“Ma’am, if you aren’t speaking the truth.” Another heart-stopping kiss followed his teasing.
She was finally able to catch her breath. “It appears Waters found that out the hard way when he went up against you, darling.”
A knock sounded on the door to the adjoining room. “Dad? Claire? Are you up yet?”
They smiled at each other. “We kind of are,” he called out to his son.
“Can I go for a swim?”
“Not without us. We’ll be up in a minute.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Jeremy Malone? What did you say?”
“It always takes you so long.”
“I promise we’ll hurry,” Claire broke in.
“Promise?”
Vic shook his head no, but now that Jeremy was up, they had to hurry.
After saying “I promise,” Claire rolled away and got off the bed on the other side, eluding the hand that tried to stop her.
He frowned. “Where are you going?”
“To the shower,” she called over her shoulder. “This time I’m locking the door!”
“There’ll be a price to pay for that,” he growled.
“Goody. I’ll be ready for any sentence you wish to pronounce once we’re in the hotel in Orlando. And that’s a promise I intend to keep.”
* * *
“GOOD HEAVENS, JEREMY! You filled a whole pillow case with candy.” Claire had spread out a quilt on the family room floor where he dumped his Halloween cache. Vic stood behind him grinning. She could tell her husband had enjoyed himself going trick-or-treating with Nate’s dad and the boys. The two men wore identical Sabretooth masks.
“I know. You should see Nate’s bag. His dad took most of his peanut butter cups.”
“My dad always took my licorice candy.”
“Yuck. I hate licorice.”
Vic swooped down and picked up a couple of York Peppermint Pattie candies.
“Hey, Dad—those are my favorite!
“I left some for you,” he said after chomping down on them.
“What do you want, Claire?”
He was her thoughtful boy. “Hmm. I don’t think anything right now. I ate too much stuff while I stayed here to give out candy to all the kids who came to the door. They were so cute, but no one was as cute as you are in your Wolverine costume. I’m glad I got some pictures of you before you left.”
“I saw another kid with the same costume on.”
“That doesn’t surprise me, honey.”
Vic darted her a loving glance. “There was a big crowd out tonight.”