Chapter 23

“I really can’t thank you enough.” Clarissa told Moira when it came time to leave. “I’ve never had a surprise party before.”

She didn’t bother mentioning she’d never had a regular birthday party before, either.

Moira laughed. “It was fun trying to keep it a secret,” she said. “No one is more shocked than me Pat was able to.”

“I almost blew it when I picked you up,” he admitted, helping her with her jacket. “When I saw the banana bread I was all set to tell you not to bother because Moira had cake and ice cream already planned. I caught myself as I was about to say it.”

“This is why I never told you I loved your sister,” Quentin said, laying an arm around Moira’s shoulders. “You can’t keep a secret to safe your life.”

Pat threw him a speaking glance and then gave his mother a hug. “I can’t believe you let your daughter marry this guy.”

Serena laughed, kissed his cheek and then pulled Clarissa into a hug, which Clarissa returned readily.

“You don’t flinch when we do this now,” she whispered into her ear.

As she held her at arm’s length, the older woman smiled. “I hope you had a good time, and we didn’t embarrass you too much.”

“Not embarrassed as much as shocked. I didn’t realize anyone knew it was my birthday.”

“This is a tiny town, Clarissa,” Serena said, a sparkle in her eyes. “It’s tough to keep a secret.”

“That’s the truth,” Pat muttered at her side.

With one last hug for his parents, Pat took Clarissa’s hand and together they left. Before driving off, he turned to her. The cab was dark, but the light from the bright autumn moon glowed brightly through the windshield. He shifted and met her halfway across the seat.

“You were really okay with all the party stuff?” he asked.

She cupped his cheek and smiled. “Like I said, it was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

His hand came up and locked around hers. With a quick kiss pressed to her palm, he said, “I want you to come home with me tonight. I want to see you in my bed, Clarissa. All night.”

Her lips parted and, surprised, she said, “Pat.”

“Please don’t say no. Please.”

With a swift peck to his opposite cheek, she said, “Well, since you said please.”

****

Twenty minutes later he pulled the truck into a parking spot outside of his apartment building. He’d allowed a five-minute detour back to her house to gather some things she would need for an overnight, which included the kitten. Clarissa told him she didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone yet, worried about what kind of mischief she could get into. Supplies and kitten in tow, they walked up the two flights to Pat’s apartment.

“How long have you lived here?” she asked when he unlocked the door and let her in.

He pushed the light switch and said, “A little over a year. I moved in when Q and I took over the everyday running of the clinic. I figured I couldn’t stay at my parent’s place forever. It’s small, but enough for me.”

She placed the carrier down on the floor and looked around. He couldn’t tell what she thought of the place.

“Bedroom’s down this hall.”

Where the sudden rush of nerves flashing through him came from, he hadn’t a clue. But having her here, alone for the night, suddenly made them push forward.

“Clarissa.” He stopped. He simply didn’t know how to say what he wanted to tell her.

Her gentle smile told him she understood. She reached out a hand and took his. He tugged her in closer and wrapped her into a hug.

All his anxiety eased the moment she was in his arms. Her body relaxed against his as his arms went around her waist. With her head settled over his chest, he rubbed a hand down her back. She shivered under his touch and he knew it wasn’t because she was cold. “I’m so happy you’re here,” he whispered.

Her shoulders began to shake and when he pushed her away she wore the sauciest smile he’d ever seen.

“What?” He kissed the tip of her nose. “What are you grinning at?”

“I was wondering how many girls you’ve said the same thing to.”

His body went rigid.

“I’m not complaining,” she told him, tightening her grasp around his back. “And I’m not judging, either. Truthfully.”

The sincerity in her eyes proved her words true. But he had his own truth he needed to share.

“Clarissa, aside from my mom and Moira, you’re the only girl I’ve ever brought here. The only one I’ve ever wanted to bring here.”

As her eyes started to fill, he found he wanted to tell her more.

“I’ve never spent an entire night with a woman before. In any bed. I’ve never wanted to. But I want you to stay here with me tonight—all night—in mine. I haven’t been able to get the image of you, naked, satisfied, and lying across my sheets, out of my mind for days. We’ve never spent a whole night together and I want one.”

He bent, effortlessly scooped her up in his arms, and carried her down the hallway.

Moonbeams shone through the windows, the curtains open to allow the light. He’d remembered to make the bed before he left, knowing—hoping—she would come home with him.

When he lowered her to stand upright, a piercing yawl came from the hallway. Both of them burst out laughing at the sound, so pitiful, and yet so angry at being left out of the fun.

“I’ll go get her,” Pat said.

He lifted the kitten out of the carrier and cuddled her close.

“She’s not too spoiled,” he said, coming back into the room.

He stopped short at the threshold at the sight of Clarissa sitting in the middle of his bed, her legs tucked underneath her, a smile across her lips. She looked perfect. As if she belonged there.

“She’s not spoiled,” she said.

The kitten meowed again. Loudly.

“Well…” She grinned. “Maybe a little.”

Pat swallowed. His eyes darted around the room for someplace to put the kitten so she would be comfortable and—more importantly—not a bother.

He spotted a throw his mother had given him tossed across the trunk in the corner of the room. He grabbed it, laid it out on the floor, and then gingerly placed the kitten on it.

“Stay,” he commanded, pointing his index finger at her.

At Clarissa’s low laugh, a cannonball of desire exploded within him.

“She’s not a puppy, Pat.”

“No, but I’m hoping she can understand. Now”—he crawled across the bed to her—“about this image I’ve got of you naked and satisfied across my sheets.”

She wormed her arms around his neck and took him down with her to cover her body like a blanket. “Yes?”

“I’m thinking we need to do this in steps.”

He took her bottom lip between his teeth and tugged. Her head tilted and when it caused her to arch her body into his, his erection firmly in contact with her jeans-clad pelvis, he couldn’t figure out who sighed louder from the sheer pleasure of the touch.

“I have a scientific background,” she said, spreading the collar of his shirt with her hands and snaking them inside. “I like doing things in ordered steps.” She licked her lips when his tongue curved around her jaw.

“Me too,” he said. “So, if we go in order”—his tongue delved into the space between her breasts—“this shirt needs to go first.”

He dragged it out of her jeans and popped each button open in less time than it took for her to blink. The cocoa-colored satin bra made her skin look like warm cream against it. Her chest rose against his palm when he placed it over one breast, the nipple instantly hardening.

“Step two,” he said as he nuzzled her cleavage again, while his hand undid the front closure. When her breasts freed into his hands, her breathing quickened. “Are you cold?” he asked as he took one of the puckered nipples into his mouth and gently sucked.

“N-no.”

He loved the little hitch in her voice. When he switched to the other nipple and she moaned, he decided he loved that sound more.

“You Clearys are like furnaces.”

He smiled and skimmed his tongue over her ribcage, past her navel.

“You mean, I’m hot, don’t you?”

“Oh, good Lord.” She arched again against his mouth.

“Step three.” Deftly, he pulled her pants off and tossed them to the floor. On his way back up to her panties, he slipped her socks off, kissed the instep of each foot and then had to take a deep breath when his gaze settled back on her.

Flat on her back, naked except for the rose-colored panty, eyes closed and skin glowing, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

And she was in his bed, all his.

Clarissa opened her eyes and stared up at him.

“Step four?” she asked, expectation in her gaze.

He was ready to show her when he felt a sharp claw clip at his toes, which were hanging off the edge of the bed.

“Ow.”

He bent over and pulled the kitten up by the scruff of her neck. “That hurt, you little savage.”

With her paws batting out, prepared to do some sort of kitty battle with him, Pat couldn’t help smiling. He cuddled her in his hands and laid her down next to Clarissa.

Immediately, the kitten began purring and rubbing against Clarissa’s outstretched fingers.

“I don’t think she likes sharing you,” Pat said. He sat back on his haunches, his hands across his knees, and squinted at both of them.

“I have some toys in the food bag. Maybe they’ll distract her for a while.” She made to sit up, but Pat put a restraining hand across her arm.

“I’ll get them. Don’t move.”

He watched her eyes widen.

“Now that you’re finally here, in my bed, you’re not leaving it even for a second. For any reason.”

“If you point your finger at me and command me to stay, I’m going to hurt you, Padric Cleary,” she told him.

His grin took its time spreading across his face as he let her statement sink in.

Her lips bent into a crooked line. “You’re thinking about all the ways I can hurt you, aren’t you?”

“Yup. Know what else I’m thinking?”

She licked her lips again, her breathing turning a little shallow.

“N-no.”

He reached out and lazily traced a finger from the hollow at her throat straight down to the waistband of her panty.

“I’m thinking since you’re a scientist”—he wove his finger under the band—“you’re up for some…experimentation.”

“Meow.”

Her brown eyes darkened, the moisture in them gleaming with a passion that made his insides quake with want.

“MEOW.”

Pat chuckled and removed his finger from her underwear. “I’ll get those toys.”

When he lifted off the bed, she said, “Hurry.”

He never moved so fast in his life.

****

Later, much later, the cat slept next to Clarissa’s pillow.

Clarissa spooned up against Pat, her back to his front, one of his arms tossed possessively across her waist, as he kept her in place next to him. He couldn’t stand to move from her or have her move away from him.

Content. He was utterly and completely content right now, right here, with this woman.

He’d told her the truth when he’d confessed he’d never before spent the entire night with a woman he was involved with. He’d never wanted to. To actually sleep with someone else, wake up with them, have them see you at your worst, bad morning breath, sheet wrinkles, all of it, had never appealed to him before.

He knew all those things were superficial, meant nothing if you truly cared for the person, and he realized it made him a little bit of a jerk, but until Clarissa Rogers had come into his life he’d never been concerned with how anyone interpreted his behavior.

His reputation aside, Pat hadn’t wanted to invest too much emotionally in any woman until he was sure she was the one.

And he was certain, beyond any doubt, Clarissa was.

Knowing it gave him a sense of internal peace that defied logic. They’d only known one another a few short months and their relationship was still fresh and new. But when he imagined what it would be like to be with her for the rest of his life, Pat knew logic had nothing to do with the feeling in his heart.

To fall so deep so fast hadn’t been part of his life plan. But plans changed, so you either adapted and changed as well, or you failed.

And one thing Padric Cleary hated was to fail.

Clarissa stirred and stretched in her sleep. When she backed in closer to him, her delectable butt pressing against his mounting erection, Pat’s fingers trailed their way up to one of her breasts. The nipple puckered from the gentle pressure of his index finger and thumb, and Clarissa’s breath, in sleep, quickened.

Fully aroused now, Pat wedged his knee under her top leg until it lay over his, giving him better access to her most intimate parts. His hand moved down over her abdomen to cup her. She was already hot and ready, even in sleep. His finger rubbed around the delicate little nub a few times, covering it more with her own moisture.

“Are you awake?” he whispered into her ear, then took the lobe between his lips.

“Mmmm. No…I’m dreaming…don’t wake me.”

Her voice was soft and filled with sleep as she murmured his name.

“Pat.”

“Right here, sweetheart.” He traced the column of her neck with his tongue, stopping to taste her skin all the way to her shoulder.

The pressure and speed of his index finger accelerated and with it, the subtle movement of Clarissa’s hips. Her hand reached back and wove into his hair, fisting it, while her pelvis rocked back and forth against him.

Pat shifted and effortlessly slid in her all the way to her core.

“Feels so good.” She moaned, her hips matching his rhythm as they pumped together.

He made love to her slowly, knowing time wasn’t a factor. Another first for him, prolonging his lovemaking. He didn’t want it to end, and did everything in his power to make sure she enjoyed it as much as he did.

When they both cried out the other’s name and then quieted, Pat wrapped her in his arms and let out a satisfied breath.

“Best dream ever,” she mumbled and was back asleep in a heartbeat.

In the dark, Pat smiled.