Christening (14 page)

She was going to. It was happening even now.

Erin sobbed with pleasure and effort and need, and she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle the overwhelming sensations. Her breasts were swinging wildly with their primitive motion, and she’d tossed her head so much that her damp hair was covering her face.

As the final orgasm build up inside her, she kept choking out sounds that were louder and louder. Tried to stifle the noise. Couldn’t. Felt the world start to shudder all around her.

Then she fell over the edge, her body jerking in clumsy desperation as she tried to hold herself upright on trembling limbs.

Rasping painfully in her throat, Erin managed to push the vibrator away when the spasms faded. “No more,” she pleaded. “God, Seth, no more.” She found enough energy to turn to look back at him over her shoulder. “You come now.”

The wild, possessive look in his eyes gave her a different kind of thrill, and she kept watching as he twisted his face in effort and unleashed his brutally tense body. He gripped her hard by the flesh of her ass, and then slammed into her with a couple of hard thrusts.

His back arched slightly, and he froze as he roared out in final relief. She could feel his cock pulse as he released himself inside her. Could hear his desperate panting behind her, matching her own.

They both seemed trapped temporarily in that moment of visceral relief. As their muscle contractions died down, they stayed in position, letting the satisfaction wash over them.

Then Seth seemed to lose it completely. He nearly collapsed on top of her, and Erin couldn’t hold herself up. The two of them ended up in a clumsy, wet heap on the bottom of the slick, empty tub.

“You okay?” Seth managed to ask, one of his legs draped over hers and his head resting on one of his arms.

“Yeah. Although I nearly concussed myself on the side of the tub.”

Seth still had most of his clothes on, since his trousers were still tangled around his legs. His shirt was so wet it was transparent, however, and the damp fabric wasn’t entirely comfortable against Erin’s heated skin.

But she wasn’t about to complain. Not after
that
.

“That was,” she mumbled, trying to adjust so she could look him in the eyes and so her head wasn’t resting against the hard tub. “That was…unbelievable. We should be adventurous more often. I think I lost count of—”

“I counted five,” Seth said, a familiar, fond, self-satisfied glimmer awakening in his eyes despite his obvious fatigue.

Erin sniffed. “Yeah, well, if you count the first one, which I gave to myself. Plus, you had a lot of help with them.” She glanced down at the yellow vibrating sponge that had somehow prompted this whole interlude. “So don’t get smug.”

He did look smug, and possessive, and warm, and affectionate, and dryly amused.

And Erin loved him so much, for all of those things.

“I love you, Erin,” he murmured unexpectedly, giving her a kiss on the corner of her mouth.

His expression was soft and almost sweet, despite the wild passion of their lovemaking. And something about the surprising incongruity of it—while they lay wetly and uncomfortably in a damp, empty tub—made Erin’s heart swell up with joy.

She smiled at him. Leaned over to kiss him softly, tugging gently on his lower lip. Whispered, “Believe it or not, Seth Thomas, I love you too.”

Anna was getting hyper.

Erin could see the signs. The girl's cheeks were getting rosier and rosier, and she was starting to squirm in her seat, giggling and occasionally hugging herself, as if she just couldn't contain her excitement.

It wasn’t surprising. Both of the girls had been thrilled that Aunt Liz had come over to hang out with them this evening, for what they’d unofficially dubbed their “family night.” They dedicated at least one evening a week to be spent together, and the girls were young enough to still be excited about such a thing.

The last three months had gone well. For the first month after their problems over the summer, Seth had been so loving and attentive that Erin had actually begun to feel a little smothered. He’d gradually eased back into a natural routine, however, balancing work and family in a way that seemed to work for all of them. They still relied on his schedule for time spent at home, and Erin could tell he was committed to it, since occasionally this month he’d had to really stretch in order to keep the requisite dinners at home, since he was so busy with the beginnings of his own practice.

Tonight, Seth was in one of his rare laughing moods. As he sat beside her on the sofa, his eyes were warm, and his husky chuckle and teasing drawl lingered pleasantly in the room. This was another reason Anna was getting overly excited. Both she and Mackenzie loved when their daddy was in this mood.

Anna’s giggling became rather shrill as Erin and Liz had a mock argument about Liz’s blatant attempt to cheat at UNO, and Erin hoped her daughter’s hyperness wouldn’t plunge her into a crash later on.

They were playing UNO, since it was one of the few games that the kids could understand and the adults could mostly tolerate. Anna was down to two cards, and she was flailing them around in her hands so wildly that they were clearly visible for anyone who wanted to look. They all pretended not to see them, however, as it came around to Anna’s turn again.

She was too young to play very well on her own, so Seth—in addition to taking care of his own cards—kept leaning over and murmuring suggestions in her ear about what to do next. As Anna’s turn arrived, she and Seth conferred in focused secrecy.

Then Anna slowly reached over to place one of her two cards on the discard pile—a red seven on a blue seven—and she screamed “UNO” at the top of her lungs as soon as she released her hold on the card.

Mackenzie, who’d been paying close attention in the hope of catching Anna before she said the magic word, scowled and peered at her own three cards, her competitive nature obviously rearing up at her sister’s good luck.

Liz reached over and tugged on Mackenzie’s red ponytail. “So, Mac, how’s school?”

“Fine,” Mackenzie told her seriously. “My teacher is nice, and I’m the best at reading in the class.” Before this claim—which Erin proudly knew to be the truth—could be lauded, Mackenzie continued with a look at somber aggrievement. “But there’s a boy named Justin who sits behind me. And he’s mean to me all the time.”

Erin hid a smile, since she was familiar with Justin and was pretty sure she understood what motivated his teasing. But Seth, to Erin’s surprise, must not have heard about Mackenzie’s woes with the cute, little boy who pulled her hair and chased her around the playground.

“What?” Seth demanded, leaning forward and tensing up. “Who’s mean to you?”

Erin put a hand on his knee in a calming gesture, amused at his irrational protectiveness.

“Justin,” Mackenzie explained with her characteristic earnestness. She was sitting on her knees on the floor, and she shifted restlessly as she spoke. “All the other girls like him, but he’s mean to me. He makes fun of my red hair and says I have freckles!”

Mackenzie did have a few freckles that came out when she spent time in the sun—faintly dusting the fair skin of her nose and cheeks. Erin thought they were adorable.

“Well, clearly the boy is an idiot.” Before Erin could chide Seth for this blunt remark, he continued, “Your hair is absolutely beautiful.”

Mackenzie squirmed appreciatively, but Anna’s little mouth turned down in concern.

Seeing this, Seth went on, “Just like Anna’s.” He tugged gently on a piece of Anna’s blond hair, making the girl giggle again.

“Your daddy used to have red hair too,” Erin told Mackenzie comfortingly, trying not to snicker when Seth narrowed his eyes. No matter how much he loved Mackenzie's hair, he never liked to be reminded of his own. “Not many people have such pretty red hair, and a lot of people really want it.”

“I guess,” Mackenzie mumbled, pulling her long ponytail around so she could peer at the shiny waves. “But freckles?” Her voice pitched upward on the last word, in very clear outrage at such an indignity.

Stifling a chuckle, Erin said gravely, “Daddy used to have a few freckles too.”

“I
what
?” Seth demanded, turning to glare at his wife at this unmotivated, unexpected attack.

Erin gave him a silent, significant look, which made Seth slump back against the couch and say, “Nothing's wrong with having freckles. They make you look even prettier.”

When Mackenzie relaxed and smiled at this affirmation, Seth slanted an unpleasant look at Erin from the corner of his eye. His grumpiness at such a silly thing made Erin so mushy that she had to lean over and give him a soft, wet kiss on the side of his jaw.

“Hey,” Liz objected. “None of that. There are kids present.”

Anna was still proudly holding her one card, but at this comment she declared to all and sundry, “Daddy kisses Mommy a lot.”

Looking maliciously thrilled at this lead-in, Liz encouraged the girl to go on. “Really? He kisses her
a lot
?”

Anna nodded matter-of-factly. “Yes. A lot. Especially when they go to bed.”

Seth let out a stifled grunt, and Erin’s eyes widened with horrified fascination as she listened to her daughter continue with innocent frankness.

“And sometimes they make noises,” Anna confided to Liz. “Once, I was scared because it sounded like Mommy was crying, but Mac said it was all right because it wasn’t sad crying.”

Erin blushed beet red, and Seth slouched further down on the couch and muttered, “That’s it. We’re sound-proofing the bedroom.”

Liz was visibly shaking with amusement. “So you never thought about going to check on them to make sure they were all right?”

“I wanted to, but Daddy doesn’t like it when we come see them in bed.” She leaned over and whispered loudly to Liz, “Daddy sometimes doesn’t wear any jammies.”

Erin choked on a burst of laughter, and Liz chortled gleefully. Seth cleared his throat and gritted out, “Liz, it’s been your turn to play now for five minutes.”

“So this boy Justin,” he continued, obviously intent on changing the subject as Liz focused on her cards again. “He just teases you about your hair? He’s not mean to you in any other way, is he?”

Mackenzie sighed dramatically. “He’s mean about
everything
. He chases me, and he laughs at me when I get mad at him. And he said I was dumb because I don’t really know where babies come from.”

Seth jerked a little, and even Erin’s mouth dropped open at this. “What now?” she asked. “I haven’t heard about this.”

Mackenzie scowled, as if she were picturing the boy in question. “He said I didn’t really know, but I
do
know. I said that babies come from a mommy’s belly, because that’s where Anna came from.”

On the other side of the coffee table, Anna echoed happily, “Babies come from mommy’s belly.”

Mackenzie looked up at Seth pleadingly. “Isn’t that right, Daddy?”

“That’s exactly right. And don’t let any whiny boy tell you differently.”

Looking a little relieved, Mackenzie sat back on her heels. “I’ll tell him that my Daddy told me I was right. He said…” She hesitated, looking almost guilty. “He said that they came from…from
fucking
.”

Erin choked on her surprise, and Seth made an angry growling sound in his throat. Once again putting her hand on her husband’s knee to keep him from channeling anger toward a six-year-old boy, she prompted, “And what did you say to that, Mackenzie?”

“I said that wasn’t a nice word to say because Mommy always tells Aunt Liz to be quiet when she says it.”

“Excellent answer,” Seth assured her, obviously reining in his indignation at the idea of anyone putting such ideas into his innocent daughter's head. “Don’t worry about what this boy tells you. It sounds like he’s just trying to act smarter than he is.”

Mackenzie scratched her nose. “But what did he mean by that, Daddy?”

Seth was starting to look visibly uncomfortable. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

Mackenzie didn’t look entirely convinced by her father's non-answer, but Erin took pity on poor Seth and changed the course of the conversation. “Did Justin say anything else, pumpkin?”

“No. He just laughed at me again. He always laughs at me.”

“Well, you should laugh at him back. We don’t let people push us around or make us feel bad about ourselves.”

“Sounds to me like this Justin boy has the hots for you,” Liz put in shamelessly.

“Liz,” Erin gasped, reaching over to hit her sister on the shoulder. No one was going to have "the hots" for her six-year-old daughter.

“I mean,” Liz extemporized, “It sounds like he might kind of like you.”

Mackenzie looked absolutely outraged at the very idea. “He does
not
. He’s mean to me.”

“Boys are mean to girls they like all the time.”

“Why?” Anna breathed, gazing up at Liz in awe.

Liz shrugged. “Boys are always scared of being rejected, so they pretend not to care, even when they do. Even your Daddy did that, when he first started to like your Mommy.”

Feeling Seth bristling beside her, Erin put her arms around him and pressed a kiss into the side of his neck. Seth relaxed and adjusted his arm to pull her even closer. “I think the best idea,” he said to Mackenzie, “is just to ignore Justin. I’m sure some of the other boys are nicer than he is.”

“Some are. But some are mean to me too.” She darted a quick look up at Seth, and then dropped her eyes back down to her hands. “Davy said that…”

When her voice trailed off, Seth’s gruff voice prompted, “Did this Davy say something mean to you too?”

Erin shook her head resignedly. If Seth was this defensive about six-year-old childish teasing, then she dreaded the thought of how he would act when the girls were teenagers and the boys started to channel their “liking” in alternate ways.

Her poor daughters might never date at all.

“He said you help bad people. He said you keep them from going to jail.”

Seth stiffened beside her. “What?”

“He said you keep bad people from going to jail, but I told him that wasn’t right because you’re good and good people wouldn’t do that.”

Erin saw Seth had absolutely no idea what to say. “Daddy
is
good, Mackenzie, and he works really hard to keep other good people from going to prison. Sometimes good people get arrested, and if he didn’t do such a good job, some of them might be in big trouble. It’s really important that someone helps keep that from happening.”

“Yeah,” Mackenzie agreed, the quiet concern relaxing on her face.

“Some people aren’t going to like what Daddy does, but we don’t have to worry about what they think. We know how much good he does. I’m so proud of you for sticking up for Daddy.”

A smile broke out on Mackenzie’s face. “Daddy is the best in the world,” she declared.

“Daddy is the
best
,” Anna agreed, nodding her blond head ecstatically.

Seth’s expression was stiff and awkward, but Erin knew it was because he was feeling vulnerable. Feeling a surge of affection, she squeezed her husband in her arms and murmured huskily, “Daddy is definitely the best.”

Liz cleared her throat. “If all the sentiment is over, I believe we have a game to play.”

They started UNO up again and had come around to Seth’s turn when his phone rang. Pulling it out of his pocket, he glanced at the screen and murmured, “Excuse me. I need to take it.”

He pulled out of Erin’s arm, which was still wrapped around him, connected the call, and walked to the other side of the room as he talked.

The females exchanged glances over the cards. Erin’s gut had dropped in disappointment, but she was determined to be calm and mature about this. Seth had been really good lately about spending time with them. Occasionally, work would have to pull him away, sometimes when they were all having fun together. It was his job. It was part of who he was. And she wasn’t going to complain if it was unavoidable.

She listened to the low murmurs of his voice, and the pitch of them affirmed her first suspicion, that something important was going on.

He was going to have to leave.

When Erin saw that Anna’s lips were wobbling dangerously, she forced a smile. “Now, we know that sometimes Daddy gets called away on emergencies. We aren’t going to make him feel bad about it, are we?”