But he didn’t want another woman.
He wanted this one.
<>
Jenna curled up on the bed beside Katie and rubbed her back. She’d had a nightmare about falling down the hill with Callie.
She’d be forever grateful to Al for getting Katie off that hill before she fell down on the rocks. Even though it meant risking his own life, he didn’t hesitate to go down after her. His whole family pulled together to help. The men held the rope and the women kept the kids back. And his sweet mother took care of Aunt Mattie.
It was a thankless job taking care of the surly old woman, but Jenna knew what to expect when she’d moved back to the inn. So far Al had been fairly patient with Mattie, but there were times when he looked like he was sorry he’d ever agreed to let her stay here at her precious inn. Jenna wondered if Aunt Mattie wouldn’t be better off in a nursing home, fussing at the nurses and aides. And she would fuss. She wasn’t the traditional sweet little old lady by any means.
Al stood in the doorway. “Is she all right?” he said quietly.
Jenna glanced at Katie, who was now sleeping peacefully beside her. “She had a nightmare,” she whispered.
She walked toward Al, who whispered, “If I have a nightmare, will you crawl into my bed?”
Jenna cocked her head. “Do you have these nightmares often?”
“Nearly every night.”
She heard the laughter in his voice. The serious architect had a lighter side, and the sound of his deep voice whispering in the dark sent tingles down her arms and through her body to settle in an ache of longing down deep inside her.
His warm breath caressed her neck and ear, and he rubbed his whisker-roughened cheek lightly against hers. She nuzzled into his neck and her arms snaked around his chest. Taking a deep breath and another, she tried to still her pounding heart, but it wouldn’t quiet as long as she was this close to him. Moving slightly, she brushed against his erection. She didn’t have to ask him if he still wanted her, because she felt the strength of his desire in his tender kiss, in the gentle touch of his hands, and in the size of his erection.
Instead of giving her virginity to Brian, she should have waited for this man.
The first kiss burned a hole through Al’s resolve not to get involved with Jenna, and the second one had her in his bedroom. He sat on the side of his bed and pulled her between his knees, then he pushed her shirt out of the way and unhooked her bra. Her breasts were beautiful, pale and full and perfectly shaped. He nuzzled into them and drew one peaked nipple into his mouth while he unfastened her jeans. When he stopped and looked up, she pulled off his shirt.
“Stand up so I can undo your pants,” she whispered.
He stood slowly, knowing this would be a night to remember, because this was a woman worth remembering. He cupped her cheeks and gazed deeply into her eyes. “Are you sure this is what you want, Jenna?”
“Yes.”
He kissed her again and pushed her jeans down over her hips. Sliding his hands inside her panties to squeeze her cute little ass, he pulled her against him and held her there while he breathed deeply to tame his desire. He didn’t want to rush this, and if he didn’t get himself under control, he wouldn’t bring her any pleasure. And tonight was all about pleasing her.
She had a beautiful body that fit against his as if it were made for him. He wished he’d been the one to get her pregnant, the one to give her a beautiful baby to suckle at those gorgeous breasts. “Did you nurse Katie?”
“Yes.”
That shouldn’t excite him, but it did. She’d gone through childbirth alone, without a husband or parents there to ooh and aah over the baby. Whether he was there or not, Brian didn’t count. He knew without asking that she didn’t love him. She’d never loved him.
Jenna handed him the condom that he’d conveniently left on the nightstand. He was a handsome man with his clothes on, and the naked man was a dream come true. He was long and lean and strong. “If only I’d known in high school what I know now.”
“Honey, I was a nobody back then.”
“Now you’re a somebody,” she whispered before claiming his lips. Tonight he was
her
somebody, hers to hold and love. Alessandro Donatelli was a magnificent man, and as she watched him roll the condom on, she knew she’d never regret this night.
His big, rough hands caressed her and his mouth did wonderful, sensual things to her breasts and stomach. His tongue in her belly button sent a wave of moist heat through her body and she moaned. And then his fingers were between her legs, touching and rubbing in the most intimate places while his mouth sought out her right nipple.
“Oh, yes,” she whispered.
He brought her to the brink and then pushed inside her, filling her completely. Alessandro Donatelli was a big man in every way. He held still for several seconds while she squirmed beneath him, begging for more, and then he gave her what she wanted, what they both wanted.
“That’s it, honey. Let yourself go,” he whispered, and then settled into a rhythm, rocking into her over and over again. When she thought it was finally over, he slid his hand under her and lifted her behind while he pushed deeply into her one last time. She bit down on a scream as a powerful wave slammed into her, and then she felt his release.
As her heart pounded and she gasped for air, she whispered, “Dear God, I had no idea it could be like that.”
He held her behind and her back and rolled them over, so she was on top. He was still inside her, and the way he came and came, the condom must be full. But she couldn’t let go of him. Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
<>
Al took a custom house plan to the
Max and Company
offices the next morning. He didn’t care for the style of the house, but he’d done what the buyers wanted. “Hey, Nick. I finished this plan, but I don’t know if they’re going to like it.”
“This is the industrial loft house?”
“Yeah. It’s a cold atmosphere to live in, but that’s what they wanted.”
“Yeah, I know. I don’t think they can get approval from the neighborhood architectural control committee. The other homes in that area are craftsman style or French country or traditional. This thing will stick out like a sore thumb.”
Al put the plan on the round table in the conference area and then unrolled another one. “This is a hybrid of sorts. It looks more traditional on the outside, but it has the more streamlined, modern look they’re looking for on the inside. They might not like either plan, but it’ll give them something to think about.” These clients were building in a high-profile development with strict building codes. They knew that when they bought the property and hired
Max and Company
to build them a house. It was doubtful that the first plan, the one they’d requested, would be approved.
“I don’t want to build something they won’t be satisfied with,” said Nick.
They’d had that discussion many times. Some clients thought they knew what they wanted, but when it came right down to it, they didn’t want something so radical that they’d never be able to sell it down the road. Homes that were too different were hard to get rid of. Nick built mostly traditional homes with all the modern conveniences, like five piece master bathrooms, walk-in closets, kitchens with all the latest appliances and granite countertops; and they were all wired for high speed Internet access, intercoms, vacuums, and sound systems. The buyers didn’t have to put those things in, but it was easier to plumb and wire when the walls were open than to try to add it later.
Nick studied the new plan. “Hey, I like this. We could change this around for other clients, put in a more traditional fireplace in the family room, close off the dressing room off the master, change the exterior a little, and—”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. They wanted the master all open, but most people want a door on the bathroom and dressing room. The sitting area could be a separate room they could use as a nursery or private study if we put French doors on it. I’m thinking this might be hard to sell down the road without a door in there somewhere.”
An hour later, the clients had accepted the second plan, with a few small changes. As soon as Al got it revised, they’d take it before the neighborhood committee for approval. This one might actually have a chance of being accepted.
The clients left happy, and Nick asked, “How’s Katie?”
“She’s having nightmares and taking care of Callie, the kitty who fell. The cat’s leg is in a cast, so she stays in the kennel most of the time, where she can’t jump around.”
Nick leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs. “And Katie’s mother?”
Al stared at his cousin. “You know I never discuss women.”
Nick laughed a little. “Yeah, I know. You could do a whole lot worse. Aunt Sophia thinks she’s great, and so does the rest of the family.”
Ma probably had her rosary beads clicking away, praying for another wedding in the family. Sex was one thing. Trusting a woman enough to make plans for happily ever after was something else. And trust was definitely an issue between them. When they were fifteen, she’d come on to him and then jerked his emotional legs out from under him.
“She said any woman who can put up with Mattie Worthington is worth hanging onto, and I agree. The old woman is a real piece of work. While everyone else worried about you and Katie hanging out over the rocks, she groused about Jenna not being there to make her a cup of tea.”
Jenna deserved better, but it wasn’t his place to tell her to put Mattie in a nursing home, even though that was where she belonged. The more Jenna did for her, the more she demanded, and then she complained because Jenna wasn’t doing more. It made him wonder what it was like for Jenna when she was growing up. Did the old lady treat her like this back then?
“Mattie is more demanding than Katie. Jenna can’t please her.”
“So what’s going to happen when the cast comes off her arm?”
“I don’t know, Nick. The bones aren’t healing. They could put a pin in it, but Mattie refuses to have surgery, so they’ll probably have her wear a splint of some kind. It should be more comfortable than the cast, and she might be able to feed herself, but it puts Jenna in a bind. She was planning to move back to Seattle and look for another job when the cast came off. Mattie doesn’t pay her anything, and that jerk Brian Baxter has stopped paying child support. She’s worried about money.”
Nick walked Al out to the car. “If she needs work, send her in to see me. We’ll find her something to do.”
Nick hired everyone in the family who needed work, and now he was extending that offer to Jenna. It shouldn’t be necessary. If anyone else was taking care of Mattie, she’d have to pay them. He’d given her a lot of money for the inn, so she could afford to pay, but aside from necessities like groceries, Mattie didn’t give Jenna a nickel.
Maybe Jenna was right about Charlie being her natural father. It would explain Mattie’s impatience with Jenna.
“Did Aunt Sophia tell you she’s walking around the harbor with Phillip Collier three mornings a week?”
“No. This is Mattie’s attorney we’re talking about?”
“Probably. He’s an attorney. His son, Chip, used to date Gina.”
Al nodded. “I remember Chip.” So Ma had a new friend.
Good for her.
<>
Jenna was helping Aunt Mattie out of the tub when she slipped a little on the wet floor. She caught herself before she dropped her aunt, but Aunt Mattie blasted her, calling her stupid and worthless. As soon as she sat on the toilet lid, Mattie pinched the tender under side of Jenna’s upper arm.
“Ow! Stop that.”
Jenna dried her off and helped her dress. As soon as she got her settled in her chair with her cup of tea, Jenna said, “I can’t do this any longer. I’m leaving, and you’re going into a nursing home.”
“You ungrateful little—”
“
Ungrateful?
I’m breaking my back trying to lift your dead weight out of the tub because you won’t help yourself even a little. I feed you and bathe you and dress you, and clean for you, and all I get is nasty remarks, and now you’ve pinched the skin off my arm. I don’t have to put up with this, and I can’t live on nothing. If you won’t pay me to take care of you, I have to find a job, because Katie needs clothes, and she needs to go to school in September.”
“Nobody paid me to take care of you.”
Jenna knew she should shut up and walk away, but she couldn’t. Not this time. “Then what happened to Mom and Dad’s savings and the money from their house and their furniture and their retirement accounts? Where did all that money go if it didn’t go to support me?”
Instead of denying that they’d taken the money, Aunt Mattie’s thin lips pressed tightly together.
“Why do you hate me so much?”
“Because you’re a bastard just like that little girl.” The old woman almost spit the words at Jenna. “My parents left me this place, and you and your kind—”