Tracy Solheim - Foolish Games

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The designs were coming to her fast and furiously now. Only they weren’t wedding gowns. Julianne gently swayed on a porch swing in the lush back garden of the Tide Me Over Inn sketching, of all things, baby clothes. Owen slept peacefully in his stroller, Sophie sitting Indian style on a blanket on the lawn next to him, sorting beads from a plastic container.

“Gwen Stefani designs baby clothes.” Sophie said around the string she held between her teeth. “And she’s cool. Besides, I’ll bet most of your former clients are having babies, and they’d probably buy anything you design. You should really try to market those.”

Julianne couldn’t help but smile at the young girl’s exuberance. The idea of creating an entire line of baby clothes had actually begun percolating in her head over the past few days, although she hadn’t given much thought to how “cool” her new venture might be. Unlike her elaborate, sophisticated bridal gowns, the baby clothes were bright, simple, and fun. Sebastian would have a fit because they screamed mass market, but Julianne wanted other mothers to be able to afford what she was creating. Not that she’d even mentioned the idea to her business manager. She hadn’t even told Will yet.

Glancing across the garden, she spied her husband chatting with Gavin and a few other men she’d seen around Chances Inlet these past few weeks. It was Memorial Day, and Patricia McAlister was hosting her annual picnic for the inn’s guests as well as her family and friends. After nearly four days of seclusion, Will and Julianne had ventured out into town again, this time as husband and wife in every sense. True, they hadn’t done much talking, at least not about anything involving their relationship. She still had no idea where their marriage would end up, but she felt a deeper connection to Will and a greater sense of optimism that things could work out eventually.

As if he sensed her watching him, Will looked over and their eyes met. Warmth pooled in her belly as her body registered the intense hunger in his eyes. He saluted her with his beer bottle before rejoining his conversation. Blushing, Julianne returned to her sketchpad, the lion on the onesie she drew grinning mischievously back at her as if he, too, could read her thoughts.

Could she share her ideas with Will? Julianne scrunched her eyes closed. She desperately wanted someone to share her life with. To share her dreams with. Nicky had been her imaginary partner for so many years. But now she wanted the real thing. She wanted Will. The problem was, she didn’t know if he wanted her. For anything more than sex, that is.

“Finished!” Sophie held up a beautiful lapis bracelet.

“Annabeth is going to have to change the sign on her shop to read ‘Antiques and Jewelry’ if you keep this pace up, Soph.”

The girl smiled. “This one isn’t for the shop. Mrs. McAlister commissioned it.”

“Ahh, cutting out the middleman already?”

Sophie’s face fell. “Ohmigosh! I didn’t mean to cut out Annabeth! Do you think she’ll care?”

Julianne doubted her mother-in-law would even notice, much less care. Annabeth’s attention was firmly fixed on Sophie’s father. She peered beyond the carriage house, down the lane, where the two had disappeared, hand in hand, nearly half an hour before. They’d gone to walk along the beach before dinner. Hank and Sophie were leaving tomorrow, and Julianne sincerely hoped this wouldn’t be the end of Annabeth and Hank’s blossoming relationship.

“Of course not,” she reassured Sophie. “I was just teasing. Annabeth will be thrilled you’re making something for her friend.”

“Oh, good, because I don’t want Annabeth to be mad at me. I really like her.” She looked at Julianne slyly. “Do you think she likes my dad?”

A pair of figures moved in the trees behind Sophie. Annabeth and Hank were locked in a serious kiss. Julianne bit back a laugh. “I think she might, actually.”

Will and Gavin made their way across the grass toward her. Uh-oh! If they come closer, her husband would have a perfect view of his mother and Hank. Will had been staring down the Blaze GM all afternoon, his caveman persona in full force.

Julianne leaped off the swing. “Would you mind watching Owen for a few minutes, Sophie? Will and I are just going to go for a quick walk.”

A quick walk in the opposite direction if she moved fast enough.

“Hi!” She tried to make it sound casual as she met them halfway.

“Hi yourself.” One of Will’s eyebrows inched up, as if he sensed she was up to something. “We were coming over to check on the baby.”

“He’s still sleeping.”

“Uh-huh.” Will eyed her warily. “Gavin hasn’t seen him in a week. I told him how Owen’s changed a lot since then.”

Gavin gave the halfhearted shrug of a guy doing whatever it took to appease his best friend.

“Oh, he has, Gavin,” she said earnestly. “You should go peek at him. His mustache has completely come in already.”

Will scowled at her while Gavin choked back a laugh.

She traced a finger down Will’s arm. “You were going to show me that tree with the trunk that grew in the shape of a heart, remember?”

Gavin snorted. “Jeez, Connelly, are you still using that old tree trunk line to lure girls into the woods?”

Will pinned his friend with his death stare.

“Fine.” Gavin put his hands up in front of his chest. “I’ll go check your son’s facial hair. Maybe I’ll take him to the barber while you two play in the woods.” Gavin ambled over to the stroller.

“So, what’s with your sudden interest in dendrology, Princess?”

His overstuffed brain was really obnoxious, especially poised as it was on the body of a virile Viking warrior.

She crossed her arms. “You told me about it, and now I want to see it for myself. Are you going to show me, or do I ask one of your fellow gym rats over there?” She pointed to the men he and Gavin had just separated from.

“If you’re gonna ask one of them, you probably shouldn’t use the word dendrology.”

Julianne huffed in frustration as she marched around the massive body that blocked her way and stormed toward the path into the woods. “Never mind. I’ll find it myself.”

The man was so infuriating! The heck with Annabeth and Hank. She was done protecting them. Let them face the wrath of William the Conqueror on their own.

With his long legs, Will caught up to her in three strides. No sooner had they rounded the corner of the garden shed than he had her pushed against the wall, his big body holding her prisoner. Julianne relaxed immediately into the warmth of his embrace, laying her cheek against his chest. She let her hands roam the length of his back while he nuzzled her ear.

“What am I going to do with you, Princess?”

“Mmm, I have a few suggestions.” She lifted her lips to his jaw.

Will kissed her temples, her eyelids, and the tip of her nose. She moaned, trying to pull his lips in for a kiss.

“Unh-uh.” He pulled his mouth away. “I’m trying to think of an appropriate punishment for you for running interference so I wouldn’t intercept my mother and Hank.”

Busted. Julianne leaned back against the Hardie board wall of the shed, her breathing uneven. “Really, Will. Why does this thing with your mom and Hank upset you so much?”

“Because I don’t want to see her hurt!”

“She’s a big girl.” She stroked a hand over his muscular chest. “And I think Hank must really feel something for her. Or else why would he risk angering his team’s star player? He’s risking a lot for a relationship with your mom.”

Will’s eyes shuttered as his giant brain processed her theory, clearly an idea he hadn’t considered before.

Julianne arched back into his body, her lips making a beeline for his jaw. “Besides, this part is kind of fun. Sneaking around and all that. Can you blame your mom?”

His big body trembled. “Julianne, that’s not the mental picture I want to have of my mother and Hank Osbourne.”

She laughed as she slid a finger into the waistband of his shorts, gently tracing the warm, soft skin beneath. Will instantly stiffened, his lips finding that sweet spot where her neck met her shoulder.

“This is what I wanted. I wanted you to drag me back here because you missed me.” His breath against her skin made her shiver with need. “Because you want me.”

For such a smart man, he was really an idiot sometimes. Did he not see how much she wanted him every moment? How much she needed him? How much power he had over her?

“Oh, God, Will. Don’t you get it?” she confessed, giving him the power to destroy her if he wished. “I miss you whenever you leave the room. I miss you as soon as you leave my body. Sometimes . . . sometimes it’s so overwhelming that I’m beginning to think I really am bat crazy.”

“It’s bat-shit crazy. And I think we both probably are.” And then he finally kissed her.

“Home sweet home.” Will’s whole body was tense as he stood with Julianne just outside the double-wide trailer in the Seaside Vista Trailer Park, where he’d grown up. The aluminum exterior had been painted some sort of blue shade before the sun had had its way with it. His mother’s once-prized rosebushes wilted in the hot afternoon sun, years’ worth of neglect dragging down any buds hearty enough to attempt to bloom. The wooden sunporch Will had constructed with Gavin and Gavin’s dad was in dire need of a fresh coat of paint.

He cringed as he saw his childhood home through Julianne’s eyes. When he and his mother had lived there, the trailer park had been neat and well maintained. Now, the place just looked . . . tired. The term vista was stretching it twenty years ago. Today, it was laughable.

“Do you think any of your old neighbors still live here?”

Will wandered over to the hive of mailboxes, checking the names on the slots, but most had worn off. “I doubt it. It was a pretty transient place. Most of the kids who lived here ended up in trouble at some point. All the parents, if they even had one, worked, and there wasn’t much supervision for kids outside school. If it weren’t for the McAlisters, I would probably have ended up in juvie, too. Having a safe place to go when my mom worked gave me opportunities the kids who lived here never had.”

He stood, hands on his hips, and tried to conjure up any good memories of his old home. Sadly, Will couldn’t.

“I can’t believe my mother lived in this dump for nearly twenty years.” He hadn’t wanted her to live here alone when he’d been at Yale, but his mother was stubborn. It seemed stubborn women were his lot in life. “The first dollar I got, I bought her a house.” Unfortunately, that first dollar he’d earned could destroy a dozen NFL careers, including that of his former coach, if it came out how he’d earned it.

“I doubt it was a dump when you lived here. Annabeth may not have been able to give you much, but I’m sure what she could provide was at least clean and tidy.” She lifted Owen out of his stroller and began to point out the birds and the few visible flowers to him.

He wasn’t sure why he felt it so important to take Julianne on this trip down memory lane, but he wanted her to see why their son should never want for anything. Once they’d arrived at the trailer park, however, he’d felt extremely uncomfortable. He was revealing more to her than he’d planned .

“This place made you who you are, Will. Living here pushed you to succeed beyond your wildest dreams. You should never be ashamed of that. Especially not with me.” She stretched up and kissed the side of his mouth. It wasn’t nearly enough for him and he captured her mouth in a hot kiss, tangling his tongue with hers until Owen head-butted him on the jaw.

“Oww!” He rubbed the side of his face. “You’ve definitely got the head of a linebacker. Come here, Cheerio. Let’s take Mommy for a walk to the beach.”

Julianne hesitated. She’d been making progress with her driving, but the beach was a different prospect all together. Will hadn’t been able to coax her off the verandah since they’d arrived in Chances Inlet.

He reached for her hand. “It’ll be okay. Owen and I will be right there with you.”

She slid her small hand into his, trust emanating from her eyes. Since that first night on Sea Island, she’d trusted him. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve her faith, but her confidence humbled him.

Pushing the stroller in front, the three of them trod the dirt path through the woods he’d taken hundreds of times before. Except now he wasn’t a lonely young boy, but part of a family. A family he hadn’t known he’d have over a month ago. Yet the baby in his arms and the woman whose hand he held firmly were now his responsibility. Somehow, that thought didn’t seem quite as daunting as it once did.