Just This Once

by Mira Lyn Kelly

  Dropping her bag, she walked into his arms, something powerful welling in her chest.

  “Barely. What are you doing here?”

  “I felt crappy about you having to work so hard to make up for our weekend. Wanted to do something nice for you.”

  She peered past his shoulder to the makeshift office he’d set up. “A show of solidarity?”

  “Figured I’d get some work done tonight and sleep in a little tomorrow. And I didn’t want to fall asleep and then wake up when you got here.”

  “I know I said I didn’t want you to stay over, but you can’t even imagine how glad I am you’re here.”

  “Yeah?” he asked against the top of her head.

  “Yeah.”

  Sean tipped her head back to meet her eyes. “Don’t get me wrong. I’d love nothing more than to fall asleep with you in my arms. And no way will I turn it down. But my plan was more about you falling asleep beneath my hands.” He led her back to her bedroom and waved her inside.

  “What is all this?” she asked, taking in the assortment of bottles, candles, and small tubs laid out on the nightstand beside her bed. He’d taken the comforter off and spread out an enormous bath sheet for her to lie on.

  “I figured your muscles could use a break and maybe a little attention too. It just so happens, I’ve got an in with the spa at Wyse.”

  It was quite possibly the most thoughtful thing anyone had ever done for her. And Molly found herself blinking back tears.

  Then Sean was helping her out of her jacket and stripping off her T-shirt and denim skirt.

  When she was in nothing but her panties, she crawled onto the bed and stretched out facedown.

  From a basket next to the bed, Sean pulled out a hot towel, which he pressed into her back, letting the wet heat soak into her skin. The mattress dipped, and she heard him rustling through containers on the bedside table. A moment later, he removed the towel, and those strong, capable hands were rubbing some kind of lavender-scented oil or cream into her tired muscles.

  It was pure bliss. A kind of luxury she never indulged in, couldn’t justify.

  “You’ll tell me if this is too hard,” he said, his voice low, close to her ear.

  “No,” she moaned. “It’s perfect. So good.”

  He worked her shoulders and arms, her neck and lower back. Every muscle getting spoiled by his thorough attention.

  “Just fall asleep, baby. I’ll be here when you wake up, if you want me to be.”

  Molly rolled over and reached for her favorite gap between the buttons of his shirt.

  “Molly, this is for you. I just want make you feel good.”

  God, she loved him. And tonight, she didn’t even care what a mistake that might be.

  Tugging him closer, she whispered against his lips, “Then make me feel good.”

  * * *

  There was something to be said for sleeping in. Sean didn’t do it often, but having planned for it this morning, he couldn’t even feel guilty about lying there with Molly’s perfect body cuddling in close to him, the minutes ticking past as he watched her sleep.

  He could get used to this.

  He wanted to get used to this if she would just let him.

  Burrowing deeper into his side, she let out a soft moan. It wasn’t the same as the ones he’d wrung from her the night before—but the sleepy, contented quality might be even better.

  Her head lifted, and she squinted up at him through a fall of white blond and hot pink.

  “Morning, beautiful,” he greeted her, gently brushing her hair from her eyes.

  She crawled over him and collapsed across his chest, dropping a single groggy kiss at his nipple. “What time is it?”

  “Eight thirty.”

  Her head popped up, brows high. “Wow, you really did sleep in.”

  “Mmm. How about I buy you some breakfast at S&G?”

  Pushing up from his chest, she backed off the bed. “Can’t. I’ve got a two-bedroom I need to start in an hour and a three-bedroom after that.”

  Sean sat up and reached for her hand. Tugging her back down on the bed, he leaned over her. “You’re working too hard, Molly. You can’t keep this up.”

  He was all for hard work. He respected the hell out of it, and no one worked harder than he did. But Molly wasn’t just running desk duty. She was physically laboring, sometimes for sixteen hours a day.

  “Spoiler alert, I can.” She laughed, palming his chest to give him a little shove.

  He didn’t budge. “I’m serious.”

  That pretty laugh died on her lips, and suddenly, he was staring down at the stubborn mule his best friend could be. “So am I, Sean. I’ve got a couple of long days ahead, and sure, I was beat last night, but I can handle it. I have before, and I will again.”

  Shaking his head, he backed off, giving her room to get up. “Okay, I know you can handle it. But Molly…if this is what catching up after a weekend away looks like, are you even sure you want to go away again next weekend?”

  Molly looked back over her shoulder, doubt digging a tiny line between her brows. “Don’t you?”

  Shit. He was off the bed and turning her around in a blink. “You know I want every minute I can get with you. And since you aren’t ready to go public yet, next weekend is pretty much all I’ve been thinking about since we got back last weekend. I just don’t like seeing what you have to do to make it work.”

  Pushing to her toes, she kissed his chin. “Just the cost of quality time these days.”

  He wagged his head to the side. “I guess what I’m saying is maybe it shouldn’t be.”

  “What does that even mean?” she asked, pulling on a pair of his old sweats and a Wyse T-shirt.

  Jesus, she was wearing his old sweats—he gulped—with no panties underneath. That was so hot. “It means tell me what you’re making cleaning condos and managing Belfast, and I’ll get you a job at Wyse that pays more, with half the hours.”

  The air changed, a tension-filled silence suddenly accumulating between them. Uh-oh. Mentally backtracking through his words, he came up empty. “What?”

  “Just going to hand me a job, Sean? Stick me in some made-up position? I have zero experience or education in the hospitality industry, so it would have to be. Cut me a check every two weeks for services rendered?”

  Ahh. Right. Yeah, now he got it. “Molly, it’s not like that.”

  “No, it’s not. Look, I’ve got a tidy little business going with this housekeeping thing.”

  “Exactly. Hire more staff, and then you can step back from the hands-on work.”

  “I don’t need to step back. I don’t want to. I want the income. Because every dollar I earn brings me closer to getting my name on the mortgage for this building.”

  The building.

  He knew she was slowly getting closer to having the down payment for the place. And he knew with the way she’d grown up—with the day-to-day uncertainty of whether she’d have a place to sleep that night—ownership and having a steady stream, or even better, multiple streams of income was important to her. He got it.

  But she didn’t need to break her back to make it happen.

  “So why not take a job at Wyse and keep building your website and housekeeping businesses on the side? You don’t have to be the one actually down on your knees scrubbing the baseboards.”

  Molly threw up her hands and stalked into the bathroom.

  Fluent in Molly-speak, he recognized the nonanswer for what it was: end of discussion.

  Only that was bullshit. He had a legitimate suggestion. One he was smart enough to know he’d have to wait a couple of days before bringing up again.

  He pulled on his jeans and followed Molly into her bathroom. “You have time for a lunch break at least? I could meet you somewhere.”

  She spit
out her toothpaste and wiped her mouth before turning so her hip was propped against the counter. “I could do lunch. But won’t you be busy making up for your morning off?”

  Normally, he would. But after going from having Molly all to himself for the whole weekend to barely seeing her once they got back, the work could wait.

  He’d have plenty of hours to get caught up while she worked the closing shift at Belfast that night too.

  “I’ll work when you work.” And damn, what a difference saying the right thing instead of the wrong made. Because then Molly was looking at him with those eyes that had gotten him into the best kind of trouble. She stepped into his space and let her fingers trail along his still half-open denim fly.

  “That’s kind of hot,” she murmured softly.

  Not as hot as she was, swimming in his clothes. Or better still, him peeling her out of them.

  Taking her by the waist, he popped her up on the counter and went for the Wyse T-shirt first. “I’ll show you hot.”

  Chapter 19

  Saturday, Molly woke to the soft press and gentle scrape of Sean’s lips and day-old stubble working a path down the length of her spine.

  “You’re spoiling me,” she murmured, lifting her head enough to peer over her shoulder at another spectacular mess of bedhead.

  They hadn’t arrived in New Hampshire until close to two in the morning, and when they finally got checked into their hotel—not a Wyse hotel—Sean had wrapped his arms around her, and they’d gone straight to sleep. It had been heaven in its own way, but after a few hours of rest, there was more she wanted Sean to do to her in this bed than sleep.

  “I’m worshiping you,” he corrected, swirling his tongue at the center of her back and sending an overload of pleasure rushing through her body.

  She arched into the sensation, whispering Sean’s name. A growl sounded from above her, and then he flipped her over and kneed her legs apart to make a space for himself between.

  She hooked a lazy leg over his hip, basking in the feel of his body over hers. “I’ll never get used to this,” she whispered, her hands stroking lightly over his chest. “Waking up to you making my dreams look like nothing compared to my reality.”

  The corner of his mouth kicked up, and he rocked slowly into her hips. “Is that what I’m doing?”

  He rocked again, finding that perfect point of contact that made her needy and hot, and turned her mindless. Then again, and this time, she met him halfway, her breath hitching as she answered, “As if you don’t know.”

  That cocky shrug said he most definitely did. “What I know, Molly, is that you’ve been letting me do every dirty, depraved thing I can think of to you for a month now—and baby, there are not words for how much I love that about you—but you still won’t spend the night at my place, and I can’t park overnight in front of yours because you’re afraid someone is going to see my car and figure out that we’re together. It’s starting to feel like I’m disrespecting the relationship I’ve got with your brother and the rest of our friends by sneaking around this way.”

  She’d known this was coming. He’d been quiet about telling everyone for more than a week, but clearly, he’d been thinking about it.

  His brows pulled together, and he shook his head. “No biting that pretty bottom lip, Molly. I’m the only one who gets to bite it, and then I get to kiss it better.”

  She laughed, turning her head away as she released the abused lip in question. But Sean wasn’t ready to let her off. Cupping her cheek in his palm, he brought her eyes back to his. “I’m serious, Moll. I know you were nervous, but you’ve got to see by now that there isn’t any reason to be.”

  Her laughter stopped. Because she knew he was right. She couldn’t keep lying to everyone about what they were doing. She didn’t want to.

  Only days ago, she’d been on the brink of confiding in Emily and Sarah, but she hadn’t quite been able to take the leap.

  Now Sean’s eyes closed above her, his breath leaking out in a slow stream. “You aren’t ready.”

  Before she could agree or disagree or make any more excuses to put off something they should have done weeks ago, he was rolling off the bed. “It’s okay, Moll. I told you I’d give you all the time you needed, and I meant it.” He sat at the edge of the bed and looked at her from over one broad shoulder. “One of these days though, you’re going to realize you can trust me. I figured out what I wanted that night at the campground. It’s you and me, and I swear, if you can find the faith in us, you’ll never regret it.”

  “Sean,” she said, sitting up and reaching for his shoulder, her heart aching, knowing that her delay was causing him pain. “I do trust you.”

  He kissed the top of her hand and then headed for the bathroom. “We should get ready.”

  * * *

  “Damn, you look spectacular,” Sean growled, using the hand interwoven with hers to pull her in close. “Let’s blow off the wedding and go back to the suite so I can do my favorite dirty things to you.”

  Molly laughed, her shoulder coming up against the tickle of Sean’s jaw. “Right, after you surprised me with this dress and those girls spent all that time on my hair and makeup? It would be a crime not to show it all off.”

  “The dress reminded me of your eyes. I needed to see it on you. But believe me when I tell you, it will be worth every penny just to take it off. Or maybe you don’t take it off at all. Maybe you let me unzip it just a little,” he murmured close to her ear, trailing a finger halfway down her spine before dropping a kiss at the back of her neck. “So the straps slide down…and then when I bend you over in front of the mirror, I can see those perfect—”

  “Sean,” she gasped, her eyes darting around to check the surrounding lobby for anyone who might hear. But there was no one within earshot, and even if there had been, they were in New Hampshire at a wedding for people Sean only distantly knew.

  His hands were on her hips. “I’d push this pretty blue dress up over your sweet ass…rip that scrap of lace from between your legs, and get you so hot and wet, you’d be running down my fingers, Molly.”

  She’d stopped walking, her light laughter from Sean’s first suggestion completely evaporated under the scorching description.

  His grip firmed. “I want to tell you I’d make you beg me, but it would be a lie. I’d be on my knees behind you, using my mouth, my teeth…my tongue to show you how badly I wanted inside that hot-as-fuck body of yours.”

  Her breath was coming in shallow pants, the body in question aching in response to his words.

  “And then, after I make you come…twice,” he hummed against the shell of her ear. “When your body is slick and sensitive from having me inside you… When I can finally breathe again, because I’ll know, no matter how many guys like that douche with his tongue hanging out over by the concierge look like they want to fight me to take you for themselves, you’re mine… Then I’d straighten your skirt and zip up your back and see if we could get any farther than the hotel lobby before I started trying to talk you into going back upstairs again.”

  Trembling, she turned and met the dark wells of his eyes. “You’re serious.”

  He looked at her like he couldn’t believe she still didn’t get it. “Always with you.”

  Molly nodded, not trusting her voice to form words. Because, God, more than anything, in that moment, she wanted to believe this was real. That she could have this man forever.

  * * *

  So they missed the ceremony itself. Sean should probably have felt some guilt about it, but this wedding had been more about getting Molly out of town with him than anything else. And while the bride’s family would be happy to see a representative from Wyse there because of the business they did together, the handshake and congratulations he’d offered upon arrival was probably more than they’d expected.

  Hell, once he’d seen Molly in the dress
he spotted in the boutique window when he’d walked into work the week before, he hadn’t been sure they’d make it to the festivities at all.

  But Molly’s will had been shockingly strong during that third trip down to the lobby. So they’d made it after all.

  Now halfway through dessert, with Molly’s fingers interwoven with his own on top of the table, Sean was enjoying being surrounded by strangers for the night and getting to be the couple they privately were in a public setting. Call it practice, call it a dry run—whatever, it was one step closer to Molly being his girlfriend back in Chicago around all the people they loved best.

  It was coming. He could see it in her eyes. Feel it in the way she leaned into his hold, pulling his arms around her just before they arrived. Something had changed in the hours since they’d woken that morning. He knew it.

  * * *

  “I don’t think I can dance anymore.” Molly laughed as Sean pulled her flush against him, swaying back and forth to the big band music.

  “I should’ve told you to bring your motorcycle boots. You’d be going all night.”

  Molly laughed, letting her head fall back. “Can you even imagine my boots with this gown?”

  A low growl rumbled from Sean’s chest. Then he leaned close to her ear. “I can imagine those boots with a lot of things. But right now, I’m imagining those boots with a whole lot of nothing.”

  God, she loved him. Maybe it was time to just give in and let this thing between them out into the light of day. Then, even if it fell apart and everyone saw how naive she’d been, she’d at least know they’d had a fair shot.

  “Sean?” came a singsong voice that had Molly freezing where she stood.

  Sean groaned under his breath, cutting an apologetic look her way. “Sorry, Moll.”

  “I thought that was you,” exclaimed Paula Stratton, the client whose Gold Coast condo Molly had been cleaning every Tuesday morning for the past several years. She hadn’t recognized Molly yet, but that was sure to change once she paused long enough to take a breath. “Darling, your mother said they had other commitments. Tell me they’ve managed to make it.” Then shifting her focus past Sean, she waved someone over. “Adelynn, join us.”