Chapter Two
Lana
My hands were elbow deep in the backend of a turkey when the doorbell rang.
It was my year to host our big Thanksgiving dinner and I normally enjoyed every second of playing hostess and feeding all the people I loved. This year, I was running on three hours of sleep because I’d started prepping the minute we’d gotten home from the play. I probably wouldn’t have gotten that much if Heavenleigh hadn’t had a bad dream and I’d gone up to comfort her and fallen asleep in the small toddler bed with her.
Coffee and Aleve were my friends this morning because my whole body was stiff from that small-ass bed and my acrobatic daughter using me as a jungle gym in her sleep.
“I got it,” Drake called out as I heard him coming down the stairs. Seconds later I heard his huff. “It’s your dad. Do I have to let him in?”
I rolled my eyes at his dry voice, knowing he was only playing. Drake and my father were friends and I liked that they got along so well. After so many years without Cole Steel in my life—of hating him and wanting nothing to do with him—it was actually nice to have him there for every important event in my life now.
“Pop-Pop!” Arella and Nevaeh cried out seconds later when I heard Cole’s gravel-rough voice greet them.
“There’s my little turkey,” Cole laughed. “Why aren’t you in the oven? Huh? I like my turkey extra crispy.”
“You’re crazy sometimes, Pop-Pop,” Arella told her grandfather with a giggle.
I heard their footsteps and seconds later my oldest girls were pulling my father into the kitchen. Cole was dressed in his usual jeans but he’d gone all out and put on a button-down over his usual faded T-shirt. With his long hair pulled up into a man bun, it was hard to believe that this still good-looking rocker was anyone’s grandfather. His honey brown eyes were glowing with amusement as he stepped around the island to kiss my cheek.
“Happy Thanksgiving, darlin’.”
I pulled my hand out of the turkey’s backside and turned around to wash my hands. “You’re here early.”
He shrugged, leaning back against the sink beside me. “I missed you and my grandbabies.”
My heart twisted a little at the admission. He’d been out of the country doing a little promotion for his band’s farewell tour and supposedly last album together. Of course it was Steel Entrapment’s second farewell tour, so I wasn’t convinced there wouldn’t be a third one. It was hard for Cole to give up his music and every ten years or so he got bored and called his bandmates up to do another tour.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I told him as I hugged him tight. Stepping back, I grinned up at him. “You can help me cook.”
“That’s women’s work,” Cole grumbled.
“You didn’t just say that, Pop-Pop,” Nevaeh scolded him from the seat she’d taken on the other side of the island. “That’s such a guy thing to say. Don’t be a pig.”
Cole threw his head back and roared with laughter as pride for my oldest burned through my chest. “You’re right, darlin’. How about you show me how to peel a potato and we both help your mom out?”
“I wanna help too,” Arella whined. “Mommy, can I peel something too?”
I set the three of them up peeling potatoes then went to check on Drake since he hadn’t joined us. The television was on in the living room, turned to the parade the girls had been watching earlier, but the room was empty. Frowning, I climbed the stairs. I could hear Heavenleigh in her room talking to her stuffed animals while she had a tea party. I peeked in on her and saw she was happy but alone except for her favorite dolls, and she didn’t even notice me.
Taking my hair down from the knot I’d thrown it in while I’d been dealing with the turkey, I walked down the hall to the nursery when I heard Bliss giggle. The door was open and I could see Drake’s big body lying on his stomach on the floor. There was a book lying in front of him that he was reading softly to the twenty-two-month-old baby who was on his back, her hands tangled in his long hair as she listened intently.
I stood there, just watching them, loving how much Bliss enjoyed having a little one-on-one time with her father. Drake was such an amazing father and he proved to me every day that me and the girls were the most important people in his life. It was little things like this, him reading his daughter her favorite book and using the funny voices for each character, that made me fall hard for him all over again.
When the story was done, he closed the book. Bliss rolled off him and gave him a big wet kiss on the cheek before crawling over to the nest of toys she created every morning. Turning onto his back, he watched her for a few minutes, a smile on his lips, and I soaked in the sight.
He must have felt my eyes on him because he turned his head and the smile slowly disappeared. Something dark flashed through his blue-gray eyes, but he quickly masked it before I could figure out what was going through his head. Getting to his feet, he crossed to me and bent to kiss my lips.
“Mm, you smell like sage,” he said with a playful growl and buried his face in my neck, sniffing hard. I squealed and tried to pull away. I knew he was trying to distract me, that he didn’t want me to ask him what was wrong, and of course it was working. His hands caught my hips, pulling me against him as he tickled me with his nose.
“Drake,” I laughed. “Stop. Please. That tickles.” I felt his lips and the tickles turned into sensual caresses with his mouth and tongue. “Drake,” I said, his name leaving me on a breathless sigh.
He backed me out of the nursery, closing the door behind us before pressing me against the wall outside. His hips held me in place while his hands traced down my body, his lips still on my neck. “I could eat you up, Angel.”
A mewl-like sound left me as I leaned my head back against the wall, letting him drive me crazy with his lips and hands. I didn’t have time for this, but there wasn’t a force in the world that would make me stop him. I craved his hands on me every second of the day. I constantly felt like I was starving for him. Our sex life was still as hot as it had been from the first time he’d kissed me. The flame hadn’t died out or even dimmed over the years. I suspected we’d still be this hot for each other when we were too old to remember our own names.
Drake kissed his way up my neck, across my jaw and finally reached my lips. He teased my mouth open with his tongue, his hands sliding between me and the wall and cupping my ass. “I love you,” he breathed against my lips.
My fingers stroked through his hair, pulling him closer. “I love you, too.”
His hands contracted on my ass and he lowered his head until his forehead was pressed against my chest. “Don’t ever stop. Promise me.”
Concern for him pushed its way into my desire-fogged head. I tightened my hold on his hair but he wouldn’t lift his head. What the hell is going on with him? I couldn’t help wondering what was going through his head. “Dray, I’ll love you until my last breath. Haven’t I convinced you of that yet?”
He lifted his head and gave me that forced smile that had been on his face all too often lately. “Yeah, Angel. You’ve more than convinced me. I just need the promise every now and then.”
I cupped his jaw, my thumb rubbing over his chin as I tried to read him, but he was blocking me out. “I promise that I will never stop loving you. Ever.” I pushed up onto my tip-toes and brushed my lips over his. “I love you, I need you, I want you. Always.”
A hiss left his lips and he lifted me into his arms. My legs went around his waist, my arms around his neck. I felt his cock flex against my pussy and he took two steps toward our bedroom.
The doorbell ringing stopped him in his tracks and I silently cursed whichever family member that had arrived. Drake’s fingers tightened on me and a deep chuckle rumbled out of him. “Figures.”
I pressed my head against his chest, disappointment flooding through me just as harshly as the need that was still burning through my entire body. “People suck.”
“No, they don’t.” I felt his lips on the top of my head. The doorbell rang again and he reluctantly set me on my feet. “I’ll get that while you go change. Your panties are soaked, babe.”
I leaned weakly against him. “It’s your fault.”
His laugh was deeper this time, making my panties that much wetter. “I’m not complaining, Angel. I’m definitely not complaining.”