Home for the Holidays

by Sarah Mayberry

  He rolled on top of her so quickly that she could only laugh and weakly try to fend him off.

  “Midday. And I was only sleeping so I could recover from being woman-handled twice in a row,” he said.

  “Well, it’s eleven. And if you’re complaining about the woman-handling, there’s a really quick and easy cure.”

  “I’m not complaining. Not by a long shot. Handle away,” he said.

  “You have no idea how tempted I am. But there is no way I’m making you late for picking up your kids. Not exactly the best way to start out,” she said.

  She rolled toward the edge of the bed. He watched as she stood, the long muscles of her legs rippling. If he was about ten years younger, he’d drag her back onto the mattress and make it three for three. But he wasn’t, and she was right about his kids. For the first time he allowed himself to think beyond the here and now and the demands of his body.

  “Ruby will jump out of her skin when she hears you’re back,” he said.

  “Yeah? I wondered if she might have gotten over being a grease monkey while I was away.”

  “Nope. She’s been bugging me to show her how to change the oil in the Mazda.”

  “Really?” She looked delighted.

  He watched as she pulled on her underwear.

  “How do you think she’ll feel about this?” she asked, her gesture taking in the rumpled bed and him lying in it.

  He frowned, thinking about how his kids might react to the news he was dating Hannah. Ruby adored her, but that didn’t mean she’d warm to the idea that Hannah was dating her daddy. He’d learned enough about the possessiveness of women over the years to know that. As for Ben…Joe had no idea how his son might react. Things had been better between them since the shoplifting incident, but Ben was still not the open, happy boy he’d once been. Maybe some of that could be laid at the door of hormones and puberty, but Joe figured a lot of it was about Beth dying. Was Ben ready to accept that his father might want and need another woman in his life?

  “I don’t know. This isn’t something we’ve been through before.”

  “I kind of guessed,” Hannah said.

  “That obvious, huh?”

  “No. But I knew there hadn’t been anyone since Beth.”

  His wife’s name seemed to hang in the room for a long beat. He shifted on the bed. “Probably the best thing for us to do is take things slowly,” he said.

  She nodded. “Sure.”

  “Maybe you should come out for dinner with us tonight. Let the kids get used to you being around again.”

  She smiled.

  “That sounds good.”

  She zipped her jeans and tugged her tank top on. He stared at her, barely able to believe that the past few hours had really happened, that she was here. That she’d come back for him. For a moment, all his doubts and uncertainties fell away.

  Hannah was home. The rest they could make up as they went along.

  HANNAH WAS NERVOUS as she got ready that night. Sweaty palms, queasy stomach, shaking hands—the works, basically. All for a casual dinner at The Watering Hole.

  The thing was, she’d thought about Joe and his kids the whole of her journey south. She’d thought about the way Ruby looked at her with so much trust, and she’d remembered the wary curiosity and interest in Ben’s face when he’d worked with her on the Thunderbird. They were both good kids. She enjoyed their company, and she hoped they enjoyed hers. But the fact remained that her parenting experience was zero and they’d lost their mother in shocking and sudden circumstances just over two years ago. If things worked out between her and Joe, she would be stepping into some pretty big shoes, and it would be foolish to assume that everything would go smoothly.

  She pressed a hand to her nervous stomach. She couldn’t believe she was standing in her mother’s house thinking about becoming a stepmom. It seemed so presumptuous.

  Then she thought about the way Joe had looked standing in the street this morning wearing nothing but his low-slung jeans. The look on his face, the hope in his eyes…This was about more than sex. This was real. And more than anything she wanted it to work.

  Her toes curled in her boots as she thought about the way he’d made love to her. He’d been insatiable, attentive, passionate, demanding—everything she’d ever fantasized about and more. He’d made her feel beautiful and sexy and precious.

  Which was why she’d come home, after all. And why she was standing in her bedroom freaking out over having dinner with his children.

  A knock sounded on the door and her mother popped her head in.

  “I thought you might need a little jacket or something in case it got cold,” her mother said. She offered a black woolen shrug to Hannah. “This would look so nice with your jeans.”

  Her mother knew Hannah had about a million jackets she could wear to ward off the coolness of an October night. The truth was, her mother was excited and she wanted in on the action. She’d burst into tears when she’d seen Hannah on the doorstep, her hands pressed to her chest.

  “I knew you’d come back! I knew you were too smart to throw away something so good,” Robyn had said, throwing her arms around Hannah.

  Now, she helped Hannah into the shrug and turned her to face the mirror. “There. Doesn’t that look nice? Not too overwhelming, but it will keep your arms warm.”

  Hannah met her mom’s eyes in the mirror. “Thanks for being so patient with me, Mom.”

  “I had a feeling about Joe the moment I met him,” Robyn said. “He’s a good man. I think you can make each other happy.”

  “I hope so.”

  “And those children need you so much, Hannah.”

  “They have to get used to their dad dating me first.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be fine with it. It’s not like you’re some stranger he’s bringing into the home.”

  “Maybe. Anyway, we’re going to take it easy to start with.”

  Her mother frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “We’re not going to ram it down their throats. Like tonight—I’m meeting them for dinner as a friend, that’s all.”

  Her mother’s frown deepened.

  “You mean you’re going to lie to them?”

  “No. We’re going to give them a chance to get used to the idea of me being around, then we’re going to tell them.”

  “But they’re already used to you being around. You live next door. I don’t see why he needs to lie to them about you.”

  “He’s looking out for his kids, Mom. What if things don’t work out between us? He doesn’t want his kids investing in something that might not go the distance.”

  Her mother made a rude noise. “You gave up your dream for him, Hannah. You traveled halfway across the country for him. What more does the man want?”

  Her mother looked so fierce, as though she was ready to wade into battle on Hannah’s behalf.

  “It’s okay. Really. I understand his kids have to come first.”

  Her mother eyed her for a long moment, then she shrugged. “All right. I just hope for your sake that this isn’t a sign of something else.”

  “Like what?”

  “There’s a reason the man hasn’t dated anyone else in two years, Hannah. He obviously loved his wife very much.”

  “Yes, he did. But she’s dead, Mom. And Joe deserves some happiness in his life.”

  “I didn’t say he didn’t, darling.”

  Hannah growled in the back of her throat. “Unbelievable. Five minutes ago you were ready to marry the guy yourself,” she said.

  “Forget I said anything. I’m sure you and Joe will sort things out. You’ve managed to muddle your way through up until now without me sticking my oar in.”

  Hannah grabbed her purse.

  “Fine. I’m going now,” she said, her tone a little on the sharp side.

  Her mother stepped forward to brush some lint off her shoulder. “I want you to have everything you deserve, sweetheart. That’s all.”

 
Hannah softened as she saw the concern in her mother’s eyes. “Don’t wait up for me, okay?”

  “I won’t.”

  Joe and his children were waiting for her at a corner table when she arrived. Ruby was sitting on the edge of her chair and she shot to her feet like a jack-in-the-box the moment she saw Hannah. Her small body rocketed into Hannah’s with force, her arms wrapping around Hannah’s waist.

  “Hey,” Hannah said, bending to return Ruby’s embrace.

  “You’re back,” Ruby said.

  “That’s right.”

  “And you’re not going away again?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  Ruby’s arms tightened even further and Hannah had to blink back tears. It wasn’t until that moment that she’d realized exactly how much she’d missed her little helper.

  “I missed you, too, sweetheart,” she said.

  Ben had remained with his father, but he offered her a shy smile when she and Ruby finally made their way to the table. Ruby practically sat in her lap as Hannah explained that she’d come home because she’d been homesick. Every time she met Joe’s eyes she flashed to the hours they’d spent in his bed that morning and had to look away again, sure that what was going on between them must be obvious even to the uninformed eyes of two prepubescents.

  By contrast, Joe was the most relaxed she’d ever seen him, his blue eyes warm with good humor, his mouth curved at the corners as though he was constantly on the verge of smiling. She very badly wanted to lean across the table and kiss him or simply slide her hand into his. For the first time she had an inkling of how hard it was going to be to play his public friend while being his private lover.

  “I thought you’d planned your trip for years,” Ben said, his forehead wrinkled with a frown. “I thought it was your big dream.”

  Hannah met Joe’s eyes for a moment before looking away. “It was. But it turned out that I’d outgrown that old dream. I realized I wanted to be here more than I wanted to be there.”

  Ben bounced a glance between her and Joe, a wary look on his face. “Seems like a waste of a good trip.”

  Hannah stirred in her seat, sure that any second now Ben was going to ask a more pointed question.

  “Can I have French fries and a pizza?” Ruby asked.

  The conversation shifted to food and Hannah let out a silent sigh of relief. Under the table, she felt a nudge as Joe’s leg slid between hers. It wasn’t sexual, more reassuring. She pressed her leg closer, letting him know she appreciated the contact.

  Despite the awkwardness of having to keep a close guard on herself in regard to her behavior toward Joe, she enjoyed the meal. Ruby and Ben were bright, articulate kids, and they enjoyed teasing and being teased by their father. She found herself laughing a lot and copping her fair share of mock abuse and razzing.

  She’d thought the evening was going really well until Joe and Ruby left to check out the cake display and Ben turned and nailed her with a disconcertingly direct stare.

  “Are you and my dad going out with each other?”

  Hannah blinked, her mind a complete blank for a long, long moment. She’d always been a crappy liar, one of the many reasons why she preferred sticking to the truth. She felt particularly bad lying to Joe’s child. No matter what she’d said to her mother about Joe protecting them from the potential failure of their relationship, it felt wrong.

  “Wow. Where did that come from?” she finally said.

  “I know you like him,” Ben said. “You look at him all the time.”

  Hannah could feel warmth climbing into her cheeks. Good grief, was she that obvious?

  “I think your dad’s a really good guy. But we’re just friends at the moment,” she lied.

  It was what Joe had asked her to do, after all.

  Ben stared at her for a moment longer before shrugging. “Okay. Whatever.”

  The wrinkle between his eyebrows relaxed, however. He believed her. And he was relieved.

  Useless to pretend that it didn’t sting a little to know he was glad she wasn’t seeing his father. She and Ben hadn’t gotten off to the best of starts, but she’d thought they’d developed a friendship during their sessions with the Thunderbird.

  His mother died, Hannah. Of course he doesn’t want to replace her. Get a grip.

  She shook the moment off. This was why she and Joe had agreed to keep things low-key initially, after all—to give the kids time to adjust.

  When they walked out to the street after their meal, Joe let the kids go ahead and caught her hand in his in the darkness.

  “How’re you doing?” he asked quietly.

  “Good. How about you?”

  “All good.”

  She took a deep breath. “You should probably know—Ben asked if we were dating when you and Ruby went to check out the cakes.”

  There was a short silence.

  “What did you say?”

  “That we were just friends.”

  “Thanks for that.”

  She shrugged. “It’s what we agreed to.”

  They were nearing the car and he released her hand. She was surprised by the sense of loss she felt.

  “Well, I’ll see you guys later,” she said.

  “Can I come over tomorrow to work on the bike?” Ruby asked.

  “Sure, sweetheart.”

  Ruby kissed her goodbye. Ben gave her a wary nod. Joe raised a hand in farewell.

  She walked to her bike and took her helmet from the storage box beneath the seat. Joe’s Mazda pulled away from the curb and drove off. She stared after his fading taillights.

  So. Their first family dinner, if it could be called that. She wasn’t sure if she should label it a success or not. She’d known she’d be taking on a lot, dating a man with children, but she hadn’t expected to feel so…left out.

  It’s day one, Hannah. Give it a chance. This is new for everybody.

  She knew it was true, but it didn’t change the way she felt. When she got home, Joe had slipped a note beneath the garage door.

  Meet me out front at 10:30?

  She had no way of replying, but it wasn’t as though she was going to say no. She’d driven thousands of miles to be with him. She’d take whatever she could get.

  She’d been waiting for five minutes when she heard Joe’s front door close later that night. She straightened from her position leaning against the tailgate of his car. He smiled when he saw her.

  “You came.”

  “Yep.”

  He stepped closer and slid his arms around her. They kissed long and slow, taking their time, but soon hands were gliding over backs and breasts and hips and bellies.

  “You taste good,” Joe whispered near her ear.

  “So do you.”

  They fooled around a little more until they were both hot and bothered. Finally Joe broke their kiss and let his forehead rest against hers.

  “The kids go to school at eight-thirty on Monday,” he said. She could hear the frustration in his voice.

  She smiled. Any doubts she had faded away in the face of his very evident desire for her. This was right. Not perfect, but definitely good. They would make it work.

  “You wouldn’t happen to be setting up a booty call, would you, Mr. Lawson?”

  “I’m interested in a lot more than your booty.”

  She kissed the line of his jaw. “Monday seems like a long way away.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  He tucked her hair behind her ear, his fingers caressing her neck.

  “Thank you for tonight. For your patience. I know it’s not easy—”

  She pressed her fingers against his lips. “Don’t. You don’t have to apologize or explain. This is going to be tough for Ben and Ruby. I get that.”

  “Yeah. But maybe we need to rethink holding off on telling them. Ben’s obviously picked up on something.” He was frowning, clearly troubled.

  “Whatever you think is best,” she said.

  He focused on something over h
er shoulder, his gaze distant. “It’s so hard to get a read on him lately. I have no idea what’s going on in his head half the time.”

  She could feel the uncertainty in his body. He was such a good man. So determined to look out for his kids, even if it meant sacrificing his own happiness and comfort.

  She pressed her palm flat against his chest. “We’ll work it out.”

  His gaze returned to her, warm with appreciation. “Have I mentioned yet how happy I am that you came home?”

  There was a serious note to his voice. Suddenly she felt very exposed, very vulnerable. As unspoken declarations went, returning early from a lifelong dream trip so you could get busy with a man was right up there. Not much Joe Lawson didn’t know about how she felt about him now.

  “It’s good to be back,” she said, mostly to fill the silence.

  “Hannah.” Joe lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.

  Her chest seemed to swell with emotion as she looked into his eyes. She waited for him to say something more, but he didn’t. Instead, he lowered his head and kissed her again.

  “You drive me crazy, you know that?” he said.

  For the second time that night she felt a stab of disappointment. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected or wanted Joe to say. That he loved her? It was too early for that. For both of them. Right?

  She pushed her stupid thoughts aside. All that mattered right now was that she was in Joe’s arms, and he was kissing her as though his life depended on it.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  JOE TRIED TO GAUGE his son’s mood as they ate breakfast the next morning. Ben was quiet, chewing away at his cereal mechanically, his gaze fixed on the tabletop. Joe cleared his throat, determined to get this right with his children.

  “So how are things at school these days? Everything good?”

  Ben shrugged a shoulder. “It’s okay.”

  “Any new friends?”

  “A couple.”

  “Hey, that’s great.” Joe winced. He sounded like a freaking game show host, stiff and artificial.

  This is bullshit. Just tell him the truth and deal with whatever happens.

  His gut said it was the right decision. He pushed his cereal bowl away and focused on his son. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”