Second Chance Spring Read online

  There was no going backward now—it had been too long and I wanted this too much. Even if somewhere in my mind, my guilt and doubt were in the middle of a therapy session together, guilt confessing all my sins to the pudgy round form of doubt who as assuring him none of this would go anywhere so there was no need to worry.

  “Fuck,” I growled, pushing aside every thought in my mind that wasn’t of Paige, of her silky skin and thick gorgeous hair, of those glowing blue eyes or the full pink lips.

  I kissed her again, wrapping her into my arms and cherishing the feel of her skin against mine. I wanted to hold her here forever, warm and soft and perfect.

  “I’m on the pill, Cormac. And it’s been a million years—I’m clean.”

  I pulled away a bit—she was a doctor, it was no surprise she was responsible enough to make sure we addressed birth control. I liked to think I would have done the same, but my desire was running away with me. “Me too,” I said, whispering it in her ear and then taking that opportunity to pull the pretty lobe between my teeth.

  Paige rolled then, and surprised me by pressing my shoulders down and moving to climb onto me, sitting up and smiling down as I lay propped on the soft white pillows at the top of her bed.

  She kissed me, leaning down with her hair falling all around us, and then nuzzled a trail down my chest that lit a fire inside me so hot I thought it was probably radiating out my pores. Her hands slipped to my belt and pulled it slowly from the loops before unfastening my pants and sliding them down my legs.

  I was grateful I hadn’t worn my most comfortable boxer briefs, which were also my favorite and my oldest, and thus, riddled with holes. Those would not have been worthy of the reveal Paige had just gone through. Instead, these were simple and black, and barely containing my excitement and lust for the woman peeling them from my body. Her soft silky hair grazed the length of me as she pulled them from my legs, and a moment later, she was sitting astride me again, my cock caught between my body and the softest wettest heat I could imagine.

  She still wore her boots, but now she moved as if to unzip one.

  “Leave them on,” I said, my voice coming out like a command.

  She grinned at me and mouthed, “okay.”

  And then she began to tease me, sliding over me and creating a delicious friction between the fabric of her panties and my dick. I could feel how wet she was, even through the fabric, and all I could think about was how much I wanted the panties gone.

  I reached up to remove her bra—something I could control from the position I was trapped in on the bed, and Paige’s breasts were exposed, and they were perfect. They were not large—I knew they were a size some women, and maybe some idiotic men, might have thought were too small. But on Paige, they were perfect—pert and pretty, and tipped with pink nipples I immediately wanted to suck between my lips.

  As I did, sitting up to manage it, Paige wrapped her arms around me and gasped and writhed in a way that was very rewarding—at least I remembered how to do all this.

  Finally, she slipped off the panties and pushed me back down to the bed, her eyes holding mine as she notched me right where I wanted most to be, and the heat and moisture and desire was enough to kill me right there.

  At least I would die a happy man.

  Bobo’s Protective Instincts

  Paige

  Cormac was alternately sweet and demanding as we undressed and explored each other in my bedroom. When I finally guided his swollen cock inside me, his hands gripped my hips almost painfully, pulling me down onto him and holding me there as he took over the rhythm, thrusting up inside me in a way that forced me to simply hang on. I braced my hands on his shoulders, riding the tempo he set as the friction of my clitoris on his pelvic bone drove me to a place where desire was all I could feel. That, and the humming sensation beginning to move through my bones, my flesh, my brain.

  I wanted him. I knew it was a terrible idea, and I had a feeling he might be having similar struggles. Was I the first woman he’d been with since his wife? Would he hate himself later? Would he be riddled with guilt? These were questions I was definitely not going to be asking him—I wanted this too much.

  “Oh God,” I thought I heard myself say a few times, which was about all I could manage. Cormac was exactly what I thought he’d be, except better. Beneath the mild-mannered armor of a taxidermist-representing accountant and single father, his body was firm and hard, muscled and tight. There was a smattering of soft light hair across his chest, and down his extremely firm and ridged stomach.

  And the part of him I was currently enjoying?

  Well beyond expectations. Not that I’d spent a lot of time considering specific attributes like size, but that wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Because when Cormac rolled me over, pulling one of my knees up high toward my chest while my other leg wrapped around him, it was very clear he knew what to do with every part of his body. And I loved every second of it.

  Considering how long it had been, I was doing very well not losing my mind immediately, but I could feel wild sensation coiling tightly inside me as the buzzing in my mind increased.

  “God,” Cormac said, his voice low and delicious. “You’re perfect, Paige. Absolutely perfect.” He was driving into me hard now, finding a depth I didn’t know I had and keeping the connection between us so tight I wasn’t sure I would survive it. The stimulation was almost overwhelming, and soon, I couldn’t think, couldn’t move, could only hold on as my body took over, wringing pleasure out of every cell and nerve inside me. I shook and moaned, I gripped Cormac’s ass with everything I had, never wanting it to end, but also needing him to slow down, to keep me from spinning into oblivion so far I’d never be found.

  And he did slow, but he kept moving, changing the hard demanding thrusts for long languorous slides that were almost more impossible to handle. His back muscles tensed beneath my hands, and he drew in a sharp breath, his mouth on my neck. And then he let out a low guttural noise as he drove home again, again, and again, and I could feel his release inside me.

  As we lay panting in the aftermath, he gathered me in his arms and held me close, dropping soft kisses along my jaw and my throat.

  I wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure what to say. My heart was aching as I considered that this couldn’t really mean anything since I was leaving. Wasn’t I?

  For the first time, as I lay in Cormac’s arms, I realized maybe I didn’t need to leave Singletree to find the thing I’d been looking for so long. Maybe the timing wasn’t all wrong—Cormac had just been afraid. Who wouldn’t be, after losing his wife like that? And of course he needed to take things slow, he had two little girls to think of.

  I snuggled into his embrace for a few more perfect moments, considering that maybe I could be happy here. I’d only given the Baltimore practice a verbal acceptance. I could still turn down the offer. I needed to think a little bit.

  “I’ll be right back.” I slid out from Cormac’s embrace and went into the bathroom, taking off my boots as I did so. I cleaned up and brought back a towel for him.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  I pulled back the covers on the bed—we’d been on top of it—and we both climbed inside, snuggling up together again. There was a lot to think about here, things to discuss. But it would wait. For now, I slept happily in the circle of Cormac’s strong arms.

  Morning came, as mornings usually did, but this one was different. This one didn’t begin with a pep talk about my life, or a requirement to buckle down to try to get myself through another lonely day. Instead, it began with warm skin, satisfied sighs, and languorous morning lovemaking. There was none of the frenzied demand of the night before.

  Instead, it was gentle, soft, slow, and so delicious I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to appreciate waking up in my bed alone ever again.

  We didn’t speak, and Cormac’s warm sure hands on me were so strong and reassuring, half the time I thought maybe I was just dreaming, floating on remnant wisps of pleasure
and happiness from the night before. But when he entered me and I wrapped my legs around him to pull him deep, I realized I’d never had a dream so fulfilling.

  “Hi,” he murmured when we had stilled, each of us sleepy and satisfied, dozing again.

  “Hi,” I answered, opening my eyes to find that liquid gold gaze on mine.

  “I had a really nice time last night,” he said, and the words were so innocent—so completely at odds with the fact that it was morning and we were intertwined and naked in my bed—that I burst out laughing.

  “I did too,” I giggled. “And this morning.”

  The clarity I’d found, the decision to try, to stay here and see if this was something real, hadn’t diminished in the long darkness of night. Instead, it had firmed inside me, solidified and hardened into a kind of resolve.

  I’d made a decision, or I was pretty sure I had, at least. But I needed to be responsible about it. I needed to be sure that it felt right in the stark light of day, when I was on my own, away from the influence of Cormac’s tan skin and blazing eyes.

  “I guess I’d better get to work,” I said, glancing at the clock. We’d woken early—the hazards of jobs and young children, I figured.

  “Me too,” he said, and his arms tightened around me as I rolled over, and he pulled me back into the curve of his body. I could feel his erection pressed to my ass as he nuzzled the skin at the base of my neck.

  “Again?” I marveled.

  He chuckled. “With you? Yeah.”

  But we didn’t have time for that—we both had things to get to. Real life beckoned.

  Once we were standing on opposite sides of my bed with sun slanting through the gap in my curtains, an awkward silence wafted between us. I pulled a robe from the closet and wrapped myself in it, pushing a hand through my hair, which was an insane mess of tangles. Cormac dressed quickly, and I followed him toward the front of the house.

  “Coffee?” I offered, though brewing coffee and waiting while he drank it would certainly make me late.

  “Thanks,” he said. “But I’d better just get going.”

  The dogs were at our feet again—I’d slipped out of bed to let them back in to sleep—and Bobo was eyeing Cormac suspiciously.

  “He’s not growling at you today,” I pointed out.

  “I’m not touching you,” Cormac said. He raised a hand and traced a finger softly down my cheek, eliciting a low rumble from my dog. I chuckled.

  “He’ll come around.”

  Luke didn’t seem to care at all though, wagging his tail and looking happily from one of us to the other. He even shot Bobo a look, which made my dog sit down and close his growling mouth. Maybe Luke would be a good influence on my dog.

  “I’ll see you later,” Cormac said, and he leaned in and kissed me softly.

  I opened the door to let him out. “Okay,” I said.

  He left the house, slipping behind the wheel of his car and driving across the street to park it again. I sighed, shut the door, and began my day, my mind filled with happiness and hope. I only hoped Cormac felt the same way.

  One Sausage is no reason to stop being vegan

  Paige

  “What’s all this, then?” Leslie asked, leaning against the counter as I hurried in, a coffee in each hand.

  “It’s a sorry-I’m-late offering.” I handed her the mocha she usually loved. Whipped cream could get you pretty far with my best friend when you owed her an apology.

  “You’re not late, exactly,” she said, accepting the drink. “But you’re not early like normal. Something going on?”

  I didn’t say anything, heading through the door to my little office to drop my purse on my desk and pull on my lab coat. Leslie followed me in and watched me through narrowed eyes as she removed the lid of her cup and licked whipped cream from the top of the drink.

  “What’s going on this morning?” I asked, trying to avoid the shrewd gaze of my friend and colleague.

  “That’s what I’m wondering,” she said, leaning against the door frame as if we had all day to chat. “Your skin is glowing. Your shirt is on inside out, and you brought me coffee.” She sipped her drink and then nodded and snapped her fingers. “You got laid!” She practically shouted it, and I imagined the entire staff and all the patients out in the waiting room must’ve heard.

  “Will you keep it down?” I hissed.

  “Am I right? I know I’m right. Am I right?”

  “If I were a teenager or some college kid, maybe you’d be right. But I’m an adult. I don’t think we ‘get laid’ anymore.”

  She frowned. “We don’t?”

  “No. I think at my age we just have sex.”

  Leslie’s face shifted back to the ecstatic grin. “You had sex!” She couldn’t help being obscenely loud. Now the office knew I’d both had sex and gotten laid. Perfect.

  “Let’s work,” I suggested, but Leslie was blocking the door.

  “Details first. Those people will still be sick in five minutes.”

  “Les!”

  She shot me a mischievous smile and did not move out of the way.

  “Fine. Cormac took me to Patank in DC last night. We had a really good time. And then he stayed over.”

  She was nodding along with my words. Now she said, “okay, yeah. Good. What about his kids?”

  “With his brother,” I said.

  “Awesome,” she said. “And he’s cool that you’re leaving? You gonna do a long-distance fuck-buddy kind of thing?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I mean, that’s not what I want.” My heart leapt again at the decision I was pretty sure I’d made. One that would mean Cormac and I could really try things out—see if there was something here.

  “Yeah, that’d be hard.” She began to slide out of my way. “So just a one-night stand then. With your hot neighbor. Nice.”

  I didn’t want it to be a one-night stand. Not at all. “Actually,” I said slowly, and Leslie’s eyes widened as she waited for me to finish my thought. “Actually I thought I might just stay here. Not take the position in Baltimore.”

  Leslie stepped back into my path. “Hang on.”

  “Les. Work?”

  “One minute,” she said, her face serious now, which was hard to accomplish with a whipped-cream mustache. “The guy’s penis is so spectacular you’re going to change plans you’ve taken literal years to make? All over one night?”

  “No, I don’t think it’s quite like that.” I didn’t want to hear her logic. I was too happy.

  “I mean,” she went on. “Did he say he wanted something serious? Do his kids know? He has a lot on his plate right?”

  He did, and I hadn’t really talked to him about anything serious the night before. It had been somewhat understood, I guessed, that we were just enjoying one another for the night. We both knew the score. “I guess I just need to talk to him.”

  She nodded. “Or just be happy with what he’s willing to give. A guy with kids has a whole list of things to worry about that you don’t even have to consider.”

  I didn’t like her words at all, but that didn’t make them less true. “I guess you’re right.”

  “Listen, Paige. I mean, I know you like this guy. And for fuck’s sake, we’ve been waiting years for you to get a proper roll in the hay so you could loosen up a bit around here.”

  “You have?” I wondered if the staff had all chatted about this necessity.

  “Yeah,” she waved this away as if it was obvious. “But I don’t think finally getting a good sausage dinner means you should quit planning your life.”

  “Sausage dinner?” I repeated her words.

  “Yeah, honey. Just because you did some jousting doesn’t make you a knight.”

  “It might be time to stop with the metaphors.”

  “Getting stabbed once or twice doesn’t make you a murder victim.”

  “That’s not even sexy.”

  “Some monkey play does not make you a zookeeper.”

  “Leslie, we
need to get to work.”

  She finally moved out of the doorway, and the patient tech in the hallway smiled at me and said quietly, “Room one, doc.”

  “A little beef injection isn’t a reason to quit being vegan!” Leslie shouted.

  “I’m not vegan!” I shouted back as I opened the door to room one.

  The young woman sitting on the exam table stared at me with an open mouth. “Okay,” she said quietly. “Well I’m not vegan either.”

  And that was how my day began.

  By the time I went home to bake the next batch of cakes for Mom, my head was a mess. In Cormac’s arms, everything had seemed so clear. There was something there, I knew there was. But it had been so long since I’d been with someone I really liked, I was forced to consider that my compass could just be off when it came to these things. Was I so happy to have someone kind and strong finally paying attention to me that I was willing to ignore everything else in my life?

  As the scent of vanilla and sugar wafted through my house, my mind led me in worried circles and I didn’t know what to do. The job offer was still looming. I’d said I would take it, and they expected me in two more weeks.

  I was standing at the counter staring out the window into the darkening yard when the doorbell rang. I wiped my hands on my jeans and went to the door to find Cormac there with Taylor and Maddie standing in front of him, looking up at me.

  “Hi,” he said, a glint in those warm eyes that made me think maybe I’d been driving myself crazy over nothing. There was something here. Surely there was. I could feel it.