A band tightens around my chest. “Cole…”
“Mary is sad, too.”
Of course she is. I didn’t think the kids would take our going so badly. “Is your sister okay? She seems… unhappy lately.”
“She’s just in a mood. Girls.”
That makes me smile. “She’ll be okay. But you’d tell me if anything bothered her, right?”
“I s’ppose.”
I kiss his hair again. “God, I love you guys so much. How could we live without you? There’s no way!”
He pouts up at me. “Can’t you stay?”
“There’s something I need to do. But we’ll talk on the phone every day. We’ll be back before you know it. And you’ll have fun with Grandma and with Gigi. She promised to take you to the movies. Won’t that be nice?”
“Guess so.”
I laugh at his put-out expression. “Run along now to play. I need to finish packing.”
Dutifully he hops off the bed and runs away. I hope Matt talks to them, especially to Mary, before we go. I should talk to him about this, but he’s been busy at the shop, in the Mancave, with Kaden, putting in a bit of extra work before we leave.
I think he’s worried Kaden won’t manage to keep the business running without him. Matt worries so much, all the time, about all of us. He’s worried about me, although my pregnancy has been easy, and about Gigi who has many admirers flocking around her, and about Merc who seems undecided as to what to do with his life. About my mom who gets bad sciatica pains sometimes, about his own mom who had pneumonia last winter… And all that on top of running the shop and taking care of all of us.
Maybe I should talk to Mary myself. She is my daughter, too, after all, if not in blood. Would she talk to me?
I’m not sure it’s a good idea. I sense I’m the one she’s really upset with. The thought hurts. She’s my little girl. I’d do anything for her.
So then why?
* * *
“There you are.” Matt steps inside the bedroom much later and finds me staring critically at my overflowing suitcase. He slips an arm around my waist. “How’s the packing going?”
I look up at him with a smile. “Terribly. How was your day?”
“Long and godawful, until I saw you.”
Aw.
He turns me around and kisses me, a sweet kiss, and I melt in his arms. Pressed to his muscular chest, enfolded in his strong arms, his taste on my tongue, I’m right where I want to be, always.
And then he groans in my mouth, tugs on my lower lip with his teeth, and the sweet turns hot. Fire courses through my veins.
“The kids?” I whisper.
“Watching cartoons downstairs.”
“Won’t they hear? Matt, you should talk to Mary, she’s—”
“I’ll talk to Mary tomorrow. Now,” he walks me backward, pushes me down on the bed beside the open suitcase, “I’m going to undress you and lick every inch of you.”
His big hands stroke my legs as he pulls down my soft yoga pants, letting them drop to the floor and then he hooks his fingers in my panties.
“What happened at the shop?” I ask.
He pulls my panties down and nuzzles my thigh, his beard scratching my skin, sending shivers of anticipation through me. “Shh. Let me work.”