Between Then and Now (3 page)

With a final surge up, and down again, she
stilled in his lap, trembling inside and out. He slicked his hands
down her sweat drenched sides and around to her back, holding her
against his body as she went limp, overwhelmed by her orgasm. He
was on the edge himself, and he wanted nothing more than to start
driving hard into her swollen core, to spill himself inside
her…fuck, even thinking about it was a threat to his
control.

But they had all night. They weren’t
teenagers, and the car wasn’t their only option.

“
That was hot.” He tugged gently on
her hair, tilting her face toward his so he could swipe a lazy kiss
across her lips. “Let’s go inside.”

She flexed her pussy around him. “What about
you?”

He chuckled. “I’m not done with you, babe. I
want you stretched out on our bed.”

She whimpered, but her smile told him she was
pleased.

He pushed the truck door open, and
Carrie eased away from his body, shivering at the temperature drop.
He grabbed her t-shirt and slid it over her naked breasts, then
took a minute to tuck himself back into his jeans before they
climbed out. He pulled her hard against his body once they were
standing on the ground, and they walked inside as one, where he
pulled her into the shower and warmed her up, first with a gentle
wash cloth and then his mouth. When it was his turn again, she led
him to their bed and rode him long and slow and hard, until he
lifted her off, coming hard between their bodies, and they needed
the wash cloth again.

Things
between them were better, but a week of good sex and early
evenings hadn’t miraculously solved the underlying issues in their
marriage.

Carrie had broached the subject
when he got back from morning chores. “And then you say or do
something little, and I lose my mind. I shouldn’t, but I do, and I
worry that means—”

“
We’re just fine.” He closed the
gap between them, mindful that the kids would be up any minute.
“You’ve been ‘Mom’ for a long time. You have a hard time turning it
off.”

“
I don’t mother you.” She stiffened
against his chest.

“
Little bit.” He cupped her chin,
her face small in his hand, and she closed her eyes. He loved the
softness of her skin under his calloused fingers. A sigh escaped
her lips, and he knew it wasn’t enough, but it was something. And
little bits of something that they could piece together was all
that they had. Between parenting and work, they were running flat
out, especially with making positive time for each other. Neither
of them wanted to fight at night. Or in the morning. So when
talking headed in that direction, they were both all too eager to
shift to what they did best. But sex wasn’t the answer.

He was committed to getting them back on
track, and hoped that after tonight, there wouldn’t be any more
secrets between them. He’d thought about coming clean after talking
to Evan at the pub, but then she’d gone on about Evie and Dale, and
he wanted to reassure her that they weren’t the same. Reassure
himself too, if he was being honest.

He looked at his phone again, for what felt
like the twentieth time that day, and it was only eight in the
morning.

“
Waiting for a call?” He started at
the male voice behind him and turned to see his younger brother
leaning against the kitchen counter. “I saw Carrie leaving with the
kids, she said to let myself in and grab a cup of
coffee.”

“
Hey. Yeah, help yourself.” He
gestured at the pot.

“
You’re distracted.”

Ian shrugged. “What are you doing here before
school?”

“
I need to borrow your chop saw,
going to lay some flooring tonight.” Kyle had recently bought an
old schoolhouse, just outside of town, and was renovating it
himself. He’d put up with a fair number of jokes about it being a
fitting abode for an elementary school teacher, but Ian had to
admit, it was the perfect bachelor pad. And Kyle was a committed
bachelor, swearing off love after two disastrous
relationships.

“
You need help?”

“
Nah. Evan’s in town, and he’ll
probably convince Ty to come along too.” The West brothers were as
opposite as night and day, but they worked well together—so well,
in fact, that they’d gone into business together, starting a
fledgling winery and, more recently, starting to invest in downtown
Wardham real estate. Ian wasn’t as close to them as his brother
was, but he had a lot of respect for the Wests.

“
The saw’s in the garage, hang
on.” He stepped through the adjoining door from the kitchen into
the clutter of his garage. There was just enough room to park his
bike there. Carrie’s SUV lived outside.

Kyle followed him, whistling when he got to
the door.

“
Shut up.”

“
You got a big project here, man.
Gonna make the little lady park outside all winter?”

“
First of all, don’t call her
that.” Ian grabbed the big saw, made sure the safety latch was on,
and thumped it into his brother’s chest. “Second of all, I’ve got
more important things to worry about.”

“
Nothing’s more important than your
woman.”

“
What would you know about
that?”

Kyle’s jaw tightened at that, but instead of
answering, he stepped back to the kitchen and set the saw down on
the floor.

“
So, I talked to Evan.” Ah. The
real reason for the visit. “You know what you’re doing?”

“
Yep.”

“
If I could just give you some
advice—”

“
I don’t want, or need, your
advice.”

“
Carrie’s going to be
pissed.”

“
You let me worry about
Carrie.”

“
Are you?”

Ian crossed his arms over his chest. He was
the big brother in every way, taller, older and his job was more
physical, so he probably had ten extra pounds of muscle on Kyle,
but he didn’t relish the thought of pounding his brother into the
ground. Much. “I don’t see how that’s your business.”

“
She’s like my sister. And she’s
had a rough year.”

“
How would you know
that?”

“
I see her, at Mom and Dad’s,
around town. Always has the kids with her, juggling a cake or
groceries. You’ve been absent, man.”

“
I’ve been working,
Kyle.”

“
Is that what she
wants?”

“
It’s what we need.”

“
Are you in financial
trouble?”

God, no. He didn’t want Carrie to ever
experience the poverty of her childhood again. “We’re fine. I’m
just building up a cushion, paying down the mortgage. Trying to get
ahead.”

“
Don’t be a hero. Talk to Carrie.
Maybe she doesn’t understand.”

Maybe Kyle didn’t understand how this wasn’t
any of his business. “Got it.”

“
Don’t shoot the
messenger.”

“
I said—Hey, you know who we
haven’t talked about in a while?”

“
Okay, point made.”

“
No, I don’t think it was. What
happened last year after the funeral?” Kyle didn’t need to answer
that. He’d gone on a bender and broken up with his live-in
girlfriend after seeing Laney Calhoun at her father’s funeral. Kyle
and Evie’s sister had dated in college, and his brother never did
get over that breakup. “Where is she now, still in
Calgary?”

“
Chicago.” Kyle picked up the saw
he’d come for and moved to the back door.

“
Five hour drive, less in the
middle of the night. You ever think about just getting in your
truck?”

This was deeper and meaner than their
conversations usually went. Ever, really. But Kyle had picked at
his scab—Ian was just returning the favour.

His brother scrubbed a hand across his jaw.
“All the time, man. All the fucking time.”

“
What’s stopping you?”

“
I can’t bear the thought of
hurting her again.”

“
Who says you’d hurt
her?”

“
We’re not you and Carrie, okay?
There’s no happy ever after for me and Laney. Everyone around here
needs to get that straight.”

Preschool days were the best. There
was something about being temporarily childfree that increased her
productivity by five-hundred percent. After dropping Kaylie at
school and Drew at the half-day program in the Presbyterian church
basement, Carrie cut back across downtown Wardham for the main road
to Essex, the larger town near the freeway.

She’d come to love their sleepy little
village, but downtown had seen better days. Not for the first time,
Carrie mused on how a few small changes would make a big
difference. There had been a few attempts to bring tourist dollars
to town, but they’d been focused on nostalgia—Wardham needed to
move into the 21st century. The outdoor hockey tournament was a
great draw, but a modern, attractive arena would be a good blizzard
backup. Of course, that wasn’t an original idea, and the town
council and small business association had been at odds over the
investment for years. If she was a local business person,
she’d…

She’d what?
Carrie sighed to herself. Her imagination could run off with a
dozen ideas of fun businesses she’d start up. She’d thought about
talking to the West brothers more than once but always chickened
out. No, not chickened out. Wised up to reality. She had enough on
her plate as it was, she didn’t need to start something new. And
really, where would she even start?

She needed to appreciate the good life that
she had. She’d come a long way from the little apartment over the
laundromat on Wyandotte Street, saving all her pennies.

Ha. So what if she hadn’t gone to England.
Here she was, driving to Essex, and if the shops there didn’t have
what she needed, she’d head to Windsor next. Not quite the same
thing. The countryside between the towns was lovely enough, but she
imagined the British communities were much more picturesque. Not
that Carrie would ever know. At one time, she planned to backpack
through Europe. She’d been working at a country & western bar
in Windsor, hustling hard for tips from drunk wannabe cowboys, when
she met Ian.

That night changed everything.

He wasn’t wearing the hat or boots,
but he had the swagger, and he could dance better than most. He
stayed to last call, and she surprised both of them by inviting him
back to her apartment. He gave a sober buddy his keys and told him
to come back for him in the morning.

He’d been cute. More than cute. She hadn’t
been able to stop watching him, and she caught his eye enough that
she knew the feeling was mutual.

If she’d had any doubts he was a real deal
country boy, they disappeared when he unabashedly stripped down to
nothing—the sun had kissed his arms to mid-bicep, although his
torso wasn’t without a faint tan. She’d thought lazily that maybe
he had a pond. She’d like to go skinny dipping with him. Leap onto
his back and wrap her legs around his lean hips. Hold on to his
broad shoulders and press her naked breasts into his back and drift
into the cool water together.

As he opened his button-fly jeans,
revealing snug briefs underneath, she’d whispered for him to stop.
He was hard and sinewy in all the right places, with shadows and
valleys she wanted to explore with her mouth and hands and eyes,
but her touch first went to the line where dark faded to light on
his arm, neatly following the curve of his muscles. “Nice farmer’s
tan.”

He read the husky tone in her voice correctly,
not taking offense at all, and he reached for the button on her
jeans, using it to leverage her closer. “Let’s see yours.” He
hovered his mouth above hers. “I bet it leads me straight to
heaven.”

It was a total line, and it totally worked.
She whimpered into his kiss, and the next thing she knew, they were
rolling around naked on her bed, taking turns pinning each other
down and tracing all the tan lines they could find. That led to
playing connect the dots on the four moles on her tummy, and
guessing the story behind each of his seven scars. It was the best
and strangest hook up she’d ever had.

When he finally donned a condom and slid
inside her, she welcomed him with wild abandon. The first time was
hard and fast. The second took longer, and sparked something sweet
and scary, and they fell asleep wrapped around each
other.

Carrie blinked at the memory. She
was almost in Essex. She’d forgotten that they’d slept entwined
like that from the very first night. For the longest time, the
dominant memory was of waking up in the middle of the night and
feeling Ian harden between her legs.

“
You’re awake.”

“
So are you.” She swirled her hips,
teasing his length along her slick sex.

“
Do you want to…” He groaned as she
reached the tip of him. “I should grab a condom.”

He should have. But she was sore, and stupid,
and didn’t want to fuck. She just wanted to play and then brazenly
ask for his mouth.