Chapter Twelve
RED BLEW THROUGH the front door of the salon just as Chicki was locking up for the night. She strutted across the floor in her black boots and leather jacket and set serious eyes on Sarah. “Please tell me you have a nanny cam.”
Sarah’s pulse spiked. “Why? What happened?” She grabbed her phone to check for a text from Bones. She hadn’t heard from him for almost two hours.
Red touched her hand, a smile warming her green eyes. “Nothing bad, sweetheart. I just never thought I’d hear my most levelheaded son so frazzled.”
“Oh no.” Sarah’s shoulders slumped. “I knew my kids would be too much.” She had even called Scott earlier to ask him if he could relieve Bones if she got an SOS call, but before she could ask, Scott told her he was going to a party with Quincy and not to expect him home until late, if at all.
“No, honey. They’re just enough,” Red reassured her. “You found my son’s Achilles’ heel. He called me earlier about Lila, and I swear you’d think the boy had never been around a sick child or been to medical school.” She lowered her voice an octave and said, “‘Mom, how do I know if she’s sleeping too long? She’s still warm. Should I give her a cool bath?’ Wayne navigates life and death on a daily basis, but when it comes to your babies”—Red made a whooshing sound and pushed her hand backward over her head—“he forgets everything.”
Sarah breathed a sigh of relief, and of surprise that Bones had called his mother. “Was Lila worse? I haven’t heard from him since about seven o’clock.”
“Oh, honey. Lila’s fine, and Bones had his hands full when we talked. While we were on the phone, Bradley carried blankets to the stairs and wanted to slide down.”
“Oh my gosh,” Sarah muttered. “He always tries to do that while I’m preoccupied. He knows he’s not allowed to.”
Red winced. “Yeah, Bones sort of learned that a little too late. It wasn’t until Bradley went down the third time and squealed, ‘Mommy never lets me do this!’ that he realized his mistake.”
“He let him do it?” Bradley should be nice and hyped up by the time I get home.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Red said. “He set up pillows at the bottom of the steps and caught him every time.”
Sarah grabbed her purse. “I’d better go rescue Bones. The poor guy had no idea what he was getting into. I hope he has his running shoes,” she said as she headed for the front door.
“Why?” Red asked.
“Because running for the hills will be hard in biker boots.”
She left the salon and drove home mentally preparing a litany of apologies for Bones.
When she got home, she listened by the front door but couldn’t hear a thing. Preparing for the worst, she quietly opened the door and stepped inside. Toys and children’s books were scattered all over the floor, along with a few clean diapers and an open baby wipes container. Two sippy cups and a bowl of crackers sat on the coffee table alongside Bones’s phone. She heard the washer going and peered into the kitchen, not surprised to find dirty dishes in the sink.
She didn’t care about the mess or the dishes, but she knew this was a bad idea, and all these signs of overload for a single man proved it.
She swallowed hard before heading down the hall, preparing herself for the anger that was sure to come after a frustrating night with a sick baby and a rambunctious three-year-old. Why had she agreed to let Bones watch them?
She glanced downstairs, spotting a pile of blankets at the bottom and wondering what else her little rascal had convinced Bones to let him do.
Sending a silent plea to the universe and hoping Bones wouldn’t totally hate her, she peered nervously into the bedroom. Bones lay on the bed in sweatpants and a white T-shirt with Lila draped over his chest fast asleep, one tiny hand on his cheek, the other cuddling her hedgehog. Bradley lay sleeping across Bones’s legs. Bones had one thick arm wrapped around Lila, and the other held one of her parenting books as he read. Her chest constricted as he lowered the book to the mattress and put one finger over his lips. Lord help her, because her heart thudded even harder with the loving look in his eyes as he lowered that hand to Bradley’s hair and ran his fingers through it. Was it possible to freeze a moment? To take a snapshot and relive it a million times over?
“I was afraid to move,” he whispered with a warm smile.
Struggling against the emotions clogging her throat, she set her purse on the dresser and went to transfer Lila to her crib. As she reached for Lila, Bones touched her hand. “Maybe you shouldn’t move her. She was warm again after her nap. I had my buddy Jonas, a pediatrician, come over and check her out. He thinks it’s just a virus, but she needs to sleep, and every time I put her in the crib she cries.”
“You had a doctor make a house call? She just has a fever…” Thump, thump, thump. She was sure he could hear the sound of her falling for him, too.
“Can’t be too careful.” He pulled her down so close she could smell apple juice on his breath, which also made her all warm and squishy inside.
He tugged a little harder, bringing her lips to his in a tender kiss—and then he kissed her longer, turning that warm squishiness into white-hot desire.
“Go do whatever you need to,” he whispered. “Except the dishes and cleaning the living room. I’ll do that in the morning. Then come back.” He patted the space beside him. “We’ll be here waiting.”
“You’re…staying?”
His smile faded. “Unless you want me to leave?”
“No,” she said quickly, unable to believe her ears. “I just thought…” You’d be done with us.
He. Wasn’t. Running.
She tried to wrap her head around the situation and the man who was turning her beliefs upside down one moment at a time.
“What is it, darlin’?”
A trickle of worry wormed its way into her mind, urging her to take a step back. She glanced down at her sleeping babies, Bones’s strong arms now draped protectively around both of them. He wanted to stay and care for the babies, not stay and try to get in her pants. What ulterior motive could he possibly have, beyond being a sadist who wanted to drive himself insane with a crying baby at three in the morning?
As if he’d read her mind, he reached for her hand again, brushing his thumb over the back of it in slow circles that made her crave his hands on her again as he said, “I’m here because I want to be here with you and with them. I know it’s hard, but try looking forward with me, not over your shoulder for your past to become your present.”
She nodded, choking back another rush of emotions. He understood her so well, she didn’t even have to say a word.
“It’s your call, Sarah. I can leave, or you can take a leap of faith and trust me to catch you on the other side.”
There was only one way to answer a request like that.
After getting ready for bed, with her pulse racing and her mind not far behind, she crawled in beside the three of them.
Bones tucked her against his side and pressed his lips to her temple. “Thank you for trusting me.”
“Just promise me that if you start to feel trapped or overwhelmed you’ll end things before they get scary. I don’t want my babies to know scary.”
He kissed her again and closed his eyes. He remained silent for so long that if it weren’t for the brush of his thumb along her shoulder, she’d think he’d fallen asleep. And then his warm breath whispered over her skin as he said, “If I have it my way, they never will.”
SARAH AWOKE THE next morning from a shift in the mattress and found Bones quietly stepping from the bed with Lila in his arms. Bradley lay sprawled across the blankets between them. She’d been up half the night trying to calm herself down. It had been a long time since she’d had a man in her bed, and she definitely wasn’t used to having one who was perfectly content to hold her babies instead of pawing her. Her ex had never allowed the babies to be in bed with them. He’d insisted she not even nurse them, and here was Bones, loving them up like they were an extension of himself. Guilt niggled at her. She had hoped to tell him more about her past last night, and now she worried about how he would react after taking this step, which felt bigger and more intimate than any sexual act ever could.
“I’ll get her.” Sarah moved toward the edge of the bed.
“I’ve got her.” Bones turned, looking impossibly handsome with his dark hair sticking up all over, thick scruff peppering his jaw, and her precious baby draped on his chest like she belonged there.
She noticed the bump of his piercing through his shirt. How had she missed it before? Embarrassingly, she’d spent the other half of the night trying not to think about how he’d reacted to her mouth on his nipples, tugging at his piercings. She’d been shocked to see those little shiny pieces of jewelry on his hard body, but the sight of them had heightened her arousal. His reactions had made her even hotter. The piercings told her so much about him. She’d known strippers who had nipple rings, and they’d told her all the benefits. Knowing Bones wasn’t afraid of a little pain for pleasure would be scary if he were anyone else. But he’d shown her how careful he was, not just with her and her children, but with his life in general. She sensed this was his erotic little secret—and she liked being a part of it. Her mind wandered back to the feel of his thick, hard shaft against her thigh and palm. Even through his jeans she could feel his girth. A streak of heat coursed through her.
She must have looked like she was fantasizing, because Bones cleared his throat and arched a brow. A knowing look hovered in his eyes as he pointed lower than his chest—where she was still staring—to a big wet spot on his shirt, sending Sarah’s stomach into a nosedive.
“Oh gosh. I’m sorry!” As if it weren’t enough for you to be thrown up on, now you’ve been peed on, too? Familiar panic spread through her as she bolted to her feet, praying he wouldn’t get gruff in front of the kids. Or worse, toward them, the way Lewis did.
“Lie down and rest, darlin’. It’s just a little pee. I’ll get her cleaned up and changed.” He kissed Lila’s forehead, and her baby girl whimpered. “She’s a little cooler, but I want to get some Pedialyte into her system.” He pretended to inspect his arm and said, “No scales yet. I think we’re safe.”
He winked and turned toward the dresser, leaving Sarah stunned as he rifled around in Lila’s drawer.
“Mommy?” Bradley rolled over, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He blinked up at Bones, his eyes rolling over his tall, broad body. “Ew! Lila peed on you!” he said loudly, startling Lila into a wail that practically echoed off the walls.
Bones tried to calm Lila down, bouncing her and talking soothingly as he caressed her back.
“I gotta go potty!” Bradley bolted from the bed and ran toward the hallway, sending Lila into another crying fit.
“Sorry!” Sarah hurried after Bradley.
Before she made it out the bedroom door, Bones grabbed her hand, drawing her closer. Her mommy brain was still frantically chasing Bradley down the hall, needing to make sure he didn’t miss the potty. But in the next second, Dr. Whiskey’s lips covered hers in a long, sensual kiss, calming the mommy side of her despite her baby girl’s whimpers, stoking the womanly desires she’d been trying to tamp down all night. She knew Lila was safe, even if unhappy at the moment, and really, what was a little pee on a toilet seat? Sarah’s knees wobbled, and her nipples hardened to burning, needy points. When their lips finally parted, there was no room in her lust-addled brain for stressing over anything.
Lila clung to the collar of Bones’s shirt as he pressed a kiss to Lila’s forehead. “Sorry, baby girl. Your sweet mama just needed a good-morning kiss to remind her there’s nothing we can’t handle.”
He slowly and purposefully brushed his fingers down Sarah’s cheek as he said, “Good morning, beautiful.”
Before she could reel in her spinning thoughts enough to respond, Bradley dashed into the bedroom and dove onto the bed, immediately bouncing on his butt like the Energizer Bunny.
“Let’s get them cleaned up and settled,” Bones said with another sexy smile. “Then I’ll make breakfast while you get ready for the day.”
“You must be crazy if you still want to stick around.” She was only half kidding.
He pressed his lips to hers in a quick kiss and said, “Like Krazy Glue, baby. Now, let’s get moving before this one lets loose from the other end.”