I catch her wrist, and she gasps at the touch. “You don’t need to look after everyone, Lauren.”
I spin her toward me and slide my arm around her waist. Damn, this woman feels good in my arms. She’s soft in all the places I’m hard, and I’m getting harder by the second.
Her gaze flicks to the shut door, and I release her. I get it. The last thing her son needs is to find me mauling his mother in the kitchen as soon as he leaves us alone.
“Go sit down,” I say gently. “I’ll bring the tea.”
Lauren sits on the couch with her feet tucked under her. She changed into gray sweatpants and a white cotton t-shirt. She looks vulnerable for once, and I long to protect her, to keep her and her son safe.
I never thought I wanted kids, but in the last few days, getting to know Kieren at the gym and his mother, I’m beginning to reassess. Kieren’s a good kid, impressionable like Lauren fears, but all boys are at that age. I wonder what it would be like to be in his life permanently, to guide him into manhood and see what kind of man he becomes.
I glance over at Lauren. I wonder if she feels it too, the shift that’s happening. That after all this is over, her family unit might be the three of us. And I like that.
I set the mugs on the table and sit down next to her. “You okay, Bo?”
She nods. “It’s nothing I haven’t been through before. But this time…” she shakes her head. “The older Kieren gets, the more interested in him Mark gets. He didn’t want to know when he was a little boy. But now he’s got this weird notion of his son going into business with him. It must be an ego thing.”
I slide my arm around her and pull her onto my lap. I don’t care if her son sees. When my woman needs reassurance and protection, I’m going to give it to her.
“I’ve called Owen, the sheriff and he’s on alert for any signs of Mark. I’ve also got a team of veterans ready to spring to action if needed, and half of them are ex-special forces. So whatever happens, I got you.”
She gives a thin smile. “Thank you. I hate to be a burden.”
I cut her off. “You’re not a burden, Lauren. You’re mine, and I protect what’s mine.”
She tilts her head sideways as if she doesn’t believe me. “You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough. I know you’re a good person and a great mother, and I know you do this to me.” I roll her across my lap, and she gasps as my hardness presses into her leg.
Her eyes widen and her lips part, and despite my good intentions of not mauling her when her son is in the room nextdoor, I capture her lips in mine. I can’t help myself. They’re the sweetest lips I’ve ever kissed. Tentative, then passionate, and filling me with a kind of heat I’ve never experienced before. Not just heat that makes my body ache for her, but warmth in my chest that makes my heart ache for her too.
My hands slide up her back and into her hair as I pull her toward me.
She shimmies around so she’s straddling me, and my dick leaks at every movement of her hips and every little moan that comes out of her mouth.
My fingers run over her throat and down her chest, and she gasps as I tweak a nipple through her top. I don’t dare speak or say her name, because I don’t want to break the spell.
For the first time, the lines fade from her forehead, and she’s living completely in the moment. Her expression is tortured and joyful, and I bet she hasn’t done anything so selfless in a long time.
I slide a hand under her ass and pull her hips toward me. She grinds against me, and her needy whimper turns into a cry.
Her eyes fly open, and the spell breaks. She covers her mouth as she slides off my lap, her gaze fixed on the closed door.
“We can’t…”
She’s panting and her cheeks are flushed, and a few more moments and she could have had the release she so desperately needs.
I’m sure Kieren has his headphones in while he watches videos, but I won’t push Lauren or make her feel uncomfortable. I want to claim Lauren more than anything, but when you’re looking at a lifetime with someone, there’s no rush.
My balls ache, and I won’t be able to sleep unless I crack one out, but I’m a patient man and Lauren is worth waiting for.
“I’m sorry...”
“Hey, no need to be. I’ll be here when you want to finish what we started, Bo.”
I cup her chin and kiss her gently on the lips, but pull away before we get carried away again.
“You want to watch a movie?”
