Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4) - Nalini Singh Page 0,72
at times like this.”
Sarah’s own breathing wasn’t exactly steady when she said, “I can take a little more.” Yes, he was a big, muscled weight, but she liked feeling him all over her.
Taking her at her word, Abe lowered himself until she felt deliciously crushed, surrounded by his scent, enveloped in the wild heat of him. He brushed her hair off her face, kissed her cheek. The sweet, unexpected caress made her toes curl. “Morning.”
She smiled in a way she knew was silly and happy. “Good morning.”
Stroking his hand down her side, Abe cupped her breast with lazy possessiveness. “What do you have planned for today?” Another sweet kiss.
“Nothing major.” She couldn’t stop smiling. “I thought maybe I’d read or bake.” Normal, ordinary things that she cherished. “And Flossie and I usually go for a more fun walk on Sundays.”
“Can I eat your baking?” Abe nuzzled her.
She turned her head to smile up at him. “Yes, but I might put you to work as my assistant.”
“Bring it on.”
ABE SAT CLEAN AND SHOWERED in Sarah’s kitchen. Since he had no fresh clothes at her place, he was just wearing a towel, while she’d pulled on a large T-shirt and panties as well as fluffy socks. “The tile floor on this side of the kitchen is too cold,” she said to him when he teased her about the pink socks.
“I like them—very cheerleader.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Did I ever tell you about my cheerleader fantasy?”
Rolling her eyes and laughing, Sarah passed him the last of the ham from the fridge, the rest of their breakfast supplies already on the table. “I need to go grocery shopping.”
Abe didn’t grocery shop. It wasn’t that he thought he was too good for it—he just didn’t think about it. He had a housekeeper who came in once a week and who made sure the house was clean and he had food in the pantry. If he ran out of something midweek, he grabbed it from a local convenience store. But if Sarah wanted to go grocery shopping, he was in. “We can go after breakfast.”
Sarah halted in the process of pulling out slices of bread from the toaster. “Since when do you grocery shop?”
He grabbed the coffee carafe, topped off his mug. Sarah was sticking to one cup a day for the duration of her pregnancy, going with decaffeinated drinks the rest of the time. Today that meant some fruity herbal tea.
“I used to go with my mom when I came home from boarding school,” he told her.
“You must’ve missed your folks when you were away at school.” Sarah’s voice was careful.
It took Abe a second to figure out why: he’d always shut her down when she’d asked about his family during their marriage. Back then everything had reminded him of Tessie, and he hadn’t been able to handle it. But that Abe was in the past. This one could think of his baby sister without breaking… and he’d promised not to hurt Sarah.
It was a promise he’d damn well keep.
“Yeah,” he said, the grin that spread over his face unexpected and real both. “I was a bit of a mama’s boy, to be honest.”
Sarah’s face lit up. “You?” she said as they sat down to eat. “I don’t believe it.”
“Seriously, I was.” Abe grabbed a slice of toast, reached for the butter. “I mean, I didn’t run to her if someone talked shit to me or anything like that, but I used to enjoy doing stuff with Mom.”
Grinning again, he shook his head. “I’d complain if she asked me to go to the mall or the grocery store with her and pretend I was bored out of my skull while she shopped, but secretly I liked hanging out with her.”
Sarah’s smile was huge. “Did you ever let on?”
“Naw. But I think Mom knew. Somehow she always had to do a ton of stuff when I was home from boarding school.”
“What about your dad?”
Abe took a deep breath. Losing his father so soon after Tessie had been a hammer blow neither he nor his mother had expected, and sometimes Abe still forgot his dad was gone and would go to give him a call to ask his advice. “I loved him,” he said, his voice gritty. “He was older than my mom, a little more set in his ways, with some old-fashioned views, but he was always so proud of me.”
Abe swallowed the emotion choking him up. “He wanted me to be my own man,