Spitfire (Puffin Cove) (27 page)

Kyle
swung up to his feet, embarrassment showing on his features. Apparently he wasn't too pleased with the overheard praise and Kane's proximity to her. Laura bit back a grimace as she watched him casually walk back to the circle of musicians warming up again, and take up a hand drum that someone passed him.

The sun had set, and
Kevin lit the bonfire, then plugged in the patio lanterns that Laura had scoured St. John's for, and that her sons had strung from the trees. The younger children danced around and provided entertainment for the older folks who sat lounging in their lawn chairs, picking their teeth and tapping their feet.

Landon
and his dad hauled sheets of plywood from Mr. Blood's pickup to settle them in a square on the grass, and several of the crowd stomped them down into place to the rhythm of the music.

Laura settled into the vee
of Kane's lap, the posture reminding her of their evening in Twillingate, and the love they had shared in that magical place. She didn't realize just how deeply she had missed him until now, when she had been given back what she had thought was lost forever.

"
Happy?" he murmured, fluttering the curls at her ear, sending shivers down her spine to melt sweetly in her belly.

"
More than you'll ever know," she sighed.

"
I love ye, Laura."

She stiffened, the shock of the three words she
had dreamed of and dreaded drifting through her, tilting her world once again. Oh, how she wanted to tell him that she loved him, was crazy for him, had gone crazy without him. She turned her head, and under the cover of her hair and the night, laid her lips softly on the curls of his ear, her warm breath soliciting a shudder through the strong body cradling her.

"
No fair, Kane," she whispered. "Saying it here, where we're surrounded by people, while my sons are staying with me, when I can't say it back and show you just how much I love you, too."

"
Do ye, Laura? Do ye love me?" he murmured.

Kane'
s heart beat slowed and thickened, and his breath stilled. He knew he wasn't being fair. But these self-imposed weeks without her had dragged him through a hell almost as terrible as when he had lost Fiona and Claire. And he couldn't waste another day without telling her. He would damn himself a thousand times if she shied away, but it had to be now.

"
Yes, Kane. I do," she whispered.

"
Tell me. Say it," he growled low.

"
I love you, Kane. With every breath I take."

His arms tightened around her, and he did damn himself
. For not saying it weeks ago. For telling her when they were surrounded by people, when they wouldn't be able to steal time together to show each other with their bodies what their hearts felt.

"
Dance with me," he whispered.

She stood and he took her hand, leading her to
the make-shift dance floor, folding her into his arms and rocking her to the soft ballad and the sounds of the sea. He tilted her face to bring her eyes level with his.

Ah, how he
had missed those ever changing green eyes.

"
I love ye, Spitfire. Think I have since ye called me an asshole in Sweeney's bar."

Her
beautiful lips turned up, and her eyes glittered with reflections from the bonfire, her silly patio lanterns, and shared memories.

"
I know fer sure I have since I took ye t' Twillingate. I don't want t' spend another day away from ye. And I know me timin' couldn't be worse."

She
laid a finger on his soft lips. "Shh. Your timing would have been worse if you'd never said it at all. And I have a feeling we'll be making up for lost time when the boys go back to Ontario. Until then, don't ever stop loving me."

He
tucked her head into the crook of his neck and held her close, the slow, strong beat of his heart conveying his promise.

Kyle
watched his mother and the guy dance. They sure seemed close. He'd bet they were doing it. And Kyle wasn't happy about it. He wasn't going to be here for very much longer, and he didn't want his mom to be hurt. If this dude hurt her, she probably wouldn't tell Kyle, and then he wouldn't have the pleasure of beating the shit out of him. He was planning to do a little investigating before he went home. If the guy was shady, Kyle was taking his mom back. No way was he going to leave her here without someone to look out for her.

Kevin
watched, too, as Kane held his mom close. Seemed like a good enough guy. And his mom looked happy. He would ask her later. He let the hottie practically sitting in his lap him drag him onto the dance floor.

Jill
watched her two best friends hold each other and sway to the music.
They've told each other. Finally. Thanks be to God, and about friggin' time.

***

Laura and the boys spent the remainder of their time together touring the coast, building the back porch, and building memories. She snapped more pictures to chronicle the raising of the structure, and to look at when she missed them so terribly once they had gone back home.

She felt a deep, grinding pain, knowing that she
would miss them even more now than when she had first come here. She loved them so much. Never would a love be so deep as a mother for a child. Or a father, for that matter. And she was glad that they had Joel to go home to. But that brought her around to that other thought, the one that marred all the happy ones.

What of Kane
? What was she going to do about that one? No matter how elated she was that they were together again, it still haunted her, the strong feeling that he should have more children. She wanted for him the same feelings in his life that she had for her sons. And so, she could keep him for herself, or let him go on to have the life that she thought he deserved.

Kane came around occasionally, but kept a distance to allow
Laura time with her sons. And Kyle hadn't really accepted him yet. Laura told him to give it time, and he grudgingly told her he'd try.

Kevin
frequently teased his mother about her boyfriend, but Kyle would always get testy and redirect the conversation. It gave Laura no small amount of concern, but this was her life, and Kyle was just going to have to learn to deal with another man in it. It made her heart hurt that he was struggling. Since he was four years old, Kyle had been the 'man of the house' in their little family of three. It would be an adjustment for him, and she was sorry that he could be hurt by her seeing someone. But life was full of changes, and she hoped that Kyle would come to see that his mother was a woman unto herself, with the same wants and needs and hopes that all human beings had.

She could have dug, pushed the issue with him, but she knew him well
. It was better to let him work it out for himself. If he needed clarification or validation from her, he would ask. After all, he was so much like herself, she thought with a rueful smile.

They spent a day over at
Jill's. Kevin took the dogs for a run, and Laura was in the garden helping Shannon plant fall bulbs. Jill was giving Kyle pastry lessons, something that had Kevin chortling and poking jibes at his brother over. It had tickled Laura pink.

"So what's with this Kane dude?" Kyle questioned Jill as they sprinkled sugar on the cold dough. He was clearly trying to be casual, but Jill's strong intuition had been expecting the question. "I did an internet search. He's a big deal, isn't he?"

"
I suppose in a way, he is," she said. Oh, how to explain to this wonderful young man about the man who was in love with his mother? "He's a successful artist, and a really good man, Kyle." She looked up from their hands working the pastry, meeting Kyle's eyes.

"
I just don't get it. He just showed up out of the blue at the party. How come she didn't tell us about him? And how come we didn't see him until then?"

"
Long story. Short version is, Kane's crazy about your mom, and she's crazy about him too. They got into a little misunderstanding over something, and he stepped back for a bit. That was just before you guys came to visit. So he stayed away. I guess he just couldn't take it anymore, so he came to the party to tell her he was sorry."

"
He's not some nut-job who'd smack her around if he got pissed, is he? Cause I'll friggin' kill him."

Jill
laughed and laid a flour-dusted hand on his arm. "No, honey. Kane's the gentlest soul I know. He'd never hurt your mom. He loves her, Kyle. Sometimes love makes people a little crazy."

"
Hmpf. I guess. She wasn't looking so hot when I first got here. She looked tired and there was just something…sad in her eyes. I don't see it now. Think it was just that misunderstanding they had?"

"
Yup. That's exactly what I think it was. Sweetie, don't you worry about your momma. I'll keep a close eye on her, and if I get worried, I'll let you know, 'kay? Cross my heart." She streaked a floury finger over her chest.

"
Yeah, okay. But make sure you do. If he does anything to hurt her, I'm taking her home. After I break his neck."

"
You're a very good son. She did a good job with you. And you're doing a good job with her." Jill winked, and popped up to peck a kiss on his cheek. A ruddy blush ran up his neck and flushed his face as he ducked his head.

She hoped that her read on
Kyle's eyes was right. He seemed somewhat mollified, and hopefully was willing to giving Kane the benefit of the doubt.

***

Laura made a special dinner the night before the boys were due to fly home. She had asked the boys if they wanted to have people over, or it be just the three of them. They wanted to see Jill and Shannon again, and Kevin thought it would be cool if Kane came. They said they wouldn't mind having George and Moira too, and Laura teased them that they probably just wanted to see the nieces again. Bang on, as Kevin's smile lit his face, and a blush kissed Kyle's.

It tickled
Laura that Shannon had apparently fallen head-over-heels in love with Kyle. The girl spent most of the evening of the dinner party perched on his lap, snuggling in deeper whenever one of the nieces got too close, piercing them with a very grown-up glare.

Kyle
had been impressed by Laura's staircase, and he stiltedly asked Kane about the building of it. Laura watched as Kane explained, then told Kyle about the courses he had taken in university, their conversation becoming a bit easier as it wound on. It warmed her to the depths of her soul.

George
and Moira took turns peppering the boys about their plans for the future, and expressed their hope that they would see them back in Newfoundland again before too long.

The
nieces got a little teary when it was time to go. While they exchanged email addresses with the boys, Laura furrowed her brow when she heard Jill whisper, "Don't worry," in Kyle's ear when she hugged him. He looked meaningfully into her eyes, and nodded. Laura would have to ask Jill what that was all about when she had the chance. Kyle picked Shannon up in his arms and gave her a big, smacking kiss on the cheek. "Don't grow up before I come back now, Shannon."

"
I gots ta," she said, a serious look on her little face. "I'm gonna marry you."

He laughed, hugged her, and passed her back to her mother
.

Kane and
Kevin shook hands, and pulled in for the one-armed, one-second, back slapping man hug.

Kyle
and Kane stood before one another then, a frisson of tension between them. Or was that just Laura's imagination? Kane offered Kyle his hand, and his respectful eyes. "Take care, Kyle. Good luck in the fall semester."

They shook hands, and
Kyle said, "Thanks. I…take care of my Mom, okay?"

Kane solemnly nodded
. "I promise."

Laura
bit her bottom lip and her vision blurred as she rapidly blinked back the threatening moisture.

The boys moved to uncharacteristically clear the table and start the dishes, leaving Kane and
Laura alone at the front door. "Ye'll be okay taking them t' the airport alone tomorrow, love?"

"
Of course. I know the way."

"
Tis not that I'm worried about. I don't like the idea of ye drivin' back alone once they're gone."

Her eyes watered again, both at the thought of her babies going home, and at Kane
being so sweet. "I'll be okay."

"
Will ye come t' the farm when ye get back?"

"
Yes, I'd very much like to come to the farm when I get back." Now she smiled without tears, anticipating their long awaited reunion.

Chapter Twenty

"
Ah, shite. Knew I should've come with ye."

Kane gathered
the quivering, sobbing, leaking mess that was Laura into his arms at his front door.

"
Oh, K-Kane. I didn't think it would be so h-h-haaard!"

She swiped at her face, her chest vibrating and hitching, the wra
cking sobs unabated by his embrace.

"
I l-love…them…so…much. And they're so good, and-I-miss-them-so-much al…rea…dy. Oh, Kane, what have I done? Did I do the r-right thing leaving h-h-home?"

He rubbed her back and cradled her in his arms
. The door hung open, the summer breeze wafted in, the birds sang their songs of life, and the woman he loved questioned whether she should have come here.

It hurt
. Dammit, it hurt.

He hoped that it was just the emotions of the moment, that it would pass
. But what if seeing them again made her realize that she couldn't be away from them after all? He led her into the room and settled her on the sofa, went back to shut the front door, and returned with a box of tissues and a glass of water.

She hitched and sighed, wiped her face and blew her nose
. He sat beside her and rested a hand on her thigh. Her head lolled back on the sofa cushion and her swollen-lidded, reddened gaze rolled to him. "Not the reunion I had hoped for," she chuckled brokenly.

"
Twas the one I'd sort of expected, though." He smiled at her and smoothed the hair from her brow. "Can I get ye anythin'? Are ye hungry?" She just smiled sadly and shook her head.

He was at a loss
. He had itched to get his hands on her, had been beside himself to finally get her alone, to make up for all the lost time and hurt he had caused them both. But now, with her here beside him, heartbroken, he didn't know what to do. A blind man could see that today was not the day to set out to win back what he had almost thrown away.

"
I'm sorry, Kane. It's not fair of me to land on you like this. After I watched their p-plane take off, I just went numb, and went on autopilot myself. I don't even know how I got here. I should have gone home first to get it out of my system."

"
It's okay, love. I'm glad ye didn't go home alone. I'd like t' think ye needed me."

She smiled then
. And lifted her hand to touch his freshly shaven, unsmiling face. "I did. And I do. God, I must look a sight, though."

Her beautiful face was marred by the red, blotchy, puffiness
of someone who had just cried her heart out. He remembered the look well from the days of his sisters' hormonal horrors and teenaged heartbreak.

"
Ye've looked better."

"
Well, thanks. That makes me feel loads better," she gave him a wobbly smile. "Geez. It actually does."

She shoved at his shoulder, and he shoved her back
. Back to sink down into the soft pillows of the sofa, back to raise her arms up to him, back to accept his body as it settled over hers.

He
looked into her bloodshot eyes and tenderly kissed their swollen lids. Then he whispered against her lips, "Wanna have make-up sex?"

Her wobbly smile widened
, then she chuckled.

"
Idiot." She shoved him off her and he collapsed back into a seated position, smiling, glad that she'd stopped crying at least.

But he
had only been half kidding. God, he wanted her. Wanted her so badly it was a physical ache. It would seem as though timing was again, against him. He would give her until tomorrow. That's all he could stand. Then she would be his. That is, if she still wanted to stay in Newfoundland. With him.

He took her hand, and tugged.
"Come on, let's go do somethin' fun."

"
Kane. I'm a mess. I'm in no shape for -"

"
The horses won't mind."

Kane took her to Arthur's farm. He told her that he was minding it for a few days while Art and his wife were off celebrating their silver wedding anniversary. He saddled the horses while she watched in frank admiration as his shoulders bunched and his biceps flexed. He cinched up the straps and her gaze slid down to his lean hips and fine, denim clad ass, wandering back to rest on the face that swam through her dreams each night. He helped her mount, and led them onto the horse path that wound through bush and forest, skirting toward the sea.

When
Kyle and Kevin left, Laura had had an almost insane urge to purchase a ticket and board the plane with them. But now she realized that she could never leave this land. It had become home. Her sons would come back again. And she would go back to Ontario to visit them, too. It would all work out. And she would have Kane. Wonderful, sweet, sexy Kane.

Now she did wish that she
had gone to her own house to cry her heart out, then compose herself to be with him again. She had wanted so badly to recapture the wonder they had had before the festival, thought they could once they'd had a chance to be alone together. But coming to him broken and sobbing had snuffed this particular reunion, but good.

The horses picked
their way up the rocky path, then came to rest at a sunny clearing they seemed to know. Kane dismounted and lifted his arms to help her down. God, he was so sweet. A bit of the ache lifted from her chest, and she trailed her hand down his smooth, warm cheek.

They left the reins dangling and the horses happily grazing in the brush
. Kane dropped an arm over Laura's shoulders and they turned to stand at the cliff's edge, watching the surf and the gulls, both remembering a cooler, greyer day on the cliffs of the Skerwink trail.

S
he closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sun, pulling in deep, cleansing breaths. She felt a sense of peace steal through her, a sense of rightness. And her aching heart ached a little less again. She opened her eyes and looked afresh at the day. She felt like she had gotten her balance back. She wasn't so deluded to think that going back to her house, seeing the chairs where her boys had sat, sleeping in the bed where one of them had slept, wouldn't pull on her heart strings again. But she knew now that she could handle it. She looked to her side, where the man she loved stood with his arm around her.

She turned
into him, and placed her hand on his chest, kissing him softly. "Ready t' ride again, Spitfire?" he murmured. She nodded and moved to go back to the horses, and lost her footing on a branch. She wobbled and put out a hand to stop her fall. It came back with purple splotches on it.

Blueberries
!

"
Kane! It's berry pickin' time!"

He chuck
led and looked down at Laura, watching her greedily plucking small, blue orbs from waxy, scrubby bushes, feeling his heart lift with the lightening of hers.

"
Ye're daft, woman. Not enough ripe yet t' fill a tart."

But he sat
down on his haunches, and smiled when she popped a few past his lips. He rolled the sun-warmed berries over his tongue, mashing them against the back of his teeth, feeling the warm juice fill his mouth with succulent flavour.

She
searched out more bushes covered with blushing green berries just starting to ripen, finding and eating the ones that had been first to mature. He watched her with his arms propped on his knees, smiling and shaking his head. The sun was shining on her precious face, and he was caught with such a sudden, deep yearning, he felt his legs weaken.

She
raised her head, and smiled into his eyes. She held out her hand, and he took it. He hadn't meant to, had thought he could wait, but instead of standing and helping her up, he tugged her to him. They fell together, and embraced there in the thicket on their knees, thigh to thigh, hip to hip, chest to chest. He brought his lips down to hers, and kissed her languorously in the sun-warmed patch, kisses flavoured with blueberries and love and longing.

"
Ah, Laura love. I've missed ye so."

"
I know, darling. I know." She held him close with one arm while the other reached up to play with his hair. He rained kisses over her face and down her neck, sucking in her scent, and he felt his body begin to shake.

"
God, Laura. I've got t' feel yer skin," he muttered hoarsely against her neck. "Stop me now, baby. If ye're not ready, please stop me now." She cried out and clenched her fist tighter in his hair. He yanked her shirt up to feel the soft, warm silk of her back under his hand. "Oh, yeah. Jaysus, Spitfire. Ye feel so good."

His fingers danced along her spine,
and hauled her in close. He laid her back on the soft ground and kissed his way down her throat, baring a breast and tugging hard on her nipple with his greedy mouth while her breath once again hitched that day, but for an altogether different reason. He grasped her hand and pressed it down over the length of him through his jeans, and he groaned deep in his throat.

"
Kane," her husky voice shivered through him.

"
Ah, Laura. I love ye so much. Ye're all I can think of." He held her passion-drugged eyes as he tugged off her shorts and slid his hand into her panties, finding the slippery warmth of her. "Jaysus, ye're so wet fer me, Spitfire."

"
Finally. Oh God, Kane, I love you. I've so missed your touch." He had to close his eyes. Just for a moment. Just to slow his pounding heart.

He sunk
one, then two of his fingers deep into the slick heat of her. He stroked her slow and long, and circled his thumb around her swollen nub, watching her face flush as her head turned mindlessly from side to side and her auburn curls caught flashes of sunlight and snagged in the waxy leaves. Her muscles tightened and clenched around his fingers, and he cupped her hard as her back arched, a soft scream tore from her throat, and a sweet, fulminating orgasm rippled through her.

As h
er deep, rolling aftershocks spasmed deliciously around his fingers, she sluggishly opened her glowing emerald eyes and her lips formed a soft smile. He felt her fist tighten on his cock through his jeans as her other hand reached down and drew his fingers from her, guiding them up to slip them between his own lips. Jaysus, he was gonna come in his pants. His eyes rolled and his jaw clenched, and he somehow managed to hold it back. She worked his zipper down and freed him, slipping his shaft delicately, then more insistently, in and out of her palm.

His hips bucked and he groaned,
"God.
Jaysus
, Spitfire. Ye're so bloody sweet. I've got t' be inside ye."

He tugged her panties of
f, shoved his jeans over his ass, braced his weight on an arm, gripped his cock in his hand, and nudged her pussy with the tip. He couldn't stop now if the entire population of Puffin Cove came marching through the trees. She cried out his name in triumph as he impaled her in one long, sweet stroke. His eyelids snapped shut and he held, willing himself to keep from drilling her into the ground. When he thought he had calmed the beast yet again, he opened his eyes, gazed into the brilliant green of his love's, and slowly, achingly began to move.

Laura
wrapped her legs around him, feeling the delicious textures of warm skin and soft denim against her thighs, and rough, scrubby bushes under her butt, and let him ride. She pulsed her hips up to meet each long thrust, grinding against him as he drove harder and deeper and faster into her. He snaked a hand under her to bring her impossibly tighter to him, his hips bucked wildly and lost their rhythm, and he threw his head back and shouted her name through his climax. His hoarse cries tripped her over the edge and a low moan escaped her throat as the spasms so recently quelled took her to a fiercer, higher crescendo. He cradled her to him, and rolled to his back, keeping her close as they drifted back to the sun-dappled blueberry patch.

She rested
on top of him with her face in the crook of his neck, and felt the beat of his heart gradually slow under her lips, both of them finally sucking in enough oxygen to resolve their breathing to almost normal. Her hand played over his t-shirt, swirling the pads of her fingers over his muscled chest and taut nipple.

A huge sigh lifted
her on his chest. "Ah, Spitfire. I've missed ye
so
much
." His arms tightened around her, and she felt his softened sex twitch inside her as she played, then felt it begin to thicken.

She lifted her face from his neck to look, startled,
into his twinkling eyes. And she smiled a devilish smile. "Apparently."

He laid there, a cheshire-cat grin on his face,
and drew his arms up to tuck his hands under his head.

"
Well," he drawled, "I
have
been sufferin' from critical buildup." He gave a self-satisfied stretch, and thrust his hips up to greet her. This settled him more firmly into her, and she sat up, wiggling into position.

"
Oh, my poor baby. We can't have that." She giggled, and began her own ride. She rode him in rhythm to the slow, crashing waves of the sea, and he reached to push her shirt and bra up over her breasts, freeing them to the warmth of the sun-kissed breeze and the heat of his gaze. He cupped them, rolling his thumbs over the pink, peaked nipples, undulating his hips in time to hers.