For the Sake of Their Son (The Alpha Brotherhood #5)(30)
Author: Catherine Mann

Elliot’s arms slid around her, and he drew her earlobe between his teeth. Just an earlobe. Yet her whole body tensed up with that final bit of sensation that sent her hurtling into fulfillment. Her nails dug into his shoulders, and she cried out as her release crested.

He rolled her over, and she pushed back, tumbling them again until the silver tray went crashing to the floor, the twang of pewter plates clanking. He kissed her hard, taking her cries of completion into his mouth. As orgasm gripped her again and again, his arms twitched around her, his body pulsing, his groans mingling with hers until she melted in the aftermath.

Panting, she lay beside him, her leg hitched over his hip, an arm draped over him. Her whole body was limp from exhaustion. She barely registered him pulling the comforter over her again.

Maybe they could make this friendship work, friendship combined with amazing sex. Being apart hadn’t made either of them happy.

Could this be enough? Friendship and sex? Could they learn to trust each other again as they once had?

They had the rest of the month together to figure out the details. If only they could have sex until they couldn’t think about the future.

His breath settled into an even pattern with a soft snore. What a time to realize she’d never slept with him before. She’d seen him nap plenty of times, falling asleep with a book on his chest, but never once had she stayed through the night with him.

For now, it was best she keep it that way. No matter how tempted she was to indulge herself, she wouldn’t make the mistakes of her past again. Not with Eli to think about.

Careful not to wake her generous, sexy lover, she eased from the bed, tiptoeing around the scattered cutlery and dishes that looked a lot like the disjointed parts of her life. Beautiful pieces, but such a jumbled mess there was no way to put everything back together.

“Lucy Ann?” Elliot called in a groggy voice. He reached out for her. “Come back to bed.”

She pulled on her red wraparound dress and tied it quickly before gathering her underwear. “I need to go to Eli. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Her bra and panties in her hand, she raced from his room and tried to convince herself she wasn’t making an even bigger mess of her life by running like a coward.

* * *

“Welcome to Monte Carlo, Eli,” Elliot said to his son, carrying the baby in the crook of his arm, walking the floor with his cranky child while everyone else slept. He’d heard Eli squawk and managed to scoop him up before Lucy Ann woke.

But then she was sprawled out on her bed, looking dead to the world after their trip to Monte Carlo—with a colicky kid.

The day had been so busy with travel, he hadn’t had a chance to speak to Lucy Ann alone. But then she hadn’t gone out of her way to make that possible, either. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought she was hiding from him.

Only there was no reason for her to do so. The sex last night had been awesome. They hadn’t argued. Hell, he didn’t know what was wrong, but her silence today couldn’t be missed.

Compounding matters, Eli had become progressively irritable as the day passed. By the time his private plane had landed in Monte Carlo, Elliot was ready to call a doctor. Lucy Ann and the nanny had both reassured him that Eli was simply suffering from gas and exhaustion over having his routine disrupted.

Of course that only proved Lucy Ann’s point that a child shouldn’t be living on the road, but damn it all, Elliot wasn’t ready to admit defeat. Especially not after last night. He and Lucy Ann were so close to connecting again.

He’d hoped Monte Carlo would go a long way toward scoring points in his campaign. He owned a place here. A home with friends who lived in the area. Sure it was a condominium and his friend owned a casino. But his friend was a dad already. And the flat was spacious, with a large garden terrace. He would have to add some kind of safety feature to the railing before Eli became mobile. He scanned the bachelor pad with new eyes and he saw a million details in a different light. Rather than fat leather sofas and heavy wooden antiques, he saw sharp edges and climbing hazards.

“What do you think, Eli?” he asked his son, staring down into the tiny features all scrunched up and angry. “Are you feeling any better? I’m thinking it may be time for you to eat, but I hate to wake your mama. What do you say I get you one of those bottles with expressed milk?”

Eli blinked back up at him with wide eyes, his fists and feet pumping.

He’d always thought babies all looked the same, like tiny old men. Except now he knew he could pick out Eli from dozens of other babies in a heartbeat.

How strange to see parts of himself and Lucy Ann mixed together in that tiny face. Yet the longer he looked, the more that mixture became just Eli. The kid had only been in his life for a week. Yet now there didn’t seem to be a pre-Eli time. Any thoughts prior to seeing him were now colored by the presence of him. As if he had somehow already existed on some plane just waiting to make an appearance.

Eli’s face scrunched up tighter in that sign he was about to scream bloody murder. Elliot tucked his son against his shoulder and patted his back while walking to the fridge to get one of the bottles he’d seen Lucy Ann store there.

He pulled it out, started to give it to his son…then remembered something about cold bottles not being good. He hadn’t paid a lot of attention when his friends took care of baby stuff, but something must have permeated his brain. Enough so that he tugged his cell phone from his pocket and thumbed speed dial for his buddy Conrad Hughes. He always stayed up late. Conrad had said once that life as a casino magnate had permanently adjusted his internal clock.

The phone rang only once. “This is Hughes. Speak to me, Elliot.”

“I need advice.”

“Sure, financial? Work? Name it.”

“Um, babies.” He stared at the baby and the bottle on the marble slab counter. Life had definitely changed. “Maybe you should put Jayne on the line.”

“I’m insulted,” Conrad joked, casino bells and music drifting over the airwaves. “Ask your question. Besides, Jayne’s asleep. Worn out from the kiddo.”

“The nanny’s sick and Lucy Ann really needs to sleep in.” He swayed from side to side. “She’s been trying to keep up with her work, the baby, the traveling.”

“And your question?”

“Oh, right. I forgot. Sleep deprivation’s kicking in, I think,” he admitted, not that he would say a word to Lucy Ann after the way she was freaking out over him having a wreck.