The Marine's Red Hot Homecoming (6 page)

Chapter Four

“Okay little buddy, you’re all set.” Hannah fastened Jason’s diaper after his bath, and snapped his shirt into place over it. Then she pulled his jeans on again and lifted him from the changing mat on the lushly carpeted bedroom floor.

She held him a second longer than usual to inhale his baby scent of shampoo while threading her fingers through his fine blond curling hair. The familiar aroma anchored her heart firmly in place. Though her surroundings had changed overnight and her world had been turned upside down in the continuous roller coaster loop de loop that the fire had caused, she held onto the one thing that remained constant. Mothering Jason.

Late afternoon shadows crossed his room, mingling and dancing with the ribbons of remaining late afternoon rays of sunlight.

He wiggled impatiently. “Wanna play.”

She brushed a kiss on his temple. “Just for a little bit. Daddy will be home soon for dinner,” she said, then released him and he toddled across the floor to the play area Caleb had set up for him.

She stretched her legs in front of her and leaned back on her elbows, taking a breather since a day of endless rounds of bad news piling on top of more bad news. Who knew one little fire contained to one room could cause such an avalanche of catastrophes?

Weariness filled every crevice in her body, making her muscles ache and her eyelids heavy. She wanted to sleep for a year and forget everything that had happened. Instead, she bottom scooted to where Jason sat playing with his trucks and caught him in a bear hug. “Gotcha!”

“Momma,” he squealed.

She rolled onto her back to hold him high. “Look who’s flying.”

“Me. Me.”

Hannah laughed, brought him close to her, and sat him on her belly, bouncing him. “Now who’s a cowboy?”

“Me. Giddy up, Momma.”

Her heart lightened, the weight of the world lifted from her chest. “You got it, partner.”

“That looks like way more fun than negotiating a settlement with one of our contractors.”

She jerked her head toward the door. Caleb leaned against the jamb, with his black tie loose and his crisp light blue shirt collar unbuttoned. A slight hint of five-o-clock stubble shadowed his chiseled jaw, which only enhanced his handsome features. Sunlight streaked gold through his short-cropped hair and reflected in his deep blue eyes. Eyes that had once focused on her with such an intensity that she’d believed she was the only woman who had the power to claim him.

Her pulse double Dutch jumped in her throat. “Oh,” she said, lightly holding Jason’s small hands and cringing inwardly. God only knew what she looked like after rough housing with him. She shook the thought out of her brain. Ridiculous. She shouldn’t care about her appearance—not when the last thing she needed to do was give him any ideas. Not anymore.

Still, a woman had her feminine pride to consider. “I didn’t expect you home for another hour,” she said in a calm tone that belied her hopscotching nerves.

He pushed away from the door and moved inside the room. “I wrapped everything up early.” Caleb knelt beside them. “Decided to come home to see how you were doing.”

“Daddy.” Jason crawled off her stomach and bolted into Caleb’s open arms.

“Hey there sport.” Caleb lifted him up in the air.

Her gaze tracked the muscles cording in Caleb’s forearms and locked onto his broad chest. Heat spiraled through her body and need surged low. Oh, how she yearned for this man. Exquisitely, excruciatingly. And dangerously all wrong for her.

She craved home, family, community.

He craved adventure, excitement, freedom.

Though their bodies had been made for each other, she’d learned the hard way that the overwhelming physical connection between them would never be enough to bind them together emotionally. If Jason had never been born, she wouldn’t be in Caleb’s house, or even a consideration in his life. Spinning erotic fantasies about tumbling back under the covers with him wouldn’t give Hannah her heart’s desire. No matter how much she yearned for that old school girl dream to become a reality.

She pushed off the floor, then swiped her hands down her jeans. “Do you mind watching him for a bit?” she asked. “I’ve got a ton of paperwork to sift through in addition to processing several orders.” She also had a whole lot of hormones to shove back into the do-not-go-there mental closet.

Caleb stood, easily swinging him up and over his shoulders. “We’ll help.”

Anticipation thrummed through her veins. Vainly, she tried to slow the thrill building inside her, but his proximity and super sexy presence completely confused her. “I doubt Jason will be able to do the paperwork and process orders,” Hannah said. She didn’t dare accept Caleb’s help. Not here. Not now. She desperately needed him to get out of her way before she made a complete fool of herself.

He grinned. “Take a break. I’ll help you after we put Jason down to sleep.”

“But you’ve already put in a full day.”

“So have you.” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, gentle and tender as if he truly cared about her wellbeing. “You look like you need a break.”

Her heart punched against her sternum and a lump lodged in her throat. “I can handle this,” she said. She didn’t want to become dependent on him when he’d only be here temporarily. But oh, how she longed to have someone to share the burden permanently.

“Sure you can. But you don’t have to.” Caleb walked to the door and ducked under the top jamb to step out into the hallway with him still firmly held in place. “We’re a team, remember?”

“Well,” she hesitated, wanting to say yes, yet knowing she shouldn’t allow herself the luxury.

He flashed a smile and his eyes creased at the corners as he reached out one hand. “Come on. You know you can’t resist spending time with your two best guys.”

“Momma.” Jason reached for her. “Come.”

The dimple in their little boy’s left cheek matched the one in Caleb’s oh-so-damn-charming face. God. They were a two of a kind and she loved them so much in that moment.

“All right,” she said, shaking her head and smiling at the irresistible pair. Maybe she wouldn’t have a lifetime of moments like this one, but at least she could bottle the few memories Caleb was willing to make with her for the sake of her little boy.

And for herself if she was truly being honest.

###

“Don’t worry about the product you had to toss,” Caleb said later that night as he loaded the last of the dinner plates into the stainless steel top of the line dishwasher. “I’ll pay for the replacements until the insurance kicks in. The deductible is on me, too.”

She stopped wiping the kitchen island’s granite countertop, then pressed her lips together into a razor thin line. He read the objections forming in her mind in every furrow marring her forehead. But he refused to let her shoulder any additional financial burdens.

“Don’t argue.” He shot a quick glance over to the open living area where Jason sat transfixed in front of the big flat screen television as he watched his favorite DVD for the bazillionth time. A reward for eating all his veggies and the rest of the organic goop Hannah called food. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

“You’re not responsible for me. Just Jason.” She squirted more cleaner, then swiped vigorous circles onto the granite. “I’m not happy about the setback, but that’s life. At least it’s only stuff that’s destroyed.”

She talked a big game, but he could hear the defeat in her voice. God, he yearned to hug her, hold her close to comfort her. But he didn’t because that might lower his ability to think clearly and keep things sex-free while he figured out how to win her over.

But still, the night he’d crossed that line stirred his blood. Heat pumped low. He cleared his throat, imagined diving into the Arctic Ocean to ice down his randy thoughts. “Tomorrow I’ll call Kennedy to make sure she puts fixing your boutique at the top of her company’s list. I’ll check in with them every day,” he said after a beat of silence. “All you have to do is worry about restocking your supplies and making sure the water and fire mitigation goes as scheduled. You’ll reopen on time.”

“I hope so, but this is my dream, my future, not yours.” She bit her bottom lip, pausing briefly before speaking again. “I won’t accept your money.”

Frustration tracked down his spine one painful step at a time. Why did Hannah have to make it so hard to do the right thing? “Consider it a payment towards making up for missed child support.”

He popped a dishwasher detergent tab into the holder, hit the control panel’s buttons to set the wash cycle, and closed the door. A bit harder than necessary, but he needed to drive out the sexual frustration along with the guilt for having missed out being there right from the beginning of Jason’s life.

“Your parents have helped...” her voice trailed off and she looked away.

His muscles clamped at the base of his neck. He still couldn’t wrap his brain around the fact that his father had become Grandpa of the Year. Not when Steven had been less than stellar in the parenting department.

“He’s my son, not theirs.” He crossed the floor to Hannah, paper towels bunched in her curled fist. “He’s my responsibility. If you’re not happy, then he won’t be happy either.”

She released the towels and swooped her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “There’s no way your money can fix everything. Who knows? Maybe I won’t be able to reopen in time for the Memorial Day celebration of the historic district’s renovation. That’ll mean months of work down the drain. Or more accurately,” she said ruefully, “up in smoke.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes, but she banked them. Still, he could see her vulnerability trembled beneath the surface of her stoicism. That, and her oh so tantalizing scent of peaches and cream, undid his resolve to keep his hands to himself. He closed the scant distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. ‘You’ll be okay. Everything will work out in time.” He caressed her stiff back, smoothing his palms over her soft T-shirt, trying to ease her tension while desperate to bank his growing desire. “I promise.”

“All of his special stuffed animals, his first pair of shoes and the ceramic cross my parents gave him after we christened him—they’re gone,” she whispered, her voice ragged and shallow. “The quilt your mom made for him. His baby pictures... they’re all ashes or beyond repair.”

His throat felt tight, raw with emotion. Though Caleb had experienced his share of loss amidst the brutality of the battles he fought overseas, the destruction wrought by bombs and guns and chaos beyond comprehension, he had neatly compartmentalized his experiences as being part of the job he had been called to do. But this? He couldn’t pop the picture of what might have happened into a box to distance himself from the nightmare.

He tightened his hold, felt her shoulders loosen. “I know my money can’t replace all that you’ve lost,” Caleb said. “I’m sorry.”

She sniffled and snuggled into the crook of his shoulder. “It’s not your fault.”

Though she absolved him, a wave of regret washed through him. That was his son’s room that had gone up in flames. He might never have known little Jason other than as a name attached to a photograph had his little boy been sleeping in his bed when the electrical fire started.

He wanted to make up the loss, not only the stuff that Hannah had treasured and saved, but of the time he had missed while under deep cover. Caleb tucked his finger under her chin and tilted her face up. “I’ll help you sift through all the Facebook albums everyone has online. We’ll get most of the pictures back,” he said. Plus, the project would give him another way to draw closer to her and find a way to reach past her stubborn refusal to be with a military man again.

“But you barely have time to deal with the corporate takeover threat,” she said. “I won’t let you jeopardize your family’s company.”

“I’ve got it under control,” he said. Though convincing the jackals that had been circling Gibson Technologies to back off had taken a shitload of finesse. He still had to log countless hours with his chief financial officer to hack through the numbers to guarantee that another corporate raider wouldn’t attempt another attack. His business degree had given him the necessary diploma to do the job, but it was his experience out in the field as a leader of an elite military ops team that solidified his focus in the boardroom.

His dad might have used this situation as an excuse to back out of supporting Caleb’s mother, but Caleb wasn’t that kind of guy. “Nothing will stop me from doing what’s best for my family,” he said. Or for her. Even if she fought him every step of the way due to some misguided sense of pride. Not that he could blame her.

Hell, he’d already fucked up royally the first time he’d issued a marriage order when he knew he’d rejected her two years ago by taking a third tour of duty. He didn’t deserve a second chance as long as he wasn’t willing to give up his career for her.

Yet here, with Hannah anchored in his arms, her body warm and pliant and fitting to his as if she were made for him, he yearned to close the distance between their mouths. He longed to kiss her full, luscious lips and drink her in like a long, tall glass of sweet tea on a hot summer day. He wanted to feel her draw him in, fill her with everything he had as man and as a lover.