Chapter Twenty-One

T allulah walked into a dream.

She’d been to the New England Aquarium on a few occasions, and it never failed to stupefy her with its high ceilings and underwater atmosphere. Most of the time, there were crowds blocking the glass or field trip leaders shouting at their charges to stop running, but at nine o’clock at night, there was no one home.

Apart from the nightguard who’d let them in, there wasn’t a single other soul at the aquarium. Only Tallulah and Burgess. Free to roam anywhere without so much as a ticket.

“How did you do this?” she breathed, walking through the cavernous space, turning in a slow, awestruck circle to take it all in. It was so quiet, she could hear their footsteps, the sound of the filters running in the giant tanks full of colorful fish, the ripple of water.

“I don’t use my name to pull favors very often in Boston, but...” He walked along behind her, hands shoved into the pockets of his pants. “Found the most worthy reason.”

Tallulah pressed her hands to the sides of her face and squeezed until it kind of hurt. “I can’t believe you did this. I can’t believe it. I don’t even know where to start.” Spinning around like a kid in a candy store, Tallulah stopped when her attention landed on Burgess and she realized she knew exactly where to begin. Without second-guessing the impulse, she took three big steps and launched herself at him, his now familiar grunt bringing a dreamy smile to her face, especially when those big arms picked her up off the ground, his nose inhaling the scent of her unbound hair. “Thank you, Burgess. We just got here and I already know I’ll never forget this.”

He kissed her temple. “Take your time, Tallulah. Enjoy it.”

Oh boy. What was the intense pressure behind her eyes all about? Was it the fact that this man had thought about what mattered to her and delivered? Or was it the insufferable, cardiovascular tug that was becoming the norm around Burgess? Could she reasonably pretend anymore that she didn’t want to be with him? It was too much to think about right now when her emotions were spiking out of pure ecstasy. “You’re going to enjoy it with me, because I’m going to show you everything!” She wiggled out of his hold until her feet touched the ground, then grabbed his hand and started pulling him along. “Pretend I’m your tour guide.”

He made a low sound in his throat and she could feel his gaze lingering on the backs of her thighs, left exposed by the purple mini dress she’d worn tonight. “Guide me anywhere you want, gorgeous. I can keep up.”

Sensitivity crept up her arms, spreading to her breasts and the slopes of her shoulders. She didn’t need to turn around to remember how good he looked tonight—the image of him walking into the living room in a black button-down shirt, gray dress pants, and a belt was going to be engraved on her brain for as long as she lived. His hand was large and reassuring around hers, their fingers weaving together naturally. So natural. Just like being around him with her guard down felt now. Perfect. Easy. Like breathing.

“We can’t go see the penguins first, because I’ll never be able to move on to anything else,” she said, not surprised to find her voice sort of feathery. “Let’s start with the green sea turtle. Last time I was here, Myrtle was under the weather. I hope she’s back—” Tallulah gasped as they turned the corner and the majestic creature came into view, paddling happily through her sizeable habitat. “There she is!”

“Myrtle?” Tallulah could hear the smile in his voice.

“Yes, Myrtle. She’s kind of a big deal around here.” She guided Burgess all the way to the glass, not giving the slightest resistance when he came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and settling her back against his chest. “Um...” Oh lord, she was startling to become a little aroused . All the touching, the way they gravitated together every chance they got, the proximity becoming more and more intimate, made her panties feel...

Like a hindrance.

They were wet already, simply from holding his hand, knowing how his palms felt molding her breasts, stroking her hair encouragingly while she knelt in front of him. Now instead of looking into the glass and seeing beautiful Myrtle, she saw only the way her boss towered over her protectively, his athletic frame dwarfing her.

“You were saying, Tallulah?”

Stop thinking about sex. “Oh. Yes. Myrtle has been at this aquarium for fifty years, isn’t that wild? A green sea turtle might weight three hundred pounds on average, but Myrtle weighs in at an impressive five hundred and fifty pounds.” A laugh tripped over her lips. “She’s, like, the Sir Savage of the New England Aquarium.”

Burgess’s big chest rumbled behind her, the bristles of his beard finding the curve of her neck and rubbing there. “I wouldn’t want to square off against her.”

“Smart man,” she managed, tilting her neck even further and going up on her toes, sighing when he sucked on a patch of skin. “Good man. Very, very good... man.”

“As far as tour guides go, Tallulah, you’re very easy to distract.”

“Maybe we should skip to the penguins,” she blurted, tearing herself away while fanning her face, much to Burgess’s visible enjoyment. Pursing her lips, she took him by the wrist and continued to pull him along, knowing the route to the penguin colony by heart. It lay in the direction they’d come from, near the giant ocean tank, but up a winding concrete ramp where they could look down into the rocky habitat from above. As soon as she looked over the railing, nostalgia and a sense of connection cranked a handle in her chest. “Oh,” she whispered. “There they are.”

As if Burgess realized this was an emotional moment for her, he didn’t make contact, leaning beside her on the rail, instead. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” She pressed three fingers to the space beneath her collarbone where the burden had concentrated itself. “Sometimes on a research project, you get really connected to individual animals. We can’t touch or interact with them directly or we could upset the balance of the colony, but I did watch a penguin named Kirk extra carefully.” She pointed. “He was an Adelie, like that little guy down there.”

“I don’t call things cute, but if I did...” He shrugged. “I’d say he’s cute.”

Tallulah laughed. “Kirk used to play pranks on the other penguins. At first, I thought I was imagining it, but there were too many coincidences. Skidding in behind his friend on a glacier and knocking him off. Or, there was an Adelie who had a more exaggerated waddle than the others and Kirk imitated him behind his back. I’ve never seen scientists laugh so hard.” She let out a wistful breath. “It’s hard not knowing what will happen to him.”

“I’m sure he’s got some good prank playing years left in him.”

“I hope so.” She studied Burgess’s profile. “Did you have pets growing up?”

“Sure.” His expression warmed. “I had a husky named Dunk.”

“You did ?” Tallulah furiously tried to picture a serious giant teenager with his trusty dog and found it made her pulse go out of whack. “Why did you name him Dunk?”

“We gave him a treat the day he came home from the shelter and he dunked it in some water. He was an older dog. Think he’d figured out the water made the treat easier on his teeth.”

“Smart boy,” crooned Tallulah.

“Yeah. He was. Couldn’t bring him to my league games, though. He wouldn’t stop barking because he thought everyone was trying to attack me.”

“He should have been worried about everyone else.”

“That’s what I told him. He wouldn’t listen.”

A smile spread across Tallulah’s face and she found herself missing his touch, the curves of his muscles against her softness, his breath on her skin. And so she eased in between him and the concrete wall, savoring the reunion of her breasts on his abdomen, the drag of her hips on his meaty upper thighs, the wind of her arms around his neck. “You have no idea how happy this made me. Bringing me here.” She sank her fingers into the back of his hair, razing his scalp with her nails, and just like last night, his eyes glazed over at the treatment.

“Tallulah,” he said, his tone a cross between formal and winded. “I’m in a position to make you even happier.” He tried to get serious, like he was delivering a business proposal, but her thumbs stroked his ears and he lost the inclination, shuddering. A big bear who just wanted to be petted and scratched. “I’ll bring you here every night, if that’s what you want.”

Tallulah gave a casual head tilt, even though there was dramatic rapping in her chest. “Do you think promising me aquarium trips will make me agree to be your girlfriend?”

“It’s worth a shot.” He framed her face in his hand, studying her features one at a time. Lips, nose, chin, eyes. “If this doesn’t work, I’ll try something else. And something else after that...”

He’d stolen her breath. She didn’t think such a thing was possible, but there she stood, unable to find a single ounce of oxygen floating around.

Tallulah hadn’t come to Boston with an eye toward finding a romantic partner. Hadn’t even considered it. She was still finding her sea legs, learning how to live in the real world again without distrust and paranoia. Moreover, she never would have paired herself up with a divorced single father, eleven years her senior, who didn’t like going out or being spontaneous or embracing the unknown. Burgess was mostly set in his ways, unlike her—or who she wanted to be.

Still, even at twenty-six, she knew this feeling wouldn’t come around again.

Nor would she find someone so caring and noble and steadfast.

This man was a treasure, and giving up would be something she regretted for a long time. Maybe even the rest of her life. So, she wouldn’t. She physically couldn’t . He’d slowly knit himself into the fabric of her existence.

“What if I agree to be your girlfriend regardless of aquarium trips?” she said quietly, watching his big chest cease to rise and fall. Tallulah ran her hands down those significant pecs, his hard stomach and back up, nearly purring at the access she had to this perfect beast, joining her wrists behind his neck again. God , she couldn’t stop touching him. “What would you say to that?”

A knot climbed in his throat. “Tallulah, are you being serious?”

“Yes,” she said, lifting onto her tiptoes and kissing the underside of his bearded chin. “I want to be your girlfriend. Do you still want to be my boyfriend?”

“Do I—” he growled, jolting a little. “Yes.”

“I guess it’s settled then.” She rubbed their mouths together, giving the seam a playful lick. “Do we get official T-shirts or something?”

“Tallulah,” he said raggedly, lifting her off the ground without warning, making her yelp. Scratch that, he literally threw her up into the air and caught her with a forearm beneath her ass, making it oh so easy to circle his waist with her legs, giving her a very rare chance to look down into the face of a giant, instead of up. And her heart was flooding with so much happiness, her decision was the right one. She knew it down to the tips of her toes. While she planted kisses all over Burgess’s face, he marched her right, then left, his gait stilted. “Where the hell are we? I have no sense of direction right now.”

“Then why don’t we stay right here?” she breathed, pressing their foreheads together and lingering, memorizing the sensation of his breath, how it joined with her own.

“Okay, yeah. Right here. Fine. I can’t fucking believe it.” He’d gone hoarse. “You’re my girlfriend.”

“You’re my boyfriend.” She coaxed his mouth open with brushes of her lips, their tongues meeting in a single touch, a groan shaking through the ample breadth of his body. “Should we talk about what that means?”

“You’re really going to give me specifics?” Intensely hopeful eyes searched hers. “No more pretending it’s a massage?”

“No more pretending it’s a massage.” She kissed him through his visible show of relief and gratitude, wishing she’d given it to him sooner. “Being your girlfriend means you’re no longer my bodyguard. When we go on adventures together, it’s simply a date.”

“I’m still going to guard you,” he blustered.

“I know.”

His chest vibrated against her. “What else does being exclusive mean?”

“Exactly what you said. We’re exclusive.”

“You’re all mine,” he rasped, drawing her head to one side and sucking hard on her neck, like a barbarian claiming a mate. And dude, it was really, really working for her.

“Uh-huh.” She slid down his body a couple of inches until his erection was lodged between her thighs, rocking herself against it once, twice. “And you’re all mine.”

“Ah, gorgeous. I’ve been yours since California.”

A severe tug of her heart made her slightly dizzy. “I’m going to come to your games.”

“And wear my sweatshirt?”

“I might have to spring for a jersey.”

He let out a torrent of breath and dropped back a step, as if that possibility was too much for him to handle. “I won’t be able to concentrate.”

“Maybe it’ll be easier after we spend a few nights taking off the edge.” She rubbed herself side to side against his arousal, allowing her weight to push down on it more and more until he caught her ass in a bruising grip, keeping her in this one spot, tilting his hips and treating her to little bounces. “Is that the spot?” she whispered in his ear, her nipples and thighs tingling when he moaned in the affirmative. “I’m going to learn all of them tonight. That’s what being my boyfriend means.” She gave his ear a long, slow lick. “You get to take me home, strip me naked, and fuck me. However you want. As hard as you want.”

“ Christ ,” he hissed through his teeth, both of his hands up her skirt now, inside her panties to work her buttocks in a frustrated massage. “You’re killing me. I’m serious. I won’t make it to the car.”

“Yes, you will. You’re Sir Savage. That stamina is legendary.” She kissed him fully on the mouth now, in between pants of breath, her hips hitching up and back now, faster and faster, swallowing the growls he issued from his throat. “I can’t wait to test it out.”

Burgess’s expletive echoed through the aquarium as he started to walk, carrying her in long strides toward the exit. “What do you know? My sense of direction is back.”

She buried her face into his neck and giggled, feeling like she was drunk. Or high. Or both. Just completely overcome with jubilation and lust and her connection to this man who touched her so gently one moment, aggressively the next. Her boyfriend.

And holy hell, she’d already fallen for him. Hard.

B urgess could barely remember the drive home.

Actually, no. He remembered it in vivid, painful detail, he just didn’t remember any landmark they passed or if he’d obeyed a single traffic law. Because Tallulah had her hand on his aching cock, stroking him through his jeans, and he’d harnessed every iota of his willpower to keep himself from coming. Or begging her to suck him.

Do not.

Do not do either of those things.

He had too much to look forward to tonight. Escorting his girlfriend home would have been enough to make his life, but in a matter of minutes, he’d have a one in a million opportunity to be inside of the hottest, most intelligent, passionate, funny, caring, interesting...

“Can I unzip you?” she murmured in his ear, sounding... Jesus, kind of pouty? Like she would cry if he said no. “I just want to give it a kiss.”

Mother of . . .

What had he been saying?

His brain had turned into an actual head of cauliflower. Useless.

“Please God, I want to do this in my bed,” he rasped, desperately trying to calculate the amount of time it would take them to get home. Where are we? Wait, there’s the deli. He knew that deli. They were no less than a minute away. “Tallulah,” he growled, snagging her wrist and holding it away from his lap. “I promise, I’m going to have your skirt up around your tits in three minutes. If we’re not in my room when time is up, I’ll take you on the floor.”

Tallulah threw herself back into her seat, eyes closed, gulping in breaths and shuddering them back out. Mind blown. He’d not only convinced this incredible woman to be his girlfriend, but she was down bad for him, too. How the hell had he managed that? And damn, his heart was in this, too. He wanted to look into her eyes while their bodies were connected, wanted to make her feel safe and beautiful and gratified. Wanted to give her everything inside of him, lay it all out there, expose himself, be her best friend. Her addiction.

He wanted so much with her.

These admissions he made to himself were so huge, he almost missed The Beacon. But there it was, along with his reserved parking spot—and his tires screeched as he maneuvered into the space, anticipation clawing at his insides, his hands desperate to undress her slowly and touch every inch of her smooth skin. Kiss it. Bite it. Lick it.

Burgess turned off the ignition, got out, and jogged over to the passenger side, nearly ripping the door off its hinges in order to get her out. She fell into his arms and they stumbled around on the sidewalk, Tallulah on her toes, him leaning down to kiss her like it would be the last time. And—

A horn honked. Twice.

At first, Burgess didn’t pay it any attention, because he was used to being honked at in Boston. Good, let him get caught and photographed kissing his girlfriend. Bring it on. He hoped it ended up on the front page of the fucking Globe .

But the honk returned. Blaring. It was... close. Not simply somebody driving past.

“Burgess,” someone called—and his whole body stiffened. He knew that voice.

It was Ashleigh. His ex-wife.

Everything went to utter hell after that. So quickly, he couldn’t do anything to stop it.

Burgess looked back over his shoulder to find the absolute last thing he wanted to see, which was his ex-wife standing at the bumper of her car with an exaggerated wince on her face. And Lissa on the other side of the passenger side window with tears streaking down her cheeks.

A warning shot fired in the back of his head.

Something had gotten past the defense. He’d fucked up somehow, but he was too disoriented to figure it out now. Don’t worry, though, a few minutes later he would recall what he’d neglected to do—and he’d recall it big time.

“I’m sorry to show up like this. I tried calling. Todd had a family emergency, and we have to drive to Vermont tonight. I need Lissa to stay with you.” Ashleigh leaned to the side, waving at a stone-silent Tallulah. “Funny way to meet the new nanny, I guess.”

“Do not call her the nanny,” Burgess barked on instinct, his hackles rising. “Her name is Tallulah.”

Ashleigh crossed her arms. “She’s even younger than I was expecting. Don’t you think it’s a little much to be hooking up with someone under the same roof as your daughter?”

“It’s not hooking up. It’s not like that. And I don’t owe you an explanation.”

“You don’t? We share a kid. Part of co-parenting is—”

“Ashleigh,” Burgess said, seeing how much the argument was upsetting Lissa. “Let’s talk about this another time.”

His former wife followed his line of vision to the passenger side, her shoulders drooping, resigned and clearly concerned. “Yeah. Okay.” She reached the door handle. “Hey, Liss—”

Burgess’s daughter launched herself out onto the sidewalk before her mother had a chance to open the door. And when all her twelve-year-old fury was directed solely at Tallulah, not him or his ex, Burgess remembered what he’d missed with stunning clarity and his heart sank down into his boots.

“You promised me you weren’t going to steal my dad,” Lissa shouted, her voice high-pitched and wobbly. “You are such a liar!”

“Lissa!” Burgess roared out of pure shock. Steal him. Liar? “We’re going to calm down and talk about this, but there is no reason for you to speak to Tallulah like that. Apologize.”

“No.”

Burgess turned to apologize to Tallulah himself and found her usual glowing skin had paled, her attention locked on Lissa, and his pulse started to pound in his temples. This was bad. This situation was beyond a point where he could stop it from hurting Tallulah or his daughter. How had he failed so hard? “I’m sorry,” Tallulah whispered to Lissa. “When I told you that your father and I weren’t... I... it just happened—”

“I don’t care. They’ll never get back together now. I hate you.”

Tallulah blanched.

“Lissa, okay, that’s enough,” Ashleigh said, seeming a little caught off guard herself. “I might have asked about your father’s love life a few too many times and given you the wrong impression. Maybe at first there was some leftover jealousy, but now it’s pure curiosity. That’s all. Lissa, Dad and I are divorced. I’m engaged to Todd.”

“Yeah, but you’re not married yet.” She hit Tallulah with a glare so mean that even Burgess flinched. “If she hadn’t come here, there would still be a chance.”

Burgess didn’t know what else to do; he could only follow his instinct to protect Tallulah from the blow of Lissa’s emotional accusations, so he turned and wrapped her in his arms, whispering apologies into her hair, which was probably the absolute wrong thing to do. Lissa started sobbing and Tallulah, God, she was so stiff, her eyes beginning to water.

“Burgess, I’m sorry to do this, but I really have to go.” Ashleigh’s voice was quiet. “Todd’s mother is in the hospital with a complication from her surgery and I have the car. I can’t bring Lissa with me.”

“I’ll go,” Tallulah said, trying to pull away from him. “I’ll sleep at Chloe’s or something.”

“Absolutely not,” Burgess gritted, cradling her face in his hands, brushing away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. “This is where you live. Stay. You did nothing wrong.”

“No, I really think I should go. I’ll defuse the situation by leaving. It’s for the best.”

“Tallulah, please.”

But she was already ordering an Uber on her phone, her fingers shaking as she tapped the right buttons, her face stricken the entire time in a way that made him want to lie down and die. Because he couldn’t stop her from leaving, and on some level, he knew it was the only way to proceed at that moment. But as she climbed into the back of a black sedan moments later, misery clogged his throat while he watched her drive away, wondering if their relationship was too new, too fragile to survive the blow it had just been dealt.