Finding Home (21 page)

They stood in front of each other, naked from the waist down, and paused for a beat. Sean scanned the bathroom quickly. It was small, and cramped, and the opportunities were limited. He placed his hands at her waist and turned her so she faced the sink.

She watched his face in the mirror. His expression was so concentrated as he parted her legs and ran his hand all the way to her crotch. His fingers caressed her swiftly, dipping into her wetness.

She pushed back against him with a moan. Bending over, Megan braced against the sink.

Sean grabbed her hips, positioned his cock at her entrance and thrust deep and fast. He pistoned his hips, pounding into her from behind. Primitive grunts accompanied every thrust.

Megan turned her mouth into her shoulder to stifle her moans. She gripped the edges of the sink as she was carried on a wave of pleasure that seemed to crest ever higher, triggering spasm after spasm in her. This was so hot, so wild, and so not her. She wanted to scream or sob.

Sean leaned forward and his hand snaked over her hip and onto her clit, rubbing and circling. He continued to slam into her hard and rough. Their harsh breaths and the slap of flesh on flesh were the only sounds in the room.

Megan whimpered as her whole body contracted and released in an amazingly powerful orgasm.

Sean pushed in deeper, two, three, four more times, then both his hands gripped her hips hard. He groaned and came, shaking with the power of his release. He collapsed against her back, panting hard. After a moment, he pulled out carefully.

Megan sighed and dropped to her knees, resting her head on her folded arms on the edge of the sink. The ceramic was cold against her bare arms and the floor hard under her knees, but she didn’t care. Her body was spent and she had to rest.

Sean crouched down with her and wrapped his arms around her midriff, planting a couple of wet kisses on her shoulder. “Jesus, Megan, sex with you is always so…incredible,” he murmured into her ear, his breath tickling her.

She turned her head to kiss him lightly on the lips before pushing herself to her feet. They dressed silently next to each other, and that felt even more intimate than the rushed mutual undressing.

She checked out her face in the mirror. Thankfully, nothing was too out of order. Both of them looked a little tousled and flushed, but nothing that would arouse suspicion, apart from their shared absence over the past quarter of an hour.

“How the fuck are we going to get back to the living room without anyone noticing?” she asked.

Sean smiled and produced a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. “There’s our alibi. I was told to smoke on the fire escape off their bedroom. You were keeping me company.”

Megan beamed. “You’re not just a pretty face, are you?”

Sean raised his eyebrows at her and smiled as he unlocked the door and opened it quietly. The bedroom was thankfully empty. The fire escape was straight ahead. “You’re going to have to join me for a smoke now, though, because I really need one.”

“Okay. But don’t you dare offer me one. And I’ll need to borrow one of Sasha’s sweaters, otherwise they’ll never believe I’ve been out all this time.”

Sean opened the window and went through first before helping her onto the narrow platform. He lit his cigarette and inhaled deeply, then turned to her. “Sasha and Stevie are nice. And they really care for you. But James hates my guts.”

“Has he said anything?”
“Not in so many words. But I can tell he’d like to knock me across the room.”

“He’s jealous,” Megan said. “And protective, and having a difficult time dealing with this. He’ll get there.”

“He better not realize I’ve been fucking you in the bathroom then,” Sean shot back with a sly grin. He looked completely relaxed leaning against the railing, blowing smoke into the chilly afternoon air, squinting at her.

Megan sighed. She felt really good—sexually satisfied, yes, but also warm, happy, and positively glowing. This thing they had going was intense, and wild, and unbelievably erotic but it was something else, too, something more, even if it was too early to put her finger on it.

In the weeks following Thanksgiving, Megan felt like she was on an extended honeymoon except in her own apartment instead of someplace tropical. The sex was great, but beyond the physical, she and Sean clicked mentally. They were starting to finish each other’s sentences and intuit each other’s needs without speech. Megan added to her mental list of Sean’s favorites, foods he liked to eat, TV programs he was interested in and subjects that made his eyes light up. None of these things was easy to discern. He never expressed his likes, usually deferring to whatever Megan wanted, and she had to work to get him to admit he preferred Mexican food over Chinese or that he’d watch ESPN over Lifetime Movie Network if given control of the remote.

She realized he was fascinated by archaeology after she caught him watching shows about ancient Egypt and the excavation of ruins around the world on the History Channel enough times. Megan bought him several beautifully illustrated books about archaeology from the used bookstore, and when she presented them to him, his delighted expression made her chest tighten. He was so easy to please, never expected anything, and was touched by any small kindness.

It made Megan want to do more and more for him. She had to rein herself in because he got upset if he thought she spent too much on something for him. She ordered a couple of textbooks he needed, and when the package came, she presented it to him. She expected the same pleased reaction the archaeology books had earned. Instead, he frowned as he removed the two expensive books from the packaging.

“Why did you get these?”
“You need them. You said…”
“I can get what I need at the library or look up information online. These are too expensive.”

“I thought if you had your study materials right at hand, it would make it easier.”

“Then let me pay you for them.” He gave a short, bitter laugh. “We’ll add it to the list of what I owe you.”

Already he was turning over all his pay to her to help with rent, utilities and food, but it was never enough for him. The fact she didn’t want or need his financial help, especially with her new status at work, didn’t alleviate his issues about depending on her.

“Sean, don’t,” she protested. “It’s a gift. I
want
to give these books to you.”

“I’m sorry.” He immediately apologized when he saw he’d upset her. His frown disappeared and he leaned in to give her a kiss. “Thank you.”

When he finally pulled away, Megan stopped him with a hand cupped around his jaw. “Listen. You’ve got to get over thinking you owe me something. When I invited you here, I had no expectations and I still don’t. I just love—being with you and I hope you feel the same way. There’s no reason to measure things out, you know?”

He nodded, but his gaze slid away from hers and she thought she hadn’t really reached him. He would continue to keep an internal tally because of pride or a sense of obligation, and there was nothing she could do to change his mind.

Later that evening, she looked up from the book she was reading to see Sean chewing his pen and studying one of the new textbooks with a frown of concentration. He was adorable with his bangs mussed upon his forehead and his eyes focused intently on his work. Megan wanted to slam her computer shut, leap over the coffee table and pin him to the ground. She considered it was a damn good thing she was on her period or they’d never have a breathing spell from all the sex.

Suddenly he looked up and smiled so sweetly it made her hurt inside.
Holy shit, am I falling in love?

ZY

A few weeks after Thanksgiving, Megan was at her computer working on yet another official assignment from Rossi when the doorbell rang. She grumbled in annoyance. There was nothing she hated worse than being interrupted just when the words were really beginning to flow.

“Can you get that, please?” she called to Sean, who was in the kitchen trying to repair her dishwasher. She’d told him not to bother. It hadn’t worked when she’d moved in, but he was in Mr. Fix-It mode and insisted on tackling the project.

Concentrating on her work, she was barely aware of the sound of Sean answering the door. She assumed it was UPS with a Christmas package from her aunt or something. Then she heard her sister Charlotte’s voice and Megan practically threw the computer from her lap and jumped off the bed. She tore into the other room, and there was Charlotte and her husband Greg in the foyer taking off their coats. Sean raised a questioning eyebrow at Megan, as though wondering how she was going to introduce him.

“Charlotte. Greg. How are you?” Megan forced joy into her voice.
And what the hell are you doing here?

“Hey, Cupcake.” Greg smiled broadly and reminded Megan why he was her favorite brother-in-law, other than the fact he was her only one.

“Hey, Sweet Buns.” She hugged him and turned to take Charlotte’s coat.

“Hi.” Charlotte sounded distracted and out of breath. “Need to pee. Right now.”

“Sure.” Megan showed her sister toward the bathroom, tossing the coat on the arm of the couch as she passed. “What are you doing in town?”

“Christmas shopping. Greg has some secret mission he won’t tell me about, but he insisted I come along. I told him I wasn’t in any shape to go tramping all over the city, but here we are anyway.” Charlotte straightened her maternity top over her bulging abdomen and lowered her voice confidentially. “I think it might have something to do with the jeweler’s we stopped at on our way here. And by the way, who’s the guy? He’s cute.”

“Oh, that’s, uh, Sean. I’ll introduce you after…”

But Charlotte had already shut the bathroom door.

Megan paused to breathe. All right, this was manageable. All she had to do was keep information about Sean vague, entertain Charlotte and Greg for a couple of hours then send them on their way. That was the game plan.

She found Greg and Sean in the kitchen surveying the carnage of parts that had come out of her dishwasher.

“Yeah, I think I need a new one of these,” Sean was saying, holding up a coupling, “and some new hose.”

“You’re sure it’s the water line that’s the problem?” Greg asked. “When ours broke it turned out to be…”

Megan tuned out. Hardware talk made her ears bleed. The pair of them seemed happy in their discussion, introductions apparently made and male bonding taking place, so why interrupt?

In a few minutes, Charlotte was back from the bathroom and hugged Megan around the waist with one arm. “Sorry about that. I can’t wait these days. How have you been? I haven’t seen you in forever! And who’s your friend?”

“This is Sean. He’s between apartments right now and he’s crashing here for a while. Sean, this is my sister Charlotte and you’ve already met Greg.”

Sean looked up from the parts in his hand and nodded. “Hi.”

Megan patted Charlotte’s stomach. “You’re getting big, girl. How long now?”

“Too long! About six weeks. I can’t wait. This last month has seemed to drag on forever.”

“But you’ll still be at Mom and Dad’s for Christmas?”
“Of course. You will too, right?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t decided.” Megan led Charlotte over to the couch. “I’m kind of busy with changes in my job right now.”

“Megan, you have to come. You know Mom and Dad are counting on it. What’s so important that you can’t give them a couple of days out of your busy life? It was bad enough you couldn’t make Thanksgiving. I’m sure Mom didn’t say anything to you, but she was upset.”

Megan’s mouth tightened. Charlotte could never resist a good lecture. “Want some tea or a soda?” She headed toward the kitchen, to deflect the onslaught. “Cookies?”

“Do you have herbal tea?”

Megan got out a pair of mugs, filled them with water and placed them in the microwave. Sean and Greg were still conferring over the dishwasher.

“Listen,” Greg whispered to Megan, “I want you to keep Charlotte occupied for me. I have to go out and buy something I don’t want her to see.”

“Okay.” Megan smiled at his boyish excitement.
“I’m going with him and stopping at the hardware store,” Sean added, waving the hand with the piece of black tubing. “I should have this back together by later this afternoon. Sorry about messing up the kitchen.”

“No problem. It’s sweet of you to fix it.”

She caught Greg’s back and forth glance between her and Sean, but he said nothing, only collected his coat, put it on and followed Sean out of the apartment with a quick wave to Charlotte on the way past. “See you, honey. I’ve got more Christmas errands to run.”

The microwave timer rang and Megan removed the steaming cups of water and dunked in a pair of tea bags. She went into the living room and handed one to Charlotte.

Her sister blew across the surface, steam rising and fogging up her glasses. “Thanks.”

It was the same box of tea that had been in her cupboard since Charlotte’s last visit and the bags were probably stale. Megan hated tea, but she kept it on hand for her sister’s infrequent stops.

“So tell me more about this guy who’s living here.” Charlotte dunked her teabag with a spoon.

“I told you, he’s just a friend who needed a place to stay.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know yet. It depends.”
“Where does he work?” Charlotte took a sip of her tea then leaned over to set it on the end table.

“He has a job in construction and goes to school part time.” “He’s in college? How did you meet him?”

Megan was sick of the grilling and her tone was tense. “Through work.”

“So you met this guy through your work and he’s a construction worker who’s between apartments and has to stay with you. You know him well enough for that?”

“Yes,” Megan snapped.
“But you’re not in a relationship of any kind?”
“No.” She could almost see the cogs turning in her sister’s mind. Charlotte frowned. “I’ve read the articles you wrote, the one about the playground and the gritty one about the street kids. So was this, what’s his name, Sean? Was he one of the volunteers building the playground?”

“Yes,” Megan answered without hesitation, glad she could tell the truth.