Nameless Series Boxed Set (69 page)

His back arched
slightly, and he froze as he roared out in final relief. She could feel his
cock pulse as he released himself inside her. Could hear his desperate panting
behind her, matching her own.

They both
seemed trapped temporarily in that moment of visceral relief. As their muscle
contractions died down, they stayed in position, letting the satisfaction wash
over them.

Then Seth
seemed to lose it completely. He nearly collapsed on top of her, and Erin
couldn’t hold herself up. The two of them ended up in a clumsy, wet heap on the
bottom of the slick, empty tub.

“You okay?”
Seth managed to ask, one of his legs draped over hers and his head resting on
one of his arms.

“Yeah. Although
I nearly concussed myself on the side of the tub.”

Seth still had
most of his clothes on, since his trousers were still tangled around his legs.
His shirt was so wet it was transparent, however, and the damp fabric wasn’t
entirely comfortable against Erin’s heated skin.

But she wasn’t
about to complain. Not after that.

“That was,” she
mumbled, trying to adjust so she could look him in the eyes and so her head
wasn’t resting against the hard tub. “That was…unbelievable. We should be
adventurous more often. I think I lost count of—”

“I counted
five,” Seth said, a familiar, fond, self-satisfied glimmer awakening in his
eyes despite his obvious fatigue.

Erin sniffed.
“Yeah, well, if you count the first one, which I gave to myself. Plus, you had
a lot of help with them.” She glanced down at the yellow vibrating sponge that
had somehow prompted this whole interlude. “So don’t get smug.”

He did look smug,
and possessive, and warm, and affectionate, and dryly amused.

And Erin loved
him so much, for all of those things.

“I love you,
Erin,” he murmured unexpectedly, giving her a kiss on the corner of her mouth.

His expression
was soft and almost sweet, despite the wild passion of their lovemaking. And
something about the surprising incongruity of it—while they lay wetly and
uncomfortably in a damp, empty tub—made Erin’s heart swell up with joy.

She smiled at
him. Leaned over to kiss him softly, tugging gently on his lower lip.
Whispered, “Believe it or not, Seth Thomas, I love you too.”

Anna was getting hyper.

Erin could see
the signs. The girl's cheeks were getting rosier and rosier, and she was
starting to squirm in her seat, giggling and occasionally hugging herself, as
if she just couldn't contain her excitement.

It wasn’t
surprising. Both of the girls had been thrilled that Aunt Liz had come over to
hang out with them this evening, for what they’d unofficially dubbed their
“family night.” They dedicated at least one evening a week to be spent
together, and the girls were young enough to still be excited about such a
thing.

The last three
months had gone well. For the first month after their problems over the summer,
Seth had been so loving and attentive that Erin had actually begun to feel a
little smothered. He’d gradually eased back into a natural routine, however,
balancing work and family in a way that seemed to work for all of them. They
still relied on his schedule for time spent at home, and Erin could tell he was
committed to it, since occasionally this month he’d had to really stretch in
order to keep the requisite dinners at home, since he was so busy with the
beginnings of his own practice.

Tonight, Seth
was in one of his rare laughing moods. As he sat beside her on the sofa, his
eyes were warm, and his husky chuckle and teasing drawl lingered pleasantly in
the room. This was another reason Anna was getting overly excited. Both she and
Mackenzie loved when their daddy was in this mood.

Anna’s giggling
became rather shrill as Erin and Liz had a mock argument about Liz’s blatant
attempt to cheat at UNO, and Erin hoped her daughter’s hyperness wouldn’t
plunge her into a crash later on.

They were
playing UNO, since it was one of the few games that the kids could understand
and the adults could mostly tolerate. Anna was down to two cards, and she was
flailing them around in her hands so wildly that they were clearly visible for
anyone who wanted to look. They all pretended not to see them, however, as it
came around to Anna’s turn again.

She was too
young to play very well on her own, so Seth—in addition to taking care of his
own cards—kept leaning over and murmuring suggestions in her ear about what to
do next. As Anna’s turn arrived, she and Seth conferred in focused secrecy.

Then Anna
slowly reached over to place one of her two cards on the discard pile—a red
seven on a blue seven—and she screamed “UNO” at the top of her lungs as soon as
she released her hold on the card.

Mackenzie,
who’d been paying close attention in the hope of catching Anna before she said
the magic word, scowled and peered at her own three cards, her competitive
nature obviously rearing up at her sister’s good luck.

Liz reached
over and tugged on Mackenzie’s red ponytail. “So, Mac, how’s school?”

“Fine,”
Mackenzie told her seriously. “My teacher is nice, and I’m the best at reading
in the class.” Before this claim—which Erin proudly knew to be the truth—could
be lauded, Mackenzie continued with a look at somber aggrievement. “But there’s
a boy named Justin who sits behind me. And he’s mean to me all the time.”

Erin hid a
smile, since she was familiar with Justin and was pretty sure she understood
what motivated his teasing. But Seth, to Erin’s surprise, must not have heard about
Mackenzie’s woes with the cute, little boy who pulled her hair and chased her
around the playground.

“What?” Seth
demanded, leaning forward and tensing up. “Who’s mean to you?”

Erin put a hand
on his knee in a calming gesture, amused at his irrational protectiveness.

“Justin,”
Mackenzie explained with her characteristic earnestness. She was sitting on her
knees on the floor, and she shifted restlessly as she spoke. “All the other
girls like him, but he’s mean to me. He makes fun of my red hair and says I
have freckles!”

Mackenzie did
have a few freckles that came out when she spent time in the sun—faintly
dusting the fair skin of her nose and cheeks. Erin thought they were adorable.

“Well, clearly
the boy is an idiot.” Before Erin could chide Seth for this blunt remark, he
continued, “Your hair is absolutely beautiful.”

Mackenzie
squirmed appreciatively, but Anna’s little mouth turned down in concern.

Seeing this,
Seth went on, “Just like Anna’s.” He tugged gently on a piece of Anna’s blond
hair, making the girl giggle again.

“Your daddy
used to have red hair too,” Erin told Mackenzie comfortingly, trying not to
snicker when Seth narrowed his eyes. No matter how much he loved Mackenzie's
hair, he never liked to be reminded of his own. “Not many people have such
pretty red hair, and a lot of people really want it.”

“I guess,”
Mackenzie mumbled, pulling her long ponytail around so she could peer at the
shiny waves. “But freckles?” Her voice pitched upward on the last word, in very
clear outrage at such an indignity.

Stifling a
chuckle, Erin said gravely, “Daddy used to have a few freckles too.”

“I what?” Seth
demanded, turning to glare at his wife at this unmotivated, unexpected attack.

Erin gave him a
silent, significant look, which made Seth slump back against the couch and say,
“Nothing's wrong with having freckles. They make you look even prettier.”

When Mackenzie
relaxed and smiled at this affirmation, Seth slanted an unpleasant look at Erin
from the corner of his eye. His grumpiness at such a silly thing made Erin so
mushy that she had to lean over and give him a soft, wet kiss on the side of
his jaw.

“Hey,” Liz
objected. “None of that. There are kids present.”

Anna was still
proudly holding her one card, but at this comment she declared to all and
sundry, “Daddy kisses Mommy a lot.”

Looking
maliciously thrilled at this lead-in, Liz encouraged the girl to go on.
“Really? He kisses her a lot?”

Anna nodded
matter-of-factly. “Yes. A lot. Especially when they go to bed.”

Seth let out a
stifled grunt, and Erin’s eyes widened with horrified fascination as she
listened to her daughter continue with innocent frankness.

“And sometimes
they make noises,” Anna confided to Liz. “Once, I was scared because it sounded
like Mommy was crying, but Mac said it was all right because it wasn’t sad
crying.”

Erin blushed
beet red, and Seth slouched further down on the couch and muttered, “That’s it.
We’re sound-proofing the bedroom.”

Liz was visibly
shaking with amusement. “So you never thought about going to check on them to
make sure they were all right?”

“I wanted to,
but Daddy doesn’t like it when we come see them in bed.” She leaned over and
whispered loudly to Liz, “Daddy sometimes doesn’t wear any jammies.”

Erin choked on
a burst of laughter, and Liz chortled gleefully. Seth cleared his throat and
gritted out, “Liz, it’s been your turn to play now for five minutes.”

“So this boy
Justin,” he continued, obviously intent on changing the subject as Liz focused
on her cards again. “He just teases you about your hair? He’s not mean to you
in any other way, is he?”

Mackenzie
sighed dramatically. “He’s mean about everything. He chases me, and he laughs
at me when I get mad at him. And he said I was dumb because I don’t really know
where babies come from.”

Seth jerked a
little, and even Erin’s mouth dropped open at this. “What now?” she asked. “I
haven’t heard about this.”

Mackenzie
scowled, as if she were picturing the boy in question. “He said I didn’t really
know, but I do know. I said that babies come from a mommy’s belly, because that’s
where Anna came from.”

On the other
side of the coffee table, Anna echoed happily, “Babies come from mommy’s
belly.”

Mackenzie
looked up at Seth pleadingly. “Isn’t that right, Daddy?”

“That’s exactly
right. And don’t let any whiny boy tell you differently.”

Looking a
little relieved, Mackenzie sat back on her heels. “I’ll tell him that my Daddy
told me I was right. He said…” She hesitated, looking almost guilty. “He said
that they came from…from fucking.”

Erin choked on
her surprise, and Seth made an angry growling sound in his throat. Once again
putting her hand on her husband’s knee to keep him from channeling anger toward
a six-year-old boy, she prompted, “And what did you say to that, Mackenzie?”

“I said that
wasn’t a nice word to say because Mommy always tells Aunt Liz to be quiet when
she says it.”

“Excellent
answer,” Seth assured her, obviously reining in his indignation at the idea of
anyone putting such ideas into his innocent daughter's head. “Don’t worry about
what this boy tells you. It sounds like he’s just trying to act smarter than he
is.”

Mackenzie
scratched her nose. “But what did he mean by that, Daddy?”

Seth was
starting to look visibly uncomfortable. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

Mackenzie
didn’t look entirely convinced by her father's non-answer, but Erin took pity
on poor Seth and changed the course of the conversation. “Did Justin say
anything else, pumpkin?”

“No. He just
laughed at me again. He always laughs at me.”

“Well, you
should laugh at him back. We don’t let people push us around or make us feel
bad about ourselves.”

“Sounds to me
like this Justin boy has the hots for you,” Liz put in shamelessly.

“Liz,” Erin
gasped, reaching over to hit her sister on the shoulder. No one was going to
have "the hots" for her six-year-old daughter.

“I mean,” Liz
extemporized, “It sounds like he might kind of like you.”

Mackenzie
looked absolutely outraged at the very idea. “He does not. He’s mean to me.”

“Boys are mean
to girls they like all the time.”

“Why?” Anna
breathed, gazing up at Liz in awe.

Liz shrugged.
“Boys are always scared of being rejected, so they pretend not to care, even
when they do. Even your Daddy did that, when he first started to like your
Mommy.”

Feeling Seth
bristling beside her, Erin put her arms around him and pressed a kiss into the
side of his neck. Seth relaxed and adjusted his arm to pull her even closer. “I
think the best idea,” he said to Mackenzie, “is just to ignore Justin. I’m sure
some of the other boys are nicer than he is.”

 “Some are. But
some are mean to me too.” She darted a quick look up at Seth, and then dropped
her eyes back down to her hands. “Davy said that…”

When her voice
trailed off, Seth’s gruff voice prompted, “Did this Davy say something mean to
you too?”

Erin shook her
head resignedly. If Seth was this defensive about six-year-old childish
teasing, then she dreaded the thought of how he would act when the girls were
teenagers and the boys started to channel their “liking” in alternate ways.

Her poor
daughters might never date at all.

“He said you
help bad people. He said you keep them from going to jail.”

Seth stiffened
beside her. “What?”

“He said you
keep bad people from going to jail, but I told him that wasn’t right because
you’re good and good people wouldn’t do that.”

Erin saw Seth
had absolutely no idea what to say. “Daddy is good, Mackenzie, and he works
really hard to keep other good people from going to prison. Sometimes good
people get arrested, and if he didn’t do such a good job, some of them might be
in big trouble. It’s really important that someone helps keep that from
happening.”

“Yeah,”
Mackenzie agreed, the quiet concern relaxing on her face.

“Some people
aren’t going to like what Daddy does, but we don’t have to worry about what
they think. We know how much good he does. I’m so proud of you for sticking up
for Daddy.”

A smile broke
out on Mackenzie’s face. “Daddy is the best in the world,” she declared.

“Daddy is the
best,” Anna agreed, nodding her blond head ecstatically.

Seth’s
expression was stiff and awkward, but Erin knew it was because he was feeling
vulnerable. Feeling a surge of affection, she squeezed her husband in her arms
and murmured huskily, “Daddy is definitely the best.”

Liz cleared her
throat. “If all the sentiment is over, I believe we have a game to play.”

They started
UNO up again and had come around to Seth’s turn when his phone rang. Pulling it
out of his pocket, he glanced at the screen and murmured, “Excuse me. I need to
take it.”

He pulled out
of Erin’s arm, which was still wrapped around him, connected the call, and
walked to the other side of the room as he talked.

The females
exchanged glances over the cards. Erin’s gut had dropped in disappointment, but
she was determined to be calm and mature about this. Seth had been really good
lately about spending time with them. Occasionally, work would have to pull him
away, sometimes when they were all having fun together. It was his job. It was
part of who he was. And she wasn’t going to complain if it was unavoidable.

She listened to
the low murmurs of his voice, and the pitch of them affirmed her first
suspicion, that something important was going on.

He was going to
have to leave.

When Erin saw
that Anna’s lips were wobbling dangerously, she forced a smile. “Now, we know
that sometimes Daddy gets called away on emergencies. We aren’t going to make
him feel bad about it, are we?”

Anna shook her
head, although she was clearly on the verge of tears. Mackenzie exhaled slowly,
obviously just as disappointed as her sister. “We’ll be good. Daddy can’t help
it.”

Erin felt like
hugging her sweet girls, but she was distracted by the sound of Seth’s voice.

“I’m serious,”
he said, his voice a little louder. “I have plans that can’t be broken, and I
don’t need to be there tonight.”

Erin’s heart
started to race in excitement and growing hope. She couldn’t believe it, but it
sounded like…