Chapter Five
Megan pried the plastic dinosaur from her sleeping son’s hand. She tucked the beloved stuffed Newfie pup under his arm and pulled up the covers. Every day she saw more boy and less baby in his face.
More of Adam.
Her heart twisted and she sighed. Leaning down, she kissed him one last time, then she snapped off his light. Light from the hallway spilled in, outlining Max stretched out on the floor, his head resting on his paws, his big brown eyes watching her. Crouching down, she petted the dog, taking the time to scratch his favorite spot by his right ear. “You’re going to get on the bed the second I walk out, aren’t you?”
He yawned.
Megan laughed softly. Max was well trained, a great guard dog, and a beloved playmate to Cole. In the last month, since Cole had moved from his crib to his big boy bed, Max had taken to sleeping on the bed at Cole’s feet.
When she left the room, she kept the door ajar so Max could come and go as he pleased. Sometimes he hung out with her while she transcribed notes, worked on cases, wrote up reports, and studied lab results. Then he would return to Cole’s room when she went to bed.
But tonight she was going out.
In the family room, she dropped onto the couch and slipped on her shoes. Her mom looked up from her laptop. “Been a long time since you’ve been on a date.”
“Not a date, Mom. Just seeing an old friend.”
“In skinny jeans and high heels?”
Should she change? She’d already changed three times. Besides, this wasn’t a date. It was more like…an interview. She was interviewing Adam to be the father of their son. She repressed a sigh, focused her attention on her mom. “How’s the speech coming?”
Her mom had her shoulder-length strawberry blond hair loose, and she wore yoga pants and a T-shirt. She looked about forty, not the middle ground of fifty.
“The speech is fine. It’s what I want to say. But you know, I’m a retired nurse, not a politician.”
Megan leaned forward, her own worries dimming beneath the glow of her pride. “You’ll be a great mayor, Mom.” She meant every word. Catherine had gotten her degree and her nursing job after Megan’s father walked out on them. She’d also made him pay child support. Her mom had worked hard, and in every spare moment, she’d been there for her daughter. When Megan had found herself pregnant, heartbroken, and terrified, Catherine had been her rock. Now, her mom was remarried to a nice man, Hayden. She had retired early to go after her own dream—serving as mayor of Raven’s Cove.
“I think I’ll be a good mayor,” Catherine said. “But I’m plain spoken. Not everyone responds to that.” She tapped her fingers on the side of her laptop.
“Your patients did. They appreciated your honesty.”
“That was different. They were sick and scared in the hospital. People in that situation usually do better with a little gentle honesty and a lot of listening and support. But these people are country club folk.”
“So is Hayden,” Megan pointed out. “And he loves you.”
“Yeah, he does. Okay, this is silly. I’ll do my best, but if I don’t get elected, then I’ll just focus on other things. My life is pretty full.”
There was her practical mother. “For the record, I think you’ll win.” Megan stood, scooped up her purse, and kissed her mom. “Thanks for watching Cole.”
Catherine smiled. “Happy to watch him, and it’s easy when you put him to bed.”
Megan always put him to bed when she wasn’t working late. As she headed for the door, she said, “I won’t be later than eleven.”
“Megan.”
Pausing, she looked back.
“Do you know what you’re doing? It’s not like you to keep secrets, like who you’re seeing tonight.”
She didn’t want to have this conversation. The only thing she and her mom had ever really fought about had been her decision not to find Adam somehow to tell him about Cole. But she wasn’t going to lie, either. “As soon as I figure it out, I’ll tell you.”
“Respecting your privacy here. Remember that come Mother’s Day.”
Megan laughed. “Or at least until I get home tonight, right?”
“That’s why you’re a doctor, sweetheart. You’re so smart.”
As she walked to the car, she wasn’t at all sure it was smart to get involved with Adam Waters. But at least this time she didn’t have any false expectations, so her heart was safe. He wouldn’t catch her by surprise.
Megan looked around the backyard in surprise. Lanterns hung from the patio cover, and mouthwatering scents filled the air from the covered warming trays. The table in the center of the patio had a white tablecloth, flowers, and two place settings. She took it all in.
Then she turned to Adam and…he looked better than the food smelled. His brown hair was brushed back with just enough wave to soften the hard lines of his face. He had on a black pullover opened at the throat with sleeves pushed up. Molded jeans. Even in her heels, Megan had to look up to meet his eyes.
“Wine?” He picked up a bottle and poured some red into two long-stemmed glasses. “Come, sit down.”
She walked to the table and took the glass he held out. “Adam, what is all this? I mean…those are catering trays.” This close, she caught the scent of him, rich with an edge of spice, and all male.
“You wouldn’t let me take you to dinner, so I had dinner brought to us.” He pulled out her chair. Once she was settled, he said, “I’ll be right back.”
Less than a minute later, he returned with two chilled baby spinach salads. “We also have tri tip, rosemary-flavored baby carrots and potatoes, and for dessert, chocolate-dipped strawberries.”
The salad was crisp with a light dressing. Delicious. “I didn’t think I was very hungry, but this is wonderful.”
Adam smiled. “So. Weren’t you just starting your practice last time I saw you?”
“I’d had it about a year and was still building my clientele. It wasn’t until I took over the care of a champion show dog that the business took off.”
Adam looked over to the thick quilt he’d brought outside for Ellie. She was resting on her good side, a stuffed gray elephant under one of her paws. When she saw Adam looking at her, she thumped her tail.
Meg saw him smile in response. When she’d arrived at the house, the dog was following every step Adam made until he’d told her to lie down.
“You don’t need a show dog to prove you’re good,” Adam said. “You were great with Ellie. She’s already doing better.”
Megan flushed under his praise. “Thanks. But taking over the care of a champion dog put me on the radar. There’s a lot of overhead in running a vet business. Loans for all the equipment…” She trailed off, embarrassed that she’d revealed so much. She smiled over her discomfort and said, “I love my job. What about you? Tell me about starting your own security agency.”
Adam collected their finished salads and returned carrying plates heaping with tender tri tip and potatoes and carrots. He also topped off her wine.
Finally, he sat down and answered. “It was a dream of mine and Trace’s. But I came home, and Trace…didn’t.”
Megan’s bite of food turned to dust as she realized what he meant. Setting her fork down, she put her hand on his forearm. Felt his bunched muscles. She saw his clenched jaw, yet his eyes stared off into the darkness. “I’m sorry.”
He turned to look at her.
Megan sucked in a breath at the sheer agony in his gaze. Raw, undiluted pain darkening his eyes. Then he closed his eyes, opened them, and it was gone. “So I did it for both of us. And his wife, Sienna, works for me. She’s my administrative assistant and general pain in the ass.”
“You care about her.” She could hear it in his voice.
“She’s my best friend’s wife. Hell, yeah, I care about her like a brother. I brought her in right at the beginning, and we’re building the agency. We’re hiring a lot of the Marines I worked with as they leave the military. I’m going to build this agency nationwide. Most of the guys are single, free to go anywhere at the drop of a hat.”
Megan withdrew her hand and picked up her fork. She had to remember why she was here. “So you never found a woman who changed your mind about marriage and kids?” She speared a carrot and ate it, struggling to seem casual. The food was delicious, and eating gave her a way to keep her nerves under control.
“No.”
She watched as he cut some meat, his actions as crisp and emotionless as his answer. So no meaning that he never found the right woman, or no he would never accept a child no matter what? She was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost missed it when he spoke.
“What about you? You always wanted a family. I was surprised you didn’t marry years ago.”
She had to balance this carefully. “Getting my DVM took all my time. Then I was building my practice, and the right guy just hasn’t come along.” Most likely he never would. At some point, she had made peace with that. She picked up her wine glass and sat back. “I’m happy with my life the way it is now.”
Adam’s gaze was intense. “That’s not the whole story, is it?”
Startled, she set her glass down. “What do you mean?”
“Not wanting to be seen with me. There’s a reason. I’d like to know what it is.”
His warm fingers wrapped around hers, and his thumb stroked over her skin, creating sensual sparks. Beneath the soft lantern lights, she stared at him. It was impossible to believe he was here. Real. Her stomach tightened. Nerves? Desire? “Is that bad? Do you feel like I’m being secretive?”
“It makes me want to learn you all over again, Meg. You were always pretty, but now you’re beautiful. Intriguing.” His voice dropped. “Sexy.”
Shivers raced down her back and hardened her nipples.
He pushed back his chair. “Come on, I want to show you something.”
She hesitated. “Shouldn’t we clear the dishes?”
He stepped up to her. So close, she could feel the heat of him. “Stalling, Meg?”
“Yes.”
He laughed. “I want to show you my offices on my laptop. Not drag you to my bedroom and pressure you into sex. I told you, tonight is just for getting reacquainted.”
“And touching.” She remembered him saying that.
“And kissing,” he said. “Anywhere you want me to.”
Tingles shivered over her skin while her belly warmed. It had been so long since anyone had touched her with desire, since anyone had made her feel like more than a mom and a vet…like a woman. “Tempting offer.” She held her breath, her nerves pulling tight.
He dropped his gaze to her mouth.
Blood rushed through her and desire pooled between her legs. She wanted him to kiss her, needed it almost as much as she needed her next breath.
Then Adam stepped back and pulled his phone out of his pants pocket. “All I do is text the caterer, and they come and pick up all this. Food, dishes, tablecloth, lanterns. It’s a package deal.”
Finished, he put the phone away and tugged on her hand. “Come on, Ellie,” he called and waited for the dog to get up. She limped in with them.
…
Adam looked over Megan’s shoulder as she clicked through the pictures of Once A Marine Security Agency photos. Unable to resist, his gaze drifted down to the soft swell of her breasts. When she leaned forward, her filmy green shirt bunched, revealing her cleavage.
The need to touch her grew with every breath. He wanted to trace her with his fingers and lips, hear her soft moans and taste the chocolate and strawberry flavor of her mouth.
She was quickly becoming an obsession. A need so raw, it tested his formidable control. Adam always stayed in control of himself. He had meant what he’d told her in her office, no sex tonight. For him. But bringing her pleasure? Yeah…he could so justify that.
“How many people do you have working for you now?”
Trying to cool his thoughts, he reached past her and snagged a chocolate-dipped strawberry. “Sienna is full time. We contract out work with five other ex-Marines on a regular basis, and a few others as needed. The goal is to get enough work to hire the five as full-time employees with benefit packages.” He took a bite of the fruit. Good, but not what he craved.
“Are you close to that?”
He was close to scooping her up and spreading her out on the table. Forcing himself to focus on her question, he said, “The sale of the house will give me the cushion I need to do that, along with a solid reserve fund.” He had half his money invested in the business, the other half secured for contingencies. If anything happened to one of his agents or Sienna, their loved ones would be taken care of.
Megan turned back to the pictures. “It’s an impressive suite and very professional operation.” She glanced back to him. “Why Los Angeles as your base?”
“Trace and I discussed that a lot. Easier to break in there with a lot of need for security and protection. It’s important to be seen, and I’ve snagged some very high-profile clients.”
She studied him. “You love this, don’t you?”
“I like using the skills I honed in the military to protect or solve problems for clients.” He stood with one hand on the back of the chair she sat in and the other on the dining room table. “I like the freedom of being able to do whatever needs to be done. No red tape to navigate, no hoops to jump through, nothing to tie my hands.”
She looked around the dining room and the living room, filled with the stacks of boxes of his parents’ stuff. “Ties, like this house.”
“Yes.” He stood up, his neck tensing as the echoes of guilt and pain etched into the soul of the house weighed down on him. Everything in Raven’s Cove was a part of that dark shroud of misery that colored his years after the accident. “This house, this town, it’s all a tie to a past I want to forget.” The constant guilt and recriminations heaped on him because of his failure.
“Can you just forget? Is it really that simple?”
He dropped his gaze to her face. Down the lines of her throat, over that shirt to her jeans. “Not you. The rest, yeah. But you…” He shut his laptop. Then reached down, lifted Megan, and swung her up from the chair to sit on the table. “You’re the one thing in this town that I need to taste again.” Kicking the chair out of his way, he wedged his hips between her thighs and ran his palms up her bare arms.
He felt the goose bumps rise on her skin, saw the flush spread over her face and chest. He affected her as much as she did him. He lowered his head and drew his lips over hers. Then he caught her bottom lip and sucked gently. Tasted strawberries, dark chocolate, and pure Meg.
The leash he’d kept on his raging lust snapped. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into his erection. He sank his other hand into her silky hair, tugging her head back and invading her mouth. Deep and possessive, he wanted all of her, as much as he could have.
She dug her fingers into his biceps and kissed him back. The sweet, somewhat timid girl he remembered? Vanished. This woman invaded him with the same fierce passion. Her hands slid around him, snaking beneath his shirt to knead his back.
More. It wasn’t enough.
Adam broke the kiss, every cell in his body aching, needing. Wanting. She’d never been this fiery, this responsive. Oh, she’d been hot in that girl-next-door way. But this?
The woman of his most erotic dreams. She touched him like she couldn’t get enough. He began working the buttons on her shirt, the filmy material slowly parting. Revealing more, and then more, until he pushed it off her shoulders. Leaving her in a tiny, light green bra.
Blood roared in his ears and his arousal strained against his pants. But this was not about him. No, tonight was all about Megan. She was fuller than he remembered, spilling over the cups just enough to drive him crazy. Molding his hands to her flesh, he felt the silky coolness of her bra against the heat of her skin. He brushed his thumbs over her nipples through the material.
She tightened her thighs around his hips in response.
It finally got through to his overheated brain that she was tugging on his shirt, trying to get it off.
Adam reached back, grabbed a handful of material and pulled it off. Tossed it…somewhere. Didn’t know, didn’t care, his attention was on her.
“Meg.”
“Adam.”
He pushed her back until she rested on her elbows. Her hair spread out on the dark table like rivers of red and gold. She stared at him, her mouth slightly parted, her breath coming fast.
She was so damned beautiful it made his chest ache. He never wanted Meg to know what he truly was. The child his parents hated, and how much that hatred drove him to prove how worthy he was.
She’d thought he was a patriot. Out saving the world.
Jesus, he’d never let her find out what was out there, the human monsters that did unspeakable things to one another. Meg needed to be exactly where she was, in this quaint town, saving her animals and being…
Meg.
He couldn’t have her forever, was too fucked up to have any woman or family in his life. But for this short time? It was a gift, and he’d walk away, knowing he’d treated her right. Given her the only good thing left in him, the ability to bring her pleasure.
“Let me give you this.” He pushed her back and caged her on the table with his arms. Then he kissed her.