A Misty Harbor Wedding (29 page)

Her daughter looked at her in awe. “Wow, Mom, I never would have put a tequila bottle and that particular body part together like that.”

Gordon's laughter was contagious. The awkwardness had passed. It didn't look like he was going to toss her tush back out on the street. At least not yet.

 

 

“It was very sweet of you to take us to dinner, Matt.” Sierra reached up and brushed a kiss across his cheek while Austin wasn't looking.

“I told you Tony's makes the best pizza around.” Matt waved to Austin as the merry-go-round he was riding made another rotation.

Sierra waved too. Austin was really enjoying himself, and she had missed his smile horribly these past couple of days. She had met Jake at the same restaurant along Interstate 95, near lunchtime, and retrieved their son. Austin had talked her ear off on the first hour of the drive back to Misty Harbor, but then he had fallen asleep. Jake and Aunt Jean had obviously catered to his every whim for the past five days and spoiled him. Jake had ended up buying another suitcase for all the clothes and toys they had bought Austin during his stay in Boston.

Matt had met them at the Alberts', and she suggested a relaxing evening at home with some hamburgers on the grill. Matt suggested that they go into Sullivan for pizza and the amusements to celebrate Austin's return. Her son had very vocally seconded that suggestion. She had been outvoted by a bunch of men.

Austin's only complaint so far had been that Tyler hadn't joined them. Tonight she wanted her son all to herself and Matt. She wanted to pretend that they were a family.

Sierra felt Matt wrap his arms around her waist and tug her against the front of him. She relaxed in his arms as she watched her son tighten his grip on the pole with both hands and continued to ride the white wooden horse like a pro. Austin was growing up so fast. He didn't even need her to ride the merry-go-round with him any longer.

Soon he would be in school all day and then college. Then he'd be getting married and starting his own family. She sighed as the years flashed before her eyes.

“What's the matter—tired?” Matt tightened his hold.

She wasn't just tired, she was exhausted. She was burning the candle on both ends and doing a very fine balancing act. It was just a matter of time before all those balls came tumbling down on top of her head. “I was just thinking about how fast he's growing up.”

Matt chuckled. “He's only four.”

“Old enough for nursery school this fall.” If that wasn't enough to make her want to cry.

“Come on, Sierra, think of all the friends he's going to make.”

How could she think that when she had absolutely no idea where or if her son would be attending a nursery school?

Matt chuckled as Austin did another rotation. This time when he went by Austin didn't even wave. Her son was too busy talking to the little girl on the horse next to him. “He's going to be a ladies' man, I can see it now,” Matt said.

She could feel the vibrations of Matt's laughter against her back. She didn't even want to think about that one. Her son couldn't even take his own shower yet. “Then he'd better learn that soap is his friend.”

Matt was still laughing when the ride came to an end. “I'll get him,” Matt said as he hurried around the barricade and up onto the ride. A crowd of parents rushed the merry-go-round, all anxious to get to their kids before the little guys tried to dismount on their own.

She watched as Matt swept Austin off his horse and up into his arms. The smile and trust on Austin's face said it all.

“Mom, Matt says I have to ask you if I can ride the horse again.” Austin held out his arms to her.

She took her son out of Matt's arms. “You just had two really big slices of pizza.” She really would rather have the pizza stay in his little tummy. “We'll come back some other time and you can ride it then.” She made a mental note to squeeze in some time for another trip to Sullivan with Austin. If she could find a way to buy a couple more hours in every day, all those titanium credit cards in her wallet might actually do her some good.

“Hey, they have Skee-Ball,” Matt said, distracting her son from the horses.

Austin's gaze followed Matt's finger to a row of Skee-Ball machines. “I don't know how to play.”

“Don't worry, I'll teach you.” Matt hurried over to the row of machines and grabbed a spot that had three lanes open next to each other. “I'm a pro at this.”

Austin eyed the short wooden lanes and then he gazed at the red and white–striped cart near the entrance to the amusements. “Can I get some of that?” He pointed to a towering swirl of blue cotton candy on a stick the vendor was handing to a little boy.

She shuddered at the thought of all that sugar. “No, but if you're still hungry after we're done playing, then I'll think about getting you a snow cone.”

“A blue one?”

“Can I get a brown one?” Matt asked with a little-boy look on his face.

She chuckled as she shook her head at both of them. “Only if you both behave.”

She stood at the end of her Skee-Ball lane and tried to remember how to play. She looked over at Matt, who was dropping quarters into Austin's machine and showing him how to hold the ball.

Her heart didn't know whether to sing or sink. They weren't pretending, they did look like a typical family out for a good time.

 

 

Two hours later Matt carried a sleeping Austin into his bedroom while she hauled the giant tiger Matt had won him by shooting a basketball into a hoop three times in a row. She had no idea what they were going to do with a four-foot tiger that Austin had already named Tony, in honor of either the pizza shop or the cereal tiger. She wasn't sure which.

Matt laid Austin on his bed. “What do you want me to do with him?” There was a chuckle in Matt's voice. Austin was out for the night and hadn't so much as fluttered an eyelid since being removed from the car.

“Take his shoes and socks off; I'll get the rest.” She sat Tony in the corner of the room and then hunted down a clean pair of pajamas. Thankfully she had taken Austin into the ladies' room and cleaned up most of the mess that the blue snow cone had left.

Within five minutes Austin was in clean pajamas and tucked in for the night. He never woke up. “Come on, I could use a glass of wine.” She pushed Matt out of her son's bedroom and shut off the light.

“Sounds good to me.” Matt followed her into the kitchen. “Does he always go to sleep that fast?”

“No, Jake and his aunt must have kept him very busy for the last few days. He even took an hour nap on the way back to Misty Harbor this afternoon.” She went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of wine. “I picked up some beer today in case you would rather have one.”

Matt gave her a look that curled her toes. “You bought me beer?”

The way he said it, one would think she had bought him season tickets to the New England Patriots' home games. “You seem to like it more than wine.” She reached into a cabinet for a wine glass.

“I wasn't sure what kind to get; there are so many to choose from.” Three-quarters of the aisle at the food store had been beer. The other remaining shelf space had been wine and liquor. The only conclusion she could make from that was that the people of Maine must really like their beer. “I let Austin make the final decision. He picked the one with the moose on the label.”

Matt chuckled as he opened the door and pulled out a cold bottle of beer. “Smart boy. Remind me to buy him a tricycle or something.”

“Hey, I'm the one who paid for it.”

Matt set the bottle on the counter and then swung her up and sat her next to it. “So you are.” His mouth nuzzled her neck. “Does that mean you like me?”

“Some people would think that,” she teased. She loved the way Matt made her feel—like a woman. A very desirable woman.

“You taste like heaven.” Matt's mouth nibbled its way over to her mouth for a long, slow kiss.

She melted under the onslaught of his mouth. Matt made her want things she'd never known she wanted. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and hung on as he carried her into the bedroom. Neither one broke their kiss.

Austin was in the next room, but nothing short of a nightmare or a bathroom call would wake her son now. Just to be on the safe side, she whispered against Matt's mouth, “Lock the door.”

Matt fumbled with the lock. “Are you sure it's okay?”

“Yes.” No, she wasn't sure if it was okay or not. No one had ever handed her a mommy booklet when she gave birth to Austin four years ago. And she was sure as hell that no one mailed her “The Single Mom's Guide to Sex Without Scarring Your Child for Life” pamphlet when her divorce was final. But this was Matt. This was the man she had fallen in love with.

This was the man she wanted.

Matt lowered her to the bed and followed her down. “I missed you today. I should have gone with you to pick up Austin. That was a long distance for you to drive alone.” Matt's hands were undoing the front of her blouse.

She tugged his shirt over his head without bothering to unbutton it. “Your brothers needed your help in breaking down the wedding and returning the tents and tables.” She wanted Jake to meet Matt, the man she was hoping would become a very important person in their son's life. But they would be meeting soon enough. Her father, Jake, and two other executives were flying in a week from Wednesday. She had nine days to prepare to knock their socks off.

Nine days to get up the courage to tell Matt who she really was.

With Matt's mouth working its way down to the zipper of her jeans, nine days seemed like a lifetime away.

 

 

Matt couldn't sleep. He lay with Sierra in his arms and wondered what she was hiding. She kept putting him off every time he mentioned the future. Their future. Time was running out, and so was Sierra. She and Austin would be leaving the day after Labor Day. Yet she was stonewalling him at every turn.

Why?

He glanced down at Sierra and gently brushed her hair away from her face. She was beautiful. She was also exhausted. He could see it in her face. She had been running herself ragged for the past couple of weeks. It wasn't just the wedding either. She was up to something, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what.

He carefully eased Sierra out of his arms and got out of bed. He didn't think they had locked the front door or turned off the living room lights. He stepped into his jeans and headed for the kitchen. It was only ten-thirty at night.

He chuckled as he put the wine and beer back into the refrigerator and got himself a glass of milk. Sierra and he had been so distracted that neither bottle had been opened. A distant low-sounding beep caught his attention. He followed the sound into the den.

He turned on the light and shook his head as a fax machine spit out a few pages. The businesswoman strikes again. He walked over to the Alberts' desk, which Sierra had obviously overtaken. A fancy laptop was in the center of the desk and a portable printer/fax machine was sitting by its side. The machine had enough bells and whistles on it that it could probably contact the space station. Sierra took her work seriously.

He glanced at the page that had just come out of the fax, and he frowned. The letterhead was from the Randall Corporation, the hotel company that was trying to buy the lighthouse and its surrounding acreage. What would they be faxing Sierra?

He placed his glass of milk on the desk and picked up the page. It took a moment for his heart to understand what his brain was relaying. The signature that was sprawled across the bottom of the legal document said it all: Sierra Randall-Morley, vice president of the Randall Corporation.

Anger, hurt, and betrayal made it nearly impossible to breathe. He had to get out of there before he said or did something he would regret. He now knew what Sierra had been hiding.

 

 

Sierra woke alone at dawn. She stretched and yawned. Matt must have gotten up and left, knowing that Austin would be getting up soon. Matt and she hadn't had time to discuss the logistics of the physical aspect of their relationship.

She didn't want to spend her nights alone, but she didn't want her son to see Matt coming out of her bedroom in the morning either. How would she explain that one to a four-year-old? She couldn't.

A frown pulled at her mouth as she stared up at the ceiling. How did other single mothers handle situations like this? Did lovers sneak in and out in the dead of night, or was she supposed to take a vow of chastity now that she was a mother and single? She'd have to talk about it with Matt tonight.

She kicked off the blanket and got out of bed. There were a hundred things that she had to do, and hopefully the San Diego office had faxed her those documents she was waiting on. She pulled on her robe and hurried to the den. Hopefully she'd be able to get in an hour or two of work before Austin got up.

Sierra knew something was wrong as soon as she stepped into the hallway. The den light was on. It hadn't been on last night when they had returned from Sullivan. Curious, she walked down the hall and peered inside. The sight of the half-drank glass of milk caused her to close her eyes and pray that she was still sleeping and that this was a nightmare.

A nightmare she would be waking up from very soon.

She opened her eyes and knew her prayers hadn't been answered. The glass was still sitting there on the desk. With a heavy sigh she walked over to the desk and stared down. Someone in the legal department at the main office in San Diego had been on the ball, for a Sunday evening. The documents had been faxed.