CHAPTER SIXTEEN
EVE HELD HER BREATH, knocked on Tessie’s door at the sorority house and prayed that this time there’d be an answer.
There wasn’t.
So, Eve went through the routine she’d been following for the past two days since Tessie had checked herself out of rehab and had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth except for a text message to repeat what she’d told Dr. Patel—that she was okay and needed some space. Well, two days was enough space, as far as Eve was concerned, and she needed to see Tessie.
She knocked again. And again. And again. She kept knocking until someone from the room next door yelled out, “Shut up!”
The shouted shut up, which was often accompanied by profanity, was part of the routine now, too, since someone usually started yelling at her when the knocking went on for more than five minutes. On the first day, someone had called the cops. After Eve had explained to the officers why she was there, they’d managed to get a key so they could get inside to have a look around.
No Tessie.
Many of her things were still there, but her laptop and her phone were gone—things that she could have already had with her when she’d gone to rehab. Tessie’s roommate had shown up around the same time that the cops were there, but she was clueless as to where Tessie was. However, she had assured Eve she would call her if Tessie returned.
There’d been no call either from Tessie or the roommate, so Eve had continued to go to the room with the hopes of running into either Tessie or someone who had answers. She’d also left sticky notes outside the door with messages for Tessie to call her ASAP.
Eve added another sticky-note message now, bringing the total to eleven.
Seeing each one of them caused the fear to wash over her again. Her daughter was officially a runaway since she’d had to file a missing person’s report. Eve wasn’t about to sink into a deep enough pit of despair to start looking in ditches and running up and down the street calling out for her. But she had hired two PIs to try to track Tessie down.
Well, actually she’d hired one, and Lawson had hired one, as well. They hadn’t known about the double hiring until they’d been a couple of hours into the search.
She’d also contacted the Austin cops so they could do an Amber Alert. That would mean dealing with the fallout from the publicity, but at this point that seemed minor.
Eve pressed down the sticky note again to make sure it didn’t give way and flutter to the floor, where it might get swept away, and she went back down the stairs. Slowly. Just in case this could be the exact time that Tessie might come running in. And someone came in all right. But it wasn’t Tessie.
It was Lawson.
Their gazes connected, and Eve nearly missed the step that could have sent her sprawling. She righted herself by grabbing on to the railing.
“Anything?” he said. Over the past two days, he’d asked her that a lot. She shook her head.
“I just found out that Tessie texted Clay.” He took out his phone to show her a copy of the message.
“‘I’m okay,’” Eve read. “‘Call off the search. I don’t want to be found because I don’t want to see my mother.’”
That gave Eve both some relief and crushed her heart. “I don’t want the search called off,” she insisted.
“It won’t be. In fact, I hired another PI.”
Good. They were of a like mind about that.
“I left her another note,” Eve added. No need to clarify what note because Lawson had obviously seen them. He’d also made several trips here, too. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything else?”
He lifted his shoulder. “The first PI I hired said she hasn’t used her credit card or accessed her bank account in the last forty-eight hours.”
Her PI had told her the same thing. “I don’t even know how much cash she would have had,” Eve admitted. “Her last cash withdrawal was a week ago for two hundred dollars, but if she’s having to pay for a place to stay and meals, that money would have probably already run out.”
Lawson looked depressed enough to get on her worry-train, but then he shook his head. “Maybe she’s staying with a friend. A friend we haven’t managed to talk to yet. Once she’s good and ready, she’ll turn up,” he assured her.
“What if she doesn’t?” The darn tears started again. “What if Tessie learned the truth about you being her father, and she’s so upset that she won’t face us?”
He didn’t answer her, but he did slide his arm around her waist to give her a pseudo hug. A very short one. Because he stepped back almost right away. Despite its brevity, Eve knew it was a big concession on his part because he still had to be angry with her. But she certainly wasn’t feeling anger, and being in his arms helped. A lot. It made her feel as if she wasn’t alone in this.
It also made her feel guilty. Because Tessie wasn’t the only thing that Lawson had on his plate.
“How’s Regina?” she asked.
“Better. Dylan said she should be released from the hospital tomorrow. She’s insisting on coming up here to help us look for Tessie.”
Good grief. That definitely wasn’t a good idea, and Lawson no doubt agreed.
“Tessie is her grandchild,” Lawson added. “And she’s complaining that at the rate her kids are going, she might end up being the only one she ever gets. Dylan joked that he could knock up a woman or two, but she wasn’t amused.”
No. And Regina probably wasn’t amused when she’d first found out that Lawson had a child. Eve certainly hadn’t been thrilled when she’d first learned she was pregnant, but then, the love of a child, or a grandchild, could smooth over all sorts of things like doubt, disappointment and even a broken heart.
“Maybe we’ll find Tessie before Regina gets out of the hospital,” Eve said.
That might keep the woman from making a trip up here. Might. But Regina could be just as insistent on coming so that she could meet Tessie. Eve would try to dissuade that since it definitely wasn’t a good time for making extended-family introductions. Not with so many things uncertain.
“The cops and the PI are still questioning Tessie’s friends and sorority sisters,” Eve continued a moment later. “And I’ve talked to every one of them who’ll talk to me.”
He nodded. “Same here. I spent my day at the campus. She didn’t have any classes scheduled for today, but she missed the ones yesterday.”
Eve already knew that. In fact, she suspected there wasn’t much they could say about their search results that they each didn’t already know. Since there was nothing new they could do, they both just kept tracing and retracing their steps. Eve had even considered that Tessie might try to go to Wrangler’s Creek, so she’d alerted folks there, too, in case that happened.
“I talked to Dr. Patel again,” Lawson went on. So had Eve. And she’d gotten nothing from her or the crotchety woman at reception. “But Clay’s calling Austin PD to try to get surveillance-camera access for us. There’s a bank up the street from the rehab clinic, and the camera might show which direction Tessie went when she left.”
That got her attention. It was a lead that Eve hadn’t chased yet. “Maybe it’ll help if I call Austin PD, too? They might work faster to get the footage.”
He stared at her with a disapproving look, and she knew why. There was a fine line between pushing and pestering, and it was probably best to leave this to Clay. Maybe it wouldn’t take him too long to get it.
“Are you heading back home tonight?” she asked. It wasn’t late, barely 8:00 p.m., but it was an hour’s drive back for both of them.
“No.” He tipped his head toward the street. “Granger Western owns an apartment a couple of blocks from here, and no one ever uses it now that Sophie’s moved her office to Wrangler’s Creek. I’m staying there tonight.”
That told her just how worried he was to be away from work at the ranch. Plus, Lawson wasn’t exactly a city kind of guy.
“You’re welcome to stay there, too,” he added, though he didn’t look completely comfortable with that invitation. Not at first, anyway. Then he huffed. “It’s probably not safe for you to keep driving back and forth while you’re so worried. I figure you’ve been running around town all day, trying to find any lead you can latch on to.”
She had been, and Eve almost certainly wouldn’t have felt the fatigue as much if she’d actually found a lead. Or Tessie. But she’d found neither.
“If Austin PD gets us the camera footage,” he went on, “I want to be here to see it. That’s why I’m staying. That, and I have to believe that eventually Tessie will come back here if for no other reason than to get the rest of her things from the sorority house.”
Yet another reason for her to be nearby. Still...
“The apartment has two bedrooms,” he added a moment later.
Until he’d said the last part, she had been about to decline. In her state of mind, it definitely wouldn’t be a good idea to share quarters with Lawson. But she was exhausted and was dreading the drive home. Partially dreading it, anyway. If she went home, she’d get to see Aiden, so that was a huge plus.
“It’s the first time you’ve left Aiden overnight with Cassidy,” Lawson remarked. He didn’t need ESP to know where her thoughts were going. “But you know he’ll be just fine with her.”
Yes, Aiden would be, and Cassidy would definitely agree with a plan like this. But Lawson was still in this particular equation, which made Eve skeptical about doing it.
“Maybe we’re both too tired and out of our minds with worry to even think about kissing,” she grumbled. “Or anything else we lapse into whenever we’re around each other.”
Despite everything, a corner of his mouth lifted for just a second. It was enough of a smile to remind her that maybe there was no fatigue level too high to keep sex off her mind whenever she was around Lawson. She didn’t put on the brakes, though, when Lawson led her outside to his truck that was parked just up the street.
As he drove, she texted Cassidy to make sure it was okay for her to be away for the night. Eve got an almost immediate answer.
You betcha. Aiden and I are doing just fine. I’m guessing Lawson will be with you?
It was a simple enough question, but Eve wasn’t sure how to answer. If she said yes, Cassidy would assume this was a stayover with a side of sex. Cassidy knew that Eve’s first priority would be finding Tessie, but Lawson had a way of working himself between the lines of priorities.
Maybe, Eve texted back. Then she cursed herself for lying. Yes, he’ll be there, she added. Nothing’s going to happen.
Cassidy texted back several rows of laughing emojis.
Eve texted back some frowny-face emojis.
Cassidy countered with what appeared to be a dancing penis.
“A problem?” Lawson asked her. He glanced at her phone screen, but she quickly turned it off.
“No. Everything’s fine.” She had no intention of admitting that she’d just had a high school encounter with her best friend. “What’s the address of this place so I can let Cassidy know in case of an emergency?”
It was overkill because if there truly was an emergency, Cassidy would just call her, but Eve always liked to provide all information when it came to the baby. As soon as Lawson rattled off the address, she sent the info in what she hoped would be a final text to Cassidy tonight.
Eve also messaged Tessie the address, too, though if she actually read the text, that might prompt Tessie to go anywhere but there. It was pretty clear that her daughter was trying to avoid her.
Lawson had been right about the apartment being only a few blocks away. Not enough time for them to launch into a discussion about just how angry he was at her right now. With her energy level near zero, Eve considered that a good thing, but she knew that eventually they were going to have to talk this out.
Work this out, too.
Considering how much time Lawson was putting into finding Tessie, she seriously doubted that he was just going to disappear from their daughter’s life. However, Tessie might not want him anywhere near her. That also applied to Eve. Still, they were going to have to come up with some solution, one that couldn’t even get started until they found Tessie.
After Lawson had parked his truck in the building’s garage, they made their way to the apartment on the top floor. Eve hadn’t needed any reminders that the Grangers were rich, but she got one anyway. The place was huge, with incredible views of the city. But those views were only a reminder of just how big Austin was and that Tessie was like a needle in this urban haystack.
“Sophie used to live here before Clay and she got married,” Lawson explained. “Garrett once had an apartment in this building, too, but they sold it. Garrett didn’t like spending time here.”
No. Garrett and Lawson were cut from the same cloth. Both cowboys to the core. Sophie had probably only been here so she could better run Granger Western, and now she could do that from Wrangler’s Creek.
He went to the fridge, got a beer and offered her one by lifting a bottle. Eve shook her head. Alcohol, fatigue and Lawson weren’t a good mix.
“I’ll just grab a shower and go to bed. Which way?” she asked.
He motioned to the hall. “The second room on the left. That was Sophie’s room, and there are still some clothes and toiletries in there that you’re welcome to use. I’m also going to have some food delivered. You want anything?”
“No. I’m not hungry.” She thanked him and was about to do the sensible thing and put some distance between them, but Eve found herself staying put and repeating that thank you.
He drank some of his beer and stared at her. “For what—not treating you like shit because I’m pissed at you, or for helping look for Tessie?”
“Both,” she readily admitted. Eve could feel herself opening the can of worms that shouldn’t be opened. Not tonight, anyway, when they were so blasted tired. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but when I kept the pregnancy from you, I thought I was doing the right thing.”
Lawson made a sarcastic-sounding grunt. Throughout the past two days, she’d seen a lot of different emotions on his face, but this one was more intense than the others.
“Let me guess why.” He held up one finger. “It’s because we’d had that nasty breakup.” A second finger went up. “Or because I was still torn up about Brett.” He lifted finger number three. “Or maybe you believed I was too young to be a father. Or,” he quickly added when she was about to interrupt him. Finger number four. “You’d outgrown your small-town roots and the cowboy you used to fuck.”
The fourth one gave Eve her own shot of anger. She went to him, took hold of his hand and pushed down the first three fingers he’d lifted. “Yes, to those. No, to this one.” And she wasn’t especially gentle when she shoved it back down. “Shortly after I found out I was pregnant, I did come back to Wrangler’s Creek to tell you,” she blurted out.
Well, that wasn’t anger on his face now but rather surprise, and she could almost see the wheels turning in his head. “When? And if you came all that way, why didn’t you see me?”
“It was early that May, and I did see you. You just didn’t see me,” she quietly added.
He cursed. “I was with someone else.” And he cursed some more as he came out from behind the white granite island that separated them. “That was the spring and summer of me screwing around.”
Eve knew she was frowning now and feeling something she had no right to feel. Jealousy. But crap on a cracker, that May she’d still been crying buckets over him.
“How much screwing around?” she asked, walking closer to him. Now that they were out in the open and facing each other, it suddenly felt a little like an Old West showdown with each of them about to draw.
“Lots,” he admitted, a frown on his face, too. “Who was I with? Because I’m sure as hell not going to remember who it was.”
She considered letting him squirm awhile, but Eve had been trying to make a point, and she was getting way off track. “You were with Sugar, your favorite horse, and you were in the pasture out by your uncle Z.T.’s old place.”
He opened his mouth. Then huffed. “What were you doing all the way back there? And why didn’t you say anything to me?”
Since this was going to be a longish story, one not especially easy to relive, Eve took a deep breath. “When I was on a short break from the shooting schedule, I flew to San Antonio, and my grandfather picked me up and drove me to the Granger Ranch because he said that’s where you were working. One of the hands told us where you were, so we used the old trail to drive there. Granddad had binoculars in his glove compartment, and I used those to spot you.”
Lawson shook his head. “No ranch hand mentioned anything about you asking for me.”
“It was some new guy who I didn’t know, and even if I had, he probably wouldn’t have recognized me. I was wearing a baseball cap and big sunglasses. The publicity was in full swing for Demon High, and I was already starting to hide out from the paparazzi. I hadn’t wanted any of them following me out to see you.”
“But you didn’t see me,” he quickly pointed out. “Why? What the heck was I doing that turned you off so much that you’d leave without saying a word?”
Here was more of that long painful story, but this part wasn’t going to be nearly as easy to explain. “You were just riding, cutting through some cattle. I think you were checking on them, maybe even counting them.” And it had most certainly not been a turnoff. Just the opposite. She’d wanted to go to him and pull him into her arms. “You looked...content.”
That was the word that had come to mind then, and it came again. Normally, that was a good word, but it hadn’t been eighteen and a half years ago.
“Content,” he spit out. “Yeah, I could see why that would send you running.” And yes, it was doused with plenty of sarcasm.
“It did send me running. Or rather, slinking away. Because in that moment I realized the ranch was the center of your universe. Your happy place. You definitely weren’t crying buckets of tears over me.” She could douse with some sarcasm, too, but it was short-lived because this particular old memory still carried a lot of pain.
“And you thought you’d...what? Map out my future for me? A future that didn’t involve Tessie or you?”
“Something like that,” Eve admitted, though it was going to earn her a huff. It did. “I knew you wouldn’t be happy in California. And I also knew you hadn’t forgiven me for Brett. Or for leaving. Plus, there was that little detail about you being a teenager and not wanting children. I was more or less locked into a future, but I didn’t want to lock you in there with me.”
He gave her one of those angry, flat looks, but Lawson must have remembered how things were then. Emotions had been high. Like now. The anger had been thick and hot. Also like now. But the old attraction would have been there, too.
Like now.
“You would have resented it,” Eve added before he could argue. “Maybe not right then, but eventually you would have. If I’d told you that day in the pasture that I was pregnant, you would have been shocked. But you would have done the right thing. You would have asked me to marry you. I would have said yes because I was crying buckets and was lonely, and our marriage would have failed because we had too many strikes against us.”
Of course, she’d just proved him right about her mapping out his future. Apparently, she’d mapped out a predicted outcome, too, which meant she’d said too much. She should have stopped after the first thank you and headed to bed. And that was what she turned to do. But Lawson stopped her in her tracks.
“You’re right,” he said.
At first, she thought this might be part of his continuing sarcasm, but there didn’t appear to be any of it in his expression. Or his next grunt. In fact, his grunt seemed to be one of frustration. Not with her but with himself. Then again, that might be wishful thinking on her part.
“You cried buckets over me,” he said. “I’m guessing that’s a higher amount than usual for a teenage girl with a broken heart?”
She nodded. “I made everyone around me miserable.”
He nodded, too, paused and blew out a heavy breath. “Yeah, I did the same. No tear-filled buckets, but there were lots of fights, skipping school and generally making a nuisance of myself. Roman threatened to drown me in the creek. My mom came home and made me see a counselor. That’s when I started saying fuck this and shit on a daily basis.”
The relief came, and it felt as if a heavy weight lifted off her shoulders. Not because she was glad that Lawson had gone through the same hell she had but because it finally felt as if they’d cleared some old, stenchy air between them.
“But it got better.” Eve made sure that didn’t sound like a question. Made sure she didn’t mention Darby, either.
“Eventually. But during those dark days, my dad flew in just to tell me to suck it up and take it like a man. Dylan set me up with his girlfriends’ and former girlfriends’ sisters. And Lucian hired me a hooker.”
That didn’t stench up the air again. At least it probably didn’t, but it was a surprise. “A hooker?”
He lifted his shoulder. “I’m pretty sure she was one, anyway. Lucian’s not very good at solving teenager angst. He just wanted me to shut up and quit causing problems since he was the one who was having to deal with the aftermath of most of those problems. I guess he figured if I kept busy having sex, I’d stay out of trouble.”
And just like that, the air changed between them.
Eve was very familiar with that specific type of air change, especially when coupled with the mention of sex.
She fluttered her fingers toward the bedroom. “I should take that shower and get some sleep.”
Eve got her feet working, and she even managed a few steps, but just as quickly, she found herself turning around to tell Lawson that they should keep their hands off each other. In the split second she did the turn around, she also came up with some reasons.
Fatigue, bad timing, spent adrenaline from worry. Oh, she couldn’t forget the part about this complicating the heck out of their lives.
Eve might have actually managed to voice some of those reasons if she hadn’t landed right in Lawson’s arms. He didn’t kiss her. Didn’t really touch her except for the loose grip he had on her. She could have easily slipped away from him at any time.
She didn’t.
She stayed put and made matters worse by looking up at him. They were too close and she took in his scent. She wasn’t sure how he could smell both cowboy and expensive at the same time, but he managed it.
Eve’s gaze went from his eyes. To his mouth. And that’s when she realized he was doing the same thing. He was looking at her as if trying to decide just how much to mess this up. She went for the mess-up first though by attempting to keep this light. Like a joke.
“Touch, lick or kiss?” she asked, and Eve made sure she added a wink to it.
Lawson didn’t wink.
“All of them,” he drawled, and this time when he pulled her to him, there was indeed some touching going on.
* * *
APPARENTLY, AIR CLEARINGS could turn into some mighty serious foreplay. Of course, breathing could be foreplay, too, when it came to Eve.
Touching took the foreplay up a whole bunch of notches when their bodies landed against each other. It wasn’t really a surprise that his most prominent male feature thought this was a stellar idea. His dick was stupid. So was he. Because he immediately added yet another component to this.
Kissing.
His mouth located hers. Not that he had to search long for it. Eve was already moving in on him, and their lips met a little harder than he’d planned. There might have been some pain involved, but the pleasure had a way of overriding that. Overriding any tiny shred of common sense, too. That’s because the kiss was an ultimate pleasure generator. Third only to touching and sex.
“We keep doing this,” she complained when they broke for air.
Yes, they did, and despite the recent eighteen-year break they’d had from each other, they just picked up right where they’d left off. It was as if they were in the baseball dugout again. Or the seat of his truck. And then there’d been his mom’s house, which Eve now owned. But this apartment had one huge advantage that the other places didn’t.
Privacy.
Unlike every other single place where Eve and he had made out, there was no chance that someone could come walking in on them. Too bad. Because in those days and nights past, it had slowed them down so that he could keep watch. There was nothing to slow them down now, which meant it could lead to quick and dirty sex on the floor.
Emphasis on the quick.
He didn’t mind being swept away on a tidal wave of lust, and he was willing to deal with regrets and consequences, but he wasn’t sure Eve was ready for it. That’s why he pulled back to give it one last shot at trying to talk to her.
She blinked as if puzzled by the halt. “Are we playing the game?” she asked before he could say anything, and she didn’t wait for him to answer, either. “Because if so, I’d rather you just kiss me until I melt.”
Those were not the right words to open up a logical discussion about this. However, it was effective in getting him to kiss her again. And Lawson thought she might indeed be melting. She was definitely soft and pliable in his arms, and while their tongues did some playing around, Eve played around by sliding her hands to his lower back and pulling him even closer against her.
Other than the millimeters of clothes, there was no more space between crucial parts of their bodies, and Lawson did something to rid them of that last obstacle. He caught onto the hem of her loose cotton dress and pulled it off over her head.
And he got a nice surprise.
A lacy red bra and panties. Not the practical kind, either. These were sheer and looked more for show than for covering anything vital. He could see nipples peeking out behind the lace.
She followed his gaze. “Now that I no longer need a nursing bra, my taste in underwear has gone...slutty.”
“I like slutty,” he assured her.
In fact, he liked it a lot because there was some peeking going on behind the lace in the panties, too. But the nursing-bra comment was a reminder that they did need to do some talking as to whether or not any of this was emotionally a good idea. As opposed to this just being a dumb thing physically. He would have launched into that conversation, too.
If Eve hadn’t unzipped him enough so she could put her hand in his pants.
She went right into the waist of his jeans and boxers and found pay dirt. Of course, it wasn’t difficult to find since he already had a raging hard-on.
“We used to do slutty quite well,” she whispered, her voice all breathy.
Yes, they had. They were doing a pretty damn good job of it now, as well. Because Lawson put his hand in her panties.
“I just want to make sure you’re ready for this,” he said.
That didn’t come out right, considering that at the exact moment those words left his mouth, his fingers slid through all that slick heat between her legs. At least she had the physically ready part down pat.
Her eyes were also showing some heat. And she played dirty with the touching. She slid her fingers the entire length of him and then right back up, all the while her hot breath kept hitting against his mouth and neck.
“I haven’t had sex with you in nearly eighteen years,” she reminded him. “Just how ready do you think I am?”
Plenty ready, he was sure of it, but that was the brainless part of her talking. Unfortunately, it was making a lot of sense to his corresponding brainless part. Despite that though, Lawson thought he was going to get a reprieve so he could launch into that much-needed discussion when Eve took her hand out of his jeans. But he soon realized that she did that only so she could wet her fingers with her mouth and go back in.
Hell.
He hadn’t had much willpower left, and now his brain cells were frying. Lawson knew he had to say something with the pinch of breath that he managed to gather, and he forced out one word.
“Lick,” he said.
Okay, it was the right word, but it got Eve stopping with the hand job, and there was now a little confusion mixed with the heat. “You or me?” she asked.
“Me licking you.” Because that might give him time to get things under control. He still wasn’t sure full-blown sex was the way to go here.
She stared at him a moment, then smiled. “All right. Then it’ll be my turn.”
And she started to get ready for her turn by unbuttoning his shirt. She left it on but finished unzipping his jeans, making him wonder just where this licking was going to take them.
Apparently, it was going to take them to the floor.
That’s because when he went to lick her lips, it turned into a full-fledged French kiss, complete with a new round of groping. Now, with even fewer millimeters of fabric between them, the heat skyrocketed right out of control.
Suddenly, he was starved for her. Also suddenly, time seemed to matter. The touches became more frantic. Ditto for the kisses. And that’s why they started for the hardwood floor.
Lawson knew he had to make one last-ditch effort, and that’s why he made sure they landed with him on top of Eve. He also pinned her hands so that she couldn’t go underpants-exploring again.
“I really want to finish this the old-fashioned way,” he assured her.
And that was a nice way of saying he wanted to be hard and deep inside her. Hard, deep and hitting her in just the right spot with his own much larger right spot. But he had just enough common sense to know that he didn’t want to do something that could hurt her.
After all, it’d only been three months since she’d given birth to Aiden.
He gathered both of her wrists in one of his hands. Again, to cut down on the touching. She touched anyway, though, by lifting her hips to grind against his hard-on. It was possible his head exploded, but thankfully the rest of him didn’t. With all her bucking and moving, he managed to get his right hand back in her panties.
One touch there, a couple of slippery slides of his fingers, and the urgency returned for Eve. She struggled to free her hands. No doubt so she could go after his dick. But Lawson held on. Kept on touching her, too. Thankfully, they’d had enough practice, and he hadn’t forgotten all the ins and outs of her body.
Nope.
He didn’t time it, but he got it right after what seemed like the flash of a few seconds. Much too short, considering that he was enjoying the feel of her, the look on her face. Still, he knew it couldn’t last. And it didn’t. He touched her, watched her and then kissed her as he took her right over the edge of the orgasm cliff.
Eve stopped struggling, stopped the body grinding and went limp. It gave Lawson some much-needed time to catch his breath and adjust himself. A needed adjustment since his hard-on was still on a mission to dive in and make this a double climaxing situation. That couldn’t happen. Though Eve seemed to have a different notion about that.
After a few gulping postorgasmic breaths, she pushed aside his hand that was still making an adjustment and latched on to his jeans. Lawson hated to do this, but he stopped her.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. “And I don’t have a condom on me. I seriously doubt you want me to knock you up twice.”
She stared at him, as if weighing options that didn’t really exist. Or so he thought.
“There are other ways,” she insisted, and she batted away his hand to go after his jeans again.
He batted back. She persisted. Until they were playing a very adult version of whack-a-mole. It probably would have gotten him off, too, but he heard something over the shuffling of their hands.
The doorbell.
Shit.
His first thought was that this was Sophie, coming there to check on them. He didn’t want to face her, not with his erection about to bust out of his jeans, but he also knew if it was his cousin, then she could just use her key to get in.
But it wasn’t Sophie.
“Mom?” someone called out from the other side of the door. “Are you in there? It’s me—Tessie.”