Thwarting Cupid (6 page)

“You're not going to give up are you?”

He grinned. “Nope.”

“Fine.” Carissa pulled her legs under the covers with a small grimace. He raced out to the living room to grab a throw pillow from the couch. “What are you doing?” she asked when he returned and tucked the pillow under her legs.

“You need to keep them elevated. It'll keep the pressure off your back while you sleep. If you roll to your side, put it between your legs.”

He felt his face heat at the mention of between her legs. In the bright light of the bedroom, there was no way she could miss his blush. Even if he kept his head down to fiddle with the covers. His hair wasn't yet long enough to hide his face from her view.

“Between my legs, huh? You're making that up.”

He started to protest his innocence and caught sight of her amused face. “You're laughing at me?”

“You gotta admit. It's pretty funny.” She turned her head to the side. “I don't think I've seen that on you before.”

“I'm funny, huh?” He leaned over her and planted his hands on either side of her body, trapping her. He watched her amusement change to something else. Her breath caught in her throat. He watched the muscles work as she tried to swallow.

“Hutch?”

“Hutch, what?”

“I...I don't know. I...”

He smiled down at her. “You've got this big ole bed right here and I'm awful tired.”

“Hutch...”

“It's so late and my bed is so far away. Maybe I should just stay here for the night.”

“Hutch...”

“Besides, you might need some...looking after in the middle of the night and I'd be too far away to help.”

“I am not sharing my bed with you tonight, Hutch,” she protested.

He wiggled his eyebrows and stood up. “What are you going to do about it?” He crossed the room in a couple strides to turn off the light. By the time he got back to the bed, she was trying to sit up. He lay beside her and tossed an arm and leg over her body holding her in place.

“Okay, okay. You're not funny.”

He nestled as close to her as he could possibly get, intending to be a tease. Except, he went right to sleep.

Chapter 5

Carissa awoke to giggles. But she was so comfortable she hated to have to move to check the source. She stretched a bit and found that something weighed her down. But, it didn't frighten her. More like it made her want to stay put even more. She was so cozy where she was, curled on her side and tucked beneath the heavy bedspread. That wasn't what weighed her down, though.

Carissa took a deep breath while trying to figure it out. That was when she realized a large hand was cupping her left breast. It didn't make her panic. Instead, it felt...normal. Like she always woke up like this. But that couldn't be right. Could it?

The giggles started again. Annoyed, she pried open one eye to investigate the source of the sound. She was much more interested in discovering the source of the hand, but instinct told her she needed to address the giggles first. When her eye focused, she found herself staring into two sets of eyes. One set green, the other set brown.

“Are you 'wake now, Mommy?” the owner of the green eyes asked.

Whoa! Mommy?

“Almost, baby,” Carissa found herself responding to the cutest little girl she'd ever seen. She opened both eyes to get a better look at the girl. She had the softest brown curls tumbling around her head and she clutched a doll to her pajama-clad chest, which had a picture of the same doll on it.

The brown-eyed boy stood next to her and sucked as many fingers as he could shove in his tiny mouth while giving her a morning grin at the same time. Carissa felt her heart melt. Her little darlings.

“What are the two of you doing up? Are you hungry?” Carissa started to sit up, but the hand held her in place. Given the situation, she couldn't be sure she wasn't naked under the covers and she was too scared to check. It was a relief when the girl–Christina?–shook her head.

“I made breakfast!” She poked her little chest out at the pronouncement. The boy frowned and mumbled something around his fingers. Christina sighed and rolled her eyes. “Josh helped.”

“That's wonderful, you guys,” Carissa smiled even though she was cringing inside at the thought of what her kitchen must look like in the aftermath of that endeavor.

“Are you and Daddy ready to come eat it now?”

Daddy? The owner of the hand that had yet to move from her breast? “Daddy's not awake, yet.” Fingers squeezed her nipple, turning her into a liar. She tried to hold on to her concentration while he slid his hand from her breast and down over her tummy to stroke her intimately. “Why don't you and Josh go check on breakfast while I see if I can get Daddy up?”

“'Kay, Mommy. C'mon, Josh.” Christina grabbed her little brother's free hand and tugged him out of the room. When the door closed behind them, she rolled over to face her husband.

“You are so wicked.”

Hutch gave her a half smile and adjusted his hand between her legs while she straddled him. She'd been right. She was naked. And so was he. He was also pretty erect.

“We're expected at breakfast at any moment.” Carissa sighed when he slid a finger inside her and stroked.

“Are you really in that much of a hurry to see what they've concocted this time?” He added a second finger and stroked her sensitive nub with his thumb.

Carissa moaned and tried to hold on to her train of thought. “Not when you're doing that.”

He gave her a lazy grin. She reached between them to take him in her hands. She cupped his scrotum and pressed the area she knew would give her the desired result. Hutch went from half-mast to full in an instant. She smiled at him.

“I love that you have a ‘magic button.’”

He removed his hand so she could guide him inside her. “It does have its uses. Funny how you're the only one who can find it.”

She raised an eyebrow while she rode him. “No one else better be looking.”

He chuckled and brought both hands up to play with her breasts just the way she liked. “I love it when you get all jealous on me, Cara.” She smiled the best she could with her climax building like it was. His hands jerked and slid down to hold tight to her hips. He thrust into her while his own release thundered through his body.

She loved the way his body tensed up and he threw his head back, giving over complete control to her. The sight alone was enough to push her over the edge with him, but he still had the presence of mind to reach between them to help her along.

Spent, she collapsed on his chest. She was one lucky woman. Married to a great guy who was a wonderful and considerate lover. Two adorable kids who thought enough of them to prepare breakfast... Oh crap! The kids!

Her eyes shot open and she bolted from the bed. She was struggling into her robe and turned to see Hutch laughing at her.

“What are you waiting for? We need to get out there.”

“They're fine.” He rolled on his side, treating her to a nice view. “If they weren't, they'd be in here again trying to pretend nothing is wrong.”

She relaxed a bit. He was right. She finally figured out how to work the robe and slid into it. He gave her a disappointed look.

“Come to think of it, who taught them how to work a doorknob anyway? I thought we'd have a little longer before having to worry about them popping in on us.”

He shrugged and rolled out of bed. He strode toward her and she enjoyed every step of his lithe, naked body. “Don't look at me. I was the one lobbying for locks on the doors.” He reached around her to grab a pair of pajama bottoms and stepped into them.

“My money is on Vanessa. She's never liked me, you know. Despite the fact that I hired her.”

“That's silly. Of course she likes you. And she's great with the kids.” He slid his arms around her. He was already hardening again. She enjoyed the way his gaze dropped to her chest trying for another peek of boob despite the fact he'd just had an eyeful.

“She likes you,” Carissa pointed out. “Me? I'm pretty sure she could do without.” She reached up to give him a quick peck on the lips. “Just promise that if anything happens to me, you look at her first.”

The teasing light faded from his eyes so fast she’d be hard pressed to swear it had been there in the first place.

“Don't even joke about that.” If she'd ever had any doubts about how he felt about her, every last one of them was eradicated in that moment. Quite simply, the man adored her just like she did him. Yes. She was one lucky woman indeed.

Something clattered to the floor in the kitchen, breaking the moment. Their heads snapped toward the door in unison before they both sprang into motion. He beat her into the hallway by mere seconds. They skidded to a stop at the entrance and looked around with equal parts horror and amusement.

Multi colored plastic bowls were scattered all over the place. Josh was sitting in the middle of the floor, wearing one bowl on his head and happily sucking milk and cereal out of his clothes. Christina stared at the mess with a trembling lip, on the verge of tears. The first one fell when she saw her parents standing in doorway.

“Aww, sweetheart, don't cry.” Hutch hurried over and swept her into his arms. She clung to his neck and sniffled.

“I just wanted breakfast to be perfect for you and Mommy.”

Carissa knelt next to Josh and lifted the bowl. He had a pile of cereal in his hair, confirming her suspicion that the bowl had been full when it landed on his head.

“Look, honey, Josh likes it. Don't you Josh?” The boy smacked his lips in agreement when Christina turned her teary gaze on them. Carissa scooped some of the cereal from Josh's head and ate it. She made exaggerated 'yum' sounds. “You did really good.”

“But it's a mess.”

Hutch knelt next to his wife and son with his daughter in his arms. Carissa reached out to stroke the girl's hair. “We all make messes. You know what we do then?”

Christina shook her head.

“We clean them up and move on.”

Christina reached for Carissa, who took her from Hutch. “It's okay, baby girl.” Carissa’s heart filled with love seeing her family around her. She thought it would burst at any moment. She couldn't have dreamt up a more perfect life. Not even if she'd tried.

Even while the thought formed, she felt like something was pulling her away from her family. Away from her kids. Away from her husband. Away from her beautiful home which for some reason she couldn't seem to remember despite the fact she was sitting on the floor of her kitchen. What she thought was light and airy turned dark and suffocating. What was happening to her?

She looked to Hutch, but he appeared to be frozen in place. His image got smaller and smaller until he disappeared altogether. The kids were already nothing more than a distant memory. Or maybe something else.

Carissa tried to call out to them, but no sound came from her mouth. She tried to go after them, but was surrounded with darkness. She had no idea which way to run. Panic caused her to gasp for air. She couldn't catch her breath.

“Fight for it,” someone whispered in the darkness.

She was on the verge of hyperventilating when she opened her eyes. For a disconcerting moment, her gaze darted around her bedroom. And it was her bedroom. Not the one she'd just left after a wonderful session of lovemaking with her husband, but her bedroom in her apartment.

She wasn't married. She didn't have two adorable kids. There was no evil babysitter named Vanessa. But it had felt so real. Even now, the dream stayed with her in disconcerting detail.

Carissa tried to sit up, but a weight held her in place. A hand cupped her left breast. Talk about deja vu. She turned her head, half hoping to see Josh and Christina grinning up at her from the side of the bed. They weren't. But the hand was still there. She turned her head the other way to see Hutch sound asleep beside her. Details from the previous night emerged in her consciousness. He'd fallen asleep on her.

Sometime during the night, he'd removed his shirt and climbed under the covers with her. Worried, but intrigued about what else he might have removed, had her sliding a leg toward him. She wasn't sure if she should be relieved or disappointed when she felt the fabric of his khaki pants. She rolled onto her side intending to get up, but he rolled with her. His hand slid from her breast downward. Knowing where it was headed, she stopped it just under her ribs. She was confused enough at the moment. She didn't need to add anymore complications to the mix.

He didn't fight her. Just shifted his body closer to her and settled into sleep once more. That was when she became aware of a new complication. He was erect. She could feel him pressing into her backside. He wasn't at half-mast the way he'd started out in her dream. He was at full attention and ready for action. Action she could not give him.

Carissa should move. That would be the sensible thing to do. He was holding her in place, but she could escape if she really wanted to. The problem was that she didn't want to. It was a naughty and delicious novelty to feel him pressed against her like this. She'd be a liar if said she didn't like it. She decided to stay put. Perhaps it would be less embarrassing for them both. Yeah. That was it.