He couldn't hold her tightly enough. Couldn't feel her close enough. And he suspected he'd never be able to hold her tight enough to satisfy all of the hungers within him.
She hugged him, then pulled her head back to look up at him. "Surprised?"
Scooping one hand up to cup her cheek, Rick let his gaze move over her, assuring himself that she was real—and here—in his arms. "Oh, yeah."
"Good. Then my work here is done."
One brief flash of panic flared inside him. "Don't leave."
"What?"
"Don't leave, Eyeball. Don't ever leave me."
"I'm not going anywhere, Rick," she said, and her voice softened on the tears clouding her eyes. "I love you, you big dummy."
He laughed and it felt good. Everything felt good. For days, he'd held his pain close. Nurturing it. Telling himself it was what it was. But now, as he looked into her eyes and saw the love shining there, he knew pain would never be able to touch him again.
"I love you," he said, and waited a beat for the words to register in her eyes. "I'm not afraid to say it anymore. But I was. God, Eileen. I thought I loved you too much."
She smiled up at him and his world straightened up and felt right again.
"There's never too much love."
"I think I know that now," he said. "But I just love you so much it terrified me to think of losing you. And God, then I almost chased you away."
She shook her head and held his face between her palms. "Not a chance, Rick. I'm not going anywhere."
"I know," he said, feeling years of cold drift away in the rush of warmth spilling into his soul. "I knew the minute I saw the house. What you'd done to it. And a part of me knew before. I was just too scared to believe." His hands moved up and down her arms, and back up to her face, her hair. He couldn't seem to touch her enough.
"I called here last night. I wanted to talk to you—needed to talk to you—but no one answered and I—"
She placed her fingers across his mouth. "They painted the nursery yesterday and the smell made me sick, so I stayed at Gran's."
"The nursery," he repeated, savoring the words. The images they painted. He and Eileen. Their child. And the others that would follow. He could see them now, moving through the years together.
And he thanked God for granting a fool one more chance at love.
Eileen lifted her arms to encircle his neck and, smiling up at him, she said softly, "Welcome home, Rick. Welcome home."
Then she kissed him and Rick knew that at last he'd finally found home. Here, with Eileen, his temporary secretary and forever love.
* * *
Epilogue
«^
Five years later…
"Daddy, where's mommy?"
"Shh," Rick whispered as his four-year-old son Ryan climbed up onto the couch beside him. "You'll wake the baby."
Ryan reached out one chubby hand to pat the infant asleep and sprawled across her daddy's chest. "Kerry's not sleepin'."
"She will be if we're quiet," Rick said, smoothing his son's hair back off his sweaty forehead. The little boy had been running all over the backyard with his puppy until the little dog lay in a crumpled heap of exhaustion on the rug. Ryan, however, was harder to exhaust. His other sister Katie, two years old and a bigger handful than her older brother had ever been, was, thankfully, fast asleep in her room upstairs.
And if Rick could just get Ryan to lower his voice, he had high hopes for getting Kerry down for a nap, too. But at six months old, the baby was determined to not miss a thing and rarely closed her big green eyes.
In a stage whisper that could have been heard from outside, Ryan leaned in and asked, "When's Mommy comin' back?"
"In a while," Rick told him and felt love rush into his heart for this child and the others he and Eileen had been blessed with. He had so much now. So very much. "She went shopping, remember?"
"To buy me somethin'?" Ryan flopped into Rick's side and idly played with his sister's tiny hand.
"Probably," Rick admitted, smiling. With Christmas right around the corner, Eileen had taken off for some quality time at the mall with her sister. But Rick didn't mind. There was just nothing he liked better than being with his family.
"When's she comin', though?" Ryan tipped his head back to look up at his daddy. "Are we worried?"
Rick leaned over and kissed the top of his dark blond head. "No, we're not worried," he said, smiling. "Mommy's having fun with aunt Bridie."
Ryan nodded. "Cousin Jason says he's gonna teach me to fly."
Rick rolled his eyes and made a mental note to talk to his nephew. "No flying for you, buddy. Okay?"
"’kay. When's Mommy comin'?"
Rick sighed and Kerry squirmed on his chest, lifted her head and gave him a drooly smile that tugged at his heart. "So much for nap time, huh?" he asked, laughing just as the sound of a car engine came to him. "Hey, bud. Mommy's home."
"Yay!" Ryan shrieked, jumped off the couch and clattered across the floor to the front door. Rick was just a step or two behind him, cradling his now wide-awake infant daughter in his arms.
He opened the door and watched Ryan race outside to greet his mother. It was enough for Rick to stand on the porch and watch that gorgeous redhead climb out of her Jeep and scoop her son up into her arms for a big kiss. In a splash of sunlight, she turned and grinned at him and Rick counted his blessings again.
"Hey," Eileen called out, "I need some help with these bags."
He nodded and walked down the steps to join her. Handing her the baby, Rick leaned in for a quick kiss.
"Miss me?" she teased, smoothing the baby's wispy red-gold hair back from her forehead.
"Always," he said.
"But we wasn't worried," Ryan chimed in.
"No?" she asked, still smiling.
"No," Ryan said with confidence, "cause my daddy says that Mommy's always come home."
Eileen's features softened and her mouth curved as Rick leaned in for another kiss. Their mouths met in a promise of more to come later.
Then, with his son tugging at his pants leg, Rick winked and said quietly, "Welcome home, Eyeball."
* * * *
SLEEPING WITH THE BOSS Page 13
