“If I know my former mother-in-law, she’s back in the dressing room, deciding what to do.” Rose nodded in that direction. “She’ll want to buy all the items Bea admired but discarded for being too frivolous. But she won’t want to upset you or hurt your pride, so she’ll be considering her options. Maybe calling Alfred for advice.”
“Really?” Bea’s brow furrowed. “I…I don’t know if I can accept that sort of gift. Dad?”
“We’re not letting Annette purchase an entire wardrobe for you. Sorry, sweet Bea.” He turned to Rose. “If I don’t let Annette buy something, though, what will she do?”
“Look pitiful.” She considered. “Acquire a decided hunch. Discuss her nonexistent rheumatism.”
His groan was low but heartfelt.
“I know how you feel. For the first few years of my marriage, I told Annette not to buy me anything.” She shook her head. “Pride, you know.”
His mouth quirked. “I know.”
“Yet somehow I ended up wearing cashmere capelets and sleeping on silk bedding. Because if I didn’t, she’d shoot me thislook, like I’d selfishly snatched away her only source of pleasure in life, and the trauma of it all might very well kill her on the spot.”
He snickered a little at that.
“It’s her way of taking care of the people she cares about. It brings her genuine joy.” She laid a hand on his arm. “That said, only you get to choose what she can and can’t buy for your daughter. Whatever you decide, I’ll support you.”
His lips pursed in thought. Then, finally, he came to a decision. “Bea, if you pick one more item, I’ll let Annette buy it for you as a graduation gift. Everything else, she’ll need to return to the dressing room. If she argues, send her to me, and I’ll deal with it.” He caught his daughter’s eye. “Later today, you’ll send her a handwritten note of appreciation. And you’ll also be calling her on the phone to chat and find out if there anything,anything, we can do for her in return.”
Bea’s uncertainty transformed into a beam. “No problem!”
When she caught sight of Annette in the distance, staggering under a mountain of garments on hangers, she sprinted in that direction.
Martin watched the two of them, his forehead creased. “Was that the right decision?”
“Remember the context here. Annette and Alfred have more money than they can possibly spend, even with all the charities they support. And they like both of you.” A quick glance established that Bea and Annette were occupied looking through the clothing options, so Rose dared a soft kiss on his cheek. “You made two good women happy, and you also maintained your boundaries. I think you handled the situation just right.”
His fingertips pressed lightly at the small of her back, where Bea and Annette couldn’t see. Traced up her spine in a slow, lingering caress.
“I’d like to make another good woman happy,” he murmured. “Soon.”
They hadn’t been alone in almost two weeks. State tests had followed hard on the heels of the AP exams, and during that stretch, they’d been too exhausted to do anything more intimate than exchange the occasional heated glance. Bea’s week at his house had begun the day after the Honors World History state test, so they’d continued to wait.
But that night, Bea was heading back to her mother’s, and Rose fully intended to take advantage of Martin’s wide-open schedule.
Martin, it seemed, had been thinking along the same lines.
“This good woman plans to make you happy too.” She flicked him a glance through her lashes. “Several times. At least once with her mouth.”
High color glazed his cheekbones, and those fingers on her back tightened. “Funny. I was thinking the same thing.”
Another glance. Still no one within hearing distance. “That you wanted a blowjob?”
“That I wanted my mouth on you.”
The bolt of pleasure between her legs nearly staggered her.
Before she could respond with anything more than a small, shaky gasp, the sound of Bea’s chattering drew nearer, and Martin’s touch disappeared.
“Tonight?” he whispered, his voice low and raspy.
She smiled in anticipation. “Tonight. My house.”
Fifteen
After Martin pulledinto Rose’s driveway that night, he double-checked the number above the garage, then the text she’d sent earlier that day.
