Beth’s hands and knees sank into the plush rug on Tripp’s living room floor. The man who owned the rug was kneeling behind her, his hands firmly around her waist as he thrust forward into her body.
A gasp escaped her mouth as he stretched her, his hips stilling as he let her adjust around his length. One of his hands let go of her hip, moving to her lower back and slowly sliding up her spine.
The moment was more than a little surreal for Beth. If someone would’ve told her a week ago that she’d be rushing home on her lunch break so Tripp Black could take her from behind, she would’ve said they were crazy. Yet here she was, naked and currently wrapped around his glorious cock.
During Mirabelle’s five o’clock traffic it typically took Beth eight minutes to get home from the hospital. When it wasn’t rush hour, it took about five. Today? She’d made it in four.
Tripp had met her at the door and stripped both of them of their clothing before they even made it down the hallway. She had no idea if the living room had been his intended final destination, or if that was just as far as he’d been able to go.
But to be honest, she really didn’t care. What she did care about was how his palm was moving over her skin, how the backs of her thighs were pushed up against the tops of his, how he pulsed inside her.
“Beth?” His voice was rough, no doubt from the restraint of not moving. But he was waiting until she was ready.
And was she ever. “Fuck me.”
His sharp inhale filled her ears, a reaction to her choice of words. “As you wish,” he whispered, slowly pulling out of her before thrusting back in.
She knew this wasn’t going to be a slow and easy lovemaking session, but she didn’t want slow and easy. No, she wanted rough and grasping…desperate, something he emphasized a moment later. The palm of his hand came down on her ass, not hard enough to hurt, but a slight sting that made her moan.
“You like that?” he asked right before he did it again on the other cheek.
“Yes.” She stretched her arms out in front of her, leaning down and pushing her ass further up into the air.
“Oh hell, Beth.” Tripp groaned her name long and loud, his appreciation for the new angle clear. He was moving harder now, his thrusts inching them up the rug. She was going to have rug-burned knees at the end of this.
Totally worth it.
How the man was able to evoke pleasure throughout every nerve and fiber of her being was beyond her. But he did. Hitting every damn spot with each slide, filling her, stretching her. It felt better than anything she’d ever experienced.
And yes, Beth had had good sex. The kind where in the end, all parties were pretty damn satisfied. The kind that gave a person a noticeable pep in their step because they’d had a decent orgasm or two.
But this wasn’t good sex.
This was…something else entirely. Sex with Tripp was so mind-numbingly good it went beyond satisfaction. It was the kind where you weren’t walking with a pep in your step afterward because you couldn’t walk at all.
Beth’s hips undulated, doing her part to make Tripp just as mindless as he was making her. Both of his hands were on her hips again, his fingers tightening around her and pressing into her flesh.
The pleasure built, steadily mounting until she was falling over the edge. Her core started contracting around Tripp’s cock, and she cried out as she came.
“That’s it, baby,” he ground out as he continued to move in and out of her. “Feel it. Feel me.”
Wave after wave of orgasm washed through her, making her legs shake. If not for Tripp’s hold on her body she would’ve collapsed. But he held her up, not letting go until the very end when he had his own release, his cock pulsing deep inside her.
“Fuck…” He groaned, his grip on her hips disappearing as he pulled from her body.
Beth’s legs still weren’t in any condition to keep her upright, and she found herself down on the rug. Tripp was flat on his back next to her, his unsteady breaths filling the air.
Somehow—she had no idea how because her arm felt boneless—she reached over and patted his chest. “Good job.”
He chuckled, his mouth at her ear. “You too.” He kissed a trail from her temple all the way to her mouth. “Don’t go anywhere,” he told her before he pulled away and got to his feet.
“Couldn’t move even if I wanted to.”
He laughed again, the sound echoing down the hallway as he made his way to his bedroom. A minute later water rushed through the pipes behind the wall, then there was the soft creak of a door opening, and bare feet moving across wood floors.
Tripp was back down on the rug beside Beth, grabbing a pillow on the sofa to lay his head on before pulling her into his arms. She rested her head on his chest as she snuggled into his side.
He slowly traced his fingers along her spine. “Think you can call in sick for the rest of the afternoon?”
This time it was Beth who was laughing. “Sorry pal, no can do.”
Before she could blink she found herself on her back. Tripp was between her legs; her breasts were smashed against his chest and her hands pinned above her head.
“‘Pal?’” He raised his eyebrows as he looked down at her.
“Would you prefer buddy? Amigo? Compadre? Chum?”
“No, I would not.” His eyes narrowed and his mouth quirked to the side. “You know damn well what I prefer.”
“I might need a refresher.” She shifted her body beneath his, drawing her knees up and cradling his hips between her thighs. “And you have”—she glanced over at the clock on the wall before she looked back to him—“about another twenty minutes to remind me.”
“What have I told you about challenging me, Beth?”
She grinned as she brought her mouth to his, nipping at his bottom lip as she rolled her hips. Tripp was already hard again, his erection pressing against her belly.
“That when rising to the challenge, there is no think, only know.”
“Damn straight.” And his mouth covered hers as he went about proving it.
* * *
To say that Beth had a very lovely Monday would be an understatement. She’d take two orgasms from Tripp and a grilled cheese sandwich—which he’d made for her while she’d gotten dressed again—over a big lunch any day.
Her time in the office hadn’t been bad at all either; they were fairly busy, which meant a faster day. Before she knew it, it was five thirty and she was heading home. And the sight that greeted her when she pulled into her driveway was the cherry on top of everything.
Tripp and Grant were in the front yard playing catch.
Something in Beth’s chest clutched, and for just a second it was hard to breathe. It took her more than a moment to get hold of herself. This man was…he was…well, he was unbelievable.
She reached over and grabbed her purse from the passenger seat, pulling it over her shoulder before getting out of the car.
Tripp was facing her, eyes covered by his sunglasses. She knew he saw her as his mouth quirked to the side. Grant, on the other hand, was not aware of her. Her nephew had his back to the driveway, and neither the sound of the car pulling in nor the snap of the door shutting made him turn around. The kid was beyond focused on Tripp as he wound his arm up and threw.
The ball curved too far to the left, causing Tripp to lunge to the side to catch it. His glove closed around the ball and he straightened, getting back into position. “Grant, you’re too tense. Drop your shoulders.” He circled his own shoulders before dropping them down. The movement made his gray T-shirt go taut across his chest.
“Oh, right.” Grant mimicked the move Tripp had just made, rolling his shoulders and letting them fall.
“Better.” Tripp grinned before he tossed the ball back.
Grant closed his glove a second too early and the ball hit the very tip before continuing through the air. It hit the ground and rolled, and Duke lunged for it. The dog had been attentively sitting at Grant’s side waiting for stray balls like this one.
Grant turned, watching the dog run off and spotting Beth. “Hi, Aunt B!”
“Hey, Goose.” She crossed over to him. “I see you’re learning to throw a baseball today.”
“I am.” He nodded enthusiastically, holding his hand out for Duke, who’d just come ambling back, baseball clutched in his mouth. The dog gave the ball back to Grant, fluffy tail wagging. “Eww.” Grant wrinkled his nose as he wiped the ball on his shorts. “Dog drool.”
Beth had to bite at the corner of her lip to keep from laughing. She really didn’t understand how this grossed him out, yet sharing a spoon with Duke while eating peanut butter had not. To each their own.
“Can I stay out here until dinner?” Grant asked, looking up at Beth.
“You finish your homework?”
Grant nodded enthusiastically.
“As long as it’s okay with Tripp.” Beth’s eyes moved to the man in question as she raised her eyebrows.
He’d crossed the space to them, now standing only a few feet away. Even through the lenses of his sunglasses, she could feel his penetrating gaze on her. “It is.” He nodded.
“I’m going to go get some water. Then can we start again?” Grant asked Tripp.
“Sounds good.”
“Sweet!” Grant ran off to the shade of Tripp’s garage, where two sweating water bottles sat on the concrete.
Beth pulled her gaze from her nephew and looked up at the man in front of her. “Thank you.”
“For what?” He reached forward, putting his hand on her hip and sliding it around to her back. He pulled her closer, bringing her body flush against his.
“For doing this with Grant. Spending time with him. Teaching him.”
“You don’t need to thank me for any of that. I’m having a good time with him. He’s a great kid.”
“He is.” Beth put her hands on his chest, moving them up to the collar of his shirt. She barely had to tug to get Tripp to lean down and press his mouth to hers. “You’re pretty great, too,” she said against his lips.
“Same goes for you.”
Her hands slid out to his shoulders, his muscles flexing beneath her palms. “You going to join us for dinner tonight?”
“I’d love to. I seemed to have worked up a pretty good appetite today.”
“Is that so?”
“Sure is.” He leaned down and kissed her again, his tongue slipping inside her mouth and finding hers. He tightened his grip on her back, holding her firmly to him.
Grant’s voice behind them had them pulling apart. “Are you two almost done?” he asked, sounding more than slightly exasperated.
Tripp’s hands fell away from her body and they took a step back from each other. “Yeah, we’re done, buddy,” he told Grant before looking to Beth again. “What time do we need to be at the table?”
Beth glanced at her watch. It was five forty-nine. “Six thirty.”
“I think we can handle that. Right, Grant?” Tripp reached over and ruffled the boy’s hair.
“Yup.” He nodded before turning his head up to Tripp, the unmistakable look of hero worship written across his face.
Beth’s chest clutched again as she turned away and headed to the house. The happiness coursing through her almost felt too good to be true.
Almost.
* * *
It wasn’t just Monday evening that Tripp joined them for dinner, but every single night that week. Another thing that continued were the evening catch sessions with him and Grant, they’d come in and wash up before sitting down at the table to eat. It quickly became one of her favorite things to see.
When Beth got home on Friday she found Nora sitting out on the porch. She was leaning back against one of the massive pillars with her legs stretched out and an open book in her lap. But she wasn’t reading the book; no, she was watching Tripp and Grant.
That wasn’t the only thing Nora participated in. After dinner she actually joined them in the living room to watch a movie. It was Penny’s turn to pick, so of course it was Disney, but thankfully she chose The Lion King and not Frozen.
On Saturday and Sunday, Beth went over to Tripp’s house at six in the morning. On both days he’d made her come twice before the sun even rose. She didn’t feel even remotely bad about her crack-of-dawn adventures, either. She sometimes went for early morning runs, so it wouldn’t have been that unusual if she happened to not be in her bed when the kids woke up. Besides, they always slept in on the weekends. She’d been back and had breakfast ready before any of them even opened their eyes.
Beth’s lunch breaks on Monday and Tuesday had consisted of time spent with Tripp. As Monday and Tuesday had been his days off, she’d spent most of her hour naked and with him inside of her.
Just after three o’clock on Wednesday afternoon Beth’s cellphone vibrated against the desk, letting her know she had a text. She finished updating a patient’s file before she looked at it, seeing it was from Tripp.
Her stomach did that swooping thing it always did when it came to him, because good Lord this man affected her. And when she actually read his text? Well, her grin somehow got even bigger.
What are your thoughts on me picking up something for dinner for you, me, and the kids?
My thoughts are very, very positive, she typed out quickly and hit Send.
Beth pulled the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth, trying to contain her smile. But containing it was useless, had been useless since the first time he’d kissed her. Which had been twelve days ago.
Twelve freaking days. What was even happening?
“Well, look at you, Grinny McGrinnerson.”
Vanessa was standing in the doorway. She had a piece of folded up paper in her hands that she was fiddling with absentmindedly.
“Does that current look on your face have anything to do with your new boyfriend?”
Beth turned in her chair to face Vanessa. “It just might.”
“He’s good to you.” Not a question, but a statement.
And it was so damn true.
“He is.” Beth took a deep breath, her stomach doing that weird flippy thing that was becoming the norm when she talked about Tripp.
Vanessa took a step forward, handing the piece of paper she’d been fiddling with to Beth. “Well, I was asked to give you this.”
Beth looked down, unfolding the paper.
Which appeals the most?
1) Italian (I’m thinking pizza. Though a case could be made for calzones)
2) Chinese Smorgasbord (I order ten things and it’s a free-for-all)
3) Burgers and fries (with enough ketchup to satisfy Penny and Grant)
4) Mexican (tacos or burritos, or we can live dangerously and have both)
5.) ________________ (You want something that I haven’t suggested)
“He’s out in the waiting room.”
Vanessa had barely finished her sentence before Beth was out of her chair and down the hallway. When she pushed the door open she saw that Tripp was the only person in the room. Her man was wearing a black and white Mirabelle Firefighter T-shirt and his customary navy blue uniform pants. He grinned the second his eyes landed on her.
“Hey,” he said as he crossed the space to her in four easy strides.
“Hey yourself.”
His hands were at her hips and he was leaning down at the same moment that she grabbed onto his arms and stretched up. Their mouths met in the middle, and it was one of those long, lingering kisses.
“God, I needed that,” he said against her mouth before pulling back to look down into her face.
“Bad day?”
“Just long. I needed a pick-me-up.”
“They out of your pie at the diner again?”
“Don’t know,” he shrugged. “I came here first. You’ve ruined me for sweets, Beth. They just don’t do it for me anymore. I want you.” He reached up, cupping the side of her face and tracing her cheek with his thumb.
“That so?” She leaned into his touch.
“It is. And I think I was especially in need of a pick-me-up because I didn’t see you this morning…or this afternoon.”
“So you missed me.” Beth lowered her voice, fully aware of Vanessa, who’d retaken her seat behind the receptionist desk…and slid the glass divider pane open an inch or two.
“That’s a fact.” He pressed his lips to hers again in another lingering kiss. They were only given a moment to get lost in it, though, because at the sound of someone clearing their throat, Tripp pulled back.
Beth looked past Tripp, seeing the assistant fire chief leaning against the doorjamb, a grin turning up the corners of his mouth.
Beau was another man of Mirabelle who had been blessed with good looks. Beth had always thought he looked like a guy who’d just walked off the cover of a romance novel. Probably one where the hero was a rogue or something…or maybe a pirate. He’d have to be something a little scandalous with his thick black hair that just brushed his shoulders and the salt-and-pepper beard that covered his very strong jaw.
The man had a body that rivaled a Greek god’s: biceps that strained the fabric of his T-shirt, a wide and solid chest, and muscular thighs. And these were all observations that were easily made with him fully clothed. It was like knowing the sky was blue…well, except when it came to Penny, and then it was any color she wanted it to be.
But Beau had a lot more going for him than just looks. He was a supremely nice guy, something that hadn’t changed even though he’d been screwed over—royally so—by his ex-wife. There was also the fact that he was a dad who loved his son more than life itself.
He was a great package, to be sure, though Beth was partial to the package that she currently had in hand. Well—Tripp as a whole being the package—not his package in particular. Though she was partial to that, too.
“Hi Beau,” she smiled, hoping that her current train of thought wasn’t written all over her face. “How are you doing?”
“Pretty good.” He folded his arms across his massive chest. “You kiss him and make him all better?” He indicated Tripp with his chin.
“I think so.” She patted Tripp’s chest, but didn’t turn away from Beau. “You having a long day, too?”
One of Tripp’s hands slid around Beth’s back, his fingers spreading wide at the base of her spine. It took some serious concentration to focus on Beau and not the way Tripp was touching her.
“Yup. We’ve had a day full of inspections. People aren’t all that pleasant when you tell them they aren’t up to code.”
“Oh, I bet they aren’t. So what are you going to do for a pick-me-up?”
But before he could answer, the door off to the side opened. Denise was escorting Annette Wharton, an elderly woman Beth had known since she was a little girl, out and over to the receptionist desk.
Beau’s reaction to the new company was immediate as he pushed off the doorjamb. His back was ramrod straight now, all of his muscles tensed as his body went on full alert. And his eyes? Well, they were locked on Denise.
Vanessa pushed the sliding glass open the rest of the way and smiled at the patient. “You’re good to go, Mrs. Wharton. There was a credit on your account.” As Mrs. Wharton was a little hard of hearing in her old age, Vanessa enunciated the words loud and clear.
“No bill? Well, this day just got better,” Mrs. Wharton pretty much shouted, which was the norm whenever she spoke. She adjusted her grip on her cane before she turned toward the exit. But she came up short when she spotted the people in the waiting room…and she wasn’t the only one.
When Denise’s gaze landed on Beau, her cheeks flushed bright pink. “Beau,” she said, more than a little startled.
A very different expression was now playing over Beau’s face, one that Beth had never seen on him before. The man’s brown eyes went darker as they focused on the woman in front of him. It was the kind of look that a man reserved for a woman he was interested in.
“What was that, dear? You know Beaumont Giovanni?” Mrs. Wharton’s booming voice filled the room as she looked between Denise and Beau quizzically.
Beau visibly winced at being called by his full first and middle name. Very few people ever called him Beaumont, let alone Beaumont Giovanni. It was mainly those people who’d known him when he was a child that did so, and as Mrs. Wharton had been friends with the late Cristiana Culpepper, she fit into that category. And so had Beth’s mother Dory.
Personally, Beth thought that his name was pretty damn fitting. It went with her whole romance-novel-cover-model theory pretty damn well.
“I do know Beau.” Denise nodded to Mrs. Wharton.
“Well, did you know he was single?” Again with the shouting. Really, a person who was so tiny shouldn’t be that loud.
The pink flush on Denise’s cheeks turned to a bright red and her eyes widened. “I…I did know that.”
“And Beaumont, did you know that Denise is widowed? It’s a damn shame, really. No woman who has legs like hers should be put out to pasture this early. I’m just saying.”
Beau put his hand to his mouth and coughed into it. If Beth didn’t know any better, she’d say there was some pink staining his cheeks, too. It was a little harder to tell because of his beard.
“Well, I just thought I’d point that out.” Mrs. Wharton shrugged as she looked between Denise and Beau. It was then that she turned her attention to Tripp and Beth. “As for you two. I like this.” She waved her hand at them. “Beth, he isn’t too bad to look at. And Tripp—well son, you got yourself a beautiful girl, there.”
“Yes ma’am,” Tripp nodded.
“Don’t screw it up. You aren’t going to find yourself a better one than her.” She pointed her finger at him and waggled it a bit for good measure. “Now I need to go. My ride is waiting for me,” she said before starting her slow and steady walk out of the waiting room. As she passed Beau she added in another shout, “Seriously, she’s got the legs of a thirty-year-old,” before she continued on.
No one said a word, probably waiting for Mrs. Wharton to get a good distance down the hall. The shrill ring of Vanessa’s telephone finally broke the silence. “Atticus County Hospital, Women’s Health. This is Vanessa speaking. How can I help you?”
“That woman says whatever she’s thinking.” Denise shook her head, more than slightly mortified. “Does having an inner filter diminish with age?”
“Not when it comes to her.” Beth shook her head. “She’s always said exactly what she thinks.”
“I can attest to that,” Beau agreed, his eyes returning to Denise. He studied her for a second before he asked, “You guys have decent coffee around here?”
Denise merely nodded.
“Care to show me? I think I need a little caffeine.”
Denise nodded again, lightly clearing her throat. She pointed to the hall behind Beau, in the same direction Mrs. Wharton had just ventured down. “It’s, uh, that way.”
“I’ll follow your lead.” He turned in the doorway, waving his hand out in front of him for her to pass by. “Carry on, you two. Nothing to see here,” he told Beth and Tripp before he turned and followed Denise.
“Huh, that’s interesting.” Tripp’s mouth was by Beth’s ear, and he spoke softly so only she could hear him. Which was smart, because even though Vanessa was on the phone, she was no doubt still paying very close attention to what was happening in the waiting room.
“What? Beau wanting coffee?” Beth turned to face Tripp again, both of his hands now at the small of her back and pulling her in close to his body.
“He already has a fresh cup sitting in the truck.”
“So apparently Mrs. Wharton is pretty damn observant, even in her old age.”
“It would appear so. Looks like I’m not the only firefighter who has a thing for a nurse.”
“Must be something in the water.”
“Must be,” he agreed. “So about dinner? What did you decide?”
“The Chinese smorgasbord.”
“Good choice.” He reached up, pushing back a strand of hair that had fallen across her forehead.
“Stick around, Tripp Black.” She fisted her hand in the front of his shirt and tugged, pulling him closer. “I’m full of them.”
“Oh, I plan on sticking around. Believe you me.” And with that, he kissed her.
* * *
Beth was in an exceptionally good mood when she got off work that evening. She’d had a good day at work—part of that having to do with Tripp’s afternoon visit—and she didn’t need to worry about dinner that night, either. She could go home and just relax.
Or so she thought.
Little did she know that her good mood would have an expiration time attached to it—that time being when she walked in the door with Penny at six seventeen. Tripp wasn’t there yet. He’d texted her that he’d gotten a little delayed at work, but would be at the house before seven.
“Hey, Goose. Whatcha reading?” Beth asked Grant when she walked into the living room. He was lying on the sofa, a book in his lap.
He held up the book for Beth to see the back. It was the book on baseball that Tripp had given him the other day.
“You finish all of your homework?”
“Yes. It’s all done.” He nodded.
“Good.” She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his head before ruffling his hair with her hand. “Where’s your sister?”
“I’m right here!” Penny giggled as she pulled her coloring book and crayons out of her backpack and stationed herself at the coffee table.
“Nora is in her room,” he said as his eyes went back to the book in his hands.
Beth headed down the hallway, hearing the faint beat of music echo through Nora’s closed door.
“Nora?” Beth knocked on the door.
There was no answer, but the music got louder. Oh, fantastic. Nora was in one of her moods. Well, that was just great. Beth knocked, then reached for the handle but it wouldn’t turn.
Oh no, she did not lock the door.
“Nora, open this door now!” Beth knocked even harder, shouting over the music. “You have three seconds before I open it myself and you will not like what happens at the end of that. One…”
The music went off.
“Two…”
Footsteps echoed across the hardwood floor as Nora crossed the room.
“Three.”
The lock was flipped and the door wrenched open. “What?” Nora demanded.
Beth’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open in a horrified ‘O’ as she looked at her niece. Nora had dyed her hair bright blue.
“What did you do, Nora?” Beth asked when she was finally able to get hold of herself to speak without screaming. “What in God’s name did you do?”
“It’s my hair. I can do whatever I want with it.”
“Oh really? Is that what you think?”
Nora didn’t answer. She just stood there stubbornly glaring, her hands on her waist.
“Until you’re either eighteen or not financially dependent on me, you actually can’t do whatever you want. Fun time is over, sweetheart. You’re grounded for two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” Nora’s hands fell from her waist.
“Or until you de-Smurf. Whichever is longer.”
“I don’t believe this!” Nora screamed as she slammed the door in Beth’s face, locking it again.
* * *
Tripp heard the yelling as soon as he and Duke walked in the front door. Beth and Nora were going at it, their voices echoing down the hallway. With anyone else he would’ve turned right back around and headed out the door.
But not with Beth.
Whatever this incident was with Nora didn’t scare him. He’d been around enough in the last week and a half to know the drill at least a little bit.
“If you think this is acceptable behavior you are beyond delusional, young lady!”
Or maybe it wasn’t so much a drill as a full-on crisis. Tripp had absolutely no doubt that Beth was beyond furious, so much so that her voice was shaking. It reminded him of that morning with Duke.
“You can’t do this!” Nora shrieked back. “You can’t take away my phone! I bought that with my money!”
“Okay. Fine. Keep your phone, Nora. But you don’t pay for the plan, so I will be suspending your service on it. And I’ll be changing the WiFi password for the house. So you won’t be able to use the Internet at all.”
“What about my homework?”
“You will get it for an hour a day when I’m home. Nothing more. And if I so much as see you on Facebook you won’t even get that anymore!”
The screaming continued as Tripp set the bags of dinner down in the kitchen before he headed into the living room. There he came across Penny and Grant.
Penny was sitting on the floor and hugging her pink elephant Evangeline, tears streaming down her face while she sniffled. Grant was huddled in the corner of the sofa, arms wrapped around his legs while he stared off glumly. Duke was immediately at the boy’s side, pressing his nose into Grant’s ribs.
“Come on. Let’s go outside.” Tripp bent down and scooped Penny and the elephant into his arms—the little girl burying her face in Tripp’s neck—before heading to the back door.
Both Grant and Duke followed, and when Tripp closed the door behind them it shut out almost all of the yelling in the house. They went out onto the patio. Tripp sat down on the stone steps first and Grant took the space next to him.
“I don’t like it when they argue,” Grant said, running his hand through the fur on Duke’s back. The dog had stationed himself at the boy’s side.
“What happened?”
“Nora dyed her hair blue,” Penny whispered into Tripp’s neck as she nuzzled closer to him.
“Really? Blue?”
“Bright blue.” Grant nodded. “At first Aunt B only grounded her for two weeks…but then Nora slammed the door in her face and it became three. They’ve been in there yelling for the last twenty minutes.”
It was then that the door behind them opened, and Beth walked out to the patio. Her hands were shaking and there were bright patches of pink on her cheeks and neck.
But as she looked between Penny and Grant her anger deflated…and so did she. “I’m sorry, guys.”
* * *
Tripp pulled the bottle of sauvignon blanc from the refrigerator and walked over to the kitchen island, where two wineglasses sat. He filled both up about halfway before tossing the now empty bottle into the recycling. Glasses in hand, he headed to the back porch where Beth was sitting on the sofa.
If anyone needed a drink at that moment, she did. It had not been the relaxing evening he’d planned. Not at all.
There’d been another confrontation over dinner when a blue-haired Nora marched into the kitchen, grabbed the carton of Lo Mein and some chopsticks, and attempted to head back to her bedroom.
Beth had stopped her and told her in no uncertain terms that she could either eat with them at the dinner table, or she wasn’t eating at all.
Nora chose to eat, but she sat at the table without saying a word to anyone.
It was after nine now, and all three kids were in bed. Beth turned when he opened the door and stepped outside. She still had that deflated look about her, like she wouldn’t be able to handle anything else for a while.
He handed her a glass before he sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his body. They took a few minutes to sip their wine, staring out into the darkness that stretched over the backyard.
“How are you still here?” she asked, turning to look up at him.
“What do you mean?” His gaze met hers and held.
“How are you not running out the front door?”
Run out the front door and go where? To his empty house? Yeah, the only way he would’ve left was if she’d asked him to. But she hadn’t.
“I told you before, Beth. I’m not easily intimidated. Not even by a seventeen-year-old with blue hair.”
“Oh God,” she groaned as she turned her face and pressed it into his chest. “That blue hair.”
“It could be worse.” He moved his arm that was on the sofa behind her, bringing his hand to the back of her head, his fingers delving into her hair.
She looked at him again, frowning. “How? How could it be worse?”
“She could’ve dyed it orange.”
A huff of air escaped her nose in a bitter laugh. “Orange would’ve been worse.” She turned away from him before she said, “Tripp, I’m so bad at this. So bad at being a parent.” Her voice caught on the last word.
Tripp leaned forward, setting his wineglass on the table before he moved his hand to her face, gently nudging her chin until she was looking at him again. Tears were brimming in her eyes, and when she blinked they fell, tracking down her cheeks.
These tears affected him a lot more than when she’d cried a couple of weeks ago. He hated them. He hated seeing her in pain like this.
“The only way you would be failing is if you gave up. Have you given up?” he asked as he ran his fingers beneath her eyes.
“On Nora? I would die before I gave up on her.”
“Then you aren’t failing.”
She let out a long and low breath as she continued to look up into his eyes. “Thank you,” she said after a moment. “Thank you for saying that. And thank you for staying.”
“Where else would I be?” He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.
Her mouth opened to his, and as he kissed her he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there wasn’t any place he’d rather be, even with everything that had happened over the last few hours.
Nope. Nowhere else but in that moment with her.