Between Then and Now (7 page)

“
Ian, it's fantastic!” She slowed
her spin and clapped her hands. “Ty and Evan own this?”

He nodded. “Just Evan, actually. He
bought this building and the one next door. But he doesn’t have a
plan for them yet. No time to find tenants or renovate.”

She sighed. “It’s a lot of work. I
hope he finds someone who’s willing to do something different,
though. Something that will draw people into town.”

“
Like what?” He was watching her
with a small smile. It had been too long since they’d talked about
the potential of the town. She loved the unlimited potential of
fantasy, and he seemed to have infinite patience for listening to
her prattle on.

“
I don't know... A flower shop,
maybe. Oooh, an ice cream and candy store! If it were mine, I’d do
a bakery.” She paced toward the back of the shop. “A glass display
here. And a higher bar, over here, with a couple of stools, for
people waiting for coffee. Yes, espresso and hot chocolate, maybe
Italian sodas too. Keep it simple. No tables, you want people to
take their drinks and wander down the strip.”

“
There's a strip?” His grin was
bigger now, his teeth white against the late fall tan farmers
get.

“
There would be. Wardham has the
potential to be a big draw. Beautiful small town, gorgeous beach,
close to the city. But we need to have services that make their
visit special. Memorable.”

“
Like a bakery-slash-coffee
shop.”

“
Exactly.”

“
What would you call
it?”

She laughed. “A Bun In The
Oven.”

“
And this space would be perfect
for it?”

She shrugged. “Sure. It would take
a lot of renovating, turn that middle room into a kitchen, or maybe
the back, and storage in the middle...but first Evan would need to
find someone crazy enough to see the potential.”

“
I don't think you’re crazy,
babe.”

“
Well, no, but for me it’s just a
fantas—” She broke off, the end of the word jammed in her throat.
Three thousand dollars. A key. “Ian?” His name squeaked past the
lump.

“
Yeah, babe?”

She gulped a breath. “What did you
do?”

He grinned again, biggest smile
ever this time. “I’ve leased this space from Evan. I'm going to
renovate it, over the winter, and in the spring, either you’re
going to open A Bun In The Oven, or we’ll sublet it to someone else
to recoup our investment.”

She couldn't breathe. “This was
your secret.”

“
I should have told
you.”

“
This was your secret?” She
shrieked the words again, and she felt bad about that, because
shrieks could be taken a couple of different ways, she wanted it to
be clear that she liked this plan. She liked this plan a lot. She
hopped up and down and clapped her hands together. “Oh my
god.”

“
You like it.” Relief flooded his
voice.

“
Honey, I love it. We’re
definitely crazy, together, it’s not just me now, you’re whole hog
crazy too, but yes, I like it.” She grabbed his hands. “You’re okay
with me doing this? No more babies, just a business
baby?”

He nodded and curved his hands
around her waist. “Time for me to share you with the world,
babe.”

“
I can’t believe it.” She danced on
the spot again, tapping her hands against his chest. “You knew I
wanted this?”

“
Of course.”

“
What do you mean, of course? Here
I was having a panic attack because I didn’t know if you loved me
for being anything more than the mother of your children, and you
were doing this?” She glowered at him, but it had no heat. Unlike
the look he shot right back, which was full of heat. The good
kind.

“
That you are the mother of my
children will always be a part of why I love you.” He nudged a
growing erection into her belly. “But it wasn’t the first reason I
loved you, and it won’t be the last. And it’s definitely not the
most important, which is that you are simply amazing. Carrie Nixon,
you are loved for being you.” He shifted his hands lower, cupping
her ass, and she arched her back. “You are wanted. And needed. For
being you.”

She moaned as he nudged into the vee of her
legs. “I never imagined…part of my heart has been stuck in that
moment, eight years ago, when I told you that I was pregnant and I
didn’t know what you were going to do.”

“
Between then and now, a lifetime
has happened. Neither of us are those scared kids anymore. And
thank fuck for that.” With a quick bend of the knee, he had her up
in the air before she could holler.

“
Oh my god, Ian, put me down.” Her
thighs shook as she tightened them around his waist, but he stood
there in the middle of the dusty, empty storefront, like a
billygoat on the mountainside. Surefooted and utterly confident. “I
am not…this is not a good idea.”

“
Carrie. I’ve got you.” He grinned
at her. “Give me a kiss.”

She licked her lips and traced her hands
around his face. Along his scruffy jawline, and down his
neck.

“
Babe, kiss me. Or I’m going to
kiss you, and I’m not going to stop until we’ve christened this
place.”

“
That sounds like a great idea.”
The words were breathy and hopeful, and totally lost as their
mouths collided.

They
didn’t
actually christen Bun that afternoon, because it was afternoon, and
the light in the back room was burnt out, and they were grownups
with an empty house and a big bed available just a few minutes
away. They made out for a while, though, delicious hot kisses
interspersed with new ideas for the store and distracted
gropings.

The next few months had been a whirlwind of
activity, but they’d pulled it off. Permits filed, inspections
completed. Opening day wasn’t going to be a full range of products,
just muffins, baked last night, and scones, which needed to go into
the oven in three hours.

She should go back to sleep for a bit, but it
was raining. Opening day, and there was a steady downpour outside.
No way could she go back to sleep. Next to her, Ian shifted, his
warm hand snaking out from under the quilt to cup her breast. She
smiled and sank in her back into him.

“
Can’t sleep?” He murmured the
question into the soft spot between her shoulder and her neck, and
the nerves in her stomach were smothered by a different kind of
tension.

“
Mmmm.”

His tongued darted out to taste her
skin, a wet swipe followed by cold air hitting her skin, and then
his mouth again, licking and nibbling. Her eyes rolled up at the
sensation, and she let out a small sigh. His thumb rolled over her
nipple, and she lifted her top leg, hooking it over his behind her.
“Eager, babe?”

“
Always.”

“
What do you want?” His mouth had
shifted to the back of her neck now, and he bit her lightly when
she didn’t immediately respond. She couldn’t. Nibbling her neck and
playing with her nipple may just be foreplay, but it was really
awesome foreplay.

“
Uhm…” She groaned as he pinched
her nipple. “Stop it.”

“
If you wanted me to stop, you
wouldn’t thrust your ass against my cock like that when I do it.”
He tapped her nipple with the pad of one of his fingers, and
dragged his hand down her quivering belly, murmuring appreciative
words into her hair on his way to her core. “You’re so soft, angel,
so sweet and soft and wet.”

“
You do that to me, Ian. It’s all
you.”

“
No, babe. It’s all you. What do
you want?”

She squirmed under his dancing fingers. “Your
mouth.”

Behind her, his cock flexed in approval of
this plan. “Fuck, yeah.” He rolled onto his back, pulling away from
her, but used his closer arm to flip her over. “Climb up
here.”

When he’d moved into her tiny
apartment over the laundromat, he’d told her that one day they’d
have a big bed with a big headboard. Having never had a real bed,
just a mattress on a frame, Carrie had smiled and nodded. No way
would they waste money on a headboard, not with an unexpected young
family to figure out how to support.

The first time he’d suggested she ride his
face, she’d wished for a headboard. The next time, it was to
celebrate the purchase of their first real bed. Now she braced
herself against the much beloved piece of furniture, and gasped as
his tongue made first contact with her sex. He growled in delight,
and she reached down to part her folds, but he nudged her hand out
of the way. “Your big day, babe, let me do all the
work.”

It didn’t take long. He teased her at first,
licking around in lazy loops, avoiding her clit until she couldn’t
help but squirm, and then he swirled his tongue around that swollen
nub, flicking and sucking it until she thought she would explode,
and then he started moving his hands up and around her hips, down
her ass and even trailing through that cleft, totally disorienting
her, so when her orgasm hit, it was almost a surprise, an upending
wave. She shuddered hard against the wood frame in front of her,
and Ian lifted her leg enough to roll out from underneath her. He
tugged the quilt loose from the rest of the bedding and pulled it
up and around their sweat-slicked bodies.

She shook again against his side, and
practically purred when he rubbed her back. The rain was coming
down harder now, that unwavering percussion the only sound in the
otherwise quiet night. The aftershocks of her climax continued to
ripple through her body, and she was still achingly aware of her
desire for her husband. Under the warm blanket, she reached for his
erection, which leapt back to full-strength at her gentle
stroke.

“
Do you have time?” His hand
tightened on her side.

She’d make time. “Come join me in the
shower?”

The quilt hit the floor, and Ian
dashed to the bathroom. By the time she sauntered in, the shower
was steamy.

“
You know, I’m not in that much of
a rush.”

He grinned. “Yeah, but I am.” They
soaped each other up then rinsed off with a slow fuck against the
tile wall, under the full force of the shower spray. They shared a
look full of history and hope as he came inside her, his hips
holding her up. At one time, they’d reveled in that act because it
gave them babies and built their family. Now that they’d made a
permanent decision about birth control, it was just for them, their
secret intimacy that had no other purpose than to be as one in that
moment.

When Ian woke up the second time, it wasn’t to
the warm rub of his wife’s nipple in his palm. Too bad, that. But
it was possibly the second best way to be woken up. Two kids piled
hard on him, one tackling his head, the other aiming straight for
his kidneys.

“
Daddy! It’s time to go to Mommy’s
store! It’s muffin time!” Kaylie had probably been up almost as
long as Carrie, but she’d been warned on pain of losing all
muffins, ever, not to wake up her younger brother. Drew was not a
morning kid.

But now he, too, was bouncing merrily around
on the bed. “Mwuffins! Mwuffins!”

Ian didn’t need to be told again.
He was pretty excited as well. He oversaw face scrubbing and teeth
brushing, made sure that Drew’s underwear was on the right way, and
Kaylie had enough change in her purse to buy them all muffins and
steamed milk. Ian’s would have a few shots of espresso added, since
his sexpot wife had interrupted his beauty sleep.

They loaded into his brand new truck—with
Carrie doing early mornings at the shop, he was on kid duty again,
and she didn’t want to drive the bike to work in the winter—and set
off for town.

“
Dad.” Kaylie only called him that
when she wanted to be taken seriously. “I think there’s a
problem.”

“
What’s that, sweetie?” They drove
past the shop and doubled back, looking for a parking
spot.

“
Mom’s shop isn’t big enough.” Her
little finger tapped firmly on the window facing the bakery. A
large hanging sign had just been installed the day before, a giant
red coffee mug with the word BUN underneath it. The full name of
the store was painted on one of the front windows. “Bakery &
Coffee Shop” was spelled out on the other. But you couldn’t see
that right now, because there was a large crowd on the
sidewalk.

The rain had stopped sometime earlier,
although many people in the crowd had umbrellas, just in case. His
heart swelled. They were there for Carrie, no matter
what.

He leaned over and ruffled Kaylie’s hair. She
glowered at him and he laughed. “Mommy’s shop is the perfect size.
She won’t have this many people every day.”

“
Not with an attitude like that,
she won’t!” Kaylie crossed her arms over her chest and looked
fierce.

“
You know what, kiddo?
You’re absolutely right.”

THE END

Want more Wardham?

Read Laney Calhoun and Kyle
Nixon’s story in
What Once Was
Perfect
, the first full-length
novel in The Wardham Series ~ now available! Turn the page for an
excerpt.