He looked at the clock and saw it was already ten thirty. Time went fast when a date started at nine instead of the more commonplace seven. He carried the plates to the sink. Turned to find her right beside him, doing the same. He relieved her of her burden. “How long are your sitters staying?”
She wrinkled her nose, looking beautiful in the soft light of his kitchen. “Midnight.” She turned to face him more directly, and the look in her eyes was the same one he imagined was in his. “You know, when I turn back into Cinderella.”
He wrapped his arms around her as she snuggled up against him. “Then no way are we wasting time with dishes, princess,” he murmured back, just as playfully.
As their lips fused, Gabe’s body ignited. He realized he wanted her to surrender to him, to this, heart and soul. And he could feel her melting against him, even as her spirit remained as feisty and independent as ever.
Resolving to make the night the most memorable one she had ever had, even if time was way too short, he tucked one arm beneath her knees, placed the other behind her back and swung her up into his arms, against his chest.
“I thought you were done carrying me around,” she chuckled.
He set her down in his bedroom and backed her up against the wall so his hips pressed into hers.
“Never,” he murmured back, engulfing her with the heat and strength of his body while absorbing the soft femininity of hers. He kissed her again, and she moaned as he rained soft kisses down her throat, across her collarbone into the open V-neck of her lacy cotton top. He traced the uppermost curves of her breasts with his tongue, felt her shiver, then zeroed in on her mouth once again. Her lips parted beneath the pressure of his, and he delighted in the sweet, hot taste of her. Kissed her long and wet and deep until she fisted both hands in his hair and murmured, “Gabe...”
She whimpered for more as he slid his hands beneath her top, finding the soft globes of her breasts and taut nipples, before sliding lower still, beneath the hem of her skirt, to her panties. Chuckling softly at her highly erotic reaction, he went on a little tour, unzipping, unbuttoning, easing everything off. Until she was as naked as the day she was born, and God help him if she wasn’t the most intoxicating woman he had ever seen in his life.
He bent his head to kiss the tight, puckered tips of her nipples, the valley in between her breasts, the dip of her navel, the flat of her tummy, her thighs. Her head was back, her eyes closed, as he found the sweet blossoming essence of her. She moaned again, and he kissed and explored and stroked some more, until she quivered in ecstasy.
And then she was saying, “More.”
More of him.
She unbuttoned and unzipped with the same skill he had possessed, taking a leisurely tour that easily could have had them both climaxing had he not called a halt to find a condom. They moved to the bed and she arched against him pliantly. He moved her hand to the proof of his desire, wanting her to feel, really feel, what she did to him, too.
He palmed her breasts. She clutched his biceps. Already cradled by her open thighs, he slid into her.
Susannah cried out, shuddering in pleasure. And still they kissed and kissed. His strokes were long and slow, making them both want and need, and need some more. Until, finally, that was all it took. Her body sizzled with sensation; his followed suit. And as she came, she took him along with her, their locked gazes as steadfast as this moment in time.
* * *
“Any chance your babysitters could stay later?”
Susannah sighed and shook her head. “Nope. Like me, their evenings end at midnight.”
“What about tomorrow?” Gabe dressed, too. “How can I help you then?”
She turned to face him, looking deliciously sated. Her pretty eyes widened. “Seriously...?”
He brought her closer for another kiss, then followed her out to his truck, where she slipped into the passenger seat. As he drove, she plucked a brush from her purse and began restoring order to her honey-blond hair.
“Yes, seriously,” he said.
“Well...” She opened up a compact, plucked a lipstick from her purse and began applying a soft coat of rose just slightly darker than the natural hue of her lips. “Mike and Millie are watching the kids for me in the morning, so I can continue working on the sketches. And then the kids will be asleep in the afternoon, so hopefully I can work more then. But during the witching hour...”
“Witching hour?” Cade asked, parking in front of her house. He walked around to open her door for her.
Grinning, Susannah stepped out and linked arms with him. “The time before dinner when all their mischievousness seems to come out at once,” she explained as they strolled up the walk. “I can always use help then.” She winked as they reached the front porch. “If you’re up to it, that is.”
Loving the challenge in her eyes, he grinned down at her. “I’d love to drop by.” He tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “Three o’clock okay?”
“Three o’clock is perfect,” she said softly.
Gabe bent his head, intending to steal a quick good-night kiss. She stepped in. Their lips met. And the two teenage babysitters opened the front door. “Whoops,” the shorter one said. “Didn’t mean to spoil the moment.”
Didn’t they know? Gabe wondered. Nothing could spoil their evening. It had been perfect in every way.
Chapter Eleven
“Hot date last night?” Millie said as she breezed in the next morning shortly after breakfast.
The kids were lined up on the sofa, watching their allotted hour of their favorite show, Paw Patrol, which was the only way Susannah was able to get a shower and the breakfast dishes done in a timely manner every day.
Daisy was curled up next to them, her head on her paws, half dozing, half watching over them.
“Oh...” Susannah paused, not sure how to describe it without giving up her privacy. She walked into the adjacent laundry room and took a load from the dryer. She put the clean linens on the long counter that topped both units and began to fold. “You know...” She waved the air vaguely.
Millie took in the blush creeping across her cheeks. “I do. And I’m happy for you, darling, if it makes you look like that.”
“Well, don’t read too much into it,” she advised, heating at the memory of her and Gabe’s red-hot interlude. If only they’d been in love! Instead of just in lust!
Millie reached over to fold washcloths and stack them, one on top of the other, while Susannah concentrated on the towels. “What do you mean?”
“He has an ulterior motive. He’s anxious to get the portrait done before he leaves for another PWB assignment in September, so he can be here to see his dad receive it. To ensure that happens, he’s going to come by whenever he can in the afternoons to help me out with the kids, so I can get some extra time in on it.”
Millie smiled. Finished, she began helping with the bath towels, too. “Sounds nice. And practical.”
Susannah knelt down and began transferring damp clothes from the washer to the dryer. “It is.”
“But?” Millie prodded, assisting with that, too.
I worry he’ll get tired of spending so much time with me and the kids. Worry that will ruin what we have. Susannah added a softening sheet to the load. Shut the door and switched it on. “I worry about taking advantage of his generosity.”
Millie moved out of the way while Susannah began putting in yet another load. “So repay him, the way you repay everyone else. With food.”
They said the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. “You mean, bake him cookies?”
“Invite him to dinner. Whenever he’s around.”
Susannah added detergent and switched on the machine. “We have mostly kid fare.”
“So add a few sophisticated side dishes for the adults, if you think that is what he wants. But honestly, if he works in the rem
ote locations Physicians Without Borders is often known for, I imagine he is used to making do with everything from meals ready to eat to whatever the locals are having.”
Susannah envisioned Gabe somewhere out in the jungle, all sweaty and gorgeous, looking all noble, doing his humanitarian work. She felt her heartbeat kick up another notch.
Aware Millie was watching her closely, she did her best to hide her desire and said, “That’s true.”
As they walked toward the living room, Millie reached in the front hall closet for her date-night dress. “Mind if I try this on again to see how much progress I’m making?”
Susannah shook her head, then, since Millie did not appear to be worried about spoiling her surprise for her husband, asked, “Is Mike not coming over this morning, too?”
Millie slipped into the downstairs powder room, which was tucked beneath the stairs, and left the door open just enough to be able to talk. “He’ll be here later. He’s still a little tired. So he’s staying over there for a while to have an extra cup of coffee, and if I know him, to also sneak a couple extra of those Australian and/or Dutch candies he likes.”
Susannah recalled how sick he’d been just days before. “Is the high-potassium diet helping him feel better?”
“I think so. Still, we decided to skip our line-dancing club trip this week.”
“Really?”
Millie emerged from the powder room, looking pretty as could be in the little black dress. “I’ll make it up to him on Father’s Day. You know how we like to get out of town for that, do something distracting.”
Susannah did, since she often felt the same, since losing her own dad and having quints without one. She cast a glance over at the kids, who were still engrossed in Paw Patrol, then turned back to Millie and said quietly, “About that... I had an idea that maybe the kids and I could do something for him, since he has been like a dad to me and a grandfather to them.”
Millie’s eyes widened in surprise, then began to glimmer moistly.
Guilt mingled with the emotion in Susannah’s heart. “I know we didn’t celebrate Mother’s Day with you, even though the two of you came to my rescue this past Mother’s Day to make sure that I had a good day. But we should have done something official for you that day, too, because you’ve been more than just my best friend—you’ve been a mom to me the last four years.”
Abruptly, Susannah was so choked up she couldn’t go on. Millie teared up, too.
Susannah forced herself to go on, revealing what was in her heart. “I really think that the kids should honor Mike on Father’s Day this year, as their grandpa. In fact, they should start calling you Grandma Millie and Grandpa Mike, if it’s okay with you all.”
Joy exuding from her smile, Millie hugged her warmly. “Oh, sweetheart, we would love that.”
As they moved apart, Susannah smiled over at her in relief. “Us, too.”
That settled, they got back on task, and Millie turned to show Susannah the back of the dress. “So, what do you think? Am I getting any closer to being able to zip this thing?”
Susannah hated to disappoint, but she had to be honest. “I think it’s still an inch and a half, minimum, from where it needs to be to close.”
Millie’s face fell in disappointment.
“Maybe if you took it to a tailor and had them let out the seams as much as possible. Or add a little strip of fabric along each side in the same black knit...”
“No. I want to wear it the same way I wore it then,” Millie said stubbornly. “I know, I know, it’s irrational, but I can’t help it. I just really want to get into this dress. But not to worry. I have my special blend of calming antioxidant sassafras tea that is supposed to be good for weight loss, too. I’ll just drink more of that. It really does curb my appetite. Who knows—” she smiled “—maybe it will help me stay away from Mike’s stash of Dutch and Australian candy. In the meantime, you need to get to work while I’m here to watch the kids...and stop worrying—” she winked playfully “—about how irrational love can be.”
Millie was right about that, Susannah thought as she took her sketch pads, photos and laptop computer upstairs to the desk in her bedroom.
Love was irrational.
Her feelings about Gabe were irrational, too. Not that it was love, per se, or ever would be, that the two of them were experiencing. But it was certainly attraction, and desire, and he was so great to be around. Of course it wasn’t wise to be falling for him so hard, but she couldn’t seem to help it.
Any more than Millie could stop wanting to re-create the perfect first date she and Mike’d had as an anniversary surprise for him.
So maybe that was a sign she should stop wishing for the impossibly perfect romance and accept what fate was giving her in the here and now instead.
* * *
Mike joined them a short time later, and although his color was a lot better than it had been, Susannah couldn’t help but note that he still seemed fatigued, just as Millie had said. She mentioned it to Gabe when he came over later that afternoon to help her out with the kids.
“Is it something to worry about?” she asked when she finished explaining her concern.
Gabe helped her set out the afternoon snack for the kids. Breaking their graham crackers into quarters, just the way they liked them. “Not unless the low potassium and high blood pressure combination continues, and it shouldn’t, as long as he takes his medication as prescribed and follows the diet the doctor set out for him.”
Susannah portioned spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt into little dipping cups. “I know he’s doing both those things.”
“Then he should get better. Quickly,” Gabe said, putting ice into the sippy cups. “If he doesn’t, I’m sure his family doctor will run more tests.”
“You’re right.” Susannah poured in the water.
Together, they snapped on the lids and set the cups at the places at the table. Now all they had to do was wait for the kids to wake up from their naps, which should be at any time.
Gabe lounged close by, his hands braced on either side of him. “Is Millie worried, too?”
Susannah settled next to him, inhaling the brisk masculine scent of his soap and skin. “Only about getting into her dress.”
“Ah. I’m sure she’ll find a way.”
Wondering if she would ever be less physically aware of him, Susannah took in his easy smile and tall, powerful physique. “You don’t think it’s silly?”
His gaze tracked the careless way she had pinned her hair away from her face, and she could tell he was thinking about taking it right back down again. “I think it’s sweet,” he said. “How much she and Mike adore each other.”
Trying not to think about the hot, hungry look in his eyes, Susannah swung away and busied herself making tall glasses of iced tea for them both. “Me, too.”
“So did you need me to do anything else to help out...besides watching the kids while you work on the portrait?”
Susannah swallowed around the sudden dryness of her throat. “Stay for dinner?”
* * *
Gabe had been hoping she’d ask.
“I want to repay you for helping out by watching the kids this afternoon.”
Not like that, as one commodity exchanged for another, however.
Still he knew that was how Susannah worked. She didn’t accept one kindness without doling out another in return. He sipped his tea and wondered what it would take to get her to let him all the way in. And why it was so important to him to entice her to do just that. “How is the portrait going?” he asked casually.
Susannah picked up her iced tea and led the way down the back hall to her sunny studio. There, on a large bulletin board attached to the only wall without a lot of windows, were sketches of all the family dogs that she had done thus far. “See for yourself,” she said, checking out his reaction.
&n
bsp; “I mean, it’s still in the planning stages,” she added, pointing to the work in progress.
As well as eye-catching. “I really like what you’ve done so far,” he said, meaning it. She was really talented.
She beamed with pride. “Thanks.”
As she moved restlessly about the studio, her full cotton skirt swirled around her bare legs, drawing his attention to her slender ankles, curvaceous calves and taut hips.
Sobering, she began to talk about the work. “I heard back from all of your siblings, and they all had helpful suggestions regarding the personalities of their pets. Cade said his Labrador retriever was athletic as could be and loved playing Frisbee with him.”
Because there was no place to sit down except at the drafting table where she was currently perched, Gabe took up a place against the windows. Watched the midafternoon sun catch the gold in her honey-blond hair. “Hercules did have some truly impressive moves.”
She paused to study the sketches and the written notes and photos she’d tacked up beside each one. Blue eyes sparkling with delight, she recited, “Griff’s malamute slept all the time and had to be coaxed into any activity.”
“Also true.”
“Jillian said her childhood beagle was very shy and was always hiding behind her legs.”
Gabe laughed, recalling.
“Faith’s Australian shepherd was very cuddly. Emma’s boxer was adventurous. Noah’s hound dog was steadfast. Travis’s mutt was scrappy.”
As was the woman in front of him, Gabe thought. To the point he wondered that he had ever imagined she couldn’t handle life on her own.
Oblivious to his thoughts, Susannah came nearer in a drift of her familiar wildflower fragrance. She paused to look at him in a way that made him want to haul her close and kiss her and make love to her all over again.
Her mind only on business, however, she raked her teeth across her lower lip and said, “What I don’t have enough information on is your mom and dad’s first two dogs, the ones they had before you all were adopted.”
His Plan for the Quintuplets Page 14
