by Leigh Tudor
His dick transformed to granite.
He adjusted himself before coming to rescue her before dropping the box. At six four, he had spent much of his life reaching things for people, but this felt like both a monumental and highly anticipated task.
She instantly stopped her jumping as he effortlessly reached up to grab the box and push it onto the shelf. Her entire left side slid down his. And he heard her intake of breath.
He didn’t move an inch, just looked down at her.
“Thank you,” she said. Those fucking golden eyes trimmed in gray were glued to his, and her breathing hitched as he lowered his arm and unconsciously placed it on her exposed back.
He thought about allowing his hand to dip lower, slide down the waist of her jeans, and grab that ass he couldn’t stop thinking about as he laid awake in one of the guest bedrooms the night before. He eventually had to rub one out as he leaned one arm against the bathroom counter and worked his dick over, his closed eyes thinking only about her in those ridiculous fucking bunny pajama pants.
The rational side of him told him to stand down while his head lowered to finally put his mouth against those bee-stung lips. The lips you never knew what was going to come out of them. A dark threat, a punchy dig, or a trembling thank you.
His hand breached the waistband, and his dick jumped as he pulled her lower body toward his, allowing her to feel how she’d affected him.
Another hitching breath and then a jagged exhale from her wafted over his lips as they were now millimeters from contact.
“Hey, Trevor,” Nate’s voice boomed from the hallway. “I’ve made enough money to buy the F-computer.” He came around the corner just as they managed to pull apart. “It’s got a 3.8GHz processor, a 6GB graphics card . . .” His eyes narrowed, taking them in.
He crossed his arms over his skinny chest. “Why are you breathing hard?”
Of course the little shit avoided Mercy and her heaving and drilled into Trevor with an expression of pure disdain.
“We’ve been busy,” Trevor responded, not fully turning his direction to keep him from seeing the massive erection tunneling its way up the front of his jean zipper. “Unboxing small appliances.”
The future Wall Street mogul or mafia kingpin sucked on his bottom lip, allowing it to pop out.
“I can’t earn a decent living off an iPhone.”
“You don’t own an iPhone.”
“That’s neither here nor there,” he deflected. “I earned enough to buy the F30, which is about three K. You gotta spend money to make money. Just wanted you to know where the money went the next time you checked your bank account.”
“You’re day trading through my bank account?”
“What? Did you really think a twelve-year-old could open his own bank account without his parents’ signature?”
“That’s not the point.”
“Hey, you’re still up about fifteen hundred, so you’re welcome.”
“Jesus Christ, Nate . . .”
“You can’t swear.” He turned to Mercy for solidarity. “Tell him, Mercy.” His eyes snapped back at Trevor, not giving her a chance to reply. “Madame G said so.”
Before Trevor could rail about this being his house and his rules, he was interrupted by a knock on the front door.
“Mercy?”
“Who could that be?” Mercy bounced, moving well past their almost interlude and giving the impression she knew exactly who it was.
“Oh, I don’t know, probably just another neighbor threatening to twist off my ball sack if I look at you wrong,” he muttered as she skipped away.
He and Nate followed her because the whole pied piper thing she had going.
Trevor eyed Nate. “This discussion isn’t over.”
Nate shrugged with far too much confidence as they noticed a man, rather poorly dressed, with a big smile on his face holding what looked to be a rather dirty male shepherd mix.
I feel your pain, boy.
“Special delivery,” he said with a wide smile.
The girls appeared from the hallway at a full run and stopped beside Trevor and Nate, staring at the man in the doorway holding the wriggling dog.
“Trevor,” Mercy said with an exaggerated voice. “What did you do?”
His eyes widened.
What? What did he do? He certainly didn’t arrange for a wildly spastic dog to appear.
“Hey, Jimbo,” Mercy said as the man lowered the dog to the floor, and they watched as it instantly ran between Nate and the girls for hugs and giggles.
“Look at him!” Marleigh squealed, ruffling his fur in both directions.
“Go on, Haley. He’s friendly,” Nate assured by demonstrating with a pat to his head.
And then Haley reached out to touch him and laughed outright, making Trevor’s heart sing.
“Dog,” she sang.
Mercy clapped her hands. “Oh Trevor, you got the kids a dog! How wonderful of you. Kids, isn’t he wonderful?”
Marleigh was the first to nod, having a hard time taking her attention away from the dog, who was equally excited and took spastic turns licking their hands.
Nate didn’t respond but couldn’t manage to erase the grin that had erupted on his face.
And then Trevor’s heart grew until he was afraid it would burst when Haley looked up at him and pointed toward what was clearly a mutt, exclaiming, “Nice dog.”
He felt Mercy’s small hand touch his, as if to say, please don’t kill me.
He squeezed back in response.
“Thank you, Jimbo,” Mercy said, stealing her hand away to reach up and give the man a kiss.
“You know I’d do just about anything for you, sweet pea.” He hugged her back. “How’s your sister?”
Mercy nodded. “She’s great. Coming home next week.”
Trevor noticed a sadness in her voice, which should have been the opposite given the message.
“You tell Half-Pint that I look forward to our discussions behind Lucky’s.”
Wasn’t Lucky’s a bar? What the fuck? What was Loren and this older man discussing in the back alley of a bar?
Mercy’s eyes turned a tinge sadder as she patted his arm. “I’m sure she can’t wait to see you again. You mean a lot to her. To us.”
Jimbo wiped an eye and then turned to Trevor. “Picked him up at the pound this morning. Hours from being put down. He’s a year-old Akita Shepherd mix. Fancy owner must’ve found ’em to be more trouble than he was worth and dumped him at the 7-Eleven outside of town. Mercy here told me you were looking for a smart and protective dog. Can’t get much better than an Akita Shepherd.”
“Thank you,” Trevor replied, shaking the man’s hand that hadn’t seen soap and water for a few weeks. “He’s perfect.”
After saying goodbye along with hugs, Jimbo left, and Mercy instantly went into distraction mode.
“Let’s tackle some more boxes. Then we can hit the diner and get these kids fed. Unless you want me to bring you back something.”
“Mercy.”
She stopped before the doorway to the kitchen.
“We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“You know what. We need to talk about these things before actually doing them.”
“Didn’t we? Hmm, I thought we did.”
“That tact doesn’t work for Nate, and it won’t work for you either.”
Her entire body deflated. “Okay, but I could see you were struggling with the kids. Not sure how to connect. And did you see that puppy’s face?” Her shoulders drooped. “I just wanted to help you.”
He slowly approached her, and he watched her visibly swallow. He hung his head and rested his hands on his hips. When he finally looked up, he said simply, “Thank you.”
The wattage in the room bumped up to an all-time high with her smile alone. He couldn’t help feeling pretty full of himself, having been the one to put it there.
He tested to see if he could raise the amperage even more
.
“By the way, if I hadn’t already said so, you look nice today.”
“Yeah?” she said with a coy, almost nervous grin. “Is that your way of saying you want to take me to bed, tear off my clothes, and ravage me?”
Okay, maybe not so coy.
“No, that’s me literally saying that you look nice.”
“How ’bout metaphorically?”
This woman.
In raced the children, following a loping dog with his tongue hanging out of his mouth and having the time of his life.
“We named him!” Marleigh cried with unrestrained enthusiasm. “Well, Haley did.”
“What’s his name?” Mercy asked, her heart full seeing how much they were enjoying their new family pet. “Let me guess.” She brought a finger up to her lips in contemplation. “Ruffles?”
Haley shook her head while Marleigh giggled.
“Pancake?”
Again with the no’s.
And as if she just couldn’t contain herself any longer, Marleigh gushed, “Sugar Plum!”
Haley’s eyes shot up toward Trevor with a tremulous smile, and then flitted away just as quickly, as if embarrassed.
Pools had settled in Trevor’s eyes at the sentiment. Somehow the honor of the beloved family dog being given his own Mercy-appointed pet name robbed him of speech.
This, Mercy thought to herself, was the best day ever.
She knew the “almost kiss” didn’t change anything. Her role was to help this small family unit gel and then move on. Maybe staying close by as a family friend.
That would be enough.
It would have to be.
Mercy flitted from room to room, making last-minute attempts to corral the chaos of a house with three children living in it.
The children were bathed and dressed. And she had just enough time to pull on a pair of cream capri pants with a matching sweater and flats before making the last round through the house.
Puppycoat was due to arrive in less than an hour, and with everything they had to do to set the house to rights, they had yet to sit down with the kids to discuss the merits of everyone following their fabricated story.
As she threw another rogue Lego into a toy bin, she heard Trevor yelling for the kids to meet up for a family meeting in the front living room.
Crickets.
All three were in Nate’s room. Something about Nate putting together the weekly grocery list based on the girls’ preferences, logging them onto an online nutrition calculator, and making the necessary tweaks.
With her middle finger and thumb in her mouth, Mercy whistled at a pitch the neighborhood dogs would clamor toward.
They erupted like ants from Nate’s room as she followed smugly from behind.
Nate was immaculately dressed in slacks, loafers, and a striped button-down shirt with leather suspenders. She asked him to reconsider that combination at the clothing store, holding up a Minecraft sweatshirt and a pair of khakis as an age-appropriate alternative.
“Minecraft is for unproductive, insipid morons. I prefer to spend my time on more productive pursuits.”
“Yeah? Well, try saying prefer-to-pursue-productive-pursuits ten times in a row.”
He wasn’t amused. “It’s a good thing I’ll be in charge of the family finances.”
Marleigh shimmied into the living room wearing a dress with a tulle skirt and a multi-colored sequined pony at the top. Haley, bringing in the rear, flouncing around in a dress she had also insisted Mercy purchase, poking Mercy incessantly with the hanger while in the clothing store.
“Use your words, Haley,” Mercy had responded, grabbing a few bulk packages of anklets and panties.
“Mine.”
At the single word, Mercy looked down at the red and white cotton checked dress with a fitted top and a pleated skirt.
“That’s adorable, Haley. What do you like about it?”
“Red,” she said, fingering the collar.
“Red it is, sister,” Mercy said, pulling at the hanger and finding a resistant hand holding on to it. “You want to hold it?”
Haley nodded, clutching the garment to her chest.
Trevor stood waiting nervously in the living room, his own attire of dark gray trousers, a white button-down shirt, and casual leather slip-ons giving her heart a happy dance.
“One look at you and she’s gonna trash her puppy coat and start gathering ex-super-secret-spies for her personal coat collection. I mean, I’d wear you as a skin coat.”
He smiled, rubbing his neck with one hand. “I suggest the first item of discussion be that we all refrain from referring to the woman who holds our future in her hands as Puppycoat.”
Mercy turned to the three children who had settled next to one another on the couch. “Hear that, angel monsters?” Mercy clapped. “We refer to the nice lady as . . .” Her neck twisted toward Trevor. “Oh my gosh, I don’t even know her name.”
“My point exactly.” He turned toward the kids. “Her name is Mrs. Standish—” He stopped, staring at Haley.
Haley’s own dark eyes peered up at his as she smoothed the pleats of her skirt down and pointed the toes of her new red patent leather shoes as if showing them off.
Reading that something intense was going on between father and daughter, and not sure if was a good or bad thing, Mercy piped up, “Trev, don’t the kids look great?”
Wrenching his focus from Haley, he appeared to gather himself. “Uh, yeah. I mean, Nate you’re looking very business casual Friday . . .”
He gave a single nod. “Exactly the look I was going for.”
“Marleigh, you’re all bright and glittery.”
She smiled. “Did you see my shoes?”
“Why yes, they’re quite fetching.”
And then he moved on to Haley. “That is a beautiful dress, Haley. It . . . it reminds me of a dress you used to wear when you were little.”
Mercy held her breath, not sure as to why but smart enough to recognize this was a breath-holding-worthy moment.
Haley tapped the toe of her shoes together. “Red.”
Trevor nodded. “Your red checked dress looks lovely.” He visibly swallowed, and Mercy contemplated opening a window to give him some air, even though it was fifty degrees outside.
Haley whispered, “You said you liked it.”
Trevor’s eyes turned glassy and then Mercy’s followed suit, again, without really knowing why, other than those were the most words Haley had spoken to her dad since moving to Wilder.
“I did and do, very much.” Trevor cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together. “Okay, let’s go over a few things before Ms. Standish arrives.”
“We’re good,” Nate interjected. “Went over everything with the girls after finalizing next week’s grocery list.”
Mercy shared a look with Trevor. “That’s very proactive. Maybe we should summarize so we’re all on the same page.”
“Sure thing,” Nate said, pulling on his leather straps. “The girls are fully aware that this is a one-time thing. That lying is not something we condone per se, but that circumstances warrant a white lie, allowing us to remain a family. So, Marleigh here knows that if she divulges that you are not really going to marry Trevor, the consequence is that she may not get to grow up with Haley.”
“Okay, okay, so far so good,” Trevor muttered.
Nate continued. “Haley is morally opposed to deceit on any level, except for when the consequences are that I’m no longer around to take care of her. She’s totally in but has asked that this never bear repeating and that we all agree to be totally honest from here on out and in the distant future.”
“She said all that?” Trevor asked, with skepticism as he regarded his stoic daughter.
“More or less. Suffice it to say there were copious amounts of head nodding and shaking and gesticulating of hands. When morally rattled, she can be quite expressive with her body language.”
Trevor asked, “And how are you going to handle w
hen Mercy and I are no longer . . . hypothetically together?”
“Relieved,” Nate replied. “I have a couple of college savings plans to work on, and this whole charade is monopolizing my time.”
Mercy rubbed at her chest, both relieved and also sad that the little man no longer held unrealistic ideas about her adopting him and Marleigh. Deep down, she knew it was just a matter of time before he eventually recognized she wasn’t mom material, but she’d be lying if it didn’t make her chest hurt and her throat grow tight.
Trevor turned to Marleigh. “Are you okay with that?”
“Mercy’s going to still live nearby, right?”
“Yes.”
She shifted her gaze to Mercy. “And you’ll come to see us every day, right?”
“For the most part,” she said sincerely. “Unless something comes up. But you will always be a priority to me.”
Marleigh shrugged. “I’m good.”
Haley nodded in solidarity.
“Well,” Mercy said, turning toward a transfixed Trevor. “I guess that covers everything.”
He nodded. “Uh, yeah. Glad we could have this talk.”
Nate checked his ill-gotten iPhone. Another point of discussion that had yet to be addressed but didn’t take precedence with everything else going on. “Can we go now? I promised to help the girls plan their outfits for the first week of school.”
“Yours too?” Trevor asked, all of them aware this was a yet another talking point that needed to be finalized as Nate had spent the better part of the week asserting he didn’t have time to waste attending classes that only compromised his strategically outlined path to learning and ultimately supporting a family.
With Trevor’s permission, Mercy had signed him up for high school classes and calculus courses at the local college. Calculus, to hopefully challenge his mind and the high school classes to teach him how to socialize. It was a starting point to determine the best course of action and to keep him from spending too much time alone during the day to tamper with the international markets and inadvertently stage a financial coup of global proportions.
He knew of the college calculus course but not the sticky part about attending high school level courses in the middle school/high school building. They decided to keep it to themselves until they got past this Division of Child and Family Services hurdle. Nate could be single-minded and relentlessly obstinate when confronted with a decision outside of his consent. Neither of them had the patience or time to address what was sure to be a meltdown of DEFCON one proportions until they were all rest assured that Trevor would gain custodianship status with the brother and sister combo.