by Doreen Alsen
He chuckled. “Of course. I guess I’m too excited about getting you all to myself.”
So was she.
Her legs only kinda, sorta worked. She managed to find her purse, looked in and was delighted to see her keys in there. She put on a brilliant smile, held up and jingled her keys. “All set!”
“Let’s go, then.” He grabbed the hand not holding the purse and keys and pulled her to him.
He kissed her. Her legs got a bit more rubbery. If this kept up she was never going to survive this night.
“I feel like I’ve waited a lifetime to be with you again,” he murmured against her lips.
Well, if she didn’t survive, at least she’d die happy.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Where are we going?” Beth lounged in the passenger seat of Jeff’s truck, seat belt in place, hands clasped in her lap.
“You’ll know when we get there.”
“No fair. I want to know.”
“Bethy.” He reached his right hand over and squeezed her arm. “Curiosity killed the cat.”
She blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m just intrigued.” Turning her head to look at him, she pushed a strand of hair that had escaped her braid out of her eyes. “I know Danny-World. Date-World doesn’t exist in my universe.”
“It’s time to change that.” And wasn’t he ridiculously happy that she hadn’t been on a date for the past ten years?
It really wasn’t right. A fog of guilt descended on his head. He hadn’t been a monk. She should have had the same opportunities. She should have dated and been with men other than him. All the same, he felt, well, relieved about it. It was incredibly selfish, he knew.
He would do his best tonight to honor that and give her as much pleasure as she could stand.
More than what she could stand. She would be a very well-loved woman when she left his bed tomorrow morning.
He desired her, man did he desire her, but taking care of Beth and making sure she shared his desire was the most important thing. Tonight was for her. Okay. Not all for her. He intended to have some fun himself. If it meant giving her so much pleasure she lost her mind, oh well.
He felt his lips curl into a very wicked smile. He’d take one for the team.
He’d learned a technique or two or three in the ten years they’d been apart. He couldn’t wait to show them to her. But right now he had to make sure she knew he wanted her, Beth. No one else. Just Beth.
Always Beth.
A little gourmet picnic, courtesy of Evelyn, then back to his condo to warm up in front of his fireplace and enjoy dessert.
Evelyn had made an espresso chocolate mousse. She told him to serve it in martini glasses. He might ignore that, even though he’d bought two glasses for that purpose.
The taste of chocolate espresso mousse satisfied his desire for something sweet. Licking it off his lover’s stomach?
Orgasmic.
Beyond orgasmic.
The thought of the taste of the chocolate combined with the taste of Beth’s scrumptious skin had him shifting in his seat to make room for his growing hard-on. Damn.
He looked at her out of the corners of his eyes. She moistened her top lip with the pink tip of her tongue.
He had plans for that tongue tonight. He smiled.
He’d kiss her all over and satisfy every craving she’d ever had.
****
“You never told me where we’re going,” Beth pointed out.
“Didn’t I?”
“No, you didn’t.” Beth watched as Jeff maneuvered his way through Lobster Cove’s streets to the cliffs just north of town. He pulled up to a little area with benches that overlooked the cove. “Here we are.” He leaned over and gave her a soft peck on her mouth. “Wait right there.”
A couple of seconds later and he opened her door and reached in to help her out.
“Thank—”
He gathered her in his strong muscular arms and kissed her again, making her acutely aware that it was a man kissing her, not a boy. Draping her arms around his waist, she opened up and poured all the passion she felt for this man, all the longing that plagued her for the past ten years. To show him a woman, not a girl, kissed him back.
The kiss spun down into soft gentle brushes of their lips, little sips that sizzled. He pulled his mouth away and rested his forehead against hers. “I need to get our dinner all set up here, but now that I’ve got you in my arms again I don’t want to let you go.” His voice rasped along her skin, making her shiver.
He did let her go, but only to open the back of his truck and pull out a blanket. He handed it to her. “Here. Can you carry this for me?”
“Yes.” She took it from him as he drew out an enormous picnic basket.
Jeff grinned. “I know just the spot where we can watch the sun set over the water.”
Delighted, she gaped at him. “I can’t remember the last time I went on a picnic.”
He motioned with his head for her to follow. “You and Danny don’t go on picnics?”
“Not like this!” Beth smoothed the soft blanket over her arm as she walked along with him. “We made a tent in the kitchen when there were thunderstorms and ate hotdogs.” She scrunched her nose. “Danny used to get really scared of the thunder and lightning. It took away the fear and turned it into fun.”
He smiled at her, his eyes bright. “You’re a really good mom, Beth. I know I accused you of a lot of things in the past and I’m not proud of that.”
Her eyes misted over. “Thank you. It’s been an adventure. I love Danny more than I could have ever imagined.”
“I know your father made your life a living hell. I wish I could have saved you—”
“Shhhhh. It’s done and gone. No use thinking about it any more.” She hugged the blanket to her chest. “I’m looking ahead these days.”
“Me, too,” he said. “Me, too.”
Their eyes met and held. Beth’s heart skittered hither and yon. At that moment, she believed wishes could come true. Dreams, hopes, prayers, all of them could absolutely come true.
The air became too precious to breathe. Here it was, all she had ever wanted, a perfect life close enough to grasp it. She went on tiptoes and cupped her hand to caress his cheek, to touch the elusive part of her dreams.
The moment spun on and on, suspended in a pool of longing that they floated in. Finally he took her hand, brought it to his lips and pressed a kiss into her palm. “Maybe I should feed you before it gets too cold. Are you hungry?”
“For what?” She spoke before she thought.
He chuckled. “I’ve got a picnic basket full of food. Let me feed you before I love you.” He bent to kiss her one more time.
He broke the kiss. “That’s dessert, sunshine. Right now, let me feed you.”
“Dinner before dessert?” She cocked her head to one side.
“I’m a very good dad, so dinner always before dessert.” He wagged his eyebrows up and down.
She laughed then took a deep breath. No guts, no glory. “I’m a big girl and I can eat dessert whenever I want to.” She wagged her eyebrows back at him.
He shook his head at her then blew out a huge breath. “Oh, Bethy. You have no idea about what I’m thinking about for dessert.” He licked his lips. “We’re going back to my apartment when it comes to the dessert course.”
She shivered, hoping to be dessert.
****
He managed to keep his hands off her as he spread the blanket. As he set out the candles and lit them, the love of his life fussed with arranging silverware. Usually he couldn’t have cared less about freaking place settings. But Beth did.
And because Beth cared, Jeff cared.
She put stock in those kinds of things, which was the whole, total reason he’d packed real dishes and silverware instead of paper plates and plastic forks.
Still he worked like hell to keep his hands to himself. So he kept lighting candles. So beautiful before, but now, in flickering candlelight,
in the brilliant tones of the sunset, Beth’s beauty outshone them all.
Okay. He was a jock not a poet. Still, those were the words he used to describe her.
So shoot him.
He just breathed in the sight of her lovely face. Unlined of course, yet life had taken its toll in other ways. He’d loved the girl with all his teenage heart. Now he quite believed he’d come to adore the woman.
Her presence in his life had become essential.
Essential for his ability to breathe, for his ability to put one foot in front of the other.
He pulled a chilled bottle of Breakwater Vineyard’s 2012 Riesling, which Evelyn had told him to get, popped the cork and poured a tiny bit in one wineglass. He swirled the liquid around and sniffed it. Taking a tiny sip, he checked out the wine.
He didn’t know one end of a Riesling to another. So wanting to impress Beth, he followed Evelyn’s instructions to the letter. He poured some wine into Beth’s glass and added some more into his own. “Cheers!”
She clinked her glass against his. “I can’t believe you put this all together for me.” Beth sat on the blanket.
“I did it for me, too. Are you warm enough? I know October is a little on the chilly side for a picnic, but after hiding back in high school, I wanted to bring our relationship out in the open. Literally.”
“I think it’s really romantic.”
He had to kiss the tip of her nose for that. “I hope you’re hungry.” He knelt by the basket and pulled out a thermos and a couple of other containers.
“I am.”
“Good.” He unscrewed the thermos and poured creamy clam chowder into two bowls the topped each serving with a dollop of butter. “There.” He sat after he handed Beth hers. “Bon appetit.”
She spooned up some soup. She closed her eyes as she swallowed. “Mmmmm.” The tip of her tongue peeked out of her mouth to catch some of the creamy broth that lingered there and he salivated.
Opening her eyes, she said, “This is delicious. Did you make this?”
“Are you kidding? I don’t cook, ever.” He chuckled. “However I do know a very good caterer, named Evelyn, in Bar Harbor. She also runs the kitchen at the Spinnaker Yacht and Sail Club.”
“This is sinful.” She took another taste.
“You think that is sinful? You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Beth’s mouth parted and under her jacket he could see her chest rise and fall rabbit quick. “I’m looking forward to that.”
If he hadn’t been holding a bowl of hot chowder he would have pulled her into his lap and kissed her silly. They were in public, though, and while there was taking their relationship out into the open it was a little different taking their relationship out into the open and putting on a show.
He knew she wouldn’t feel comfortable with that. Plus the waiting would make their coming together all the sweeter.
She slid her gaze away from his and turned her attention back to their meal, her cheeks beautifully flushed. Done with the soup, he took the bowl and set it aside. “Are you ready for the second course?”
“Yes!” She craned her neck to peek into the picnic basket.
“I’ve just got to do a couple of things.” He moved the basket out of the way then opened the cooler. Evelyn had given him specific instructions on how to serve the entree.
“You look like you know what you’re doing. I don’t believe that you can’t cook.”
He snorted. “I’m just following directions.” He shook a glass jar to mix the contents. Once satisfied he’d gotten it right, he poured it over a plate of green beans and tossed them together. Done to what he hoped was up to Evelyn’s standards, he put a plate holding a lobster salad croissant and a chilled green bean salad in front of Beth. “Voila!”
“It looks delicious! What are they?”
He put his own plate down and reached for the wine bottle in its terra cotta holder then topped up Beth’s glass. He donned his best fake French accent. “For tonight we have steamed lobster salad dressed with crème fraîche, a champagne mayonnaise, fresh tarragon and fennel served on a croissant alongside blanched green beans with a Dijon mustard, fresh dill and caper vinaigrette.” He held his fingers up and air kissed them. “Magnifique!”
“You sound like Pepé La Pew,” she laughed.
“You wound me, madame!” He faked outrage then grinned. “I guess I should stick to English.” Motioning to her plate, he said, “Dig in! Let me know what you think.” He topped off his own wine.
She cut the croissant in half. “It’s so big, I don’t know if I can eat it all.”
He couldn’t help himself. “Maybe you’ll repeat those words later on back at my condo.”
Blinking furiously, she picked up the half sandwich. “What?”
He barked a laugh.
Then dawn broke at Marblehead. “Oh.” She shook her head and smiled. “You’re so bad.” She shrugged. “We’ll just have to see about that.” She took a bite and sighed. “So good.”
“Yeah?”
“Your friend Evelyn is a food genius.” She frowned. “Just how a good a friend is this Evelyn?”
“Only as much as I found about her and fell in love with her food. Besides,” he told her, “she’s in her sixties and has been very happily married for about forty years.”
“Oh. That’s good then.”
“Try the green beans.” She forked up a couple, popped them into her mouth, chewed and swallowed. Jeff watched every motion, every movement of her mouth and throat. “Good, yes?”
There she went licking those gorgeous lips of hers again. “Very good.”
They ate in silence though the air around them snapped, crackled and okay, popped—electric, and potent.
Intimate.
He put his arm around her while they watched the sky turn from pink and orange fire into deep, dark blue velvet. As the stars winked on, when the candles he had lit began to flicker, he felt her shiver.
“Getting a little chilly out here,” he said. “Why don’t I pack this up and we go to my place for dessert?”
She took a very deep breath. “I’ll help. We can get there faster.” She picked up a candle, pursed her lips and blew it out.
“You look like you’re in a hurry,” he murmured, wishing to laying his lips over hers. Desire for her raced through his blood.
She tossed her head back. “What do you think?”
“That I better get with the program. After all,” he kissed her, “my mother told me to never leave a lady waiting.”
Not that he intended to. He and Beth had already waited too long.
****
Beth walked around Jeff’s small living room, marveling at the sparseness of it. Eggshell colored walls held no paintings, but it did sport a large, flat screen TV. Very few books sat on the black book case in one corner. A small stone fireplace took up part of the room. A large framed photo of Cookie, obviously a school photo, held the place of honor, along with a smaller picture of Nancy and Cookie on the mantelpiece. He’d framed the baby picture of Danny he’d stolen and put it up next to the other ones.
A small brown plaid covered couch took up space against another wall. The battered maple coffee table in front of it was covered in Sports Illustrated magazines. She winced when she saw a battered floral covered recliner next to a small table that was home to a lamp made out of a chianti bottle, and the remote control for the television. She didn’t think that Better Homes and Gardens would show up to do an article on his decorating prowess.
Venetian blinds shaded the windows, but no curtains draped them. Either he hadn’t gotten any or he hadn’t had time to put them up. This was just a place to sleep, hardly anything around to turn it into a home.
If she’d learned anything about Jeff since he’d dropped back into her life, she knew he wanted a family. He needed to be a father, an active hands-on one. She wouldn’t have been embarrassed about the well-worn condition of her own furniture if she had known how sad his living space was.
She pulled up the dream she’d been having so often lately, Jeff, Danny and her living in her tiny house as a family. Moving to a bigger house when they had a baby on the way. She touched her stomach imagining that baby inside her.
Whoa! She was getting way ahead of herself. Danny had another sibling to get used to before that. But if she wasn’t misreading him, Jeff wanted to be a family with her and Danny as much as she wanted it.
A constant worry nibbled on the edge of her mind. What if she was wrong? Her experience with Y chromosome challenged humans involved her father, Jeff, and Danny. Not a whole lot to go on.
He came out of his kitchen with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. He looked at her with a half-smile on his face and heat in his eyes.
Desire streaked through her.
He swept a pile of Sports Illustrateds off the coffee table and set the champagne bottle and glasses on it. She was about to pick up the magazines but he said, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll pick them up later.” He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose.
He tore open the foil and wire cage surrounding the cork and twisted the cork and the bottle, one to the left, the other to the right. The cork popped out with a fizzy thip. “Well, look at this,” he gloated, triumph in his tone. “Didn’t lose a drop.”
He poured the effervescent liquid. Both glasses hissed and foamed up as he filled them. He added more when the bubbles subsided. He held out a glass. “Try it.”
She took the glass, his fingers brushing over hers before he relinquished the drink. “Be careful, sunshine. Those bubbles are pretty potent.”
Something was pretty potent, but she didn’t think it had much to do with the bubbles. She conjured up her inner sassy. “Doesn’t champagne demand a toast?”
His eyes lit brighter as he grinned. “I do believe it does. What do you want to toast?”
In for a penny, in for a pound. She’d put on Sassy Beth for a reason. Might as well own it. “How about you and me?”
He cleared his throat. “Just you and me?”
“Yes.” Beth couldn’t believe what she was about to say. “I love my son, our son, but he has no place in this room right now.”
He held her gaze for several atomic-powered moments, his eyes searching hers. “I guess you’re right. Danny’s not here right now. It’s just you and me. No kids or ex-wives or crazy fathers between us.”
