by SJ McCoy
Chapter Seventeen
Tara looked back at Owen who was strapped into the car seat in the back of the Range Rover. They’d come from the airport in a rental car, but now they were here they had the use of Oscar’s Range Rover. She wondered what Nicole would say when she told her. Her sister had talked about Reid giving her a life to which she’d happily become accustomed, and Tara had to admit that she was right.
She was amazed at how well Owen was doing. She’d worried that he’d freak out about being strapped into a car seat—he wasn’t used to them—but Reid had explained its purpose to him when he’d put him in it before they left the airport and he’d been okay with it. Today he’d climbed in there happily enough and let Reid fasten him in for their trip down to Yellowstone Park. He’d slept through the night—much to her surprise, since even apart from being in a strange place, she was sure she must have woken him a few times in the night. Reid had quite a talent for making her moan—and scream!
He smiled back at her and waved his dinosaur—his new favorite, selected from the basket Jean had left for him. She’d have to thank her. “Dinosaur’s coming to see the volcanoes.”
“Yes, he is.” She hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed that he wouldn’t get to see the kind of volcanoes he expected.
“We’re going to see lots of other things, too,” said Reid. He’d told her this morning that he planned to show Owen some of the geysers, and hopefully, the water shooting up into the air would distract him from the fact there was no molten lava flying around.
They were all mostly quiet while they drove the half hour down the valley to the north entrance of the park in a little town called Gardiner. The whole drive was spectacular. The road followed the river, and the mountains huddled in on either side. Tara had never seen any place so beautiful. She kept looking back to check on Owen, and he seemed as awestruck as she felt. He just stared out of the window, taking it all in. How amazing would it be for him to grow up here? She blew out a sigh. She loved the idea, but she was a practical soul. Great scenery, big skies, and fresh mountain air would no doubt do him a lot of good, but there were other factors to consider, too.
Reid reached across and took hold of her hand. “Are you okay?”
“I am. This is wonderful. Thank you.” She wanted to say so much to him. She wanted to tell him how much she appreciated him and everything he was doing—and trying to do—for Owen and her. She wanted to explain to him what she’d meant last night when she’d said she couldn’t see them living here without him: He’d become such a huge part of their lives in such a short time that she couldn’t see them living anywhere without him anymore.
She couldn’t say any of it with Owen sitting there listening to every word. Tonight, though. Tonight, she wanted to tell him and to show him how much he’d come to mean to her. Lying there in his arms in the early hours of this morning, staring out at the big, star-filled sky, she’d had to admit to herself that she was indeed in love with him. It might not sit well with her practical side, but that wasn’t a reason not to tell him.
~ ~ ~
Once they were inside the park, Reid pulled into the parking lot of the gift store at Mammoth Hot Springs. He wanted to make sure they were both okay, and he wanted to get them each a gift as a memento of their first visit to the park together. He questioned his reasoning as they walked across the parking lot. On the surface, it seemed like a sentimental thing to do. However, he wasn’t given to sentimentality. He couldn’t claim that he was doing it because he knew women liked to receive gifts. Tara wasn’t interested in material things; he knew that. The biggest gift he gave her was his connection with Owen. There was no doubt about that in his mind.
He held the door open for them to go ahead of him. Owen clung to Tara’s hand and stayed close to her as they looked around the trinkets and T-shirts. Reid surveyed the merchandise, still wondering why this had seemed so important to him. It only dawned on him when he was standing at the cash register, paying for the plastic elk Owen had selected and the T-shirts Tara had picked out. She didn’t want to let him pay, especially for the one she’d chosen for him, but he said he’d settle up with her later. He finally saw what he was doing. The T-shirts and the elk would be mementos, yes, but they were also the first things they’d bought together. He knew that whenever he saw them wear the T-shirts, or whenever he wore his, he’d remember this day. Perhaps it was another human instinct that he hadn’t known he possessed but had observed in others. Forming a new family unit led to acquiring new family possessions. They may only be small things, but he’d felt the need to get started. He smiled as he watched Tara settle Owen back into his car seat. The rented car seat. They’d need to get him one of his own. They’d have to pick out a car together—even if he wanted to drive his from Washington. It wouldn’t be much use here on these roads. They’d need to pick out one for her, too. Hmm. He didn’t even know if she drove.
He smiled. He didn’t know such a detail about her, yet he was planning to spend the rest of his life with her.
Tara caught his gaze. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. Not funny, just good. I’m amused at myself and how much I’m enjoying this.”
She stepped toward him and slid her arms around his waist. “You are? I didn’t know how much fun this would be for you.”
“The park is good, but it doesn’t do much for me. What I’m enjoying is seeing the two of you experience it and …” He might as well say it. If it were going to scare her away, they’d be better off knowing that now. “I’m enjoying feeling that we’re beginning to build our life together.”
She held his gaze for a long moment and then planted a kiss on his lips. “I like that feeling, too.”
Reid’s heart pounded in his chest as he held her closer. No matter what logic his brain fed him, his physiological reactions told him that it mattered. It mattered very much that she should want the same things he did.
“Kisses.”
They both looked at Owen who was holding his arms to them. Reid leaned into the car to kiss his forehead and Owen took hold of his ears and stared deep into his eyes. “Owen loves Reid.”
“And I love you, Owen.”
Owen nodded happily. “Home now.”
“Home in a while; we’re going to look around the park, remember?”
Owen nodded again. “Home now.”
Reid cocked his head to one side. “What do you mean, little buddy?”
Tara leaned in and looked at Owen, then Reid. She seemed to understand what he meant. Her eyes shone with tears, though her smile told him they were happy tears.
“What’s home?” she asked.
“Reid’s home.” Owen looked slightly irritated, as though they should both understand.
Tara smiled at Reid. “I think he means that you feel like home.”
Owen nodded, seeming glad to finally have it made clear. He touched Reid’s face and then took hold of his hand and put it on top of Tara’s and said it again. “Home now.”
Reid didn’t trust himself to say anything. It seemed that Owen wanted this as much as he did.
Tara glanced across at him as they pulled out of the parking lot and spoke in a low voice. “Home is his safe place, his happy place. When we have to go out and it stresses him, he looks forward to getting home. When he has to be away from me, we don’t need to get back to the apartment for him to feel safe. He just needs to get back to me, then he’ll say, Home now.”
Reid reached across and took hold of her hand as he drove. He didn’t know how to put words to the way that made him feel. He wanted to be Owen’s safe place and his happy place. He wanted to be that for Tara, too.
~ ~ ~
It was late afternoon by the time they left the park. Owen had loved every minute of it, and Reid had promised to bring him back again soon. Tara wasn’t worried about that. Reid knew that Owen needed promises to be kept, and he wouldn’t make one lightly.
She jumped at the sound
of Reid’s phone ringing. It felt like the real world intruding. They’d been lost in their own little bubble since they arrived here and even more so in the vast wilderness that was the park. The phone was a reminder that their real lives were elsewhere and that they were still waiting for them.
Reid shot her an apologetic look. “Sorry. I need to take it. It’s a local number I don’t recognize.”
“Of course.” Tara wasn’t sure about the logic behind that, but she was hardly going to tell him not to take it.
He hit the button, and she was surprised to see that he planned to talk on the hands-free system.
“This is Reid.”
“Reid. You old devil. It’s Shane. Shane Remington. How are you? My mom spoke to yours, and she said you were up here.”
“Shane! It’s great to hear from you. I was planning to get in touch. TJ told me he’d seen you recently. How are you? And congratulations, bythe way.”
“Thanks. And thanks for the gift. Cassidy would love to meet you.”
“I’d love to meet her, too.” Reid glanced over at Tara and smiled. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
Tara had to smile at the sound of Shane’s hearty laugh coming through the speakers. Whoever he was, he sounded like someone she’d be happy to meet.
“I know! Your mom told my mom. It’s like we’re kids again, you know? That’s why I’m calling. I’d love to see you and meet Tara and her boy. If you guys want to come out here, Beau’s wife Corinne has a little girl about the same age. So, there’d be someone for him to play with.”
Reid made a face. “I don’t know, Shane. Owen’s like me.”
Shane laughed again. “I know. I heard, but then, Ruby’s a bit like me—loud and obnoxious. Maybe they’ll be as good for each other as we were.”
Tara loved the way Reid chuckled. Whoever Shane was to Reid, he and Reid were obviously close. “Maybe. Can I call you back later? I don’t know what our plans are yet, or even how long we’re staying.”
“No plans? Damn! You’re sure hanging loose. Call me whenever. I’d love to see you whenever it works for you. If that’s next time you’re here, that’s okay, too. There will be a next time, right?”
Reid glanced over at Tara and smiled. “Yes, there will.”
Once he’d hung up, he reached across and took hold of her hand. “Shane was my friend growing up here. I think you’d like him.” He chuckled. “He wasn’t joking about being loud—he was that big, good-looking, confident, friendly kid who everyone just loved. By the sounds of it, he’s still the same and more so now. He’s not obnoxious, never was. More like a golden boy.”
Tara smiled, wondering how the two of them had become friends.
He anticipated her question. “Our parents know each other, though, now I come to think about it, I don’t even know how. They’re ranchers. Shane and his brothers were big strong ranch kids—cowboys. Anyway, Shane and I got to know each other because of chess club. I taught him to play.”
“Wow. That’s so cool.”
Reid laughed. “I suppose. He only wanted to learn because a girl he liked was in chess club.”
“Ha. That sounds more likely, even from what I just heard of him.”
“Yeah. I taught him to play chess, he taught me …”
She looked across, wondering what he was about to say.
“He taught me about girls.”
She laughed. Now she had an explanation. The way he was with her didn’t fit the preconceived notion she’d had of how a highly intelligent guy like him might be a little awkward around the ladies. He’d had lessons from a cowboy!
He glanced over at her, and he looked as close to uncertain as she’d ever seen him.
“I’m not laughing at you. I think it’s wonderful.”
“He’s been a good friend to me.”
“Then we should go and see him.”
He smiled. “You’d like that?”
“I would. I think it’s time we started meeting each other’s friends. Though I’m not sure I want this little Ruby teaching Owen about girls just yet.”
~ ~ ~
After they put Owen to bed, they went out to sit on the deck with a glass of wine. Reid felt relaxed and at peace. He’d forgotten just how good this place was for him. He didn’t see any practical reason that he couldn’t live here. He enjoyed his place at Friday Harbor, but it didn’t have anything he couldn’t have here.
“What are you thinking?” Tara asked.
“That there are no practical obstacles to me moving here.”
“Do you see any non-practical obstacles?”
He smiled. “Not obstacles so much as reasons. I’ll have no reason to if you don’t want to.”
She took a sip of her wine and stared up at the millions of stars twinkling above them. “It’s a wonderful place.”
He nodded and waited. Usually, a line like that was a stall for time or a lead into facts that would either contradict how wonderful it was or confirm it.
She got up from her place on the sofa and came to him. She dropped a kiss on his lips and lowered herself into his lap. “It’s time we talk, isn’t it?”
He nodded, not wanting to say that if she wanted to be with him, then he’d be glad to talk; if she didn’t, he’d rather not hear it just yet. “What do you want to say?”
“That I love you.” She took hold of his ears, just like Owen did and looked deep into his eyes. “I love you, Reid Davenport. You are one amazing, unpredictable, sexy man, and I love you. I wanted to wait. I wanted to be more conventional and make sure that it’s not too soon.” She shrugged. “But it isn’t too soon. I didn’t want to say those three words back to you just because you said them to me. I wanted to wait until I was sure and to say them in my own time. This is my time. I love you.”
He closed his arms around her and hugged her to him. “Thank you.” He knew it was more conventional to say it back. But he didn’t want to say it as an automatic response either. He looked up into her big blue eyes and saw apprehension. She was more conventional than he, after all. “I love you, Tara.” Her face relaxed. She had needed to hear it. “You’ve just made me one very happy man. We can take this at whatever pace you want. If you want to stay here and never go back, that’s fine by me. And if you want to go back to the city and take a year to plan it all out, that’s fine, too.” He thought about that for a moment and pursed his lips. “But I hope it won’t take a whole year, and if you want to stay in the city for any amount of time, we’ll need to find a place to live.”
She laughed and buttoned his lips together with her finger and thumb. “Can we forget about the practical details for now? I’d rather spend the time showing you how much I love you—and I won’t mind if you want to show me.”
He didn’t need telling twice. She slid off his lap as he got to his feet. He kept his arms around her as he steered her down the hall to the bedroom. He put his lips next to her ear as they walked. “You want me to show you how much I love you?”
She shivered and nodded.
“With my hands?” He closed his hand around her ass cheek and squeezed. He hoped this was doing as much for her as it was him. His cock was already straining, eager to be inside her again.
He loved the way she bit down on her bottom lip to keep herself quiet.
Once they were inside the bedroom, he closed the door behind them and backed her up against it. Her blue eyes were darker, glazed with lust.
“Or should I show you with my mouth?” He pulled her T-shirt and bra down enough so that her full breast popped out and he grazed her nipple with his teeth.
She leaned her head back against the door and arched her back. It was the perfect invitation for him to thrust his hips against hers, pressing his now throbbing cock into her heat. “Or do you want me to show you with my cock?”
She rubbed herself against him. “All of them.”
He chuckled and pushed her skirt up around her waist at t
he same time as she began to unfasten his jeans. “Maybe this time we should go in reverse order.”
She nodded, her breath was coming low and shallow. She knew what he meant and seemed as eager for it to be cock-first as he was.
She pushed his boxers down, and he touched her through her panties; she was soaking wet for him. He loved that she was so turned on by him and eager to make love to him. He tugged her panties to the side and couldn’t resist dipping his head to taste her.
She sank her fingers in his hair and pulled him back up to look her in the eye. “Reverse order,” she breathed and closed her fingers around him, sending shivers racing up and down his spine. “Not hands, not mouth. This first.” She lifted one leg up and curled it around his waist as she guided him to her entrance.
He looked into her eyes as he thrust his hips and they both gasped.
“I love you, Reid,” she breathed as they started to move together.
He sucked her bottom lip into his mouth and clamped her leg to his side as he set up a frantic rhythm. He wasn’t going to last long, and he needed this to be good for her first. He needn’t have worried; she soon started to let out the little low moans that he already knew meant she was getting close. He was too, but he needed more, he wanted to be deeper inside her. He leaned all his weight on her, holding her between himself and the door, then caught her other leg and wrapped that around his waist. Now she was wide open for him, at the height he needed, and thrust deeper and harder, carrying them both higher and higher until she gasped and tensed around him. He bit down on her shoulder as her inner muscles clenched him, taking him over the brink. He came hard. It felt like it started in his toes, a wave of searing pleasure that tore through him and spilled into her. Even his scalp tingled as he gave her everything he had.
When they were finally still, he let her legs down one at a time, then led her to the bed where they lay down face to face.
“I love you.”
He brushed his thumb over her cheek. “I love you.”
