Secrets to Hide 2: Naughty Little Christmas (26 page)

Harley swallowed, circled, and shivered as another set of spasms took her over. When she finally relaxed enough to settle back into the water, his penis had softened in his hand, and his heart felt full to bursting.
I love you
. He wanted to say it so much. But at the thought of all the ways both of them had screwed things up, he knew he couldn’t. He had to wait till she was ready. Till she loved him too. And she would; he’d make sure of it.

Right now they needed to get ready, so he stood, hooked a towel off the rack, and wiped up himself and his mess. “Come on. Out you go.” He held Harley’s hand as she stepped from the tub, then dried her thoroughly. Her lips trembled beneath his when he kissed her. “You get ready. I’ll take care of everything else.”

She moved into the closet, but not before throwing a look over her shoulder. “Damien, I…”

He waited, but just like this morning, nothing else came, so he stepped into her and took her lips. He delved deep, savoring her heat, her response, the velvet stroke of her tongue and breath. Her trust. “Thank you.”

The lips below his curved into a smile. “No, thank you.”

That brought a chuckle. He stepped back, enjoying the lack of tension in her muscles and voice. “Get a move on, Wonder Girl.” His mission here was accomplished.

By the time the doorbell rang almost an hour later, Klio was up and playing, Harley was almost ready for work, and Damien was decently dressed—for which he was certain his family would be supremely thankful. Not that they would’ve noticed, really, because the minute he threw open the door, he was immediately bypassed in favor of his daughter. He watched with wry amusement as his mother and Shaw and a huddle of kids descended en masse on the squirming Klio laid out on her quilt on the living room floor, Harley hovering protectively nearby.

“Get used to it, Son,” his dad told him as he leaned in to give Damien a back-thumping hug. “They only notice the men when it’s time to make the babies, not after the babies are born.”

“Unless it’s at a midnight feeding,” Garrett assured him. “Then they notice they don’t want to get up.”

“How the hell did you ever manage to convince Rachel to marry your sexist ass?” Damien asked, but he wasn’t really listening. He was watching his mom charm Harley. Miriam had the same gift he’d noticed Harley’s friend Cassie had, to talk a scared kitten out of a tree—or a nervous parent out of a corner. She’d already coaxed a smile from Harley, whose arms had gone from clutching her chest to resting easily at her sides. Damien breathed a huge sigh of relief and motioned the men farther into the room.

“What a beautiful baby!” his mother said. “Can I hold her?”

Asking was definitely what Harley needed. If he had to guess, he’d say her number-one concern would be other people taking away her child.

When Harley nodded, Miriam picked Klio up, nestling the baby to her chest. “Look at you, just like Damien. Isn’t she, Curtis?”

Damien’s dad crouched next to his wife. “Sure is.” He palmed Klio’s head, chuckling when she started to cry. “All right, all right, you. No touching. I get it.” He stepped back and took a seat on the couch.

“She’s not really used to men,” Harley explained. “Except Damien, of course. She took right to him.”

Miriam picked up the discussion as she rocked Klio back to quiet. Then Shaw’s daughters crowded around, taking turns offering the baby a toy or playing peekaboo. Klio seemed to be in heaven.

“Where’s Merry?” Damien asked Shaw. He knew she hadn’t traveled without the newborn.

Shaw dragged her attention from the new member of the family. “Justin has her at the hotel,” she said. “We figured the in-laws could stay; we didn’t want to overwhelm Harley too much.” Then she went back to ignoring him in favor of Klio.

“I can see my status has greatly sunk,” Damien said. He headed for the kitchen to pour some drinks, his dad’s laugh following behind him.

Leo and Garrett wasted no time running him to ground. They plunked themselves down at the table, seeming oblivious to the possibility of lending a helping hand. “How about a beer?” Garrett threw in Damien’s direction.

Damien didn’t pause in filling glasses with ice. “How about no? If you want a beer, you can come to Thrice with me later.”

“Woot! Did you hear that, Leo? We get privileged access to our brother’s honey nest.”

Garrett high-fived the oldest Adams brother, ignoring Damien’s frown.

“Really, Garrett?” Damien asked. “Maybe Rachel needs to give you a reminder of just where
your
honey nest is.”

“She does,” Leo said, elbowing Garrett and laughing, “or doesn’t, on a regular basis.”

Garrett’s look went sour. “Maybe Damien’s giving up access because he doesn’t need it anymore.”

“What?” Leo asked.

“It looked to me like he’s romancing the nanny. Are you?” he asked Damien, all wide-eyed and innocent.

The question pushed Damien’s blood toward the boiling point. What he really wanted to say was
What the hell business is it of yours?
but instead he forced his answer to come out cool. “She’s not a nanny. She’s a smart, savvy businesswoman, smart enough to be running one of my nightclubs—and very successfully too.”

“Harley is Thrice’s manager?” Leo asked.

“Yes.”

“O-ho-ho! So she’s an employee then?” Garrett, his chair squealing obnoxiously as it slid across the linoleum, bumped Leo’s shoulder hard. “Sure way to keep ’em in line, eh, Leo?”

What had he ever done to make his brothers think he was such a sexist pig? This was supposed to be a special night, and here he was fighting not to knock his brothers’ teeth in. Before he said something that would ruin Klio’s introduction into the family, he reached for a tray and began loading the now full glasses of tea onto it. It’s just words, he told himself. Words don’t mean anything. But they did, and Damien knew it was time he did something about them. Not tonight, where Harley and Klio and the whole family could hear, but soon. Very soon.

“Hey, don’t we get one of those?” Leo asked as Damien picked up the loaded tray and turned toward the living room.

Throwing his brother a
what the fuck do you think?
look, he walked out the door. After passing around refreshments—and cooling his heated temper—he circled the couch and sat on the floor next to Harley, hip to hip. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he turned his attention to his sister. “Klio reminds me of your little ones.” Hannah, the oldest at age five, her hair bright red and curly, climbed into his lap, not the least bit shy of Harley’s proximity. “Good-natured, sleeps well, always happy. Well, mostly.” No baby was always happy; they could only communicate by crying, after all.

“You don’t have to sell her to us, Damien,” Shaw said with a laugh. “Even if she was a little demon, we’d love her. We tolerate Garrett and Leo, after all.”

“Hey!” Leo said from the kitchen doorway. Garrett, close behind, gave an irritated huff.

“She only speaks the truth,” Damien said, grinning. As Hannah moved from his lap to play with one of Klio’s toys, he held out his hands. “Here, Mom.”

Miriam handed Klio over. The baby rested in his arms, content to watch all the activity surrounding her. Damien’s heart swelled. He’d wanted to share his new “family” with everyone, but nothing had prepared him for the pride he would feel when they all got a look at Klio. And Harley. He nestled his lover closer and reached over, kissing the side of her head casually. Klio looked up at the movement and caught a glimpse of Harley. Her sweet baby smile felt almost like approval.

Before long it was time for Harley to leave for work. As she got to her feet, she turned to Shaw. “Would you like to hold her?” she asked Damien’s sister.

“Would I?” Shaw accepted the baby excitedly. Damien wanted to explain how hard this must be for Harley, how proud they should all be of her for sharing, fitting in, but he couldn’t. He just watched and fell a little further in love with every passing moment. When Harley got up to go change her shirt, something she always did with their ever-present drool machine in the house, he tried hard to convey all his pride in her with the single smile they exchanged as she headed to the back.

“She’s beautiful,” Shaw said. When Damien turned to her, she was watching Harley, not Klio.

“Yes, she is.” Ignoring his mom’s surprised expression, he explained, “She’s Klio’s genetic aunt. She and Sonny were identical twins.”

Shaw lowered her voice to a whisper. “That’s not awkward?” Her raised brows made her point clear, but no malice shone in her eyes, so Damien took the question at face value.

“Sonny and I weren’t really involved. Harley’s a completely different story.” And that was all he planned to explain.

“I bet,” Shaw said.

Harley returned, her T-shirt exchanged for a dressy sleeveless tank that showed off her tattoo and the fullness of her breasts. Damien retrieved Klio and followed Harley to the door, where he let her say good-bye to the baby, then gave her a kiss. “I’ll be over later,” he told her. “I called Cassie and told her not to wait up. My mom will be here just for tonight.” She wanted the extra time, and Damien had agreed, knowing his mom spent time with each of the newborns when they returned home from the hospital. Klio would be different, not just because she was a little bit older but also because she lived so far away, something he and Harley would have to discuss. In the future, though, not right now.

“Are you sure?” Harley asked, bringing a hand up to let Klio grab hold of her fingers.

“I’m sure. Plus I’ll only be there for closing, so she won’t be alone with Klio long. They already seem to be getting along. Don’t worry.”

Harley quirked her lips. “You do know you’re talking to a mother, right? Worrying is part of the job description.”

“Fine, then,” he said with an answering smile. “Don’t worry
much
.”

“Hmm. I’ll try.” Harley gave him another kiss, this one lingering longer than the first, tasting of their earlier passion and the upcoming hours of separation. “See you in a bit.”

Damien returned to his family after securing the door. As he sat next to Shaw once more, Klio gave a weak cry. “What’s the matter?” he asked his daughter. “Time for a change?”

“Here, let me.” Miriam reached for the baby. “The nursery?”

“First door on your right,” he told her, watching as she headed for the hallway. Curtis, having apparently gotten his fill of baby talk or simply fearing he’d be called in for diaper duty, requested the remote and promptly found a football game to immerse himself in. Damien’s brothers’ continued conversation buzzed in the background, but Damien refused to care what they discussed so long as they weren’t being stupid…at least until the next time.

In the relative quiet, Shaw leaned over, lowering her voice. “So, Harley’s different, isn’t she?”

“Different from what?”

“Everyone.”

He met his sister’s knowing eyes and realized she wasn’t talking about Harley’s looks or attitude; she was talking about him. “How did you know?”

“I could tell something was up even when you came to see me in the hospital.” She bent her knee, circling her arms around to hug it to her chest. “The way you look at her is different. You love her.”

His throat closed up, but still he forced out an “I do.” He needed to voice it, to his best friend if not to Harley. “Things have been…tough, but I do.”

“I can imagine.” Shaw leaned her cheek against her knee. “You haven’t told her.”

“How the hel—” He glanced at the kids, now engrossed with Klio’s jungle gym, propped in the corner. “How the heck can you tell that?”

“The way she looks at you.”

“Like I’m an idiot?”

Shaw chuckled. “Like she loves you, but with a touch of uncertainty.”

“Well, that could definitely be because I’m an idiot.”

“Maybe.” She winked, but then the laughter left her eyes. “I’m proud of you, ya know. Despite the fact that we’re a bunch of stuffed shirts—”

“Not all of you,” he interrupted.

Shaw ignored him. “—you’ve defied us all and gone out and made a life that’s very successful. You rake in buttloads of cash, you’re a great boss to a lot of people, and despite being the sexiest bad boy in three major cities, you’re a heck of a nice guy. You have a great life, Damien. All you need is a great woman to share it with.”

“Shaw—” Damn it, he was gonna cry, and then his brothers would have every right to call him a sissy.

His sister seemed to understand. She leaned over and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, whispering in his ear, “Tell her. She deserves it, and so do you. So does that baby.”

He stared at her for a long moment, wondering if the time was really right—or if he really had the courage to take the next step. Picturing Harley in the bath this afternoon, body glistening, eyes alive with life and laughter and yes, love, he knew he did.

“You know I’m right,” Shaw said.

“Yeah, I do.” And he was gonna take her advice. Tonight.

Chapter Twelve

Harley sat at her desk, staring across the room at the desk Damien typically occupied, when a knock sounded on her office door. “Damn it, Ryan, I thought I told you I had things to do,” she muttered. Then louder, “Yes?”

The door opened, revealing not Ryan but Jace. Harley tensed.

Jace hesitated on the threshold. “Can I come in?”

“Of course.” She stood, walking forward as she watched Jace enter her office. Officially hers now. Damien had ended her trial period when he rehired her. Another good sign. She was ticking them off, counting them, waiting for them to add up to something more than he liked to have sex with her and wanted her to hang around to take care of Klio.

Not fair, Harley.

No, it wasn’t. She’d seen something in his eyes the past couple of days that had her hope soaring, which was probably why she was being as sarcastic as possible with herself. Disappointment hurt less than utter devastation. She’d been through the latter, hoped never to do it again. Damien’s rejection would be utter devastation; just going on like they were now would be disappointment, but somehow she didn’t think the current state of affairs was sustainable. No, it would be the worst or the best, not the mediocre. She just wasn’t prepared for either; at least, she didn’t think so.