Page 80 of Unexpected Entanglement

“What did you do with your dad?” she asked.

“He’d take me to construction sites. I got to wear a hard hat and inspect the barebone buildings. He taught me if I wanted to lead someday, I needed to understand every aspect of the business. It’s a lesson I’ll always remember.”

“It sounds like you had a great childhood.” Rowan mirrored his position and lay on her side, facing him. “Until a point. Your mother’s death changed all that?”

“Her death changed everything.” Chris looked at her. “Especially Dad. He was the backbone of our family, but she was the heart. When she was gone, it felt as if she’d taken the light with her. My father became withdrawn and short-tempered. He could barely look at me. I think I reminded him too much of her.

“She was the love of his life, his partner in every sense—both at home and at work. They complemented each other. They were better when they were together. He lost, literally, his better half,” Chris concluded.

“I can’t imagine what your dad went through,” Rowan said. “But you also lost a mother. Did your father forget that?”

“I had my grandparents. They gave me the help and love I needed. So did Rosemary and Thomas.”

“Who were they?”

“They’re the caretakers of our house at the Cape. I spent a year there with them after my mom’s passing before my dad sent me to boarding school in England.”

Rowan started to understand the riff between him and his father and felt sad for him. She touched his cheek. “That must be hard. Your father should’ve been there for you, Chris.”

Chris covered her hand with his. “It was what it was. I just had to quickly learn how to be independent.”

Though it was the adult Chris speaking the words, Rowan heard the regret of that fourteen year-old boy.

“But that didn’t stop you from needing your father, did it?”

twenty-six

The night changed course in a way Chris hadn't expected. He hadn’t planned to say this much about that dark time in his life. It’d happened. He’d learned to cope and move on. But Rowan’s question opened up a childhood longing.

“No,” Chris answered her question. “But I learned to need him less each year I was away.”

Her witchy gaze pierced through him, as if she could see right through the falsehoods of his words. The truth was, he never stopped missing the father he'd lost, but he’d accepted that father was gone for good.

“Enough about me.” Chris kissed the inside of her wrist, taking back control of the night. “If I recall, I was giving you a full body massage. I rather we finish that than talking about me.”

Rowan chuckled. “I think we’re done with the massage part. I’d rather we skip to the good part.”

“Oh, yeah?” He pulled her to him with one tug. “What is the good part?”

“The part where you get as naked as me,” she suggested with her siren voice.

Chris couldn’t help himself and captured her mouth with his. He’d been longing to kiss her again since she’d left his bedroom on Friday afternoon. He tried to honor their one-day agreement, but why deny the chemistry between them?

Quiet explosion erupted inside him as their foreplay resumed. A touch, a kiss, or even a look was all it took for Rowan to turn his engine back on. He didn't know what it was about her that made him act likea hormone-crazed teenager.

But good thing he had better control than a teenage boy. Gently pushing Rowan onto her back, Chris left the bed to grab the belt from the robe she’d discarded earlier.

“What are you doing with that?” She eyed the belt.

“You’ll see.” He wrapped the cotton length around her wrists.

Rowan’s eyes went wide when Chris guided her arms to rest above her head and secured the end of the belt around a post of the bed frame.

Chris stood by the side of the bed and swallowed hard as he admired the picture Rowan presented.

“God, you are exquisite,” he said under his breath. He wanted to sink into her right then and there, but he had a mission to complete.

Rowan inhaled deeply, raising her breasts higher, knowing what the simple act of breathing did to Chris’ control. Her eyes never left him, all blue fire, burning hotter as he took in every enticing curve of her body.

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