Teague(23)

Teague kissed the top of her head. He exhaled and murmured, "You're welcome."

All the pain that Sabrina had held inside for so long came crashing to the surface. She couldn't stop the flow of tears but then she didn't have to. Teague held her for as long as she needed him to and then he took her inside and cleaned her up.

He got dressed and waited until she was in her pajamas and then, with a kiss, he rested his forehead against hers.

"I should go," he said.

I don 't want you to.

He swept his mouth across hers once more and was gone before she opened her eyes.

Sabrina turned off the light and slid onto the sofa. She grabbed a pillow and crushed it to her chest, eyes on the lake beyond the windows. She wasn't sure how long she stared off into the darkness, not really seeing anything.

She'd slept with Teague Simon. She'd had sex with a man who wasn't her husband.

It had been wonderful and scary and she had no idea what tomorrow was going to bring, but for now she was content. For now there were no more tears.





Chapter Seventeen





Teague opened one eye and found a pair of golden brown ones staring right back at him. He immediately tensed, muscles bunched and ready for whatever was coming.

"I thought you were dead," Harry said, his voice trembling, his little face pinched and white.

Stand down. Teague rolled over and rubbed his eyes tying like hell to loosen up.

"You scared me."

The little guy looked so upset that Teague reached for him and patted him on the shoulder-a little awkwardly, but hell, give him points for trying. He was still getting used to having kids poking about his business.

"It's okay, bud. I was just sleeping."

"I poked you but you didn't move." Harry frowned, his anxiety forgotten. "Were you dreaming?"

Teague grinned, thinking about dark hair and blue eyes. "Something like that." He got to his feet and headed to the bathroom. Harry followed him, his sandal-clad feet shuffling along. He leaned against the door jam and after a few seconds Teague turned slightly and took care of business.

After Teague washed his hands, he leaned against the sink. "How'd you get in?"

"You left the door unlocked."

"Huh," Teague replied, reaching for his toothbrush. He was being pretty lax in the security department. "Any particular reason you're here?"

The little guy's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You didn't forget about the boat did you? You said you'd take us in your big one."

"Nope," he replied, spitting out his toothpaste.

"Good, because Mommy's singing and everything. It's gonna be a good day."

Teague grabbed a pair of cargo shorts from his bag. "She's singing is she?"                       
       
           



       

"Yep." Harry was busy rifling through Teague's black equipment bag as if he had every right to, but Teague didn't have the heart to stop him. "She can't sing really good. Daddy used to tease her about it." Harry giggled. "But I just pretend that she sounds like she's on the radio and then she smiles and sings more."

"Smart man," Teague replied, coming up alongside the little boy.

Harry looked up at him. "What's this?"

"That, my friend, is a camera."

Harry could barely lift it and he frowned. "It's not like Mommy's."

"No, I suppose it isn't." In fact most people didn't own this kind of gear. It was made to withstand the elements and to take pictures where no camera had a right to be. He hadn't touched it in months.

"You should take some pictures of the boat and the islands and everything," Harry shouted, jumping up and down and nearly dropping the expensive camera.

Teague retrieved it before that could happen. He fingered the buttons and checked the lens. What the hell, he thought, and grabbed its case.

"You ready?" he asked Harry.

"Oh yeah," the little boy shouted. "Ready Freddy!"

Teague grabbed his sunglasses and wallet, and slipped his aviators over his eyes as he followed Harry into the sunshine. Morgan was jumping rope on their deck and when Bingo saw the boys, the little dog took off at a run and didn't stop until it slammed into Teague's legs.

Teague climbed the stairs to Sabrina's place and when he laid eyes on her, damned if his heart didn't skip a beat. She was dressed simply in faded denim cutoffs, a plain white tank top and blue flip flops. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and those big eyes of hers shone. The only makeup she'd bothered with was gloss on her lips.

"You look good enough to eat," he said without thinking.

"Ew," Harry said, making a face. "That's gross."

Sabrina's eyes widened a bit, her cheeks stained a pretty pink color, and Teague fought the urge to draw her up against him and let her know exactly how hungry he was.

"Harry, please get Morgan from the deck. I want the two of you to go to the washroom before we leave."

"But I don't have to go," Harry said stubbornly.

"Harrison. What do we always do before leaving on a trip?

"Take a pee."

Sabrina shook her head. "Exactly. Now get to it."

Harry scampered off to do his mother's bidding and Teague watched as she licked her lips nervously, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ears. She picked at an invisible piece of lint and cleared her throat. She was doing everything but looking up at him and he moved closer, tugging on her chin so that she no choice.

"Hey," he said quietly. "We're okay, right?"

"We … yes, we're okay," she replied softly. "I just … last night … I'm kind of embarrassed. I mean, we've only known each other a few weeks and I … I've never … I think it was a mistake," she said in a rush.

That pretty pink blush was now a deep red. He was going to have to shut this down right now.

"Last night wasn't a mistake, Sabrina. Last night was about two people who needed to be with someone who mattered." He needed her to understand and he hoped like hell he was making sense.

She tore her eyes from his, but Teague angled his head so that she couldn't escape him. "Hey, I need you to know this. When it comes to women, I've never been the guy to stay … and trust me, last night I didn't want to leave you. That's a new one for me."

He ran his thumb along her bottom lip. "I don't know what this means, what us means exactly. But what I do know is that I would have spent the entire night with you. I wanted to have you again, Sabrina. I wanted to be inside you again because when I was inside you, all the noise stopped and a little bit of the darkness in my life disappeared."

Damn. Had he just said that out loud? Shocked to realize just how much the night had meant, Teague took a moment to get his own shit together.

"Look I don't know much, but I do know that last night wasn't anything to be embarrassed about. It wasn't casual or meaningless. And considering that we're both kind of flying blind here, maybe we should just leave it at that and see where the day takes us."

The kids burst into the cottage and ran past them, Morgan shouting, ‘Tigger' as Harry giggled behind her.

"So we're good?" Teague asked again, watching her carefully. When was the last time this had mattered so much?                       
       
           



       

After a few moments, she smiled-it was a hesitant, slow sort of thing-but it was enough. "We're good," she said softly.

"Okay," he replied with a grin, loving the way she blushed when he winked. "I've got to put fuel in the boat and then we're good to go."

The four of them spent the day on the lake, cruising the sights, tubing and fishing. It was relaxing and busy and by the time they docked in a town at the northern end of Lake Muskoka called Bala, the four of them had a hunger going on that would make a giant proud.

They decided to have dinner at a place called The Brig and Teague agreed to meet Sabrina and the kids once he secured the boat. It was starting to sprinkle raindrops and the wind had definitely picked up.

His cell phone buzzed at least five times while he was locking up and irritated, he withdrew the damn thing from his pocket. He headed up the dock and glanced at his phone. Three missed calls. Two from Richard Bowen, and one from his brother Jack.

He ignored Richard and returned his brother's call only to get Jack's voicemail. Teague left a brief message and pocketed his cell just as he entered The Brig. The place was hopping and he had to wait for the hostess to locate Sabrina and the kids. The fact that she assumed Sabrina was his wife and the twins were his children didn't bother him at all. In fact when he spied the three of them sitting at their table, he thought that any man would be proud to call them family.

Should he be concerned with the direction his thoughts were going? That was anyone's guess, but for now, as he'd told Sabrina, he was just going with it. Today had been too damn good to get caught up in all that background noise.

They ordered stone-baked pizza, nachos and cheese, and just as dessert was served, the sky-now trouble-gray as his father called it-opened up and one hell of a downpour erupted. Lightening flashed and ominous thunder broke overhead.