Blues Beach [Suncoast Society] Read online

  “Anything else?” Eric asked.

  Brandon snorted. “Yeah,” he muttered. “You can help me beat the shit out of a careless fucker when I track his ass down.”

  “Huh?” They were heading toward Brandon’s car.

  Brandon took a deep breath and blew it out again. “My ex-wife, the mother of my daughter? Just found out she’s pregnant from spending a weekend out of town with her ex.”

  “Oh…wow. Sorry.”

  “Not as sorry as the sonofabitch will be when I track him down and inform him he’s going to be paying child support. Guy never even contacted her after the fact.”

  Guilt flashed through him. “That sucks,” Eric muttered, now promising himself he’d call JJ tonight and ask for Tracey’s contact info. Time had gotten away from him. He’d been so busy ever since he’d arrived he hadn’t even had time to look for an apartment yet. He was still living out of three boxes and suitcases, all his stuff in storage except for clothes.

  And the urn and two pictures.

  They stopped before Brandon’s car and the man turned to him. “And, obviously, not a word of this to anyone. I shouldn’t have said this much, but…I’m stunned right now.”

  “Well, obviously.”

  “Please tell everyone I had a family emergency, if they ask where I went.”

  “Will do.”

  They’d turned away from each other, Eric sticking his phone in his back pocket and about to return to the building, when he heard a car door open and the sound of a woman’s voice.

  A very familiar woman’s voice.

  “Eric?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Stunned, Tracey stood there, staring, unable to believe it.

  Eric.

  Here. Right here.

  Brandon stopped in mid-stride, his head snapping around at an impossible speed. “What?”

  Oh, shit. She started to step away from the car when Brandon looked from her to Eric, spotted the look of shock on Eric’s face, and then dropped everything he was carrying and stalked toward Eric.

  “You fucking sonofabitch!”

  “No, Brandon!” She dove between them, desperate to shove Brandon back. “Please!”

  “You goddamned sonofabitch! You didn’t use a fucking condom and didn’t even bother to call her?”

  She glanced back at Eric, who stood there with a slack-jawed, wide-eyed expression of shock plastered to his face.

  “Brandon, please! Stop! I didn’t track him down, either, okay? This isn’t his fault!”

  “Let me go, Trace. I’m going to—”

  “Brandon, please! I’m begging you!”

  “You’re…pregnant?”

  She almost didn’t realize Eric had spoken. When she finally processed his words, she turned and spotted his tears, fat, heavy ones, rolling down his cheeks.

  Brandon must have, too, because he stopped trying to peel her off him.

  “Is it true?” Eric asked. “Really?”

  She still didn’t dare let go of Brandon for fear of him going after Eric. None of this felt real. The only response to Eric she could muster was a nod.

  Apparently Eric wasn’t big in the self-preservation department, because he closed the distance between them, his green gaze fixed on hers. “Pregnant?”

  She nodded again and finally took a risk of turning her back to Brandon, still keeping her arms spread, trying to separate him from Eric.

  “And…you know it’s mine?”

  “You’re the only guy I’ve been with since months before I divorced Pat, so…yeah. I’m sure it’s yours.” Maybe another woman would have been pissed off by that question, but it was Eric’s tone—full of blatant hope—that told her no, she shouldn’t be mad.

  Not at him.

  Never at him.

  His gaze dropped to her stomach, his hands reaching out, laying flat against her tummy, over her shirt. “We’re going to have a baby?” Now he sounded…reverent.

  Awestruck.

  Her tears started as she nodded, and she wasn’t prepared for it when he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, hard and desperately and holding her so tightly it bordered on the good kind of pain.

  Like he’d kill anyone who dared try to pull her from his arms.

  Like he’d die before he let her go before he was ready to.

  She didn’t know how long they stood there, kissing, before he finally ended their kiss and pressed his forehead against hers.

  “I love you. I love you so damn much. I’m so sorry I didn’t call you. I was going to, then I thought maybe you didn’t want any contact with me when you didn’t call me when you said you would. Then with the move and my new job, I didn’t want to intrude or bother you if you didn’t want me and—”

  She kissed him, shutting him up as his backstory returned to her mind, his loss, his tragedy.

  The pain in his eyes and voice during their discussions as he recalled losing Paige and the baby.

  The fact that he’d said we’re going to have a baby.

  The fact that he’d told her he loved her.

  “I love you, too,” she said when she finally let him break their kiss again. “I did want to talk to you, but I was busy with work, and then…” She sighed. “I thought if you really wanted to talk to me, you would have looked for me. I didn’t want a hit to my ego.”

  He let go of her and cupped her face with his hands, his smile finally breaking through as his thumbs brushed away her tears even while he cried harder. “We’re having a baby!”

  She nodded. “Yeah.” She managed a teary laugh. “We’re having a baby.”

  “We’re having a baby!” He picked her up and spun her around, letting out an ear-splitting whoop that startled her and made her laugh again.

  “We’re having a baby.”

  “I’m going to be a dad!” he screamed, grinning.

  “Yeah. You’re going to be a dad.”

  He kissed her again. It was like one second his beaming face was in front of her, and in the next breath, they were kissing like they needed to for survival.

  Maybe they did.

  He crushed her against him again in another hug, joy washing off him in palpable, sweet waves. “Oh, my god, I’m going to be a dad!”

  Brandon cleared his throat. When Tracey looked, most of his murderous rage seemed to have faded. “Please don’t kill him, Dad,” Tracey said, trying to keep her tone light. “I lubs him.”

  Brandon finally burst into laughter, scrubbing at his face with his hands before taking a deep breath and letting it out again. “Okay. Well, at least I have his cell number and know where he’s living, so there is that. Change of plans. Trace, get your stuff out of my car, put it back in your car, and he can drive you home in your car and the two of you can do some talking. I’ll stay here and come by after work to pick him up and drive him back here to get his car. I’ll text you when I’m on the way. You can both come over for dinner tonight so we can tell Emma. I don’t want to put this off.”

  “You can’t beat him up,” she said.

  “No, I won’t beat him up.” Brandon pointed a finger at Eric. “Make this right. Do not make me regret not pounding you into the pavement.”

  “I swear I will. Do this right, I mean.” Eric stared down into her eyes. “Please tell me we’re keeping it.”

  She nodded. “We are.”

  He hugged her again, tightly, desperately, like he was afraid to let her go. “Thank you. I swear to god, I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you, but I’ll do whatever it takes to convince you I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you. I want to be with you. I’m going to marry you, I swear.”

  She knew from the past several years she’d spent caught in her nightmare with Pat that it wasn’t as simple as that. She handed him her car keys. “Let’s go talk.”

  * * * *

  Eric felt…in shock. He was still trying to absorb not only that Brandon was Tracey’s ex, and that he’d been a total idiot not to put
two and two together before now when he’d heard Brandon mention his husbands, plural, but that—

  I’m going to be a dad!

  The temporary brilliance that had departed after his weekend in Laguna Beach and left much of his usual fog to return had blasted back with the force of a supernova, vaporizing every shadow in his soul, disintegrating all the remaining cobwebs of grief.

  It took every last ounce of will he had not to keep staring at Tracey where she sat in the passenger seat, and he knew he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. “I’m really sorry I didn’t get in touch with you. I thought maybe you’d talk to JJ, but then I didn’t hear anything, and I didn’t want to intrude. Then they told me about this job a couple of days after I got back from California, and I was literally too busy packing and moving and getting down here and before I knew it, a month had passed. I’m so sorry.”

  Her hand settled on his thigh and he covered it with his.

  “It’s as much my fault. I’ve been busy at work and studying. Time got away from me to contact you, then I was scared to. And I didn’t think you wanted contact with me when I didn’t hear from you. I didn’t want to take a risk of contacting you and finding out I was wrong.”

  “I’ve always wanted you, baby. Like I told you, I’ve never stopped thinking about you. I hardly even dated before I met Paige. The only reason I met her was when I went to our ten-year reunion, someone told me you’d gotten married and had a baby, so I knew there was no hope. I finally started dating then.”

  “I was an idiot when I broke up with you,” she softly said. “I was a young, scared idiot. I don’t regret marrying Brandon, because I wouldn’t have Emma. But I wish I could have all those years back with you.”

  He couldn’t even say that much, because Paige and their baby were dead, and his grief was compounded.

  But now…

  Now.

  Now!

  “If your place is closer,” she said, “we can go there to talk, if you prefer.”

  “I’m living in a hotel. I haven’t had time to get a place yet. I’d rather go back to your place, if you don’t mind.”

  “Okay. But I’m living with a friend. It’s nothing much.”

  “I don’t care.”

  His mind raced, a million things to talk about with her and unable to think of a single one. When she unlocked the front door and led him inside, she turned, and she was in his arms again, kissing him.

  He devoured her as they stood there, never wanting to let her go again.

  Not ever.

  “I know we need to talk,” Tracey said when they came up for air, “but in all honesty? I want some completely sober nookie with you. Right now. Please?”

  She laughed as he scooped her into his arms, and, to him, it was the best sound in the world. “Where to, m’lady?”

  “First door on the right, kind sir.”

  He couldn’t help staring into her eyes as he made his way to her bedroom. “I should have fought harder. I should have tried to convince you back then that I wanted you and loved you and asked you to come with me to college.”

  She ran a hand through his hair. “I was pretty damn stubborn. I wouldn’t have listened, most likely.”

  “I—” He swallowed hard. “I mean it when I say I’m kinky, Trace. I’m—”

  She kissed him again, shutting him up. “I know. I want that. So take me to bed and fuck my brains out…Sir.”

  His cock hardened, and suddenly, it was the only thing in the world he’d be able to do until he did it.

  Definitely wasn’t going to argue with the woman.

  He kicked the bedroom door shut behind them, dropping her onto the bed and quickly stripping. He pounced on her, kissing her, down her chin, unbuttoning her shirt as he went. He feathered his lips along the valley between her breasts as he parted her shirt, not moving her bra out of the way yet.

  Her hands plunged into his hair, fingers tangling, trying to shove him lower.

  He refused to be rushed.

  Percolating through his brain was the fact that he was going to be…a dad.

  This was a moment he wanted to savor, so he could always look back on it later and smile.

  He slid one hand down her stomach, laying flat over her belly.

  Their baby.

  He leaned in and kissed her, lingering, tracing the outline of her navel.

  That’s why it shocked him when he started to cry.

  She sat up and folded herself around him, even as he wrapped his arms around her waist, his lips pressed to her flesh.

  His baby!

  “I love you so much,” he whispered. “Both of you. I…we’re having a baby. Oh, my god, we’re having a baby!”

  She buried her face in his hair. “I love you, too, Sir.”

  He finally looked up, sat up, kissed her lips, her eyelids, her forehead. “You don’t have to be my submissive if you don’t want to be.”

  “What if I want to be?”

  “Then we really need to talk about it.”

  She reached down, her fingers wrapping around his cock. It had softened a little, but at her touch perked right up again. “Right now, Sir? Because…there’s something else I’d rather do first.”

  He kissed her. “No, not right now, dammit. I need you.”

  Her happy sigh filled the room. “I need you, too.”

  It took him seconds to strip her and plunge his cock inside her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around him and held on as he took off for the ride.

  And this was a ride. He wanted to mark her as his, reclaim her.

  Show her how much he wanted her.

  Foreheads pressed together, he knew maybe she wouldn’t get over this time, but he’d make it up to her if she didn’t.

  He’d more than make it up to her later.

  Grinding against him, she felt close, ready. He nibbled her lower lip as he slowed his pace to wait for her. “Mine,” he whispered. “And you’re never getting away from me again.”

  Her fingers digging into the back of his shoulders was a sweet, burning ache he felt at the depths of his soul. The slick walls of her pussy fisted his cock as if made for him. Perfection. Every ripple of pleasure flowing through her transmitted sweet waves straight to his cock. Her familiar cries as she tipped over the edge spurred him to fuck her harder, faster, and he took several last, deep thrusts before falling still with her lips nibbling at his.

  “I don’t want to get away from you, Sir,” she whispered. “Never.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Tracey snuggled tightly against Eric’s side and wished she never had to move. “I think we were supposed to be talking.”

  It wasn’t the same as when they were kids.

  It was better.

  Especially now that she had a name for what it was they were and did.

  It felt right.

  Even sober, it still felt right.

  Another fear she’d had—that maybe it’d been more the booze than the BDSM that had made their sex feel so good out in California.

  His fingers trailed up and down her arm. “Yeah, after you talked Brandon out of kicking my ass, I do believe something was mentioned about us doing that.” He nuzzled his face in her hair. “Say it again.” His voice sounded soft, contented in a way he hadn’t sounded in California. “Please?” His hand settled over her belly, flat, caressing.

  She shifted position so she could look up at him. “We’re having a baby,” she whispered.

  His sharp intake of breath twisted her insides in a good way. Yes, she knew he still grieved Paige and their baby, and always would, but there seemed to be a new life in his soul.

  Or maybe she was being ridiculously optimistic and throwing all her attempts at a cautious new life out the window just to make another mistake.

  “I love you so much, Trace. I swear I won’t fuck this up. I’m here for you. I’m not going anywhere. We’ll get married, and I’ll get us a place, and—”

  She laid a hand on his
chest. “Whoa, sweetie. Not saying I’m against that. But…let’s do this the right way, okay?”

  He sat up, cupping her hand in his. “I want to be with you. I was an idiot not to try to contact you. I admit that. When I got home, work took over, and I thought you didn’t want to talk to me, and—”

  “And I have Emma. I almost lost her because of my marriage to Pat. I promised her she’d get to sign off on any guys in the future. I won’t alienate her again, even if that means taking things slow, at first.”

  He laid his hand on her tummy again. “But I don’t want to miss a second of this, of us. I want to be a dad and a husband.”

  She covered his hand with her free one, because he was still holding her other. “You won’t miss any it. But we’re going to do this slowly, and we’re going to let Brandon and the guys help us as much as possible with her. And Grace. Because if you can’t win Grace over, you’ll never win over Emma.”

  “What do I have to do? I’ll do anything.”

  “We’re going to start with going over there tonight for dinner, and sitting down not just with the girls, but Jeff and Stuart, and talking to all of them. Emma and Grace are seventeen. They’ll be seniors next year. They might be kids, but they’re both wicked smart, and I’m not even going to try to play this cool or try to manipulate them. That won’t work with them. All our cards on the table, right up front. That’s the only way this can work.”

  “I’m going to marry you.” The quiet certainty in his words threatened to make her cry again. Or maybe that was the pregnancy hormones kicking in already. “Like I should have done the first time around. I never should have walked away from you.”

  “You didn’t walk away from me. I ran from you. I was afraid to get my heart broken and decided to do it before you did.” She kissed him. “Let’s grab a quick shower right now. Brandon will be texting us pretty soon that he’s coming to get you.”

  “Then what?”

  She sighed. “Then you get to meet Harley and Ivy.”

  “Who?”

  “Our two junior supervillains in training.”

  * * * *

  Eric couldn’t keep his hands off her, even in the shower. He pinned her against the wall and used his fingers and mouth to draw another orgasm out of her before turning her around and fucking her.