by Shirley Jump
Now Peyton surged into him, her hands tangling in his hair, crushing the distance between them. It was hard, it was fast, it was incredible, like a dam bursting. Just that quickly, she was kissing him and yanking his shirt out of his waistband. Desire surged through his veins, pounded in his head. He pressed her against the counter, his erection a hard length of need between them. She got his shirt off and tossed it to the side, and then her hands were on his skin, and whatever arousal he’d thought he was feeling before was nothing compared to the nuclear bomb her touch ignited. He tugged off her shirt, then fumbled with the clasp on her shorts.
Peyton pulled back, grinning. “I’ll do it,” she whispered, then flicked the clasp open and let the shorts drop to the floor, standing there in just her bikini and nothing else.
Now he slowed, because he wanted to enjoy her, enjoy this moment. He trailed kisses along her neck while his hands worked to untie the strings that held the top in place. The back came undone first, swinging the shiny green fabric forward, his hands following, cupping the warm, sweet globes of her breasts. His thumbs traced over her nipples and she gasped, arching against him. With one hand, she undid the strings, and the bikini top tumbled between them and onto the tiled floor.
He stepped back, letting the warm light above the sink bathe Peyton’s skin with a soft gold glow. He plucked one of the strings against her hip and watched it unfurl. “You are beautiful.”
She blushed, pale crimson filling her cheeks, flushing her chest.
“And desirable. And sexy as hell,” he finished, then plucked the second string. When the bikini bottom dropped into the pile of clothes at their feet and Peyton stood before him, naked and inviting, he knew what he had been missing all his life. This...
Incredible, intoxicating, strong and amazing woman. Later, he vowed, later he would tell her that. But right now, all he wanted was to taste her and to know her. He started kissing her again, her neck, her breasts, her belly, every inch of her that he had never explored before, never known. And when he dropped to his knees before her and kissed her there, she gasped and her hands dug into his hair. Then she was moaning and calling his name and begging him, and he was scrambling in his wallet for a moment of common sense.
She took the condom from him, tore open the wrapper, let it, too, tumble to the floor with their forgotten clothes, then slid the condom on him with two hands. He nearly came undone at her touch, as if he was fifteen again.
He hoisted her up onto the counter and slid into place between her legs. She wrapped her thighs tight around him, and he thrust into her, one long, smooth glide, then another, another, another, until he was lost in the amazing world that was Peyton and she was calling his name in a soft, pleading voice. They came together in one long, glorious moment that seemed to stop Luke’s heart. He held her there, until their hearts slowed and their breathing evened. But the magic, whatever amazing magic had just transpired, hung in the air, as if none of this would ever be the same again.
Eventually, he helped her down off the counter and handed her clothes back to her, though he would have preferred to stare at her amazing body for the next hundred years. “Stay,” he whispered. “Stay with me tonight.”
Peyton raised her green eyes to his. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sunday morning brought cheerful sunlight streaming through the windows of Luke’s bedroom, warming the covers, and casting Luke in shades of gold. Peyton stretched and laid there for a long, long time, just watching him sleep. Last night had been...
Incredible. Everything she had dreamed of for years, and then some.
But as she reached for Luke, her hand hesitated. Last night had also added a complication she hadn’t expected. Her life was in Baltimore, with her job, with Maddy. Not here in Stone Gap, with Luke. She hadn’t come here with the intention of moving back here permanently, and the closer she got to Luke—too close already—the more her heart tempted her to stay. Her brain warned her to get out, to leave, before staying in bed with this man got too comfortable.
Reaching for the floor, she felt around and grabbed her shirt, pulled it on, then went downstairs to see if Luke had any coffee. In the kitchen, she saw the pile of mail he’d picked up on his way into the house yesterday, tossed on the counter and forgotten. On the corner of one envelope, she saw the return address for the DNA test center.
Her hand hesitated over that envelope, her heart in her throat. She knew the answer without opening the letter. Knew it in her heart.
Luke was Maddy’s father, and always would be. Which meant she couldn’t pretend any longer that she didn’t have to figure out something regarding custody. She wanted to have a moment to breathe, to think.
She headed back upstairs, the unopened envelope in her hands. Moving quietly, Peyton rolled over and started gathering her clothes from the floor. Just as she was fumbling to tie her bikini top without taking her shirt off all the way, Luke reached for her, his fingers trailing a lazy path down her spine. Desire trilled along that line, but she pushed the feeling away.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he said.
“I, uh, need to leave.” She dropped her shirt over her head. “Lot to do today.”
Luke drew back, then sat against the headboard, watching her twist her hair into a ponytail. “What do you mean, leave? I thought you were going to stay so we could tell Maddy that I am her father—that I want to be her father, regardless of what the test says, and then we can bring her to my mom’s house for dinner and for her birthday. I’ll need a few minutes to run to the store and get her a present, but other than that, I wanted to spend the day with both of you.”
“The test already came back.” She handed him the envelope. “It was on your counter this morning.”
Luke tore open the envelope, scanned the sheet inside, then broke into a wide grin. He flipped it so Peyton could read the words, too. Probability of Paternity: 99.9%
“So it’s official,” Luke said. “I’m really Maddy’s father. That is...wonderful.”
“Yup. Wonderful.” But there was no excitement in her voice, just the deep dread with knowing that from this day forward, she was going to have to split Maddy between Maryland and Stone Gap.
Peyton wanted to stay here, in this warm bubble that came after making love. She wanted to believe this was forever, that they would all walk off into a sunset, happy forever. But Luke had made no such promises or declarations, and sitting here, waiting for a miracle, wasn’t going to change anything.
“Peyton?” Luke asked. “What’s up? Aren’t we going to go tell Maddy?”
Peyton rose and pretended to be looking in her purse for something, just so she could avoid looking at Luke. Because if she looked at him, all comfortable in that bed with the sun glinting off his dark hair, she knew she’d lose her resolve. “I...I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s a lot to spring on Maddy, and I’m just not sure today is the right day to do that.”
“What do you mean?” Luke swung his legs over the side of the bed, then pulled on a pair of shorts. “We talked about this, Peyton, and now that we know it for sure, I see no reason to wait another second.”
She ran a hand through her hair, dislodging the ponytail. She yanked the rubber band out and flipped it around the hunk of hair again. Her hair was a mess, her life was a mess, but right now, she didn’t care. She just wanted to leave before she said or did something she’d regret. “I just don’t think it’s a good time.”
“Not a good time? Or...” he asked, reaching for his shirt on the floor, discarded in their rush to get to the bed last night, “are you just scared?”
“I’m not scared of anything,” she said. But she looked away when she said it. “I just have to go. I need to get Maddy some breakfast—”
“I have breakfast here. And if I don’t have anything that you girls like, then we’ll head down the street for breakfast.” He pulled on his T-shirt, and even dressed, she realized, he looked just as tempting
as he had undressed. “So let’s get the munchkin up and grab some pancakes.”
Every argument Peyton had, Luke had a counter. He was right, and she knew she had to tell Maddy soon that Luke was her father, but Peyton knew that once she did that, she’d be cementing a connection to Stone Gap. God, why hadn’t she thought this through before she brought Luke into Maddy’s life? Did she really want to keep coming back to this town, seeing this man, over and over?
This man who had made love to her, who had completely and totally captured her heart—
And had made her no promises. That was what bothered Peyton the most, what had her ready to hyperventilate. She was doing the one thing she warned her clients against—making rash, emotional decisions that would have long-lasting ramifications. Think about it calmly, logically, with a clear plan for the future. Don’t just think about today. Focus on tomorrow.
And what had she done? Last night, she hadn’t thought past that moment, about how much she wanted Luke. Not about what sleeping with him would do to her heart the next morning.
“We can do breakfast another day, Luke. I think it’s best if I just get Maddy back on schedule.”
“It’s her birthday. Let the schedule go.” He captured her hand and tugged her back down to sit beside him. She wanted to curve into him, to tell him everything that was worrying her. But the truth was, Luke was the problem she wanted to talk about, and she sure as hell couldn’t tell him that.
“What’s really worrying you, Peyton?” Luke asked. “Because we need to talk about this. Talk about Maddy, and talk about the future.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “I don’t want you to worry, Peyton, because I want the same thing you do. What’s best for my daughter.”
Peyton let out a breath. “Good. I was worried...”
“Worried about what?” he prompted.
She swallowed hard and faced him. “Worried that you were going to do something crazy like ask for sole custody.”
“Sole? No.” He shook his head. “She loves you, that’s clear, and you’re her mother now. A good mother, I might add.”
“I’m trying.” She thought of how fragile Maddy still was, how the little girl was still stuffing her grief away. They’d made progress in the past few days, but they still had a way to go. She wished there was a guidebook for the road ahead, just so she could be sure every decision she made for Maddy was the right one.
“I don’t want sole custody,” Luke said, “but I do want joint custody.”
The two words, words she had expected, but still, words she had hoped she’d never hear, hung in the air. “Joint? But...I live in Maryland. How would that work? She’s only four. I can’t just put her on a plane.”
“So move back here. Let’s raise Madelyne together.” He took her hand in his and gave her the charming grin that had won her over a thousand times in the past. “I think we make a hell of a team.”
“I can’t move back. My career is in Baltimore—”
“I’m pretty sure we use interior designers in North Carolina.”
“My condo is there—”
“And we have houses here. All kinds of them.”
“Maddy’s school is there—”
“Well, what do you know, we have schools here, too.” He tipped her chin until she was looking at him. She was drowning in his blue eyes, in the temptations that lingered there. How easy it would be to fall for that again. Too easy. “What’s your real argument, Peyton? Everything else we can work out. Work on.”
She jerked to her feet. “I can’t move here, Luke. I can’t uproot my life, Maddy’s life. I never expected you to get so involved with Maddy. When I came to Stone Gap, I thought you’d sign over custody to me and we’d be done.”
“And you’d do what?” Frustration flashed in his eyes, set in his jaw. “Send me a photo once in a while, tucked inside a Christmas card? What about my parents? My brothers? You’re not just denying me a relationship with my daughter, you’re denying all of them one, too. And most of all, denying Maddy the very things she wants and needs. A father. Grandparents.”
His words were sharp, harsh, cold, and Peyton wanted to take the entire conversation back, start over again. “Not just once in a while. I’d keep you in the loop on what was going on in her life.” But saying that didn’t make it any better. In fact, Peyton realized, admitting the truth made it worse, a lot worse.
“I want to be a part of my daughter’s life, Peyton. And you can’t take that away from me already, after I just found out I’m her father. I want more time, Peyton. I want time for the next gazillion years. I want to know her, watch her grow up, be there to open Christmas presents and see her off to school.” He got to his feet and paced the room, cursing under his breath, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t want a legal battle over this. I don’t want a battle at all.” He stopped pacing and faced her, anguish deepening the creases around his eyes. “Why won’t you tell me what’s really behind all this sudden need to leave? All day yesterday and last night, we were fine. Now you can’t wait to get out of here and get back to Maryland?”
“I just...do better there.”
“You did just fine here, you and Maddy. You told me yourself she’s been happy here. Why would you want to change that?” He strode up to her, his blue eyes flashing with anger, then softening. He brushed an errant strand of hair off her forehead. “What is it, Peyton? Tell me.”
It was the way he asked, those honeyed tones in his voice, that undid her. The truth came out in sentences that quaked, because Peyton had never admitted failure, never admitted she was overwhelmed or couldn’t handle it all. “I’m scared, Luke. I’m scared of staying. I’m scared of leaving. I’m scared of screwing all of this up. But most of all—” her voice cracked “—I am so scared of relying on anyone besides myself. I know I can count on me. But there is no one else in my life that I can depend on, that I’ve ever been able to depend on. Just me.”
And that, Peyton knew, was what drove everything she did. Why she worked so hard, moved so fast, stuck so religiously to a schedule. Because if she let up on the gas for even a second, let someone else pick up the slack, she was afraid they would let her down. As her mother had, time and time again. As Susannah had, every single day since Maddy had been born. And as Luke had, when she’d fallen in love with him and realized he never said he felt the same.
“Then let me help, Peyton,” Luke said. “Let me be a part of Maddy’s life.”
Turn her life upside down. Rely on him. Trust him. That would be a monumental leap for Peyton, one she wasn’t so sure she was ready to take. Before she answered him, Luke’s cell phone rang. He answered it, then let out a curse.
“I’ll be there in five minutes.” Luke hung up the phone, tucked it in his shorts, then turned to Peyton. “Joe Miner got his pickup stuck in a ditch over on County Road 34. I need to get the tow truck and pull him out. Shouldn’t take more than an hour, and when I get back, we’ll finish this discussion, find a happy compromise, have breakfast and tell Maddy the truth. Together. Okay?”
She nodded, because she didn’t trust herself to speak. Luke headed out the door and five minutes later, Peyton gathered up a sleepy Maddy and left.
* * *
The house was empty.
Luke cursed five ways to Sunday, but that didn’t bring back Peyton or Maddy. He stood in his front hall, with a take-out bag from Miss Viv’s in his hands, filled with warm chocolate chip pancakes and a birthday candle he’d bought at a convenience store on the way back, and knew he’d been a fool.
Charlie sat down beside him and started to whine.
“I don’t suppose she told you where she went?” Luke asked the dog.
Charlie barked.
“Well, I’m not sure where woof is, but we’re going to go get them anyway,” Luke said. “Let’s give Peyton a little time to cool down and think. In the meantime, I have one thing to do first. Something I should have done a long time ago. Sound like a plan, puppy?”
Charlie leaned his
head against Luke’s thigh and wagged his tail.
“Yup. Should have done it a long, long time ago,” Luke said quietly, then he loaded Charlie in his car and headed for town. He made a pit stop at a toy store first, then drove to the other end of Main Street, to the quiet section of town. It was the Stone Gap he loved and remembered from his childhood, the one where kids climbed trees and wished on stars and thought nothing would ever cloud the future.
Luke pulled into Jeremiah’s driveway, and as he turned off the car, he saw something that gave him hope.
Jeremiah. Sitting on the threadbare sofa on the porch. His wheelchair beside him, empty. Jeremiah sat on the far end of the couch, getting some sun on his face.
Luke loped up the walkway with Charlie at his heels. “Hey, you’re in my spot.”
Jeremiah chuckled. “This here sofa is on my front porch, which means I get first dibs.”
It was a familiar joke, one from the old days when the three friends—Ben, Luke and Jeremiah—would wrestle over the best seat, meaning the one closest to the twins’ house and providing the best view of their sunbathing bodies. Luke dropped onto the old cushions. It felt real good to be back here with his old friend while the sun danced off the white planks of the porch. “I came by to offer you a job.”
“A job?” Jeremiah scoffed. “Doing what? Being a doorstop?”
Luke tried to hold back a laugh but it escaped him all the same. “You know, for a guy who can’t walk, you’re pretty funny.”
“For a guy who can’t catch a football, you’re pretty ugly.” Jeremiah grinned.
“I’m serious, buddy,” Luke said. “I want you to come work for me at Gator’s Garage. My dad is retiring, and I’m taking over. I’m going to need an extra set of hands.”
“How the hell can I do that?” Jeremiah gestured toward the metal wheelchair, never far away. “I’m stuck in a chair all day.”
“I’ve been reading up on ways to make the garage more accessible. Lower counters, more things on wheels, and if I shave a few feet off the office, I can gain enough space to let you wrangle that chair around any car in the bay. Thankfully, I have a brother who loves to do construction, and I’m pretty sure I can get the family discount on the work.” Luke grinned. “So, do you have any other arguments for why you shouldn’t take the job and become a productive member of society again?”
