so?”
“Oh my God, even our principal thinks you’re hot.”
“Mr. Tucker?” I ask.
“Not gay.” She laughs. “Just knows a good-looking man when he sees one.”
“Does this non-gay principal check out the hot women teachers, too?”
She looks up from the bag she’s rummaging through. “No. Why?”
“Just curious if he’s overstepping with Kai’s favorite teacher. I’d definitely have a problem with that.”
“He’s a nice guy.”
“Ye’ve mentioned that a couple times now. The principal, Tonya, the whole school, apparently. None of whom I’m concerned with. I’d much rather hear what ye think of me.”
She shakes her head as she turns to put the Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer, and I take the opportunity to check out her ass.
“I think you know how I feel,” she says quietly.
“Do me a favor and leave the chocolate therapy out.”
She turns and looks at me. “Really?”
I walk around the counter. “Most definitely.”
I don’t stop when I’ve passed the twelve-inch separation we’ve kept for the betterment of two weeks.
When my body presses against hers, she breathes out my name. I take her hands and hold them above her head against the closed refrigerator and lean down slowly, holding her wide eyes with mine. Then I brush my lips across hers and press my hardening cock against her. “Dinner. My place. Half an hour.” I release her hands, cup her face, kiss her forehead, and then turn around. From over my shoulder, I tell her, “Bring the ice cream.”
“Most definitely.” She smiles.
Fuck yes.
Standing on the back patio, wine chilling, steaks grilling, music playing low on the outdoor surround sound, pool lights on, hot tub bubbling, back lights off, because the play area makes me miss Kai, my a sheòid.
“Hey.”
I look over my shoulder and see Elizabeth walking through the gate. I hold my hand out, and she takes it.
“I left the front door open for ye.”
“I heard music and figured you were out here.”
I kiss her cheek, knowing if my lips touch hers, we won’t be eating. Well, I would be, but that’s beside the point.
“Let’s go lock the door. I can show ye our house.”
“Where’s Maryanne?”
“She’s off until Monday.”
She slows down a bit, and I look back.
“Are ye afraid to be alone with me here?”
“Of course not,” she huffs.
I would call bullshit, but that’s not the way to start out the evening, not if I want to ensure it doesn’t end until … My train of thought hits a wall once she walks inside.
“This place is huge.”
“It’s sufficient.”
“For what?” She laughs. “A family of twenty?”
“I was thinking four, so that they always had someone to pair up with.”
She blinks her eyes a few times at me. “You want four kids?”
“Three more, yes. Why? How many do ye want, Elizabeth?”
“I never really gave it much thought, but as you know through the text messages, it may not be possible.”
“Have ye seen a doctor about that?”
She shakes her head and continues to look around as we walk to the front door. “No.”
“Then don’t assume you can’t, m’eudail. But as a doctor myself, and having been inside ye, everything seemed perfect. Better than perfect, actually.”
She shakes her head as she smiles.
“I’d offer to give ye a more thorough exam, but I wouldn’t want to burn the steak.”
“That’s awfully kind of you, Dr. Stewart.”
“No trouble at all. Trust me; it wouldn’t just be yer pleasure, it would be mine.”
Still Friday
Lizzie
Ethan has two chairs by the built-in outdoor kitchen. “Have a seat. Let me flip the steaks and grab ye a glass of wine.”
“I can help. Just tell me what to do.”
“Sit. Let me, please.”
“Are you sure?”
“Elizabeth, never in my life did I dream of anything but being the best. First in class, best on the field.” He opens the grill and flips the steak as he continues talking. “Then in the OR. Kai came along, and I’d no idea what to do, but I kent I needed to be the best father, as well.”
He walks over and grabs the bottle of wine out of a wine cooler and pours me a glass then one for himself. He hands me the glass and sits in the chair in front of me. “As I said, her mother and I were never in love. I just kent I had to do the best I could by her.”
“Never?” I ask, because it shocks me.
“She became my best friend, I suppose, but the word love never passed between us.”
“Had you ever been in love before?”
He forces a laugh and shakes his head. “Never.”
“Longest relationship?”
“Five years,” he says