Authors: Laura Browning
Balancing Act (30 page)
“Are you ready to talk?” he asked. His voice shook. As much as he might want to sound strong, right now he was on the edge with the knowledge that the next few minutes would change their futures.
* * * *
It felt right lying in his arms with the fire crackling, the soft sound of Zach’s breathing, and Seth’s warm, solid body to lean on. Tessa would have liked to stay as they were right at that moment. But she needed some answers from him, and she had things to say. Things that weren’t easy for her. As she tried to figure out where to start, the baby rolled in her belly. Seth must have felt it too because he shifted and looked down at her.
“Was that our baby?”
His eyes were wide, hungry, haunted, and it made her want to cry at how selfish she had been. Tessa nodded and pulled the hand he rested on the arm of the couch over to place it on her stomach. After a minute, the baby rewarded them with a hard kick.
“Jesus!” Seth’s voice held awe. His hand stroked over the sweatshirt. With his other arm, he hugged her closer to him. “That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve felt. No wonder you look tired if all that’s going on inside you all the time.”
Some of her tension eased. He wasn’t angry with her. Tessa chuckled. “Not all the time, but he’s been very active today.
“You know it’s a boy?” His wide-eyed glance dropped to his hand resting on the swell of their child.
Tessa shook her head. “No. Not yet. I…I have an appointment tomorrow for an ultrasound. Would you… That is… Do you want to go with me?”
His eyes lifted from her belly, where he was obviously still watching to see if he could see the baby move, to her face. “I can’t think of anything I would rather do.”
Tessa nodded. Something warm blossomed inside her. She felt as if a part of her she’d locked up for a long time, maybe since that day someone had shut her in that tack trunk, turned loose. More than that, she at last accepted what she’d suspected when she’d shown up on Seth’s doorstep seeking help to find Zach. He was a man she could trust. He wouldn’t betray her, and he would always be there when she needed him. He would have been there even sooner, but she was the one who’d kept pushing him away until she’d pushed him right out of her life. And still he had come back.
They were silent for a while, both staring into the fire. Seth moved his hand over hers where it still rested on her stomach and cleared his throat. “My grandfather and my grandmother bought this house not long after they got married. My grandmother said she wanted a place near the water for her children to be able to grow strong playing in the sun and the salt air. She was unlike any of the rest of my family, and I mean that in a very complimentary way. In some respects, she reminded me a lot of Anna. She was a tiny lady with a heart so big. She was not afraid to go toe-to-toe with anyone, including my grandfather. She reminds me a lot of you in that way. As much as she and my grandfather disagreed, when it came right down to it, they were friends as well as lovers.
“I guess what I’m trying to say here…” He glanced over at her with a small smile. “…is I want to find that same thing with you. I already know we’re good in bed, but I also want you as my friend, my very best friend. Do you think we can find that?”
Tessa stared into his clouded, golden eyes. “I think we can. I couldn’t have said that even a few weeks ago, Seth. You know about Peter. You’ve seen Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin firsthand. So I hope you can also see why I’ve had a hard time trusting other people. That changed when I met you, even as much as you growled and snapped at me. I felt like I was able to put my trust in you, but then you threw it back at me. Until Zach came to you, you believed I had stolen money from you. I wanted to trust you, and that was a deal breaker.”
He stirred, started to say something, but Tessa put her fingers over his lips to stop him. “No. Let me finish. It’s difficult for me to talk about my emotions. I’ve spent so much time holding back and hiding them. You’ve been there for both of us whenever I’ve asked–like tonight–and I think my subconscious already knew that. That’s why I came to you.”
Seth pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes. “I’ve had a hard time dealing with this because I didn’t want to believe the worst of you. I also didn’t want to believe the worst of my father. There didn’t seem to be any middle ground. I either believed you, which made my father a manipulative liar, or I believed him–and you became the guilty party.”
Seth leaned forward, staring somberly into the fire. “My father called me about the missing money while I was out of town. I told him you were responsible for making and paying for travel arrangements from that account. I also told him it must be a clerical error because you would never embezzle money.”
“Thanks for saying that,” Tessa said.
“You can imagine my surprise,” Seth continued, “when Tallmadge called back to say you’d admitted it and she had escorted you from the building.”
“What!” Tessa hissed, trying to keep her voice down so she wouldn’t wake Zach. “I never admitted taking the money, but I did know about it. I had discovered it in my account and called my bank several times to have them trace where it came from. I had just discovered it was from the travel account and asked for an immediate transfer back to that account when your father asked to see me.”
Seth’s gaze was solemn. “And you were beginning to suspect it was Zach, am I right?”
Tessa nodded. “Yes, but I wasn’t sure. And I never admitted taking it.”
Seth ran his fingers over his short hair. Tessa could feel the hurt pour off of him like steam rolling out of a sauna. “I thought my father had turned over a new leaf. He seemed to, where Anna was concerned, but this convinces me I was right to quit. He’ll never stop trying to manipulate us. I think sometimes he looks at all of his children, including me, as pieces on a chess board to be moved and positioned at his will.” Seth shook his head and leaned it against the back of the couch. “So much wasted time. And now I sit here wondering if I’ve lost the woman I love…”
He turned his head to look at her and touched her cheek with tenderness. “I do love you. I think I have from the moment you first walked into my office and I realized you weren’t intimidated. You were willing to stand up to me and my bullying.” He sighed. “God, Tessa, even if you can’t love me anymore after all that’s happened, please let me help you with our baby. I promise I’ll keep you away from my father, hell, from my whole family if that’s what you want. I’ve stayed away myself the last few months, just keeping in touch with Anna and Brandon. My life’s headed in a different direction, one I promise would have room for you and Zach…and our baby.”
Could she open her heart and finally trust him? Love him? How could she not?
“Give me a chance, Tessa.” Seth’s gaze revealed a hunger, a yearning that was almost painful to see. “We could live by the ocean if you’d like. I’ve had this dream for a long time of owning and running a small weekly newspaper somewhere. I’ve put a bid in on the paper where my beach house is…”
Tessa put her fingertips over his mouth. She swallowed. “We can figure that out later. There’s something else we need to do right now.”
Seth turned his head to stare at her. “Is that a yes? You’ll marry me?”
She nodded, feeling tears well. “I love you, Seth. I think I have from the moment I saw how torn up you were about that package. If that didn’t do it, then the way you included Zach…” She swallowed and cradled his beard-roughened cheeks between her palms. “I love you, and I’m so sorry I couldn’t admit it earlier. I’m so sorry I pushed you away.”
He pulled her into his arms and hugged her close. They sat there like that for several minutes.
“Seth?”
“Hmm?”
“How cold is it in the other rooms?”
He glanced up at the ceiling. “Well, the master bedroom’s right above us. It will get some warmth from radiant heat.” He smiled. “If we had several blankets, I’m sure we could snuggle together for warmth on the bed.”
“And have a little privacy.”
* * * *
It was cold in the big bedroom upstairs, but that didn’t matter. They disrobed each other, taking their time at it, as Seth marveled at the changes in her body and honoring those changes with kisses and caresses. Did she know how beautiful she was like this? He had loved her body before, but now he worshiped it.
“I thought you were sexy when you first came to work for me, but it’s nothing compared to now. Your breasts have ripened along with your belly. You are everything that’s beautiful, Tessa.”
She ran her hands over his chest, and he shivered with need, his cock swelling until it ached. “Right now, what I want to feel is you inside me.”
He ran his hands over her stomach. “We won’t hurt the baby?”
She shook her head. He dipped his head until his mouth slanted over hers. Passion roared through him and he doubted he could hold out. It had been too long and his body throbbed with the need to be next to her, skin to skin, to be able to slide inside of her and feel her surrounding him. Seth guided her to the big bed and followed her down on it. His body quivered with desire and the control he attempted to maintain. After several long, hot kisses, during which he massaged her breasts and nipples, he knelt between her spread thighs.
“I can’t wait,” he admitted. “We can take our time later, but for now, I need to be inside you.”
She reached up to caress his chest with her hands. “Don’t wait. I want to feel you there, Seth. I need it too. Need to feel you move inside me, come inside me.”
He groaned as he pushed forward, his hips moving with exquisite care as he held himself up on his arms so he could stare into her eyes. Outside, the rain and sleet tapped against the windows, and inside they both moaned with passion long denied.
“Don’t hold back,” she whispered. “Let me feel all of you.”
His whole body tightened and his breath came out on a groan. As he stared down into Tessa’s soft smile and her glowing eyes, he pushed deep and let his seed fill her. They would do this again. The future no longer seemed like one monotonous, lonely road. Tessa would walk it with him. And along with her would be their family–Zach, the baby she carried, and even more children down the road.
“Be with me, sweetheart. Walk with me the rest of our lives.”
“I love you, Seth,” Tessa whispered in his ear, her fingers stroking over his head.
They were most beautiful words he’d ever heard.
About Laura Browning
From the moment Rhett walked out on Scarlett, Laura’s been hooked on romance.
Deciding truth really is stranger than fiction, she chose a career path in journalism. Laura now teaches English and has returned to her first love–writing fiction.
She lives with her husband and son in central North Carolina along with a menagerie of animals that includes five rowdy terriers and a gentle white mare named Tweed. When she’s not reading or writing, Laura enjoys riding, photography, and baking the best darned cakes you’ve ever tasted.
Laura’s Website:
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About the Barlow-Barretts Series
An American Dynasty
Book 1:
Bittersweet
Available in ebook from Lyrical Press
Book 2:
Balancing Act
Available in ebook from Lyrical Press
Book 3:
Remember Me
Coming soon from Lyrical Press
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