His First and Last (Ardent Springs #1) (22 page)

She didn’t blame him. The letter hadn’t really read like an open invitation, but maybe the aunt assumed Spencer was the one who wouldn’t want to see them? He’d been the abandoned one, after all.
But if he made an effort, maybe they would as well. Surely they’d give him something. Medical history if nothing else. On top of finding out his mother had spent a lifetime keeping his father a secret, and then finding out that father died before Spencer could meet him, he learned that he now had a family history of something.

Cancer. Such an ugly word.

Lorelei didn’t want to think about Spencer getting cancer. What would she do if she lost him?

Sitting straight up in bed, she searched the darkness for the intruder who’d put that thought in her head. When had she started thinking about a forever with Spencer? And for that matter, when had she stopped thinking about leaving Ardent Springs? Lorelei couldn’t pinpoint the moment, but the idea of leaving hadn’t crossed her mind in days. Maybe more than a week.

Good Lord. Had she sniffed too much flour? Lorelei threw off the covers and crossed to the window seat where she had a clear shot of Spencer’s apartment. This was all his fault. Helping her find something she enjoyed doing. Getting her a job on top of that. One that she didn’t hate and didn’t require her to spend long hours on her feet serving ham and eggs to obnoxious drunks.

And then there was that easy charm. Spencer’s sweet nature and chiseled body had wormed their way under her skin and back into her heart. Though if she were being honest, Lorelei would have to admit he’d never really left her heart. For twelve years she’d compared every man to Spencer Boyd. None had measured up. And then she’d settled, and look where that had gotten her. Homeless, penniless, and right back where she’d started.

Which wasn’t so bad after all. Who’d have guessed Ardent Springs would win her back, the same as Spencer had. And he most certainly had.

Leaning her head back against the wall, Lorelei noted that a light still shone through his window, which meant he was still awake. Couldn’t hurt to try to convince him that finding Annie Ramirez was the right thing to do. Since neither one of them was sleeping anyway.

Right, honey child. Tell yourself
that’s
why you’re going down there.

Lorelei ignored the voice of her conscience and mentally stuck to her story. This was about making Spencer see reason, and that was all.

She kept up the delusion as she slipped on a pair of pajama shorts and crept down the stairs, skipping the ones she knew would squeak beneath her weight. There was no reason to wake Granny, after all. This would be a quick visit, and Lorelei would be back in her bed in no time.

And I have a bridge in Arizona I could sell you,
whispered the annoying inner voice.

“Shut up,” she whispered back as she fluffed her hair in the mirror of the tiny bathroom at the base of the stairs. As soon as she realized what she was doing, Lorelei turned off the light and marched toward the front door.

Ginger meowed as if to say, “Hussy.”

“Hush, fur ball,” Lorelei ordered, and then she stepped out of the house, pulling the door shut quietly behind her.

Spencer had tried calling it a night, but there was no use. He’d tossed and turned thinking about his father, his mother, the family he didn’t know and never would. There was still time to change his mind. He didn’t doubt Lorelei was right that they could find this Annie Ramirez if they really tried. But he couldn’t do it. There was no way he was invading a family in mourning.

The only real answer he’d needed had been in that letter. His father was Doug Crawford, and he’d regretted not being in Spencer’s life. That little bit of knowledge made all the difference.

But that didn’t mean sleep would come anytime soon, so he’d turned on one of the late-night talk shows to drown out the voices in his head, leaning back on the couch with a lap full of black Lab. The
moment the interview ended and the show cut to commercial, a knock sounded on his door.

Champ hopped up, wagging his tail as if the person on the other side came bearing treats. “You’re a shitty watchdog, you know that?” he said to the animal bouncing with his usual enthusiasm. “Someone ever breaks in here, you’ll probably lick him to death before he can steal anything. Not that there’s anything here to steal.”

Spencer moved the curtain on the door an inch to the right and spotted Lorelei hovering on his porch. It was too dark to see what she was wearing, but it didn’t look like much. He’d wanted a distraction, and this was a far better option than Jimmy Fallon. As he pulled the door open, Lorelei stood up straighter and tugged on the hem of the oversized gray shirt that hung precariously low off one shoulder.

He leaned his weight on the doorknob and said, “Little late for a visit, isn’t it?”

Lorelei shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“So you climbed out of bed, crept across the yard”—he glanced down at her bare feet—“with no shoes on to tell me that?”

She huffed. “Why are you being hateful?”

“’Cause it’s fun to see you get mad like that.” Spencer couldn’t help himself. She was so damn delicious when her temper flared.

With flushed cheeks, she cocked a hip and crossed her arms, which dropped the shirt even lower off her shoulder. By the looks of things, she was cold. Or at least parts of her were. Parts that made Spencer’s mouth water.

Tapping a toe, she asked, “Are you going to let me in?”

Spencer pushed the screen door open for her to pass through. “Why not?” he said. “I’m not sleeping either.”

“I know,” she said, curling her toes into the carpet. “I saw your light on.”

The AC in his apartment cranked from the window behind the TV,
keeping the temperature inside cool enough to hang meat, which was how Spencer liked it. But when Lorelei shivered, he crossed the room to turn the unit down. “Have a seat and I’ll get you a blanket.”

“How can you stand it so cold?” she asked, hopping onto the brown tweed and tucking her feet beneath her bottom. “I’m surprised it isn’t snowing in here.”

“Careful, Lorelei.” Spencer dropped an old quilt across her lap. “Your drama queen is showing.”

She gave him a one-finger reply.

“Very mature.” After settling himself at the opposite end of the couch, he muted the idiot box. As if he didn’t already know, Spencer asked, “So what’s on your mind?”

Lorelei toyed with the edge of the quilt. “I think you’re making a mistake.”

“And what mistake is that?” He really didn’t want to get into this again. Regardless of how much she argued, Spencer had no intention of changing his mind.

“You know what mistake.” Before he could shut her down, she held up her hand, palm out. “Listen for a minute. I know that the letter didn’t include any mention of wanting to get to know you or have you meet the family that is rightfully yours.” He opened his mouth to argue again, but she shushed him. “I’m not done. I also know that it would suck if you sent something and no one answered. If they rejected you, or worse, accused you of wanting something from them. But you still have to try.”

Spencer scrubbed his hands over his face. “Lor, the man died a month ago. Less than a month before that, he announced he had a son somewhere. That’s a lot for any family to deal with.”

“Maybe having a piece of him there would make them feel better. You could be something good in a tough time.”

“Or I could be an interloper.”

She leaned an arm along the back of the couch, making the nightshirt fall off the other shoulder. “One conversation and they’d know you had good intentions.” Seeing so much smooth skin showing, Spencer struggled to focus on what she was saying. “You have to stop being so stubborn about this.”

Shaking the lust fog from his brain, he said, “I’m not being stubborn.” In an effort to change the subject, he asked, “Do you want something to drink?”

“Not unless it’s hot chocolate.” She shivered again. “This blanket isn’t helping.” He knew one way to warm her up, but he didn’t think she’d be open to his idea. “Get over here,” she said, holding the blanket open for him to crawl in with her. Spencer hesitated, trying to determine if she was setting him up for something. “Come on. I know you’re a damn heater over there. Help a girl out.”

He could help her out all right.

Obeying the order, he scooted down the couch and put his arm around her shoulders as Lorelei settled the blanket around them both. “That’s better,” she sighed, cuddling in tight against his side and laying her head on his shoulder. When she dropped a kiss on his neck, Spencer pulled her in tighter.

“Lorelei?”

“Mm-hmm?” she purred.

“Did you come down here to seduce me?”

Another kiss, this time on his collarbone. “Would that be a bad thing?”

Spencer gave the question real thought. There was still a lot of fragile ground between them. She wasn’t offering a lifetime or, for all he knew, anything beyond one night. But when she threw a leg over his lap, his brain function faltered, and the feel of her warm body wrapped around him squelched any ability to protect himself from harm. This had been what he wanted from the moment he’d spotted Lorelei sitting on that airport bench. What he’d dreamed about for years before that.

“Should I take your lack of argument as encouragement?” she asked, lifting off the couch and sliding across his lap until she was straddling him between her thighs.

“Yes,” he said, the word coming out as a croak. Spencer cleared his throat. “I highly encourage you to keep doing what you’re doing.”

Lorelei shot him a smile he remembered all too well, turning his bones to putty. Well, all but one.

“To be clear, I didn’t come down here to have sex with you.” Her teeth nipped his bottom lip.

“I never said you did,” he murmured, sliding his hands around to her bottom. “But we’re not going to have sex, Lorelei.”

He tried to take her mouth, but she jerked back. “We’re not?” she said, eyes wide.

Spencer dipped his hands under her shirt and slid them slowly up her back, enjoying the feel of every muscle twitching at his touch. “No,” he said, “we’re going to make love.”

Lorelei had never been a stickler for semantics, but the way Spencer said
make love
added a whole lot of meaning to something she’d thought was pretty simple when she’d climbed into his lap. No matter what she’d told herself upon sneaking out of the house, she’d wanted this. And the moment Spencer opened the door wearing nothing but black sweats riding low enough on his hips to make her breasts turn traitor, she knew they’d be naked in no time.

But unlike the last time they’d kissed in his apartment, this encounter started more like a slow burn than a flash fire. Spencer had kept his eyes locked on hers as his strong, warm hands slid down her back, and then cupped her face as if she were a fragile piece of china. Lorelei couldn’t have looked away if she wanted to. When his thumb grazed her lower lip, seconds before he dropped a kiss on her forehead, her
entire body felt as if she’d been shot with a tranquilizer. Heat traveled through her bloodstream and her muscles seemed to melt, while every nerve ending came alive.

As one knuckle slid down the column of her neck, raising goose bumps as it went, Spencer said, “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

She would have offered the same sentiment, but Lorelei was too focused on his touch to form words. This had definitely been a long time coming. Too long.

Fingertips danced across her exposed shoulder as he said, “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” And then he finally took her mouth with his, and sparks turned into flames. Lorelei ran her hands through his hair as the taste of him, sweet and wet and oh so hot, filled her senses. She rocked against him, telling him with her body what she couldn’t say with words. How had she ever given this up? And how had she waited so long to have it again?

Her movements turned frantic. No matter how she moved, she couldn’t get close enough. Spencer broke the kiss to pull Lorelei’s shirt over her head, an action she would have protested, but he immediately took one sensitive nipple between his teeth and all she could do was hold on. Her nails dug into his broad shoulders as he pulled her closer, angling his hips until she could feel him pressed against her core. She drove down at the same moment he bit, and Lorelei nearly exploded right there in his lap.