kent
“No. He just laughed at me again. He always laughs at me.”
“Well, you should laugh at him back. We don’t let people push us around or make us feel bad about ourselves.”
“Sounds to me like this Justin boy has the hots for you,” Liz put in shamelessly.
“Liz,” Erin gasped, reaching over to hit her sister on the shoulder. No one was going to have "the hots" for her six-year-old daughter.
“I mean,” Liz extemporized, “It sounds like he might kind of like you.”
Mackenzie looked absolutely outraged at the very idea. “He does not. He’s mean to me.”
“Boys are mean to girls they like all the time.”
“Why?” Anna breathed, gazing up at Liz in awe.
Liz shrugged. “Boys are always scared of being rejected, so they pretend not to care, even when they do. Even your Daddy did that, when he first started to like your Mommy.”
Feeling Seth bristling beside her, Erin put her arms around him and pressed a kiss into the side of his neck. Seth relaxed and adjusted his arm to pull her even closer. “I think the best idea,” he said to Mackenzie, “is just to ignore Justin. I’m sure some of the other boys are nicer than he is.”
“Some are. But some are mean to me too.” She darted a quick look up at Seth, and then dropped her eyes back down to her hands. “Davy said that…”
When her voice trailed off, Seth’s gruff voice prompted, “Did this Davy say something mean to you too?”
Erin shook her head resignedly. If Seth was this defensive about six-year-old childish teasing, then she dreaded the thought of how he would act when the girls were teenagers and the boys started to channel their “liking” in alternate ways.
Her poor daughters might never date at all.
“He said you help bad people. He said you keep them from going to jail.”
Seth stiffened beside her. “What?”
“He said you keep bad people from going to jail, but I told him that wasn’t right because you’re good and good people wouldn’t do that.”
Erin saw Seth had absolutely no idea what to say. “Daddy is good, Mackenzie, and he works really hard to keep other good people from going to prison. Sometimes good people get arrested, and if he didn’t do such a good job, some of them might be in big trouble. It’s really important that someone helps keep that from happening.”
“Yeah,” Mackenzie agreed, the quiet concern relaxing on her face.
“Some people aren’t going to like what Daddy does, but we don’t have to worry about what they think. We know how much good he does. I’m so proud of you for sticking up for Daddy.”
A smile broke out on Mackenzie’s face. “Daddy is the best in the world,” she declared.
“Daddy is the best,” Anna agreed, nodding her blond head ecstatically.
Seth’s expression was stiff and awkward, but Erin knew it was because he was feeling vulnerable. Feeling a surge of affection, she squeezed her husband in her arms and murmured huskily, “Daddy is definitely the best.”
Liz cleared her throat. “If all the sentiment is over, I believe we have a game to play.”
They started UNO up again and had come around to Seth’s turn when his phone rang. Pulling it out of his pocket, he glanced at the screen and murmured, “Excuse me. I need to take it.”
He pulled out of Erin’s arm, which was still wrapped around him, connected the call, and walked to the other side of the room as he talked.
The females exchanged glances over the cards. Erin’s gut had dropped in disappointment, but she was determined to be calm and mature about this. Seth had been really good lately about spending time with them. Occasionally, work would have to pull him away, sometimes when they were all having fun together. It was his job. It was part of who he was. And she wasn’t going to complain if it was unavoidable.
She listened to the low murmurs of his voice, and the pitch of them affirmed her first suspicion, that something important was going on.
He was going to have to leave.
When Erin saw that Anna’s lips were wobbling dangerously, she forced a smile. “Now, we know that sometimes Daddy gets called away on emergencies. We aren’t going to make him feel bad about it, are we?”
Anna shook her head, although she was clearly on the verge of tears. Mackenzie exhaled slowly, obviously just as disappointed as her sister. “We’ll be good. Daddy can’t help it.”
Erin felt like hugging her sweet girls, but she was distracted by the sound of Seth’s voice.
“I’m serious,” he said, his voice a little louder. “I have plans that can’t be broken, and I don’t need to be there tonight.”
Erin’s heart started to race in excitement and growing hope. She couldn’t believe it, but it sounded like…
After a pause, Seth went on, “I know it’s important, but Jackson can handle it.” Another pause, longer this time. “Listen to me. I’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning. Until then, Jackson is in charge. Tell him that this is what I’ve been training him for and that I’m sure he won’t let me down.”
Erin gulped. Felt like she wanted to scream and cry and laugh hysterically and hug someone all at once.
Seth disconnected the call and came back over to the couch. Took his seat and looked around questioningly at the four pairs of eyes staring at him. “What?” he asked. “I thought we were in the middle of a game.”
Mackenzie giggled in relief, and Anna squealed and hugged herself. Erin leaned over and gave him a long, soft kiss on the side of his mouth.
Liz laughed out loud. “I have got to hang out with you more often. You guys are a hoot. Getting so excited over the littlest things.”
Two minutes later, Anna won the game.
***
Later that evening, after Liz had left and the girls were in bed, Erin went to her desk in the family room and looked at her inbox.
She actually had work waiting for her to do.
A month ago, she’d found a non-profit that needed some legal work done, so she’d volunteered to help. The organization had recommended her to another one, which had a lot more work that needed doing.
It was silly, she was sure, but she wanted to revel in the sense of accomplishment. She felt like she’d accomplished a lot over the last few months in terms of her family—as a wife and a mother. But this was a different feeling and one she hadn’t thought she’d experience again.
She’d thought her dreams of a career were long gone, but maybe there was an outlet for them after all. She felt like Erin again.
She was so caught up in her feelings of pride that she didn’t hear Seth approach until he wrapped his arms around her from behind.
“Hi,” he said huskily, skimming her ear with his lips.
“Hi, yourself,” she replied, smiling fondly and snuggling back against his warm body.
“I looked over that brief you wrote.”
“Don’t tell me if it’s not any good.”
“It’s amazing.”
Sighing, Erin felt like melting away. Seth’s opinion meant so much to her that she’d actually been nervous when she’d given it to him to read. “Well," she murmured, reaching up and back so she could caress his neck, “You’re a little biased, I’d say.”
“I’m a lot biased.” He bent his neck so he could mouth the pulse in her throat. “But I’m also a very good lawyer. And so are you.”
“Thanks.”
She turned around in his arms then so she could embrace him for real. They just hugged for a minute, pressing their bodies together as Erin buried her face in his shirt. Then she tilted her head back, and he took the lips she offered him. The kiss was long and leisurely and tender, and it made Erin feel even more like she was about to melt away.
When their mouths finally parted, she breathed, “Thanks for sticking around tonight. I know it must have been hard for you to not go in if there was a serious situation.”
Seth gave a half-shrug, his arms still draped loosely around her waist. �
��It wasn’t that hard.”
He was minimizing the choice he made, but Erin knew it hadn’t been trivial.
Since clearly he didn’t want a big deal made about it, Erin didn’t object. Her fingertips gently rubbing circles on the back of his neck, she murmured, “Shall we go to bed early this evening?”
“Only if we agree to keep the volume down. I’m a little disconcerted by being heard down the hall.”
“All right. You won’t hear a peep out of me. I’ll just lay there like I don’t even notice you.”
“Oh, you’ll notice me.”
“Well, then, I’ll do my best to suppress my blissful cries of ecstasy.” She held her hand out to him. “Let’s go.”
After getting ready for bed, Erin crawled under the covers, and Seth got in beside her, spooning her from behind.
“Are you sure you didn’t need to go in?” Erin asked, feeling her body already respond to Seth’s closeness, after her mushy feelings earlier. “I’d feel guilty if I thought you were neglecting something important.”
“It’s nothing so important that I can’t deal with it tomorrow morning.” He skimmed one hand over her curves through the thin cotton of her chemise. His voice growing husky next to her ear, he added, “And, let me assure you, I’d much rather be in bed with you than working.”
Erin smiled and pressed her body back against his, loving how the hard planes of his body felt. “Good.”
He nuzzled the hollow of her neck, pushing her hair out of the way. His hand strayed up to the swell of her breast, chafing her hardening nipple with his palm.
Sighing in pleasure, Erin arched against him, trying to get as much sensation as she could. But, after a moment, she asked something she’d been wondering all day. “Seth? Do you know what today is?”
She hadn’t been sure she was going to bring the subject up at all. Not until she’d actually spoken the words.
“Hmm?” Seth mumbled, his mouth busy nibbling her bare shoulder. “It’s Friday, isn’t it?”
Erin huffed out a breathless laugh, feeling a wet warmth gathering between her legs despite the silly fluttering of her heart. “Yes, but I mean today. The date. Do you know what it is?”
She could feel Seth’s erection growing against her bottom, and she couldn’t help but shift against it. He was mouthing her skin hungrily, possessively, and one hand was still fondling her breast while the other had edged under her body and moved lower to rub against her groin through her chemise. “Well,” he said, his voice deliciously textured. “I know I haven’t forgotten your birthday because I’ve already made plans for it.”
Erin squirmed at the sensations from his hands, mouth, and body behind her, and in anticipation of his plans for her birthday, which was coming up very soon. But she wasn’t going to be distracted, now that she’d brought the topic up. “Not my birthday.” She moved her hand down to cover his and pressed into it to get a good rhythm against her clit.
“Well, it’s not your time of the month,” Seth replied, pushing his erection purposefully against her. “Because that was—”
Erin choked, half in laughter, half in pleasure as Seth tweaked one of her nipples. “Never mind. It’s not important.”
She relaxed and just enjoyed his touch, telling herself that there was no reason to feel disappointed that he didn’t know what she was talking about.
She shouldn’t have expected him too. It was the kind of thing that a woman might pay attention to, but it wasn’t something most men would even consider. It didn’t mean it wasn’t important to him.
“Erin.” His body was hot and tight as he wrapped himself around her from behind. His mouth was against her hair. “How can you even ask? Of course, I know what today is.”
Something melted again in Erin’s chest, and she turned to look at him over her shoulder. His face was only a breath away from hers. “Really?”
He brushed a kiss across her lips. “Of course. Seven years. I’m going to try to get out to the cemetery tomorrow if I have enough time.”
Erin felt another kind of pang in her heart. It was so easy for her to forget that, on the day Mackenzie had been conceived, Seth had also buried Mac, the only relative he had left.
Seven years ago today.
“I can go with you if you want,” she offered softly, reaching behind her to stroke his warm cheek.
“I like to go alone.” Giving her a quick kiss on her cheekbone, he added, “But thanks.”
Before the shift in mood could distract them from their arousal, Seth edged a hand between her legs, parting her thighs enough for him to slide a finger inside her, spilling the moisture that had collected there.
She bent forward slightly to give him better access as he held his cock in place at her entrance and then thrust himself home.
She gasped as he filled her. Then gasped again as he gathered her tightly in his arms, pulling her upper body back against his chest.
“It seems strange,” he murmured, his voice like raw silk in her ear, “to be so devastatingly grateful for a leaking condom.” He drew his pelvis back, then pushed forward again, sliding his cock with the motion. “But I am. Baby, I hope you know how much.”
Erin was pumping her hips back against his thrusts, feeling sheltered and cherished and hot and exhilarated all at once. His arms were all the way around her, and she clutched at his forearms, needing to touch him in any way she could. “Yeah. I know. Me too. Me too. Me too.” Her babbling had fallen into the rhythmic cadence of his thrusting.
He made a gravelly sound that sent exquisite vibrations running through her. He must be low on stamina tonight because he lowered one of his hands to bunch up the fabric of her chemise enough for him to find her clit. Rubbing it in firm circles, he rasped, “If not for the ineffective condom…”
He stopped to suck in a harsh breath, and Erin moaned as his massage of her clit produced a spiraling pressure deep in her belly.
“Then no us. No girls. Nothing.” Seth was on the verge of wordlessness, his thrusting becoming less controlled and more primitive.
“I know,” Erin panted, trapped between the lush sensations of his hand on her clit and his cock inside her.
She could barely stand to think about what her life would have been without that random encounter with Seth in the cemetery seven years ago. Could barely think of anything at the moment, as her pleasure coiled even tighter.
With another guttural sound, Seth leaned over and bit down on her shoulder, the sharp pain sending a jolt of hot sensation to the climax building inside her.
“I love you, Seth,” Erin gasped, feeling something so powerful that she needed to say it, needed to shape it with words.
Seth grunted something that sounded like “love.” He was far gone now, his pelvis jerking against her ass.
She was almost there herself. Felt so much that was so hard to say. “I love you,” she huffed out. She was shaking now, the rich pressure on the edge of erupting, but she kept gasping, “Love you. Love you.”
The world started to dissolve into waves of intense heat and pleasure.
Seth made a burst of raw sound—emotion and pleasure and need all at once. “Me too. Me too.”
There was more to say. More to feel. More to express about this experience—this moment, this evening, these last three months, the last seven years of their lives.
But she couldn’t. Couldn’t do anything but whimper helplessly as Seth’s body and his love pushed her into climax.
He came after her with a hoarse exclamation, the spasms of their release mingling, lingering, and then fading into soft, wordless peace.
They didn’t say anything afterwards. Stayed tangled together—hot and damp and drowsily complete.
In the aftermath, Erin felt a tangible presence, filling their embrace, their bed, their room, their home. It wasn’t new, but it was more real now than it had ever been.
More real because they’d fought to keep it.
She knew what it was. Knew it would last, linger, st
retch over the rest of her life, beyond the ways her family might change from this night on.
She knew what it was. She could name it now. She had watched it shape itself into existence.
She knew what it was.
Knew its name was love.
***
If you enjoyed Christening, you might enjoy Hearts in Hiding, a collection of Claire’s three full-length contemporary romances (also written as her alternate penname, Noelle Adams), bundled at a 60% discount price. Find out more about Hearts in Hiding here.
About the Author
Claire has been writing romance novels since she was twelve years old. She has a PhD in British literature and, when she's not writing, she teaches English at the university level.
She also writes romance novels under the penname Noelle Adams (noelle-adams.com). If you would like to contact Claire, please check out her website (clairekent.com) or email her at [email protected].
Other Books by Claire Kent
Escorted
Breaking
Nameless
Other Books Written as Noelle Adams
One Hot Night: Three Contemporary Romance Novellas
A Negotiated Marriage
Listed
Bittersweet
Intimate
Missing
Table of Contents
Cover
title page
copyright page
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
About the Author
