“Absolutely,” he said unabashed, and Jeanne Louise chuckled softly at the enthusiasm in his voice.
“Maybe next time,” she said lightly, and then murmured, “Good night, Paul.”
“Good night, John boy,” Paul responded, and then grunted when she smacked his hand in punishment.
“Someone watched way too much television growing up,” Jeanne Louise said dryly.
“
Someone
still does,” he admitted, and allowed his hand to drift away from her breasts and down between her legs. “Maybe you can help me find something more interesting to do in future.”
Jeanne Louise’s eyes opened sharply as he began to caress her lazily. “I thought you were tired?”
“I’m waking up,” Paul said, and shifted his hips against her bottom, proving just how awake he was.
Jeanne Louise groaned as she felt his hardness prod her, and reached back to clasp his erection in hand as she cautioned, “Okay, but we have to be quiet. We woke up Livy last time.”
“We did?” he asked, stilling. “Was she okay?”
“Headache,” she admitted. “And it scared her when she couldn’t wake us up.”
“She was in here? She saw us?” Paul asked with alarm, his hands halting abruptly.
Jeanne Louise sighed and shifted onto her back in front of him. “It’s all right,” she said reassuringly. “I soothed her, took away her headache, and put her back to bed.”
Paul remained still for a minute and then let his breath out on a sigh. “Thank you,” he murmured, his eyes full of sincerity as they met hers, but filling with something else entirely when they dropped down to see that the blanket was around her waist, leaving her breasts on offer. Sliding his hand up to clasp the nearer one, Paul breathed, “Damn, I think I love your breasts.”
“You love my breasts?” Jeanne Louise asked dryly.
“And other parts,” he murmured distractedly, lowering his mouth to claim the nipple of the breast he held.
Jeanne Louise bit her lip as Paul began to suckle, sending shockwaves of pleasure through her, then sighed and relaxed, murmuring, “It’s a start.”
“W
hat shall we do now?”
Jeanne Louise smiled at Paul’s question as they wandered out of the antiques section. But before she could respond, Livy shrieked, “Ice cream!”
She glanced at the girl, chuckling at the way the child was hopping about and clapping her hands.
They had headed to Grand Bend first thing that morning. Or first thing on Livy waking them, she acknowledged with a wry smile. Certainly Jeanne Louise hadn’t been ready to wake yet, and doubted Paul had been either after the two of them had spent most of the night getting acquainted with each other’s bodies, passing out and getting reacquainted again. They’d been like a couple of junkies, jonesing on each other and reaching repeatedly for that next fix the moment they woke up after each session.
After taking turns in the shower, they’d piled Livy in the car and had headed to Grand Bend and the Pinery Antique Market. Paul had read about it in a stack of brochures and fliers left on the table by the cottage owner. In the market one could find a Sunday breakfast, live entertainment, and ice cream made from real cream, along with antiques and various other things one wouldn’t expect.
They’d had breakfast first, then toured the vendors, and the entire time Livy had been on about the ice cream Paul had promised she would get on this outing. It didn’t matter that she’d just had a large breakfast, she’d wanted ice cream from the minute they’d arrived. The girl’s appetite was definitely benefiting from the lack of pain and the fact that Jeanne Louise ensured Livy thought she enjoyed what she ate.
“All right, all right,” Paul said with amusement. “Ice cream it is. And then we should probably head back to the cottage for some swimming.”
“Ohhh,” Livy’s eyes were wide and happy. “Swimming.”
“Yes, and probably playing,” he added. “The people in the cottage next to ours have a little girl close to your age. Her name’s Kirsten. So you might have someone to play with while we’re here if the two of you like each other.”
“Yay!” Livy squealed and danced in circles.
Paul shook his head at her excitement and then caught her hand in his, slipped his other hand around Jeanne Louise’s waist and herded them both to the ice cream stand. Jeanne Louise ordered a combo cone with a scoop of rocky road and black cherry. Livy immediately asked for the same and Paul ordered pistachio. Once their cones were in hand, they walked slowly back toward the parking lot, licking madly at the quickly melting ice cream.
It was nearly noon and extremely hot. Jeanne Louise was very aware of the sun beating down, but didn’t want to spoil the moment by reminding Paul that she shouldn’t be out in it. It was as if he’d completely forgotten that she was immortal, like they were a typical mortal family, enjoying a sunny Sunday outing . . . and she liked it. Jeanne Louise had never really thought she envied mortals being able to enjoy simple pleasures like this, but in that moment she did. She was happy, relaxed and sated from their night together.
Not that Jeanne Louise didn’t still want the man presently walking along beside her listening to his daughter’s happy chatter. She would have happily lured him into the nearest public washroom, the backseat of the car, or any private spot they could find if they didn’t have to keep an eye on Livy. She definitely wanted the man still and was eager for the day to end and night to descend so they could put Livy to bed and enjoy each other again. But, in the meantime, she felt content.
“Jeanie?”
Paul’s tense voice made it through her thoughts and drew her attention. Seeing the tension in his expression, she followed his gaze to a dark SUV parked a row over from Paul’s car. Her eyes narrowed and she moved to the side to get a look at the license plate and felt her heart drop. It was an Argeneau SUV. They all had specialty license plates and this one was no exception. Her eyes shot to the windows, but the vehicle was empty.
“Get to the car,” she said grimly, dropping her cone to the ground to leave her hands free.
Paul immediately scooped up Livy and hurried toward the car. Jeanne Louise didn’t follow at once, but instead turned in a slow circle, looking for the driver of the vehicle. When a full turn and scan didn’t reveal anyone to her, she hurried after Paul and Livy. He was buckling the little girl into the back when she arrived at the car. Jeanne Louise opened the front passenger door, but didn’t immediately get in. She took the opportunity to scan their surroundings again, checking eyes and faces of anyone she saw. Again, though, she didn’t spot an immortal anywhere. Not that she knew every hunter working for her uncle, but the eyes tended to be a giveaway, as did their pale skin at this time of year. And most immortals would be wearing long sleeves and slacks rather than shorts to protect them from the sun as much as possible. But everyone she saw was in shorts and T-shirts or some other short-sleeved or completely sleeveless top.
Paul slammed the back door, and she glanced his way as he rushed around to the driver’s side. Jeanne Louise gave up scanning people and folded herself into the front seat as he got in. But she continued to scan anyone and everyone she saw as he started the engine and began to back out of the parking spot. She didn’t relax until they were on the road and had put some distance between their vehicle and the market.
“I don’t think we were followed,” Paul said quietly as she shifted to face forward in her seat.
“No,” Jeanne Louise agreed on a sigh. “I guess we got lucky. Although I don’t know how they missed recognizing your car and license,” she added with bewilderment. “We really should have dumped the car. And I should have thought of that.”
“Oh . . . er . . . no need for that,” he said, looking suddenly uncomfortable.
She peered at him curiously. “Oh?”
Paul nodded, cleared his throat and then admitted, “I bought a black magic marker while we were in town yesterday, and when I was unloading the car, I used it to change the two sixes on my license to eights.”
Jeanne Louise’s eyes widened. “Really?”
He nodded wryly, and shrugged. “It seemed a good idea. I didn’t think they’d search out this far from London, but there was a slight possibility, so I just thought . . .” Paul shrugged helplessly.
Jeanne Louise relaxed a little more at this disclosure, but she was looking at him with admiration and murmured, “Aren’t you clever.”
“I’m not just another pretty face, you know,” he said with a grin.
“No, you certainly aren’t,” she agreed solemnly.
Paul glanced at her sharply, and then reached over with one hand to squeeze hers. It made Jeanne Louise realize that his hands were as empty as hers.
“Where did your ice cream go?”
“I dropped it in the parking lot,” he admitted and then added, “Like you did.” He shrugged and added, “It seemed sensible to have my hands free.”
“Yes,” she said and squeezed his fingers with her own as she glanced in the backseat. Livy was the only one still with a cone, which explained the silence. The girl was still madly licking at her cone . . . and without being controlled and made to think it was good, Jeanne realized, eyes widening. She’d given up making the girl think it tasted good as she’d concentrated on looking for any immortals in the area. But the girl certainly seemed to be enjoying it anyway.
“Damn shame though,” Paul said suddenly, regret in his voice. “That was good ice cream.”
Jeanne Louise chuckled at the words as she settled back in her seat. But he was right. It had been darned good ice cream, she acknowledged and then suggested, “Maybe we should stop at a store and pick up some Häagen-Dazs or Ben and Jerry’s.”
“Definitely,” he agreed. “We can celebrate our lucky escape with it.”
“It was lucky,” Jeanne Louise said solemnly. “I didn’t expect them to check this far from London.”
“Neither did I,” Paul admitted, his smile fading. “Maybe we should stick close to the cottage for the next day or two. It’s rented under the name Williams and the license has been changed, so as long as we aren’t seen we should be good.”
“Yes,” Jeanne Louise agreed. It just seemed the sensible thing to do. They’d got lucky this time, but it didn’t mean they would again.
I
n the end, they decided to bypass the stop for ice cream. If Enforcers were searching the area, it just seemed a better idea to get back to the cottage and not risk running into one of them.
While Cecily Jackson and Sharon Corby were still on their shopping excursion with Kirsten, their husbands and sons were back from their fishing and descended on them as they got out of the car. Paul was forced to feign enthusiasm as they were shown the morning’s catch and regaled with tales of how this one was a fighter, and that one was an even harder fighter, and the other was the biggest fish ever.
Jeanne Louise stood beside him with what he suspected was silent amusement as he tried not to grimace at the smelly fish that were dangled before him. Livy on the other hand was free to say “gross” and “p-ewww” and then rush off to let Boomer out. Paul envied her that. He would have liked to echo her comments and flee the stench, but knew it would be considered terribly unmanly of him. Instead, he spent several minutes offering congratulations to the men before their wives’ return distracted them. The triumphant fishermen then rushed off to regale the womenfolk with their stories of success, assuring Paul and Jeanne Louise that they’d hit the beach right after lunch as they went.
Relieved to be free of the chore of admiring the scaly vertebrates, Paul whistled for Boomer and ushered Jeanne Louise and Livy into the cottage. He groaned when Jeanne Louise said she’d make lunch. Having dead fish shoved under his nose had rather stolen his appetite. But Livy responded eagerly enough. The child seemed to be hungry all the time now and he wasn’t sure if that was Jeanne Louise or the girl’s natural appetite returning now that she was no longer in constant pain.
By the time lunch was ready, however, Paul found himself hungry and enjoyed the bacon, lettuce, and tomato wraps she served up. They then gathered what they would need together and headed down to the beach.
Paul had been worried about Jeanne Louise’s need to stay out of the sun, but both Cecily and Sharon were seated in the shade when they went out to join everyone on the beach. Jeanne Louise settled happily with them while Paul and Livy headed straight for the water with Boomer charging ahead and straight into the waves.
Russell waited at the water’s edge with Kirsten. They introduced the two girls who played shy for all of five minutes before wading into the water together, splashing each other and giggling as little girls do. Paul watched with a smile, his heart actually aching a little to see his daughter so happy. It was a vast difference from the pale, thin, sickly girl who had been sleeping in Livy’s pretty pink room the last couple of weeks. It was like night and day, and he knew he owed it all to Jeanne Louise.
The woman hadn’t turned his child yet, but she’d taken away her pain and that had given Livy the chance to be a normal little girl again.
They spent the afternoon with their neighbors, and then had a communal barbecue with everyone contributing food. The men congregated around the large gas barbecue that belonged to Paul and Jeanne Louise’s cottage while the women moved between the cottages making potato salad and macaroni salad and gathering chips and drinks.
Once they’d eaten and cleared away the remains of the meal, the children rushed off with Boomer to play while the adults all settled around another bonfire to talk and keep an eye on them. It was nice. Paul hadn’t enjoyed evenings like this since Jerri’s death. He’d been invited to join neighborhood barbecues and such, but had felt like a fifth wheel and refused. He didn’t feel like a fifth wheel with Jeanne Louise at his side.
“Those look like rain clouds.”
Paul followed John Corby’s glance toward a grouping of large, dark clouds in the distance and nodded, solemnly. They were almost black against the dimming sky as the sun headed for the horizon. Grimacing, he said, “Looks like we’re in for one heck of a storm.”