“’Cause I need you to understand where I’m comin’ from.”
“You mean why you’re pursuing me so hard even though I’m not interested?”
He lifted his head. She wasn’t interested. That’s what she just said. “Wet spot on the bed says otherwise.”
When she flipped onto her back, he followed, taking the opportunity to tear the sheet off her before she could stop him. “Ready to make another one?”
“Trip!”
He ignored her “outrage” and sucked a nipple none-too-gently into his mouth. He twisted the other one with his fingers, causing her back to arch.
“Think that’s a yes,” he murmured against the curve of her tit before sinking his teeth in gently and then licking where he bit her.
He let his fingers slide down her smooth skin to her belly ring. He followed his fingers with his mouth, tonguing the piercing when he got there.
He let his hand go on ahead without him, finding the small dark patch of hair at the top of her pussy and he brushed his palm over it.
“Trip,” she said in a half warning, half moan when his fingers teased her, and he settled his weight between her legs. As he lowered his head to taste her, her fingers grabbed his hair and tugged. “Kiss me.”
He raised his eyes to her and grinned. “Gonna. Down here.” He lost his grin as he saw the worry in her eyes. No, it wasn’t worry. It was panic and she had her bottom lip crushed between her teeth.
What the fuck?
He dropped his gaze and saw what she’d been trying to hide. And she’d been damn good about doing that until now. How he’d missed it...
His fingertip followed the slight curve of the scar, then moved to travel along her stretch marks. Not fresh. Old. Pale. Like the scar.
For as thin as she was it didn’t make sense to him why she’d have stretch marks. All radiating from some loose skin on her lower belly. He pursed his lips and studied the scar again.
And then he went cold.
This was why she wanted to kiss him when they fucked. It kept him occupied so he wouldn’t explore her elsewhere.
So she could avoid the questions.
Because he certainly fucking had them.
And if she thought she’d get away without answering them, she was dead fucking wrong.
“Where is he?”
Not once had she mentioned a baby or a child. And she certainly wasn’t hiding one in this studio apartment.
Did she lose custody of her child, or even children?
The possibility of her already being a mother never even crossed his mind.
“Where is he?” He pressed his hand to her lower belly. “Or she?”
His questions, those unavoidable questions, made ice slither through her veins and her heart seize. Against her will, he was taking her back to a place and time she didn’t want to go.
She knew the conversation would need to be had, especially since they’d had sex and she was sure Trip planned on them having more.
Or, actually, Trip planned on them doing much more than having sex. But right now, she was only on board with the sex part. And even that was questionable.
The rest...?
She had not only returned to Manning Grove but had avoided dating and anything that would cause questions or looks. Or even whispers. Because right after it happened, she swore everyone was staring at her, pointing and whispering. Either with an accusatory look or one of sympathy.
She hadn’t welcomed either.
In one month, she had lost too much. But that saying, “when one door closes, another one opens,” was true... in a way. Though, she hadn’t been expecting that first door to slam shut, catching her fingers in the jamb and causing excruciating pain. The cause of the other door opening wasn’t a happy occasion, either. But it was a door she escaped through. To a place she could lick her wounds and hope to recover. Eventually.
But coming back to Manning Grove and taking over her late father’s bar gave her something to concentrate on, instead of sitting in a room with the lights off and the curtains closed, wondering if she could continue.
While she was lost in thought, Trip had moved back to her side, pulling the sheet up over them, and remained surprisingly quiet.
If she was going to be partners with him in business, he needed to know why some days for her might be worse than others. Why some days she might be barely functioning. Those had been occurring less with time, but there was no guarantee they would completely go away.
She needed to forget the bad and remember the good, the only problem was the bad memories kept slamming her in the chest like a sledgehammer.
He also needed to understand why she wasn’t looking for a man, and even if she was, why it wouldn’t be someone like him.
She closed her stinging eyes and took a moment to gather her thoughts, swallowing around the tightness in her throat. Somehow, she got the words out. Words she hadn’t said out loud in over a year. “I had a son.”