Red Red Wine (Tastes of Seduction) (9 page)

He almost smiled at her request. How many women in his past, whom he’d brought to orgasm, had then turned around and asked about his family?

Oh, yeah. None.

“They’re good people. Both of them. My mum is younger than my old man. But when they met it was love at first sight. They got married the day she turned twenty-one.”

“How old was he?”

“Thirty-six.”

“How old are you?” Tori asked.

“I turn thirty next month.”

“Me too. Well, it’s my birthday next month. But I turn twenty-eight. You’re a Taurus?”

“Gemini. Birthday’s at the end of the month.”

“Mine’s at the beginning.” Then as if realizing she was talking about herself again, Tori redirected the conversation. “Okay, so you’re going to be thirty, and your mom got married when she was twenty-one. She can’t be getting too far on in age, can she?”

“They got married when she was young, but I wasn’t born until years later. She was almost forty.”

“They waited a long time to have children.”

“I have a half-sister, my dad’s daughter from his first marriage. She was five when my folks married, and I guess they didn’t want any more children then. It was only when she left home that my mum started getting clucky.”

“Are you close to your sister?”

“Kind of. She lives in the States. I don’t get to see her often.” Still they spoke on the phone a lot, more than usual in recent months, and Caroline was planning a trip down to see the family soon.

“I have a sister too. She’s two years older and my favorite person in the world.”

“Does she live close to you?”

“In the next suburb. We see each other all the time. She’s my matron…” She swallowed audibly. “Was supposed to be my matron of honor. You might have seen her earlier, when we arrived at the hotel? She’s the one with hair like mine and a belly the size of a beach ball.”

“Pregnant?”

“Seven months along.”

“I didn’t see her. The only woman I had eyes for today was you.” He’d hardly noticed individual faces of the group who’d gathered around Tori in reception. “First niece or nephew?”

“Second. She has a little boy, Eli. Cutest kid in the world. And you are the world’s best flatterer. Tell me, how do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Get me to talk about myself when we’re focusing on you.”

“I want to know more about you. Is that a crime?”

“No.” She let out a long sigh. The hiss of breath was not an unhappy one. “You’re like balm to the battered soul, Ando.”

“I’ll be your balm anytime you need it.”

Another kiss landed on his shoulder. “You’re sweet.”

I’m horny and falling for a woman with a broken heart.
“Puppies and toddlers are sweet. I’m an adult with a massive hard-on and a million dirty fantasies on my mind. I’m not sweet.”

“Yeah, you are. Now tell me why you had to escape from your parents.”

For a while there, when he’d been consumed by Tori’s heartache and physical need, he hadn’t had a chance to think about his parents. It had been liberating. But the leash had tightened around his neck again the second Tori brought them up.

“They’re getting old. And with aging comes problems.”

“They’re both sick?”

“My dad’s recovering from a bout of pneumonia, the second one in nine months. At his age, it lingers. And it’s serious. We weren’t sure he’d—” His voice broke, forcing him to clear his throat before he could continue. “We weren’t sure he’d make it the second time round. He spent two weeks in hospital.” Two weeks that had felt like a year.

“That must have taken its toll on you. And your mum.”

“On me,” Andrew agreed. “My mum, she wasn’t really aware of the crisis. She knew something was wrong. Knew someone was missing, but she wasn’t sure what or whom.”

Tori’s hand, the one that had been caressing his chest, ceased moving. For a long moment she was quiet.

“Your mum has dementia?”

“Alzheimer’s.”

“That sucks.”

“It does.” Andrew had gotten used to the blankness in his mother’s eyes, the lack of recognition when he walked into the house. He’d also gotten used to the times she’d mistakenly thought he was his father and called him Harry. It left him feeling wretched whenever he saw her, which was every day. “What made it harder is my dad has always insisted on looking after her. From the day she was diagnosed, he swore to be there for her. To keep her at home, with him. But this last stint in hospital…” Andrew grimaced. “It showed us we have to make alternative plans.”

“What happened to your mum while your dad was sick?”

“She stayed home. I hired a team of nurses to care for her. But the strangers in the house threw her, and she was more confused than usual. More angry. She…” Jesus, how did he explain his mother’s tendency to wander? “She walked away from them a few times. And just kept walking. Out the front door, down the road, and she was gone.”

Tori gasped. “A nurse lost her?”

“Once. I found her at the local park hours later.” Dressed in her pajamas. Suffice it to say that nurse had been dismissed the same night. “The second time, the nurse—” a different one, “—followed her, just to see where she went.”

Again Tori looked up at him. “Where did she go?”

“To the bus stop around the corner. But she never boarded any of the busses. Just sat there watching as they stopped and drove off again.” The nurse had thought his mother instinctively walked to the bus stop, the same one she’d used for the last twenty-odd years, but once she got there she had no idea what to do next or how to get back home.

“God, Andrew.” She touched his cheek. “It must break your heart.”

He nodded. “Scares the crap out of me too.”

“Are you happier now that your dad’s back home?”

“No.” He frowned. “He’s not strong enough to look after her and certainly not to go chasing after her next time she decides to take a walk.” The stress alone could kill his dad. “We had a chat, my old man and me.” A long, serious chat that had left Andrew exhausted and his father devastated. “We decided it was time for them to move to a home.”

Even as he said it, he felt sick. His mother had always abhorred the idea of an old-age home, something his father had taken to heart when he’d sworn to look after her. But both Stafford men could see the problems inherent with that choice now.

Much as they hadn’t liked the decision they’d come to, it was the only logical one.

“I’m so sorry. I know that can’t have been easy for either of you.”

It had been an impossible decision, and even harder to convince his father it was the right one.

“That was the easy part.” Well, kind of. “Visiting the homes in the area was…hell. Seeing what’s available for the elderly. And walking through the facilities.” The stringent smell of disinfectant and other odors he didn’t want to think about had turned his stomach.

He burrowed his face in Tori’s hair, inhaling deeply, filling his nose with cinnamon and spice. And yes, all things nice.

So appalled had Andrew been by what he’d seen, he’d looked into opening his own old-age facility. He’d done extensive research into retirement homes but eventually had to concede that he simply did not have the knowledge or experience in either health care or the elderly to open a home.

“Did you find somewhere for them to go?”

“Yeah. After looking for a long time.” And promising to donate a ridiculous amount of money so the facility could build a hydrotherapy pool. The donation ensured his parents would jump the queue on a very long waiting list.

Andrew hated flashing his wealth, but when it came to his parents, he had no compunction doing whatever needed to be done to get them the best of everything.

“It’s big and institutional, but it’s modern, the care seems to be good and the rooms are okay. Cramped, but nice.” He’d hated it on sight. So had his father, but that had been an emotive response to a situation neither of them wanted to face.

“When does the big move take place?”

Andrew drew in a deep breath. “Next week. A couple days after I get home from the Hunter.”

Chapter Five

Father with pneumonia, mother with Alzheimer’s and the weight of responsibility for both sitting squarely on Andrew’s shoulders? No wonder his business partner had barred him from the office and sent him away for the long weekend.

Tori wanted to hug him tight, comfort him. She settled on burrowing her head into his neck.

“That must be just awful for you.”

He sighed heavily. “It’s worse for them.”

She shook her head sadly. “There’s very little dignity in aging, isn’t there?”

“Getting old sucks.”

“But it sounds like they had a good life together. Up until now.”

“They did. They were happy. Very happy.”

Which made Tori very sad all over again. Yes, Andrew’s parents might be facing a massive challenge, but they’d found each other. Married each other. Lived their lives together, and happily from the sounds of things. She’d never have that opportunity. Not anymore. The man she was supposed to live out the rest of her life with was no longer a part of her future.

“I think you’re amazing,” she whispered into his neck. He smelled amazing too. Musky and masculine. She’d always loved Declan’s expensive aftershave—until right now. Suddenly she preferred the earthy, natural scent of a man.

“Me?” He snorted in disbelief. “You think I’m amazing?”

“I do. What you’re doing takes an incredible amount of courage.”

“If you want to discuss courage, let’s talk about you.”

“Me?”
Yeah, let’s not.

“I think your being here, with me tonight, is incredibly courageous. Seeking happiness when you could be wallowing in self-pity.”

“Oh, I’m wallowing. Believe me.” Using Andrew for rebound sex wasn’t courageous. It was selfish.

She shifted in his lap, uncomfortable with how quickly he’d directed the conversation back to her and stunned by how much she’d wanted him.

Andrew groaned softly, and she lifted her head in time to see him grit his teeth.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m…fine.” His voice was hoarse.

She shifted again, seating herself more comfortably, and he emitted another groan, this one more anguished than the first.

“You don’t look fine.”

He closed his eyes and breathed deep. “Just…keep still, and all will be good. I promise.”

At which point Tori became aware of the hardened bulge pressing against her butt.

Ah-ha.

Mentally she shook her head, belatedly berating herself. She’d been so wrapped up in her own pain, her own need and her own pleasure, she’d failed to think about Andrew’s.

His interest in her had been obvious from the start—and it had served to increase her own level of arousal. Made her want him with a hunger that had cut through her heartache and her pain, blinding her to everything but him. But still, she’d taken, then taken again, and in her dazed state of satiation afterwards, had not thought to give. She’d simply snuggled into the hard, comforting warmth of his body and let him numb her pain.

He’d done too good a job. Not only had he numbed her to her pain, he’d numbed her to his pain too.

“You mean keep still as in don’t do this?” Deliberately she rolled her hip, so the side of her body undulated against him.

He grunted and took a good few seconds to respond. “Th-that’s exactly what I mean.”

“Oh. Okay.” This time when she shifted it was to turn in his arms and face him, wrapping her legs around his waist in the process. She would have locked her feet together behind his back, but the beam stood in her way, so she was forced to bend her knees and rest her feet on the ground. She leaned forward then and undulated her hips again, this time rolling her groin along the length of his erection. “So I can do this, and it won’t be a problem?”

Huh. It might not be a problem for him, but it sure was for her. Her action had just set her body on fire all over again.

For the second time, it took a while for Andrew to answer. “You can do that. As much as you like.” He sucked in a shallow breath. “But I reckon if you do, you’ll find yourself naked and flat on your back before you’ve taken your next breath.”

“That wouldn’t be so terrible.” No, that would be fucking amazing. Her breasts tightened and white heat raced through her body at the idea. She grinned and once again rolled her pussy over his hard cock.

Andrew surged forward, grabbing her by her waist. Her heart lurched, and she braced for impact, knowing he was about to flip her on her back.

But in an unexpected reversal of intent, Andrew dropped his hands and slumped back against the beam. He let out a frustrated moan, closed his eyes and banged his head against the beam, once, twice, three times.

She stared at him, stunned. “Y-you’re choosing a brain injury over a sure thing?” Because she was a sure thing. No question about it. All he needed to do was get her naked, and she was all his.