Landing the Big Ones [Hedon Falls] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  Oh shit! She raised her eyes to find the man’s eyes looking right at her. Heat rose through her neck and cheeks, and she knew she was turning bright red. She tried to turn away but moved too quickly and tripped. Her hands flew out in front of her as she fell, trying to keep herself upright.

  * * * *

  Liam Dalton watched the brunette in front of him stumble and begin to fall. Without thinking, he leapt forward and pulled her into his arms to keep her from hitting the ground. She ended up leaning back against his arm as though they were dancing and he was beginning to lower her into a dip. Their eyes locked together. Liam already had a partial erection when she started to fall, but as he held her soft, warm body next to his and gazed into her deep brown eyes, he felt it surge to full strength against her hip. Her widening eyes told him that she could feel it. Liam nearly dropped her as he tried to straighten up. She clutched wildly at him to keep from falling. He groaned softly as her fingers dug into his arm. What the hell was happening to him?

  He finally managed to stand her upright, and they slowly pulled away from each other, their eyes still locked together.

  “Geez, Mom,” the boy said, rolling his eyes. “You’re such a klutz.”

  The woman gave a small laugh and turned her attention to the boy. “I guess I am,” she said softly to him.

  Liam took this brief moment to pick up a box containing an aquarium kit and held it down in front of his crotch, attempting to hide the hard-on that he knew she knew was there. “I’ll just take this up to the register,” he said quickly. “When you’ve picked out the other items, you can bring them up.” Without waiting for a response, he turned and strode quickly toward the front desk.

  He set the box down on the counter beside the cash register, grabbed a couple bags for the items they would be bringing up and a few pamphlets on starting an aquarium. As he worked, he kept sneaking glances at the woman and her son. He couldn’t figure out why he was reacting so strongly to her. He was certainly old enough that his cock didn’t stand at attention whenever a pretty woman walked by. And she was definitely pretty. Her dark brown hair hung in lush curls halfway down her back. It looked soft and he longed to plunge his hands into it. Especially if he could do it while kissing her thoroughly. Her lips were full and slightly pouty and her eyes were so dark that he hadn’t been able to really distinguish between the pupil and the iris. She had great tits. They were large and round and firm. Not bad at all considering she had a kid.

  The kid was pretty cute. His hair was lighter than hers and cut close to his head, the curls lying softly against his scalp. He had her nose, small and slightly upturned, and he was beginning to lose the chubbiness in his cheeks. He led her through the tank decorations, picking up numerous pieces and holding them out for his mother’s inspection.

  But the fact that she had a child meant that she probably also had a husband and Liam definitely didn’t like the idea that he was drooling over someone else’s wife. He pulled out some invoices to go through while he waited for them to finish and tried to get his mind off of her.

  He glanced up a few minutes later when she approached the register. She and the boy each had a small armload of items. Too many for the small tank, but Liam had to smile. The boy’s enthusiasm reminded him of his own fascination with fish. He gently explained to the child that the tank wouldn’t hold so many decorations and helped him whittle his choices down to something more reasonable. Finally he began to ring up all their purchases. As he scanned the last item, he asked, “Would you like to become a member of our Dalton’s Deals loyalty program? It’s free to join. You would get coupons and advance notice of sales. Plus, you save ten percent on your first purchase.”

  “I have a feeling we’ll be back a few more times,” the woman said. “So I guess we should get it.”

  “Great!” Liam replied. “I just need a little information and then you’ll be all set.” He proceeded to get her address, phone number, and e-mail and enter them into the computer. Her name was Serena. It suited her.

  “Okay, Mrs. Keegan,” he said when he had completed the bill. “That will be $183.46.”

  She blinked at him. “Did you forget to put on the ten percent discount?” she asked, confused.

  “I put the discount on already,” Liam told her.

  “Wow,” she replied, handing over her credit card. “I had no idea that keeping fish was such an expensive undertaking. And it’s Ms. Keegan,” she added.

  Liam smiled. “No problem, Ms. Keegan,” he said brightly. He ran her credit card through the machine, bagged her purchases, and then said good-bye.

  As he watched them walk out, he found himself eagerly awaiting their return to pick out some fish.

  Chapter 2

  Sam helped Serena carry their new equipment into the building. He babbled excitedly the entire time.

  “I want to put the aquarium by the living room window, because then the fish can look out,” he said. “And I’m going to put the green rocks down first, and then the orange ones on top. I think I want to put the purple plant on the left. Or maybe in the middle. Where do you think it should go?”

  And so it continued. Serena couldn’t help but smile at her son’s enthusiasm, though the constant chatter was starting to get on her nerves. They set the aquarium on an end table near the window, Sam adjusting it a few more times until it was just the way he wanted it. Then he grabbed a bucket from under the sink and began to fill it with the vegetable sprayer from the sink. When it was full, he tried to pick it up and discovered that it was too heavy for him.

  “Mom!” he yelled. Serena went to help him out. Together they carried the bucket to the aquarium without sloshing too much water onto the carpet and poured it in. It took another two trips before the tank was full.

  Serena looked at the other stuff they had there. She figured the filter pump should go next, so she opened the box and they read the instructions. They set the filter on the side of the tank and turned it on. Immediately, water began to run into it and out again. They smiled at their success. The heater was next. It had suction cups that stuck to the glass and as Serena put her hands in the tank, she reflected that she could have done that while the tank was still empty. Next, they stuck a thermometer to the side of the tank to make sure the water stayed at the right temperature. Finally, it was time to add the decorations. Sam carefully dumped in the gravel and then fussed about with the other decorations, trying to arrange them in a way he liked. Serena smiled as she watched him, up to his elbows in the aquarium, debating the virtues of putting the sunken ship near the front or the back of the tank.

  “I’m going to make lunch, sweetie,” she said to Sam, who called back an absentminded acknowledgment.

  As Serena prepared the sandwiches, she found her thoughts wandering back to the man at the aquarium store. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the ditzy way she’d behaved. He was so damn hot that it got her flustered. But a different flush suffused her body as she recalled the feel of his hard-on against her hip. She smiled. It was nice to know she could still have that kind of effect on a man. But she wasn’t one for casual affairs. She couldn’t be when she had an impressionable child in the house. And she definitely didn’t want a long-term relationship. If Sam got really attached to a man and then the man left, well, she didn’t want to put him through that. But as thoughts of the man from the store continued swirling through her head, she knew her vibrator would get a good workout tonight. She squirmed slightly in anticipation.

  She brought the sandwiches and veggie sticks out to the living room, and they looked at the aquarium while they ate. It was really neat, and she was looking forward to having the fish. Especially since they’d have to go back to the store to get them.

  * * * *

  Exactly one week later, Sam woke her by jumping on the bed. How she’d ever managed to produce a morning person, she’d never know. She got out of bed and jumped in the shower and found herself fussing more with her hair than she had last week. But when the cu
rls refused to behave, she gave up and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She picked out and rejected five different outfits before deciding she was being stupid and grabbed her yoga pants. She pulled on a thong so she wouldn’t have a panty line, just in case anyone decided to check out her butt. Not that she wanted them to check out her butt. Well, maybe just a little.

  Sam knocked on the door. “Are you ready yet? You’re taking forever!”

  Serena quickly finished dressing and then left the room. Sam was most distressed when he found out she expected him to eat breakfast before buying fish.

  “But Mom!” he whined. “I can eat afterwards if we just go to the store now!”

  “Forget it, mister,” she replied. “You can’t pick out fish on an empty stomach.”

  So he grumbled some more but polished off his Cheerios quickly. And then they were on their way back to Dalton’s Aquariums and More! Serena was definitely liking the “more” part of the store. As they entered, the gorgeous man from last week looked up from the cash register and smiled. A slow, delicious warmth spread through Serena as she remembered the starring role he’d had in her fantasies over the past week. Not watching where she was going, she caught her toe on the doormat and stumbled forward. She managed to catch herself before she fell, but she was mortified. Diligently avoiding the man’s gaze, she followed Sam to the fish displays, glad to have something to move on to.

  Sam was babbling about the different kinds of fish, spouting out facts he had discovered on the internet. Serena tried to keep up, but couldn’t help replaying the stumbling scene at the door and cursing herself for her clumsiness.

  “Hi!” Sam sang out. “We’re back to get our fish!”

  Serena looked up to see the man there. He was listening intently to Sam, but she noticed he kept shooting glances her way. Did he remember her? God, Serena! The man had his hard cock pressed up against you. Odds are he remembers!

  “The mollies are pretty easygoing fish,” the man said to Sam. “And the guppies are nice first fish.”

  “I want to get four guppies and a molly and one of those sucker fish and maybe some tetras!”

  “Whoa, buddy,” the man said. “You can only get three fish at a time.”

  “Why?” Sam asked.

  Serena noticed the name on the man’s tag said Lance. It suited him. It was a sexy soap opera name, and he looked like he should be on television. As she stared, she realized that, again, he had been talking to her and she was busy daydreaming.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “What was that?”

  “I asked how big the tank was,” he replied, smiling.

  “Well, I’m not really sure,” she said. Airhead, she shouted at herself. It was awful. She could feel herself acting stupid, knew she was acting stupid, but seemed powerless to stop it. Glancing around for a solution, her gaze lighted on another box like the one they had bought the previous week. “Oh! It’s just like that one over there.” She began to walk toward it but tripped again.

  Déjà vu, she thought as she fell forward. This time, though, Lance wasn’t fast enough to stop her fall, and she ended up facedown on the concrete floor before everything went black.

  * * * *

  Lance Dalton cursed himself as he knelt beside the beautiful woman who lay unconscious on the floor of his store. His twin brother, Liam, had told him she was accident prone, but he’d been standing too far away to catch her as she tripped.

  “Mom!” the little boy yelled as he, too, dropped down beside her. “Mom, are you okay?”

  The woman didn’t move. Shit! What should I do? “Laura!” he bellowed, and a teenage girl popped her head out of the office.

  “Yeah, Lance?”

  “Call 9-1-1. She tripped and hit her head on the floor.” Laura dashed back into the office, and Lance turned his attention back to the woman. He could see her back rising and falling, so she was breathing, but she wasn’t regaining consciousness.

  The boy looked up at him, eyes wide. “Is she okay?” he whispered.

  Lance looked back and said, “I hope so, buddy. The ambulance will be here soon, and they’ll be able to tell us.”

  Even as he spoke the words, he heard the sirens. He was pleased with their great response time. Laura met them at the door as the paramedics entered the store, pushing a stretcher with a spinal board on top of it. She led them to where Lance now stood beside the woman.

  “She tripped and fell,” he said. “I think she hit her forehead right on the concrete and she’s been unconscious for about four minutes now.”

  The paramedics knelt beside her and checked her breathing and pulse. “Her pulse and respiration are still good,” a female paramedic said. They peered down at her head and quickly talked amongst themselves before deciding to put her on the spinal board. They worked very carefully to get her strapped to the flat, yellow board and then lifted her gently onto the stretcher.

  “Mom?” Sam cried. “Where are you taking her?”

  The male paramedic responded. “She’s got to go to the hospital. We’ll make sure she gets better.”

  “Can I come along?” Sam said.

  “Sorry,” said the female paramedic. “We aren’t allowed to take passengers in the ambulance.”

  “But they do it on TV all the time!” Sam protested.

  “I’ll take you,” Lance said. “I’ll stay with you until she’s better.”

  “Okay,” he said, and he slipped his small hand into Lance’s much larger one.

  Lance stood looking at the boy’s hand in his and felt something foreign stirring inside him. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew that he’d do whatever he could for the boy. Lance picked up the woman’s purse and fished her car keys out.

  “We’ll take your mom’s car so that it’s at the hospital for her later,” he said.

  “But how will you get back?”

  “I’ll have my brother come and get me.”

  “Get you from where?” Liam said as he came through the front door. “And why is that ambulance driving away from here?”

  “Hey!” cried Sam. “You guys are twins!”

  Lance smiled down at him. “Yes, we are.” To his brother he said, “This little guy’s mom tripped and fell, but I couldn’t get to her in time. She hit her head on the floor and passed out.”

  “Shit,” said Liam. Then he glanced down at Sam and said, “Sorry, buddy. I meant darn.”

  “It’s okay,” Sam said. “My mom says that all the time.”

  Lance laughed. “What’s your name, buddy?”

  “Sam.”

  “Okay, Sam. Let’s get going.”

  * * * *

  Serena’s head hurt. Had she had too much to drink the night before? That wasn’t like her. She tried to move and found that she couldn’t. She was tied down to something and couldn’t move her head, her arms, or her legs.

  “What the…” she said, groggily.

  “She’s coming around,” she heard a female voice say. “Ma’am? Ma’am, can you hear me?”

  Serena tried to open her eyes but the light was too intense. She settled for moaning a bit.

  “Ma’am, can you tell me your name?”

  Serena swallowed and managed to whisper, “Serena.”

  “How old are you, Serena?”

  “Thirty-two.”

  “Where do you live?”

  Serena was getting frustrated with all the questions. Did they think she was two years old? Who were these people any—suddenly the memory hit her. The aquarium store, tripping, falling toward the floor.

  “Sam!” she cried, and then she moaned when pain shot through her head.

  “You live in Sam?”

  “No! I live in Hedon Falls. Sam is my son and we were at the aquarium store…”

  “Relax, Serena,” the woman said. “You’re in an ambulance and your husband is bringing your son behind us.”

  “But I’m not married!” she said.

  “Your boyfriend, then.”

  “No! I was
n’t with anyone. Who has my son?” The shouting was making her head ache.

  “There was a man at the store,” said the paramedic, using the same tone usually reserved for small children and people with dementia. “He’s going to bring your son to the hospital.”

  Serena tried a different approach. “What did the man look like?”

  “He was hot,” the paramedic said, and giggled. “Brown hair and eyes, nice…build.”

  “Lance,” Serena said, relaxing. “It was the man who works at the store. That’s okay.”

  “He wasn’t your husband or boyfriend?” the paramedic asked.

  “No.”

  “So he’s available?” she said eagerly.

  Serena groaned in pain. “Oh, my head!”

  Resuming her professional persona, the paramedic asked Serena where it hurt and tried to examine what she could see. It wasn’t long before they arrived at the hospital and she was bumped and jostled as they lifted the stretcher out and wheeled it into the emergency room. She heard the paramedics reporting to the nurses, but her head hurt too much to concentrate on what they were saying. They took her to the x-ray department right away to determine if there was any damage to her spine. When they finished, they wheeled her back to the emergency ward and moved her to a bed. Someone placed an ice pack on her forehead.

  Serena was starting to drift off to sleep when she heard a familiar voice.

  “I wanna see my mom!”

  “Sam!” Serena cried softly.

  “Please,” said the radio announcer. “Just let him see that his mother is okay.” Why was the guy on the radio talking about her?

  She heard the curtain pull back.

  “Mom!”

  Serena tried to turn her head, but it was still strapped to the board and couldn’t. She tried to open her eyes but the lights were too bright. Feebly, she said, “I’m here, Sam. I’ll be okay.”