“A little dizzy and the leg gave out. I’m fine.” The words were gruffly tossed out through his tightly clenched jaw. “You can go back to your room and finish what you were doing.”
In nothing but her bra and her pajama bottoms that were slipping precariously low, she should be embarrassed, but she couldn’t leave him on the floor. She reached down to help him up then lowered him to the bed.
“Let me get the bottoms on first then we can stand to pull them up.
“I’m not a damn baby, Callie. I can manage to get dressed on my own. It’s—”
His words cut off as he stared at her chest. The crooked grin returned full force and she shook her head. Such a man.
“Uh, sure, you can help me get dressed. I might need your help later getting undressed too.”
Glaring, she bent and pulled the jeans over his feet then slid them up his legs. “If you stand, we can get them up the rest of the way. Hold onto me if you start to feel dizzy again.”
Placing his rugged hands on her bare shoulders, he grinned. “Dizzy, yeah.”
He pushed on her shoulders and stood up. She tugged quickly but at Jack’s indrawn breath of, “Callie,” she realized she had to pull them out a bit more in the front to accommodate a growing part of his anatomy. God, how embarrassing.
After zipping and buttoning he sat back on the bed, returning his hands to her waist this time. “Sorry, the sight of your bare skin does that to me.”
She attempted to pull away but his hands held firm, his mouth inches from her chest. “You’ve got the pants on now. You can do the shirt by yourself, right? You don’t need to stand to put that on.”
He wasn’t listening. His nose was between her breasts, having pulled her closer. “I thought you said you didn’t need a bra. This one’s extremely nice though. I like it.”
Pleasure rippled through her as he studied her lingerie. This was a recent purchase, on a whim. It was pale pink lace with a little padding underneath to accentuate the small curves she did have. The ones Jack’s fingers started to caress.
A shaky breath escaped as she pushed on his shoulders once more. But her hands turned traitor at the feel of his flesh and sinew and began their own exploration. She kneaded and massaged while his lips moved over her own exposed flesh. Grasping his head, she held it near, needing the contact between them.
Closing her eyes, she relished the feel of his rough hands along her waist and his lips and tongue nipping at her throat. Colors swirled behind her eyelids as he moved his mouth lower to lick the curve of her breasts then down to her stomach. Sliding his hands inside her bottoms, he clenched her cheeks, massaging like she was doing to his shoulders.
As he slid his hands lower, her pajamas went down as well. She shivered as he drew lines with his tongue from hip to hip then lower still…
“Mama, all done.”
Snapping back to reality, she pushed away from Jack’s tempting hands, rearranging her bottoms back into place. Her breath came in tiny pants as she looked at their son.
A small chuckle forced its way from her mouth. His clothes were on backwards.
“Fix your son’s clothes while I go and put some on.”
Swiftly moving through the bathroom, she shut the door to her room and leaned against it. Her breathing was still harsh as her mind tried to get a grip on what they’d done, almost done. Having Jack here was dangerous, no doubt about it.Stay on your toes.The biggest threat right now wasn’t from Victor finding Jack. It was Jack himself.
* * * *
“Dinner was great, Heather. Thanks.”
Jack wiped his mouth on a napkin, pushed his plate away and sighed. Jonathan, sitting next to him, did the same thing. Too cute. Aside from the hospital visit, he’d never spent this much time with his son before and he was getting far too used to it. The boy had stayed close today with the exception of when Callie had taken him outside sledding. They’d even taken a nap at the same time. It was ridiculous he even needed one but the headache he’d been fighting all day had finally made him give in. Having a few hours with his son snuggled by his side had been worth the humiliation.
“You’re welcome,” Heather replied with a wry grin. “Though I can’t take credit for it. All I did was chop a few vegetables. Callie did the rest. I was never allowed in the kitchen as a kid. Our cook was a little proprietary with her domain.”
“Maybe Callie could teach you,” he suggested. “She’s an amazing cook. Used to make me all sorts of great meals when she was seeing Angelo. Although for some reason he always seemed to get them first.”
Callie picked up his and Jonathan’s plates and her elbow smacked into his head as she walked by. A far-from-innocent, “Oh, sorry,” tumbled from her mouth, her eyes twinkling with mirth.
“He barely came once a week and I had to keep him busy somehow. Figured eating lots of food would make him full and tired. Then he could go home and sleep it off. But I always made enough for you to have leftovers.”
Touching her arm as she walked back to continue clearing the table, he said, “And I appreciated it, immensely. The number of hours I drove Cabrini and his family around, there wasn’t time to do any decent cooking.”
Her eyes softened as she looked at him and her hand lifted. Then paused. Was she going to touch him? It continued but stopped to pat his shoulder. Disappointment rolled through him. He wanted more than that.
