She tilted her face up to his. He leaned down with a tender brush of his lips. She sank into him, and he deepened the kiss, his mouth working over hers until she opened to him. His hands threaded through her hair, keeping her captive while he delved inside, kissing her until she moaned and trembled against him.
He’d never kissed a woman the way he was in that moment, and he’d kissed a lot of women in his life. With passion, with lust, even a few with a lot of like, and one or two with what he thought was love. But nothing had ever come close to what he felt now. It wasn’t the heated kiss from their night together or even like the one in front of the day care center. There was no agenda behind it. Nothing but him wanting to show her how proud he was of her, how much she moved him, how much he was starting to care for her. It was more…real than anything he’d ever felt in his life.
He finally understood the moment Tom Cruise had jumped on the couch during the Oprah show. He understood every word to every sappy love song he’d ever heard. It was amazing. Exhilarating.
And scary as hell.
He pulled back enough to see her face. She smiled up at him, and the knot that had started forming in his stomach loosened a notch.
Tyler came running at them full tilt, his legs kicking through the water and spraying all over them. Lena shrieked and laughed, holding her hands out to ward off the splashes. Elliot grinned and grabbed Tyler under his arms, then swung him into the air to settle him onto his shoulders. Before he trotted them deeper into the surf, he wrapped his arm around Lena’s waist and kissed her again.
“Come to my room tonight, you and Tyler. We can have dinner, watch a movie, and play video games or something. Just the three of us.”
Tyler bounced on Elliot’s shoulders. “Can we, Mommy? Please!”
Elliot held his breath, watching the emotions playing across her face. He’d already braced himself for when she said no. He shouldn’t have put her on the spot like that. Especially in front of Tyler.
He’d decided to tell her not to worry about it when she spoke.
“Sure. That sounds like fun.”
“Yay!” Tyler yelled.
Elliot had to agree with Tyler.
“Thank you,” he said, leaning down for another swift kiss before taking Tyler out to play in the waves.
Chapter Twelve
Lena tucked Tyler into Elliot’s huge king-sized bed and closed the door most of the way behind her. She wanted to be able to hear him if he needed her, but since she and Elliot were going to work on his business proposal, she didn’t want their voices to wake Tyler. She moved quietly back out to the living room area of Elliot’s suite.
Elliot watched her coming toward him, and Lena tried not to be all self-conscious about it. But that was hard when his eyes followed every move she made.
“Is he asleep?”
She nodded. “Out cold. He played hard today. He fell asleep before I could get him into the tub. And he was so excited about it, too. He’s never been in a tub that could double as a mini-pool before. I had him taking showers as soon as he was old enough to stand by himself.”
Elliot laughed. “I don’t know where he gets all that energy from. Don’t worry about the tub. I’ll drain it later.”
“Thank you for today. For playing with him. And…for the beach, helping me in the water.”
He took her hand, his thumb rubbing over her knuckles. “It was absolutely my pleasure. Thank you for tonight.”
She tilted her head to the side, like she was trying to bring him into better focus. “You mean for invading your room, forcing you to watch kid movies, and play video games all night?”
He laughed again. “Yes. I’ll deny this if you ever repeat it, but I think it was one of the best times I’ve ever had. It was a blast watching Tyler have fun. Maybe I’m not as bad with kids as I thought I was.”
It was her turn to laugh. “You’re not. You’re great with him. But I know you’re pulling my leg about tonight being one of your best times. I’ve heard stories about you and the epic parties you’ve gone to. No way did a night of Ninja Turtles and Mario Brothers top any of that.”
Elliot sat back like he was shocked. “First of all, nothing is better than Ninja Turtles, just so we have that clear. They are turtles who are ninjas. ’Nough said. And Mario Brothers is a classic. Tyler’s pretty good, too. Just don’t tell anyone he beat my ass.”
Lena laughed. “Ha! Yeah, that was a pretty great moment. Glad I got to see it.”
“So am I. But I wasn’t lying. I really did have a great time tonight.”
“You sound surprised,” she said, still amused.
He laughed a little. “I guess I am a little. I knew I’d have fun with you guys, but… I don’t know…”
“No, I totally get it. When I first had Tyler, I thought I’d really miss the whole club scene. Going out and partying with my friends and not having to worry about anything else. And I still do sometimes. The cutting loose and doing whatever. I thought that staying home and hanging out with my kid would be boring or depressing or lonely. And it’s not. Don’t get me wrong, I love a little adult conversation at the end of the day. But getting to hang out with him and have fun… It might be a totally different kind of fun than I was used to, but it’s a lot more satisfying somehow. Does that sound totally cheesy?”
Elliot shook his head. “No, I get it. I’ve been to hundreds of parties. And I couldn’t tell you what happened at any of them. They are all the same. I’m not saying I didn’t have a blast when I was there, because I did,” he said with a wicked little grin. “But still, they all blur together after a while. But I don’t think I’ll forget the look on Tyler’s face when he saw the Ninja Turtles for the first time come across the screen. Or how happy he was when he kicked my butt at Mario Brothers. That smile… That really gets you, doesn’t it?”
Lena nodded, too choked up to answer for a second. He squeezed her hand and pulled her a little closer.
“Yeah,” she said finally, “it does.”
He drew her in for a kiss. Lena’s heart thumped, sending her blood shooting through her veins so every inch of her tingled. He’d barely touched her, and she was finding it hard to breathe normally. She put her hand against his chest like she would stop him. He hesitated and she knew she should obey that first impulse, back away. But looking up into those sweet brown eyes of his, the smile playing on his lips, she couldn’t resist.
She slid her hand up around his neck, and he bent down to meet her lips. He pulled her close, and she moaned and wrapped both arms around him, pressing as much of herself against him as she could. They slid onto the floor. He leaned her against the couch until her head tilted back to lie on the cushions. His mouth moved over her lips, his tongue dancing with hers until she was so lightheaded she couldn’t have lifted her head if she wanted to.
Elliot pulled away first, shaking his head like he was having the same problem she was.
“I thought we were supposed to be working tonight,” he said, though his amused tone indicated he was very happy with the little detour.
She didn’t trust her head in an upright position, so she stayed back against the cushions and lifted a finger to point at him.
“Don’t blame me. You started it.”
He laughed, low and deep. “Very true. My bad.”
Lena shook her head. “Uh-uh. You’re good. Very, very good.”
That surprised another laugh out of him. He leaned in again, but this time Lena did stop him.
“If you want to get any work at all done tonight, it might be better if we sit on opposite sides of the coffee table.”
Elliot leaned into her until his lips hovered over hers. “Well then, I guess we’ll just have to work really hard so we can get everything done fast.”
Lena was pretty sure she knew the answer to her question, but she asked anyway. “Why?”