Dominic had made a big production of taking off his coat and then all eyes turned to Gwen as she stood there, shifting nervously. “Hurry up, babe, so we can get started,” he’d called to her. Her eyes had shot daggers at him before she stiffened her spine and took her jacket off. His jaw had dropped because truthfully, he hadn’t expected that. He figured she’d make up some excuse about being cold. That laugh was on him because Max and Sam couldn’t stop staring at her chest. Damn, why had he thought it was a good idea to buy a shirt that he knew was too small?
She had taken her time putting the smock on and by the time she was finished, all three of the men in the room were sweating profusely. After that little show of defiance, though, she’d folded. Max and Sam had fawned all over her, and she’d been uncomfortable with their attention. Hell, it had started to get under his skin as well after a while. He just knew the little horny bastards were plotting ways to stage an impromptu wet T-shirt contest with Gwen as the sole contestant. Maybe there hadn’t been too much payback, after all, because he’d ended up suffering as much or more than she had. Luckily, feeding the penguins had almost been enough to make up for it.
When she reached him, he took her hand and led her toward the park. “Please tell me that you didn’t give them your autograph or phone number.”
She blushed adorably, before pulling her jacket close. “Ugh . . . no. I think Sam was working up the nerve to ask, though. They’re not exactly kids; haven’t they seen a woman’s breasts before?”
“Not like yours,” Dominic teased. “I get a little crazy myself when I look at them.” Gwen laughed softly beside him as they walked toward a crowded deli. He had already arranged earlier for a picnic lunch so they were able to bypass the bulk of the line. He carried their food toward a quiet, grassy spot under a big tree, and they settled there.
When they were finished with their sandwiches, he leaned back against the tree trunk and motioned for her to sit between his legs. He exhaled in contentment when her back met his chest and he curved his arms loosely around her. “This is nice,” she sighed, seeming to melt against him.
“It is,” he agreed, thinking that this had been one of the best days he’d spent in a while. Having sex with Gwen was amazing, but just spending leisure time with her also felt so damned right. “So,” he added, “I know you went to college in South Carolina and that you have a sister who bought you a zoo membership but tell me more. Does your family live near here?”
Gwen stretched lazily against him and he tried to block out the fact that she wasn’t wearing panties beneath her jeans. He wanted to enjoy this time with her without having his cock digging into her ass. There would be plenty of time for that later.
“My family lives in Columbia, which I’m sure you know is a couple of hours from here. My dad has his own landscaping business, and my mom handles his bookwork. My sister, Wendy, is married but has no children yet. She teaches the fifth grade and her husband, Peter, also works at the same school.”
“Hmmm, I’m sensing a pattern here,” Dominic mused. “If you follow in your family’s footsteps, you’ll be marrying someone that you work with.”
He had felt her tense against him for a split second before she relaxed. “Well, my immediate supervisor is kinda cute.” Now he was the one tensing until she added, “I wonder how he feels about having two wives.”
As she giggled against him, he started tickling her, which led to other things . . . Before he knew it, she was lying under him, and he was sipping from her plump lips. Things were beginning to get out of hand when he heard a voice that was as effective as a cold shower. “Mommy, is he putting a baby in Gwen’s tummy?”
He jerked away from Gwen and sprang to his feet so quickly that he overbalanced and crashed backward. “Holy fu— fudge,” he corrected at the last moment as he looked up into the curious eyes of Maddy, Megan, and Shannon.
While they were staring at him, Gwen made her way to her feet, zipping her jacket discreetly. “Hey, guys, what are you doing here?”
“Mommy said she needed to get out of the house before she tore all of her hair out,” Maddy said matter-of-factly.
Megan fingered her own hair before looking at Gwen in confusion. “Why would she want to pull her hair out? Do you think it’s because Cameron keeps playing with it?”
When the adults looked around awkwardly without answering, Maddy spoke up. “I think that it’s ’cause he made her scream last night. I was in my bed and she yelled ‘don’t stop.’ He must not have listened the first time, though, because she kept saying it. Doesn’t he know that Mommy doesn’t like to repeat herself?”
“Oh, my God,” Shannon moaned, looking horrified. “Maddy!”
Gwen walked over to put her arm around a rattled Shannon. Dominic heard her asking the other woman under her breath, “Who is Cameron?”
As Maddy and Megan walked a few feet away to chase a butterfly, Shannon said, “Cameron is a doctor I work with. We’ve been having dinner together some nights at work, and he came over last night. I should never have—I thought the girls were asleep.”