They walked together side by side to the baggage claim with neither brother speaking. Once there, Casey sat Austin’s carrier down to wait for his luggage, while Evan moved away from Casey to call Mariah on his cell phone. Before he finish dialing, he disconnected the call and let out a shrill whistle, causing Lindsay standing beside him to jump.

Lindsay looked over at Evan and noticed him waving at someone, and then he took off running to greet that person. She continued to watch as he pulled a woman into his arms, giving her a hug, and then kissed her.

She was surprised at the length of the kiss, thinking she would be embarrassed if someone kissed her like that in the middle of an airport. She wondered what he was telling her after their passionate kiss. Was he telling his wife about her? It wasn’t long before she saw Mariah lean around Evan to glance at her. Lindsay just stood there staring at the woman as she started towards her. As the woman came closer to her, Lindsay couldn’t believe her eyes, as the two of them did resemble each other. Could they possibly be sisters? Tears started falling down her face as Mariah stopped in front of her.

“Lindsay, is it really you?”

“I don’t know if I’m the Lindsay you think I am, but I sure hope so.” She reached out and put her hand on Mariah’s face. “We look so much alike, it’s scary. I don’t want to get my hopes up and then find out we’re not related.”

“Do you remember anything from your childhood?”

“Your name is familiar to me, but I don’t know why.”

“That’s all?” Mariah was disappointed by Lindsay’s response, hoping this woman would have remembered her.

“Your husband mentioned a Lesley and Whitney. Their names are familiar to me as well, but most of what I remember of my life is with the people who I thought were my parents.”

“Can you ask them about your childhood?” she asked hopefully.

“They are both dead, and when I cleaned out the house, I didn’t find anything to indicate I wasn’t who I thought I was.”

“You and Lesley were only five when they separated us,” Mariah said, then smiled at her. “We’ll have to be tested to make sure we’re sisters, but I have no doubt that we’re related.”

“Do you know why we were torn apart the way we were?”

Before Mariah could answer, a loud burp was heard behind Lindsay. She looked around Lindsay to see Casey standing with Austin’s carrier, watching the two women. “What do we have here?” She cooed as she knelt down to the level of Austin in his carrier. She had tears in her eyes when she looked up at her brother-in-law. “Casey, he’s beautiful.”

“I think he looks like his mother,” Evan said, lightly touching her shoulder. He had to tell her they weren’t getting him, but the lump in his throat prevented him.

Mariah nodded. “I think you’re right.” She stood and looked at Casey. “Did Evan tell you that we do want him after all?”

The last thing Casey wanted was a hysterical woman in the middle of an airport, but he knew he had to tell her as soon as possible. He didn’t want her to assume they were going to get him any longer than necessary. Casey sat the carrier down, stepped to his sister-in-law, and pulled her into his arms. “Mariah, I love you and I wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt you.”

“I hear a but here,” she replied slowly, pulling out of his arms to look at him.

“But I think Austin should stay with me.” Casey’s heart just almost broke when Mariah’s eyes filled with tears. “Just for now,” he quickly added.

She looked over at her husband with a tearful expression. When Evan saw her face, he pulled her into a tight embrace. “You’re single,” she said, while hugging her husband. “Evan and I are married; I can quit my job to stay with him, while you’ll have to hire someone to take care of him. We can make him a home,” she told him tearfully.

“I’m not saying he’ll never be yours. I just found out today on the flight here that Austin won’t take a bottle. No matter who has him, we’re going to have to hire someone to nurse him until the problem no longer exists.”

“I don’t understand. How are you going to feed him? I don’t believe even you can do that,” she said mockingly, hurt that Austin wasn’t going to be hers.

Casey turned to look at Lindsay and then back at Mariah. “Lindsay can nurse him until we find someone else.”

Mariah gazed at the woman who may or may not be her sister. “How can you nurse him?” Suddenly more tears welled up in her eyes, her hands reached out and clutched the younger woman’s hand. “You didn’t lose your baby, did you?”

Lindsay quickly squeezed Mariah’s hand. “No, my daughter is alive and well. I’ve just weaned her to the cup and she’s staying with her grandparents.” She looked over at the two men who were watching them and then she leaned close to Mariah so the men couldn’t hear her. “My breasts still have milk in them, so that’s why I can nurse your nephew,” she whispered softly. She leaned back, but didn’t look at the men just in case they had overheard her comment.

“I see. Do you have a job that will allow you time to nurse him?”

“I work from home. He won’t be any trouble at all.”

Mariah was disappointed with this outcome. “I don’t know what to say. I had so hope he was going to be ours.”

Casey touched Mariah’s arm. “He is. He’s all of ours. I brought Alexandra and Clayton home to be buried next to Mom. Let’s get them taken care of and Austin settled with me first, then we’ll evaluate what will be best for him.” He smiled weakly at her. “Okay?”

She smiled back at him. “Okay.” She leaned her head against her husband and looked up at him. He winked at her, letting her know that they would start creating their own child as soon as they got home. “We need to leave as I suddenly remembered we have some important business to take care of at home.”

Evan took hold of his wife’s hand. “We’ll be in touch.”

Before Casey or Lindsay could respond, Evan grabbed his suitcase, and the couple was gone.

Lindsay was surprised by their sudden departure, but when she looked over at Casey, she noticed he didn’t seem shocked by what had just happened. “What was that all about?”

“I believe they are going home to create their own little one.”

“Oh!” Lindsay quickly blushed, not quite sure what else to say.

Casey laughed at her expression. “You’ll get use to those two. They still act like newlyweds.”

“How long have they been married?”

Casey thought for a few seconds. “I’m not for sure the exact date, but I believe it has been nearly five years. How do you want to work us living together?”

She knew he didn’t mean it the way it sounded, but the thought of being naked and in this man’s bed had her heart quickly pulsating. “I need to go home to pack a few belongings for my stay at your place first. I’ll need to get my laptop and some other work related items.”

“I could go with you to help.”

“Thank you, but it would go faster by myself. I just have my carry-on luggage, so I can leave now and meet you at your house.”

“Okay, sounds good.” He quickly gave her directions to his place, then watched as she walked away, admiring the movement of her backside as she walked away. He retrieved his luggage, then went home.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

While Casey waited for Lindsay to arrive, he called a funeral home to arrange Alexandra and Clayton’s funeral, which he was able to schedule for Monday afternoon. He called his other two brothers, leaving each messages explaining he hadn’t buried Alexandra and Clayton in Oklahoma as planned, but had brought them to Kansas City to be buried next to their mother and his father, and that the funeral would be Monday.

An hour later, Lindsay pulled into his driveway, surprised to see Casey standing in the driveway. He opened the car door as soon as she turned off the motor. “Is everything okay?”

“Austin is still sleeping, so I thought I’d come out to help bring in your suitcase.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you.”

“I stopped and bought a baby monitor for you to use.”

“How thoughtful. I’m sure I’ll get plenty of use out of it,” she said sincerely, giving him a sweet smile. “I love having one for Nicole, but I dropped mine recently and broke it. I hadn’t had a chance to go buy a new one.”

“I’ve thought you could sleep in the bedroom next to Austin’s. I’ve set up the downstairs bedroom for your office.”

“Does it have a phone line connection in it?”

“Both bedrooms do.”

Shortly after she was settled into the bedroom she was using, she heard Austin starting to fuss and hurried into his room to tend to him. After he had on a clean diaper, she sat down in a rocking chair and made herself comfortable in it. She covered herself with the blanket just in case Casey walked in and quickly put the baby to her breast.

Casey came into the room, but stopped suddenly when he spotted her with the baby, and smiled as he listened to the baby nurse. “He reminds me of his father, as Clayton loved to eat.”

Lindsay jumped at the unexpected sound of his voice, still not used to how her body reacted to him. After a few minutes she repositioned the baby to her other breast, trying to keep her body covered as much as possible, as the last thing she wanted was for him to see any parts of her body that he shouldn’t. She nursed the baby until he fell back to sleep, then put him to her shoulder to burp him.

“Let me.” Casey walked to her, taking the baby from her, making sure his hands didn’t touch her breast. He burped Austin, then laid him in the crib on his back, and covered him with a blanket. He turned to look at Lindsay. “Let’s go downstairs and I’ll show you the room you’ll be using to finish your novel.”

“Okay,” she uttered softly, his nearness overwhelmed her. Her attraction to him was causing her heart to pulsate rapidly and she had to close her eyes to get the image of them in bed together out of her head. She took a very deep breath, slowly letting it out before opening her eyes. When she opened them, Casey was staring at her.

“Is everything okay?”

She gave him a weak smile. “Yes, of course,” she muttered, quickly turning away from him.

“You looked as if . . .” he started, but didn’t finish what he was going to say, wondering if she was having the same sexual attraction to him as he was having towards her.

“I’m fine,” she replied quickly. She picked up the receiver to the baby monitor as they left the baby’s room, then followed him downstairs to a large bedroom.

“I stopped on the way home to buy the computer and desk for you. They were delivered just a few minutes before you arrived, but I still need to connect everything before you can use it. I plan to hook both computers to the same printer, and I’ll use my computer to do your research on.”

His thoughtfulness touched her. “You shouldn’t have bought it. I told you I had my laptop,” she told him.

They entered the bedroom and when she saw which computer he’d bought, she chuckled. “Are you trying to bribe me into staying?” As it was the exact computer, she’d wanted for herself, but hadn’t wanted to spend the money to buy it yet.

“No, of course not,” he denied, but the slight grin on his face, said he was lying. “I thought you could use a larger computer for your writing, as it has all the latest software already installed on it.”

When she looked around the room, she saw two desks sitting back to back, with a computer screen sitting on each desk and it looked perfect. She turned to look at him. “This setup looks great,” she told him, putting the baby monitor on the first desk.

“I was thinking we probably should be in the same room so that we could collaborate without having to stop and go into another room to talk, but if you want to be by yourself, I can move one of the desks to another room.” He meant what he said, but he didn’t want her to tell him that she wanted the room to herself.

She beamed at him. “No, this will be fine. Thank you for everything you’ve done. I really appreciate the gesture.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek, but quickly jerked back, disturbed by the electrical current that zoomed through her when her lips touched his skin.

His eyes glanced at her mouth, then he grabbed hold of her arms, immediately pulling her to him, so her lips met his.

Just as his lips to touch hers, another electric surge shot threw her. Abruptly she pulled away and took a shaky step backwards.

His eyes flew to hers. “Oh, my!”

“I don’t think us living in the same house is going to work,” she said breathlessly. She took a second step backwards, her eyes filling with fright, as how could she live with this man and not go to bed with him?

Casey saw her expression and assumed he had repulsed her. “I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself from now on. Please don’t leave,” he begged. “I really do need you.”

“That’s great for you, but what about me?” she asked softly, her eyes closely watching him.

He stared at her with bewilderment. “I don’t understand. What do you mean? What about you?” His eyes searched her face, trying to comprehend what she was trying to tell him.

“I don’t know if I can do the same,” she replied honestly. “You’re the first man since my husband’s death that I’ve been attracted to.” Her eyes had tears in them. “My body wants you to make love to me,” she choked out her confession.

Casey was thunderstruck, as never in his life had he had a woman tell him something as intimate and erotic as what she had just said. He wasn’t sure how to respond, afraid he would say the wrong thing to her. “I believe we have the beginning of something special here. It may even result in marriage or it may not. I don’t want to rush you or make a mistake that may ruin what we could have together.”

She smiled at his comment, touched that he’d mentioned marriage. “I appreciate your truthfulness.”

“Tell me something. Are you looking for a fling or something more long term?” he asked, his eyes never leaving hers.

“I wasn’t looking for anything, but especially not a fling, as I’m not that kind of person. I have to be honest, I’ve never felt this way before,” she declared, staring deeply into his eyes.

His eyebrow raised in mystification. “What about your husband?”

“There was love and affection between us, but nothing like this hot passion I felt when we kissed.”

“Let me understand this,” he said, stunned by her blunt comment. “You felt hot passion with just a kiss?”

She simply nodded for she couldn’t say anything because of the knot in her throat.

“I don’t know what to say. Before we do anything we may regret, I must tell you that Austin is probably going to be living with me permanently.”

“And I have Nicole.”

He stepped closer to her. “Lindsay, will you marry me?” he asked, grabbing hold of her hands and squeezing them.

“What?” she asked, shocked by his question.

“What else can we do? We have two children to think of and neither of us wants a fling.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “Casey, don’t you think we’re rushing this just a bit?”

“We’re going to be living in the same house until Casey takes a bottle or is weaned. With the two of us being attracted to each other and being in such close quarters together, we’re bound to end up in bed together.” She nodded at his comment. “Do you want more children?” His eyes searched hers, trying to anticipate her response.

“I wouldn’t mind having your baby,” she blurted, then a blush ran up her neck to her face.

He pulled her into his arms and passionately started kissing her. His hands moved upwards, and began unbuttoning her blouse, as his lips following his fingers. His body wanted hers so badly he was afraid his control would explode before they could get undressed.

Lindsay’s mind was a complete bowl of mush, as part of her brain was telling her to make him stop, and the other part wanted to ask him to go faster. His lovemaking was breathtaking and exciting, something she hadn’t had for a long time.

One minute they were standing, and the next, they were on the floor making love to each other on the plush carpet. The only problem was it was over practically before it got started. It was probably because neither of them had been with anyone for a long time, that and the heat radiating between them had been too much for them to prolong the experience.

As he laid there trying to catch his breath, he heard her crying and he tightened his embrace. “Lindsay, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Once our lips touched my body took over and my brain didn’t have a chance.”

“I’m not crying because I’m distraught,” she whispered in his ear, thinking of how beautiful the experience had been.

“Then why are you sobbing in my arms?”

She looked deeply into his eyes, putting her hands on his face before responding. “Because it was so magnificent.”

“It was that good, uh?” He smiled an ornery grin at her.

She laughed. “Yes, it was.”

“So are you ready to try it again?” he teased.

Terror filled her eyes when she realized they hadn’t used any protection. “Oh, my God! Casey, we were in such a hurry we forgot to do something that’s vital to our situation,” she exclaimed.

“I didn’t kiss your breasts?” he asked, grinning at her.

She lightly hit his arm. “No! I’m serious. We forgot to use any birth control.”

“Damn!” He pulled away from her and sat up, his eyes showed he was deep in thought, his expression solemn. “We better get married as soon as possible.”

She forced a shaky laugh. “Will you get serious?” She didn’t appreciate his teasing, as this was a serious matter.

“I’m serious,” he stated honestly. “The men in our family have always been very fertile.”

She studied him for a few seconds trying to decide if he truly did want to marry her. “Even with the off chance I may have gotten pregnant just now, marriage isn’t something to take lightly or jump into if you have any uncertainties.”

“You think I’m taking this lightly?” he asked, torn by his conflicting emotions

“How do I know?” she responded, hunching her shoulders. “We have known each other less than four hours. Don’t you have some doubts? I know I have.”

“Let’s try an experiment.”

She eyed him with suspicion before responding. “What kind of experiment?”