Claiming His Secret Heir

Just as he’d predicted.

She tried to slow everything down, but she felt the gallop of Damon’s heart, the rush of his need. She had no choice but to hang onto him. To brace herself for…

Sensation gripped her, tossed her in the waves of another heady orgasm that undulated through her again and again. She knew that his completion came at the same time as hers, felt the harsh tensing of his body and heard the guttural shout. Yet she was so lost in what she was feeling, she couldn’t even find the will to peel her spent body off of him for long moments afterward.

She simply curled onto his chest, trying to catch her breath, comforted by the rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her ear.

In time, he turned them both sideways, easing her off him to lie next to him in the fading firelight from a blaze that needed stirring. It was early yet. They hadn’t even had dinner. But it felt so right to be with him.

Naked. Fulfilled. Happy.

Save for one tiny thought at the back of her brain.

In the past, the aftermath of sex had always been a time for more intimate words. Another sort of connection they’d once enjoyed.

I love you, he might have once whispered in her ear, stroking her hair as she fell asleep. Now, the gentle glide of his fingers through the long strands felt strangely…quiet.

Forcefully quiet.

As if there was an effort not to say anything he might regret later.

Sleepily, she opened one eye to peer up at him, trying to gauge his expression. Brow furrowed, he seemed to concentrate on her hair as if the way he combed his fingers through were of monumental importance.

Because he was busy telling himself it didn’t matter that he no longer loved her?

Probably she was reading too much into the moment. Even though the sex had been as earth-moving as ever, they were still off in their conversational rhythms. They’d been apart too long.

Caroline hoped that was all there was to it. Because if her husband didn’t love her anymore, it didn’t matter how beautiful, sexual or desirable he made her feel.

It didn’t even matter that they shared a child together, although she would hurt more for Lucas’s sake.

No. If Damon didn’t love her, no power on earth could make Caroline stay.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Two hours later, Damon cradled Lucas in his arms and stared out into the snowy night through a window that overlooked Central Park to the west. Behind him, Caroline picked at the desserts after the small meal they’d shared in the sitting room of her suite, an informal affair to make it easier to spend time with the baby. His son blinked up at him with wide blue eyes, his expression content. His little face was so familiar now.

With his wife back in his bed, once more committed to being a couple, Damon should share that sense of contentment. Being with Caroline again reminded him that he was in reach of all his goals. Now that his family was secure, he could focus on his company. His son’s legacy.

Except something was still off.

He could feel the disconnect between them now no matter that the sex had been so good it had left them nearly delirious, blissed out and languorous in the sheets together long afterward. Something was missing in their marriage. Something they’d had before and hadn’t recaptured. He felt the loss all the more for having known her full love. The off-the-charts intimacy hadn’t patched the hole left by the lack of trust.

Surely that was the missing piece. Questioning one another, the betrayals and secrets, had left them with a deep uneasiness no matter how hard they worked to be a team. Damned if he knew how to restore that bond.

A brusque knock on the door called him from brooding thoughts. Caroline set down her plate and moved as if to rise.

“I’ll get it.” He strode to the door, not wanting her disturbed.

He’d seen a marked improvement in her health since they’d been reunited and he didn’t want to slow her recovery by stressing her any more. He enjoyed seeing hints of her competitive spirit return. Some of her natural joy.

Wade stood on the other side.

“Sorry to disturb you.” The guy’s black pants and tee were neatly pressed, but appeared to be off-duty wear, making Damon wonder if there was a problem.

“What’s wrong?” Instinctively, he looked past the guard into the hallway, shifting Lucas to the arm farther from the door.

“You have visitors. We started to run a check on them before we bothered you, but the staff vouched for them. It’s your half brother and his wife, Cameron and Maresa McNeill.” He flipped his phone screen around for Damon to see.

Sure enough, Damon’s doppelganger showed up on the screen—the half brother who looked most like him. “Yeah. We’d better let the family through the door or I’ll get booted out of here.” He had thought Cameron was going to wait until tomorrow to show, but Damon didn’t feel right turning him away when this was his grandfather’s house.