Page 4 of Child of Mine

This day just keeps getting better.

* * *

BELLA

Just once, just once let me have my way with a guy in real life,Quinn whispers.

At least, I think it’s her. Something about this guy has resuscitated parts of me that I thought my drug-filled days and nights buried six feet under. But I’m aware of every inch of my skin, of heat building in my core, of the need to be touched. Simply being held by?—“Wait. What’s your name?”

He grins. “I wondered if you were ever going to ask. Hal. Hal?—”

I stop his lips with mine before pulling back to say, “Let’s just keep it to first names.”

He frowns, so I add a brow waggle. “More fun that way.”

That’s what I want—no deserve—right now. Pure fun. Simple desire. To enjoy the physical pleasures of sex while completely sober.

Which would be a first,Quinn notes.

Banishing that thought—and all thought for that matter—I unbutton his coat and press my breasts against hard pecs. Strong hands glide down my back. When they stop inches above my ass, I grind my hips into his.

Before he can ask or say anything that might break this spell, I cover his mouth with mine again. This time, slightly chapped lips open to give me room to roam. Tug. Devour. Then, finally, he gives as good as he gets.

When he breaks the kiss, panting, his light brown irises are almost entirely eclipsed by black-as-night pupils. Grasping both sides of his face, I whisper, “I want more of… whatever that was on the roof. Just touch me how you touched me when we were dancing. But with our clothes off. Can we just do that? No talking?”

I give him a few seconds before taking his silence as permission, then shove the sport coat off broad shoulders. He wriggles out of it while I unbutton his shirt, but before I get to the bottom, he stops my shaking fingers.

“Wait, how oldareyou?”

I can’t help but roll my eyes. “I’m in my twenties.”

“Oh, same as me.” Thankfully, he finishes taking off the dress shirt. “I guess since I saw you onBoom, I think of you as younger…”

“I’m getting older by the minute, mister.” After pointing at the undershirt and pants he’s still wearing, I lower the side zipper of my dress and ease my arms out of its sleeves. “One request, though. Don’t talk about this. To anyone, ever. Okay? If you do, I will find you and… do something bad to you.”

Saluting me, he grins before taking off his T-shirt. “I never kiss and tell.”

“I want more than kissing,” I say as I shimmy the clingy fabric down my torso and past my hips. “But absolutely no telling.”

He stares wordlessly at the skimpy bits of lace covering my non-existent butt and boobs. Not sure what he thinks of what he sees, but I’m loving my own view. I’ve been up close and personal with the naked chests of some of the hottest young studs of daytime TV, but this one beats them all. Golden skin with a dusting of tawny curls. Tight pecs and ridged abs. My fingers ache to appreciate the contrast of soft skin and hard muscle, but he stops them mid-reach. “I would like to get to know you a little before going further, if that’s okay.”

I shake my head. “You know the best version of me: that girl you watched on TV every weekday afternoon. My body may have changed since I was thirteen, and I may have learned a few tricks since then, but believe me, the rest of me isn’t worth getting to know.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“Believe me, it is.” When both your parents leave you in the lurch before you turn sixteen, you know better than to believe in fairy tales.

His grip on my shoulders is firm, but his eyes still carry uncertainty. “I just want you to be comfortable.”

Turning in his arms, I capture his hands to press one over a breast, the other atop the lace barely covering my heated center. Leaning back, arching my neck so that I can nip at his jaw, I whisper, “I just want you to blow my mind.”

Chapter 1

“Our two actresses tied for Best Actress inSoap Chat’s annual poll are good friends and enjoy each other’s company off-camera as well as on the set ofOne Way to Live. Each was delighted to share the trophy and will celebrate with a picnic together!”Soap Chat, May 1989

BELLA

The Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, as my daughter and I drive to a suburb west of Boston, the sun warming the car is a welcome reassurance that winter’s truly over. After we locate the blocked-off street and park nearby, Lilah helps me find the right house. She then insists on ringing the doorbell herself. After a few moments, a freckle-faced redhead with a toddler on her hip opens the door.

---