“You like that idea?”
“Mmm.” He smiled. “I do. I like that idea a lot.”
“Aidan!” She wrapped her arms around his waist and gave a squeeze. “That’s awesome.”
“So are you.” He kissed her again. “I’m starting to think you are the secret ingredient.”
The compliment warmed her right down to her toes.
“We’re hungry out here!”
“Mario’s ready to race!”
“Bring the ’za or get a room.” That was Shane, in the doorway, who might have been standing there the whole time. Who knew? Not Beck, and she didn’t care. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so…at home.
They delivered the pizzas to more showers of compliments, but it was Chloe who practically jumped out of her seat on the first bite.
“You guys could win for sure. This pizza is that good!”
“Win what?” they asked in unison.
“Best of Bitter Bark. It’s coming up in three weeks, you know.”
Aidan and Beck looked at each other, silent.
“You didn’t know,” Shane presumed.
“We’re living in a pizza bubble,” Aidan shot back. “We could win,” he whispered to Beck. “For Slice of Heaven. Number twenty-five.”
“Only if Uncle Mike actually makes the pizza,” she said. “He wins the awards, not the restaurant. We could win, but it would be number one for you or me.” She turned to the group. “Which is better? A or B?”
All of them threw different answers, including Christian, who offered up a cheesy mouthful of “C!” and fell onto the floor, giggling.
“Doesn’t matter,” Trace said, holding up a slice. “They’re both the best pizza I’ve ever had.”
“And because it’s the Best of Better Bark this year,” Chloe added, “I managed to attract a dog-loving producer from Food Network who’s enamored of our town’s tourism campaign.”
Shane gave her a look. “Pretty sure that guy’s enamored with our town tourism director.”
She flicked off her husband’s tease. “He told me on Friday that he’s going to include two of the restaurant winners in the Best Kept Secrets show they’re doing on North Carolina small-town restaurants. Linda May is killing herself to win the Best in Baked Goods. You guys have to get pizza. Ricardo’s is the only real competition. And maybe that new guy who opened a delivery business. There’s no one else who can compete.”
Beck stared at her, the words floating around, almost making no sense. “Food Network is coming to Bitter Bark?”
“Better Bark.” At least three people, none of them Chloe, corrected for her.
“They sure are. And you better believe if Slice of Heaven wins, I’ll get that producer to feature the restaurant on the show.”
“That’d send sales through the roof,” Molly said.
“I watch that show every week.” Gramma Finnie scooted closer on the sofa and put a hand on Beck’s leg. “They do like the history, lass. If your uncle is a twenty-five-time winner, that host will gobble him and the pizza up. And you’ll have a line out the door for a year.”
Beck fell back against the sofa, speechless.
But no one else was. The room exploded with ideas, suggestions, and words of support.
“Plus, it’s Aidan,” Molly said, beaming at her brother. “I’ve never seen you fail at anything you put your mind to.”
“Thanks, Moll.” He held a slice of pizza up in a mock toast. “To Best Kept Secrets. I hope we found one.”
While they ate and Beck settled onto the sofa and picked at a salad, she couldn’t think about anything but Uncle Mike and not only getting him to taste the pizzas and pick one, but also convincing him to come back and make the pizza so he could win.
Could he do that in three weeks? Enough time in this house, and Beck was beginning to think anything was possible.
Next to her, Gramma Finnie patted her leg. “I do think ye could win, lass,” she whispered under the ruckus of the racing game.
“I hope so.”
“You know what they say about hope,” she said.
Beck drew back. “Hold On, Pain Ends?” she guessed, pulling out the old acronym her mother used to use when Beck had a boo-boo.
“Walk with hope in your heart, and ye never walk alone.”
Wow. She tried to smile and react normally to that, but a flutter in her chest took her breath away. It was exactly what Mama would have said. Exactly. It wasn’t the sentiment or silly saying that got her, it was the…familiarity.
Slowly, Beck put her salad bowl on the table, eyeing the remaining slices of pizza on a tray. But a shout at the TV stole her attention, as Trace nearly beat Pru on the animated racing course, but she slid ahead of him at the last second.
“Mr. Bancroft!” Pru yelled. “You let me win!”
“Umproo,” he fired back, making everyone laugh at a joke Beck didn’t get. “You won fair and square.”
Gramma Finnie leaned forward. “There are a lot of inside jokes in this family, lass.”
“I noticed.”
“If you stick around long enough, you’ll make a few.” She put her arm around Beck, somehow the most natural move in the world, fluttering a few strands of her hair. “I’d like that,” Gramma added softly.
“I’d like that, too,” she whispered back, closing her eyes as crooked, aging fingers slid through her hair tenderly.
And just like that, this old woman’s touch sent Beck back a few decades, a hundred miles, and a lifetime into the past.
“You should try your pizza,” Gramma Finnie whispered. “The one you made is better.”
“You think?”
“I know.”
Beck swallowed and let the sensations of the moment roll over her. A tender older woman. A happy, solid family. The smell of food, the sound of laughter, the knowledge that everything, in that moment, was secure.
“I think I will.” She leaned forward, slid a slice onto a napkin, and brought it to her lips, completing the memory with the first bite.
It was so delicious she had to close her eyes to fully appreciate it. When she opened them, she glanced to her left and caught Aidan looking at her. They held each other’s gaze, not needing to speak a word, but both of them sharing a moment as intimate as any kiss they’d exchanged. He knew. He understood. He got what this meant to her.
She could have stayed in that place forever, except Shane jumped up and thrust his cell phone in the air and yelled, “It’s a girl!”
And then there was nothing but Kilcannon chaos, which tasted almost as good as the pizza.
Chapter Nineteen
Aidan followed Beck home even though they’d kissed good night in the Waterford Farm drive at ten o’clock on Sunday night. A slow drizzle had increased to a heavy rain, and that was all the excuse he needed to make sure she got home okay.
He slipped into his usual parking spot on the street, hustling around to the back of the building, where she parked, to meet her before she even got out of her car with Ruff. She didn’t seem the least bit surprised as she turned off the ignition and opened the door, but Ruff barked mightily in greeting.
“It’s raining,” he said, as if that explained his decision.
“And I ate pizza.” She slipped out of the car and stood, wrapping her arms around him, not caring that the rain splattered all over her. “So we should celebrate.”
“With more pizza?” he suggested, already knowing that was not what either one of them had in mind.
“With more…this.” She tilted her head back, inviting a kiss that he wanted to take, but he had to look at her instead. The rain dribbling down her cheeks could easily be mistaken for tears, but he knew better. This was not an unhappy woman. This was joy. Pure joy, and he was holding it in his arms.
“How long do I have to wait?” she asked without opening her eyes.
“Long enough for me to memorize the way you look right now, all wet from rain and lit by the moon and streetlamp.”
>
That made her smile. Laugh, even, but she didn’t open her eyes or change her position or speak.
“Long enough for me to brace myself for how hard it’s going to hit me when I kiss you, and how much I am not going to want to stop.”
“Mmm.” The little moan was her only response, but it told him she felt exactly the same way.
“Long enough for me to tell you that I can’t remember the last time I felt that good at Waterford Farm. And it’s all because you were there.”
Finally, she opened her eyes. “Really?”
“Really.”
“I felt the same way. I mean, at home and at peace and secure. It’s been a long, long time since I felt that way, or…” She bit her lip, as if trying to stop herself from what she was about to say.
“Or…”
“It’s been a long, long time since I’ve felt this way about anyone,” she admitted on a whisper. “I don’t know what your secret ingredient is, Aidan Kilcannon, but I can’t seem to get enough.”
A raindrop hit her nose, and he kissed it off, then moved to her lips. “Same,” he murmured. As he intensified the kiss, Ruff started to bark ferociously.
“Oh no you don’t, buddy. Not this time.” He grabbed hold of the dog’s collar with one hand and guided him out of the car. “Can we go inside, Beck?”
Silent, she took his hand and led the way.
The hallway was dark, but she didn’t put on a light. The minute they stepped inside, she turned, embracing him again and taking another kiss. Ruff’s barks echoed in the tiny space, loud enough to cover up their noisy heartbeats and already ragged breaths.
Each kiss grew hotter, deeper, and more desperate. They managed to get up the back stairs, fish out keys, unlock, and slide inside, but there, all he could do was lean her against the closed door and move his hands everywhere.
She did the same, hungry and greedy to touch him.
Ruff circled, barked, and finally accepted that he was being ignored, the room finally quiet except for their soft groans and the occasional sweet whimper from Beck’s throat.
“We’re sliding to the floor,” he murmured into the kiss.
“Really? Feels more like floating on air to me.”
Yeah, that, too. “If we go in your room, Ruff can’t see us.”
“You think he cares?”
“I think he’ll eat my face off if I try to undress you.”
“Then I better do it for you.” She slipped away from him, tugging him along by the hand. “He should sleep on the sofa if we’re quiet.”
“Or bark outside the door if we’re not.”
Laughing, she brought him inside her bedroom and closed the door firmly. The room was dim, lit only by a yellowish cast from the ridiculous Christmas lights they never took out of the trees in Bushrod Square.
But it was enough for him to see the dresser, a rocker, and the bed. Enough for him to see the promise in Beck’s eyes. Enough for him to drink in the sight of her gorgeous body as she backed away and gathered the hem of her T-shirt in loose fists.
“Undress, did you say?”
He tried to swallow, but his throat was bone-dry, and his head got light as blood rushed out of it to be put to better use than thinking. “Beck.”
She lifted a brow in question.
“Let me.” He took a few steps closer. “I haven’t thought about much else since I met you.”
“Not pizza?”
“Pizza’s just a way to be around you.” He hadn’t realized how true that was until he said it. But from the first, his desire to be in that kitchen was grounded in his desire to be with this woman. Not Ruff. Not away from Waterford. Her.
“Then…” She looked up at him, arching slightly into his body to invite more under-the-shirt exploration. “I love pizza.”
“That didn’t take long.” He laughed, but it disappeared into the first real kiss in this room, and then everything melted away. Everything.
Her top and little white sneakers. His shirt and far too heavy boots. Her silky bra came off with one easy snap as he laid her on the bed, trailing kisses while she fumbled with his shirt buttons.
But more than clothes disappeared. It was like he could feel walls tumbling down, brick by brick. Old hurts and new problems. Deep wounds and surface cuts. Everything smoothed out until it was as silky as the skin on her belly, warm and feminine under his lips. He unzipped her jeans and helped her tug them off, snagging his wallet and a condom he’d been optimistically carrying for weeks, then kicked off his khakis.
And finally, almost completely undressed, they lay all the way down, breathing like a couple of racehorses in anticipation of the starting bell. It was time. This was it.
She splayed her hand on his chest, circling her palm as blood thrummed through his body, making him ache with need. He traced a line with his fingers over her hips, sliding into the lace strap of an itty-bitty thong he could rip if he wasn’t careful.
And finally, they kissed again. Once, gently. He held back, wanting to relish every moment, every sensation. Wanting to be sure she was ready. He was, of course. Hard and certain and as ready as a man could be. But this was Beck, not some hookup, not some easy, feel-good, meaningless fling.
This was not meaningless. They were forever connected by Charlie. By Ruff. And now, by this.
“You having second thoughts?” she whispered, searching his face with her eyes and her fingertips.
“I’m having first thoughts,” he admitted.
“What’s that?”
“The first time I realize just how much you mean to me.”
“That’s what this is for, right?” She kissed him on the lips. “To show me how much. And let me show you.”
He sank into that kiss, then, openmouthed and fully ready to give himself like he never had before. He wanted to be completely lost in Beck, so far gone that he couldn’t think or see or feel anything but her.
With one move, he did away with her panties, and she dragged his briefs out of her way. Her touch was sure, hot, and insanely good.
“Show me, Aidan,” she whispered in his ear. “Show me what it means.”
Nothing had ever been easier. Sex was effortless, glossy, sweet, and slow. They fit perfectly, no matter how many times they rolled around, assumed new positions, and laughed, kissed, touched, and connected at the deepest level.
When her nails dug in and her pleas grew desperate, when his body clutched and refused to obey his mind, and when they were both absolutely at the peak of pleasure, everything else disappeared except the two of them and the pure pleasure they gave each other.
As Aidan moved and Beck rocked and they both fell into complete release, Aidan reveled in those long, drawn-out, crazy seconds of being totally and utterly lost.
Except, when Beck collapsed on him, soaked and spent, Aidan wrapped his arms around her and realized he wasn’t lost at all.
He just got found.
* * *
The bed rumbled. Low, loud, like a freight train coming to life and vibrating, then whistling as it flew right by Beck’s ear. Her eyes popped open in shock, and she stared at her wall, then blinked to full alertness when the train backed up, roared again, and blew so hard she felt the bed vibrate.
Aidan snored that loud?
Shame, because everything else he did in bed was beyond perfection.
She slowly turned and came face-to-face with Ruff, on his back, paws up, snoring like a bear in hibernation.
She bit back a laugh at the hilarious sight, feeling relief the snoring wasn’t Aidan’s. Then surprise, because Ruff had never shown any interest in sleeping in her room, let alone in her bed. But mostly, a contentment so rich and deep she couldn’t quite give it a name rolled over her so thoroughly that she let her head fall back on the pillow with a soft thud.
The three of them in a bed was pure magic.
On the other pillow, a honey-blond head moved, and then two beautiful blue eyes opened and pinned her with a look.
“We
have company,” she said.
“I let him in,” he admitted. “He was crying.”
“You’re a pushover.”
He slid a hand over Ruff’s head and threaded his fingers in her tangled hair. “You were sound asleep, or you’d have done the same thing.”
“Someone tired me out.”
He smiled. “I need to hold you.” He rubbed Ruff’s belly, which woke him and made him automatically roll over. Then, Aidan gave him a gentle nudge toward the bottom of the bed. “Out of the way, Beasto. I want my woman.”
Something stretched in her chest, a dangerous, delicious pull of pure pleasure at the very idea of being his woman. No such stretching for Ruff, though. He repositioned, claiming his space with a yawn that put every inch of a five-inch tongue on display, then let his head plop right back down again.
“Maybe this was Charlie’s plan,” Aidan muttered. “He didn’t care who got the dog, only that he did the job of getting between us.”
“Almost worked,” Beck said on a laugh.
Aidan sat up, got both arms around Ruff, and gently shoved his big body downward, instantly taking his place and wrapping himself around Beck. “That’s better.”
Ruff jumped off the bed and gave a shake, ambling out of the room, no doubt searching for food.
“I have to take him out,” she said, but even as she spoke, she knew that would be impossible. Because right this minute, a strong man with talented hands and a sexy body was holding her so securely, she knew poor Ruff would have to wait at least a few more minutes.
Aidan kissed her head and slid his bare leg around hers. “Tell me what changed, Beck. What pushed you over the edge?”
She blinked in surprise at the question, then smiled. “Honestly? I think I knew I wanted to sleep with you the minute I laid eyes on you,” she admitted. “First, I wanted to kiss you, and I thought that would be enough.” She touched his lips. “But of course, it wasn’t. Then I got to know you and watch you work and see you with Ruff. And then, last night, with your family around, I saw a man I like a lot. And you’re sexy. So sexy.” She laughed. “Maybe I should have led with that. What about you?”