Delicious (Buchanans #1)

Guilt made her uncomfortable. “Maybe.”

“I should have explained more to you,” he said. “I was embarrassed to. I thought you’d think less of me.”

Maybe it was the pain, or knowing his daughter was dangerously ill. Maybe it was the time they’d spent together, but Cal was vulnerable in a way she’d never seen him before.

“I loved you,” she said. “I would have done anything for you.”

“I know.” His dark gaze settled on her face. “You deserved better than the little I had to give. I wish…I wish I’d been honest with you. Lindsey felt like such a big secret. I knew telling you about her would change everything. I should have trusted you to be able to handle it.”

Something warm and squishy enveloped her heart. She wanted to be in Cal’s arms and have him hold her close. She wanted them to go to bed and make love until the sun came up.

Either he was thinking the same thing or he read the invitation in her eyes. He stood and held out his hand.

She rose and walked to him. As she reached for him, he pulled her close. His arms went around her, she put her hands on his waist and he kissed her.

The contact was as erotic as it was familiar. She closed her eyes as he brushed his lips against hers, generating heat and need and sparks. Within seconds her br**sts were swollen and sensitive and her thighs had begun to tremble.

“What is it about you?” he asked before he swept his tongue against her bottom lip.

Rather than answering, she opened to accept him. As he pushed inside and they began an intimate dance, he cupped her head as if to hold her in place.

Had she been able to form coherent thoughts, she would have told him she wasn’t going anywhere. She wanted him too much. Wanted this. Funny how in all the time they’d been apart she’d managed to do fairly nicely with only a minimum of sexual contact, but now, with him, she felt weak with desire.

He drew back and nipped on her bottom lip, then kissed her jaw. As he moved to her neck, he shifted and instantly stiffened.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

Somehow the tightness of his mouth and the shadows of pain in his eyes told her differently.

She stepped back. “What was I thinking? You’re just out of the hospital a couple of hours ago. They used your hips as pincushions and sucked out quarts of bone marrow. Sit down right now.”

He shook his head. “No. Let’s keep going.”

He took her hand and brought it to his groin. He was hard and when she touched him, he flexed against her fingers.

She knew that she was already wet and swollen, but none of that mattered.

“Cal, be serious. You’ve just had general anesthetic. You’re weak, tired and this is the last thing you should be doing.”

He stared into her eyes. She looked back, letting him see the need inside of her.

“Rain check,” she whispered, as she kissed him. “I promise.”

“No. We can do this.”

“Right. Because you whimpering in pain is really sexy.”

“I don’t whimper.”

“I know. You’re a big strong guy who right now needs a nap. Alone.”

He picked up her hand and kissed her palm. “I want you.”

Words to make a pregnant woman dance with delight. “I want you, too. We’ll do something about it real soon. I promise.”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Okay. I think I need to crash for a while.”

“The doctor said it would take a couple of days for you to get the anesthesia out of your system. Plus, you have to get your strength back from the whole bone marrow sucking. Go take a nap. I’ll run over to the restaurant, then be back to fix meat loaf.”

He squeezed her fingers. “Thanks. You don’t have to do this.”

“I know, but I want to.”

Although why, she wouldn’t, she couldn’t, say.

DANI SEALED the box and put it on top of the others by the front door. She would either have to come back later with a couple of burly guys and a van or work out a financial agreement with Hugh about him buying her out of half the furniture. For now, she only wanted her clothes and some personal items.

She hadn’t slept much the previous night. Although Penny’s guest bed had been comfortable, Dani had had too much on her mind. So much had happened so quickly. Hugh wanting a divorce, finding out he was cheating on her, moving out. It would be a while before she was finally able to draw in a breath and relax.

She opened the linen closet and pulled out a big box of photos. More things she was going to have to go through. She tossed it into a carton. She would sort them at Penny’s and return Hugh’s to him. She had no idea what they would do with the pictures they had taken together. Who would want those?

So many things to divide. Their good china and crystal, DVDs, electronic equipment. They’d been together nearly seven years. That made for a lot of baggage.

She heard the garage door open and stiffened. A quick glance at her watch told her Hugh wasn’t due home for another two hours. She’d planned to be finished long before that.

She had a brief thought that his chickie had stopped by for something when she heard the soft sound of wheels on hardwood.

“Dani?”

She closed the linen closet door and stepped into the living room. “You weren’t supposed to be here,” she said.

Hugh looked as he always did—handsome, strong, sexy. The wheelchair did nothing to detract from his appeal. A friend from grad school had once confessed—after too many rum-and-cokes—that the wheelchair only made a woman think about being more creative, where Hugh was concerned. At the time Dani had laughed off the comment. Now she realized she should have paid attention.