Read Between Then and Now Online

Authors: Rebecca Young

Tags: #canada, #cowboy, #farmer, #ontario, #small town romance, #modern romance, #romance series, #marriage in trouble, #accidental pregnancy, #marriage and love, #canadian romance, #small town series

Between Then and Now (6 page)

BOOK: Between Then and Now
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How have I never known this?” She
whispered the question against his lips, and instead of answering,
he pressed a hot, hungry kiss against her mouth and was rewarded
with a happy little sigh.


I was distracted, but I wasn’t
stupid. I knew you weren’t as into me as I was…well, and then when
you got pregnant, I thought I’d have a battle on my hands getting
you to marry me. Even when you agreed, I knew we weren’t doing it
for the same reasons. And then we had more important things to
worry about.”


And when you offered me a
divorce?”


I told myself I just wanted you
to be happy. That was a total lie, by the way.” He nipped at her
bottom lip, and she parted for him. Always so willing. His heart
swelled. “I wasn’t done convincing you to love me. I don’t know
what I would have done if you’d said yes to a divorce, but it
wouldn’t have been pretty.”


I already loved you, you know.”
She eased back to look him in the eye. “I don’t know when it
happened, but at some point over that awful summer, you took up
permanent residence in my heart.”


Why did you
think I didn’t love you until Kaylie was born?” Her tongue had
darted out to lick her lips a few times, and he was getting
distracted from his original purpose.
Focus.


You didn’t say it until that night
in the hospital.” Her words smacked him in the chest like a
two-by-four. That couldn’t be right. His disbelief must have
scrawled across his face in neon letters, because she shrugged.
“It’s not a big deal.”

As carefully as he could, given the itchy
panic crawling rapidly through his chest, he flipped her over to
her back and dragged his hands to her face. “Babe, it’s a big deal.
I love you. I love you to the moon and back, and all that crap we
tell the kids. I love you so much it hurts when I don’t get home
for fucking dinner. I’ve loved you since our second date, and I’ve
wasted eight years of not telling you. That’s part of what’s been
creeping through your head, isn’t it?”

She shook her head against his hands.
“No.”


Truth, babe.”


I know you love me.”


But?”

She shrugged. “But nothing. You show me that
you love me, and that’s enough.”

He lowered himself over her like a blanket and
buried his face in her neck. “You deserve more than
that.”

Her lips moved against his temple, her breath
warm and soft. “I have more than I ever dreamed
possible.”


You don’t have Europe.”


We’ll get there some day. Maybe
when we retire.” She laughed. “Who am I kidding? You’ll never
retire. Maybe Drew will take over the farm one day. Or maybe Kaylie
will like to travel, and we can leave you boys behind. Or I could
go on my own once Drew is in school—ooof!” Carrie rubbed her
stomach where he’d shouldered her in his haste to jump off the
bed.


Sorry, babe. Get up, we’re going
for a ride.”


Ian, what’s going on?”

He grabbed her hand and
pulled her toward the door, scooping up his boots on the way. “It’s
time for me to show you what I should have just told you about in
the first place.”

Chapter Five

 

It
wasn’t
easy dragging her away from a big bed in an empty house, but there
would be time for hot make-up sex later. Right now, they had one
final secret to deal with.

When was the last time she’d been on the back
of his bike? Too long. On the weekend, he’d make time for them to
go on a ride together. See the fall colours. Whatever. Just have
her legs wrapped around his hips, her breasts pressed into his
back, for more than the two minute hop into town. This was going to
be a tease, but a worthwhile one.

He pulled out his phone to text Evan then
thought better of it. Both West brothers would be at work. Which
was a sweet ride to the far side of town and back. Even
better.

When she stepped out of the house,
decked out in snug faded jeans tucked into knee-high leather boots
and a curve-hugging white nylon jacket that managed to zip up to
her neck and still show off her gorgeous rack, he was tempted to
abandon the plan and slide right back inside for the rest of the
afternoon. Inside the house. Inside Carrie.

Instead, he satisfied his base urges with a
low wolf-whistle, and he didn’t bother telling his chubby to go
away. She shot him a shy smile that turned not so shy as she gave
him her own once over and lingered on his growing
erection.


Looking forward to taking me for a
ride?” Her wide eyes looked innocent, but he knew
better.


Don’t tease me, Carrie, or I’ll
have you back inside and naked in less than a minute.” His strut
was partially put on, but the rush and confusion of the day’s
events had him on edge. He had something to prove, to himself and
Carrie, and he was going to do it in a way that left no doubt.
About his feelings, or his role in her life.


I’m not teasing. Much. It’s just
you look...” She trailed off with a grin. He felt it too, a hum of
energy between them. “You look good. All long legs and tough-guy
leather.”

He widened his stance as she took
two sauntering steps into his personal space. Not that he wouldn’t
gladly share it with her.
What’s mine is
hers, in every way.
Which reminded him that
they needed to go but not before he savoured the feel of her body
pressed against his, her warm, wet mouth softening against his. The
taste of excitement on her lips. He tugged her hair gently then
gave her one final kiss before sliding his leg over the bike and
gesturing for her to join him.

Go West Winery was past the bluffs
on the east end of town. It had originally been built as an estate,
and the vines a hobby, but Ty and Evan West had picked it up for a
song after it had been abandoned. They’d just finished building a
new main hall, with a tasting room, space for formal events,
offices, and a large scale production wing. The original estate
buildings were at the far end of the property, currently being used
as a bachelor pad by the brothers, but Kyle had told him that the
next phase of expansion was to hire someone to run the mansion as
an inn.

There weren’t a lot of cars in the
lot, but he recognized Evan’s SUV, and put down his kick stand. He
could feel Carrie’s confusion radiating against his back, but he
wasn’t going to give her a chance to pin him down. She eased off
the bike first, then he joined her, but before she could say
anything, he traced his index finger up her zipper and tapped on
her chin before resting it against her lips. “Contain yourself,
babe. Wait here, I'll be right back.”

 

She truly had no idea what was going on, and
it was exhilarating. Just an hour ago, she'd been scared. Now...why
had they not talked earlier? How had they not talked about some of
that earlier? Life was busy, sure, but too busy to spend any time
recollecting about their early days?

Maybe if their early days together
had followed a more typical path. Maybe if they’d each been more
confident that their relationship wasn't just perched on a
precarious foundation of happenstance. When really, their love had
cemented what started so shakily. Maybe that was the issue—they had
never talked about it out of love.

How messed up. She shook her head. And now he
was being cagey and secretive, but with the bright promise of
disclosure looming, she could be patient. Try to be patient.
Sheesh. How long was he going to be inside?

She made it halfway to the large
glass doors when he strode out. Good lord, he was a sight. Dusty
black boots. Snug jeans, loose t-shirt, except for where it
stretched over his round shoulders. Long arms, corded with muscle.
One of them, pointing straight at her. Oh shit.


I wasn't coming inside.” Her
protest was totally weak.


Babe.” He snorted and tucked her
under his arm, turning them back toward the bike.


I can’t help but be curious. Why
are we here, if we’re not staying?”


Had to pick something
up.”

He didn’t have anything in his
arms, just her on one side, and his jacket tossed over his other
shoulder. That meant...


Get out of my pockets.” A laugh
rumbled through his chest as she searched him. His keys were in one
front pocket, his wallet in the back. Nothing else. “Seriously,
angel, time to go. Unless you want me to search you?” He pulled her
tight against his front and tugged at her zipper. “I’ve been
wanting to see what you’ve got on under this jacket since you
stepped out of the house.”


It’s not nothing this time,” she
teased. “But it’s something.”


Something that will have to wait.
Hop on.”

Riding on the back of Ian’s bike
was, in a word, awesome. He didn’t have a motorcycle when they met.
He’d seemed as white-bread wholesome as Canadian farm boys come
when they met, even though at twenty-six, he’d hardly been a boy.
But he’d had a secret account he’d been saving for quite a while, a
fact she discovered one night when she was in the midst of her
second-trimester horniness and Ian had convinced her it was a good
idea to share sexual fantasies. He wasn’t wrong. When she told him
she had a mystery biker fantasy, he got a wicked gleam in his eye
and told her in minute detail just what kind of bike he’d ride. He
even detailed a totally impractical and very hot biker babe outfit
that she’d be wearing when he’d sweep her off her feet, and they
both enjoyed her response. But when Kaylie was born, he’d put the
money he’d been saving into an education fund. Next came a
mortgage, but when she was pregnant with Drew, and it was time to
replace his truck, she managed to convince him that she was really
okay with him getting a bike instead. It appealed to his practical
side, being cheaper to buy, and more affordable on gas. But they
both knew that it also appealed to his secret inner bad boy. It was
months before she got to ride on the back of it, and when she did,
it was every bit as awesome as their shared fantasy predicted, even
with the more sensible outfit.

A few years hadn’t changed that.
The wind rushing against the few bits of exposed skin. Cold air all
around her, except where Ian’s hard back warmed up her front. The
roar of the machine between her legs. It was hot as
hell.

The winery was on the north side of the
east/west running road that, after a kilometre, turned into
Heritage Street, one of two main streets in downtown Wardham. The
other, creatively named Main Street, was the north/south street
that intersected Heritage before ending at the municipal beach. A
block before they reached Main, Ian turned the bike north, away
from the beach and toward the park surrounding the town hall. If
Wardham had a central business district, this was the heart of it.
A quick left turn down a private lane, and they found themselves in
the small parking lot in the center of the block behind Wardham
Grocery and the now empty and derelict storefronts immediately
beside it.

Ian pulled her toward the back entrance of the
empty store two doors down from the grocery store, kicking up dust
as he hurried along.


Honey, what are we—” Carrie
didn’t get a chance to finish her question before Ian pulled out
his keys, flipped through the bundle, and after he found the shiny
silver one he wanted, he held it out to her.


Try it.” He set his big hand in
the small of her back and gave her a gentle shove toward the
door.

The key slid smoothly into the
lock. The door and the handle both looked new—just about the only
part of the building that did. Inside, a long expanse of dark
greeted them. They were in a narrow hallway with doors at the end.
As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she realized that the space
immediately next to the door was wider than the hall in front of
them, more like a store room.


This used to be the five and
dime, right?” She didn’t know why she was whispering. It was the
middle of the afternoon, and Ian had a key. But there was something
wondrous about this moment that she didn’t want to risk with a
raised voice.

Ian pressed in tight against her
back, his hands resting loosely at her waist. His voice was warm
and low in her ear. “Yep. Then it was used seasonally by H&R
Block for tax prep season. Remember that year that I worked for
them in the spring?”

Kaylie had been a baby, and they’d
moved in with his parents. It hadn’t been a great winter. Ian had
taken the extra job to speed up the down payment savings. “Right.
Doesn’t this place have a great exposed brick wall?”

He nodded against the top of her
head. “Come on, let's go out front.”

The doors on either side of the
hall looked like bathrooms, but the middle door opened into a small
anteroom with an open window to the front of the store. They walked
through that, Ian pausing to find the light switch, but they didn’t
need it, as the afternoon sun was spilling in the large front
windows, two of them, bracketing a big door. She twirled in the
wide space, taking in the creaky old wood floors and exposed brick
on the wall around the door they’d just stepped through.

BOOK: Between Then and Now
11.62Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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