missed?” He vaulted to his feet, unable to bear her presence so close. He didn’t know whether to kiss her in gratitude for giving him a child or to strangle her for her deception.
He was shaking all over, and the weakness and turmoil he experienced infuriated him. Grief for the time he would never recoup mingled with wonder that a part of him lay asleep in a nearby room.
“When can we tell her?”
Olivia went white. “It’s not the kind of thing you blurt out. Maybe you should get to know her first.”
“In three days?” He was incredulous that she didn’t understand his urgency. “Guess again. I’m keeping her here this summer.”
“You can’t.”
“Oh, yes,” he said in dead earnest. “I can and I will. Both of you will move in here for the duration.”
“You can’t order me,” she whispered, anguish marking her face.
He shrugged. “I’m not being unreasonable. Your work can be done anywhere. She’s not in school yet. If you don’t agree, I’ll take you to court. I know plenty of judges who frown on parents who kidnap their own kids.”
“I didn’t kidnap her. That’s a terrible thing to say.”
“You kept her existence a secret from her father. Semantics, Olivia. I’m calling the shots now.”
“You’re bluffing.”
He felt a tingle of sympathy for her distress, but only that. She’d do well to understand that he fought for what was his. “It wouldn’t be such a terrible thing, would it? To spend time here on the mountain?”
Clearly unconvinced, she frowned stubbornly as she stood up and crossed the room to stand nose to nose with him. “I can’t turn my life upside down overnight. You’re a bully.”
He grinned, feeling suddenly lighthearted and free. A daddy. He was a daddy.
Olivia cocked her head. “What’s so funny?”
“You. Me. Life in general.”
“I don’t see any humor in this situation at all,” she huffed.
He scooped her up, lifting her until his belt buckle pressed into her stomach. Her arms went around his neck. “Thank you, Olivia, for giving me Cammie.” He kissed her nose.
“She’s not a thing to give. But you’re welcome.”
He slid his lips across hers, tasting the flavors of the coffee and lemon pie she had consumed earlier. “One summer,” he coaxed.
“One weekend,” she countered.
He palmed her ass, pulling her into his thrusting erection. The clothes separating them were a frustration. So he set her on her feet and began undressing her.
Olivia went beet-red and batted at his hands. “What do you think you’re doing?” she sputtered. “Sex won’t make me change my mind.”
“The decision’s already made.” He groaned aloud as he peeled away her sweater and revealed a mauve demi-bra barely concealing its bounty. “Sweet heaven. Please don’t stop me, Olivia. I need you more than my next breath.” His body was one huge ache that concentrated in his hard erection.
Her eyelids fluttered shut as her shoulders rose and fell in a deep sigh. He removed the remainder of her clothing posthaste. The well-washed jeans, the socks and shoes, the scanty bra and, finally, the lacy thong.
Was it possible that he had forgotten how gorgeous she was? Full breasts with light brown centers topped a narrow waist and hourglass hips. He must have been insane six years ago. How had he left her?
He weighed both her breasts in his hands. “Look at me, Olivia.”
She opened her eyes and what he saw there humbled him. Sadness, resignation, need. “This won’t solve anything, Kieran.”
He nodded, refusing to let the future taint the moment. “Then don’t think. Just let me make you feel.”
A bleak smile lifted the corners of her lips. “Do you think you’re that irresistible? You have a bad habit of wanting to run the show.”
“I’ll work on my failings,” he promised, ready to agree to anything as long as she stayed in this room with him for the next half hour.
“What makes you think I’ll be lured into your bed given our history?”
“It’s because of our history that I believe it. We could never keep our hands off each other, and you know it.”
“I won’t have Cammie be hurt or confused by any relationship we might initiate.”
“Of course not. This is no one’s business but ours.”
“Someone might come in,” she said, nibbling her bottom lip.
“I locked the door, I swear.”
“And the housekeeper?”
“I told her you’d be back no later than eleven-thirty.”
Her face flamed again. “Oh, my God, Kieran. Don’t you think she knows we’re across the hall having sex?”
“We’re not having sex,” he pointed out ruefully.
“You know what I mean.”
His hands moved to her waist, petting her, soothing her. “She thinks we went for a walk in the moonlight. And she’s a romantic soul. Quit worrying.”
For one interminable heartbeat he thought Olivia would refuse him. But finally she nodded as if coming to some unknown decision. Her hands went to his belt buckle. “If we have a curfew, I suppose we’d better not waste any time.”
“I agree,” he said fervently, batting her hands away and ripping off his clothing in two quick swipes as he toed off his shoes.
Her eyes rounded in a gratifying way as she took stock of his considerably aroused state. “I seem to have forgotten a few things about you,” she said, cupping him in her hands.
He sucked in a breath between clenched teeth. “I’m on a hair trigger, Olivia. It’s been a while. Maybe you shouldn’t touch me.”
“There you go again, bossing me around.” She dropped to her knees on the plush carpet and licked him daintily.
The shock of it ricocheted through his body like streaks of fire. He cursed, gripping her head, and with one snap of his wrist breaking the band that held her ponytail in place. That fabulous hair tumbled across her cheeks, around his straining penis. The eroticism of the image sent him over the edge, and he came with a ragged shout.
They collapsed to the floor and Olivia lay beside him, a small, pensive smile on her face.
He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Was that meant to prove something?”
“Maybe. I’m not a kid anymore, Kieran. I’m a woman, and I’ve been running my life for six years without your help.”
“But you have to admit that when we do things together, the results are pretty spectacular.”
“Is that a sexual reference?”
“Could be, but in this case I was talking about Cammie.”
She curled into him, hooking one long, slender leg over his thigh. “I can’t argue with that.”
He stroked her hair. “We don’t have to be adversaries.”
“As long as you understand that you can’t ride roughshod over my feelings and opinions. And we don’t have to be a couple.”
“Fair enough.”
She touched him intimately. “If you’re trying to manipulate me with sex, it won’t