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“You had a banana, gioia? How wonderful.” She slid her hands under the baby, her wrist brushing the inside of Tick’s biceps, her breast in the damp bikini top pressing against his forearm as they shifted Lee from his hold to hers. The simple contact, the warmth and smell of her, set off a heavy lick of arousal below his navel.

He was pitiful.

She set the abandoned bottle aside and cuddled Lee into her shoulder. With a contented murmur, he rested his face against her neck, plucking at her damp hair.

Tick shook his head. The kid lived to be close to her, and his daddy understood that completely. One foot propped on the stool rung, he tilted his head toward the coffeemaker. “Coffee’s fresh. Want some?”

“In a little while.” She smiled her thanks and bent to settle Lee on the mat and offer his octopus. “I need to express since I didn’t catch him. We’ll be right back outside, so there’s no valid reason to shower yet.”

He could think of one or two, since they always had the same suite when they joined her family for the week here and they’d gotten up to some interesting things in the large glass-and-marble cubicle. But an emotional component threaded through this dry spell, too, and he craved that closeness and intimacy as much — okay, more than — he craved making love with her.

The sex could wait. Spending time with her couldn’t.

She leaned in to kiss him, a quick brush of her lips over his, and he folded a hand about her nape, sand and salt under his fingertips, bringing her mouth back to his a moment longer. Caressing the delicate line of her neck, he held her gaze. “I love you.”

“And I love you.” Her smile, soft and intimate, the one he treasured, warmed him. She curved her hand along his waist, palm warm on his skin under his t-shirt.

“Go do what you need to do.” He stroked behind her ear with his index finger. “I’ve got him, and I’ll pull us some breakfast together.”

“Excellent. Thank you.” With another quick kiss, she pulled away and sashayed down the hall to their room.

His gaze on the sway of her hips in those cheeky bikini bottoms, Tick levered off the stool and went to pour a cup of coffee. Did she do that to him on purpose or what?

Chapter Twenty-Four

Trust Me

With a sea breeze flirting with her hair and ruffling the edges of the umbrella, Caitlin lounged in a low chair, idly rubbing Lee’s back while he grumbled and fought a nap. At the edge of the damp sand, Eva and her cousins built an elaborate if lopsided sand castle, and to her left, Tick had Eleanor on the sand, tossing a football.

Sun glinted off his dark hair and muscles flexed in his torso and arms as he backed up a couple of steps, then stepped forward for his throw. A grin lit his face at Eleanor’s skilled catch, the one he’d been building in her since she was six. The sheer joy on his face set off an ache in her chest.

He was amazing, everything she’d ever wanted, everything she hadn’t even known she wanted, and she needed her libido to wake up and remember that.

The guilt didn’t help. She wanted to want to sleep with him, for them to be all they’d been before Lee’s birth. Her brain was on board . . . her body seemed to have other ideas, gifting her with fatigue and sexual disinterest. The up-and-down of their life the last year or so hadn’t helped, and now she cringed at the flare of desire in his dark gaze instead of welcoming the emotion, each time offering another opportunity to fail him.

She rested her lips against the silk of Lee’s hair. Her therapist advised her to be forgiving of herself, to relax, to talk to him, but what exactly was she supposed to say?

I love you, but am completely over sex right now seemed like a winner.

The few times she’d followed some asinine online advice and made love with him, expecting her body to follow her brain’s decision, had gone over just as well. The interludes rang of forced inauthenticity, leaving her emotionally frustrated and feeling even more of a disappointment.

She was failing, in the most basic way possible.

Eleanor broke away, walking toward the house, and Tick jogged toward Caitlin’s umbrella, dropping the football on the sand before he leaned down to kiss her, hand warm on her outer thigh. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Sunscreen and clean male sweat wafted over her. Grabbing his water bottle, he settled in the chair next to her.

He took a long swig, muscles moving in his throat then gestured at Lee in her arms. “He’s asleep.”

She tilted her head to find Lee snoozing, dark lashes dusting his cheeks.

Slumped in a boneless sprawl in his chair, Tick nudged her knee with his. “We should clean up while he naps, then take a walk downtown when he wakes up.”

Pleasure at the idea filled her, but she hesitated. Time together meant more opportunities to see that frustrated desire in his gaze, more opportunities to disappoint him — not that walking around the small shopping district would involve very many moments considered sexy.

And she missed spending uncomplicated time with him, their days filled with the children and work, not to mention two dogs and the responsibilities of home.

She tucked her hair behind her ear. “That sounds like an excellent idea.”