Finding Tomorrow, A sexy, angsty, suspense filled, all-the-feels protector romance and HEA.: A Trading Yesterday Novel

by Kahlen Aymes

  My mind was jacked up. I couldn’t stop wondering what Teagan and Missy talked about the night before and was aching to ask Teagan the first chance that presented itself. When I walked through the front door, the incredible aromas of coffee, bacon, and cinnamon filled the air inside the house. Remi was watching The Little Mermaid in the living room to my left. As soon as she saw me, she came running out, and I bent and lifted her into my embrace. I’d never get sick of looking at this angelic face, all rosy with health; her brown curls were still matted from sleep, and she was wearing the Cinderella nightgown my mom had given her for Christmas.

  “Jensey! Wanna come watch Ariel with me? It’s getting to the good part.” I knew that “the good part” was Part of Your World. Remi knew the words by heart, and I had heard her belt it out with the cartoon princess on many occasions.

  I kissed her forehead. “I’d love to, squirt, but I have to eat quick and get to the airport.”

  “Again?” she lamented sadly.

  “Yep,” I answered. “But I’d love to have breakfast with you. Will you sit by me? It smells amazing. What’s Mom cooking?”

  “Miss Missy made us a cake for coffee! I think that’s good enough, but Daddy said he wants bacon and eggs.”

  “Bacon and coffeecake sound good to me!” I agreed. I was unprepared for how pleased I’d be hearing that Missy was cooking in the kitchen with Teagan. It was a good indication she was feeling at home.

  “Miss Missy said I don’t have’ta have coffee, though,” Remi insisted.

  Could this scene be any more perfect? Contentment settled down on me like a warm blanket. “What’s your dad doing?” I asked as I returned Remi to her own two feet.

  “Talking to Dylan. Can I go watch my movie, please? Ariel is gonna rescue Prince Eric right now.”

  “She is?” I loved her adorable little face.

  ‘Yeah! Eric’s her damsel!”

  I burst out laughing. She was adorable. “I don’t think that’s how it works, squirt. It’s usually girls that get to be damsels.”

  “What is he, then?” Remi gazed up at me with a perplexed look in her deep green eyes.

  I was amused at the same time as I was uncertain how to explain it to her. “Hmm… well…” I searched for the right word. “Maybe a bachelor in distress?” It was a stretch, but I didn’t know what else to say without the benefit of Google. Leave it to Remi to stump me.

  She considered my answer for a moment and accepted it without a demand for further clarification. “Okay. So, can I go watch now?”

  “Sure. But don’t forget to sit by me at breakfast!”

  “I won’t!” she said happily and disappeared into the living room as I walked through the house toward the kitchen. I could hear a lot of happy conversation as I approached.

  Dylan was sitting next to Chase at the kitchen bar, clearly mesmerized by my friend. The two women were laughing together as they prepared the meal. Missy was standing next to the counter buttering toast, and Teagan was frying bacon and eggs at the range top.

  “Thanks for the invitation,” I said, my eyes darting to Missy to catch her reaction on seeing me. “I’m starving.”

  Her face lit up in a smile, and the sound of my voice causing my heart to leap inside my chest. “You’re just in time! Breakfast is almost ready.”

  “It smells fantastic.” I wanted to walk over and greet her properly, maybe even kiss her but considered she might not be ready. I’d told myself that baby steps were needed to build trust between us, and I wasn’t sure how she’d take any PDAs in front of the others. I contented myself to concentrate on her son. “How are you, buddy?” I ruffled Dylan’s hair; who looked up from his talk with Chase to beam at me. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Yep! Chase said we could play ball later. Can you play with us, too?”

  The little boy looked at me anxiously, and I found myself wishing I didn’t have to fly out today.

  “I want to, but I have to work later.”

  “But, it’s Sunday!” he complained, as his face fell.

  I rolled my eyes wryly. “Unfortunately, I work a lot on Sundays.”

  “Awww! No fair!” His disappointment was evident, and I felt elated that the little boy wanted to spend time with me, too. I wanted to make time for him. I was acutely aware that he had no real father and he would miss his Uncle Ben immensely.

  “I’ll be back on Tuesday. How about we play then? Chase will you be in town so you can join?”

  My friend was stealing a piece of bacon from the serving platter that Teagan was putting it on and she slapped his hand away. “Yes. Ow!” he mocked, pretending she’d injured him. “That’s what I get after being gone for a week?”

  Teagan’s hand came up to his face as he stood behind her and he bent to kiss her temple. Chase’s hands settled over her swollen belly. “That’s what you get for stealing bacon.”

  The oven timer went off, and Missy grabbed some potholders and took out a delicious looking coffee cake with streusel topping from the oven.

  “Chase, please pour the orange juice. Who wants coffee?” Teagan asked. “Remi! Come eat, honey!”

  A few minutes of bustling around the kitchen later we were all seated at the table with our plates loaded and enjoying the tasty food. Remi and Dylan were sitting next to each other and, as promised, I was next to Remi. The position gave me a chance to look at Missy and gaze at her across the table. A soft smile curved her lips every time our eyes met, and my heart surged and thumped harder each time.

  Everyone was still wearing their pajamas, and I was pleased that she felt so at ease with Teagan and Chase. She looked all soft and alluring from sleep. Her hair was combed, and she looked like she might have a small amount of make-up on, but she was a natural beauty. She and Teagan were two peas in a pod, and a certain satisfaction came over me that they were becoming friends. The secret looks and smiles between the two piqued my curiosity. They had to be up to something.

  I was still dying to know what was said about me after I’d left last night and decided to text Teagan later while I was waiting for my flight. I felt like I was back in college and Teagan was covertly helping me find information about a girl I was interested in; and whether she liked me in return. Looking at the two of them, though, I wondered if Missy had hijacked my partner in crime. I huffed in silent amusement—what a thought.

  Missy was adding a little bit of salt to the scrambled eggs on her son’s plate from the soccer ball-shaped saltshaker that she’d picked up from the middle of the kitchen table.

  “Why is there so many soccer balls here?” Dylan asked, scooping up a forkful and eating it.

  “Are, honey,” Missy corrected. “Why are there so many soccer balls here?”

  “You mean footballs, don’t cha?” Remi asked, using her fork to pick up a bite of scrambled egg. Her cinnamon coffee cake had already been devoured.

  “That’s a soccer ball,” Dylan argued wryly, pointing at the black and white object, obviously dismissing Remi as clueless.

  “Is not!”

  “Is, too!”

  “Is not!”

  Oh, boy. I could see where this was going. Chase and I looked at each other, grinning.

  “Uh uh!” Dylan denied. “Footballs aren’t round. They’re brown and shaped like this.” He outlined the more pointed oval shape of a football in the air with one index finger. “Girls don’t know nothin’ about sports,” he scoffed.

  “Oh, yeah?” Remi spouted back. “You don’t even use your feet with that stupid ball, so why do they call it football, then, huh?”

  “I just got one from a real famous quarterback, so I know what I’m talking about!”

  “Boys are dumb! My dad is a famous footballer, so I oughta know!” she huffed.

  Dylan looked at Remi and frowned, his little face filling with rage. “No, he ain’t! He works on the TV like my mom!”

  “Remi! Be nice!” Teagan exclaimed.

  “Dylan, be polite!” Missy cautioned. “We’re gue
sts here.”

  Both mothers jumped in to reprimand their respective children and just in the nick of time.

  Things were getting heated between the two kids, and Chase stepped in to calm things down. “I got this,” he said calmly. “Relax, you two. You’re both right. The game Americans’ know as soccer is called football in several other countries, such as the United Kingdom, where I used to play for a team in London. That’s why Remi knows soccer as football, Dylan. And Remi, American football uses the ball that Dylan described. I know it’s confusing, but they’re both different games, sometimes called the same thing.”

  “Told ya!” Remi’s head tilted back abruptly as she huffed.

  “Did not! You didn’t know it was two different games!”

  “Kids!” I interjected. “What’d ya say we all go out back and play Ferris Wheel for a few minutes before I have to leave? How about it, Chase?”

  It was a game Chase and I made up so we could both play with Remi together. We’d each hold one of her ankles and wrists and then swing her in a big arc, sometimes all the way up and over our heads. It always made her giggle, and I hoped Dylan would enjoy it as well. Hopefully, they’d have so much fun they’d forget about their disagreement.

  “Sure! Ferris Wheel sounds like a great idea right now.” He looked at Teagan, who nodded her agreement. “Let’s go, kids!”

  “Chase, they just ate,” Teagan warned, but he waved off her concern giving her a wry look. “Don’t make them sick.”

  “What is Ferris Wheel?” Dylan asked.

  “It’s super fun! Come on!” Remi said, jumping down off of her chair and running toward the sliding glass doors of the walkout that led to the pool and the big fenced-in backyard.

  “Can I, Mom?” He was excited, without even knowing what it entailed. “I saw a play-set out there with swings and a fort, too! Can I play on that?”

  Missy nodded, and Dylan took off after Remi, their little spat apparently forgotten. “Yes. Just be careful, and mind Mr. Chase and Mr. Jensen! What’s Ferris Wheel?” she turned to me as they scrambled from the kitchen. I got up from the table and laid my napkin next to my plate.

  “It’s an amazing child pacification method. Works every time.” I gave her a wink, and then Chase and I followed the kids outside.

  “Oh, God, you guys!” Teagan moaned behind me. “If they puke, you’re the ones cleaning it up!”

  JENSEN

  “I know what I said, Bryan, but I’d just feel better if I could do this myself.”

  I was sitting in my boss’s office trying to justify my case. I’d been thinking about Missy non-stop for days. The entire time I was up in Bristol I was pre-occupied; which wasn’t exactly good for my new job. It was only my second week, and all I could think about was helping her feel more comfortable getting into her first assignment. Janice Walker, the producer who was assigned to her crew the first week out of the gate, was a hard-ass. My entire team had dreaded working with her.

  “What are you doing, Jeffers,” he glared at me, clearly irritated. “Are you going to let yourself be led around by your dick every week? Because, if you are, maybe you’d rather go back to your correspondence gig.”

  I sat there cockeyed in his chair, slouching over and using my right hand to pluck at my lower lip.

  “No,” I met his stare unmoved. “I don’t want Missy’s first assignment to be from hell. It’s for the good of the company.” The corner of my mouth quirked up in the start of an amused grin, which, if his pissed off expression was any sort of tell, just made him less likely to grant my request. It could be that ESPN would suffer over time if Missy’s confidence were undermined due to a poor producer: although that wasn’t my primary motivation.

  “Janice is the back-up, and Willy was sick. I’m up against a fucking wall.”

  “Janice is a bitch to everyone who works with her, and you know it,” I accused. “Do you think I don’t know why she hasn’t gotten a permanent assignment, yet? She’s a fucking loose cannon, and no one can stand her.”

  “If I agree, it will mean you forfeit your weekend off. I’m not getting someone to cover for you in Connecticut, next week.”

  I’d already considered that if I produced the Sunday game with my old team, I’d have to fly straight to Bristol from location. All I could hope was that it wasn’t somewhere on the west coast or my ass would be dragging. “I don’t expect you to.”

  Bryan’s countenance was pissed off and impatient, but my willingness to do my own job and cover this assignment seemed to cool him off a bit.

  “I’m up to my ass in personnel problems already. I don’t have time to screw with Janice or play social secretary so you can babysit a new hire.” Bryan said, absently shuffling papers around on his desk

  “So, I’ll ask Cindy to change it,” I suggested with a cheeky grin, rising out of the chair, ready to leave his office.

  He stopped, perturbed, shaking his head. “Okay, but this is it. No more special schedules; you arrogant prick.”

  “Leave my arrogant prick out of this.” I laughed as I exited his office and then breezed by a surprised Tracey in Bryan’s outer office very satisfied with myself.

  “Oh, hey, Jensen,” she said. She was distracted, barely looking up from her computer as I passed.

  “Hey, Trace!” I greeted her happily.

  After I’d stopped by Cindy’s desk to get the schedule changed, I was smiling from ear-to-ear over her not-so-subtle teasing; teaming with excitement on my way down to my old office to give Missy the news that I’d be producing her team. It had only been two days since I’d seen her, but I couldn’t wait to lay my eyes on her. I told myself to calm-the-fuck down because it was probably written all over me and that wouldn’t do. I was like a kid at Christmas. When I walked out of the elevator onto my old floor, I slowed my steps and made small talk with various employees who crossed my path while I wandered through the familiar space.

  I stopped into the employee lounge to get coffee and pulled out my phone to text Teagan.

  Can you watch Dylan tonight? I’d like to take Missy out to dinner to celebrate her new job.

  I poured the coffee, withstanding my urge to get two cups, as I waited for Teagan’s answer. I took a sip of the steaming black liquid and continued on my way to find Missy.

  She was concentrating on her computer with a small crinkle between her eyebrows; focused on what she was reading. The blinds in the office windows were half open, so I had a covert view of her as I approached.

  I popped my head around the corner of the doorway, waiting for her to notice me. It was weird coming into this office when it wasn’t mine. There was a box of office supplies in one of the spare chairs with a silver picture frame sitting on top. It was a picture of her holding a chubby baby boy up so she could press her cheek to his. She was thinner than she was now, but otherwise immaculate, as was the baby in the picture. I could only assume it was Dylan when he was six or seven months old.

  When the printer by the wall began to whiz, she finally saw me as she turned in her chair to get the document.

  A surprised smile instantly replaced Missy’s frustrated expression, and her aqua eyes lit up as they locked with mine. I knew she didn’t want me to see her struggle while she tried to acclimate to her job, and she quickly tried to mask her consternation.

  “Hey, you,” she said. She was wearing a tailored black suit and a light pink silk blouse that brought out the bloom in her cheeks. Her hair was straight and sleek, and she had a pair of dark glasses on her face that made her look like a hot college professor. She looked professionally stunning.

  If all of the men weren’t salivating before, they’d be lining up now, I admitted to myself. Knowing how she felt about men panting over her wasn’t the only cause for my unease, but happiness spread over my face at her greeting. “Hey, yourself,” I murmured softly. “How are you settling in?”

  We’d talked briefly the previous afternoon when I called to see how her first day was going, but it was
only minutes before I had to go live on my program, so I didn’t get a chance to really find out how she was doing.

  “Oh!” She jumped up to move the cardboard box so that I could come in and take the chair in front of the desk. “As you can see, I haven’t unpacked anything. Can you sit down for a minute?”

  I took the box out of her hands and put it on the floor in the corner of the small office. “Sure,” I said. “I just wanted to check on you to see if you needed anything.” My eyes were drinking in every inch of her, conscious of the pencil skirt that was skimming the top of her knees, her firm calves, and her black high heels.

  She threw up her hands as she sat back down behind the desk. “I’m trying to research the teams and players for the game I have coming up. I have to admit it’s a bit daunting.”

  “Is Lonnie leaving you alone?” I got straight to the point as my eyes narrowed in suspicion.

  Her head cocked to one side, and she shot me a wry look. “I can handle him.”

  “That didn’t answer my question,” I persisted.

  “He hovered for about an hour yesterday morning, but I told him to fuck off.”

  The dimples in my face deepened as I held back a laugh. “Literally?”

  She nodded, back to concentrating on the computer screen. “Literally.”

  I smiled broadly; happy as hell she’d put him in his place. “Good. It might start rumors if I had to do it.”

  Her head snapped up and our eyes connected. “You don’t,” she warned.

  I put both hands up, fingers spread. “Okay. I won’t interfere.”

  “Good.” She sighed heavily. “Sorry, I just don’t want to get off on the wrong foot and if you’re always running to my rescue—”

  “I get it. Are those team rosters?” I asked, nodding at the stack of papers she was putting into a black binder on her desk.

  “Yes. If I’m honest, Jensen, it’s the information overload that scares me to death. I don’t want to embarrass myself the first time I’m in front of the camera. The only way I can prove I deserve this job is to nail it every time. Failing isn’t an option.”