Glad to have something to focus on other than the hot kisses they had shared the night before, Cady looked down at their entwined hands. Much as she tried, she could not force herself to pull away, any more than she could corral her fast-growing desire for him.
She swallowed and looked up at him with the most matter-of-fact expression she could manage. “You want us all to go?” Which would be what she’d prefer. “Or would you rather head over to your ranch alone?”
He tilted his head to study her and came closer, his warm breath brushing her temple. “Solo would probably be faster.”
Cady knew he was right about that. With effort, she tamped down her disappointment. It was probably better they each had some breathing room and got back to reality, she reminded herself.
She extricated her hand from the cozy warmth of his and flashed a smile she couldn’t really begin to feel, “I’ll have them ready to go by the time you get back.”
He brushed the curtain of her hair aside and pressed a fleeting kiss on the nape of her neck. “See you in forty-five minutes.” Jeb smiled again and sauntered out, whistling.
Still tingling from the brief, evocative contact, Cady went to find the kids.
They were in the family room, playing with the enormously complicated train set Jeb had assembled the afternoon before.
“How come we have to get dressed if we’re not leaving yet?” Dalton demanded, reluctant to relinquish his toy.
Cady set the wicker basket down and got out the first set of clean clothing. “Because I promised Jeb we would all be ready to go when he got back. And you have to be dressed in something other than pajamas to go to the park,” she explained.
Finn’s face lit mischievously. “You gotta catch me first!” he cried, dashing up the stairs.
To Cady’s dismay, the youthful rebellion spread.
“Me, too!” Dalton declared. He sprinted after his brother, then promptly headed off in another direction when he reached the top of the stairs. Micah followed quickly.
Cady groaned, wondering where the sweet boys who had thoughtfully brought her breakfast in bed had disappeared to.
Worse, Jeb was barely out the door, and here they were again—with her feeling exasperated and inept, and the boys completely out of control.
Trying not to think about the fact that the kids never behaved this wildly around anyone but her, Cady drew a stabilizing breath and moved to restore order, knowing it was not going to be easy.
Suki’s home had over seven thousand square feet of space, which meant it would be tough trying to catch the little imps.
But first things first.
Cady went up the stairs and into their rooms to try and locate them. Naturally, they were not in the most obvious place, and giggles and rapidly running footsteps sounded all around her. Trying not to be a complete spoilsport, she let them have their fun for a little while longer.
Then she went down to the living room and waited, in full view of the sweeping front staircase. “Okay, guys! The game is over! It’s time to come out now!” she called.
There was more muffled giggling. “No!” Dalton shouted.
“No way!” Finn and Micah agreed.
The doorbell rang.
Exhaling again, even more wearily, Cady headed for the door, where a deliveryman waited.
By the time she had signed for the big silver box with the white bow, all three boys were standing beside her once again.
“What’s in there?” they demanded in unison, curiosity having won out over the need to put her through her paces.
Cady looked at the tag. “It’s a birthday present for me, from your mom and dad.” Soon she would be thirty-four. And although she was no longer depressed about marking the passage of another year, she wasn’t exactly in the mood to celebrate it, either.
“Open it!” Finn shouted.
“It’s not my birthday yet,” Cady said.
Dalton hopped up and down. “But we want to see what’s inside.”
“We’ll find out on my birthday,” she promised, putting the package aside. “In the meantime, you guys have to get dressed or you won’t be ready to go to the park when Jeb gets back here,” she told them soberly.
Their interest in the game they had been playing was waning anyway, and ten minutes later, Cady had them all ready to go. But there was still no sign of Jeb, and the boys quickly grew stir-crazy. Chaos ensued when Micah began racing around like a battery-driven toy stuck on high speed, and that managed to rile his older brothers up all over again.
In the midst of all the commotion, Cady’s cell phone rang. Realizing it was the Stork Agency, and hence potentially important, Cady lifted a silencing hand and said, “Guys, can you go upstairs to the playroom for a minute and find something quiet to do? I really need to answer this.”
“Okay,” the boys said, and dashed off in unison.
She answered and discovered her baby’s birth mother on the other end of the connection.
“Is everything okay?” Cady asked.
“Yes.” Tina Matthews took a deep breath. “I just wanted to talk to you a minute about something, and you said I could call you anytime.”
“Of course you can,” Cady was quick to insert. Aware her knees had started to tremble, she sat down on the staircase. “What is it?”
“I’ve been thinking about my baby and I wanted to do something for her before I give her up. And so I was wondering….”
The teen stopped and drew in a bolstering breath. “Would it be okay if I named the baby before you adopted her? ’Cause I really like the name Zoe, and she sort of feels like a Zoe.”
After another pause, Tina asked hesitantly, “Does that seem stupid to you?”
Cady had an idea how hard giving up her child was for Tina. Cady wanted to do anything she could to make it easier.
“No, honey, it doesn’t,” she replied gently. “In fact, I think it’s a very loving gesture.” She looked up as Jeb walked in the front door. “And a good way to say goodbye.”
Jeb gave her a quizzical look, but remained silent.
“I knew you would understand,” the pregnant teen said in obvious relief. “Well, listen, I have to go.”
“Call me anytime,” Cady repeated gently.
“I will.” She hung up with a click.
Jeb sat down next to Cady on the stairs, his hip and shoulder brushing hers. He looked at her, a question in his smoky blue eyes. Briefly, Cady explained.
He exhaled sharply. “Her request doesn’t bother you?”
“No. Of course not.” Cady basked in the comforting warmth of his body next to hers. She turned toward him slightly, searching his face. “But it bothers you, doesn’t it?”
“From my perspective, it’s one of two things.” He frowned, clearly unhappy. “Either Tina Matthews is not as at ease with her decision to give up her child as she supposes.”
Don’t say that, Cady thought. Don’t even think it!
Without considering the consequences, she reached out and took Jeb’s hand.
He held on tight and brushed the back of her knuckles. “Or she is preparing herself for the coming separation and already starting to say her goodbyes. In either case—” he paused to compress his lips “—I really admire you.”
Cady basked in his candor and strength. She had always wanted Jeb to respect and believe in her, now more so than ever. “Why?”
He stood and drew her to her feet, wrapping an arm around her and smoothing her hair with the flat of his hand. “This is a precarious situation and you’re still going all out to pursue what you really want.”
She leaned against him with a sigh. At times like this, it was hard to believe he didn’t want family as much as she did. “You can’t see yourself doing the same thing?”
“Adopting on my own? No. Going after what I really want…” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “That’s something else again.”
CADY WAS ON THE VERGE of asking Jeb what he meant by that
when a rebel yell sounded upstairs. Then quickly intensified. “Uh-oh,” she said, reluctantly recalling her directive to the boys to entertain themselves. “I better go see what’s going on up there.”
Jeb started up the staircase. “We’ll both go.”
To Cady’s disgruntlement, it wasn’t pretty.
The boys had bypassed their playroom in favor of their mother’s studio.
Magic markers were scattered everywhere. Rainbow-colored streaks decorated the carpet, Suki’s beautiful glass-and-chrome desk, her bleached wood drawing table, and the white leather chair behind her desk. Drawings that had been tacked up on a room-length bulletin board were now defaced with big, bright scribbles.
Cady stared at the mess. “Oh…no, no, no…” Her sister was going to be furious!
Jeb strode forward. He plucked the two older boys off the low bookcases they had been standing on while they colored on their mother’s drawings.
“Okay, fellas, the party is over. Let’s clean up this mess.”
“And then,” Cady added sternly, “all three of you are getting a time-out.” For once the boys did not protest the discipline.
Cady knelt and put out her palm. Micah, realizing he had done wrong, although maybe not quite understanding how, relinquished the marker he was holding.
Cady found the cap, snapped it back on the marker and proceeded to pick up several more. When she finally stood, she looked down and saw the bright black lettering on every pen: Permanent. Nontoxic.
She swore silently to herself, then said to an equally dismayed Jeb, “Well, the good news is the markers are harmless. The bad news is it’s probably not going to come out. Of anything.” She sighed unhappily. If ever they had needed proof that she was not capable of handling kids on her own, this was it.
“AUNT CADY IS REALLY MAD at us, isn’t she?” Dalton observed, after the initial cleanup was completed and time-outs served, and Cady had gone off to research what to do next.
Utilizing the same calm, stern demeanor his parents had used in similar situations, Jeb sat down with the three boys for a heart-to-heart. “She’s very disappointed. She doesn’t understand why you’re behaving this way.”
Finn and Dalton exchanged guilty looks.
So something was up, Jeb thought, aware he was onto something. “Maybe you could tell me why,” he coaxed gently.
The boys remained silent.
So they weren’t ready to talk.
Maybe later, Jeb thought. “But I have an idea how you boys can make it up to her.”
Relief shone in their faces as he explained his plan. The boys agreed not to breathe a word of it, lest they spoil the surprise.
He had just finished when Cady walked back in. Her face was pale with misery. She strode closer, her slender body tense, and brought him up to speed. “I looked online. The manufacturer’s website offered no clue. So I phoned them.”
Jeb stood. “And?”
Cady swallowed. “They said since these are artist’s pens, the ink isn’t meant to come off anything. I’m welcome to try any of the normal remedies, but they don’t guarantee anything will work.”
Whoo boy, Jeb thought.
“They told me I should have been more careful.” She ran a hand through her hair. “So I called the best professional carpet cleaning service in the area. They confirmed it was probably hopeless.”
“They weren’t willing to try?”
A flicker of pain flashed in Cady’s eyes. She shook her head in defeat. “They felt I would be wasting my money and it would be irresponsible of them to try, knowing what the outcome was going to be.”
“Are you going to tell our momma and daddy what we did?” Finn asked sheepishly.
Cady sighed. “I think I’ll wait until they get home,” she said as the two older boys exchanged wary—almost disappointed—looks.
Jeb agreed. No sense worrying Suki and Hermann. If they knew, they might jump to the same erroneous conclusion Cady had: that the three boys were more than she could handle alone….
Tears welled in Micah’s big blue eyes. He went to Cady and lifted his arms, asking to be picked up. “I want my momma,” he wailed, bursting into tears.
She swung him into her arms and hugged him close, much the same way she had the night before. “I know exactly how you feel, buddy.” Her maternal gentleness on full display, she walked him back and forth and rubbed his back until his tears subsided.
Jeb met Cady’s eyes, perfectly willing to let her call the shots. “So what next?”
She compressed her lips in determination. “It may not work, but there are several things I can try for removing stains.”
He knew the sooner she got to it, the better her chance of success, so he offered what he thought would be the most help. “Want me to take the boys elsewhere?”
Cady looked at him gratefully. “If you wouldn’t mind.”
JEB AND THE THREE KIDS headed off. Realizing he couldn’t do it alone, he enlisted his mother’s help, and together, they worked on their surprise for Cady.
After lunch, his mom said, “I really think you ought to go and see how Cady is faring with the ink stains. I’ll watch the kids for you.”
Jeb had to admit she had a better handle on the three boys than either he or Cady had. But then, she’d had years of experience.
“You sure it’s okay?”
His mother smiled. “I’ve got the day off from the restaurant, and I love having little ones around. It gives me hope,” she teased, “that one day you’ll change your mind about marriage and have a loving wife and brood of your own.”
Jeb knew his mom was matchmaking. The funny thing was, he didn’t mind. Since he had kissed Cady and felt her kiss him back, he had known the days of them being just friends had passed. Something more was brewing. The challenge would be convincing Cady to admit she felt it, too.
He walked into Suki and Hermann’s house and followed the music blasting out of the sound system in Suki’s studio.
Cady was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a particularly bold scarlet stain on the pale carpeting. Her shorts had ridden up on her inner thighs, revealing sleek, sexy skin. Her golden-brown hair was twisted up in a messy knot on her head, and the scoop-necked, aqua T-shirt nicely molded her torso. She looked beautiful and kissable and frustrated as all get-out, and Jeb couldn’t say he blamed her. For a woman who thrived on success, and hated to look bad in front of her glamorous, accomplished older sister, this was one hell of a mess. In Suki’s private domain, no less.
“Where are the kids?”
He hunkered down next to her so he could be heard above the pounding, lively beat of the music. He wanted to see more of the normal confidence on her pretty face, instead of the moue of misery and defeat. “With my mom.” He glanced at the array of products and cloths around her, trying hard not to notice how the neckline of her T-shirt gaped slightly as she worked, revealing the womanly curves of her breasts. “How’s it going?”
“Not good.” Cady sighed, planting her hands behind her. She leaned back on her arms, stretching her shapely legs out in front. “I’ve tried every remedy I could find. Rubbing alcohol, hairspray, acetone fingernail polish remover, baking soda and water, and stain gels and sprays. As you can see—” she gestured helplessly, sitting forward once again “—nothing has really budged it.” She shook her head in defeat. “I’m about as far from a miracle as I can get.”
Jeb bent to examine what she’d done. Some of the stains looked unchanged. Some actually looked worse. “Have you spoken to the carpet store?”
Cady met his eyes. “They said if Suki has any remnants, they could cut out the stained parts and patch it, but it’s at least a hundred dollars per patch, and there are dozens of stains, so it might be cheaper in the long run to just replace the entire carpet.”
He winced. “Ouch.”
“Yeah, I know.” She started to stand and Jeb offered her a hand up. “What are you going to do?”
Cady plucked up the vario
us bottles and set them in the cleaner caddy. Shoulders slumped, she headed for the door. “Wait for Suki to come home, I guess.”
Jeb followed her down the back stairs.
“And feel like a failure in the meantime,” she added.
Cady set the caddy on the shelf unit opposite the washer and dryer. The depth of her despair made her look even more vulnerable. “I promised Suki and Hermann I’d take good care of the kids. I forgot to say anything about their home.” She lifted her eyes to Jeb’s with a disparaging twist of her lips. “Maybe I should have, hmm?”
“And maybe, once again, you’re being too hard on yourself.” Determined to comfort her, he impulsively pulled her into his arms and lowered his mouth to hers.
Chapter Eight
Cady knew Jeb was kissing her for all the wrong reasons. She knew the last thing in the world either of them should be indulging in was a hookup, born out of chaos and mercy, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted Jeb. Had since the very first time he had kissed her. So what if theirs was a tryst that might not ever occur again? So what if she didn’t do things like this? It felt right. He felt right. So hard and big and strong. So tender and caring and gentle.
With a moan, she closed her eyes and luxuriated in the feel of his hands in her hair. With a chuckle, he removed the clip and let the strands fall around her shoulders. His fingers sifted through the length of it; his thumbs stroked her cheeks, her chin.
And still they kissed and kissed. Cady wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held on tight. She pressed her breasts and thighs against the firm muscles of his chest and legs.
His hands drifted lower, to her hips. When he eased one beneath the hem of her T-shirt, her skin tingled. Cady moaned again as his palm smoothed over her skin, beneath her bra, pushing aside the cloth to cup the weight of her breast. Heat jolted through her, centering in her heart and spreading outward. Her knees buckled, but it didn’t matter. Jeb supported her with one arm, and the other slipped low, beneath her hips. Cupping her buttocks, he held her against him, the unexpectedly erotic alignment sending electricity streaming through her. The full-on pressure of his manhood was incredibly thrilling.
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