It Had to Be Him (22 page)

The steam billowed around them as he lowered his mouth to her chest, sucking and teasing her nipples. When he bit lightly, it sent a jolt straight to her core. Multiple orgasms looked promising. She was already almost there.

Her knees grew weaker with each hot stroke of his tongue. “Josh, I . . .” When his lips moved to her earlobe and nibbled, she forgot what she wanted to say.

His hand slid between her legs and stars appeared before her eyes.

Three years was a long time, dammit. She grabbed his face and kissed him. Hard.

His tongue danced with hers as he pressed her against the
shower wall again. He lifted her legs to his waist as his kisses grew deeper, firmer, and needier.

Any second now he’d put her out of her misery. She wanted to tell him to hurry up about it, but didn’t want to stop kissing him long enough to do it. Her whole body was on fire, ready to explode.

At first she thought the buzzing in her ears was caused by the molten blood pounding through her veins, but then it became a voice. Her sister called out from the hallway just outside the master bedroom. “Meg? Where are you? Haley needs you.”

The cold water earlier couldn’t have squelched her inner fire faster than hearing that.

Seriously? Now?

Dammit!

She called out, “In the shower. Be right there.” She pressed her forehead against Josh’s and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Go.” He pushed the door open for her, then cranked the hot water off again.

She dried off, wrapped her hair up in the towel, and slipped into her clothes from the day before. While still pulling her T-shirt down, she made her way to the kitchen. When Haley saw her, tears filled her baby’s little brown eyes.

Guilt stabbed Meg in the heart for her frustration at being interrupted. Even if it was only for a second. “What’s wrong, Bug?”

“It was dark. I got scared.” Haley struggled to fill her lungs with air as Casey put her down. “I couldn’t find you.”

Casey winced. “I left the blackout curtains drawn. She was so sound asleep, I didn’t want to wake her. When I went back to check on her a few minutes later she was crying and upset. I’m sorry.”

Meg scooped Haley up and forced a smile. It was hard to tell if the crying was making it hard to breathe or if she was having an asthma attack. Stress could trigger them. “Everything’s fine now, baby. Did you take your medicine?”

When Haley shook her head, Casey said, “She wanted you to give it to her. I brought it along.”

Haley had to eat before she took her meds, so Meg yanked the refrigerator door open and dug through all the food Josh had thankfully added. While she looked, Josh, who’d arrived a few seconds earlier but hadn’t said anything, came up behind her and took Haley from her arms. “There’s oatmeal in the cupboard, Meg.”

After he nodded a greeting at Casey, who couldn’t have possibly missed that they’d both come from the master bedroom with wet hair, he set Haley on the countertop. “I had asthma when I was your age too. Know what I used to do when I’d get scared and had a hard time breathing?”

Haley shook her head as she panted for air.

“I used to take care of lots of animals on the ranch where I grew up, but I had a favorite one named Charlie. All I had to do was close my eyes and think of him. It helped me breathe better.”

“Was Charlie your doggy?”

“Nope. He’s a horse, and he still lives on the ranch. He was just a colt, a baby, when he came to stay with us.”

Haley’s eyes grew wide. “You had a baby horse?”

Josh fished his phone from his jeans pocket. “He isn’t mine, he belongs to someone at the ranch. But he was my best friend while I lived there. Want to see some pictures?”

When a smile lit Haley’s face as she leaned closer to see Josh’s phone, Meg’s shoulders relaxed. It was just the crying making it hard for Haley to breathe. She was fine now.

Casey found a little plastic jar of honey shaped like a bear to sweeten the oatmeal and handed it to Meg as they waited for Haley’s breakfast to heat in the ancient microwave. Casey whispered, “Granger carries pictures of a horse in his phone? Never would’ve guessed that one.”

It was sweet that Josh carried pictures of Charlie in his phone,
and at the same time sad that Josh’s best friend had been a horse. Meg whispered back, “Me either. Now I’m curious to see what other pictures are in there.”

“While you’re at it, you should delete the one he probably took a few minutes ago of you, naked, in the shower. Wouldn’t want it to end up on the Internet one day . . . ho!”

Meg laughed as she shot an elbow into Casey’s ribs. Keeping her voice to a whisper, she said, “You’re still the bigger ho. We didn’t get to finish.”

Casey pulled Meg close. “Maybe that’s a good thing. Ryan is worried. You need to be careful.”

She was worried too. Not that Josh was anything but what he said, but that she’d handed her heart over to a man she still feared would hurt her again.

When the microwave beeped, Meg got Haley’s breakfast ready. Josh sat her in front of it at the table.

Haley happily dug in, and then with her mouth full said, “I’m gonna ask Santa for a horse, or a doggy. Then I can breathe better like you, Daddy.”

Josh’s mouth tilted into a big grin. Probably because it was the first time she’d ever called him Daddy. “Good idea, Haley.”

What? No!

As her traitorous sister chuckled, Meg opened her mouth to do damage control, but Josh was quicker. He laid his mouth on hers and kissed her.

When she didn’t have enough working brain cells to tell him he was in trouble, he leaned back and shot her a cute smile. “Gotta go. Have a nice day, ladies.” Then he strolled out the door.

She’d have to set him straight later on the dog thing. Preferably when he and his sexy mouth were far across the room.

J
osh and Zeke, working side by side to classic rock because it was Josh’s day to pick the music, stripped the salvageable parts from Meg’s old car. There weren’t many to choose from.

A chime sounded from his back pocket. Josh wiped his hands on a rag before pulling out his cell. The text was from his former handler, Watts.
Heads up. Someone’s coming to look into that matter. Suggestions on times?

The cryptic message referred to the reason Josh couldn’t tell Meg about his past as an agent yet. While the mobsters behind the online gambling ring had either killed one another or were behind bars due to Josh’s testimony, there were still loose ends to tie up. Meg’s father being one of them.

His thumbs tapped.
Saturday. Picnic in the afternoon/evening. Should keep him occupied.

Watts wrote,
Got it. Done with your little vacation? You can have your job back anytime.

Vacation? It would have been just a matter of time until every bit of his soul had been sucked away if he hadn’t quit.
Nope. How soon before it’s over?

Going for the source. Soon.

That probably meant they were going to place tracking software on the mayor’s computers to see if he was bouncing his signal
to hide activity. Could be that Meg’s father just gambled online sometimes, unknowingly involving himself in their case. But where there’s smoke . . .
Let me know when.

Will do. Still can’t believe you gave up a stellar career for a woman.

That didn’t even deserve a response.

Meg was what he’d been missing his whole life. He’d tried once to mix those lives and lost Meg. This time would be different.

Just as Josh was about to put his phone away, it beeped again with an e-mail from Eric.

thx for the pix and the dog food. mr. j says I can only keep 1 pup. can u help me find homes?
A picture of all three black-and-white balls of fur appeared under the text.

Haley would happily take one of them off Eric’s hands. Maybe he’d just have to adopt one himself. Meg couldn’t complain because the dog would technically belong to him.

I’ll ask around. Everything else going okay?
Josh poked the button to send the e-mail and then put his phone away.

Zeke cocked his head. “Now that you’re done with your fancy phone there, want to get back to work? This whole shooting the car up was your big idea, after all. Should be a good show.”

“Yep.” Josh leaned down to start on the trigger device. He’d run into the fire chief, Abe, at the diner earlier. Abe had been at the bar for the dart competition the other night and asked if he could use Meg’s old car for a fire drill once they were done shooting it up. Two birds. One stone.

Besides, blowing up stuff was fun.

Meg squared her shoulders and then yanked on Town Hall’s main door. She didn’t have an appointment, which Dragon Breath
would hate. But it wasn’t anyone else’s damned business if she wanted to have a private discussion with her own . . . father. Or whatever he was to her.

She’d considered doing it at the house, but then the step-monster would surely invite herself, just as she always did. It needed to be between her and Dad. And she wasn’t leaving until she got the truth.

But first, she had a dragon to slay.

Meg stood quietly in front of Mrs. Duncan, waiting for her to finish her phone call. The woman’s eyes locked with Meg’s. “Hang on a sec, Barb, trouble just walked in.” She slid a hand over the mouthpiece. “What do you want, Megan?”

A little respect would be nice. “Just need to talk to my dad for a few minutes . . . please.” The
please
killed her.

Mrs. Duncan raised a brow. “Your father mentioned you might stop by. He said to tell you he’d speak to you later—after working hours.” She made a shooing motion with her hand and then went back to gossiping with her friend.

He knew. Why else would he anticipate her visit? It wasn’t like she ever dropped in unless summoned.

Grandma must’ve told Dad about the files. Good. It’d save time.

Meg slipped around the desk and headed for the coward’s door. Ignoring Mrs. Duncan’s protests, Meg stepped inside, dismayed to see Sue Ann sitting on the corner of the desk. She was smiling sweetly at her father. “Thanks, sugar. I’ll be better about the spendin’ next month. I promise.” She batted her eyes just like Pam always did.

Ick.

Meg considered leaving before they noticed her when Mrs. Duncan barreled into the room. “I told her not to bother you, Mayor. But she disregarded me just like she ignores anything else resembling a rule!”

Sue Ann chuckled at Dragon Breath’s joke. “So true.”

Dad lifted a hand for silence. “Meg, have a seat. If you ladies will excuse us, please?”

Mrs. Duncan frowned on her way out, but Sue Ann just sat there blinking. Finally, she said, “Surely you don’t mean me too, Mitch?”

Dad nodded. “You were on your way to Denver, so don’t let us hold you up.”

Sue Ann’s eyes narrowed as she stood to leave. On her way out she glared at Meg. “Don’t be doing anything to upset your daddy, givin’ him another migraine, Megan. Or you’ll have me to answer to.” She slammed the door shut behind her.

Meg drew a deep breath. Showtime. “So, I take it Sue Ann doesn’t know?”

Dad leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “That was long before Sue Ann came into the picture. Didn’t see any need to talk about it ever again.”

“Obviously.”

He pointed a finger at her. “Lose the attitude, young lady, or you can get your butt right out of my office.”

“That’s just what you want, isn’t it? To find yet another excuse not to talk to me about my mother. What if I’d started dating a cousin without knowing it? Or that Haley might one day? It could happen in a town this small.”

“I’m well aware of that possibility. We finally got through it with you, and now because you went catting around, I have to worry about it all over again.”

“I loved Josh. Getting pregnant was an accident. I’m not a cheater who got herself impregnated by her lover like my mother did. You need to separate the two.”

“Nice way to talk about your own mother.” Dad huffed out a breath. “My biggest fear was that you’d end up like her. Hell,
you look just like her, and have a chip on your shoulder as big as hers was.”

“I’m just stating facts. Something you seem to have a problem with. But now I want the truth. Why did you fight Grandma and Grandpa for me once you figured out I wasn’t your child?”