by Whitley Cox
She licked her lips. “Your last name is Wright?”
“Yeah, why?”
“No reason. I just didn’t know what it was until now, that’s all.”
“What’s your last name?”
“Reynolds.”
“Harper Reynolds.”
She nodded. “What’s your middle name, Sam Wright?”
I liked how she said my name. It sounded sexy coming from her lips. “Samuel Forsyth Wright,” I said proudly, even though I really wasn’t a fan of my middle name. “Forsyth was my grandfather’s name. He died just two days before I was born, so my parents pretty much had to.”
She was giggling. “No, I like it. It’s strong.”
“What’s your middle name?”
“Harper Melody Reynolds.”
“Melody?”
Now it was her turn to cringe. “My sister’s middle name is Harmony. Quinn Harmony Reynolds, though now her last name is Paulson.”
“Your parents musicians or something?”
“Dad is a pianist and mum plays the cello. They both have day jobs, too, but they play in an orchestra.”
“Cool.”
“So, Forsyth, we going to watch this movie, or what?” she asked, deliberately mocking me.
I smiled back at her on the screen. This had been one of the best first dates I’d ever been on, and it had nothing to do with the fact that we weren’t even in the same room, even in the same building.
I shrugged. “I’m just as happy chatting. I mean we can watch the movie. But it’s a bit of a thriller, and I’m not there to wrap my arm around you at the scary parts. So maybe we need to save the movie until our second date.”
Her smile was electrifying, even through the computer. “I’d like that.”
Chapter 5
Harper
Saturday was spent, as I had anticipated, taking care of not only my child, but also my niece and nephew, as neither my sister nor her husband were in any capacity to be caring for children. Quinn had fallen asleep, curled up on the tile floor of their master bathroom and Rick had passed out in the hallway in front of their bedroom door. I’d roused them both just before I headed to the guest room and tucked them into their bed. But not ten minutes later, as I was pulling back the covers, I heard them both shoot straight out of bed, my sister wolfing her cookies in the bathroom while Rick sprinted down the hallway to the kids’ bathroom. They spent Saturday in bed.
Sunday was a continuation of Saturday, though by Sunday night, my sister and Rick did manage to join us downstairs around dinnertime and eat soup crackers, washing them down with ginger ale.
Monday morning, I pulled into the parking lot of the rec center for playgroup, and an unexpected frisson of nerves zoomed down my spine.
I was nervous to see Sam.
Our date had gone perfectly. We’d ended up turning off the movie and just chatting for another hour or so, before the yawns had interrupted our conversation enough to make us both give in and head to bed. I’d been so tired; I’d completely forgotten about my earlier plan to duck downstairs to have a quickie with my battery-operated boyfriend. But that didn’t stop me from having dirty dreams about Hot Dad, the sexy tattooed firefighter single-dad illustrator. God, could he be any more perfect? Did he cook too? Rescue baby seals from hunters? Religiously donate blood every eight weeks?
Friday’s dream had been PG-13, Saturday’s dream rated R, Sunday’s dream—that was pure triple X. Which made Monday morning all the more awkward. I’d had filthy dreams of Hot Dad doing despicable things to me, and I’d enjoyed each one of them. And now here I had to go into the rec center and pretend as though we hadn’t just had a marvelous date, that I hadn’t shared personal information with him or masturbated Sunday morning to the idea of him tying me up and pulling on my nipple clamps as he ate me out with the fascination and fever of a famished man.
“Hey!” I spun around as I was busy getting Carly out of her car seat in the parking lot to find Amy standing there at the back of my SUV, Henry on her hip. “How was your date?”
My gaze flew around the parking lot. Despite how much I loved them, the women at the playgroup were as gossipy as blue-hairs at church on Sunday and would love nothing more than to find out I’d gone out with Sam.
No.
We’d discussed that Friday night, too. Until we knew what we were, and the kids knew and were cool with it, we were going to keep it on the down low. Besides, we were both kind of turned on by the idea of sneaking around for a bit.
I brought my voice down to a whisper and hoped Amy would, too. “It wasn’t a date in the conventional sense.”
She switched Henry to her other hip. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I had to cancel because Quinn and Rick came down with that horrible flu that’s been going around. So they couldn’t take Carly, and I wound up taking Lillian and Emmet.”
“Oh, bummer.”
“It actually wasn’t so bad,” I said as we gathered our bags and kids and headed for the door. “He surprised me by dropping off dinner, then we had a Skype date. Ate our dinner together, he had beer, I had wine, had some cheesecake. We were going to watch a movie, too, the same one, and stay on Skype while we watched it, but we just ended up talking.”
Amy’s pale complexion was already rosy from the cold January morning air, but heat and happiness glimmered in her eyes and in her cheeks. “I knew you two were perfect for each other. So, are you going to have another date?”
I nodded. Trying not to be too hopeful. “I think so. We’re going to try again this coming weekend. See what happens.”
“Are you keeping it on DL for now?” She held the door open for us and we walked in. The heat was on, and the sudden temperature change had me breaking out into a sweat beneath my many layers.
I nodded again. “Until we know what this is and the kids know. So please … ”
She waved her hand in the air, making a dismissive face. “Say no more. Respect.”
I let out a sigh. “It’s just I saw what it did to Rick’s niece when his brother and his wife separated. And now Todd has a new woman every month. And he introduces these women to Sadie, and she gets attached, only to have her heart broken the moment her dad says he’s no longer seeing Miss December.”
“No, I totally get it. You guys are being responsible and respectful. But don’t forget to take care of you, too. Okay? Just because you’re trying to protect your kids doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun.”
I pointed at Carly. “This is what happens when I try to have a little fun.”
Amy snorted as she laughed.
We walked into the gymnasium of the rec center, immediately greeted by bright lights and shrieking children. Most of the mom posse or “coven” was already there, minus a few regular stragglers, but Sam and his kids were nowhere to be seen.
My heart sank.
Amy and I pulled off the kids’ coats and hung them up on the coat rack before letting the children run off into the masses. We made our way over to the rest of the weary-eyed, ratty-pony-tailed mums.
I was taking a sip of my coffee and only half-listening to Connie go on about her mother-in-law when a cyclone of red curls ran full tilt into the gym. My pulse picked up, and my palms instantly slicked with sweat.
He was here.
Gemma pulled her coat off to hang it up on the hook next to Carly’s and Henry’s, then she was off into the mix of kids, sidling up next to Carly, who was doing a dinosaur puzzle.
“Can I do the puzzle with you?” she asked.
I held my breath. We were working on sharing. But when it came to anything dinosaur-related Carly could get fierce. It made for easy discipline, mind you. Take away her bucket of dinosaurs for the afternoon or day if she didn’t listen, and you’d think I’d hauled off and given her ten lashings. After the first few disappearances, she started to toe the line quite well, though it was still a threat I used daily.
Carly lifted her head to look at Gemma, her face splitting
into a big, beautiful grin. “Yeah!” she said with the genuine enthusiasm only a toddler can have. “Here. You, me, you, me. Okay?”
Gemma took the T-Rex puzzle piece from her and hunkered down on to her knees. “Thanks.”
Carly sank down to her knees, too. Soon the little girls were huddled over the puzzle, putting it together with the kind of serious concentration usually reserved for army generals planning an attack.
“Hot Dad, twelve o’clock,” Connie said, elbowing me.
“I think you mean, three o’clock,” Amy corrected with a chuckle.
“Twelve, three, whatever. The man is definitely a ten. I’d let him sixty-nine me any day of the week.”
“Aren’t you and Jeremy getting ready to celebrate your tenth wedding anniversary?” Amy asked her.
Connie shrugged. “Yeah. But a girl can still fantasize.”
Sam and Landon waltzed in a second later. His eyes immediately found mine. I smiled shyly. His grin back was huge and crazy sexy.
Connie gasped next to me.
Shit, does she have sixth sense or something? Does she know we had a Skype date?
“He smiled over here at us. That’s new,” she said.
“Oh dear lord, woman, keep it in your pants,” Amy said with a scoff, attempting to give me a look but also keep the other women from seeing it. “He smiles over here all the time. You’re just too busy staring at his crotch to notice his face. When you all decided to bail last week, Sam and I were the only ones here with our kids. We chatted. He’s very nice.”
Silence from our corner of the room filled the air as all the women in our little collective just stared with codfish mouths at Amy.
“You spoke with Hot Dad?” Leah finally asked, awe in her voice.
Amy rolled her eyes. “You guys are ridiculous. I’m going to check my kid’s diaper. In the meantime, put your ovaries back in your pants and remember that you are all married to men you love. Stop ogling Hot Dad like he’s a piece of choice cut meat.” She offered me a sympathetic look. I gave her one back, mouthing the words “thank you.”
I lifted my head up and found Sam watching me. His eyes, blue as the summer sky, practically glowed from across the room as he sat on the floor playing blocks with Landon. My heart rate picked up again, and I bit my lip. His look intensified. Blue fire danced inside those eyes as he continued to watch me. I couldn’t handle it, so I looked down at my feet, toeing a scuff on the floor with my Converse high-tops, continuing to nibble on my lip. When I dared to sneak a peek again, he was still watching me.
A smile I had zero control over tugged and twisted my lips, and like a twitterpated schoolgirl, I ducked my head again, sweeping my hair out of my eyes. Tucking a chunk behind my ears, I glanced up at him. His lip twitched, but he didn’t smile. My chest tightened along with my nipples, and a heat, raw and pulsing, pooled low in my belly. My tongue flicked out and ran between my lips. His nostrils flared as his eyelids sank to half-mast. I could practically hear the low throaty growl rumbling in his chest from across the room. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking, who knew?
“Jesus Murphy,” Amy said with a whisper chuckle. “You two need to go get a room. There are children here. You can cut the sexual tension in this place with a knife.”
I shook my head, removing my gaze from Sam. He didn’t follow but instead continued to watch me. I let out a huff as I turned to face Amy. “It’s all him. He’s looking at me like he wants to take me into the janitor’s closet and have his way with me.”
She elbowed me in the ribs and bobbed her eyebrows. “Maybe he does.”
A few moments later, I was busy chatting with my mom posse, trying my damnedest to ignore Sam when my phone vibrated in my pocket.
S: You look really nice today. I like the high-tops. ;)
Did he just winky-face me?
I glanced up to find him with his back to me as he played trains with Landon. I texted him back.
H: Are you TRYING to out us to the “coven”?
S: The coven?
H: My mom posse.
S: You call yourselves the coven?
H: As a joke. More importantly, are you trying to out us? Those looks were anything but innocent. Amy said she could cut the tension in this room with a knife.
Notice I didn’t say sexual tension. I’d had to delete that at first. I didn’t want to presume anything or, more importantly, give him any ammo.
S: What kind of “tension” are you referring to? I’m not tense. Are you tense? Why are you tense?
Damn him! Even when he was texting and not even looking at me, he was being cute and getting me all flustered.
H: I think you know EXACTLY what kind of tension.
S: Sexual?
H: Oh God!
S: You’re blushing.
My head popped up from my phone. Sure enough, he had swiveled his big sexy body back around and was sitting cross-legged on the floor with Landon, his phone in his hand.
H: Because you’re trying to embarrass me.
S: I’m not trying to do anything but get to know you. And now I know you embarrass easily. I also know I like it when you wear that tight sweater. Shows off your …
With a wry smile, I lifted my head. He was watching me. My phone vibrated again, and I looked down.
S: Elbows. You have GREAT elbows.
H: You’re incorrigible.
S: I prefer the word smitten, but to each their own.
“Are you two sexting?” Amy’s voice was low right next to my ear. Her breath smelled like coffee with a hint of chocolate. The woman always had chocolate in her pocket and would slip a square in her mouth when she didn’t think any of us were looking.
I shook my head. “Not sexting.”
“But you are texting?”
“Yes.”
“Is he being all adorable and flirty?”
“Yes.”
She bounced on her heels a couple of times. “Oooh, I am so good at this. You two are too cute.”
“Shhhh.” I shot her a dirty look. She was getting loud, and the other moms, no matter how boisterous and noisy their conversation about diaper rash was at the moment, all seemed to have ESP when it came to gossip.
“Oh, relax. My lips are sealed. But this is so exciting.”
I brought my gaze back up to Sam and smiled at him. He smiled back, and the butterflies in my abdomen—the wild and crazy kind—started to dance. “It really is.”
Chapter 6
Sam
It was Tuesday night, and I’d just got the kids to bed. For how long? Who knew? My parents had said Landon had been up every night with them over the weekend, to the point where my father had ended up sleeping on Landon’s bedroom floor just so the child would stay down in his crib. Monday had proved to be the same for me, so by Tuesday at dinnertime, I was running on fumes, with a sore back. Gemma had gone to preschool for the day, as she always did, so when Landon served me with a short thirty-seven-minute nap, rather than his normal two two-hour naps, I hadn’t managed to do any housework or work-work and was craving my bed and sleep.
I sat down at my desk in my office and opened the folder with my sketches of Billy the Bird. They weren’t bad, but something wasn’t quite right. I’d received an email earlier in the day from the author and her publisher asking me where my mockup was. I hadn’t bothered replying; they’d get it when they got it. I’d never missed a deadline yet. Usually sent them my illustrations early, so now they expected me to work miracles.
I glanced at my phone, my hand itching to pick it up and text Harper. It’d been fun watching her face change color as I texted her yesterday. She’d been scandalized, but in a good way. And she had looked sexy, even in dark-wash skinny jeans, her Converse high-tops and a tight gray sweater. She’d been cute and mom-like, but still super hot.
I wanted to see how her day had gone, what she’d been up to. I also wanted a beer, but I only drank on the weekends, so that was out.
Picking up my phone, I dialed her number. Te
xts were nice, but I wanted to hear her voice.
She picked up on the second ring.
“Hello?”
“Are you wearing pajamas that show off your sexy elbows?”
“I’m not wearing pajamas at all.”
Oh, she’s playing along, I like that.
“No? What are you wearing?”
“Overalls, a parka, three pairs of thermal underwear and a flotation suit, just in case it floods. They’re calling for more snow, but I need to be prepared for when it melts and floods the city. You can never be too prepared.”
Cheeky. One day, hopefully, I’d be able to punish her for that sass.
“So, your elbows are hidden then?”
“Unfortunately, I’m afraid. But my nose is still visible.”
“And it’s a cute little pierced nose, so I guess that’s a plus.”
“How was your day?”
Her words made my chest constrict and my pulse quicken. Meegan had never asked me about my day, never seemed interested in anything I did or had to say.
I sighed, put the phone on speaker and rested it on my desk. Picking up my pencil, I began to fix Billy’s tail and feathers. He needed more plumage. I needed to make him fatter.
“It was an all right day. Landon is on some sort of sleep regression thing. Refuses to sleep at night unless someone is in the room with him. He skipped one of his naps entirely today too, while only sleeping for half an hour for the second. I’m bagged and so behind.”
“Shit! That sounds awful. I remember Carly’s sleep regression phases. They were a nightmare. I’m sure we’re not done with them yet, either. Kids can be the worst sometimes.”
