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Ask the kids. So simple. But also reasonable. The performance was growing into more than a backyard shindig. “You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Knight.” I used the same purr from last night.
“I drive a lot of hard things.”
He pressed his erection between us, and I bit my lower lip, loving the solid way he held me and the promise of the ecstasy that cock could bring. He took my heavy conversation and held it close, lightening my load. Affection swelled, but it wasn’t accompanied by the giddiness of a new relationship or even a temporary fling with amazing sex.
Longing crowded around the edges of my mind. When I arrived in Crocus Valley, I knew what I’d lost. Money, pride, and the ability to properly care for my mom. Leaving Crocus Valley, I’d be walking away from the future I had wanted for myself. The one I envisioned I was working toward before the shitty landlords and crappy venues and the predatory ex.
I had a glimpse of a family who accepted me for me. Not how much money I could make them. The kids even liked Thelma, and there hadn’t been many people outside of my own kin who liked prickly, defensive Thelma.
Everything I’d ever wanted was in Crocus Valley. A cozy home. Friends. A man who made me swoon and who treated me like I was special for no other reason than he couldn’t help himself. A man who acted as if my dreams and fantasies were important. But I couldn’t leave my mom like she’d left me.
“We have some time before I have to make a call,” he said roughly, and I realized I was grinding my ass against him. “I want to take you just like this and then fuck you again in the shower.”
My body clenched and went molten. “My face is going to have the orgasm flush when your sister drops the kids off.”
“Damn right.” He twisted to grab something behind him, probably a condom. The crinkle of the wrapper confirmed my assumption, and then he was sheathed and sliding into me. Pleasure ignited. I could stay like this forever.
The groan he let out made it sound like we hadn’t fucked in years when it’d been hours. I fisted my hands in the sheets as he slowly stroked in and out, letting the pleasure build and wipe away all the regrets.
I wasn’t going to meet another man like Cody. Not in California, not anywhere in the world. So I’d hold these next few weeks close to my heart and use these experiences to get through all the hard times coming my way.
Sixteen
Cody
My arms crossed, I leaned against my pickup in the parking lot outside of the small Coal Haven airport. The wind ruffled my hair, cooling the way the sun beat down on me and soaked into the material of my suit. Good thing I didn’t choose black. The light gray kept me from boiling alive while waiting for Weston Duke.
The hot prickle of sweat on the back of my neck could be from talking to my father-in-law on the phone.
“Are the kids getting excited?”
“They’re nervous about the change.” I’d leave it at that. Grayson grew more morose when the end of summer was mentioned. Ivy fretted over the cats and whether their new owners would be as good to them as us.
No amount of reassurance helped. For any of us. I’d miss those little furry missiles playing and scampering and making my kids laugh.
Curtis chuckled. “Lauri and I are trying to decide which one of us is going to retire.”
“Neither of you wants to?” They had professed how much time they’d have to dedicate to the kids when they’d helped me the first few months after Meg passed. A spark of something I couldn’t identify lit in my chest. If I wasn’t waiting for Mr. Duke with a million things on my mind, I might think it was hope that my in-laws would back out, and I’d have no choice but to figure out how to be a full-time single dad who had a damn good excuse not to work so much.
“Well...” I heard the way he sucked in air through clenched teeth like he usually did. “You know, we’ve discussed different options. Both of us part-time. She’s not—she doesn’t— And I, well...Retiring is complicated.”
How complicated could it be? They’d had successful, lucrative careers for decades. They weren’t worried about health insurance or savings accounts, and they owned their house. Was I not the only one having second thoughts? “Are you sure—”
“Oh, yes, don’t worry about that,” he said hurriedly. “Helena will be better for the kids than Buffalo Gully.”
I agreed, but my stomach was twisting and churning. The Helena plans were growing closer, and doubts and what-ifs invaded my thoughts more each day. I hated the idea of not seeing my kids for weeks at a time. Sure, I’d travel to visit them, and they’d come home—only Buffalo Gully wouldn’t be their home.
Crocus Valley fit my idea of a home more than anywhere else. My sister and brother-in-law hung out with the kids. They had their aunt Sutton. They had friends, thanks to Tova and the recital.
Curtis was speaking, and I’d missed half of what he said. “—we can be there on the last Thursday of the month, leave on Friday, and have the weekend to move. I know the King Oil contract is important, and you’re going to be busy.”
Panic spread through my veins. “Friday won’t work.”
“You’re coming here early?”
Fuck no. I pinched the bridge of my nose. Decisions had been made. Plans were in progress. “No, but the last Friday of the month is their performance.”
“Oh?” He sounded interested.
