Erik’s anger switched gear. “That bastard. I’m going to break his neck for what he did to you. Where is he, Michelle? Where is he?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since that night. As far as I’m concerned, he’s dead. I never want to see him again. That’s why it was so easy to tell you he was dead when you asked me about him. I’m sorry for lying to you. I didn’t plan to lie. It just slipped out.”
All of a sudden, Erik didn’t care who was watching them. He pulled Michelle into his arms and buried her wet face in his chest. He threaded his fingers through her soft silky hair. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. He should be dead for hurting you. I can’t understand how a man could be so cruel to his own child. You’re his little girl, no matter how old you get. He’s supposed to protect you, not hurt you.”
She raised her head and gazed up at him, love and wonder in her eyes. “You’re not upset that I lied to you?”
“I am disappointed, but under the circumstances, I understand why you did. Just don’t lie to me again.” He paused. “Is there anything else you need to tell me, about him or anything in your past?” he asked with an urgency that surprised even him.
She shuddered and pushed out of his arms. “No.”
Erik watched her closely for a moment then glanced at Cassie’s car loaded with half her wardrobe, and wishing she had trusted him with the truth. He’d known Cassie for twenty-two years, Michelle for three months, and Michelle had just proved that she trusted him more easily than Cassie ever did, and with something far less significant. That told him a lot.
“Why is Cassie’s car out?” Michelle asked, following his gaze. “And why is it filled with her clothes?”
“I’m giving it all away to charity. Someone’s coming by to pick them up later.”
She eyed him warily. “Why now?”
He couldn’t tell her he’d been blind-sided by the woman he’d loved for most of his life. He held up his left hand. “See, the ring is gone. I tossed it into the Potomac River, and I let go the private investigator I’d hired to find the drunk who’d killed her. I’m done living in the past. I want my life back.”
Michelle’s heart danced with excitement. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Erik was ready to move on. There was no need to tell him that her father was a drunk since he was long gone by the night Cassie was killed. Just like Erik, she was ready to let go of the baggage of her past. Well, that part of it. She was still certain that Dwight Carter was hiding something, especially since Robert had begun searching through the boxes of old papers and stuff they’d stored from their past in his brownstone, and so far, hadn’t found anything that linked Dwight to a life before New Hampshire.
Strange. Very strange, indeed. Everybody kept links to their pasts. That is if they had nothing to hide. It was as if Dwight had fallen from the sky with a four-year-old son and a pregnant wife, plop into the middle of Manchester.
“Hey, baby, where did you go?”
Michelle started at the sound of Erik’s voice. She looked up at him. “When you said you were in the middle of something important, I never thought it was this big. Actually, when you didn’t come down for coffee this morning I was kind of scared that you were regretting what happened between us.”
His chest heaved. “So much has happened in the past two weeks to keep us apart, but I’ve missed you every moment of every day. I need to be with you. I need my wife.”
“I’ve missed you too, Erik. I’m going insane with my need for you.” She glanced up at the house, hope dancing in her eyes. “Can we make love tonight after Precious is in bed?”
“We’ll make love tonight, but not here,” Erik stated brusquely. He didn’t want any memories of Michelle tied to this house. As a matter of fact, he was thinking about selling it and moving back to Granite Falls. He missed his home, the place where he was born and raised. He’d only moved to Amherst to be close to his mother. She’d been denied the opportunity of raising her son, and he was hell-bent on giving her the chance to make it up with her grandchildren—well, her only grandchild, he thought with a sour twist of his lips. But recently, Felicia had been spending a great deal of time in Granite Falls, comforting his grieving father. Cassie was gone, and since it seemed the police would never find the man who killed her, there was nothing keeping him here.
Except, maybe Michelle. He still hadn’t quite figured out what his true feelings for her were. Or maybe he knew and just didn’t want to admit them—especially after just learning that his darling wife of twelve years had deceived him for five. The only thing he knew right now was that he needed Michelle. He was burning up with a hunger only she could satiate.
“So what are we going to do?” Michelle asked him. “Rent a hotel room for a few hours? It’s not like we can spend the night together without creating suspicion. Our relationship, our marriage, is still a secret to the rest of the world.”
“I was thinking we could spend the weekend in Cape Cod.”
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Hmm. Plus, Sunday is your birthday and I want to do something special with you away from here.”
In a place that had no memories of Cassie.
“You remembered my birthday?”
He grinned at her enthusiasm. “Well, Precious reminded me this morning. I called the caretaker and the cottage is being prepared as we speak.”
“Okay. I’d like that. I’ve never been to the Cape.”
“Then it’s settled. We’ll leave ASAP.” He started walking toward the house. “I thought about leaving Precious with Felicia just so I could have you to myself, but she and Dad have plans.” A relaxed smile curved his lips as he spoke of his parents.
“Those two aren’t wasting any time.” Michelle giggled beside him.
“They’ve been in love for forty years. They’ve sacrificed their love to keep others from being hurt. They deserve some happiness together.”
Michelle rested her hand on his arm. “As do you,” she said, staring up at him as they stood at the front door.
“You make me happy.” He cupped her chin, leaned down, and brushed his lips lightly over hers. Electricity sizzled between them. “Go pack. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can start enjoying each other.” He slapped her playfully on her buttocks, opened the door, and pushed her inside.
“I love you,” she said, the warmth of her smile echoing in her voice as she looked back at him.
Erik walked toward his study. He had to let the hospital know where he would be in case of an emergency. He prayed to God there’d be none. He needed some time, one uninterrupted weekend with his family. As he opened the door of the study, Erik gasped as if he’d been slammed in the gut with a sledgehammer.
He’d just referred to himself, Michelle, and Precious as a family.
Involuntarily, his gaze wandered over the fireplace to meet his late wife’s brown eyes. She wanted him to be happy, according to his mother. She wanted him to find someone new to love and care for him and their child.
Michelle’s love for Precious and him was pure and strong. She had brought so much joy into his sad, pathetic life, so much inner peace to his soul. She had filled his world with so much light he couldn’t remember it ever being dark. She made his heart sing with delight, his flesh dance with enthusiasm. And she trusted him.
Erik strolled to the fireplace and unhinged the painting of his former wife from its hook. He stared at her long and hard, awed that the bevy of emotions he usually felt when he gazed at her were gone.
He opened the closet door and placed the painting inside.
***
“Alone at last.” Erik eased down next to Michelle on the sofa.
She laid her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his that circled her upper body. It felt so good, so natural cuddled up to him.
The night had turned a bit chilly, so Erik had lit a fire—the only light in the room—that now crackled softly in the fireplace behind them. They sat quietly for a while, just enjoying each other’s presence, as they gazed out the sliders at the ocean, and listened to the mellow sounds of waves lapping at the stretch of white beach.
“Are you sure Precious is asleep?” Michelle asked as Erik began massaging her arms in very slow motion, spurting excitement inside her. Even though they were away from Amherst, they had to be careful for Precious.
“The poor darling is worn out. Was snoring before I finished reading two pages of her book.”
Michelle giggled. “Well, you did make her play volleyball with those kids on the beach this afternoon—for two long hours, Erik, just to make sure she wouldn’t protest when you sent her to bed. I felt sorry for the poor kid.”
He chuckled. “She enjoyed it. She told me she had fun. It was the last thing she said before she fell asleep.”
“Sure, try to justify your actions, Dr. LaCrosse.” Michelle’s mouth twisted with humorous displeasure as she turned her head and gazed up at him.
“Well, if I didn’t come up with a master plan, Mrs. LaCrosse—” His hands moved in from her arms to her chest and he gently caressed her breasts through her blouse. “We wouldn’t be able to do this until after midnight.”
“Hmm, I see what you mean,” Michelle murmured as her skin started to tingle under his touch. She dropped her hands to his thighs and massaged the hard muscles there. He felt like polished marble under her soft palm. “I definitely wouldn’t want to wait until midnight for this.”
“I knew you’d see it my way, darling.” He chuckled, picked her up and placed her across his lap, facing him. He dragged his hands up her legs along her thighs that flanked his sides and brought them to rest on her buttocks. “Feel that?” he asked in a husky voice as he moved her gently up and down, back and forth on his erection. “Feel what you do to me, Mrs. LaCrosse?”
Michelle licked her lips as fire swept through her veins. “Yes, I feel that, and I like what I do to you.”
As he claimed her lips with his, Michelle clasped her arms around his neck and surrendered to the hunger. It had been two weeks, and they were both starving.
“I want you so much,” Erik whispered against her mouth as his fingers tugged eagerly at the tail of her shirt, lifting it up along her belly and over her chest. He growled as her breasts sprang into his hands. Bless her dear heart for not wearing a bra. Her nipples were round and smooth and he massaged his palms over them in slow circular motions until they hardened in response to his touch. He dragged his mouth from hers and trailed his lips over her chin and down to the sweet crook of her neck. Her intoxicating smell and the sweet little whimpers coming from her throat made his groin throb with so much pain he though he would explode in his pants.
Eager to love her, Erik pressed Michelle back against the soft cushions and covered her body with his. He gazed at her face and the trust and love swimming in her eyes tugged on his heartstrings. “Michelle, I wish—”
“Shh. Don’t wish. Just talk to me with your body. Show me what you can’t tell me.” She opened her legs and her arms to receive him.
With an ache in his belly, Erik settled between her thighs and hurriedly unbuttoned her blouse, swearing mildly at the precious time it wasted before he could feast on her beautiful breasts. “Oh, I’ve missed these,” he moaned, gazing at them, totally mesmerized.
“You’re a breast man, aren’t you?” Michelle asked him.
He chuckled, softly. “You’re just figuring that out, darling?” He held one between his thumb and forefinger and sucked it into his mouth, using the muscles of his jaws, his teeth and his tongue to spawn illicit pleasure inside her.
She arched her back, dug her nails into his arms and thrashed restlessly under him. God she was so damned sensuous. It made him wild. Wilder. He pulled his mouth from that delectable mount of swollen flesh and lavished his attention on the other until Michelle whispered his name. When he felt his hunger had been appeased, he pulled his mouth from her breast and trailed his lips slowly and tantalizingly over her chest and down the soft contours of her flat belly. One hand crawled up her legs and thighs as he kissed his way lower and lower. He loved the smell radiating from her hot heat.
“If I don’t get inside you now, I’m going to explode,” he whispered against her skin as his fingers curved around the waistband of her shorts, intending to rip the damn cloth from her body.
Michelle fought her way through the haze of passion when she felt Erik tugging at her shorts. She grabbed his hand. “Erik, no. Not here,” she said, her maternal instincts kicking into gear.
“Why not?”
Her lower body curled into his mouth as the tip of his tongue made shocking contact with the hollow of her belly button.
“Precious,” she whispered in a tormented plea, even as she made seductive little motions with her hips.
“She’s asleep.” His voice was tight and hoarse with need. His loins hurt. He needed to be inside her. Right here. Right now. “Come on, let’s be spontaneous.”
As much as she longed to throw caution to the wind, common sense warned Michelle it would be a terrible mistake for them to make love on the sofa in the open living room with a precocious seven-year-old sleeping upstairs. What if she walked in on them?
The stakes were too high. The price of losing Precious’ trust and respect was too great. Michelle couldn’t afford to risk that, not even for Erik. He was a man after all, and when it came to sex, everybody knew they thought with their...
She pushed at his head with both hands. “Erik, we can’t make love here. Stop. Stop.”
He growled with impatience, the golden embers in his grey eyes glowing with deep dark desire. He scooped her up off the sofa and took the short flight of stairs to the master bedroom. He closed and locked the door then took purposeful strides across the floor. He set her gently down on her back on the bed and switched on the table lamp. He bent over her and swiftly removed her shirt, shorts, and thong, and tossed them across the room.
A distinct light shimmered in his eyes as he admired the gentle curves of her body. She was smooth and perfect, his to enjoy to his fullest. His gaze moved to her dusky eyes, and the tender love he encountered caused a huge lump to lodge in his throat. No woman had ever moved him like this before, and suddenly, he wanted to take his time with her, worship every inch of her sweet body. Without taking his eyes from hers, he reached up and removed his shirt, dropping it on the floor before his fingers went to the waist of his slacks where he slowly released the button.