Hold on Tight (Sea Breeze #8)(23)

So he wanted Micah to know who he was. Could I explain that without explaining about the rest of the Falcos?

“I need to know how your mother feels first. Micah is my number one concern. I won’t let him get hurt.”

“Me neither,” Dewayne replied.

Good. At least he wasn’t willing to play with Micah’s emotions.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll probably be right behind my momma while she’s knocking on your door—or possibly barging in. Once she knows, you won’t be able to keep her away from him.”

He had no idea how much I hoped that was true.

“You talk to her. I’ll wait,” was my only response.

Dewayne was quiet for a moment, and I wasn’t sure if he had hung up or not.

“Good night, Sienna,” he finally said, and the way his sexy, warm voice curled around that one word made me shiver. Dammit.

“Good night,” I replied, then hung up. Laying the phone down beside me, I slipped a hand under the covers and into the front of my lace panties. All I needed was the memory of Dewayne’s deep voice while I eased the ache he inspired.

This wasn’t the first time I’d fantasized about Dewayne. For so long I’d felt guilty that it was him and not Dustin I used as inspiration. But I’d finally resigned myself to the fact that I’d never felt any pleasure with Dustin. Dewayne was a fantasy, and that was all this was. Something that wasn’t real.

I slid my fingers inside, closed my eyes, and let Dewayne’s body take shape in my mind. His sexy grin and those arms. Lord, those arms were something else. Wrapping my hands around them as they flexed and he moved inside me . . . My body trembled at the thought. The beautiful thing about using Dewayne to satisfy my need was that the idea of him touching me and being inside me set my body on fire.

It was so easy to forget that he wasn’t there. That he wasn’t touching me. The gleam in his eyes when he looked at me sometimes made me think he thought about this too.

But it could never happen. I’d get hurt. I knew that. Still, the thought of having him on top of me, rocking his hips as he moved in and out of my very neglected body, made me ache. Just once I wanted to know how it felt to be loved by Dewayne Falco.

* * *

“Momma? Wake up!” Micah’s voice broke into my dreams, and I opened my eyes, only to immediately close them again. The sunlight was pouring into the room and blinding me. “I know you like to sleep late on Sundays, but there’s someone knocking at the door.”

Micah’s words sank in, and I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes before slowly opening them and looking down at him.

“Sounds like Dewayne and Mama T arguing outside, but you said not to open the door without you, so I didn’t. I came and got you.”

Oh crap! I threw my legs over the bed and reached for the silk wrap Janell had given me for Christmas last year. I needed to get dressed, but the knocking and voices were getting louder. I had to go out there and deal with them. Now. Before Micah heard something he didn’t need to hear.

I tied the belt around my waist and ran my hand through my hair, then bent down to look Micah in the eyes. “You and I have something to talk about later. It’s about a good thing. But first I need to go outside and talk to them, and I need you to stay in your room and play like you were doing before they knocked, okay?”

He nodded, but the frown on his face told me he didn’t like that he wasn’t going with me. I kissed his forehead, then hurried to the door before Tabby Falco broke it down.

Glancing back, I saw Micah go into his room, and I took that moment to open the door and step outside on the porch with a red-eyed Tabby Falco; her husband, Dave; and of course Dewayne.

I didn’t let myself think about the look in Dewayne’s eyes as he took in my appearance. I was a mess, with bed head and no makeup. But I wasn’t out here to impress Dewayne. I wouldn’t think about that.

“I never got a letter. Not one letter, Sienna Roy! If I had gotten a letter, I’d have come after you and my grandbaby. What were your parents thinking? You were a kid! A baby having a baby, and they left you! I just don’t understand it. And that precious boy who looks so much like my Dustin.” She choked up, covered her mouth, and sobbed. Dave pulled her against his chest.

“Please, I know this is a lot. And I know you’re upset, I can see that. And as thankful as I am that you do want to be a part of Micah’s life, I don’t want him hearing this. He needs me to explain it and talk to him first. This would be too traumatic for him.”

“She’s right, Momma. You gotta calm down,” Dewayne added.

I wouldn’t look at him. I couldn’t. I kept my focus on Tabby. She nodded, then dropped her hand from her mouth and looked up at me. She had always been a tiny woman, which was so weird in contrast to her huge sons. Then again, Dave Falco was a massive man.

“Look at you,” she said in a whisper. “You’re all grown up and beautiful.” The sincere smile on her face made me tear up, and I blinked back the tears burning my eyes. I wouldn’t cry. I had Micah to think about. She looked back at Dewayne. “She is much more than average, Dewayne Falco! Are you blind?”

That hurt so much more than it should have.

DEWAYNE

Motherf*cking hell. My mother had no damn filter on her mouth. Maybe that was where the kid got it from. The color on Sienna’s cheeks at my mother’s words told me Momma had seriously embarrassed her. Fuck!