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a sob. He caught her before she toppled them both over.
“Livvy, what’s wrong?”
“Just hold me.” Her whisper stuttered. “And just let me hold you.”
He did. He held her until her tears faded and the stars appeared. His comfort became her foundation until her trembling stopped. Even now, his strength amazed her and she clung tighter.
John didn’t let go until she stepped back and smiled.
An hour later, dry-eyed and calmer, Livvy wrapped the cord of her hairdryer into a tight coil and flipped off the bathroom light. John laid his book aside and pulled her side of the blankets back.
“Better now?”
The sheet whispered as she slid beside him with a nod. A stab of guilt poked her but she allowed him to blame her hormones for her behavior. She leaned over him and shrugged.
“Sorry. Woman’s prerogative to get all emotional over the way the wind blows.”
“You need to slow down a bit. You’re working too hard.”
Stony muscles in his chest flexed under her palm as he crossed his arms behind his head. She knew now why he honed his body when
tormented. Strength had saved him, delivered him 308
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from evil, as it were. It had empowered him and given him the means to provide. It had kept him alive.
He watched her fingers trace his sternum.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she murmured. “I just like the feel of you under my hands.”
A slow grin of interest carved his lips. “Now there is a provocative statement.”
She kissed the corner of his mouth. “You’re incorrigible.”
He laughed at her. “But I’m damn good, too.”
“And not the least bit modest.” The laughter lifted her spirits. She poked his ribs and tormented his one ticklish spot above his left hip. With feigned indignation, he shoved her touch away before grabbing her hands, rolling her beneath him and halting their play. His jaw softened as he stared down at her.
One large hand buried under the pillow behind her head. Their lips descended and rose, meeting in the space between. His mouth teased hers until she parted her lips. Tongue stroking tongue, she ran her hands down the smooth line of his shoulder.
John broke away from her kiss, diving back twice before retreating completely. Emotion darted through his eyes. Against her breast, his heart rhythm sped up. “Liv, I—”
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Tyler’s crying pierced the night, loud through the new baby monitor. John’s lids slammed shut and his hot sigh warmed her cheek. Muscles she hadn’t realized he’d tensed sagged under her hand.
With a quick kiss on his frowning mouth, she rose from the bed. “I’ll go, you’ve dealt with them all day.”
John collapsed face down into her pillow. He’d come so close. Rolling to his side, he pulled the blue box from under her pillow and stared at it.
Strike two.
He shoved it in the nightstand drawer and waited for Livvy to return. Maybe the opportunity would present itself again.
Tyler’s cries lasted for a while but soon faded to muffled hiccups. Livvy’s lullaby floated across the hall and echoed with static from the baby monitor. From classic nursery songs she drifted into the slow melodies of the fifties and sixties, bringing a smile to his face. Only Livvy would make “Yakety Yak” sound sleepy. When she
crossed into “Chantilly Lace,” he pushed back the blankets and went searching.
Silhouetted in the nightlight, Livvy rocked on her feet. She crooned softly into Tyler’s hair and dropped a kiss or three along his forehead. John stopped and stared. She was beautiful. He basked in the sight of her for two full songs before she 310
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noticed him. Her eyes went round before crinkling in amusement. “I never claimed to be a singer.”
Chin nudging toward her arms, he matched her low volume. “Is he okay?”
She nodded, never stopping her sway or her kisses. “I think he just misses his mommy. But he’s getting heavy and my arms are about to fall off. Can you take him and put him down?”
John pushed off the frame and reached for Tyler. Livvy went to put the little boy in his arms and it happened. His arms cradled under hers, hers cradled the child, and their eyes met and froze.
Magic sizzled. Her pupils widened. Something ancient zapped between them, latched onto his soul and yanked it toward hers.
Powerful. Basic. Man. Woman. Child. Family.
Their lips met in a whisper kiss.
Now,
his brain screamed. But his throat clogged and nothing could pass, even air. Livvy broke the spell with a tiny step back, her eyes locked on his face. Her breasts rose and fell with unspoken emotion before she hurried from the room. John let the moment fade in slow degrees.
Tyler snored softly as John crossed to the bed.
PJ’s head was buried under a pillow, his arm dangling off the mattress, stuffed duck on the floor. The scent of baby soap mingled with slumber and John’s smile grew. He lowered the little boy to the sheet.
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A flashback slammed into him with the force of a swinging broomstick.
Chapter Twelve
“Mommy! Mommmmeeeeee!” John couldn’t get
the straps unfastened quick enough. Tyler’s feet flew as soon as John pulled him from the truck.
By the time John joined them on the high porch, PJ had worked up to a verbal fever pitch and was near hyperventilation. Pete ruffled his hair and answered half a million questions while Gina smothered a giggling Tyler with kisses.
John saw her searching the child’s head and grimaced. “Sorry, Gina. I got wrapped up in Monsterville and wasn’t watching.”
The wide smile she sent him did nothing to ease his guilt. “Don’t worry about it. He’s fine.
These two could get hurt right under your nose.”
Tyler tried to climb on her lap and Pete sprang from his chair. “Hey, easy with Mommy, Bucko.”
“Pete.”
John recognized the warning in Gina’s voice.
Pete ignored it, sending her a warning look of his own and moving the little boy to her side. “Ty, Mommy has an ouchie. No climbing, okay? And no picking him up, Gina. I mean it.”
“Pete! Oh, you need to go back to work and get out of my hair.” Aggravation laced Gina’s face Inez Kelley
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and she stood, gripping her son’s hand. “Come on, guys. Mommy has a surprise in the kitchen.”
The trio scrambled in the front door as Pete sighed and settled back into his chair. Hiding a grin, John took Gina’s seat.
“Your sister is the stubbornest mule I ever met,” Pete growled.
John chuckled. “You married her.”
“Yeah, well, you raised her, so this is your fault.”
“Gina raised herself, I just put food on the table.” John leaned back and studied his brother-in-law. Lines of worry and fatigue crossed his broad face and his eyes were shadowed. Concern made John’s voice lower than normal. “How is she, Pete? Really?”
“She’s sore.” The reply was quiet. “But her spirits are up. It’s like now that they got it out, she can handle whatever happens. Says she lived through…you know, growing up like you guys did…and then having two kids while going to law school, so she can handle anything now.”
“She can.” John nodded as Pete stared out at the lawn.
Nothing was said for a long time until Pete drew a deep breath. “She wants another baby.”
Those words brought a knot to John’s chest.
He focused on a fat bumblebee lazily drifting from pink flower to pink flower in the hanging 314
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baskets until he could find his voice. “Is that smart?”
Pete snorted. “I don’t know. I mean, we’re just at the talking stage until we know…something, but how can I tell her no? I’d give her the world in a box if I could, but I can’t keep her safe from her own body. How can I steal the one thing giving her hope now?”
Since he had no answer, John stayed quiet. He kept his eyes on the bumblebee. His sister had chosen a good man. Stepping aside as Gina’s protector had been hard for him, but knowing Pete loved her made it manageable. Knowing she loved Pete made it easier. It was a step he’d never regretted.
Pete jerked back to the present with a sniff. “So how’re things with Livvy?”
“Good.” Whether it was Pete’s sentimentality or his own growing awareness, John stunned himself by softly admitting, “I bought a ring.”
Pete’s head whipped around but John refused to move his gaze from the buzzing insect. There was no explanation for his heart to pound but he concentrated on it, feeling the deep thud against his ribs, taking pleasure in the knowledge that Livvy made it happen.
Pete whistled. “How the mighty have fallen.”
John shook his head with a grin. The old
reputation seemed so foreign to him now. The Inez Kelley
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man who was always on the lookout for the next piece of ass seemed almost a stranger. Livvy had become so ingrained in his soul he couldn’t imagine how he’d lived without her.
“Chasing pussy gets old, Pete. Besides, she says she loves me.”
“Which is nice but do you love her?”
John leaned forward and watched the bee
bounce on the porch ceiling a few times. The thudding of his heart tripled. He couldn’t say it to Livvy, how could he admit it to Pete? But who better would understand than a man desperately in love with his wife? He turned and looked Pete directly in his face.
“Yeah, I do.” Blowing out a shaky breath, John tried to joke. “But don’t tell Gina. She’s like a dog with a bone.”
A slight smile quirked Pete’s lip. “So did you ask her yet?”
“No. I came close a few times.”
The bumblebee buzzed behind him, headed
toward the road. John turned to watch his winding path swerving in the breeze. So much energy expended to get from point A to point B when a straight line seemed easier. But then, John mused, the straight path always did seem kind of boring.
“Don’t wait, John.” Pete’s shaky voice was strained. He fingered his wedding band, spinning it around his finger. “Don’t wait.”
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Tyler barely made it through lunch. His head started to droop at the table, threatening to smack into his plate. When Gina moved to pick him up, Pete sent her a scolding look and scooped the child up. “Sit. I’ll put him down. Come on, PJ, you too. Time for nap.”
“Aw, I’m too big for a nap. Ms. Jenkins
doesn’t make me sleep at school if I don’t want to.
And Uncle John didn’t make me. Naps are for babies. I don’t want to.”
His father arched one brow in John’s direction but directed his words to his son. “No nap, no TV.
Your choice.”
PJ slid out of his chair and started to follow his father out of the room but detoured to John. “Can I come stay with you again? Livvy said I could see her baker shop and we didn’t go. She said I could have a cupcake. And maybe Tyler won’t get all bloody next time.”
Gina hid a smile behind her coffee cup as John fixed him with a fierce scowl. “Now why would I want you to come back if you’re going to be squealing and telling your daddy I didn’t make you take a nap?”
PJ jumped up and down, pleading, “Please, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t tell him about the bad words or seeing Livvy naked or all the ice cream.
Can I please come stay?”
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A swift heat flooded John’s face and Gina dropped her jaw. As fast as he could, John agreed the boys could come back and sent PJ up the stairs.
“I can’t wait to hear this explanation, brother-mine.” She propped her elbows on the table and waited.
John sent her an embarrassed grin. “He’s
exaggerating. So I let him eat ice cream and skip naps for a few days, it’s not the end of the world.
And he told me about a couple words you let slip often enough that I don’t feel guilty. Besides, I’ve heard Pete when he gets mad. It wasn’t like he’d never heard them before.”
“Hmm, and about seeing Livvy na—”
“He got up in the middle of the night to take a leak. It was an accident.”
Gina’s lips went tight.
He leaned back in the chair and pointedly looked at her. “What?”
Her shoulders shrugged and a flash of pain shot across her face at the move but the eyes she settled on him were stern. “You had your
girlfriend sleep over while my boys were with you?
Can you not keep your pants zipped for a few days? What were you thinking?”
“Gina, if you don’t want the boys staying with me, that’s fine. But my life with Livvy is not up for discussion. She’s there and she’s going to be there for a long time, so deal with it.”
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Her coffee cup lowered with a slow steady hand. “A long time, huh? Care to elaborate on that?”
John snorted. “Nice try. I’m not falling for that.
When I’m ready to talk, you’ll know. Until then, back off. Let’s just say that you aren’t the only one thinking of adding a member to the family, okay?”
The radio blared some honkytonk twang and Livvy studied the legs sticking out from
underneath the truck. High on ramps, the hood open, the overgrown Tonka toy seemed to be devouring John. Lord only knew what he was doing.
Gravel crunched under her feet as she squatted down and peered under the machine. “What are you doing? This thing’s too new to be broken already.”
“Hey, you’re home early.” She had to lean back as he wiggled from beneath with a red oil-stained rag in hand. “I thought I’d have time to change the oil before you got here.”
She met his brief kiss with a shake of her head.
“Why don’t you just take it to a garage like a normal person?”
He raised one brow before lying back and
disappearing once more. “I’ll do it myself so I know it’s done right.”
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“Doesn’t the gravel hurt your back?”
A laugh rang from under the motor. “Nah. Hey, I need to go up to New York next week for a couple days. Want to come?”
“New York City? Why?” Livvy hated not
being able to see him so she knelt low, rocks biting into her knees, fanny in the air, and peered under the truck. John had a strange wide-mouthed pliers-type thingy around some other thingy and was trying to twist it. The harsh way he screwed up his face and the clench of muscles in his arm told her it was not easy. And just in case she had any doubt, he started cursing it.