Last First Kiss (13 page)

“Grans!”

“Don’t
you dare tell me I’m too old to remember what goe
s on between a man and woman.”

“There’s nothing going on between Wade and me
.”

“Maybe not
physica
lly
,
but in your minds there’s something brewing.”

Sophie couldn’t argue about that. It was perfectly true. And now she wanted it to be so different.

“Have the two of you…well, you know.”

“I’ve only been home since yesterday.”

“But you’ve done something to cause the tension. I can sense it. And don’t think I di
dn’t see those little glances you were giving
one another.
They w
eren’t the sort old buddies do
but two people who are just waiting for the moment
that
they can make love.
And the loud music was
n’t
a result of bad manners. I’ve taught you better than that. It was when W
ade’s girlf
riend was mentioned. I might not
have got a good night’s sleep at that awful jail
,
but I’m alert enough to know you did it right after Cathy was brought into the conversation.”

“Okay, okay, we
kissed
,
but that was all. Well, maybe
done some hand holding but just as friends.”

Without saying anything more
Grans
pulled Sophie in close to her and wrapped her arms around her so tight Sophie thought she’d suffocate.
She hadn’t held her l
ike this since she’d been a kid and had nightmares about her parents
’
plane crashing.

“Sophie, my darling
,
one
thing you have to realize is
that
Wade moved on a long time ago. He has a girlfriend now
,
and I’m thinking that maybe he’s ready to settle down and have a family. Seeing you might give him some ideas about rekindling things
,
but I know in the end he’ll never feel he can trust
you
,
which means you’ll end up getting hurt
,
which in turn will break my heart.
So please, please don’t give in to any temptations. Wade’s heart
is meant for someone other than you
now
.”

Sophie didn’t answer but knew her grandmother’s word
s
made perfect sense, every single one of them. She bit her lip as the first tear rolled down her cheek and bounced off her grandmother’s shoulder.

****

Wade sat back on the
chair and couldn’t eat another morsel
. Cathy had really splurged on the meal
,
and he doubted anything was left in the deli at the supermarket.

“That was really good,
thank you,” he said, placing his
napkin on the table.

“Okay, Max, go and get your PJs on
,
and Wade will read you a story.”

“Do I have to go to bed so soon? I’m not sleepy tonight.”

Wade patted the boy on the head. He had dark hair like his mom and her brown eyes
,
too.

“Yep, because Mommy and Wade need their alone time.”

“Why?”

“Be
cause that’s what
grownups
want
,” said Cathy. “Now off you go.”

Wade laughed as
Max
slid down from the chair without pulling it out from the table and went running out of the kitchen, his bare feet smacking against the wood floor.

“You have to remember we were his age once. I’m sure we wanted to stay up
past our bedtime
when company visited,” said Wade.

“I know
,
but he has to learn his mommy has her special time
,
too.”

“I’m ready,” shouted Max.

“I hope this is a fun story,” said Wade standing.

He walked along the hallway and went into Max’s room where the boy was now in his PJs and sitting in the bed with a brown teddy bear beside him.

“Okay, so what story did you choose?”

“It’s i
n my backpack there
,
and it’s about a wizard.”

“I hope it’s not
too
scary for me,” said
Wade. He lifted the book out from the blue bag
and saw a wizard
with a black robe and
red hat
carrying a yellow wand on its
front cover
. Wade sat down on the
bed beside Max and opened it up to its first pages.

“Okay, you ready?”

Max nodded.

“In a dark forest….”

Wade glanced at Max as he continued with the story and saw the little boy’s eyes starting to flutter.
Wade
didn’t know why
,
but he just thought o
f Sophie. If they
’d
had children together
what would they look like? Would they be dark haired li
ke Wade or favor Sophie’s light locks?

He stopped reading for a second and closed his eyes. He wanted to be in this very position re
ading to his and Sophie’s
children. It
scared him because it was something
that more than likely would
never
happen
,
but seeing her again had
given him just a silver of hope that it might.

“You’ve stopped read…”

With that Max fell asleep. Wade closed the book and was about to tip
-
toe out but realized he wanted to stay in the safely of Max’s room. Out in the living room Cathy would be waiting for him.
She’d want to have sex. Before Sophie’s return
, he’d had
no problem granting
Cathy he
r wish
,
but now he didn’t think
he could make love to another woman
. If he did he’d think of Sophie all the time they were having sex which wouldn’t be fair to
Cathy
,
or him for that matter
. But would she understand? 

Probably not
. And yes
, he could be throwing away a relationship on the chance that Sophie would w
ant to renew theirs.
Sure, she’d shown physical signs
,
but she was grown up now, a woman, had needs and maybe all she’d be l
ooking for was sex with him. She’d sleep with him just to see what she’d
missed
by going off with Travis,
and then back home to Seattle she’d go.
He couldn’t stand a broken heart again. The last time had almost destroyed him. He wouldn’t be strong enough to pick
himself
up and start all over again a second time around.

Wade stood, regretting that a floorboard had creaked. He checked on Max. He was still asleep. Wade put the book on the bookshelf and turned off the light.

Yeah, maybe he shouldn’t throw away what he’d started with Cathy. She could be his la
st chance of having a family. Plus,
he’d have a
readymade
one with Max
,
who
m
he thought a sweet kid.

Wade crept out the door and closed it as silently as possible. As he
walked
by Cathy’s room he spotted her lying on the bed in her bathrobe. She beckoned to him. He swallowed. He had to think and think soon if he was going through with this. He walked into the room.

“Shut the door just in case Max wakes up?”

Wade did
,
and as he turned Cathy took off the ro
be and threw it onto the floor. She was more tanned th
a
n she had be
en during their weekend away.
Wade guessed she’d been using the tanning bed
at the salon.

“You just going to stand there and look
,
or are you coming over to fool around with me?”

Wade was caught between those two places again. Being with Cathy, hoping she was the ans
wer to his future happiness, and
Sophie, who he wanted to be with
,
but
would he be taking a big risk?

Cathy
got off the bed,
walked toward him and got hold of his hands and placed them over her breasts. When she’d done that at the hotel it had given him an instant erection
,
but tonight his dick didn’t even twitch.

Next she kissed him and pushed his hand down onto her mound.

Still nothing.

Even when she unzipped his fly and put her hand inside and ran it over his cock,
nothing
.

Wade swallowed.

“Who is Mr. Floppy tonight?”

Cathy squeezed his balls
but
still no reaction.

He swallowed again. Looks like she was going to be out of luck anyway. He wa
s temporarily impotent. Shit, he’d never had that happen, ever.

“Am I going to get fucked tonight or what?” asked Cathy, running her hand along his shaft again.
She bit his bottom lip as she squeezed its head.

Wade closed his eyes.
What was he going to do?
He’d give something a try
,
and then he’d have the answer.

It
was Sophie who was naked before him. Sophie’s hand buried inside his boxers. Sophie’s delicate hand
entwined around his cock. He co
uld see her standing before him with her beautiful body waiting for him.
And that’s all it took for the mother of all erections. In fact, he almost lost it there and then.

“Now that’s more like it, cowboy.”

She tugged his jeans and boxers down his legs and pulled him onto the bed.

He was about to do something he’d probably regret later.

Chapter Seven

“
Sophie
if you push that salad
around your plate one more t
ime I’m going to take it
away from you.”

She dropped the fork. Sophie had
n’t
heard her say something like that since she’d been a little girl and wouldn’t eat after her parents had died. For the longest time she’d thought her grandmother was
being mean
,
but then she’d realized she didn’t want Sophie to mope around and become malnourished. And poor Grans
had been suffering
,
too. She’d
lost
her only child and daughter-in-law
. When she
’d
snuck out of bed one night and walked by Grans’
s
door she
’d
heard her
in the room crying like she
couldn’t believe someone could
without their heart breaking into tiny pieces
.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so down in the dumps
. I’m home with you
,
and I need to
be better company.” She patted Grans on the back of the hand.

“I know what will cheer you up. A
nice soak in the whirlpool.”

“You
sure you don’t mind me using it?
I mean it’s for your paying guests.”

Her grandmother looked at her watch. “At this time of the afternoon most of them are out and about exploring the mountains and trails.”

“I don’t have a swimsuit
,
” said Sophie,
quickly
realizing she hadn’t packed for sitting in a hot tub.

“I k
now there’s an old one of yours
still in a box on the
top
shelf in your room.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I thought it might come in handy
one day
,
and you see I was right.”

Sophie stood and she tapped her
on the butt. “Go on, get changed and have
a nice soak while I put the pie
in the oven.”

Sophie had to admit her grandmother had always known how to cheer her up. She wen
t upstairs to her room and got
on tip
-
toes
to reach up for the box she’d seen sitting there. As she pulled on it, the lid opened up and not only did her old swimsuit fall out but photos of her and Wade
,
and also a bridal magazine.