All They Ever Wanted (14 page)

“I think this calls for some nachos and a beer,” Gavin said when they pulled apart. “Let's go to Pier Pressure. We'll tell Jolene we're celebrating the baby and to put it on Will's tab.”

With a quick glance back at the B and B, Miles agreed. After all, there were guests staying in the Edinburgh Suite, so he couldn't do any snooping tonight. It was no use stewing at campaign headquarters, either. Nachos and a beer with his brother sounded better than anything else he had planned.

*   *   *

Lamar stood at the sink rinsing out the champagne flutes. Patricia sat next to him, her hip propped on one of the tall stools from the breakfast bar.

“Thank you,” she said as she carefully dried the crystal that had once belonged to her grandmother.

“You know I don't mind helping you out, Tricia.” He slipped his hands back into the soapy water.

“I'm not talking about the dishes.”

He turned to face her and those solemn gray eyes of his were so intense they made her heart flutter. “I know you're not talking about the damn dishes.” He swallowed roughly. “I'm sorry I wasn't there for you that night,” he whispered. “What I wouldn't give for it to have been me and not you lying beside the road suffering.”

She licked her lips. “I love you, Lamar. I truly do. But I need to know you still love me, too,” she whispered.

He sighed heavily. “There's something romantic about a husband wanting so badly to make his wife's wish come true that he sacrifices everything to achieve it. I don't know how I can compete with that.” He took the dish towel from her fingers and wiped his hands with it. “I didn't know Donald, but I feel like I know him through your children. And he'd want me to do whatever it took to protect you and keep you safe.”

Tears stung her eyes and she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him in closer. She could feel the steady beat of his heart when she rested her cheek against his solid chest. “But what if I don't want to be protected like that?” she asked. “Donald kept a secret that surely killed him. How did that help me? I don't expect you to wrap me up in bubble wrap. I just want you to be there to help me up if I do fall. And I want to be the one who does the same for you.”

“I love you, woman. All of you. Your crazy kids, your hapless strays, and your gorgeous body. But most of all, I love your beautiful soul.” He leaned down to kiss the top of her head, but Patricia pulled back. She cupped his face with both hands and
pulled him down for a deep kiss. A spasm of arousal flared deep inside her as she twined her tongue with his.

“Doc said you're not ready for that yet,” he murmured against her mouth. “But I can do amazing things with an ice massage.”

She laughed in spite of her herself. “I bet you never thought you'd ever use that as a pickup line.”

Lamar gently scooped her up off the stool. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, Patricia buried her face in his neck.

“It's a first, but it comes with the territory for our generation.” He carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. “I'll get that ice.”

“When you get back, you can fill me in on what's going on with Miles.”

Her words stopped Lamar in his tracks. Framed in the doorway, he turned to face her, his stoic mask firmly in place. “Why would I know what's going on with Miles?”

“He was very distracted earlier. When I asked him about the paperweight, he looked to you before he answered. Why would he do that?”

Lamar walked back to the bed. “I think you're misreading things. He's doing two jobs right now: campaigning and managing your B and B. More than one of us has questioned his ability to do both. Perhaps even a bit unfairly. Miles doesn't want to let you down.”

His excuse made sense, up to a point. “Since when did you start defending my son? He's been barely civil to you since he met you. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It's nice to see you two get along.”

He sat down on the bed beside her. “We had a Come-to-Jesus meeting the other day. It seems we have something very important to bond over: We both love the same woman.”

Patricia took one of his bigger hands between both of hers. A renewed sense of calm ebbed through her body when she made contact with his skin. “You'd tell me if something was wrong?”

“Of course,” he said without hesitation.

Tears stung her eyes again but this time they were happy ones. Things were starting to go her way; she just knew it. “It's going to be all right, isn't it? We're going to be okay?”

“We are going to be better than okay,” he said before leaning down and taking her mouth in a searing kiss.

Patricia relaxed into his comforting embrace, letting the worries of the day fade away.

T
he grandfather clock chimed its final chords announcing midnight. The B and B settled into a peaceful quiet around Lori. It was midweek and only three of the inn's suites were booked with guests, all of whom were presumably fast asleep. The sounds of the waves crashing against the shore seeped in through the closed windows. The only other sound Lori heard when she slipped out of her room was Tessa's gentle snoring.

Careful to skip the stair tread that squeaked, Lori made her way down from the third floor to the guest room level. She maneuvered quietly through the darkened hallway before slipping into the empty Paisley Suite. Closing the door until all but an inch remained open, she settled her shoulder against the wall and peered out the crack. Moonlight streamed through the stained glass window, giving her a bird's-eye view of the landing at the top of the main staircase.

Lori's heart told her Cassidy wasn't responsible for the recent thefts, but her heart had been wrong before.
So very wrong
. Someone was stealing from the B and B. Since Lori could rule herself out, that left only Miles and Cassidy as the likely culprits.

Not that she believed for a minute that Dudley Do-Right would steal anything, much less something from his mother or her guests. Of course, she also knew firsthand that Miles wasn't exactly the man he wanted everyone to believe him to be—especially when he had his hands beneath her bra and his tongue down her throat. She shivered slightly, remembering their kiss in the gazebo earlier. The only thing Miles was guilty of was making Lori want things she no longer had any right to. Things like a normal life and a normal relationship. None of that was going to ever happen for her and she needed to face that fact and move on.
Except she couldn't move on without her grandmother's ring.
And if that meant staking out the hallway to capture whoever was stealing things from the inn, Lori was going to do it.
Desperate times called for desperate measures and all that malarkey.

Of course, if neither she nor Miles was the culprit, that left Cassidy. Lori felt guilty even considering it, despite the fact the teenager had grown up with no boundaries. According to Patricia, Cassidy not only parented herself but, more often than not, had to parent her mother, too. These past few months, Lori hadn't seen any evidence that Cassidy was anything but a teenager hiding her tender heart behind the façade of a belligerent Goth. The girl was smart, industrious, and devoted to the McAlister family. She made as much sense as the thief as Miles did. But while Lori hated to believe Cassidy was guilty, she also knew what it was like to be alone with an uncertain future. A girl could do anything under those circumstances. Stealing a few trinkets here and there was just the tip of the iceberg.

She sighed softly, leaning her head against the doorframe. Lori hadn't quite thought this plan through. With her luck, she'd stand here all night and no one would venture through the B and B's halls.

She felt the heat at her back nanoseconds before a large hand covered her mouth. Her skin tingled when a second hand landed on her stomach, pulling her body in contact with a muscled chest. A very familiar muscled chest judging by the way her insides were heating up. She tried to jab an elbow into Miles' stomach, but his reflexes were quicker. With his
hand still plastered to her mouth, he pinned her arms with his other hand. Shifting her body to his side, he pushed the door closed with his knee.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he whispered as he pulled her toward the back of the suite. Moonlight bounced off the pale duvet that covered the four-poster bed. The moon's brightness illuminated much of the bedroom. Lori turned her head to glare at Miles. He was dressed in a dark blue T-shirt and black running shorts.
All the better to blend in with the darkness
. His hair was wet and Lori caught a whiff of his mother's trademark shampoo in the air. The cucumber scent should have made him seem less manly, less threatening. It didn't.

“What are you doing up so late, Lori?” His tone wasn't quite as menacing as it had been earlier in the day, but she still sensed the tension coiled deep within him.

She tugged a hand free and peeled his fingers off her mouth. “I could ask you the same question.”

His eyes were probing her again; she could feel it. “I'm looking for a crystal paperweight that seems to have found itself missing from the Edinburgh Suite.”

Lori relaxed a little against his hold and she heard Miles' breathing hitch. “Don't waste your sleep. I already checked this room four hours ago.” She huffed out a frustrated sigh when he showed no sign of releasing her. “It's not here. Or in any room of the B and B, for that matter. I checked them all. Well, all except yours,” she challenged.

Miles' eyes narrowed and his grip on her tightened. “Let's remedy that right now, then, shall we?” He led her toward the door. Lori debated protesting but a small part of her wanted a peek inside Miles' bedroom. Of course, she'd seen the Dundee Suite hundreds of times before, just not since Dudley Do-Right had taken up residence.
It was the only way to rule him out as a suspect once and for all
, she tried to justify to herself.

After manacling her wrist with his long fingers, he quietly pulled the door open. Miles checked down each of the long hallways before he ventured out of the suite. She followed behind him, the thick carpet muffling the sounds of their footsteps. Glancing down, Lori noticed that Miles' feet were bare.
Her stomach did another one of those somersaults. There was something intimate about Miles and his bare feet. After their kiss that afternoon, did she really want to be alone with him in his bedroom? Her body was screaming yes while her brain was demanding that she get a grip. She needed to stay the course, which meant catching the thief, getting her ring back, and moving on. Lori began to hesitate, but Miles tugged her along.

In a few short strides they'd made it to the Dundee Suite. Miles opened the door soundlessly and quickly propelled Lori into the dimly lit room. He released her wrist and she heard the telltale click of the lock sliding home. Still, she relaxed as she took a few steps into the sitting area. The corner suite was one of Lori's favorites in the inn. Decorated in the Dundee tartan colors of red, green, black, and white, the room always reminded Lori of Christmas.

Miles had been living in the suite for more than a month now, yet with the exception of his laptop and some papers spread across the sofa, there was not a single trace of him anywhere. Lori glanced into the adjoining bedroom. The bed was made and the pillows neatly stacked against the sleigh-style headboard. She peeked into the bathroom, where her suspicions about his recent shower were confirmed by the moisture wicking over the tile floor in the large shower. The only item evident in the room was a tube of toothpaste, which was, of course, neatly crimped on the end where he'd rolled it up.

A little disappointed not to find out more about the real Miles, she wandered back into the sitting area. No crystal paperweight—or any of the other missing items—was visible. Not that she ever thought they would be. Miles was leaning against the closed door, his arms crossed over his chest and those same sexy bare feet crossed at the ankles.

“Satisfied?”

Not hardly
. At least not in the way he was talking about. She shrugged. “I never seriously considered you as a suspect, Dudley.”

One corner of his mouth twitched. “I'll remember that if I need additional campaign endorsements.”

“Glad we got that cleared up. Can I go now?” Cassidy could be on the move and neither one of them would know it.

“Why? So you can take something else?”

Mirroring his pose, she narrowed her eyes at him. “We both know I'm not the thief, either.”

He sprang away from the door. “Actually,
we
don't. That whole story about your grandmother's ring is likely a ruse just to throw everyone off. What other reason do you have for skulking around the B and B at night if you're not the thief? And
for the love of Pete
, do you sleep in that ridiculous outfit?”

His last question caught her off guard. Lori wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed or aroused by the fact that he had bothered to notice her clothing. She looked down at her faded, oversized T-shirt and her pink Victoria's Secret sweatpants, both of which she'd picked up at the local thrift store. The wretched outfit was a far cry from the designer clothes she'd donned in her previous life. She was sick and tired of the necessary guise, but her options were limited. All she could do was make the best of it.

“This old thing? It's a vintage Hootie and the Blowfish concert shirt. There's nothing ridiculous about it.” She decided to brazen it out. “Not a Hootie fan, Dudley? The shop had some Backstreet Boys T-shirts as well. Maybe that's more your speed?”

He let out a low growl as he took a step closer. The air in the room crackled, forcing Lori to draw in a tight breath. Miles' nostrils flared at the sound. “You shouldn't be wandering the inn at night, Lori. Not even dressed like that.”

His words brought an appreciative smile to her face, but Lori bit it back before he could see it. Encouraging him wouldn't do either of them any good. “I was hoping to catch Cas—the burglar in the act.”

Miles took another step forward so that their bodies were only inches apart. “So you think it's Cassidy?”

Tears stung Lori's eyes at the thought of saying it out loud. “I don't know who else it could be,” she whispered. “It's not you. And it's not me.” He arched an eyebrow at her, but Lori
ignored him. “If it is her, I'm hoping she has a good excuse. But more importantly that she still has my ring. I don't want to leave without it,” she said around the lump in her throat.

He reached up a hand and cupped her face. “So you're leaving soon, then?”

She leaned into his hand and nodded. “I have to.” She didn't tell him that her imminent departure had as much to do with her desire not to be discovered as it did with her growing attachment to the B and B and everyone in it—including the arousing man standing before her.

His other hand found her hip and he pulled her in closer. His fingers began a gentle assault of her bottom, causing her body to arch into his. She sighed at the contact with his arousal.

“Tell me who you're hiding from.” His lips began a slow exploration of her neck and Lori's breathing began to fracture.

She slid her hands beneath his T-shirt, allowing her fingers to explore the smooth planes of his chest. “It's complicated.”

Life was about to get a lot more complicated if they didn't stop what they were doing. But whatever they'd begun in the gazebo was burning out of control again and Lori didn't seem to have the willpower to resist any longer.

“All the good things are.” He palmed her breast while his tongue traced the shell of her ear. “Are you married?”

“No,” she moaned as he rolled one of her pebbled nipples between his fingers.

“Then it's not that complicated.”

Lori wanted to argue with him, but his mouth quickly covered her own and she was too busy accommodating his demanding tongue and lips. She eased her hands between the waistband of his shorts. Her panties grew damp when she came in contact with warm, bare skin. She felt him gasp when she wrapped her fingers around him.

He pulled his mouth from hers. “Remember what you said earlier about me not being reckless? I'm feeling very reckless tonight, Lori. If you're not feeling the same, now's the time to go back to your room.”

It was so very Dudley Do-Right of him that Lori nearly
laughed. The sad part was Miles knew nothing about being reckless. At least not like she did. Apparently she hadn't learned her lesson, though. Instead of hightailing it back to her room and locking the door, she began toeing off her Keds.

Miles breathed a relieved-sounding sigh as his hands began shoving her sweatpants down her legs.

“You'll regret this in the morning,” she warned him. Her heart constricted at the look on his face. She desperately wanted him to deny it.

“I probably will,” he said instead.

Lori should have been angry and hurt, but the fact of the matter was, this was their reality. She wanted this as much as Miles did. If she couldn't have a normal life with someone like Miles, then she was going to take whatever she could get and bank the memories for her lonely future. This was all they'd ever have and she intended to make the most of it.

He crouched down on his haunches, allowing her to step out of her sweats. His eyes were dark with desire when he looked up at her. Lori slowly dragged the T-shirt over her head, obscenely glad that she'd managed to take a decent supply of her La Perla lingerie with her when she made her escape from New York. A slow, appreciative grin formed on Miles' lips at the sight of her molded bra and matching panties. Both were made up of delicate sheer mint green fabric with matching bows in all the right places.