want him, she all but wailed. I do. Why can’t I have him?
Maybe…maybe they’d have to wait, at least until Trevor had left home. They were adults. It wouldn’t kill them to wait a few months.
Yes, but what if Trevor didn’t leave for college until next September? That was ten months away. Worse yet, what if he went to college locally, maybe even continued to live with his dad?
No matter what, by then I will be grieving the loss of Cait’s child, Molly thought bleakly. And along with this baby, everything else I’ve ever lost, or known I couldn’t have.
I am pathetic.
What had he said? We’ll work it out. Her rejoinder: But not necessarily well.
But maybe their time would come. Or maybe with time she’d realize she didn’t want this—whatever it was—to amount to anything.
Right now, though, she gazed into those extraordinarily dark eyes and feared, terribly, that she’d fallen in love with this man, and that their time wouldn’t come, because too much was in their way. And, dear God, she felt selfish even thinking that, when she’d just renewed her resolve that Cait would come first.
* * *
RICHARD HAD NEVER SEEN SO many conflicting emotions on one person’s face. It scared the crap out of him. What was she thinking? What could be making Molly look so heartbroken?
A feeling of desperation drove him to step forward and pull her into his arms. Before she could object, he kissed her, and not gently. It was a full-out, open mouth assault on her senses. Triumph filled him when, after a stunned moment, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back. Her breasts felt so damn good against his chest, her thighs against his. Her height coupled with her heels meant he didn’t have to bend far to devour her mouth. His erection pressed against her where it felt the best. Groaning, he grabbed her hips to move her against him. The vibration in her throat sounded like a purr. She was doing some rubbing of her own. In another second, he was going to lift her onto the counter and pull that sweater up. He wanted to see her breasts more than he wanted the sun to rise tomorrow. To bury his face between them, to lick, taste, suckle....
“No.” She went utterly still in his arms. “This is crazy.”
His body throbbed painfully. His hands squeezed her hips. He didn’t know if he could stop. Knew he didn’t want to, even as he also knew she was right.
“The kids could come downstairs anytime,” he remembered. He was hoarse with regret.
“That’s not what I mean, but it’s true. They could. Richard.” She swallowed. “This is too complicated. We need to think.”
Think? His brain cells had melted down a good long time ago. Restoring function didn’t happen that fast.
“Please. Let’s…let’s clean the kitchen and not give them any reason to be suspicious.”
That was too much. “Why should we be ashamed of having a relationship?”
“I’m not ashamed. But I know where my focus needs to be.”
He’d never expected to be jealous of how much a woman loved her child. For a minute he thought, And the kid’s a spoiled brat besides, then was ashamed of himself. It wasn’t even true. Caitlyn was confused, scared, in turmoil. Spoiled? This was a girl whose own father couldn’t be bothered to give her even an occasional day of his time, who apparently didn’t believe she counted because she wasn’t male and therefore worthy of being a Callahan the Fourth. Trevor and Bree at least knew both their parents loved them, even if they’d had to live with the consequences of their family splitting.
Yeah, so what was Trevor’s excuse?
Richard nodded to Molly and turned to go back to the dining room. They worked after that in near total silence, some of the ease between them gone. His body still ached, and he realized he felt a whole lot of other things, too. He was hurt, because she had a cooler head than he did and, apparently, more reservations. Or was less powerfully drawn to him. And yes, jealousy lingered and he was uncomfortable with that. There was resentment because these two kids had turned all of their lives into high drama and were determined to stay in the spotlight. And he was still scared by that expression he’d caught on Molly’s face.
They all got through pie, which Cait had again baked, and he and Trevor made their excuses shortly thereafter. Richard couldn’t tell what had happened