Dirty Little Secret(39)

She reached down, and soft fingers brushed the curve of his hip and leg, tangling in the hair covering his thigh. Cailin seemed to like his body hair; she’d spent hours one night just running her hand across his chest. Or maybe it was just the freedom of touching another person and knowing she wouldn’t be rebuffed. She’d told him about Sean. The bastard hadn’t known what a treasure he possessed. And though Alex hated the pain her ex-husband—hell, everybody in her hometown—had put her through, he couldn’t help being damn glad it had brought her to him. Nothing in his life, including his friendship with Sara Beth, had ever made him believe in miracles, not until he held her in his arms.

“How did you and Sara Beth meet?” Cailin asked.

“Funny story.” He tilted her back against him, sneaked a hand under the soft mound of her breast, then laid her forward again so that it fell directly into his hand. Experimentally he brought his fingers together, searching for her nipple. The tight tip was in direct alignment. Perfect.

He started a steady massage of her breast and listened to her breath quicken as he talked. “Sara Beth is a typical overachiever, but with a father like hers, that’s not surprising. In high school she was into everything: beta club, chess, student-body president, debate—you name it, she did it. Except sports.”

A slow roll of her nipple. A thumb circling her taut nub.

Cailin cleared her throat. “And?”

“And…she also just happened to make prom queen her sophomore year, seriously ticking off the wannabe runner-up, whose boyfriend happened to make prom king.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Yep.” Alex forced his mind to stay on his story and not the slow undulations that had begun in Cailin’s hips. “The girl—Roxie was her name…stupid eighties fads—anyway, she decided to make it her mission for Sara Beth to be miserable. The girl harassed her no end, which was fine with Sara Beth. She had no problem fighting with words. It was when the girl got physical that she had a problem. Her and some friends cornered Sara Beth in the locker room one day. Broke her nose.”

Cailin cringed. “What did she do?”

“She found me.” Alex grinned against her shoulder and moved his hand to her top breast, beginning the same torture there. Cupped in his palm, her breasts felt like firm fruit, ripe for the plucking. “I was on the high school wrestling team.”

“You?”

He didn’t know if he should be amused or insulted. “Yes, me. Jeez.” He pinched her straining nipple. The laugh that escaped him felt almost as good as her body. Almost—nothing could feel as good. “Sara Beth is just like her father that way—she always knows where to get the information she needs. So she searched out the captain of the wrestling team, me, and paid me to teach her to fight.”

“And did you?”

“Of course I did. Only I wouldn’t let her pay me, not with money. She became this poor jock’s English tutor. We were stuck together, and the rest… Well, you know what they say.”

Cailin nodded.

He couldn’t stop touching her. The soft flat of her belly called to him, and he began long, slow strokes from pelvis to shoulder, spreading his fingers wide to cover as much territory as possible in between.

“So…” She hesitated, but he wasn’t sure if it was due to uncertainty or his touch. Over her shoulder, he saw the tip of her pink tongue dip out to moisten her lips. Aha. Uncertainty.

“Ask, Cailin. I don’t want there to be secrets between us.”

Tilting her head to the side, Cailin rubbed against his stubbly cheek, strands of her blonde curls getting caught in the scruff. If she’d been a cat, she would have purred; he was certain of it. He stroked her as if she was, moving all the way down over her hip before smoothing his way back up again.

“So, what did you and Cailin plan for this…marriage? Will it just keep going? Will her father ever…?” Cailin clamped her lips shut. She’d never broached this subject with him, and now that she had, he found himself both wary and elated. Elated because it meant she felt she had enough of a stake in him to risk it, and wary because, well…

“Honestly, at first we didn’t have a plan. John was putting so much pressure on Sara Beth, and at the time no one knew about her sexual orientation, not even me.”

“She didn’t tell you?”

“I guessed, but I didn’t talk to her about it. I figured if she wanted me to know, she’d get around to it. But she never did. It probably would have gone on like that for years if I hadn’t put my foot down.” He traced a circle around the indentation of her belly button. “She got sick. Mono. She wasn’t taking care of herself, and I could tell she had become severely depressed. I didn’t—and still don’t—give a fuck whether she likes men or women. I wanted her healthy.”