Clinton drew her closer to him and kissed the soft, tender spot on her neck. Little spurts of desire chased down her spine. One more minute of that, and they’d not only have to go to work with no breakfast, but she’d be answering a million questions from Ruby and her grandmother.Slowmight not mean taking baby steps in the bedroom, but she would like to savor each moment with Clinton before everyone in the family found out they were in a very serious relationship.
Good Lord!the voice in her head seemed to shout.You’ve known him less than a month, and you’ve already slept with him.
Yep, I did.She couldn’t have stopped smiling if she’d tried sucking on a lemon.
“Zoe isn’t fussing.” Clinton’s warm breath sent another series of vibes down her body. “Want to ...”
The baby monitor that Taryn had mistaken for the alarm clock suddenly let them know that Zoe wasn’t happy anymore. “Guess the answer to that would be ‘not right now,’” Taryn said as she threw back the sheet and got out of bed. “Our baby is hungry and needs changing.”
Clinton propped up on one elbow. “You are even beautiful in the morning with your red hair all mussed up.”
She covered a yawn with her hand. “That could be the most romantic thing anyone ever said to me. If you can think that when I look like this, then it’s possible we’ve got a real thing going here between us.” He slung his long legs out over the side of the bed, and she saw all the scars. “Clinton McEntire, did you lie to me?”
He jerked the sheet over his leg. “About what?”
“What really happened to you?” she asked.
He hurriedly put on a pair of pajama pants and jerked a T-shirt over his head. “I’ll tell you the truth while I make breakfast.”
Taryn dressed in the same denim shorts and shirt that she’d worn up to his apartment the night before. “I’ll take care of Zoe while you talk and cook.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “I owe you the truth since we’re taking the next step in our relationship. I don’t like people to feel sorry for me or treat me like I did something amazing. I didn’t. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He opened the door, crossed the room, and stopped at the portable crib long enough to kiss the baby on the forehead. “Good morning, Princess Zoe. Are you hungry? I’ll heat up a bottle while I cook, and Taryn is going to get you ready for the day.”
Romance and family all mixed together seemed to Taryn like a good combination. She picked up the baby and hugged her tightly, then changed her diaper and got her dressed for the day while Clinton prepared her morning bottle.
“Your story?” she reminded him.
“Sometimes I was sent on a special mission,” Clinton said as he whipped up batter to make waffles. “Not very often, but I had some special skills, and so did Quincy. Neither of us batted an eye when we were included with a new team.”
“What kind of special skills?” Taryn asked.
“Defusing bombs,” he said, as calmly as if he were telling her a fairy tale. “I was going too fast, and the thing detonated. That’s the real story, but I like the story I tell people much better. It says I’m just a common old boy, not some kind of hero—because I’m not. It’s not a big lie because I did get an injury when I was out running.”
Taryn sat down at the end of the small table and fed Zoe her bottle. “Thank you for telling me, but, honey, I thought I was your only friend,” she teased.
“Quincy is mybestfriend, darlin’.” He stopped working long enough to cross the room and give her a lingering kiss. “You are my soulmate, and I think I knew that the first time I laid eyes on you. And now that we know each other’s past, are we good?”
“We are,” she answered. “What you said a while ago about the past being gone but we have a million futures in front of us comes to my mind. I only want one future, Clinton, and that’s with you and this precious child.”
Clinton turned around and cocked his head to one side. “Why, Miz Taryn O’Reilly, are you proposing to me?”
“No, darlin’, that’s your job, but let’s don’t get in a hurry,” she said.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jorja climbed the ladder and carefully hung a filmy length of illusion from the top of the window and down the sides to the floor. Then she attached one silk calla lily to each of the two corners.
“One side is longer than the other,” Anna Rose said from across the room, where she placed a hurricane lamp set in the middle of white lilies and roses in each window. “You’ll have to redo it.”
Jorja picked up a pair of scissors from her work basket and lopped off the side that was too long. “There, does that satisfy MissPerfection?”
“Yep, it does,” Anna Rose answered.
“Stop your bickering,” Irene said. “We’re making good money on this wedding.”
“I’m glad you girls are here to help. Us two old women couldn’t have crawled up and down on that ladder twenty times like you have done,” Ruby said.
“Speak for yourself,” Irene snapped. “We’ve done bigger events that this before.”
