The only thing unfinished was the “wall of fame,” which was painfully empty. But it wouldn’t be for long, she thought, when she could—
A car door slammed outside, and instantly Goldie launched from her place near the fireplace with a loud bark. In fact, she barked furiously all the way into the hall, through the house, and toward the kitchen.
Only one creature on earth could make her bark like that…which meant Rusty was home. And that meant the one creature who could make Katie feel breathless with anticipation was with him.
She came around the corner as Daniel entered the house, and they both froze for a second, as though the impact of seeing each other literally knocked them back a bit.
“You’re home early,” she said.
A slow, sexy smile tipped his mouth. “Not a minute too soon.” With two long strides, he reached her, pulled her into his chest, and lowered his head to kiss her like they’d been apart for a year.
But Goldie’s wild barking killed the moment, making Daniel pull away reluctantly. “Let’s get the patient, who is doing magnificently.” He started to step away, but looked at her again and pulled her right back for another kiss, making her laugh. “Speaking of magnificent.”
She reached up to touch her hair. “I really wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow, but—oh! The baby. Any news?”
“She won’t deliver anytime soon. They’re taking shifts, it’s all covered, and…” He looked around. “It’s just us?”
“And your brand-new living room.”
He grinned. “Let’s get Rusty before Goldie breaks the window and has her way with him.”
They walked out arm in arm, which felt like the most natural thing in the world, to find Rusty looking magnificent indeed, except for the plastic cone around his head.
“It’s really to protect the incision from anything touching it,” Daniel explained. “He can sleep without it.”
“Hey, big guy.” Katie approached him tenderly while Daniel held Goldie and showed her the same kind of love. “We missed you, Rusto.”
He looked up at her with enough spunk in his brown eyes to make hers fill with tears of gratitude. “He looks great,” she said to Daniel, who was crouched down, rubbing Goldie’s head.
“He’s amazing. And there’s not a sign of other tumors, but I am going to start chemo, which is just a pill, for a month or so. There are risks, but I think it’s the right thing to do. In fact, I couldn’t be happier.” He angled his head, squinting at her in the sun. “Well, I take that back. I could be happier.”
“How?”
“You shouldn’t have to ask.”
She laughed as she led the dogs into the house, and he brought his bag in behind her. “Let me take this upstairs.”
“Then straight to the living room to see my handiwork.”
“Deal.” He lifted the suitcase off its wheels and wrapped an arm around her, walking her through the house and planting a kiss on her head. “I was so glad Evie released Rusty a day early.”
“You wouldn’t want to miss that new grandson.”
“Yeah, that, too.” He turned at the stairs and reluctantly let her go, taking them two at a time as if he were floating on air like she was. When he disappeared into the hall, she turned back and started walking toward the living room, stopping when she heard him call her name.
“Yes?”
He didn’t answer, but appeared at the top of the steps, a look of abject confusion on his face. “When did you do it?”
“Do what?”
He gave a dry laugh. “I mean, I love it, but…how?”
“What are you talking about?”
“My…” He shook his head. “You didn’t do my room?”
“Do what to your room?”
With a flick of his fingers, he beckoned her closer, and she headed up the stairs, moving slowly as she tried to figure out what he could be talking about.
Silent, he took her hand when she reached the top and led her down the hall she’d only ever been in once, when he’d first given her the tour of the house. At the end, his double bedroom doors were open and…
“Oh my God.” She stood in the doorway and stared in shock at the soothing blue-gray walls, the washed-wood headboard, the cool-teal comforter, and the geometric rug she’d loved when she’d first seen it. “Oh…my… This is right out of my website and the stuff I sent to your Pinterest board.”
“Darcy,” he whispered.
“She did this?”
“She had the password to that account, and you sent pictures.”
“She replicated the picture of a room I posted and added accents that were on the board. Like those pillows. And that rug.”
He took a few steps in, as stunned as she was. “She didn’t do this alone.”
He put his hand to his chest and turned slowly as they both took in the ambient light, the subtle colors, the whole new placement of the bed, the sleek love seat, and the sheer curtains that lightened the room by indescribable measure.
“Do you like it?” Katie asked.
He looked like he needed to catch his breath. “I love it.”
“You’re not mad at them for overstepping?”
“When my kids rally for a cause…”
“It’s a thing of beauty,” she finished. “In every way.”
He finally shifted his attention from the room to her, reaching out to pull her in again. “This is for us, you know.”
“I had a feeling.” And realizing that made her treasure his children in a way she hadn’t thought was possible.
“So you know what we have to do?”
She looked up at him, her eyes bright with anticipation. “What?”
He stepped back, closed the door, and locked it. “We have to tag all this furniture with new memories.” Lowering his face to hers, he covered her lips with a kiss so long and sweet and tender, she almost swayed in his arms. “Starting with that bed.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Everything was new. The silky handfuls of hair sliding through his fingers. The sweet taste of a kiss that hovered between demanding and tentative. The smell of peaches on her skin and fresh paint on the walls. A sultry whimper he’d never heard before. And when they descended to the bed, the fluffy new comforter sighed as if it had been waiting for Daniel and Katie to fall.
All new, but not entirely unfamiliar.
Daniel eased her under him, clinging to her arms and shoulders as if she might somehow disappear if he didn’t hold her, while Katie whispered his name. Even her voice sounded new to him.
He lifted his head to look at her, to see her dark hair half on her face, half on the bed, and even the expression in her eyes was something he’d never seen before. Wait. He had. Many, many years ago on a dorm-size bed in Gillespie Hall.
“Why are you smiling?” she asked, reaching up to stroke his face.
“Take a wild guess.”
“You’ve missed me?”
“For forty years.”
Her eyes widened. “I know that’s not the truth. You never missed me in that time.”
He didn’t answer right away, tracing her face with his gaze, taking in her lashes and brows and sweet lines that showed she’d laughed more than cried in this lifetime. “You look like Katie Rogers right now, and I was thinking about our first time, on that dorm bed.”
She bit her lip. “You fell out once.”
He dropped his head, laughing. “My knee hit the floor, and it hurt so freaking bad.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t want to stop.” He kissed her lips. “Don’t want to now, either.”
She closed both hands over his cheeks and angled his head one way, then the other, as if deciding where he’d taste best. “This time will be better,” she whispered. “You won’t fall out. I won’t hit my head—”
“Oof.” He cringed. “Forgot about that.”
“And we certainly won’t fail with a condom.”
He eased back an inch and
reached into his back pocket, pulling out a wallet and tossing it on the nightstand. “They’re in there. Bought them in Raleigh, to be honest.”
“You did? So you knew this would happen?”
“Oh, I knew.” He dragged his hand along the column of her throat. “It seemed like the gentlemanly thing to offer. Plus, practice what you preach and all.”
She sighed and let her eyes close. “You are nothing if not a gentleman.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you forget that for a second? Actually, for a few hours?”
“Mmm.” She dropped her head back in surrender. “Make me.”
Very slowly, he lowered his head and settled his mouth into the hollow of her throat, flicking his tongue lightly, then suckling his way back to her mouth. With each heated kiss, his need for her grew until they were rocking their bodies in a natural, heavenly, ancient rhythm that might not be new, but didn’t feel quite like anything he could remember.
She turned her head, offering more of her throat and inviting him to kiss lower, while her hands explored his arms and shoulders and slipped under his T-shirt to burn his skin. He sat up and pulled it over his head, tossing it to the side as he looked down at her.
Her chest rose and fell as her breaths grew sensual and strained, the outline of her breasts beautifully visible in the thin T-shirt she wore. His gaze stopped there, taking her in, drinking in what he’d just surreptitiously enjoyed over these past few weeks.
Silently, reverently, he tugged at the top to slide it over her stomach and reveal a thin, lacy bra that he could see right through. Her body was sloped and soft and, once again, completely new to him.
“Katie.” His voice was thick and gruff. “You’re beautiful.”
“But I didn’t get to show off my brand-new Victoria’s Secret underwear. I thought you’d be home tomorrow.”
“You went to Victoria’s Secret? For me?”
Biting her lip, she nodded, the look sexy and sly, and the idea that she’d anticipated this was downright arousing.
“Let’s get rid of this one, then.” He reached under her and unsnapped the bra, drawing it off her as he lowered his head to kiss this entirely new treat in front of him. Arching her back, she let out a moan that told him it felt as good as it tasted, which only made him want more. And more.
But not quickly. If one thing would be different from the first time they’d made love, he planned to take all day. So he moved over her like she was covered in honey, drawing out every kiss, every caress, and every sultry, whispered word.
But as clothes fell off and the comforter came down, and they were naked and sliding on crisp, unfamiliar linens and a brand-new mattress, neither one of them could slow down. Their breathing hitched and caught in quick, aching pants for more. Their hands locked in place as they found the perfect place to hold. Their legs wrapped and squeezed and opened for each other.
There was no fumbling this time, no one’s head hit the fancy new headboard, and Daniel didn’t slide off the mattress. Instead, they moved like two people who were somehow completely comfortable with the act of making love, yet giddy over the sensations they’d long ago forgotten.
As he rose above her and lifted her hips to take him, Katie’s gaze traveled down to where they were about to be connected, and his followed. For a moment, neither one of them moved, frozen at the sight of their bodies and this age-old connection that somehow felt damn near virginal. They stared at themselves for two, three, four crazy heartbeats before looking into each other’s eyes.
For a second, he thought he saw doubt in hers. Or that same shadow of fear he’d seen when they first met.
“Are you sure?” he asked gently.
“Not only am I sure,” she whispered, blinking against the damp corners of her eyes, which right then could have been sweat or tears, “I’m…crazy about you.”
He laughed. “You just sounded exactly like that girl in Gillespie Hall.”
“’Cause you make me feel like her.” She reached up and pulled him closer, bowing her back enough for him to know exactly where she wanted him. “What a gift it is.”
Yes, it was. A second chance to lose himself in the heart and soul and body of a woman. As he eased into her, Daniel lowered himself so that they could kiss as their bodies joined. He tasted her mouth as their tongues tangled with the same urgency as their bodies.
With each stroke and breath, with each push toward the edge, with each agonizing, torturous, heavenly, thrilling sensation of his body in hers, Daniel felt everything disappear. Time, space, grief, life, the whole world.
There was only Katie, warm and willing and as lost as he was. A woman whose heart he adored and whose body fit his perfectly. As the thought and pleasure rocked him, he clung to her, pulled her up to press against him so no two parts of their bodies weren’t touching. He turned his head to flatten their cheeks to each other, and only then did he realize they were soaked with tears. His, hers, and theirs.
She realized it, too, and gasped softly. Maybe laughed. Maybe cried. He didn’t know. All he knew was that her nails were digging into him, and every move was pure, pure bliss.
He heard his name. Pressed his mouth into her shoulder. Burned his body into hers. And finally lost himself completely.
She was right there with him, out of control and fully satisfied when she fell back onto the pillow with a half laugh of disbelief and a murmur of, “Wow.”
Wow was right.
He went with her, easing himself down gently, waiting for what he knew was inevitable.
He squeezed his eyes shut as the aftershocks rocked him into her, making her groan with satisfaction.
Where was it? The buzz of remorse. The sting of guilt. That bitter taste of knowing he’d broken a promise he’d made with every intention of keeping.
But not one of those unwelcome sensations rolled over him. All he felt was right and comfortable and completely at home.
* * *
Katie drifted in and out of sleep, vaguely aware that the afternoon had slipped into evening when she heard Daniel’s voice, far away, in the kitchen.
She shot up, shaking off dreamy satisfaction to seize panic. Family?
In the distance, she heard him laugh, and even that sound made her smile. Then silence, so if someone was down there, they were quiet. Gramma Finnie? Hadn’t Crystal said she wasn’t coming home? One of the kids?
She didn’t want his kids to know…
That was ridiculous. First of all, they were all adults. Second of all, they didn’t redecorate this room because they wanted their father to have a nice place to sleep. Everyone knew why change had been necessary.
But then she looked around and couldn’t help a sigh of contentment and a smile of admiration. Someone had a great eye and really had dug into Daniel’s Pinterest account. The room didn’t even look like it was in the same house, let alone the same room as before. It might have been Annie’s room once, but—
A familiar bark outside the door startled her. “Goldie!” She pushed the covers off, then froze, realizing that she didn’t wear a single stitch of clothes and couldn’t very well open the door naked.
Looking around, she grabbed the first thing she saw, which happened to be a gray Waterford Farm T-shirt. The large shirt fell over her hips and grazed her thighs, so she snagged her panties from the floor and stepped into them before heading to the door. Which was currently being scratched by a dog who demanded to be let in.
“I’m coming,” she muttered, turning the lock and opening it slowly, spying not one but two dogs, one wearing a handsome-looking cone. “Hello, you two. Come on in.”
Goldie launched in, spun in a joyous circle, and jumped up to greet Katie like they’d been apart for three weeks instead of a few hours. She scratched the dog’s head, but turned to Rusty, who stood still except for his coned head as he looked from side to side. If a dog could be shocked, he was.
“Do you have the dogs?” Daniel called from what sounded like the foot of the steps. She hoped th
at meant they were still alone and he’d been on the phone or maybe talking to the dogs.
“I do. And you better get up here and do some explaining to Rusty.”
“On my way.”
Rusty took a few steps toward the bed and barked once. Then again. Then let out a low rumble in his chest as he stared at the unfamiliar comforter.
“He’s not a big fan of change,” Daniel said from outside the door, which opened as if it was being pushed by something. Then he stood in the doorway, wearing gray sweatpants, no shirt, and carrying a tray with some food, a split of champagne, and two stemless glasses.
“Oh,” Katie exclaimed. “Nice room service.”
“Nice room…mate.” He looked up and down at her immodest and unexpected outfit, a slow grin growing. “That’s a great look for you, Kate.”
She peered over the tray and spied a selection of cheese, crackers, and olives. “And you cooked,” she teased, plucking a square of cheddar and popping it into her mouth.
That made him laugh, but then he realized Rusty had moved to the new love seat that was in a wholly new place, and the growl had grown to an actual snarl.
“Bud, we got a nice new room. Relax.”
He barked and put a paw on the seat.
“Just get up on it and make it your own,” Daniel told him, setting the tray on the small coffee table. “New room, old rules.” He walked around the table and guided the dog onto the seat, and instantly Goldie loped over to join him. “And now my little sofa or settee or whatever you call this is once again a place for a dog.”
“Plural.”
“Dogs,” he corrected. “Because Goldie’s welcome whenever you’re here, which I hope will be often.”
She eyed him. “I didn’t adopt her. I’m fostering.”
Old Dog New Tricks Page 26
