What It Takes: A Kowalski Reunion Novel

by Shannon Stacey

  As soon as he had his helmet on and revved the engine, he felt the adrenaline starting to build. He’d get his second wind and get the job done. Hellish schedules were part of the job sometimes, and he might suck at relationships, but this he knew how to do.

  Sean

  Sean lifted the blanket and slid back into bed, smiling when Emma groaned and tried to pull the cover up over her head. It was definitely early, but they were also alone for a little while.

  Johnny, who seemed to think sunrise was the best part of being on vacation, much to his parents’ dismay, had been looking out the window when he saw Laney coming out of the bathhouse. He’d been excited and, before Sean could pull on a pair of sweats, had opened the door and gone to see her.

  He must have looked rough, because Laney took pity on him. She was on her way into the lodge to steal some muffins and have coffee with Rosie, and she offered to take Johnny with her if Sean wanted to go back to bed for a while.

  Hell yeah, he wanted to go back to bed.

  But now that the door was locked and he was between the sheets with his warm—if slightly grumpy—wife, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to sleep. He kissed the spot behind her ear. “We’re alone right now.”

  She opened her eyes and sat up. “Where is Johnny?”

  “Relax.” He pulled her back down, tucking his arm under her. “He’s with Laney. They’re going to have coffee and muffins with Rosie. Well, Laney is. I’m hoping they don’t give Johnny coffee.”

  “It’s too early for that kind of visual. It’s too early for everything.”

  “Everything?” He skimmed his hand down her stomach, looking for the hem of her pajama top. “Are you sure about that?”

  “I’m sure that no matter how long we’re married, morning breath will not be sexy.”

  “Then I won’t kiss you.” He pushed her top up so he could kiss her stomach. “Not your mouth, anyway.”

  “We’re in a camper, Sean.”

  Maybe the words were meant to put him off, but her fingers skimming up his spine until she buried them in his hair were an invitation. “You’ll have to be quiet.”

  “And fast,” she said. “You know we’re not going to be left alone very long.”

  “I can do fast,” he replied, closing his mouth over her nipple through the fabric of her top and taking his hands off of her only long enough to get rid of his sweatpants.

  She hissed before threading her fingers through his hair. “I can try to do quiet.”

  Sean tugged at the cute little sleep shorts she wore until they slid free and he could toss them aside. Then he stroked between her legs until she relaxed her thighs and lifted her hips off the mattress.

  One of the best parts of being married was knowing his wife’s body so intimately. He knew how to touch her if he wanted to torment her for a while, and he also knew how to send her straight over the edge.

  After swirling his tongue over her nipple because, damn, he loved her breasts, he moved to her throat. Her hips lifted as he buried two fingers deep inside of her, while he gathered her hair in his other hand. Tugging, he pulled her head back so he could run his tongue over the hollow at the base of her throat.

  Emma hissed, her fingernails digging into his ass almost painfully, and he grinned against her neck. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?”

  “Now,” she demanded. “And do not make me scream, dammit.”

  Sean pushed his fingers deeper inside of her for a moment, pressing the heel of his hand hard against her clit while biting that soft spot at her neck, until she growled and pounded her fist against his shoulder.

  Without letting go of her hair, he shifted on top of her and replaced his fingers with his dick. He wasn’t gentle about it and she gasped again, turning her head until she met the resistance of his hand still clutching her hair.

  He thrust hard into her, over and over, and he didn’t give a shit if the camper rocked. All he knew was his wife and the heat of her body and the way her lips parted on a small cry as she raised her hips to meet him.

  When she closed her eyes, her breath shortening, he tightened his fist in her hair and covered her mouth with his to keep her from crying out his name or any other words that would embarrass her later.

  Her body clenched and she moaned against his lips while he struggled to hold on until the last tremor of pleasure racked her body. Then he let go and emptied himself into her with a deep groan. Then she wrapped her arms around him as he collapsed on top of her, welcoming his weight.

  “I wasn’t supposed to kiss you,” he said as his body relaxed. “Unsexy morning breath and all that.”

  Her laughter shook both of them. “I didn’t even notice.”

  Sean rested his hand on her stomach and kissed the side of her neck. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if this was the time?”

  “The time?”

  “If we conceived a little brother or sister for Johnny here at the Northern Star.”

  He thought she’d laugh, but she just nodded. “That would be great.”

  Something was bugging her. She’d been slightly off for days, but he couldn’t figure it out. She’d even left the barbecue for a while the previous afternoon, claiming Johnny needed a nap. And she’d probably been right, since he’d found them both sound asleep when he went looking for her, but that wasn’t the only reason she’d gone in.

  Maybe it was the baby thing, which would explain her lukewarm reaction just now. It had been weighing on her—on both of them, really—for a while, and he’d been thinking about how to broach the fact they might need to get their doctors involved.

  But he didn’t want to have that conversation now, so he went for something fun. “Speaking of children, Mitch and Josh and I were talking about how cool it would be to have a tree house for the kids, like we used to have. It’s long gone now, but we loved that thing. But Josh said that would be a problem because of the guests. Insurance liability and all that. He said he’s been looking at play structure kits, though. Like for playgrounds? He said they make one that looks like a big pirate ship. Johnny would love that.”

  “Yeah, he would.”

  Something in her voice sounded wrong, so he rolled up onto his elbow so he could look down at her face. “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing.” She smiled, but it was forced. He loved this woman more than life itself, and her many expressions were etched in his mind.

  “You don’t like pirate ships? They have a castle, too. Maybe the castle would be better for boys and girls.”

  She slapped his shoulder. “Girls can be pirates, too.”

  “Oh, I see how it is. You want both structures and then the girls can be pirates and make the boys clean their castle.”

  This time her smile reached her eyes. “I bet I could get Katie to talk Josh into buying both.”

  “They’re pretty expensive, so I’ll only vote for one.” He thought about it. “I think the pirate ship would be more fun. I can picture Johnny with a fake eye patch and a foam sword. And if he had a little brother or sister, Johnny can be the captain and boss the little one around.”

  “This pirate ship doesn’t have a plank to walk, does it?”

  “I don’t know, but that would be a serious hazard. I’ll make a note to ask him.”

  “Are you going to leave him a sticky note?”

  “Of course not.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Those are only for you.”

  She sighed and turned her head to look at the clock. “I hear people moving around out there. It won’t be long before Johnny comes looking for us.”

  “The door’s locked.”

  She laughed and pushed him away. “He’s three. Put some pants on and let’s go visit whoever’s already made coffee.”

  * * *

  The screaming had drawn Laney to the
pool. She thought it was playful screaming and not panic, but she felt like she had to check.

  She hadn’t expected to find half the men in the pool with the kids, playing what looked like a cross between volleyball and rugby with an inflatable beach ball. After probably fifteen minutes, she still couldn’t figure out the rules of the game and she was starting to suspect the game didn’t actually have any.

  “You might not want to watch this.”

  Laney turned to see Mary walking toward her. “If I had a whistle, I’d probably be out of air already from blowing it.”

  “Your nerves just haven’t had a chance to build up a resistance yet.”

  “Resistance to the noise? Or to the potential for drowning?”

  “Resistance to doom.” Mary smiled and leaned on the fence to watch the chaos. “Everything’s doom with this bunch. Camping trip of doom. Or, in this case, water ball of doom.”

  “I’ve experienced the shopping list of doom.” Laney laughed. “For this one, though, I might need a margarita of doom.”

  “Those don’t hurt.” She held up her purple insulated tumbler. “This might be wine. But they swim like fish and, even though it doesn’t look like it, they watch out for each other.”

  “You have a wonderful family, Mary. I envy you, really.” She realized that probably sounded weird and felt herself blush. “I mean, I wish my family were more like this. They’re a little stuffy.”

  That wasn’t all of it. She knew the odds she’d ever stand by a pool and watch with amused affection as her grandchildren tried to kill each other with a blow-up ball grew slimmer every year. But she wasn’t sure how to explain that without sounding like she’d given up, and then she’d get the obligatory pep talk about how she was still young. And Ben’s name would probably be mentioned.

  At least he’d texted her, as promised. I’m home and going to sleep for as long as I can. Just wanted to let you know I’m off the trails.

  Laney had wished him sweet dreams, not seeing until a few hours later on the news channel’s Facebook page that there had been a fatal ATV accident late last night. She didn’t know if she should say something to him and, if so, what she should say. But she did know that the best thing she could do until she heard from him was assume he was sleeping and let him be.

  “Laney! There you are.”

  Usually when a guest was looking for her, a toilet was clogged or they’d just blown a fuse in their camper. But when this family came looking, she was about to have an adventure.

  “We’re going for a ride. Just us girls, so let’s go.”

  “A ride. You mean on the four-wheelers?”

  “My helmet should fit you,” Mary said. “I’m going to stay here, so you can wear it.”

  “And you can ride Bobby’s machine. It’s the same as Beth’s, so you already know how to drive it.”

  Laney was still trying to wrap her head around it—especially considering the news still fresh in her mind—but Emma was practically dragging her toward the other women, who were gathering their riding gear and putting bottles of water in the machines that had cargo boxes on them.

  “I don’t know if I want to do this.”

  “You’re going to do fine, I promise,” Emma said, even though Laney wasn’t sure how she could promise that since she’d never seen her ride.

  “I’ve only ridden out on the trails a couple of times. I’m not very good at it yet.”

  “This is how you get good at it. You just do it.”

  Laney still wasn’t convinced. “I’m sure you all ride a lot faster. I’ll just slow everybody down.”

  “Nope. We ride at all different speeds. And those of us who ride a little faster will stop and wait at intersections for those who prefer to take their time. Or if there’s a rough bit of trail, we’ll wait to make sure everybody gets through. You’ll be with Lauren and Beth, mostly. And Mary’s only been riding alone for a couple of years. She always rode behind Leo, but we finally talked her into trying it herself and she loves it.”

  “Really?”

  Emma grinned. “Don’t make me bust out the if Mary can do it, so can you line.”

  “Mary keeps this family in line. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing she can’t do,” Laney said. “But I would like to go, if you’re sure I won’t be holding anybody back.”

  “You won’t. And if it helps, I’ve already been told you’re a natural.”

  Fifteen minutes later, she was actually driving an ATV, following her friends out of the campground and into the woods. She was tense at first, but Beth was in front of her and Lauren behind her, so she just kept pace with them and tried to follow where Beth went.

  When she splashed through a big, muddy puddle and soaked herself, she actually laughed out loud. And then she saw Liz standing in the trees, taking pictures of them as they went by. Imagining her mother’s reaction if she sent her that picture amused her almost as much as the splash had, and she realized that even though it was still a little scary to her, being out here with these women and getting dirty, just might be part of finding her joy.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ben was in the process of reaching over to hit snooze on his phone for the fourth or fifth time when he realized it wasn’t the alarm. The phone was ringing and his mom’s face was on the screen.

  He pulled the charger cord free before he answered so he could roll onto his back. “Hey, Mom.”

  “Good morning. Did I wake you up?”

  “Nope. I was awake.” Somewhat. He’d been awake a few times already, but he kept falling back to sleep. “What’s up?”

  “I’m making Swedish meatballs in the slow cooker for supper, and they’re Jimmy’s favorite. And you’ve been so busy this past week, we’ve barely seen you at all, so I thought a family dinner might be nice.”

  “A family dinner on a Tuesday?” He didn’t realize he’d said it out loud for a few seconds and, when he did, he hoped it hadn’t come out too harshly.

  “You told me Tuesdays and Wednesdays are your least busy days, and I know your father and brother’s schedule, so this is a night when everybody’s free. Plus, like I said, it’s his favorite meal and I always make too much when I use the slow cooker. You know that.”

  Since he still had too many plastic containers of chili and beef stew in his freezer to count, he definitely knew that. “Swedish meatballs sound good, Mom. I’ll be there.”

  “Only if you don’t have any other plans, of course.”

  Of course she waited until after he’d committed to give a token way out. Or she’d heard something around town and was fishing for details. “I don’t have other plans. And they might be Jimmy’s favorite, but you know I love your Swedish meatballs, too.”

  “I’ll see you for supper, then.”

  Once he’d hung up, Ben threw his arm over his eyes and thought about going back to sleep. The holiday weekend had been brutal and he’d made it clear that unless a situation came up that was literally life or death, his ass was not getting on a four-wheeler today.

  But he was awake now, so he hit the button to make coffee happen and jumped in the shower. Then, mug in hand, he turned on the morning news and sat at his small table to open his laptop. He made the usual rounds—his calendar, the weather forecast, the Facebook account he mostly ignored other than using it as a way to keep track of birthdays—and then, once the caffeine started kicking in, he checked his email. He was waiting for information about the continuing education hours he needed for his license renewal, which still wasn’t in his inbox. Clicking over to his to-do app, he added following up on that. Changing his ATV’s oil and cleaning the air filter were still unchecked and he made a mental note to get to those this week. Or maybe today if he got bored, since it was a long time until supper.

  Then he clicked back over to Facebook, since he’d accid
entally mentioned it while talking to the teenagers and he’d gotten friend requests from several of the Kowalskis in the last couple of days. And they liked to post pictures, so he clicked through those. There were a lot of photos of the kids, which was to be expected. And a lot taken out on the trail.

  Then he came across some from the big barbecue on Saturday. Those he scrolled through more slowly, until he came to one of him and Laney. They were away from the others, facing each other as they spoke. It was a nice picture of them, except he knew that at that moment, she was telling him she wanted to hit the brakes on what was happening between them.

  And then he’d had to leave and he hadn’t seen her since then. He’d been too busy and, when he wasn’t busy, too exhausted. They’d exchanged a few text messages, so he knew their friendship was still intact.

  But he wasn’t so sure about the more-than-friends they’d become.

  Rather than mope over the picture, he closed the laptop and scrambled up a few eggs for breakfast. After laying some cheese slices over the eggs to melt, he popped an English muffin in the toaster and, when that was done, he ate standing up at the counter.

  He was about to give up on being lazy and go do the maintenance on his four-wheeler when his phone chimed. It was Laney.

  Are you busy right now?

  Just finished breakfast. What’s up?

  He stared at the little bubble that showed her typing for what seemed like forever before her response came through. Not much. I haven’t seen you, so I thought I’d see if you’re recovered from the holiday weekend.

  I’m glad it’s over. What are you up to today?

  I have the day off, more or less, because they all went on a big family ride with a picnic lunch and Rosie and Andy are watching the kids. I’ll probably sit in my pink chair and do nothing.

  He should tell her to enjoy her day off and leave it at that. She wanted to hit the brakes, and he had to respect that. But she’d reached out to him, so maybe she didn’t want to stop their relationship in its tracks, but just slow it down a little.

  You have two chairs, he typed into his phone. Want some company?