Sealing the Deal (18 page)

Whatever the Ladies had done during that girls’ night out had freed something inside his Bethany, and Robert wasn’t a man to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Oh, no worries there.”

He gave her another deep kiss before nuzzling her neck, licking and nibbling at her silky skin. His need for her was so strong he knew this would be one of their quick, rather rough trysts. The way she scraped her nails across his shoulders fired his blood and revealed her need was every bit as great.

Moving lower, he drew one of her tight nipples between his teeth and gently tugged. She replied with a throaty moan and tunneled her fingers through his hair. Shifting to her other breast, he sucked the nipple hard, loving how she started to squirm.

“Robert… now.”

“Too soon,” he managed to spit out before he pressed his lips against her stomach, moving lower and only stopping long enough to kiss or lick her skin. After teasing her navel with his tongue, he scooted back farther and eased her thighs apart.

“I want you,” Beth said. Her words ended on a moan when he slipped his fingers between her folds.

“You’re so wet already.” He had to taste her.

She let out a gasp when he stabbed his tongue into her. Then she raised her knees, digging her heels into the mattress as he loved her with his mouth. The way she tugged his hair stung, but it only added to the multitude of sensations that were bringing him closer and closer to losing control.

“I love you.” Her throaty declaration ended when she cried out in release.

Something inside him snapped. He rose over her and thrust inside her body. Lifting her legs higher up on his hips, he pushed into her again and again, mindless to anything except helping her come again.

And she did. The way her body squeezed his cock set off his own release. His heartbeat roared in his ears as his body shuddered in orgasm.

In the aftermath, his muscles had all the tension of wet noodles. Since he was probably crushing her, Robert broke their connection and rolled to her side. When Beth didn’t immediately move into his arms as usual, he glanced over only to find her scrambling off the bed.

“B? What’s wrong?”

She shook her head and scurried into the bathroom.

Although he was so sated and content that it was hard to move, he threw his legs over the side of the mattress and got to his feet. After what they’d just shared, he couldn’t understand why she’d hurry away like that. “B?”

She’d grabbed her robe off the hook and sat on the closed toilet seat, cocooned in terry cloth. Her face was red, and she appeared close to tears.

Confused, Robert strode over and knelt at her feet. “What’s wrong?”

She bowed her head and gave it a shake.

He nudged her chin to get her to look at him. “You just sent me over the moon, but now you’re upset. I don’t understand.”

“I said it first!”

* * *

Beth hadn’t meant to shout, but she was so incredibly angry at herself. In that moment when he brought her to sheer bliss, she’d gone and blurted out that she loved him. Just like that. She was mortified.

So why in the heck was he grinning?

“You didn’t say it,” he said, his tone teasing.

“I did.”

He grinned and shook his head.

“I did, too! I said I loved you!”

“You didn’t
say
it. You
shouted
it. I think the neighbors heard.”

And just like that, Robert’s wonderful humor snatched away the self-directed anger. “They’ll get over it,” she drawled.

“Did you m-mean it?”

As if she could deny the words, especially with the hopeful, somewhat wary way he watched her. It dawned on her he was every bit as nervous as she was, which meant one thing.

The Ladies were right. He cared. Maybe even loved.

So with a deep sigh, Beth confessed what was in her heart. “Yeah, I meant it. I love you, Robert.”

He took her hand and kissed the back of it. Then he gave her a heart-stopping smile. “Damn good thing, because I love you, too.”

Chapter Sixteen

“If you know, Mom, you’ve got to tell me.” Beth tried to temper her tone, knowing if she pushed her mother too hard, Carol would get her back up. “If we don’t let the guy know, then Robert and I can’t adopt Emma.”

Carol snorted. “Why does Robert care anyway? Why would he wanna be saddled with a kid that isn’t even his? He hasn’t married you yet, and God only knows if he’ll follow through on that. Why buy the cow when the milk is free?”

“Robert loves Emma.” The heat of anger and hurt rose inside Beth, setting her face on fire.

The cow analogy had always been one of her mother’s favorites. Whenever she preached it at her daughters, Beth had winced. Tiffany? She’d started “mooing” before laughing her butt off and then doing whatever the heck she’d wanted.

If only I could find some of Tiff’s chutzpah
.

“Please, Mom. Don’t make me beg,” Beth said, even though her tone had already slipped into pleading. Anything for Emma.

Carol released a weighty sigh. “Right after basic training, Tiffany started seeing that Darren kid again. Such a bad influence.”

“Darren Brown? Seriously? I figured by now he’d be in prison or something.”

Of all the scumbags Tiffany had latched on to, Darren had been the only one she’d claimed to love. Thankfully, he wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the guys Tiffany left in her wake. Although he did get arrested for possession of weed back in his senior year of high school.

Beth remembered it well because she and Tiffany had been in the car when Darren was pulled over for having a broken taillight. After the officer took his license and registration, he started shining the flashlight in the car and sniffing deeply. Then he asked why he smelled marijuana and told everyone to get out of the car.

In a gallant gesture, Darren had pulled a baggie of marijuana out of his pocket, handed it to the officer, and told him that the girls didn’t even know he had it. No doubt Beth’s horrified expression had added weight to his confession.

“Tiffany never said for sure,” Carol added. “For all I know, she might not have even known who Emma’s father was. The way she carried on and all.”

Even though Tiffany was gone, Carol still had to get in one last insult.

“I guess I’ll try to hunt him down.”

“No need for that,” her mother said. “I saw him when we were in Princeville.”

“Where?”

“He was working at the Burger Barn in Meadows Plaza.”

Beth gave her mother a rather terse farewell, letting Carol enjoy herself by getting in a few acerbic comments about Robert’s lack of a romantic proposal before they ended the call.

Exhausted from the uncomfortable conversation, Beth practically fell onto the sofa, thinking about the ramifications of Darren Brown being Emma’s father. No matter what angle she looked from, he was bad news. But could that be good news for her and Robert?

This was supposed to be an easy adoption once she and Robert were married. Tiffany had named Beth as Emma’s guardian should anything happen to her while deployed. There was no father mentioned, which was good enough for the army. Evidently it wasn’t good enough for anyone else.

The patio door opened, and Robert carried a laughing Emma inside. The days were getting warmer, so he often took her out to push her on the swing. He and Ben had built an enormous playground-worthy swing set that had everything from a slide to swings to a child’s version of a climbing wall.

Emma would be one very spoiled young lady. She had her Bobber firmly wrapped around her little fingers.

Beth plastered on a grin even though she felt nothing like smiling. “Did you two have fun?”

“We sure did,” he replied. “Emma got to swing.”

“Bobber!” Emma gave him a kiss on the cheek after he took off her coat and hat. Her smile lit up her entire chubby face. “Seen!” Her way of saying “swing.”

She’d gone from being entirely silent to babbling constantly. Her first birthday was in a couple of weeks, and Beth had already made plans to have the Ladies, their guys, and Jules’s twins over for a small party. If the weather cooperated, Robert wanted to use his new gas grill. The thing was bigger than Beth’s first car.

After he helped Emma wash her hands, Robert got her a sippy cup of milk and sat her down in her playpen. She set the drink aside and promptly jerked off her shoes as he laughed.

“I’d rather be barefoot, too,” he said, tousling her curls.

Plopping down on the sofa next to Beth, he draped his arm over her shoulder. “So what did your eternally pleasant mother have to say? Was Alexis right?”

Beth nodded. “I’ve got a name. Can’t guarantee he’s the father, but it’s as good a place to start as any.”

He gave her a squeeze. “I know you’re worried, but we have to do this. It’s the only way to adopt Emma. Besides, whoever he is, the guy deserves to know if she’s his. I’d want to know.”

“His name’s Darren Brown. He and Tiff dated most of high school.” Beth told him the story about the traffic stop and how Darren had to serve some time in juvenile detention for the possession charge—one of a handful of times he’d been caught doing something against the law back when Beth knew him.

“He wasn’t eighteen?” Robert asked.

“A few months shy. Saved his butt, because it wasn’t the first time he’d been caught with drugs.”

“Drugs? More than just weed?”

Beth shook her head. “Only marijuana, according to what Tiff told me.” She knit her brows. “What’s it matter anyway? Drugs are drugs.”

“We might have to agree to disagree on that, B.”

She gaped at him. “Are you serious?”

He nodded.

“I don’t understand. Marijuana is a
drug
.”

“It’s no worse than tobacco.”

“Did you smoke dope?”

His exaggerated sigh was as good as a confession.

“You really smoked dope?” Her tone was bordering on hysterical. The Robert she knew might have been a bit of a player with the ladies. But drugs?

No. No way
.

He heaved a sigh. “A lot of people don’t consider pot a big problem. Some of the guys in my frat smoked it, so I did, too. It wasn’t a big deal, B. I only got in trouble once. J-just a misdemeanor for p-possession. At least give this Darren a chance.”

* * *

Robert couldn’t believe his own ears. Why in the hell was he defending the guy when he hadn’t even met him and knew absolutely nothing about him? If Darren Brown was Emma’s biological father, he might have the power to take Emma away from them.

Sure, Tiffany had made things crystal clear in all of the military paperwork, naming Beth to be Emma’s guardian. But Alexis had explained that the biological father’s rights might supersede Tiffany’s wishes, especially since he’d never been informed of Emma’s birth.

Losing Emma would be a blow Robert might never recover from, and it would be worse for Beth. He scrambled to think of scenarios that would give them joint custody with Darren, any way to save a part of Emma’s life for themselves.

She belonged to them. They were a family now.

“I can’t believe you’re telling me this.” Beth shrugged his arm away and jumped to her feet.

He’d been so lost in thought he needed a few moments to realize what she was talking about. “You’re pissed because of my smoking a little weed back in college?”

She stomped to the kitchen and started slamming cabinets and pans, probably getting things ready for supper. The whole time, she muttered to herself. He caught words like
irresponsible
,
stupid
, and
idiot
, which told him this wasn’t going to be the nonissue he’d hoped it would be.

A single arrest for possession, one that was expunged years ago, wasn’t something to get worked up over. Sure, his attitude about weed was rather laid back, especially as a former teacher. But a lot of people saw it as a venial sin, something not all that bad. Hell, some states had even made it legal.

Emma had finished her milk and picked up one of her stuffed toys, but once Beth had begun her little tantrum, for want of a better word, Emma had dropped the toy and now stared at Beth with wide eyes.

Robert got up, went over to Emma, and rubbed her back. “It’s okay, squirt. Matka’s just upset with Bobber.”

Her brown eyes shifted from him to Beth and back again. The intelligence in those eyes never ceased to amaze him.

He picked up the stuffed pony she’d dropped and handed it to her.

She grabbed it and babbled some of her baby talk at the pony. That storm calmed, he went to soothe his other girl.

Beth was attacking some ground beef in a big glass bowl, stopping every now and then to add a few more ingredients before going back at the mixture with the long-handled wooden spoon.

With no warning, the handle snapped off.

“Damn it!” She tossed the part in her hand into the sink and then stared at the food, her hands on her hips.

Robert came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Although she was stiff as a crowbar, he pulled her back against him and rubbed his chin on top of her head. “I d-didn’t mean to disappoint you, B. I’m human. I make m-mistakes.”

She sighed and nodded, bumping his chin. Then she sniffed hard a few times as though fighting back tears.

He turned her to face him, lifting her chin with his finger so he could look into her eyes. “This is more than my youthful indiscretion. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“What if someone finds out you were arrested and tries to use that against us so we can’t adopt Emma?”

“It was a misdemeanor. I paid the fine. The thing got expunged. Think about it. I was able to teach, right? It didn’t stop the state of Illinois from giving me a teaching license.”

“Oh. I hadn’t thought about that.” She drew her lips tight. “I still can’t believe you smoke pot.”

“
Smoked
. Ancient history. I s-swear.” He held up three fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

At least he got a hesitant smile from her.

Robert brushed a quick kiss over her lips. “How ’bout I finish supper while you give Alexis a call?”

She frowned. “I need to tell her about Darren.”