He stroked her hair, then rested his hand on her bare belly. “Where did you go?”

“A halfway house. I got a job cleaning and doing laundry. They let me stay while I had Zoe, then I saved enough for a bus ticket and came back here. I think, in the back of my mind, I figured if I moved to Seattle, my parents would be able to find me. I wanted them to still want me.”

“They did. Bobby lied, remember?”

“They had a funny way of showing it. Anyway, I got a job and a studio apartment. I’ve worked my way up to this place.”

“You’ve kept it all together. You should be proud of that.”

“I am. I like my life. Mrs. Ford is great. She’s made a big difference for Zoe and me.”

“You’ve made a difference for her. You’re family.”

She’d filled in what was missing all by herself. He admired that…and her.

“What happens now?” he asked. “With your mother.”

“I don’t know. She has to be furious and I’m still pretty pissed off myself. I guess we’ll deal with it as it comes.”

As she spoke, she stretched. Her body arched and her br**sts rose toward him. Not one to refuse that kind of an invitation, he bent down and took one nipple in his mouth. She moaned. Wanting grew inside of him as his dick went from zero to sixty in less than two seconds.

He released her and stood. “Come on,” he said, pulling her to her feet.

“Where are we going?”

“The bathroom.”

Two minutes later they stood under the hot spray. He positioned her so the warm water raced down her body, then picked up the bar of soap and rubbed it between his hands. When he’d built up enough lather, he put his hands on her br**sts and circled them. He brushed her ni**les with the center of his palm, then with his thumbs. She trembled and let her head fall back.

After the water had washed away the soap, he leaned in and licked her ni**les over and over, then lightly bit down, making her gasp. At the same time, he lathered up again, then slid one hand between her legs. The slippery soap allowed him to slide over her most sensitive area, rubbing it, then circling it. She parted her legs and reached out to brace herself on the shower walls.

But he wasn’t done with her. Once again, he allowed the water to wash away the soap, then he dropped to his knees and eased between her legs.

His erection pulsed with each heartbeat, but he ignored the pressure to take her again. That would happen, he was sure of it. This was about pleasing her.

He used his fingers to part her swollen flesh, then pressed his mouth to the very heart of her. As his tongue stroked her, he felt her tremble. He opened his mouth and sucked, then licked, repeating the actions until her breathing was ragged and she seemed close to losing control. Only then did he settle into a rhythm designed to make her lose control.

Back and forth, back and forth, with the flat part of his tongue, then the tip. Her center engorged, then the first shudder of her release struck. She cried out as her whole body convulsed.

When she was done, she collapsed next to him in the tub. Her eyes were dilated, her skin flushed. Water rained down on them.

“Your turn,” she breathed, her hand reaching between them to close around his erection.

He held in a moan. “What did you have in mind?”

She smiled. “Stand up and find out.”

He rose and stepped under the shower. Elissa knelt in front of him and licked the very tip of his arousal. Instinctively he flexed and surged toward her before he could stop himself. He wanted to bury his hands in her wet hair and pull her closer. He wanted her to suck as hard as she could until he exploded.

Instead he braced himself against the wall and did his best not to act too aggressively.

She circled him with her tongue, then opened her mouth and took him inside. The wet heat combined with the pounding of the shower to create an otherworldly experience.

Suddenly she stopped and stepped out of the shower. A minute later, she returned, condom in hand.

“You’re holding back,” she said simply. “This way you don’t have to.”

He was surprised she’d noticed and grateful for her actions. After he slipped on the protection, he turned her so her back was to the tile wall.

“Gonna be cold,” he said.

She grinned. “I can handle it.”

She only shrieked a little as he raised her up against the tiles. Then she moaned and wrapped her legs around his h*ps when he thrust inside of her.

She was hot and slick and already contracting around him. In a matter of seconds he was hanging on by a thread and a few seconds after that, he just didn’t give a damn.

“I HAVE TO GET TO WORK,” Elissa said two hours later when they’d moved back to the bedroom and used the last condom. “I’m supposed to spend the weekend working on my jewelry. The craft show is in a couple of weeks and I’m not close to ready.”

Walker leaned over and kissed her shoulder. “I’ll help.”

She blinked at him. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

He rolled onto his back and pulled her with him so she stretched across him.

“What’s so hard to believe?” he asked. “I’ll go out and get supplies, then come back and help. You can tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

Just like that, she thought. A couple of days ago, she’d assumed they would never speak to each other again. Suddenly they were lovers and he was implying they would be spending more time together. Was that what she wanted? Was that the safest route?

She already knew the answer to that last question, but in that moment, she didn’t care.

“You don’t have to go to the store,” she said. “I have enough food for us.”

“I wasn’t talking about food.” He leaned over and shook the empty condom box.

“Oh,” she said. “You really think you’re going to want to do that again?”

He cupped her face and kissed her firmly. “You can bet on it.”

“HOW HARD COULD IT BE?” Walker asked when Elissa sat him down at the kitchen table and gave him detailed instructions on how to wrap the wire around the pale blue topaz.

“It takes practice,” she told him, not sure if she should be insulted by his assumption that what she did was so easy.

She returned to her worktable and began sorting stones. She had ideas for several matching sets, which would be her most expensive items, along with lots of different styles of earrings, rings, bracelets and necklaces.

She’d already made a list of the different designs to help her keep on track. Another sheet held her completed inventory list. If she really focused she could—

“This isn’t right.”

Walker stood next to her and handed over a mess of twisted wire and barely visible stone.

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

He set the object on the table. “This isn’t my thing. Why don’t I make labels or put stuff in boxes?”

She held in a smile. “But you said it was so easy. You said it wouldn’t be a problem. You said—”

“I was wrong.” He spoke between gritted teeth.

“Really? You? Wrong? Color me astonished.”

“It’s not easy,” he grumbled. “Is that what you want? Is that enough crawling?”

“Nearly,” she said brightly. “I think another minute will do it.”

“Fine. You have talent and I don’t. You were right and I was…”

He paused and she held a hand up to her ear. “Yes?”

“Wrong.”

She sighed. “What a beautiful sound. The w word. I rejoice for all women everywhere.”

“You’re taking this a little too much to heart. I can think of only one way to shut you up.”

Then, before she could react, he pulled her to her feet and kissed her thoroughly.

“I have to work,” she protested.

He put one hand on her breast and slipped the other between her legs.

“What was that?” he asked against her mouth.

“Nothing. Nothing at all.”

BY LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON, Elissa had made progress on her inventory and Walker had, knowingly or not, made inroads into her heart. Her friends had been right—sleeping with the man meant bonding with him and no matter how much she told herself to keep her distance, neither her brain nor her heart were listening.

He put the last label on the box, then stacked that container with the others. After glancing at his watch, he said, “Zoe will be home soon. I should go. You don’t want to have to explain me to her or your mother.”

“Right.”

She’d forgotten about the fight she’d had with her mother. All her anger and confusion returned in a rush.

He kissed her once and left. It was only after he was gone that she realized he hadn’t said anything about seeing her again. Did he plan to? Had anything changed for him or was this just the long version of a one-night stand?

She hated the questions nearly as much as she hated herself for asking them. If she wanted to know, she should be a grown-up and ask. But before she could, she heard a car in the driveway.

By the time she got to the door, Zoe was already out and racing toward her.

“Mommy, Mommy, I had the best time,” her daughter yelled. “I have so much to tell you!”

Elissa crouched down and held out her arms. Zoe rushed into them. Elissa glanced over her daughter’s head and saw that her mother wasn’t alone in the car. Elissa’s father was with her.

Had he come along to say goodbye or was he to provide a buffer between the two women?

Elissa straightened as her parents got out of the car and walked toward her.

“Hi,” she said, not looking at her mother. “It sounds like Zoe had fun.”

“I did!” her daughter said. “I want to stay over again.”

“If that’s not a problem,” her mother said stiffly. “We’d love to have her.”

“Sure. That would be great. We’ll have to work something out.”

Her father handed her Zoe’s small suitcase and kissed Elissa’s cheek. “You know we love you, Elissa, don’t you? You understand things happened?”

Meaning what? They were allowed to be pissed she’d left but she wasn’t supposed to care that they’d stopped looking?

“Of course.” She forced herself to smile.

“Good.”

She could tell he thought everything was fine now, but she knew differently and from the way her mother avoided her gaze, she, too, understood that all was not well.

“We won’t keep you,” her father said. “Let’s talk soon.”

“Sure.”

She and Zoe waved while her parents drove away, then she led her daughter into the apartment.

“All right,” she said with a smile. “Start at the beginning and tell me everything you did.”

Zoe threw her arms around her. “I missed you, Mommy, but I had really, really big fun.”

“Did you? Tell me.”

“First, we went shopping. Grandma said I could pick out new sheets for my bed there. So we got pink sheets with princesses on them. Then we went home and we made cookies. Then in the afternoon…”

Zoe kept talking, but Elissa found it difficult to concentrate. She kept thinking about the fight she’d had with her mother and wondering if they would ever come to terms. She also kept remembering her time with Walker and wishing he were with her now.

While she loved Zoe with all her heart, for the first time in a long time, she felt lonely and out of place.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

LORI JOHNSTON WAS everything Reid didn’t like in a woman. Disapproving, plain and completely uninterested in him. She glanced around the sports bar with the same lack of enthusiasm she’d shown at being introduced to him.

“We should go into my office,” he said over the yells of the afternoon crowd in for a Mariners game, then took her total lack of response as agreement.

Once there, he motioned for her to take the seat opposite his desk while he settled on a corner. Not so much to look down on her, he told himself, as to, well, maintain control of the interview process.

She adjusted her glasses before handing him a copy of her résumé. “The agency recommended me for this assignment because I’ve had a lot of experience with difficult patients. I’ve been doing private duty nursing for two years. Before that I was on the orthopedic ward. I’ve worked with several heart patients recently. I believe those are the two issues your grandmother will be facing—recovery from both a heart attack and a broken hip?”

She spoke the way she looked, sensibly and with nothing wasted on the frivolous, which made him uncomfortable.

“I could put the game on here,” he said, jerking his head toward the TV in the corner. “The Mariners are tied.”

She blinked at him. “I don’t follow sports.”

Why was he not surprised? “So you don’t know who I am.”

“Should I?”

Ouch. “Sure. I’m a famous major league pitcher.”

“Then why do you work in a bar?”

“I blew out my shoulder.”

“Given the effort and daily stress necessary in that line of work, I’m not surprised. The body has limits, Mr. Buchanan. No matter how much we would like that reality to be different, it simply will not change.”

She reminded him of every teacher he’d never liked, all self-righteous and…and…priggy, he thought with no idea of where the word had come from.

She wore a long-sleeved shirt tucked into a boring skirt that fell well below her knees. Her shoes were ugly, she didn’t wear jewelry or makeup and if she narrowed her eyes at him any more, she was going to go cross-eyed. Her only redeeming feature—thick reddish-gold hair that she’d pulled back into a horrible braid—was wasted on her.