A Daughter's Trust

He was right. However…

“What I mean is, it can’t go any further than…” What? How did you put boundaries on something you couldn’t define? “I don’t want to get married.”

Face flaming, she realized how that sounded. “Ever. I don’t ever want to marry.”

“You alluded to that before.”

“I mean it, Rick. I can only do this if you understand that we’ll never be more than two people living separate lives. I don’t want to lead you on. Or someday have to look at you with a ring in your hand and tell you no.”

He nodded. “I understand.”

He didn’t appear fazed. At all. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure I understand that you think you don’t ever want to marry, yes.”

Eyes na

rrowed, Sue studied him a couple of minutes longer. He’d received her message. Whether or not he’d accepted it was something else entirely. But not her problem.

Was it?

It was just that the man had been hurt enough. Far too much. And she seemed to eventually hurt people. Her folks. Joe…She wasn’t going to think beyond that.

“No one can predict what tomorrow will bring, right?” His soft words whispered across her skin like a breeze in the hot sun. “Isn’t that what we concluded last night? That ultimately, nothing is guaranteed?”

His body wasn’t moving, but his gaze was pulling her closer. She nodded. Licked her lips.

“I’ve been curious about something since the first day we met.” He just sat there, watching her.

“What?”

“What your lips taste like.”

Oh, God. He was making her crazy. Just as he had the night she’d been talking to him in the bath. And every day since, pretty much every time she thought about Rick Kraynick.

He leaned forward, holding her gaze, and eventually Sue leaned in, too.

And when his lips met hers, she moaned with a longing she didn’t recognize, in a body she thought she’d known completely.

HE HAD HER SHIRT OFF. With shaking hands, Rick studied the front closure on the piece of black lace that barely concealed an incredibly beautiful pair of breasts. “I have to see them,” he said.

Her nod was all the incentive he needed, and with a flick, the lace was gone. Her nipples were hard. Darkened puckers in the middle of creamy white. He didn’t trust himself to touch her yet. He’d be done before he’d begun if he didn’t slow down.

“I haven’t been with a woman in over a year,” he admitted. “I’m not usually so lacking in—”

With a finger on his lips, Sue said, “Shh. You’re perfect. And it’s been longer than a year for me.” She lay beside him on the couch, her hand splayed beneath his shirt, fingers buried in the hair on his chest as she toyed with one of his nipples.

A baby’s cry cracked through the room and Sue shot up, fumbling for her shirt, pulling it on over her unfastened bra as she hurried down the hall.

Rick’s first instinct was to follow her. If Carrie, or any of the babies, was in trouble…

He sat instead, adjusting his jeans around his engorged penis, and waited. Sue tended to her kids every single day. And night. It was her job. If she needed help she’d—

“It was Michael,” she said, coming back in. “I’m not sure what it was. Maybe a stomach cramp. He was still sleeping. I rubbed his back for a second, but he seemed fine. I hope he’s not getting sick.” She was babbling.

She sat down close to Rick, but her bra was fastened.

He got the hint. Slow down, man. She’d said it had been a long time since she’d been with anyone. And he didn’t want their first time to be a rushed affair on her couch.