Absolutely sweet. My insides twisted and part of me melted. “Yeah, right. You’ve met movie stars.”
He reached out and took my hand. “Not as glamourous as you think. Most are too skinny.”
We stood and he immediately held me closer. I laughed as my breasts pressed into his hard muscles. His hand went lower and I didn’t complain at all. “Why do I like when you grab my ass like that?”
“You do,” he said, and squeezed it again.
This would go right to the bedroom. Maybe we both needed that. I hadn’t been with anyone since, but I wiggled away and picked up our empty cups to bring them to the sink. “Hey, now. We’re talking.”
“Right.” He picked up the sponge and turned on the water to wash the dishes. “I’m sure your sisters have prospects. It could be sooner than you think that it’s just you and Jeremy left…unless-”
“No.” It was sexy to have him helping like that. I had my hands on my hips, then picked up a towel to dry as I said, “I need to believe my sisters are strong.”
He handed me the plates he’d cleaned and asked, “I’m sure they are.”
I placed them in the dryer as I wiped my brow and said, “Our mom was weak and none of us want to die of a broken heart or loneliness if something happens to any future husband. I don’t want to just wither away and die when I have Jeremy. He needs his mother.”
We finished with the cups and he turned off the water as he said, “Your parents sound like they were in love.”
“They were that.” Love destroyed. I needed peace. My friends all complained about how their parents were awful and sought therapy. But me…all I had were memories with a missing mother figure who never fought for me. Vacations, talking about report cards, and more. My dad teaching me to ride my bike played in my mind as I put a cup down and then met Michael’s sexy blue eyes.
My face heated as I was pulled out of the memory and asked, “What?”
He leaned against my counter like he lived here with us and said, “My mother and father are married because religion says divorce is bad, but I don’t know if they’re happy. They get along, but you must have been raised in gentleness.”
True. I would say idyllic, except that crashed and burned with mom. Why had Jeremy, me, or my sisters, not been enough of a reason to live? Maybe marriage should be more of a deal like his parents. I tossed the towel and ignored the beat of my heart as I asked, “Why do you think that?”
He pressed his hand on my back again and said, “Because you’re the sweetest woman I ever met.”
“Doubtful,” I said.
My lips tingled for more kisses and my body roared like I’d denied myself ultimate pleasure last night when I’d passed out.
He lowered his head and pressed his forehead to mine as he said, “Look, about Marsha.”
That froze me. The woman in the Bahamas before my mom called that my dad was sick. I remembered the red dress and the high heels clicking on the marble floor as she flounced her hair like she’d replace me in Michael’s bed as I asked, “Are you still dating her?”
He held my hand to his heart and said, “No. I didn’t date her then. I should have told you that better. I was more worried she’d tell you I was a baseball player, which was stupid on my part.”
Now that never crossed my mind and I laughed. I couldn’t help it as I said, “I wish she’d spilled that one. Then I’d have tracked you down.”
His blue eyes stared at me like he needed to assess me when he said, “She was nothing to me before I met you, and I’ve never seen her again.”
Good. "I hoped there was more to the story than you were a player, but honestly, with my dad’s heart attack, I couldn’t think about her.”
“You were…are everything I want.”
Well, I’d not stressed about the details of the other woman from six years ago, but it was good that she wasn’t anything to worry about. But I swallowed and asked what bothered me now, “Are you dating anyone?”
His hands traced my sides and held me like he needed me when he said, “No, but I’d like for us to pick up where we started.”
Started? In bed and naked, in every corner of that room of his and mine. We'd worn clothes as an accessory to eat out before heading back. That vacation was burned in my mind as my lust-filled dream every night for years now, but I let out a sigh and said, “I…I’m different now.”
Mom’s don’t get to live like that. Responsibility filled my days of working, making lunches to pay for school, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, but he said, “Jeremy’s at school and you can take off the mom outfit.”
I glanced down at my cardigan and pants and then back at him as I asked, “The what?”
He unbuttoned my sweater as he said, “The PTA, loving mom outfit you wore. We’re home, alone.”
Alone sounded tempting. And, I’d be in his arms. A huge part of my heart wanted exactly that, but I held still as I said, “You promised to practice catching with my son. Our son.”
He tugged my sweater to bring me closer to him. “And we will, after school.”
My legs were already jelly, and my breaths were getting shorter. “And what happens when your team leaves? I can’t just hope and wait for when your team returns here.”
His hands traced my sides and goosebumps grew everywhere. My body remembered his touch, but his words were
