by Skye Jordan
Lily groaned.
Beckett chuckled. “I think she’d fall asleep face-first in that whipped cream before she got any into her mouth.”
“Crash and burn,” Sarah said, pulling out a chair at the kitchen table and taking one of her daughters into her lap. “Dad, I could use a hot chocolate and Baileys.” She lifted her brows at Eden. “Does that sound good? I bet you could use a drink. Beckett has that effect on people.”
Eden and Tina laughed. Beckett rolled his eyes. His father grinned.
“That sounds amazing.” Eden glanced at Beckett’s father. “If you’re making them. Otherwise, any wine is perfectly fine.”
“Irish hot chocolate for the ladies,” he said, and extended his hand across the sparkling black quartz countertop. “Jake.”
She took his hand in a firm shake. “Eden.”
“Welcome, Eden.”
She’d barely released Jake’s hand before Tina pulled out a chair for her. “Come sit. I’d love to hear about your job. Which ambulance company do you work for?”
All eyes were focused on Eden, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so self-conscious. She’d changed into jeans and a sweater and pulled her hair up into a bun before getting in Beckett’s car. She’d even spritzed on some five-year-old perfume. But no matter how she packaged herself, she knew inside, she was subpar tonight.
Sarah’s daughters returned to the living room, where a movie played. And Eden managed the casual chat about her work and Tina’s nursing. Then Beckett opened the door to a path leading down the rabbit hole.
“Eden’s in paramedic school,” he said, easing into a seat with Lily on his lap.
His mother gasped with pleasure, and her bright eyes sparkled with approval. “Really. How exciting. What made you want to go into the field?”
The question hit her sideways. It wasn’t one she’d ever been asked and one she hadn’t anticipated. “Um, a while back, I was in an accident, and the paramedic who was there really made the situation a life-changing experience. It made me want to be there for other people.”
She glanced at Beckett, hoping he’d pick up the conversation and steer it somewhere else so she didn’t have to answer any more detailed questions about the accident. Otherwise, she’d have to start lying, and she sucked at lying.
He met her eyes and added, “And the program is through Johns Hopkins.”
She offered a grateful smile, which he returned.
“Oh my,” Tina said, taken aback. “That program only takes the best. Your parents must be so proud. Where are you from, Eden?”
Criminy. This was why she stuck with school and work. Because conversations with new acquaintances led to a past she wanted to forget.
“California.” She smiled for Beckett’s mother. “Unfortunately, my parents and I aren’t close like you and your children.”
Her brow fell. “Oh, what a shame.” She shook her head and patted Eden’s arm. “Their loss, sweetheart. You’re delightful.”
Heaviness weighted her stomach, and darkness crept into her heart. She’d been trained and groomed to be delightful. And, yes, she could pull out those traits and manners at will. Yet it had never been enough for her own parents. And her continued attempts to please them had ended up costing her own daughter’s life. So she didn’t feel the least bit delightful. She felt like a complete fraud in the face of authentically wonderful people.
But she offered a humble “Thank you.”
“Son,” Jake called from the kitchen. “What can I get you?”
“A brush.” The tinge of frustration in his voice drew Eden’s gaze. “And some scissors. What the heck did you women do to her hair this time?”
“No, Daddy.” Lily slapped both her hands on top of her head, blocking his fingers before he could take out the first brightly colored elastic. “I like them.”
“Okay, okay. I won’t steal them, baby. Just fix them before you fall asleep. Otherwise, you’re going to wake up with your hair in knots around the rubber bands. Remember the last time that happened?”
Lily whimpered, and her hands slid from her head and dropped to her lap in an exhausted gesture.
Beckett grinned at Eden, and the pure, raw joy shining through hit hard enough to topple her. “Sixty to zero in three-point-two seconds.”
Despite the dual fists gripping Eden’s gut and heart, she laughed.
“Grandma, can I have pie? Please?” Lily asked, half plea, half whine, making everyone in the room smile.
“One piece of turkey?” Tina asked sweetly.
Lily huffed, and her face fell into a pout. “Fine.”
Laughter Eden didn’t know was coming rolled out of her, drawing everyone’s gaze. She covered her mouth. “Sorry. That was all Beckett right there.”
Which made the rest of his family laugh. And when she glanced at Beckett, the look on his face, one of raw affection and open joy, flipped Eden’s stomach inside out.
They stayed there in the kitchen, chatting about Eden’s future plans, Sarah’s teaching, Jake’s coaching, and all the kids until the glasses were empty, the pie was long gone, and Lily was asleep in Beckett’s arms.
Eden had fallen far too comfortably into a little fantasy of what it would be like to belong to a family like this when Beckett said, “It’s getting late. I’d better get Eden home and this little one into bed.”
Hello, reality. Hello, dingy basement, gunfire alarm at two a.m., invisible personal walls at school and work, and long hours alone, cramming information into her brain.
This wasn’t her family. She didn’t belong. The clock was about to strike midnight, and Eden’s Porsche was about to turn back into the subway.
At the front door, his family surprised Eden yet again by not just saying good-bye but hugging her. Even Beckett’s father tossed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a quick squeeze and a quiet “Keep him in line, now.”
They bundled up, and Eden followed Beckett to his car. He opened the back hatch and dragged out a booster seat with one hand, Lily securely tucked close to his body with the other. While he positioned the chair in the backseat on the passenger’s side. Beckett belted Lily in, tucking her blanket beside her. Eden crossed her arms against the cold and watched him, admiring how careful and gentle and sweet he was with her.
When he closed the door and turned to Eden, she said, “Can you drop me off at the Foggy Bottom Metro? I can’t stand the idea of you having Lily in the car when you’re driving through my neighborhood. I know I joke about how bad it is, but I’m very aware of the crime, and you are a prime carjacking target. Even the thought of—”
He cupped her face in both hands and kissed her. Eden suddenly couldn’t focus on anything but the warmth of his lips. The feel of his fingers stroking her cheeks.
“Mmm.” She curled her fingers in the front of his jacket and leaned into him. God, this was so dangerous. He was so dangerous.
He pulled out of the kiss slowly and just enough to whisper, “I want you so bad, I haven’t been able to think about anything else for the last half hour.”
Then he kissed her again, hungrily, stroking his tongue into her mouth. She opened to take him, to give back, instantly flooded with need. He tilted his head and took the kiss deeper while covering one of her hands with his and guiding it to his erection. The feel of him, hot and hard beneath his slacks, made Eden ache to feel him filling her, and she automatically tightened her fingers around him. Beckett moaned into her mouth.
Fuck, this man was such a rush.
He pulled out of the kiss and looked down at her with that lusty sparkle in his eyes. “I don’t plan on driving through your neighborhood. The talk about taking you home was for my parents. I plan on taking you straight to my bed after Lily’s all tucked into hers.”
After the painful, tumultuous day, Eden melted at the thought of being wrapped in Beckett’s arms, warmed by his body, and driven to levels of pleasure that made her mind stop—stop thinking, stop worrying, stop seco
nd-guessing.
But by the time he’d helped her into the passenger’s seat, her brain had cleared, and before she could say anything, he closed her door and walked around to the driver’s side. She waited until he’d started the car before she said, “Honestly, there is nowhere I’d rather spend the night than in your bed, but I’m not sleeping with you while Lily’s home.”
He glanced over his shoulder to back from the drive and lifted one brow at her. “And why not?”
“What do you mean why not? Do you always have sex in your house when your daughter’s in the next room?”
“She’s not in the next room, she’s all the way across the apartment in her own suite. And you’re the first woman I’ve brought home since I took full custody of Lily. Besides, couples have sex with children in the house all the time. How do you think siblings are made?”
She opened her mouth but came up short on an argument. He had a point.
“You haven’t had much kid experience,” he said, his tone both sweet and amused. He reached across the console and squeezed her thigh. “She’s been playing with her cousins all day. She’s not going to wake again until I prod her for school in the morning. Not when I carry her from the car. Not when I change her into pajamas. Not when I tuck her in. She’s out for the night. When she stays with my sister or my mom, she’s sometimes restless, but when she’s home with me, she never wakes at night. Believe me, I’ve done this a hundred times over the last year. I know.”
Eden turned and glanced back at Lily. The occasional streetlight illuminated her sweet face through the window. “She’s amazing, Beckett.”
“Thanks, I agree. She means everything to me.”
“And your family…” She pulled her gaze off Lily and looked at Beckett’s profile as he drove. “I can see why you turned out so great.”
“I wasn’t always great. In fact, I was an egotistical ass my first few years on the Rough Riders. Immature with lots of money and everyone telling me what hot shit I was. I was a little prick, and too busy to see my family much, which made it even worse because they’re the ones who keep me grounded.” He shot a grin her way. “And speaking of my family, they loved you, just like I said they would.”
“They’re so sweet.” She reached out and stroked his cheek with the backs of her fingers. “I’m sure they love all the girls you bring to meet them.”
He covered her hand with his and brought her fingers to his lips for a kiss. “Baby, you’re the first woman I’ve brought home since I learned to drive in high school.”
“What?” Her heart made a funny skip. “Why?”
They started over the bridge, and the moonlight on the Potomac reflected into the car, illuminating Beckett’s handsome face.
He shrugged. “I was too busy with hockey in high school to have a girlfriend. Was drafted into the NHL before my twentieth birthday. Was wild for years. And this job, it makes relationships hard. Hard to find and hard to keep. I never wanted to go through the headaches I’d seen other guys go through.”
“Like what?”
“Fighting, affairs, separations, divorces, child custody battles, though I got sucked into that last one anyway. The stress of the job, the ups and downs of the season, the job insecurity, the constant travel and the moods that come with it all, they’re rough on everyone. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no better job in the world for me, and it has its perks—the money, the fame, the sheer fun of playing hockey. But honestly, the rest of it sucks. And it especially sucks for the families of the players.”
Eden was thinking about all that when Beckett passed the Metro station. “Beckett—”
“I’m telling you, she’s not going to wake up.”
“If she does, I’m leaving.”
He shot a fiery grin at her and lowered his voice. “Can’t wait to get you naked.”
19
Beckett carried Lily into her room and laid her on her pink satin bedspread under her pink tulle swag canopy.
“Oh my God.” Eden’s whisper came from the doorway, where she stood looking around the room.
Beckett had to admit, it was even a little much for him some days, and he’d had lots of time to get used to it.
“Yeah.” He turned toward a dresser and pulled a nightgown—Lily’s favorite pink one with sparkles all down the front—from the bottom drawer. “I let Sarah and my mom decorate. That’s the last time I give them free rein with my credit card when they’re buying for Lily.”
At the bed, he knelt on the floor and pulled Lily’s shoes off, then dragged her pants down and eased her arms from her jacket and T-shirt. Once her nightgown was on, he pulled down the covers, then picked her up and gently laid her head on her pillow, then tucked her soft blanket next to her and pulled the covers over her.
He straightened and stared down at her. Lily filled his heart in so many ways. He couldn’t imagine living without her. If Kim pushed, he was going to unleash the wrath of his wealth on her.
Eden moved to the foot of her bed. “I can’t believe how hard she sleeps. Won’t she have to go to the bathroom?”
He shook his head. “All the girls stop getting drinks at eight p.m. She was wetting the bed almost every night when I got her. Stopped right about the same time she stopped crying every night.”
Eden stroked a hand up his back and leaned into him. She pressed her head to his biceps. “You’re such a great dad. She’s so lucky to have you.”
Warmth gathered in his heart. He turned and slipped his arms around her. “You couldn’t give me any bigger compliment. Not even if it was about hockey.” He walked her backward toward the door, whispering, “Unless it’s how well I make love to you.”
He used one hand to close Lily’s door at his back. Then he leaned down, tightened his arms, and lifted Eden off her feet. She wrapped her legs around his hips and her arms around his neck.
“Are you sure?” she asked, still whispering. “I really don’t mind going home. We can find another time—”
He kissed her again, showing her exactly how sure he was. And Eden opened to him, sank into the kiss, and moaned. Beckett lit up like a struck match. She was so raw. So vulnerable, yet so strong. A complex contradiction in so many ways. And right now, she wanted him. Knowing that want had grown so intense he’d become a need shot a hot thrill through his veins.
She slipped her hands down his shirt and worked on the buttons. He closed his bedroom door, and instead of laying her on the bed right there, he walked her to the side where the windows cast quiet lights of the night across the room. He released her enough to let her slide down his body until her feet touched the floor, then pulled her sweater over her head, followed by the camisole underneath. Kissing a path from her ear to her shoulder, he unclasped her bra and let it fall off her arms. Moonlight spilled over her beautiful face, her full breasts, her flat belly.
“God, you are gorgeous.” He let his mouth move over the soft mounds of her breasts, and closed his teeth over one nipple until she gasped. Then he released her and spiraled his tongue around the tight bud until she moaned. And started all over again on the other side.
He loved the way she shivered, the way she clenched her hands in his hair, the hungry kitten sounds she made. Loved her smell, her feel, her taste. And as she worked his clothes open, pushed her hand into his pants, and closed her fingers around his cock, he definitely loved the way she handled him.
Fire burst through his groin and spread. Pressure built across his hips and collected at the base of his spine. Beckett worked her jeans and panties down her legs, which dislodged her hand and gave him a moment of relief. She’d taken off her boots at the door and now stepped out of her jeans.
Crouched there, he looked up at her. “You look amazing in the moonlight.”
She smiled and combed both hands through his hair.
Beckett kissed his way up her body, and when she took his mouth with enough passion for Beckett to drown in, the urgency kicked up a notch. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and b
roke the kiss to pull a condom from the folds.
“Let me this time,” Eden said before taking it from him and ripping the package open. Her hands were steady and sure, exactly what he’d expect of a competent EMT. But she wasn’t the least bit medical when she slowly stroked his cock as she rolled the condom over his length, making him see stars.
When her fingers hit the base of his cock, he gripped her waist and dragged her up against him. Her lower belly cradled his erection, creating a delicious gentle pressure. With one arm holding her close, he slipped the other into her hair. “You fuckin’ make me crazy, Eden. I just want more and more and more.”
“Take all you want,” she said, her eyes reflecting the same desire, heating Beckett to the core. “I’m yours.”
His heart skipped a beat.
A little voice whispered in his ear, Yes.
Before he could even think about getting out of his clothes, Eden walked him to the edge of the bed. She pressed both hands to his abdomen and eased him down. “Lie back.” The words were more of a sultry suggestion than an order, and the look in her eyes matched the tone, spurting gasoline on his fire. “You played hard today.”
She leaned into him until Beckett’s back was against the mattress and she hovered over him, propped on elbows and knees. He reached into her hair and gently pulled at the elastic band holding it in a bun. The thick mass fell all around her face, making her laugh, and Beckett pushed it back with both hands. Then he drew her to him and kissed her, her lips still curved under his.
His life was perfect. Right this minute, playing for the Rough Riders, living close to his family, Lily happy and safe in her bedroom across the apartment, Eden loving him in his bed—his life was fucking perfect.
Too bad every single one of those elements was on the verge of change.
Beckett tilted his head and opened to Eden with an urgency to hold on to this. Hold on to her. She read his need, and her humor melted as she put equal passion into their kiss. He loved the way she seemed to know what he wanted or needed without having to ask. The way she fulfilled his wishes so completely. The way she was now, stroking her tongue against his while she slipped one hand between their bodies and rubbed his erection.
