Marigold repositioned herself on the couch. “Let him go to all the trouble he wants. He loves it.” Seanna imagined that he did.
“How are you feeling?” Seanna asked, focusing on the bandage on the top left corner of her forehead.
“Much better. Nurse Sebastian has done a very good job.” She smiled over at the kitchen.
“You’re welcome!” he shouted.
“So,” Marigold said, “have you convinced Blake to stay yet?”
Seanna sat on the couch with her. “No. I haven’t really talked to him much this week.”
“Seriously? What’s up with that?”
Seanna shrugged. “I really don’t know, to be honest. Something changed…right after the accident.”
“My accident?”
“Yeah. I don’t know. We were okay, and then we weren’t.” Seanna narrowed her gaze at Marigold. “Are the two of you…”
Marigold’s eyebrows shot up. “Dating? Blake and me?” She busted out in laughter and then put her hand to her head. “Oh, don’t do that. It makes my head hurt.”
“So…no?”
“God no. Not for lack of trying on my part though. None of these guys are ever going to date me. I’m too much for them. I tease, and I try like hell with them, but truthfully, I like it how it is right now. I can flirt with the three of them all day long, and we can still hang out. All my romantic relationships have ended explosively. I like having three great, positive, straight guy relationships in my life that I know will continue. Blake can fix anything. Chase can buy anything. And Bo’s the most fabulous date on the planet to take to your ex’s sister’s wedding.”
Seanna chuckled. “I’ll bet he is.”
“So, I take it Blake’s in retreat mode.”
“He’s full-on undercover.”
Marigold sat back on the couch, shaking her head. “That guy. He’s so tough. But if anyone can pull him over this threshold, it’s you, Seanna. I’ve known him three years, and I’ve never seen him date anyone. I thought he might be gay, but Sebastian’s gaydar ran cold on him from the start.”
“Yeah, I can confirm he’s not gay.”
“Bragger. You’re going to have to pull him through this, Seanna, whatever it is.”
“How? I can’t stalk him. If he’s not interested—”
Marigold held up a hand. “He’s interested. If you’re anything like me, you want him to make the first big emotional move. But he’s set to leave in about a month. Time is ticking. Put it on the line. Tell him what you want from him. Ask him to stay.”
Seanna exhaled a deep breath, staring back at Marigold. “If you’d have told me six weeks ago that I’d be having this conversation about any man, I’d have thought you were a nut job.”
“A lot of people think that about me as it stands.”
Seanna laughed, finally getting why they all were so close with her. “I’m so glad you’re doing better.”
Marigold’s cat eyes widened as she got a conspiratorial expression on her face. “That was hot, how Blake was all take charge when I hit my head. I’d love to be with a guy like that. You’re a lucky girl.”
“We’ll see about that.”
The doorbell rang. “Sooner rather than later. That’s him,” Marigold said.
Seanna stilled. “Are you serious?”
Sebastian peeked out from the kitchen. “Seanna, will you please get that.” He gave her a little smile, then went back to the stove.
She turned to Marigold. “You two are awful.”
“He stopped by earlier in the week. We could tell something was off. Sebastian could at least. He’s nothing if not intuitive.” The bell rang again.
Seanna narrowed her gaze. “I’m not sure if I should thank the two of you or hurt you.”
Marigold pointed at her forehead. “I’ve got that part covered.”
Seanna smiled and then headed for the door. She opened it to find Blake standing there holding a bottle of wine. His eyes went wide. “Oh, hey.”
“I see they warned you about dinner. I thought I was just stopping by to see Marigold.”
He furrowed his brow, gripping the wine bottle with two hands. “I’m sorry I haven’t called or texted much this week.”
“It’s no problem. In fact I think I owe you one from Thursday. I’ve been super busy with Chase’s kitchen. I finished this afternoon.”
“Oh, cool. I’ll have to go see the finished product.”
“Yeah, it’s in better repair than the last time you saw it. Come on in,” she said. He turned his attention to Marigold on the couch, so Seanna took the wine from him and brought it to Sebastian in the kitchen. “Blake brought you this lovely bottle of wine, and I’m bringing you a bottle of whoop ass.”
“Oh, please. You know you’re happy to see him.”
“But does he want to see me is the question.”
Sebastian tapped a wooden spoon against a pot. “Of course he does, sweetie. He just needs some nudging. You know how straight men are. They all need a little guidance. This friend of mine from high school tells this story about her current husband all the time. They’d dated briefly in high school, and then she sees him when they’re like twenty-five coming out of the grocery store. She says hello, and he pretends he doesn’t hear her when she’s sure he did. She’s so pissed off that she marches across the parking lot, tracking him to his car, and then confronts him while he’s loading in his groceries. They got married three months later. Now what if she had let that boy go? Those two little brats of theirs wouldn’t even exist right now.”
“So you think I need to confront him?”
“The word confront is so harsh. How about a nudge?”
She smiled. “Where’s your corkscrew?”
He opened a drawer and handed it to her. “Use the crystal glasses in the buffet in the dining room.”
“Yes, sir.”
She filled four glasses, and then headed out with two of them. Marigold held up her hand. “None for me…ever again. Well, not ever, just not yet.” She peered at the kitchen. “You coming along in there, Bastian?”
“Yep. Plating now.”
Marigold headed that way, leaving Seanna standing there with two glasses of wine. She handed one to Blake, who was sitting in the chair.
“Thanks.”
She held up her glass to him. “Thank you. I came empty-handed.”
“Have you seen the wine wall in the dining room? There’s about a hundred bottles in there. I think we could have managed.”
She sat on the couch. “Just.” She forced a smile, but she really wasn’t feeling it. What the hell was wrong with him? He looked at her like he wanted to devour her half the time, yet he’d practically ignored her all week.
“So, are you getting your business wrapped up here?”
“Yeah, I’ve been working on it all week.” He frowned. “I think I may actually head to KC a few weeks early…get settled before I have to start my new job.”
She nodded, her heart dull from the words, but they weren’t a shock. They sat in silence for a few moments, watching the muted television, which had been left on HGTV. Seanna was vaguely aware of the back door opening and closing, but it wasn’t until she heard a car starting in the drive out front that she perked up. “Where are Sebastian and Marigold?”
Blake peered into the kitchen, and then went to the front door, Seanna on his heels. Sebastian’s car zoomed up the cul-de-sac toward the main street. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
She headed to the dining room where she found two plates of million dollar chicken with green bean almondine and new potatoes. “Well, your friends are nothing if not persistent.”
He met her in the dining room, running his hand through his hair, his face colored. She looked up at him and started laughing. That was all she knew to do. He smiled, though it didn’t seem to come as easy to him as it did to her.
She tossed up her hands. “Well, at least they didn’t take your truck.”
He glanced at the f
ront door and then back down at the table.
“Just go, Blake. There’s nothing stopping you this time.”
He stared at her, his brow furrowed, looking like a mountain laid on both of his shoulders.
She took his hand and pulled it up between them, threading her fingers with his. “I don’t know what’s in Kansas City that’s not here, but if you stay, we can find it…together.”
Chapter Nineteen
Blake stared at their clasped hands, a vice grip squeezing his heart. Keeping his distance from her this week had made his heart sick with pain, but standing here in front of her, he realized his pain hadn’t even scratched the surface yet. The sincerity in her eyes was so real and true that he had no choice but to bring her hand to his mouth and kiss the tips of her fingers. “You can’t imagine how much I want to stay.”
She moved closer to him, wrapping his arm around her waist. “You can have it, Blake. You can have all of me.”
He slid his hand down her ass, pressing her up against him. Her mouth met his, and he lost himself in the intensity of her touch awakening him from a week of separating himself from her. She walked him backward toward the stairs, and then took his hand and led him up them to the first room they came to.
She slid open the bedside drawer, peered inside, and then closed it back. As she pulled the comforter down and tossed away the excess pillows, he had a vision of her doing this very same thing in their own home. They’d both come home from a day at work. He’d fix dinner for them, and they’d cuddle on the couch watching some brainless television, and then head back to their bedroom to make love and fall asleep, her naked body pressed to his. How did the dream of such a simple, perfect life become so intangible for him?
She turned around and took her time undoing the buttons on his shirt. A shiver traveled through his body as she rounded her hands over his shoulders, and tugged his shirt off of him. She unbuckled his belt and undid his pants, letting them drop to his knees. He stepped out of them, naked there before her, but with still so much about him he wouldn’t let her see.
She ran her hand over his balls, letting the weight of them fall into her palm, making his cock stand at attention. He’d never known a woman’s touch could make him lose control of his senses and his brain function. When she dropped to her knees and took them into her mouth, he breathed so heavy he thought he might steam up the windows as the sensation of her mouth on the most sensitive part of his body lit a fire inside of him.
She lifted herself onto the bed, pulling her shirt and bra off of her in one big motion and tossing them away. She pulled her shorts off and scooted back on the bed. “Come here, Blake.”
Something about the way she said his name so matter of fact, almost like she was calling him out, caused a wave through his stomach, and it also tightened his erection. He lay beside her, and she moved her hand up his arm. “I was with Jason for two years, and I’m fairly positive he never cheated on me, not with another person, that is. Have you slept around much these past few years?”
He stared into her eyes, wanting to tell her one truth, one fact about himself that he typically wouldn’t admit to. “I haven’t been with anyone in over three years before you.”
She smiled, moving her hand up to his forehead, and ran the tips of her fingers through his hair. “I want to feel you inside of me. It’s a safe time of the month if you’d like that, too. If not, there’re condoms in the bedside drawer.”
He didn’t answer, just climbed on top of her and guided himself inside. Her wet warmth surrounding him sent a surge of heat through his stomach and up through his chest…the most natural thing he’d ever felt in his life, primal and simple, yet thrilling in a way that made him never want to be outside of her body again.
Her eyes closed, her brow furrowing as she gripped his biceps. He pushed inside of her over and over, wanting to last till midnight if he could, but with how good her bare flesh felt against his, he’d be lucky to last the rest of the minute.
The sensations soared inside of him, fueled by both the physical act of pumping inside of a beautiful woman and the emotions he was feeling for her. He lost himself as the heat built within him, but the grip on his arms woke him up to the expression on her face which he understood now was the one she got when she was getting ready to come apart for him.
He pumped harder, willing himself not to ruin this for her. He wanted to be the one to give this to her…to make her come for him, because of him, all around him.
She let out a sound like she’d been holding her breath and then gasped for air again, holding her breath one more time until she let everything out, releasing her grip from his arms. All it took was one more push into her wet warmth, and he let himself go inside of her.
He collapsed onto her, holding his weight in his elbows and knees so it wouldn’t crush her, but he needed the feel of his bare body against hers as he steadied his breathing.
She pulled his head up off of her and smoothed his damp hair out of his eyes. “I love you, Blake Evans. I want to be with you.”
He searched her eyes, wanting to tell her he loved her back. He did, Jesus Christ, he did. He’d never understood love until her. But everything was so crystal clear now, that he could write books about it…libraries.
He could tell her everything right now. He’d ask her to get dressed, and they’d go sit on the couch downstairs so he could tell her the entire story. If she hated him, she could get up and leave and never have to see him again. He’d leave for KC tomorrow. He was just stalling at this point anyway.
The downstairs door opened, and Sebastian’s voice filled the house. “Seanna!”
They both sat up, and she shouted back. “Upstairs!”
Footsteps sounded, and Blake jumped off the bed and shut the door. “Just a minute.” He tossed Seanna her clothes.
“I’m so sorry to interrupt,” he said from the hallway. “It’s Jason. He’s here, at the shop with Cassidy.”
Seanna stared at Blake motionless, her face turning white. “I’m not ready for this.”
Blake slid onto the bed with her. “You don’t have to go. I’ll go handle the whole thing.”
“No, I need to.”
“I’m going with you.”
“No, I’ll just…” She trailed off, glancing around.
He pulled her attention back to him. “I’m going with you. I’m not arguing about it.”
She smiled. “Is this our first fight?’
He huffed a laugh. “Yeah. Wanna make up?”
They dressed and headed down the stairs where Sebastian was waiting in the living room. He stood up off the chair. “I am so sorry, you two. We had this whole night planned. We were just picking up Cassidy at the shop for dinner, and he was there. I tried to text you, but I figured you didn’t have your phone.” He gave a significant look in the direction of the bedroom they’d just left.
“How long has he been there?” Seanna asked.
“I don’t know. It didn’t seem like long based on the content of their conversation. He was asking where to find you and getting a little belligerent.”
“Let’s go,” Blake said.
“He’s fine,” Seanna said. “He’s never hurt me, not physically. And Cassidy is badass. She can totally handle herself.”
“I left Marigold there with her, so between the two of them, the poor guy will probably wish he’d never shown up,” Sebastian said. “I’ll follow you all over there.”
He and Seanna jumped in his truck and made the quick drive to the shop, which felt like it took a lot longer than it usually did. Blake wheeled into a front parking place next to a red Lexus. “Is this his car?” Blake asked.
“I don’t know that car. He probably finally got his repossessed.”
Through the glass, Blake could see a guy sitting at one of the tables near the counter digging his thumb into his forehead. He and Seanna got out of the truck and Blake opened the door for her, Sebastian bringing up the rear. The guy looked up at them, and Blake conn
ected him with the picture he’d seen in that article he’d read about him weeks ago, except in that picture, he wore a shirt and tie with a conservative haircut, looking like he belonged in a Gordon Gekko movie. Today he looked like he’d crawled out of a meth lab. Not quite, but just about.
When the guy saw Seanna, his whole body visibly relaxed, like finding her was the answer to the universe’s biggest questions. “Oh, shit, Seanna.” He walked toward her, feet away from hugging her, wrapping his filthy body around the woman Blake loved, expecting her to be some sort of problem-solver past what she was already doing for him…maybe even putting her in danger, giving some debt collector wielding a baseball bat ideas about how he could make Jason pay by threatening those close to him. Alarm shot through Blake’s chest, and he instinctively took a step in front of her. “Who the fuck are you?” the guy asked.
Seanna took Blake’s arm. “It’s fine. What is it, Jason? Why are you here?”
Jason looked between Seanna and Blake, an irritable frown on his ugly face. “I need to talk to my fiancée.”
“Fuck you.” The words were out before Blake could stop them.
“Who the fuck are you?” Jason asked, sizing Blake up. That’s right. He better think twice.
Cassidy appeared between them. “Let’s just dial this down a notch. Jason came here to talk to Seanna. Sweetie, is that something you are okay with?”
Seanna turned to Marigold and Sebastian. “Why don’t you all go back home? Cassidy and Blake are here. It’s fine.” They nodded dutifully and headed to the parking lot.
Jason glared at Blake and then turned to Seanna. “I need to talk to you alone.”
“I really don’t care what you think you need. I don’t want to be alone with you. Not now, and not ever again.”
“Why? Because you know you love me?”
“No, because I’ve had enough of you,” she said in a rush. “You drag me down. You’re like a current pulling me to the bottom of the ocean. I can’t breathe right around you anymore.” She put her fingertips to her throat, and Blake wanted to kill this son of a bitch.
Seaside Sweets Page 18
