Getting It Right! (14 page)

It still didn’t explain why her father wouldn’t confide in her, though. That hurt. When had she ever given him the impression that his happiness wasn’t important to her? That she wouldn’t love him unless he was heterosexual? She loved him no matter what. Hell, as long as he was with someone who treated him well, she didn’t care who he lived with. Quite frankly, she was thrilled that it was Davy. She’d always thought the world of Ben’s dad. She couldn’t have picked a better person for her father to love.

April’s gaze drifted to the table where Ben’s note still lay.
My dad asked me to bring you by sometime. The address is on the table if you want to see your father.

She frowned. But she’d asked him if he was ever going to tell her and he’d said no. Why then would he take her—

Oh.

He could show her without telling her. That’s what he’d meant. April wanted to see the nobility in keeping her father’s secret—she truly did because that would give her a reason to forgive Ben—but knowing he’d kept it from her, she couldn’t get past the hurt that he’d been able to share her body and her bed, yet not tell her something like this.

No matter how you sliced and diced it, it was wrong. Just plain wrong. Noble…but wrong.

And she was tired of secrets, dammit. She picked up the address and committed it to memory. It was time she and her father had a talk.

T
HIRTY MINUTES LATER
,
after a quick shower and a pep talk, April was on her father’s doorstep. Strangely, she could have walked. He and Davy had made their home less than three blocks from her own.

Looking a little grayer and more heavily wrinkled than when she’d last seen him, Davy answered the door. His surprise quickly morphed into delight and his eyes, ones she recognized all too well—they were remarkably like Ben’s—twinkled down at her. “You came,” he said approvingly, then looked over her shoulder, evidently looking for Ben.

“Er…he’s not with me, I’m afraid.”

Davy stilled and those shrewd eyes considered her. “Is something wrong?”

“My mother paid me a visit this morning.”

He inclined his head knowingly. “Oh.” Evi
dently that was explanation enough. “Oh, Lord. Look at me leaving you standing on the front porch! Come on in. I’ll let your dad know you’re here.”

April nodded. “Thanks, Davy.”

He paused. “For what it’s worth, child, I’ve tried to get him to tell you. I don’t know what he’s afraid of.”

April swallowed as a lump of emotion formed in her throat. “Me either, Davy. I just want him to be happy, and I’m glad that he’s found that with you.”

He smiled, seemed to wilt a little. “I’d hoped so.” He turned toward the back of the house and hollered down the hall. “Marcus, you’ve got a visitor in the parlor.”

She heard footsteps. “A visitor?”

The sound of her father’s voice made tears burn the backs of her lids and her stomach twisted into a Celtic knot. Three seconds later, her father appeared in the doorway. He saw her, stopped and blinked as though not quite sure she was real. “April.”

“Hi, Daddy.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” Davy said with a warm smile and he quietly left the room.

Her father darted her a questioning glance. “How did you—Who told you—”

“Mother came to see me this morning. She thought Ben had spilled the beans.”

Her father passed a hand over his face and sank onto the nearest chair. “He hadn’t, had he?”

“No.”

“Good,” her father said succinctly. “It wasn’t his place.”

“No,” April said, struggling to suppress her irritation. “That would have been yours.”

He had the grace to look sheepish. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Why, Dad?” April asked, struggling to blink back tears. “Why did you think you couldn’t tell me? Did you believe I’d think less of you? That I wouldn’t love you? What? What possible reason could you have had not to tell me, especially after I saw you last summer?”

Her father hung his head, scrubbed a weary hand over his face. “Honestly? I was afraid you’d take it the same way Ben did when he found out about Davy.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s had nothing to do with him,” her father said. “Until this past week, he wouldn’t even talk
to him unless he had to. Birthdays, holidays. It broke my heart watching Davy try over and over, never giving up.” He smiled sadly. “You see, everyone thinks he’s the weak one and yet I’m the one who lacks courage. I couldn’t stand the idea of you doing that to me, of rejecting me over and over. It—It’s just too hard.”

April walked over, sat down next to her father and took his hand. “Daddy, I would never do that to you.” Furthermore, she knew why Ben had taken Davy’s secret hard, but evidently neither her father or Davy did. “And I think I can explain why Ben’s acted the way he has.”

Her father arched a brow. “You can?”

April related everything her mother had spewed out this morning, the whole sordid tale, not sugarcoating any of it. “She made him ashamed, Dad. He’s just now learning that there was nothing to be ashamed of.”

“That vindictive bitch,” Davy said from the doorway, his usually smiling face ashen.

April nodded. “I know.”

Marcus and Davy shared a look. “Well, that certainly explains a lot,” her father said.

“Yes, it does,” Davy remarked thoughtfully. “I’ve lost ten years with my son because that ma
nipulative harpy couldn’t accept that you were gay.”

“Why did you stay with her?” April asked. “What reason could you have possibly had?”

Marcus and Davy shared another look, then a sad smile shaped her father’s lips. “You, sweetheart. I stayed with her for you.”

He couldn’t have shocked her more if he’d slapped her.
“What?”
April breathed.

“I thought it would be best.”

“Well, it wasn’t,” she said flatly, unwilling to spare his feelings.

Her father released a regretful sigh. “Hindsight, sweetheart. I’m very sorry.”

“No lasting harm done,” she said. Her mother might have made her wretched for the first eighteen years of her life, but April still had the remaining seventy-plus, she hoped.

Her father gratefully accepted her grace and then frowned thoughtfully. “How did you find me?”

“I gave Ben our address,” Davy said. He cast April an intrigued glance. “But I thought you weren’t due to arrive until six.”

April blinked. “That’s right, but—Wait,” she said. “How did you know?”

“I got a message from Ben this morning. He said the two of you would be coming by at six.”

Her father’s eyes widened. “So that’s why you cancelled our dancing lessons, then? Your gout’s not acting up?”

Davy grinned. “No. But my son needed me—for a change—and your daughter needs you. I really thought this nonsense had gone on long enough. See, Marcus,” Davy said, “I told you that you’d underestimated April.”

Her dad smiled. “And we’ve both evidently underestimated my ex-wife’s ability to wound. I’m glad that things are improving with you and Ben.”

Davy smiled and cast her a significant look. “Now it seems there’s only one relationship that needs to be repaired.” He quirked a brow. “You’ll be taking care of that, won’t you?”

April hesitated, still hurt that Ben hadn’t shared this with her. She understood, but still couldn’t altogether forgive him.

Davy frowned. “You know he was bringing you over here. Surely you can’t still be angry with him for not telling you. It wasn’t his place.”

So she’d heard, April thought, struggling to make it all square up in her mind.

“Let me ask you something,” Davy said in
stead. “If it had been the other way around, would you have told Ben about me?”

April’s first inclination would have been to say yes, but within seconds of really considering the question, she knew that she wouldn’t have. As Ben had tried to do, she would have attempted to force Davy’s hand. No, he hadn’t told her, because he’d felt it was wrong. But he had planned to show her, to fix things, and that she decided was good enough.

April exhaled a breath, felt her heart thaw out once more. “No, I wouldn’t have told him.”

“Then fix it,” Davy told her. “Trust me, the longer you wait, the worse it is.”

She nodded, then stood and gave both of them a hug in turn. “I love you, Daddy. Stop avoiding me,” she admonished.

“I love you, too, angel,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. He kissed her cheek. “And I promise to keep in touch.”

“You should. We’re practically neighbors.”

“I know. I, uh, wanted to be close to you.”

“I fix breakfast every morning,” she said. “You have a standing invitation.”

“Will my son be joining us?” Davy asked shrewdly.

April considered him for a moment. “Actually,” she said slowly as a plan began to form, “I won’t be home tomorrow morning, but every morning beyond that should be good.”

They both nodded, seemingly pleased.

April left with a considerably lighter heart than what she’d arrived with. Thanks to Ben, she had her orgasm
and
her father back.

He’d made her dreams come true. Now it was time to return the favor.

W
ELL, THANKS TO STUPID
Rule Number Two, April had been ignoring his repeated attempts to get her to respond to Rule Number One. He’d hoped that after she’d had a chance to calm down, she’d at least want to meet him at six at his father’s house. But Ben had driven by a couple of times around the prescribed time and, when he hadn’t seen her car, he decided not to stop.

A crappy thing to do to the father he’d just made amends with, but in all honesty, he hardly considered himself any kind of company. He’d been in a foul mood all day—a fact that Claudette had only been too happy to share with him.

“I won’t tolerate this sort of abuse,” she said, when he hadn’t properly thanked her for fetching a batch of negatives—ironically, the very ones that had contained those candids of April he’d shot earlier in the week.

Abuse? Ben had thought. He’d forgotten to thank her—discourteous, yes. But abuse? Hell, it’s not like he’d backhanded her.

He scowled. That temptation had been reserved for April’s mother. Ben’s fists involuntarily clenched, remembering the hurt that woman had single-handedly inflicted over the years…. He didn’t think he’d ever hated anyone more.

To be fair, he’d like to blame her for this most recent disaster, but this time, he had to take the blame himself. He should have just told April, dammit. In light of what he’d lost, trumping Marcus would have been worth it.

Anything would have been worth it.

“I’m leaving now,” Claudette announced from the doorway.

She used to ask if he needed anything first, he thought sourly. Evidently that nicety had vanished with the “new” her. “Have a good weekend,” Ben said all the same.

“You, too.” She paused, shot him a concerned look. “Can I get anything for you before I go?” she asked.

Ben felt a tired smile catch the corner of his mouth. Ah, he thought, a glimpse of the old Clau
dette. Evidently she was learning to blend the two. “No, but thanks for offering.”

“You’re welcome. Well,” she said briskly. “I’m off to a meeting.” She turned and started for the door.

Remembering April’s rebuke regarding his secretary, Ben looked up. “Wait, Claudette.”

She paused, glanced over her shoulder.

“When’s your birthday?”

She smiled softly. “January twenty-first.”

Ben nodded, jotted it down. “Just asking,” he told her. “Er…what sort of meeting are you going to?”

Her smile widened. “I would have thought April would have told you.”

He blinked. “April?”

“I joined Chicks In Charge last week,” Claudette told him. “That’s one helluva girl you’ve got there, Ben. Don’t screw it up.”

And with that grave advice ringing in his ears, his secretary turned and walked away. Shocked, Ben sat there and laughed. He
had
seen her wink at April, dammit. And when he’d complained about something “getting into” his help, she’d known exactly what that something was. Her girl-power group. Evidently he hadn’t been the only one keeping secrets, though admittedly, his was the greater sin.

Oh, screw it, Ben thought after a few hopelessly unproductive moments. He wasn’t going to get any more work done tonight. He could just as easily be morose and miserable at home. He tidied his desk, gathered the negatives of April and headed home.

He needed to get a dog, he decided as he let himself into his empty house. It would be nice to have the companionship, the unfailing love and devotion, someone who’d be happy to see him when he walked through the door.

Anything was better than the silence, the sound of his own thoughts.

He poured a scotch, sank into a chair and channel surfed until he found a ball game. He wasn’t much of a sports enthusiast, but he’d heard that this was what men did when they had absolutely nothing else to do.

He didn’t know how long he sat there before he dozed off, but the sound of a knock at his back door jolted him awake. He blinked groggily, attempting to pull his thoughts together. The knock sounded again.

Ben passed a hand over his face and tiredly made his way to the back of the house. He opened the door…

And got the shock of his life.

April stood at the threshold. Like his dream come to life, clad in a sheer white gown—with nothing on underneath—she smiled tentatively, took his hand and started leading him through the house.

“What—”

She turned and pressed a finger against his lips, silencing him. She said nothing, just tugged him onward, a vision in moon glow. His dream seductress. She unerringly led him upstairs to his bedroom, whirled him around and backed him toward the four-poster until his knees hit the bed, forcing him to sit down.

She bent and tugged off his shoes, then his pants—in light of Rule Number Three, underwear wasn’t a problem—followed by his shirt and tie. She took her time while she undressed him, smoothing her hands over each inch of flesh she exposed, growling her appreciation low in her throat, nonsensical sounds of approval that instantly pushed his dick to attention.

Oh, sweet hell, Ben thought, watching her. It was one of the most erotic things he’d ever seen.

Her
seducing
him.

She pushed him farther up on the bed, backing
him up so that she could scale his body. She left the gown on—a gift in a pretty package—and the fabric was smooth and cool against his skin. His breath stuttered out of his lungs as the first touch of her lips branded his belly. She licked her way up, listening to his own telling sounds. A quick inhalation, a throaty growl. She nipped lightly at his nipple, played at the other with the tip of her nail and unexpected pleasure bolted through him.

She smiled against him, the she-devil, thoroughly enjoying making
his
fantasy come to life. Every move was calculated and sexy and meant to bring him joy. Now that was a novel experience, to say the least. Women had always been more interested in what he could do for them, than the other way around.

That April had listened enough to know what he wanted, then actually forgiven him—he firmly intended to get the skinny on that later—and decided to enact it made Ben’s previously morose heart swell equally as rapidly as an important organ south of his navel.

She braced both hands on either side of his face, searched his eyes, letting him see the need, the desire, the regret, but most importantly, the
want.

She wanted him.

His throat tightened, forcing him to swallow. She waited, making sure that he understood, then slowly lowered her lips and kissed his lids, his cheeks, the side of his neck, then finally his mouth. Slowly at first, tentatively and reverently, then passion flared and she deepened the kiss, moving further into seduction mode. She was above him, dominating him, forcing him to let her take the lead. It terrified and thrilled him, making him shake and burn.

She worked her way back down his body once more, painting a deliberate path down his belly, over his navel. She took him in hand, slid her fingers up and down, gazed at his dick as though it was the tastiest thing she’d ever seen, then bent her head, and, with her gaze connected to his, she took all of him into her mouth.

He’d been wrong, Ben decided.
That
was the most erotic thing he’d ever seen. A guttural growl tore from his throat and his thighs went rigid.

April’s eyes finally fluttered shut, a look of sublime satisfaction on her face, and she sucked and licked, nibbled and stroked until his coming in her mouth was going to be a foregone conclusion if she didn’t stop soon. He could feel the
climax building, the impending orgasm a loaded bullet ready to shoot down the barrel of a gun.

She mewled around him, made happy noises of pleasure that vibrated against his throbbing dick. “I love the way you feel in my mouth,” she said, her voice a sleepy-sounding purr. “Soft, hard and salty.”

Her hand cupped his balls, dallied languidly while she increased the hungry slip and slide of her mouth.

“April,” he growled, “unless you want this to be over in a few seconds, babe, you’re going to have to stop.”

She sucked him harder, her lips curling into a smile around his dick. “Now that would be a pity. Because I’m not nearly finished with you yet.”

She licked a pearl of desire from his engorged head, then licked her lips. “You’d said that you’d been netted, filleted, battered and fried,” she told him, her eyes gleaming with wicked humor. “Now you’ve been eaten.”

He chuckled, he couldn’t help himself. Here he was about to detonate like a bomb and she had the presence of mind to crack a joke. Something was wrong with this picture.

She scaled his body once more and abruptly
straddled him, her weeping flesh settling firmly onto his rod.

Ben abruptly stopped laughing.

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she winced with pleasure at the intimate connection. “Do you know how many times I’ve thought about this?” she asked him.

She rocked against him, purposely dragging her wet folds over him, coating him with her warmth.

“How many times I’ve lain in my bed and thought about having you in this very position. Beneath me. At my mercy.”

He shook his head, mesmerized.

“Hundreds, thousands probably. See,” she said, “the thing is, I’ve been in love with you since I was sixteen.”

She lifted her hips, guided him to her center, then impaled herself on him. Ben locked his jaw, felt the breath rush out of his lungs.

“And I’m still in love with you.”

He flexed beneath her, anchoring his hands on her hips, and winced as she started to ride him. Up down, up down, a soft undulation, a promise, a prayer.

She loved him.

He bent forward and captured her nipple through the fabric, felt a corresponding clench around his dick and sucked harder. A maelstrom of feeling commenced in his body. His heart ached, his dick throbbed and he was suddenly hit with the extremely unusual urge to scream. Or weep. He didn’t know.

She loved him
.

She braced her hands upon his chest, rode him harder, her lush breasts jiggling as she absorbed the force of his thrusts. He could feel her clamping against him as though reluctant to let him leave, but just as anxious for the return. She bit her lip and her eyes fluttered shut. Her head lolled to the side, her neck seemingly too weak to support it any longer. Her breath came in little jagged puffs and a fine sheen of sweat had broken out on her forehead.

She was beautiful, a sexual goddess, his fantasy come to life. She was everything. His world. His past. His future…

And she loved him.

Without warning, he came hard, felt the orgasm tear from his loins and blast into her. His lips peeled back from his teeth, his neck bowed off the bed and a long keening groan issued from his throat.

Three seconds later, April joined him there. She bent forward, locked her legs and pumped frantically against him, pushing his dick against her G-spot, dragging her clit along his skin.

Suddenly she tensed, her mouth opened in a silent wail and she shuddered violently atop him. He felt her feminine muscles close around him, causing even more spasms of pleasure to issue out of his loins.

With a soft supplicating sigh that whispered around his heart, April collapsed on top of him, her hair spilling over his chest, the gown bunching beneath her.

Ben ran his hands over her rump, drawing figure eights up her back. “I love you, too,” he said simply. “It’s always been you, April.”

She leaned up and her gaze searched his. “I’m sorry for not listening to you today. I should have. You were trying to tell me and I—”

Ben shook his head. “Forget it. I should have told you. I just—”

“Couldn’t,” she finished. “I know. I don’t blame you. It wasn’t your place. It was my dad’s.” She smiled softly. “I went and talked to him today,” she said.

Ben smiled. “You did?”

“Yeah, after you left. I couldn’t wait until six. I had too many questions.”

That was certainly understandable, Ben thought. He’d had a decade to deal with the idea of their fathers being lovers. She’d had less than twelve hours. “And was everything answered to your satisfaction?”

“Yes.” She bit her lip, hesitated. “Why didn’t you ever tell anybody what my mother had said to you, Ben? You know she’s a vindictive bitch.”

“I asked my mother about it and she left,” he said, shrugging in an offhand manner that in no way matched the way he felt. “I didn’t want to risk it.”

Her gaze softened, misted. “Oh, Ben. Your dad loves you. Surely you know that?”

He did now. He nodded, finding it too difficult to speak.

She smiled down at him. “You’re pretty damned lovable.”

His heart did another little flip and he grinned at her. “So are you.” His gaze traced the wonderfully familiar curves of her face. “Last night, I was thinking about our rules and I think we need to amend one of them.”

She arched a brow. “Oh? Which one?”

“I think we need to do away with Rule Number Two completely.”

She nodded, her green eyes twinkling. “I am in total agreement with you. Rule Number Two sucked.”

“And I’d like to propose a new one.” His belly quivered with nerves.

“And what would that one be?”

Ben reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear. “One of the till-death-do-us-part variety.”

A slow dawning smile eased wonderingly across her lips and her eyes misted again. “I’m in total agreement with that one, as well.”

“Will you marry me?”

She sank her teeth into her bottom lip and nodded. Tears sparkled on her lashes. “Definitely.”

“And we’ll live at your house,” he said, willing to give up his own in order to make her happy. He’d give up everything to make her happy. Besides, he’d felt the magic there. They’d make a beautiful life together in that house, making love and raising babies.

A half laugh, half cry rushed past her lips. “Oh, Ben.”

“So long as we can play the hunter and prey game,” he stipulated. “That was pretty damned fun.”

She giggled, bent forward and kissed him softly. And, for some reason, he was reminded of that first kiss, their first commingled breath, the one that had sealed this very end all those years ago.