Loving Spoonful Read online

  “Then why am I here?”

  “Because I want you and I hope you want me, too.” He moved the bottle to his lips and took a long drink.

  She was mesmerized as he swallowed long and deep, head thrown back. He placed the bottle on the desk before his gaze landed on her. Her stare danced from his sculpted cheekbones to his sensuous lips and settled on his intense eyes, eyes that looked back at her as if he wanted to devour her for a meal, a meal that certainly ended with dessert.

  She turned her back to him and felt him press up behind her. Gently pushing her hair aside, he kissed her tenderly on the neck. With a sweet moan she rolled her neck to the side to give him better access.

  He knew he should be getting home. He knew he shouldn’t be doing this right now. But none of that was going to stop him. He caressed her shoulders and eased the zipper down her long back, hoping he wasn’t moving too fast, knowing he couldn’t stop.

  Books by Candice Poarch

  Kimani Romance

  Sweet Southern Comfort

  His Tempest

  Then Comes Love

  Loving Spoonful

  Kimani Arabesque

  Family Bonds

  Loving Delilah

  Courage Under Fire

  Lighthouse Magic

  Bargain of the Heart

  The Last Dance

  ’Tis the Season

  Shattered Illusions

  Tender Escape

  Intimate Secrets

  A Mother’s Touch

  The Essence of Love

  With This Kiss

  Moonlight and Mistletoe

  White Lightning

  CANDICE POARCH

  fell in love with writing stories centered around romance and families many years ago. She feels the quest for love is universal. She portrays a sense of community and mutual support in her novels.

  Candice grew up in Stony Creek, Virginia, south of Richmond, and now resides in northern Virginia. This year Candice and her husband will celebrate their thirty-second wedding anniversary. She is a mother of three and was a computer systems manager before she made writing her full-time career. She is a graduate of Virginia State University and holds a bachelor of science in physics.

  Candice loves to hear from readers. Please visit her Web page at www.CandicePoarch.com or write to her at P.O. Box 291, Springfield, Virginia 22150.

  LOVING Spoonful

  Candice Poarch

  To my mother, Rev. Ethel Poarch, who has been

  a phenomenal, loving role model to my sister and me,

  as well as an inspiring community leader

  for so many others.

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading Loving Spoonful, the third novel in the SURPRISE, YOU’RE EXPECTING! Mother’s Day series. I was overjoyed to participate in the series this year. Marriage and motherhood takes as much dedication and fortitude, not to mention love, heartbreak and joy, as any nine-to-five job.

  Jack and Kimberly live in a fast-paced world in which it’s so easy for the romance in a marriage to get lost among all the rest of life’s concerns. As a couple becomes more comfortable together, change is expected, but to keep love alive, some of the joy and romance that brought them together in the first place needs to be as much a part of life as careers and other necessities.

  I hope you enjoy your voyage with Jack and Kimberly.

  And to all mothers everywhere, have a very happy Mother’s Day.

  With warm regards,

  Candice Poarch

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  It was Jack Canter’s birthday, but it felt unlike any birthday he’d had in the past. There was no cake with festive candles, or the favorite meal his mother always prepared for all of them on that one day. No gifts, laughter or teasing. Instead, his mother’s lips were pinched with worry. Her distress wrapped around him like a vise.

  Something was definitely wrong. His stepfather had packed his bags and left a week ago, but Jack considered that a stroke of luck, not a loss. The man wasn’t half the man Jack’s father had been. Jack had known that from the moment he met the man.

  “Mom, don’t worry about gifts,” Jack tried to reassure her. “I’m sixteen, almost a man.”

  “In your dreams,” his brother Devin said with a trace of humor. Devin was a couple of years younger than he. Their mother had sent all the other kids to bed.

  “What’s wrong, Mama?” Jack asked, because she was having a hard time revealing her worries. He didn’t understand her fixation on a man, but maybe she really missed his stepfather.

  “All the money’s gone. And if this real estate career doesn’t work out, we’re going to lose the house.”

  “Lose the…” Jack grabbed a breath. “Daddy left plenty of money. The house was paid off.” In addition to the insurance policies that amounted to three hundred thousand, there were the college funds for each of them, and Jack knew there had been money in the bank. A couple of years ago, his mother had gone over their finances with Jack after his father died. Though he’d been barely in his teens, Jack had begun to work with his father, and his dad had gone over the finances with him very closely—treated him like a man.

  “Your stepfather borrowed against the house.”

  “Everything’s gone?” Devin asked.

  Tears slipped from his mother’s eyes. “Everything,” she whispered, her sadness crushing down on them.

  “How could that…?” Devin started, but Jack stopped him with a firm hand on his arm.

  Now he understood why his mother had been taking those real estate classes. His stepfather hadn’t worked at a single job for more than a month or so, after he married their mother a year ago. Something was always wrong. A boss always picking on him, or the work was too hard or damaging to his health, or he got laid off for some lame reason—according to him. But how did a man run through hundreds of thousands in a year?

  “We’ll make it, Mom,” Jack assured her. “I’ll get a job.”

  “Yeah, me, too,” Devin murmured.

  “But you’re too young.”

  “We can deliver papers,” Jack said with a smile he didn’t feel. “I have my license and can get an after-school job, too.”

  “But all the money we saved up for your college is gone, too,” his mother said.

  The bottom fell out of Jack’s stomach. He swallowed hard to keep the nausea back. While he’d worked side by side with his father, his dad told Jack how proud he was to save enough money for all his children’s educations, and that he had a business that let him provide well for his family. And now it was all gone? His father had worked days and nights. He’d put in the hours of a person working two jobs. Jack couldn’t believe his stepfather had run through all that—and so quickly.

  After all that work, they had nothing but a mortgage to show for all his father’s efforts. How hard did a man have to work—how much did a man have to save to ensure his family’s future?

  His mother sent them to bed after the talk, but for a week after, Jack couldn’t sleep and could barely eat. Most of the time his stomach cramped with worry.

  He saw how quickly something substantial could become nothing. This sick, insecure feeling was eating out his insides. No matter what, he was determined nothing was going to make him feel like this again. His family would never want for anything, he promised.

  Jack had found a job, but he’d also given up all his after-school activities. There would b
e no more hanging out with his friends, and he had to keep his grades up to make sure he got scholarships for college.

  Chapter 1

  It was Thursday, and Kimberly Canter was rushing to finish her dinner preparations. Her husband, Jack, had called earlier promising he’d join them—for a change—and she’d fixed his favorite beer-battered chicken. Although he could order it any time in one of their brewpubs, he’d always liked hers better. Kimberly heard the garage door rumble. He was home.

  Jack had been disgruntled lately because Kimberly’s part-time, morning weather forecaster job at a major Washington, D.C., television station had increased to full-time. During the week, she was at the station by three-thirty each morning, and since Jack worked most evenings and weekends, they rarely saw each other anymore. Rarely did he make it home until late, and both she and the children missed him terribly.

  She missed Jack most of all. She missed going to bed with her husband sleeping beside her, instead of waking for work to find him fast asleep on the other side of the bed. Maybe tonight they’d close the door to their bedroom suite and retire early. She’d already put the CD in place and could envision the soft, sweet music piping throughout the room.

  Jack breezed into the kitchen from the garage, his powerful, well-toned body moving with easy grace. He wore beige slacks and a black golf shirt with “Jack’s Place” emblazoned in gold on the left breast. And he carried himself with a commanding air of self-confidence.

  Kimberly’s heart jolted and her pulse pounded as she stared with longing at him. Even at thirty-eight, Jack radiated seductive vitality. He hadn’t lost any of his punch in the nearly seventeen years they’d been married. But they’d been without sex much too long now, and her body longed for intimacy.

  A daily exercise regime kept his wide shoulders and six-one frame perfectly fit. Kimberly’s gaze ran lovingly over him. His hair was cut short, and the shirt complemented his walnut complexion. Lord, he was still one great-looking man, and she was as in love with him today as she’d been when they started dating during her freshman year in college.

  “Hi, honey,” Kimberly said, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and feeling dowdy by comparison. She’d planned to shower and dress in something a little sexy before he arrived. No such luck. What woman who worked full-time and had a couple of teenagers could ever get everything done on schedule? As soon as they got home she’d sent them upstairs to start on their homework.

  “Hey. Something smells good. I can barely wait for dinner,” Jack said before he passed her, barely glancing her way.

  Suddenly deflated, Kimberly regarded his retreating back as he strolled out of sight. A kiss would have been nice, but Kimberly let that small lack of affection—something that had stopped lately—slide and pressed the intercom button. “April?”

  “Yeah, Mom,” her fourteen-year-old daughter’s winded voice rang out. Kimberly grimaced. She must have been doing a cheerleader routine instead of her homework. During the spring, April took cheerleading at a dance studio and participated in competitions. In the fall she cheered at school, but she was supposed to be doing her homework.

  “Can you come to the kitchen to help out?”

  “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  Kimberly called her son, who thought he was nearly grown at sixteen, and beckoned his assistance, too, then smiled and turned the sizzling chicken over in the pan. Since picking up her daughter from cheerleading, she’d gotten a late start. In addition, her son’s car was in the shop for a recall, forcing her to pick him up from baseball practice. If she were smart, she would have had dinner delivered.

  In the distance, Kimberly heard a cell phone ringing and the low timbre of Jack’s voice as he climbed the stairs. A few minutes later Jack returned, but he’d changed into a navy polo shirt without the bar’s logo.

  “Honey, how much longer before dinner is ready?” he asked, frowning as he checked the contents in one of the pots. “I thought you said we could eat as soon as I got home.” Jack glanced impatiently at the clock. “Dinner smells great, but I could have brought something with me if you were busy. You have to be halfway starved by now.”

  “You are hungry, aren’t you? Well, it’s almost ready.”

  “What can I do to help?” he asked, just as the kids thundered in the kitchen. Their smiles brightened when they saw their father.

  This was a good plan, Kimberly knew, even though dinner was a little late. At least they were all together for a change.

  Jack helped the kids set the table as she dished the food on platters. When they sat around the table, Jack said grace, and Kimberly felt a degree of contentment. They had their problems, but this was the first step in working them out. They’d have the evening together, and she and Jack would talk—among other things. Warmth and desire spread through Kimberly.

  But as soon as she opened her eyes, Jack was quickly shoveling food on his plate, and not very much of it. It was his favorite meal. Did he eat before he came home? Kimberly wondered, as she slowly filled her own plate.

  Before she could take two bites, Jack was pushing back from the table. “Dinner was delicious,” he said, wiping his mouth with the napkin.

  They hadn’t had time to share a conversation with the kids. “Where are you going?” Kimberly asked, puzzled by his actions.

  “I’m sorry, honey, but I have to go back to work. I have a meeting I can’t get out of.” He headed to the door. “See you later, guys.”

  Tossing her napkin on the table, Kimberly got up and followed him, shutting the garage door after her so the children wouldn’t overhear their conversation.

  “You said you were going to spend the evening at home,” Kimberly said. “We rarely see you anymore.”

  “I only planned to stay for a little while.” With keys in hand, he used the remote to unlock the car door.

  Kimberly had been running on all barrels all day. Jack’s impending departure brought to the fore the tiredness that had waited to suck her under.

  “You’ve only been here a half hour, if that much.”

  “I thought food would be ready when I got here, then we could have spent the entire time together.” Jack sighed. “Honey, I keep telling you you can’t do everything. Working full-time isn’t working out.”

  “Let’s not start on that again. I love my job—and this has nothing to do with my schedule.”

  “Then at least hire full-time help.”

  “I want us to be a regular family.”

  Jack massaged his temple. “We aren’t a regular family. We barely have any time together. I’ve been saying that for months. I miss the mornings we used to spend making love after the children left for school.”

  “If you came home early sometimes, we could spend some evenings together.”

  “I run five brewpubs. My busiest times are the evenings.”

  “You hire managers to run them,” Kimberly said, repeating herself like an old, scratched record. “You hired an assistant to help you. Let her relieve you some evenings.”

  “Kim, I don’t have time to argue tonight. I’m late as it is.”

  Jack activated the remote to raise the garage door and then settled in the car. Slowly, Kimberly went inside the house and sat at the table with her children.

  “Mama, dinner is good,” April said.

  “Thanks, honey.” Kimberly noticed her son was watching her, and she smiled even though she felt like crying.

  She and Jack couldn’t go on this way. They shared very little these days. It was as if they shared the same roof but lived separate lives.

  Weekdays, Kimberly was on the air at 5:00 a.m. with the first edition of the weather. She had to leave the house at three, so it wasn’t as if she could spend half the night waiting for Jack to come in. More often lately, he’d come in long after she’d gone to bed.

  Kimberly couldn’t eat very much. The food could have been cardboard, for all she tasted. April had lost her appetite, too, but she forced down half of what was on her pl
ate. Byron attacked his like a human garbage disposal. Nothing interfered with his appetite. As thin as he was, she didn’t know where it all went, and he seemed always ready for more.

  Already, Byron stood eye-to-eye with Jack, and April had his dimples on her cheeks and his pretty eyes. Jack hated for her to describe his brown eyes as pretty, but they were.

  Kimberly asked the kids questions about school and their friends, and they answered in their usual disinterested fashion. But she kept talking until they became engaged in the conversation.

  “Mom, I want to go to cheerleader camp this summer. It’s only a week. It’s someplace in Pennsylvania, only a six-hour drive from here. You can take me.”

  “I don’t know. You’re spending a couple of weeks with your uncle in the Caribbean, a week on a college campus for that science camp, and another week with my mother. As it is, I have to schedule time to get to see my own daughter. Do you think you’ll have time for cheerleader camp, too?”

  “I don’t know, but I need to go.”

  “We’ll see.”

  And Jack wanted her to quit her job. The kids were already out of the house most of the time.

  They launched into a discussion about Byron’s summer schedule, none of which included time with dear old mom.

  Jack wanted Kimberly to hire a full-time person around the house, but although the place was enormous, she liked having privacy, having a one-on-one relationship with her children, and she loved to cook. Stacking a few dishes in the dishwasher wasn’t that big a deal. She hired a cleaning service for twice a week and felt that was enough.

  After dinner, Kimberly sent the children to finish their homework, and after cleaning up the kitchen she showered, spread on face cream and then rubbed her favorite scented lotion all over her body. Today was one of those days when she felt every one of her thirty-five years.