His Bahamas Affair (The Albury Affairs) (20 page)

As happy as she was to
watch her two boys happy together, Loraine cringed every time Reno tossed Tyler
up. She knew he wouldn’t drop his son but she couldn’t help the fear of Tyler
falling. She grabbed nervously at her neck as Tyler went up in the air again in
a fit of giggles, higher this time. When he came down, she braced herself but
Reno settled Tyler on his forearm as he spoke to him.

Loraine let out a sigh
of relief.

Leah laughed as she
came up behind her. “You’ll learn not to hold your breath soon enough.”

Loraine turned to her
and laughed lightly. “Really?”

She laughed harder,
shaking her head. “No. You’d gone a little too pale there and I figured you
needed the comfort. No matter what they do, how old they get, you’ll always
hold your breath unless they are attached to your hip. Only then will you
breathe easily.” She patted Loraine on the back. “That’s just what mothers do.”

They stared at Tyler
and Reno as the two came toward them for a while before Leah whispered, “Are
you on birth control?”

“What?” Loraine
sputtered in surprise.

Leah shrugged. “Tyler
is three and your husband is so…potent. He’s sex on legs.” She waved Loraine’s
surprise away. “I may be happily married but that doesn’t mean I’m dead.”

When Loraine had met
this woman, she seemed conservative, even though she could talk a person’s ear
off. Hearing her talk about Reno like that was beyond surprising, so surprising
that Loraine forgot to correct her on their marriage status. “What…does that
have to do with…”

“Dan and I have been
married for five years with three kids. He may not be a stud muffin but he
knows what he’s doing with his tools.” She waggled her eyebrows making Loraine
laugh at the innuendo. “And I love him to death. It’s clear that you love that
hunky beast by the way you look at him and you two seem the type to go at it
like rabbits.”

Loraine fought not to
cringe. The conservative ones are always the kinky ones behind closed doors.
Loraine was already afraid of what was going to come out of her mouth next.

“So you should be
carrying forty pounds around your waist, or are you on some kind of family
plan?”

“I…we’re not—are you
always this blunt with people you don’t know?”
And nosey!

She shrugged again
laughing. “I better leave before hot stuff gets here. Dan may come to introduce
himself to your husband and make sure I’m not drooling over him, much. He’s
very territorial and your husband is very tempting. Every woman here has their
eyes on him, look, they are practically panting.” She waved as she walked away
and that’s when Loraine looked around.

Leah was right. Too
many women were staring at Reno like bitches in heat. He was probably even more
attractive with a kid riding on his shoulders. They were probably thinking he
was such a sensitive guy and they would be right. She didn’t like it, and she
was suddenly feeling territorial.

When Reno stopped in
front of her, she rose to her tip toes and planted a big one on him. He
reciprocated wrapping his arms around her then chuckled as he pulled away.

“I would say you were
happy to see me and that you forgive me but that performance was for someone
else’s benefit. A few scantily clad someone else’s vying for my attention by
displaying their goods more openly than they usually do.”

Loraine blushed,
wishing she wasn’t so impulsive.

He brushed his knuckles
over her cheek. “Now you know how I feel when you walk around in your bikini.”

His hand slowly
traveled down her cheek, to the nape of her neck making her swallow hard as he
tucked his fingers under her bikini strap, caressing her soft skin above her
breast, teasing her until he finally caressed the top of her mound.

“But just like you, I
pay them no attention because I have eyes for no one else,” he whispered
huskily, making her entire body shudder with want.

“Stop,” she croaked,
fighting the urge to moan and close her eyes.

“Why?” he rasped, “I
thought you wanted all the women to see whom I belong to?”

She forced her leg to
move back, breaking the contact. She immediately felt bereft but she wasn’t
going to play his games. “Tyler is too young to learn the art of seduction.”

He chuckled. “Lori,
Tyler isn’t anywhere near here. I put him down when you pounced on me.”

“What?” She looked up
at his empty shoulders then down at the ground, but he wasn’t there either.

“Don’t panic. He’s
playing in the water with some other kids.”

She turned to where he
pointed and began to breathe when she spotted them. Dan was watching them.
“Those are Dan and Leah’s kids…”

But she didn’t get to
finish what she was saying because he cut her off saying, “That’s great, just
not what I want to talk about.”

Her brow rose
defiantly. “You don’t want to know who your kid is playing with?” She crossed
her arms over her chest. “They may turn out to be the Adam’s family set to make
Tyler their next meal, but that doesn’t really matter at the moment.” She
finished with a sarcastic tone.

He rolled his eyes with
a sigh. “Don’t be melodramatic Loraine. You wouldn’t have let him near them if
you felt the slightest bit uneasy about them.”

He was right about that
but she wasn’t going to give in very easily. “Oh sure, why would you give a
damn, you, his father, lets me, a complete stranger, do the worrying for you.”

He grumbled under his
breath then suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her to where Dan and now Leah
stood watching the three kids throw wet sand at each other. He held out his
hand to Dan who grabbed it in a handshake.

“I’m Reno Albury, owner
of
La
Paraiso
and Tyler’s dad.”

Loraine gasped looking
at Reno. He’d said it. She was sure she hadn’t imagined it. He said he was
Tyler’s dad and he didn’t stumble over the words as if they choked him to say
them. It was loud and clear with no reservations. Almost a month of waiting and
there it was. ‘Tyler’s dad’.

Did this mean she had
her Reno back?

Did this mean she kept
her promise to Tyler, that he had a father who would love and protect him
forever?

Tyler’s
dad
,
the words echoed in her heart. Yes, it did. Reno was back and she’d kept her
promise, that his father was going to love and care for him forever.

She squealed with joy,
jumping on him, her arms going around his neck.

Reno laughed, lifting
her in front of him and her legs wrapped around his waist. She didn’t care that
they had an audience; she showered his face with kisses making Reno laugh
harder.

“Sorry, she gets
excited over the smallest things. We should have dinner when we get back from
our trip in three days or so. It was nice meeting you, Dan and Leah.”

Dan chuckled behind
her. “Nice to meet you too. We don’t mind watching Tyler while you handle your
business.”

Loraine’s kisses drew
to a halt at Dan’s suggestive tone and Leah’s snickers. What was wrong with
this couple? Was sex the only thing they thought about? It would explain the
three kids in five years. But this was the second time they’d had this
offer—Allan had been the first on his own wedding night.

Reno quickly walked
away as she said, “Why does everyone assume we want to have sex and quickly
offer to watch our kid?”

Once they were a safe
distance away but with Tyler in eye view, Reno slowly lowered her to the
ground, her body sliding down his on her descent in a very sexual way. She
looked up and met his gaze. The brown in them darkened with desire as he stared
down at her. The potency made her heart jerk in her ribcage.

“Maybe it’s because of
the way I look at you or,” he pulled her against him tighter and he gasped when
she felt his arousal press into her belly, “or it could be that,” he added with
a sly smile.

She pressed her hand to
his chest to push him away and gain some distance before her mind turned to
mush but the feel of his hard chest made her shiver with longing. It had been
too long since she’d felt the flesh under that white shirt against her own.
Skin to skin as he moved above her…

Whoa
back up hormones! First things first—Tyler.

She cleared her throat
hoping she didn’t sound as aroused as she felt. “There is a lot we have to
discuss before you get
that
ever
again.”

He nodded with a shaky
sigh. “Fair enough. It’s the reason why I want us to go away for a while. Not
far just a few miles away on my yacht.”

She worried her lower
lip. “And Tyler?”

His lips spread in a
lopsided grin. “He’s coming too. It is a family retreat after all, so what do
you say?”

“Family?” she
stuttered, tearing a little. She had hoped for this and after Reno went off the
rocker about not wanting a kid, that dream had been dying a slow painful death.

Reno caressed her
cheek, his eyes sincere as he spoke. “You have been the only true parent he has
had in his short life, a better one than Georgia and I have been. It’s clear he
loves you,” he chuckled, darting a look over her head. “He keeps looking this
way every few minutes just to make sure you are still here.”

He pressed his lips to
her forehead before he spoke solemnly. “You loved my son when I was being an
ass and I can’t thank you enough for that. He isn’t the scared little boy I
first met. I thought he was going to be apprehensive when I came here. I was
prepared to do anything necessary to win his love, even bribe him, but he ran
for me like I was a returning war hero welcoming me home. You did that for me,
didn’t you?”

Loraine shrugged shyly.
“Riana did the same with Aurora for Allan. That little girl danced around Allan
singing ‘my daddy’ as if that wasn’t the first time they were meeting.”

Reno nodded. “Riana
told her about Allan every day at sunset. Thank you for doing that for me,
though it makes me feel even more like an ass and…Loraine, you were right. I
fell in love with my son the instant I caught him in my arms.”

Loraine’s smile grew to
a grin at his admission. She didn’t care that she had tears running from her
eyes like an open water tap. “I felt the same way the moment I held him. He’s
hard not to love.”

“I’m glad you said
that, because it makes my gift to you even more momentous. So are we going on
that trip,
mom
?”

Loraine closed her eyes
and took the sound of that word in. She was never going to get tired of hearing
it. It made her feel worthy with a purpose in life, taking care of her family.
She opened her eyes and looked into his eyes and the love that shone in them
made her warm inside. Her life was finally falling into place and she had no
intention of letting it slip through her fingers.

Pierre.

For the first time she
didn’t freeze up at the thought of his name. She needed to take care of that
nightmare before he got anywhere near her family. She was strong enough now,
probably the strongest she’s ever been in her entire life.

“Yes,
Dad.
We are going on our first family
trip.”

* * * *

Reno felt himself
relax. He’d been nervous about how he would be received so when she kissed him,
it surprised him. What surprised him more was her new look. Her hair color was
different and so were her eyes. She’d taken her contacts out.

Reno combed his fingers
through her chestnut shoulder length curls. “First you want to tell me about
the new look?”

She worried her lower
lip, turning to look at Tyler and avoiding his gaze. That’s when he remembered
their heart to heart conversation in Nassau. She’d told him she’d changed her
look after that night she was attacked. Pierre had blamed his crazy obsession
for her on her chestnut curls which she’d grown out to the middle of her back
at that time, and her violet eye color that he described as being so unique
they could only belong to an angel. He remembered laughing at how lame a pick
up line it was when Loraine said he pointed out the unique grey color of his
own eyes and that meant they were meant to be together. The guy was really
crazy.

“So this is the real
Loraine Larson,” he whispered rubbing his thumbs on her cheek bones as he
stared into her eyes, as they sparkled in a deep violet showing everything the
contacts hid from him.

“You like it?” she
asked hesitantly.

Reno lowered his head
as he tilted hers up. He pressed his lips against hers, kissing her softly.
Then he pulled away and looked into her sparkling violet eyes. The guy might
have been a psycho but he had a good point. Loraine had the most alluring eyes
he’d ever seen.

“I love it, more so
because this is the real you.”

Her hands at his sides
tightened, pinching his flesh. “It still scares me a little—being so exposed.
I’ve worn a hat and sun glasses all week. But Tyler decided to use my hat as a
sand sieve and who knows where my sun glasses are,” she finished, her smile so
wide he wondered if her lips hurt.