He could get lost in her light brown eyes. As corny as the sentiment was, it was true. “Yeah,” he said, his head dipping to meet hers. “That sounds good.”
“Mmm,” was all she could say because by then, Byron was kissing her and she was kissing him back and there weren’t any more words, any more negotiations. There was just him and her, the way it had been. The way it should still be.
The kiss deepened when she touched his lips with her tongue. It was a hesitant touch, as though she wasn’t sure what would happen next.
Byron knew what he wanted to happen. He wanted to sweep her off her feet and carry her back to the bedroom and spend the rest of the night remembering what they’d once had. He didn’t want to think about betrayal and lies. He just wanted her.
He swept his tongue into her mouth and felt her body respond. Old memories—good ones of the first time he’d kissed her—came rushing back. She’d been hesitant then, too. Now he knew it was because he was a Beaumont but back then he’d thought it was because she was sweet and innocent and afraid he’d push her too far. So he’d just kissed her good-night against the side of her car before she drove home alone.
Which was what he should do now. He should kiss her long and hard and then remove himself from the apartment. He should go home and take care of business himself instead of burying his body into hers over and over again. He shouldn’t push his luck. Hell, he didn’t have much luck left to push.
But Leona ran her fingers through his hair and leaned back, exposing her neck as she moaned, “Oh, Byron,” and he was lost. He would always be lost to her.
He kissed her on the spot just under her ear and was rewarded with a shudder of pleasure. “Tell me what you want,” he whispered. “Do you want me?”
She didn’t answer right away, so he kissed her again. Their tongues tangled as heat built between them. Every moment he spent holding her made it that much harder to walk away and soon he would barely be able to walk at all. But he didn’t care. If she brought him to his knees, so be it.
“Tell me,” he demanded again. This time he took a step forward and pivoted, leaning her up against the counter. He slid his hands under her bottom and lifted her. Her body felt so good in his hands. “Tell me you want me.” As he said it, he tilted his knee forward and pushed her legs apart.
She hadn’t let go of him, hadn’t pushed him away. Instead, she trailed her lips over his jaw and down his neck.
He stepped into her and tilted his hips so his straining erection rubbed against her very center. Leona gasped at the contact. She jolted upright, her eyes even wider as she stared at him.
This was it—the absolute last moment he could walk away from her tonight.
He thrust against her a second time without taking his eyes off hers. Her mouth dropped open into a perfect O and he couldn’t help himself. He kissed her, unable to restrain the passion that was driving him forward over and over again.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, holding him tight. “You,” she whispered in his ear. “I want you.”
That was all he needed. He lifted her off the counter and carried her down the short hallway to her bedroom. Each step drove him against her, harder and harder, so that by the time he managed to kick the door shut behind them, she was moaning in his ear. “Byron—oh, Byron.”
He all but threw her onto the bed. “Babe,” he groaned as he covered her body with his. A nagging thought in the back of his brain told him it’d be a good idea to take this seduction and bedding slowly—that he should do it right.
But then Leona dug the tips of her fingernails into his back and the sensation drove any lingering rational thought from his mind.
He sat back on his knees and pulled her up enough that he could strip off her shirt. Then he traced the pads of his fingers over her skin and around her nipples. The little pink buds stiffened at his touch and he grinned.
Leona lay back, her hands over her head. “It’s not—You’re not weirded out, are you?”
“Nope. Your breasts are amazing. Your body is amazing.” He flicked his fingers over the hard tips.
“It’s not the same,” she said and he heard the concern in her tone. “Everything changed. I’m not the same girl you remember.”
“I know.” He snagged the waistband of her pants. “You’re better. You’re a woman now.” With that, he pulled.
Her pants peeled right off her legs and then she was in nothing but a pair of white cotton panties. Keeping one hand on her breast, he moved down. He pushed her legs apart and lowered himself onto her. He pulled the panties aside and kissed her on her sex. “Not so different,” he murmured. He inhaled her scent deeply and everything he’d tried to forget for a year came crashing back on him. “Oh, babe,” he said before he licked her.
Leona’s body shook at his touch as she moaned. Her legs tried to close around him but he used his free hand to hold her open as he worked on her body. “Yeah, that’s it,” he whispered against her skin as her back arched. “You’re so beautiful.”
“Need...more,” she ground out through clenched teeth.
“All you had to do was ask.” He released his hold on her breast and trailed his hand over her stomach until he got both hands into the elastic waistband of her panties. He pulled them down and Leona kicked free.
She was completely open to him now. She held her hands over her stomach but he pried them away. There, permanently etched into her skin, were pale pink lines that hadn’t been there before.
“Byron,” she said in a trembling voice, as if she were waiting for pain to hit.
“Beautiful,” he murmured as he kissed the stretch marks. She’d brought his son into this world with her body and he wanted to show her just how much he appreciated that.
So, even though he was about to bust out of his jeans, he took the time to kiss all of her stretch marks before moving lower a second time. He pressed his mouth against her again. This time, he didn’t do tender or gentle. This time, he was hell-bent on bringing her right up to the edge and then pushing her over. He looped his arms around her legs and pulled her up so he had a better angle.
She tangled her fingers into his hair, pulling it loose from the low ponytail. “Oh, Byron,” she gasped quietly.
“You still need more?”
“Please,” she got out in a high voice filled with need. “Please, Byron.”
He couldn’t help but grin. “This is how much I missed you,” he murmured as he slipped a finger inside of her. She moaned in pleasure as he stroked her and licked her and kissed her.
“Yes,” she whispered. She let go of his hair and pulled his face up so she could look him in the eye. “More. Need more.”
“This?” he asked, slipping a second finger into her. “Is this what you want?”
Her mouth dropped open again, but she shook her head no.
“Tell me what you want, Leona. I need to hear the words.” He didn’t know why, but he did. No misunderstandings this time—just the truth between them. The truth he’d never been able to deny.
“I want you—all of you,” she whispered. “Make love to me, Byron. Please.”
He hopped off the bed to shuck his jeans. He had a condom in his wallet. He dug around until he found it, which took a few minutes because Leona had leaned forward and pressed her lips to his tip. He groaned in the small space between the pleasure of her mouth on his erection and the pain of needing to hold back his climax. “Babe, please.”
As she lifted her eyes to look at him, her other hand cupped him. Too much—she was too much. “Babe,” he said in warning. He didn’t want to lose it before he’d shown her how good it could still be between them and he didn’t know how much time they had before the baby awoke or her sister came back. “Let me do this for you.”
With his last bit of self-control, he pushed her away—at least, f
ar enough away that he could roll the condom on. Then he climbed back onto the bed, back between her legs, and lowered himself to her. “You still like it like this?” he asked as he tucked her knees under his arms and pinned her to the bed.
“I think so. I’ll let you know.” Then she licked his lips and he couldn’t hold back any longer.
He fit himself against her and plunged into her body. She was so wet and ready for him, as though she’d been waiting for just this moment, too. He buried himself in her and kissed her and thought, I’ve finally come home.
“Yes,” she hissed as he drove into her again and again. “Still like that. Harder.”
“Yes, ma’am,” was all he could say. He had to focus on holding off his climax until she’d come. He had to show her how good he could be for her—to her.
So he thrust in harder and harder until the bed was squeaking and she was moaning and all he could see and feel and hear and taste was Leona. His Leona.
“Oh—oh!” she gasped as he gave her everything he had. Her body clenched down on his and her head came off the pillow and as the climax took her, he kissed her and kept thrusting while she rode it out.
Then she fell back onto the bed and his climax began to roar through his blood. Then—unexpectedly—something changed. The sensation surrounding his erection shifted. Deepened.
He tried to pull out but it was too late. He’d come—and the condom had broken.
Oh, hell.
“What?” Leona panted when Byron pulled away from her.
“I lost the condom,” he said in a state of shock.
“Oh.” Leona hopped out of bed and basically ran for the bathroom.
Byron sat down heavily on the edge of the bed and threw the remains of the useless condom into the trash. For the love of everything holy—he’d barely gotten used to the idea of being a father to one. Was he already on his way to being a father of two?
Stupid. He shouldn’t have used an old condom, shouldn’t have kept it in his wallet. He shouldn’t have taken Leona to bed, not yet.
But this was how it always seemed to happen with her—he couldn’t help himself. He’d wanted to show her how good they could be together and instead?
He’d set them both up for another pregnancy scare. What a freaking mess.
Maybe she was right. Maybe they shouldn’t live together, shouldn’t get married. Because this was how it was going to be. They’d always be walking the thin line between love and disaster.
The only difference was that, at least this time, he knew when they’d crossed that line.
Leona walked back into the bedroom, head down, arms crossed over her bare breasts. “Come here,” he told her, pulling her onto his lap.
She sucked in a shuddering breath. “Might not be anything, after all.”
“Might not,” he agreed, trying to sound optimistic.
“This doesn’t change the plans,” she added. “Two-week trial.”
“Are you sure?” He kissed her cheek. “Because, right up until the end there, I was... Well, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to keep my hands off you.” That got him a small smile. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to keep my hands off you, Leona,” he said in all seriousness as he stroked her hair. “Not even for two weeks.”
“I wish...”
“Yes?”
She leaned into him and sighed. “I wish I knew if that was a good thing or bad thing.”
“Parts of it were very good. Great, even.”
She giggled, but just then a small cry came from the other side of the wall. “Oh—the baby!” Leona said, shooting up and gathering her clothes. She was dressed in seconds and rushing out of the room.
Byron grabbed his shorts and his pants and pulled them on. He didn’t know if he was staying here tonight or not. Not, he decided. He didn’t have another condom and he couldn’t risk the temptation of Leona again, not when there was still a chance that the condom failure might be nothing, after all.
He finished dressing and then peeked his head into Percy’s room. The only light spilled into the room from the hallway. Leona sat in the dark, holding Percy to her breast. This time, he noted the things he’d need to get for his new place—the crib, the dresser, the glider.
But he also watched Leona and Percy. One of Percy’s hands lazily waved around in the air, as if he wanted to grab on to something but was too sleepy to know what. Leona smiled down at him, her eyes full of love as she offered her finger for him to grip.
Byron had missed so much. The whole of her pregnancy, the delivery, Percy’s first smile—all of it was gone into the past. But starting right now, he could make up for that. He could be here for the first time Percy rolled over, the first time he stood and took a step.
He wanted to be a better father than the one he’d had. That’s all there was to it.
Behind him, the front door opened. May walked back into the apartment, already glaring at him. “You’re still here?” She looked him up and down and sniffed in distaste.
Byron shrugged his shoulders at Leona and then walked over to where May was standing. He kept his voice low so he wouldn’t wake Percy. “We’re going to look at some real estate tomorrow. You’re welcome to join us.”
“I’m not going to uproot my life for you,” she spat at him. “Not after what you did to Leona.”
He kept his calm. Mostly because he didn’t want to upset the baby. “I could find you a place of your own nearby if you wanted to stay close to Percy.”
At this, May softened a little bit. “Why would you do that?”
“Because he loves you and your sister loves you,” Byron replied. “And I want them to be happy.”
Whatever small foothold he’d gained with May disappeared. “Then just stay away from them. From all of us,” she hissed.
“I wish I could,” he muttered as May sidestepped him and headed for her room. “I wish I could.”
But he knew he couldn’t.
Ten
They met outside the brewery. Leona was exhausted. Between the three times Percy had gotten her up in the middle of the night and the wild dreams she’d had about Byron, she’d gotten very little rest.
But here she was anyway, picking Byron up at the restaurant site instead of the Beaumont Mansion so his family wouldn’t see him leaving in her car.
“How are you?” he asked as he climbed into the passenger seat. But before she could answer, he’d pulled her into a light kiss.
In the back, Percy shook his rattle.
“Sorry,” Byron said, clearly not sorry at all.
And that, in a nutshell, was her problem. If she were to find herself pregnant again, she’d have to marry him.
An insidious voice in her head that sounded a lot like her father whispered, Maybe that was his plan the entire time. Get you pregnant again to force your hand.
She shook that thought out of her head. “Tired. He woke up a couple more times last night.”
Byron frowned. “How long do those drops take to work?”
“A couple of days. Where are we going?”
Byron gave her the address and they headed out. “Do I take it May’s still not interested in relocating to stay closer to you two?”
“No, not particularly.” Which was the diplomatic way of saying it. At breakfast, May had been quite upset that Leona was spending the day with Byron—and was taking Percy with her.
They drove in silence. The weight of what had happened between them last night hung heavy in the air. She could always buy the plan B pill, just to make sure she didn’t get pregnant—but she didn’t want to do that without discussing it with Byron, and she had absolutely no idea how to begin that conversation.
So, instead, she would look at real estate with a man she still wasn’t convinced she should
live with. Because last night he’d told her in all seriousness that he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands to himself.
She liked to think she was no fool. Oh, sure, she had made some foolish choices. But this?
Living together meant sleeping together, no matter what either of them said about separate rooms. If she agreed to this trial, they’d be together in every sense of the word.
Part of her thought that was a grand idea. It’s what she’d wanted, after all, back before she got pregnant the first time and Byron abandoned her and it all blew up in her face. The other part of her couldn’t get past the part where Byron had abandoned her.
Even though Byron had laid her out last night and made her orgasm like no time had passed between them, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to happen next. She wanted Byron but...she had to put her son first.
Of course, Percy should know his father. That was nonnegotiable.
God, her head was such a mess. Maybe if she’d gotten more than four hours of nonconsecutive sleep she’d be able to think.
They arrived at the Realtor’s office, and she came out to greet them. “Hi! I’m Sherry!” the woman said in a way-too-bright voice. Leona winced. It was still far too early for this level of enthusiasm. “I don’t want you to have to unstrap that little cutie so we’ll just head out, okay?”
“That’s fine,” Byron said. “We’ll follow you?”
“Sure!” Sherry said with a blindingly white smile.
Leona turned to Byron. “What did you tell her?”
“Nothing.” He gave her a sly grin. “Just that I was a Beaumont and I expected a high level of service. That’s all.”
“Oh, Lord,” Leona muttered, following Sherry’s car out of the parking lot. “Let the upselling begin.”
Byron chuckled.
They drove into Littleton, which was not a town that Leona had spent a lot of time in. Her family lived in Cherry Hills in an old mansion behind a gated fence.
Although Littleton looked like a nicer place than the section of Aurora where she and May lived, it didn’t come close to Cherry Hills. At least, not until the Realtor made a couple of turns and May found herself driving past a country club. “Byron?” she asked. “I thought you were just going to get us an apartment or something.”
His Son, Her Secret Page 10
