Nappies. ‘What’s wrong with calling them diapers?’ He grinned at this man who was so generous, not only with his home but with his heart.
He got an exaggerated eye-roll in reply.
Laughing, he went to swing Aimee out of the cot and kiss her on each cheek, blowing raspberries in between. The giggles she let rip were all the reward he required. Turning to head to the kitchen, he paused to scan the hundreds of photos covering one wall. Aimee, from the moment she’d been born to the present. Charlie had already put up one of him holding her.
‘I’ll add more of you soon.’ Charlie leaned in the doorway, a small smile lightening those heavy eyes.
She reached up to kiss Aimee. ‘Morning, sweetheart.’ Tickling her tummy got more giggles.
The breath stuck in Marshall’s throat. By the simple act of reaching out to her daughter Charlie had let go the front of her satin robe, exposing her cleavage and giving him a partial view of her beautiful breasts. Full, lush and damned tempting. His mouth dried. She might be tiny but she was perfectly endowed. He could remember the weight of her breasts in his hands, could hear the catch in her breath as he fingered her nipples, the groan escaping her lips as the desire built to an inferno inside her.
‘Mum, mum.’ Aimee kicked and wriggled, thankfully diverting his licentious thoughts back to more prosaic needs.
But her movements didn’t cool his racing blood or knock down the instant hard-on the sight of those breasts had fuelled. Now what? He couldn’t turn his back on Charlie, neither could he adjust his shorts to hide the bulge without drawing attention to himself.
The wriggling bundle in his arms was trying to get down. Bending, he placed Aimee carefully on the floor and said to Charlie, ‘Your breakfast is ready. The tea might be getting cold.’
‘Right. I’ll get dressed. Oh…’ Her gaze dropped to her front and she quickly pulled the robe closed over those thought-diverting breasts. ‘I—I won’t be long.’
He watched her cute butt as she all but ran to her bedroom. The satin slipped and slid, accentuating the curves that led to her legs. Legs he remembered waking up and finding entangled with his most mornings they’d been together. Always smooth, soft and yet firm, perfectly suntanned. Athletic. Sensational. Sexy as hell.
The groan that tore from his throat was filled with raw need. How long could he last without touching her, without feeling her naked body pressed against his? Without her sprawled across him after mind-numbing sex? How had he managed to stay in his own bed every night, knowing she was just down the hall?
So much for deflating his hard-on. It was bigger than ever. A cold shower might fix it. Or a solid, knee-slamming, gut-busting run. With a hard-on? Yes, damn it.
‘Aimee, go and see Mummy. I’m going out.’
‘Me come.’
‘Not this time. Charlie,’ he called, ‘I’m heading out for a run. You okay with Aimee?’
‘Sure.’ And there she was, scooping Aimee up into her arms, avoiding looking at him. She’d dressed super-fast. Her blouse was skew, with the buttons lined up incorrectly. ‘Let’s have some breakfast, sweetheart. Morning, Dad.’
Brendon stood at the end of the hall. ‘Morning, love.’
Great. Now he had to get out of the house without either of them noticing his predicament. He turned for the front door, in a hurry to get out of there.
As he closed the door he heard Brendon saying, ‘I’m going fishing on Saturday on the Tongariro River, staying over for the night at Billy’s shack.’
Up the ante, why don’t you? Marshall’s shoes slapped the pavement as he headed for the lake. Charlie and I alone in the house all damned night? Knowing Brendon slept at the far end of the house had been about the only thing keeping him from knocking on Charlie’s door most nights. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to abuse the man’s hospitality in that way.
He paused at the kerb, looked left, then right. Damn, got it wrong again. Looked right, then left and shot across the road to the path wending around the lake edge. The lake was calm this morning, as it often was until the afternoon breeze struck. At the far end, miles away, mountains rose into the pale blue of the morning sky. No denying the raw beauty of this place.
His heart ached. For the beauty. For Charlie. For the fact he had to leave at the end of next week. The army and his men awaited him.
*
Amazing. Charlie grinned. Once again Marshall had put her favourite breakfast together while she’d been in the shower after their run. He’d returned home with her this morning, not bothering with going further. ‘I could get used to this.’
‘Don’t get your hopes up too high.’ Dad grounded her fast.
‘You don’t think he’ll come back to visit again?’ Her heart sank. The truth was that she didn’t either, but she couldn’t help hoping. He was obviously still attracted to her. That had been monumentally obvious the other morning. But so far he hadn’t acted on that attraction.
Dad buttered his toast. ‘I’m sure he’ll visit. Often.’ The raspberry jam went on thickly. ‘I just don’t want you getting hurt. Marshall will do the right thing by you and Aimee. But I’m not sure that means making your breakfast every morning for the next fifty years.’
‘You’re talking commitment.’ The cereal crunched between her teeth. ‘I always knew that would be a difficulty, but I can’t complain. I’ve got what I set out to find. If Marshall changes his mind about more involvement then that’s a plus.’
Despite her tiredness, she suddenly felt free of all the worries of the last two years. Free of the need to try and make Marshall see things from her point of view. If commitment wasn’t on his agenda, so be it. She’d find another way to make it work for Aimee. What that would be she didn’t have a clue. But he was here for at least another week. Surely something would come to mind in that time.
Why had he come to see her? He hadn’t known he had a child with her so it had to be because he’d had good memories of their time together. Had he thought they might pick up where they’d left off for a short while? A long, low sigh slipped over her bottom lip. Now, there was a thought. She’d love nothing more than to share a few hot nights under the sheet with him. But it wasn’t going to happen.
She still had to tell Marshall about her dodgy health. It hung over her like a stormcloud. Swallowing the last of her breakfast, she pushed back from the table. Today was Friday, and then there was the weekend. Who knew what they might get to talk about then? But first she had a day of patients to see to. And tonight it was her turn to cook dinner.
*
At
last. Charlie’s car turned into the drive. She was well over an hour late home, which was unusual. Marshall’s heart stopped its panicked beating and his brain deleted the horrific scenes he’d conjured up.
He opened her door and drank in the sight of her. ‘Hey, you coming out to play?’
‘Sure. I missed you at lunch. But I heard you were very busy with the boating-accident victims.’
‘Yeah.’ His grin vanished. ‘When I was walking your way I saw a crowd on the beach and went to investigate. The moment I knew there were injured people out on the lake I volunteered to help. There were kids involved.’ His voice hitched with anger. ‘Two weren’t wearing flotation jackets. How can parents be so careless?’ He certainly wouldn’t put Aimee’s life at risk like that.
Charlie passed him a bag of groceries from the passenger seat before clambering out of the car. ‘The national water safety council has an ongoing battle with that every summer. They swamp the television programmes with ads about wearing lifejackets, target the worst offenders, and yet our drowning statistics are appalling.’
Marshall nodded. ‘This is very much a water-orientated country. I guess that explains some of the higher figures. But to let your kids out on a boat without any thought to their safety is beyond me. Why are people so careless with their kids’ lives?’ He shook his head at the stupidity of it.
‘Which is why Aimee’s already started swimming lessons and there’s a miniature lifejacket hanging up in the shed alongside mine.’ Charlie gave him a knowing grin. ‘You’re acting like a responsible dad.’
‘I feel like one. How cool’s that?’ He grinned right back. Damn, but she was cute when she thought she’d bested him.
She changed the subject. Typical. ‘Joseph says you were great out there today. Impressed the hell out of him.’
‘Good to know. That’s twice I’ve been able to help out. Seems I can be a doctor anywhere, not just on the battlefield.’ He felt surprisingly good about that. Food for thought.
Her eye-roll was lopsided and made him laugh. Draping his free arm around her shoulders, he tugged her close. ‘You and I are having a night out. All by ourselves. Dinner at Camper’s. I believe they do a damned fine meal.’