He'd heard of people pa.s.sing out when they had an o.r.g.a.s.m. For the first time in his life, he thought that might be possible.

Taking Emma's hands, he tugged her down to lie on top of him. Her heart beat wildly against his chest. Her warm breath coasted over his damp skin. He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes, content to simply lie there until morning.

She ran her fingertips over his chest. "I don't think I can move."

"You don't have to."

"Yeah, I do. The air-conditioning is blowing right on my b.u.t.t."

Griff chuckled. "Then I guess you need my help, huh?"

"I would appreciate it."

Still holding her tightly to his body, Griff rolled them so Emma lay on her back with him between her legs. "Better?"

She smiled. "Much." She cradled his head and pulled him closer for a kiss. "I have a question."

"Okay."

"Why do you keep your hair so much shorter than Rye's or Dax's?"

He had a simple answer to her question-because Jana had liked it short. But he refused to talk about his late wife when Emma was in his bed. "It's easier this way. Just wash and go."

Emma grinned. "True. That's why I keep mine short. It's naturally curly, so I wash it and let it dry by itself."

He liked her short hair. It was incredibly soft. He touched a curl by her ear, and smiled when it wrapped around his finger.

"I like it when you smile," she said softly.

"It's been a long time since I've felt like smiling."

"I know." She cradled his face in her hands. "You can talk to me anytime, about anything. Please remember that."

A tightness formed in the center of Griff's chest. Emma had so many good qualities, the kind that a man wanted in a woman. But no matter how much he liked her and desired her, he wouldn't fall in love with her. He couldn't, not when his heart had been buried with his wife.

"Talking is highly overrated, especially in bed. Don't you think?"

A slow grin spread across her lips. "Do you have a better idea for what to do in bed?"

He pressed his hardening c.o.c.k against her p.u.s.s.y. "I'm sure I can think of something."

Chapter Eight.

A delicious nibbling on her neck lured Emma from dreams to reality. Smiling, she rolled to her back to see Griff leaning over her. "Good morning."

"Good morning." He dropped a kiss on the upper curve of her breast. "Sorry to wake you, but I wanted to tell you I'm leaving. I have some errands to run."

She remembered him telling her that last night after dinner, before he'd asked her to stay with him. "Okay. I'll get dressed and leave."

"Take your time. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. Shower if you want to, or soak in the hot tub."

"You have a hot tub?"

"Yeah, off the laundry room."

Letting all those jets caress her sounded wonderful. It would be even more wonderful if Griff was with her. "Maybe we can try it out together tonight?"

Griff smiled. "Sounds good to me." He touched her cheek while he kissed her. "See you later."

She watched him cross the floor, waving to him when he winked at her from the doorway. A few moments later, she heard the garage door open and his van start.

That's when she realized she had a silly smile on her face.

The smile didn't surprise her. Good s.e.x always made her happy. Great s.e.x made her ecstatic. Last night-and early this morning-had definitely been great s.e.x.

Emma sat up, leaned against the headboard and let her gaze slowly sweep the room. It was a nice bedroom with its double bed, chest of drawers and silk flower arrangements hanging on the walls, but not nearly large enough to be a master bedroom in a two-thousand-square-feet house. It was more the size of a guest bedroom, or an office.

Curious, she climbed from the bed and went to the closet. A brown terrycloth robe hung on a hook inside the door. After slipping it on, Emma examined the closet. Griff's clothes hung on one side of the small walk-in, shelves holding various boxes filled the other side. She curled her hands into fists to keep from exploring the boxes. She had no problem opening a closet door, but looking in boxes would be invading Griff's privacy.

Another thing that made her believe this couldn't be the master bedroom was the lack of a private bathroom. Griff's house was beautiful and obviously only a few years old. It would definitely have a private bath off the master bedroom.

She thought back to the white door at the end of the hall she'd seen last night. Following a hunch, she left the bedroom and walked down the hall.

One look at the s.p.a.cious room and she knew she'd been right. The master bedroom was decorated in muted tones of blue, gray and ivory. An ivory chenille bedspread covered the queen-size bed. A huge dresser sat across from the bed, a small sitting area complete with wing-back chairs filled the s.p.a.ce before the large windows. The chairs were pale blue with gray and ivory throw pillows. More small pillows in the same muted colors were propped on the bed. Silk flower arrangements hung on the walls, the same as in the bedroom she'd shared with Griff.

She wrinkled her nose. How boring. The room needed more color, more pizzazz. Maybe some jewel tones. Griff looked gorgeous in brown. Perhaps dark earth tones would be better in here. And metalwork or paintings on the walls to replace the silk flowers.

Shaking off the decorating pest nagging at her, Emma opened the door to her left. A light automatically came on inside the huge walk-in closet. One side held women's clothes and shoes. The other side held nothing.

Her chest tightened at the thought that Griff had moved from this room into that small bedroom when his wife died.

She touched a pale blue dress on a satin hanger. It appeared Griff hadn't disturbed one item of Jana's. Ten months had pa.s.sed since her death, yet all her clothes still hung in the closet. Her shoes still lined the floor. If she opened those drawers at the end of the closet, she had no doubt she'd find more of Jana's things.

Emma closed the closet door and leaned against it for several moments. Several pictures on the dresser drew her attention. She crossed to the dresser and picked up a silver-framed photograph. The dark-haired couple smiled at the camera, both with their mouths and their eyes. They looked happy and completely in love.

"h.e.l.lo," a feminine voice said from the doorway.

Emma jumped and caught herself before she screamed. She juggled the frame in her hands, but managed to right it before it crashed to the dresser. A lovely redhead in her mid-fifties stood in the doorway, a curious smile on her face.

"You must be Emma."

"I, uh..." Emma cleared her throat. "Yes."

The woman's smile brightened. "I'm Beverly Coleman, Griff's mother."

Griff's mother? Oh great. Beverly Coleman had not only caught Emma snooping, but wearing nothing but his robe. Heat rushed to her cheeks. She carefully set the photograph back on the dresser. "It's, uh, nice to meet you."

A hint of teasing filled Beverly's eyes and her lips twitched. "I doubt that, at least right now. My timing could have been better."

Emma touched her hair by her ears. Talk about an understatement.

"I saw your car out front and knocked on the back door before I came in, but no one answered."

"I guess I didn't hear your knock." Because I was snooping. Okay, the floor can open up and swallow me now.

"Why don't I start a pot of coffee while you get dressed?" Beverly asked. "Have you had breakfast yet? I could cook something for you."

"No, please don't go to any trouble. The coffee will be fine."

Beverly's warm smile made the skin at her eyes crinkle. Emma noticed Beverly had the same deep brown eyes that Griff possessed. The triplets were almost carbon copies of their father, yet had inherited their mother's eyes. How lucky for them.

"I'll start the coffee. Take your time."

Once Beverly left the room, Emma almost sagged to the floor. Griff's mother hadn't seemed upset to have caught a strange woman in the master bedroom, but Emma was mortified. She had no idea what to say to Beverly Coleman.

She'd better think fast, because she could already smell the coffee brewing. She hurried back down the hall to the bedroom she'd shared with Griff to dress.

A container of liquid creamer and a sugar bowl sat in the middle of the kitchen table. Emma noticed Beverly had set cups and saucers on the table too, along with small plates, forks and napkins. A ding from the microwave signaled something had been warmed or cooked.

Beverly glanced at her as Emma stepped farther into the kitchen. She smiled. "Right on time. I picked up some apple fritters at the donut shop, so I warmed two for us." She took a plate from the microwave. The smell of apples and cinnamon made Emma's stomach growl. "Griff loves these. I keep some in his freezer all the time so he can pop one in the microwave when he's in a hurry. That's why I came by, to restock his supply."

Emma didn't know how to respond. Beverly Coleman seemed like an incredibly nice woman, yet Emma couldn't help feeling embarra.s.sed to be caught in Griff's robe. She'd never encountered a mother of a lover "the morning after".

"Sit, please." Beverly brought the coffeepot to the table and filled both cups as Emma slid into one of the chairs. "I've heard wonderful things about you from Alaina."

"Alaina is a good friend."

"She's a good person. I'm so glad she and Rye are in love. She's perfect for him."

Emma added a generous splash of liquid creamer to her coffee. This not knowing what to say was so strange to her. Emma had never had a problem talking to someone. But then, she'd never had the mother of a lover catch her in her lover's robe.

Beverly pinched off a generous bite of her fritter. "Kenneth worked most of the evening on the plans for your restaurant. I think you'll be pleased."

The mention of her restaurant pushed aside Emma's embarra.s.sment. "Are they finished?"

"Almost. He said he wanted to go over some things with our boys before he shows them to you and Alaina." She popped the bite of fritter into her mouth and chewed slowly. "I still think of them as our boys, even though I know they're grown men. The time whooshed by much too quickly. They should all still be teenagers." She shuddered. "Forget that last comment. I don't want to go through p.u.b.erty again."

Emma laughed. "Three boys at one time couldn't have been easy."

"It wasn't. Being triplets, they were alike in many ways, but also so different. Rye was the take-charge brother right from the start. His brothers always deferred to whatever Rye wanted. Griff was the quiet, emotional one. He wore his feelings on his sleeve. Dax was the h.e.l.lion. That boy could get in trouble several times a day and still look for more."

"Sounds like they haven't changed much as they've grown."

Beverly shook her head. "No, they haven't. Griff is still the emotional one."

Here it comes. She's going to pump me about my relationship with Griff. "Mrs. Coleman, I-"

"Please call me Beverly."

Emma cleared her throat. "I know how badly Griff is still hurting over losing his wife. We aren't... I mean, there's nothing serious..."

Beverly held up one hand to stop Emma's rambling. "It's too soon for anything serious with Griff. I know that. And there might never be anything serious between y'all. I know that too. But the fact that he's finally having s.e.x again makes me happy."

Emma was glad she'd swallowed her bite of fritter or she would've choked.

Griff's mother smiled. "I can tell by your expression I've shocked you by talking about s.e.x."

"Maybe surprised me."

Propping her elbow on the table, Beverly rested her chin on her fist. "My boys are very close. Rye and Dax told me Griff hasn't been with a woman since Jana died. Until you."

"He's still grieving."

"I know that. We all are. We all loved Jana very much. My heart broke when she died, especially since she was pregnant."

Once again, Beverly had surprised Emma. "You knew?"

Beverly nodded. "Jana confided in me a couple of weeks before she died. She was scared since she'd had a miscarriage and needed to be a.s.sured she wouldn't lose another baby. She swore me to secrecy, so I never told Griff I knew about the baby. It was so important to him for them to announce her pregnancy at Thanksgiving." She blinked her eyes, as if she was fighting back tears. "Instead of the big family dinner we usually have at Thanksgiving, we planned a funeral."

A lump formed in Emma's throat. How tragic to spend a time that should be joyous doing something so sad.

"I'm not a meddling mother." Beverly flashed Emma a crooked smile. "Well, not much of one."

Emma chuckled.

"I'm not suggesting anything will develop between you and Griff. But I'm pleased he's healed enough to spend time with another woman. That's a huge step for him."

"I like Griff. He's charming and polite and fun."

"And handsome," Beverly said, grinning.

"That too."

Beverly pinched off another bite of fritter. "Okay, enough about that. I know you're a chef. Do you have a good recipe for baked potato soup?"

Emma smiled. She liked Griff's mother a lot. "Oh definitely."

Griff took a final sniff of the white roses he held before he laid them next to Jana's headstone. White roses had been her favorite. He always brought them when he came to the cemetery to visit her.