Whispers at Seaside

by Addison Cole

  “And…?”

  “And I don’t know,” he said honestly. It was all happening so fast. “I can’t make any promises, but I have wanted to spend time with you and Hagen—real time, not just an hour here or there—for almost a year, and we finally have a chance to do it. I don’t want to blow off what we feel when we’re together. It’s too good. It feels too right. I want to explore it, to see what happens and how it naturally progresses.”

  He forced himself to say what he knew he had to, even though he didn’t want to risk hearing an answer he wasn’t ready to accept. “If that’s too big of a risk for you, or for Hagen, I’ll understand, but it won’t stop me from trying. I’m done pretending I’m not dying to spend hours, days, weeks with you and to hold you naked in my arms.” He brushed his lips over hers and she arched beneath him with a look of longing and a hint of worry. “You tell me, sunshine. What do you want?”

  Her hand circled his neck and her head rose off the chair. “You, Matt. I want you.”

  Mira’s admission unearthed an avalanche of emotions, made worse by the eagerness of her kisses. Her soft, warm hands moved beneath his shirt, up and over his back. He struggled to keep himself in check as he delved into the recesses of her mouth, telling himself that kisses were all he could take tonight. With Hagen sleeping just inside the house, he didn’t want to test their control, because he knew it was a losing battle. But she was moving against him, making sweet, wanton noises, and before he knew what was happening, she slashed through his control. He sucked her lower lip into his mouth and gave it a gentle tug, earning a moan so inviting he moved his hands south, holding her hips. Her head tipped back, eyes closed. She was a vision of beauty, flushed with need.

  He lowered his mouth to her neck as they fell into sync, creating a scintillating rhythm with their hips. Her legs wrapped around his waist, making him ache for more.

  Her fingers curled into his flesh, and he claimed her mouth once again, taking her in a wild, rough kiss that had them both moaning, clawing, begging for more. Her breathing became ragged as their mouths made sweet, frantic love.

  “Don’t stop,” she panted out.

  Her head tipped back with a long, greedy moan. She was so into this, so into him, he never wanted to stop. He wanted to slide down her body and feast on her, but there would be no easy way to cover that if Hagen woke up. His desires would have to wait, so instead, he took her to the place she craved.

  She clung to his arms, panting out his name. “Matt. Matt. Matt.”

  After, she reached for the part of him that ached for her. He kissed the rosy flush on each cheek and couldn’t resist also kissing the spray of freckles on the bridge of her nose, as he took her hand in his and said, “We’ll have time alone this weekend. I’m not in a rush. Pleasuring you is enough for me for right now.”

  A sleepy smile crawled across her face. “Most guys take. You give.”

  “Don’t count on that, baby. When I get you alone, there’ll be taking going on for sure.” He lay with her in his arms until her eyelids grew heavy. “Come on, let’s get you inside.” He helped her up, and they headed back into the house. Matt checked the lock on the back door and found Mira peeking into Hagen’s bedroom.

  “Do you want me to come with you tomorrow when you take Hagen to camp?” he whispered.

  “You have your own work to do.”

  “I can work around it.” He followed her to the front door and drew her against him. “I know you’re fully capable of handling this, but you don’t have to handle it alone, and I promised Hagen that if someone was bothering him, I’d make sure it stopped.”

  “Is that what you whispered to him?”

  “Yes. I wanted him to get a good night’s sleep, and knowing he’s got both of us looking after him should help.”

  “Matt, you can’t make promises like that. You can’t guarantee that you’ll stop someone else from doing something.”

  “The heck I can’t,” he said more calmly than he felt. “No one is going to get away with making Hagen feel bad. Not while I’m around.”

  “You don’t have to go all badboy on me.” She ran her fingers over the patch of skin revealed by his open collar. “But seriously, you can say you’ll try to stop it, but you can’t promise. He’ll take it literally.”

  “I want him to take it literally. When I make a promise, I keep it. If he can’t count on the adults who care about him to protect him, who can he count on?”

  She seemed to mull that over, and he realized if he hadn’t been coming on too strong before, he was now.

  “I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful with what I say from now on. If you’d rather I didn’t go, I won’t. I just hate the idea of anyone making him feel bad.”

  “Selfishly,” she said quietly, “it would be nice to have you with me because I would get more time with you, but at the same time, it feels silly to have you go. It’s a conversation with a counselor, not a deposition, and you have enough on your plate alrea—”

  Her words were smothered by his kiss. She was so cute and so willing to put herself last in every situation—when all he wanted was to put her first. Where she belonged.

  “What time do we take him to camp?”

  Chapter Twelve

  “THIS IS ALL too fast, right?” Mira said quietly into the phone Thursday morning. Serena didn’t answer, and Mira feared she’d lost the call. “Serena?”

  “I’m here. I’m just cutting off my left arm to see if it leads to being you.”

  Mira heard the smile in her friend’s voice.

  “What is wrong with you? You practically named your vibrator after this guy, and now that he’s basically being handed to you on a silver platter with a note that says ‘Prince Charming is here,’ and you’re worried about going too fast?”

  Mira sighed heavily. “But I have Hagen to think about.”

  “Exactly, and Rick asked him what he thought of Matt yesterday morning and he said he wished he lived here all the time. Wake up, sunshine. Stop borrowing trouble.”

  “I’m not borrowing trouble. I’ve been a single mom for a long time. It’s weird to suddenly have someone other than you or my brothers want to step in and help.”

  “I know,” Serena said thoughtfully. “You’re like those do-it-yourself guys who insist on fixing everything themselves, only they’re plugging holes with toilet paper while you use concrete. Let him in, Mira. What’s the worst that can happen? Hagen will stop being teased by some punk kid, you’ll have a few weeks of great sex—by the way, we are going to talk about the sex—and then you’ll go back to your life with new memories. You’ll see each other every few weeks, and maybe one day it’ll lead to more. I don’t see how you or Hagen are losing out on anything.”

  “But Hagen?” She was concerned about her son, but she was beginning to wonder if she was using him as an excuse to keep a little space between her and Matt so she didn’t get too attached.

  “I just answered that. This is about you. You don’t want a knight in shining armor anymore. It scares the heck out of you, and don’t even try to deny it. You’re afraid that after you spent all these years building a solid life for you and Hagen, someone—or more specifically, super-sexy, super-smart, secret savior Matt—will upend it.”

  Mira rolled her eyes. “I hate that you know me so well. I shouldn’t have told you what I heard about all that secret savior stuff. It’s not as worrisome as I thought. He helped a woman having a seizure when we went to lunch, and he was amazing. Like a true EMT.”

  “Even more of a reason to let him in. He’ll always keep you and Hagen safe, and even though you don’t realize it, you could use that comfort in your life.”

  Everything Serena said made sense, but Mira was still nervous. She wished there was a guidebook to help her know how not to mess up her son’s life.

  “Now, tell me, worried mommy, have you played naughty coed yet?”

  MATT AND MIRA spoke with the head counselor of Hagen’s summer camp. Nora was a friendly b
londe with an I’ve got everything under control vibe, an athletic figure, and serious green eyes, all of which Mira assumed she needed to manage a children’s day camp.

  “And Hagen hasn’t given you any indication of who might be teasing him?” Nora asked.

  “No,” Mira answered. “He hasn’t specifically said that anyone was teasing him. He asked if we thought he was a nerd, and the question came out of the blue, which to me is a red flag.”

  Matt squeezed her shoulder supportively. He’d agreed to let her do the talking, and she could see by the tightness of his jaw that he was struggling to hold back his thoughts.

  “Then it could be that he’s just worried about it,” Nora suggested. “When you enrolled Hagen, you mentioned that he was teased during the school year, and we’re all keeping our eyes open for any hints of that type of behavior. When he brought his robot in the other day all the kids seemed intrigued, so I’d be surprised if someone was teasing him. But they are children, and you never know what goes through their heads. We’ll keep a closer eye on him.”

  “Okay. Thank you. Please let us know if you notice anything.” Mira turned to leave, and Matt’s hand slid down her arm to her hand, keeping her there.

  “One more thing,” he said to Nora. “Is there any time when the kids pair up away from the group? When they use the restroom or take walks?”

  Mira hadn’t even thought to ask. She was glad he did. She had to admit that it was nice to have his support. Otherwise she’d just silently agonize over it. At least now she had someone to talk to. She’d tried to talk to her brothers and Serena about it before, but all of them—even Serena—had reacted so strongly it had scared her into silence. She didn’t want anyone going into the school—or camp—ready for a fight. Their intentions were good, but Hagen would pay the price of such actions in a hundred little ways that Mira didn’t want to think about.

  “Well, sure,” Nora answered. “We use the buddy system, so they have someone with them at all times. As you said, if we’re doing an activity across the field, we’ll send them in pairs to the bathroom. But they don’t always have the same partner.”

  Matt shifted serious eyes over Nora’s shoulder at the children playing in the distance. His dark eyes then swept over the grounds and landed softly on Nora once again. “Thank you for your help, and please keep us in the loop if you notice anything.”

  “I hate this,” Mira confided on the way back to the car. “When they haven’t seen anything and Hagen isn’t clear about why he asked the question in the first place, I’m left wondering what I’m missing.”

  Matt put an arm around her waist as they crossed the parking lot and pulled her against his side. The possessive touch sparked a hum of desire low in her belly.

  “But you’re not left to wonder on your own,” he said in a low voice. “Together we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

  How did he know exactly what to say to make the woman in her and the mommy in her want to kneel at his feet? He kissed her neck, sending shivers down her spine. His hand moved along her hip as his talented mouth distracted her from her thoughts, placing kiss after wonderful kiss along her neck. Thank goodness they’d parked at the far end of the lot. They were almost to the car and out of sight from the camp. But then again, she knew Matt was fully aware of their surroundings. He was always careful.

  She felt sneaky and naughty and it was such a rush, she wanted more of it. More of him. She’d never been like that, not even when she was first dating and everything was new.

  He guided her around the car, blocking them from the rest of the lot, and trapped her between the cold metal and his hard body. He lowered his mouth to her neck again, and oh, he knew exactly where to kiss her to make her knees weaken. When he drew back, his riveting stare turned her to liquid fire. She pushed her fingers into the waist of his jeans and held on for dear life to keep from puddling at his feet. His lips curved up in a toe-curling grin.

  “You make me want to jump in the backseat and skip work.” Her confession came fast and breathless.

  “You make me want to take you back to my bed and skip everything else until we have to come back and pick up Hagen,” he whispered, and then he kissed her—hard.

  His mouth was hot velvet, and she wanted it all over her. His hands moved over her hips to her bottom, and he held her as he had last night, deliciously, perfectly, enticingly tight. He groaned into their kiss. The raw need of that sound shattered what little restraint she had. Her knee rode up his thigh and his hand moved beneath her skirt.

  “Oh my,” she whispered. “Matt,” she panted out.

  He claimed her in another kiss.

  “What time do you have to be at work?” he asked against her neck.

  Work? Oh right. Work. Um… “Nine thirty.”

  He dragged her to the passenger side of the car, threw open the door, and nudged her inside. He ducked in and kissed her hard. “It’s only five after eight.”

  MATT SPED THROUGH every green light on the way to the cottage. The stars were aligning in his and Mira’s favor. Thank heaven, because he was on the verge of losing it.

  They scrambled out of the car and ran like horny teenagers to the back door, kissing and touching along the way. Stumbling up the back steps, Matt trapped her against the door and kissed her deeply as he fumbled with the keys.

  “Hurry,” she pleaded.

  He shoved the key in the lock and pushed the door open, pulling her inside with him. And then his mouth and hands were on her. They tore at each other’s clothes. Her dress and his shirt sailed to the floor in a heap. He made quick work of stripping off his pants and fumbled with the front clasp on her bra. When it finally sprang free, he let out a loud groan at the sight of her in nothing more than a pair of pink lace panties.

  “Oh, sunshine. I’m going to devour you.”

  Her cheeks flushed, and she moved her hands over her stomach.

  He laced his fingers with hers. “None of that, baby. You’re mine. All of you. I want to see, and taste, and touch every luscious inch.”

  She was so beautiful, so feminine, and yet he could see the fierce temptress in her eyes. The desire to be wicked and naughty, which they didn’t have time for now, was overwhelming. But soon he’d give her wicked. He’d give her naughty. He’d give her anything her big, sexy heart desired. He retrieved a condom from the bedside table, taking in her gorgeous features, the trusting, and desirous look in her eyes. In these few quiet seconds he realized she was shaking, and he kissed her softly.

  “Baby, what is it?”

  She shook her head. “I’m okay.”

  “Okay is not good enough. Do you want to stop?” Stopping was the last thing he wanted to do, but there was nothing he wouldn’t do for Mira.

  “No!” She wrapped her arms around him. “I’m just nervous. It’s been a long time.”

  “For me, too,” he admitted. “I haven’t been with another woman since I met you.”

  Her brows knitted, and a small smile curved her lips. “Really? That’s almost a year.”

  “Yes, really.”

  “I’m nervous, and I have you beat. I haven’t done this since I got pregnant with Hagen, so go slow.”

  He kissed her softly. “No battery-operated boyfriend?”

  Her cheeks flamed.

  “Ah, now the truth comes out. That makes you even hotter.”

  She closed her eyes and he ran a finger down her cheek. “Open your eyes, sunshine.”

  When she did, she looked adorably embarrassed and excruciatingly sexy.

  “I would have been surprised if you didn’t,” he reassured her. He laced their fingers together and moved them beside her head. “Now I know you’re not opposed to playing around in the bedroom.”

  He waggled his brows to ease her embarrassment, but when he gazed into her eyes, the emotions he saw sent teasing out the door.

  “I’ve waited so long to be with you. I’d have waited forever.” His admission came honestly and easily, and the sweet sigh t
hat escaped her lips told him she was right there with him.

  As their bodies came together, a wave of passion crashed over him, sucking him under, drowning him in pleasure until the world spun away and the only thought he could hold on to was Mira, Mira, Mira.

  Chapter Thirteen

  MIRA WONDERED HOW she’d made it through the workday Thursday without anyone pointing at her and saying, “Hey! You look all sexed up!” It was a ridiculous thought, but she’d sworn the scent of sex and Matt had permeated her skin, wafting around her like the soft scent of perfume even after they showered. She also felt more alive than she had in years, and when she looked in the mirror, the radiant afterglow of their lovemaking shone in her cheeks and gleamed in her eyes. She’d chickened out about talking to Neil, waiting instead until Friday, and having almost as hard of a time. When she finally got up the courage to speak to him about the co-op, she half expected him to call her out on the fact that Matt had driven her to work the day before and she’d arrived exactly at nine thirty. She was usually at least half an hour early, as she made a point of being today.

  She drew in a deep breath and headed for his office. He was hunkered down over the desk working on the inventory ledger. She hoped Matt was right about Neil not fighting them on looking into the co-op idea.

  “Neil?”

  He cocked his head, his cheeks lifting with his kind smile. Most people aged from year to year, but Mira swore he’d gotten younger in the past year, more relaxed at least.

  “Do you have a second to talk?” Her pulse was racing, but she couldn’t tell if it was because of their impending conversation or the tryst she’d had with Matt.

  “Of course.” He waved to the chair beside his desk and leaned back.