by Natalie Ann
Finn marched over, intending to find out what was going on. He reached Trey the same time the girl’s pregnant mother did, and heard, “Harper, you know better. Say you’re sorry.”
The little girl, who looked younger than Trey, glanced up at her mother, her big blue eyes filling with tears. “I want to play, but he said no.”
“That doesn’t mean you don’t give him the ball back.” He watched the girl’s mother put her hands on her hips and say sternly, “What do you say?”
Finn’s anger vanished, not because he figured out who the little girl and her mother were, but because the mother was doing exactly what he would have done if the roles were reversed.
“She can play with us.”
“No, Daddy,” Trey said. “She’s a girl. Girls don’t play ball.”
Finn laughed, then winced. “Yes, they do. And now you should apologize for saying that.”
Harper sniffled while a few tears fell, and said to Trey, “I’m sorry for taking your ball. You have to say you’re sorry now, too.”
Always shy, Trey didn’t seem to know what to do. He looked up at Finn, staying silent. Finn didn’t expect Trey to say anything. He almost looked frozen in place.
Finn dropped down to one knee and whispered to Trey, “It’s the right thing to do. You know we’ve talked about right and wrong, remember?”
Trey nodded his head, then looked over at Harper, and whispered, “I’m sorry you’re a girl.”
Finn had all he could do to hold his tongue. He looked over at Harper’s mother and caught the twitch of her lips and the shake of her head as she said, “I think we’re all good.”
“You’re Phil and Alec’s sister, right?” The resemblance was too uncanny, not to mention the girl’s name.
“Yes. I’m Kaitlin Mathews.” She held her hand out to his. “Do you know my brothers?”
Finn accepted her hand. “I work for them. Finn Abraham. And this is my son, Trey.”
“Now I’m really embarrassed. I assure you my children normally have better manners than this.”
“No worries. I know what it’s like.”
“We’ll get out of your way.” She rested her hands on Harper’s shoulders. “Come on, let’s go back to Aunt Sophia and Aunt Olivia.”
Finn turned his head and caught sight of the two blondes at the picnic table. Would you look at that? Talk about coincidences. Just the person he’d been fantasizing about. Thinking about…thinking, not fantasizing.
After twenty minutes of catch, and a bit of persuading, Finn was walking toward the women with his hand on Trey’s shoulder. He stopped in front of them, saw Trey drop his head down, and held back his sigh.
“Ladies. We thought it might be fun if Trey and I shared our gloves with Harper for some catch. Right, Trey?”
Trey nodded his head but didn’t look up. A young boy ran over, same blonde hair and blue eyes as Harper, and piped up excited, “What about me? I don’t need a glove. Daddy says I catch good.”
Kaitlin rolled her eyes. “My son Cameron. He doesn’t get his modesty from me.”
Finn looked back and forth between Harper and Cameron. “Twins run in the family, I see.”
“They do. Kids, this is Mr. Abraham and he works with Uncle Alec and Uncle Phil. Don’t you think that was a nice offer?”
“Yes,” both Harper and Cameron said, bobbing their heads.
Finn extended his glove toward Harper and she took it, then watched as Cameron latched onto Trey’s arm and pulled him along. It did his heart good to see Trey so easily accepted.
“Trey is a little shy.”
“Unlike my kids,” Kaitlin said, giggling.
“There is nothing wrong with being shy, is there, Ian?” Olivia said, picking up the toddler and settling him on her lap.
He’d recognize Phil’s son anywhere. It gave him a moment’s pause seeing Olivia holding the toddler, as she didn’t seem the type to play with a child, but there she was blowing raspberries on his cheek and making him giggle.
He had to stop judging her. He knew how much it bothered him to be judged, so he knew better than to be a hypocrite. “Nothing at all. I may have been the same way as a child. Or so I’m told.”
“But you grew out of it just fine.”
“Do you think? I’m sure others would disagree.” He didn’t miss the knowing look Sophia and Kaitlin where sending his and Olivia’s way, but he wasn’t thinking clearly.
“Maybe they confuse shyness with crabbiness.”
“Olivia,” Sophia said, then burst out laughing. “She didn’t get her shyness from me either.”
“My crabbiness has been mentioned in the past also. Though I prefer grouchy. A bit manlier, don’t you think?”
Cameron and Trey came running back over. “Mommy, can Trey get ice cream with us, please?”
Before Finn could respond, Trey said, “We can’t. It’s men’s night, right, Daddy?”
He caught Olivia’s grin and added one of his own. “It is.”
“Once a month we get pizza and root beer. Just a small cup though.” Trey was bouncing on his toes and Finn knew how much this night meant to him.
“Trey,” he said, feigning a serious expression, “what is the first rule of men’s night?”
“Oops, sorry.”
“What’s the rule?” Cameron asked, looking back and forth between Trey and Finn.
“I can’t say,” Trey told him. “You can’t talk about men’s night.”
“But what’s the rule?” Cameron asked again.
Kaitlin snorted. “He gets the cluelessness from his Uncle Alec. That’s the rule, Cameron. You can’t talk about men’s night.”
“But you are,” Cameron insisted.
Finn was trying to hold back his laughter. As embarrassed as he felt with the way the women were looking at him, all sweet and tender over his night with Trey, he was secretly thrilled that Trey seemed to be coming out of his bubble.
“What do you say we head home and get cleaned up and prepared for our night, then?”
“Okay,” Trey said. Then he turned to Cameron. “Thank you for playing with me.”
“What about me?” Harper asked. “I played too.”
“But you’re a girl,” Trey said.
Olivia couldn’t seem to help herself and started to laugh. “Harper, sweetie, just remember, boys drool and girls rule.”
“Who’s drooling? Eww, gross.” Harper swung her head to look at Cameron, then Trey.
“Guess they both take after Alec,” Finn said. “Let’s go, scout. See you Tuesday, Olivia.”
Show Me
One week later, Olivia let herself into the store, then set the alarm behind her. This was what her life turned out to be, playground visits or working on a Saturday. Pretty pathetic for a single twenty-seven-year-old.
She stopped her progress to the back and looked around at how the store was coming together. The walls were up, along with a little bit of the ceiling. Finn had managed to make all the bases and set them up in their proper locations with the help of the crew. He’d only had two days at the store this week, Tuesday and Wednesday.
He’d told her he was at the firehouse on Thursday, then she knew he’d sleep on Friday. She figured out his rotating shift now.
The last week they didn’t talk all that much. He’d been busy at work and she was thrilled so far with what he’d completed.
But she wasn’t so thrilled he’d yet to bring up anything about their future date and she was starting to realize he probably wasn’t interested.
She wouldn’t beg or ask again. That wasn’t her way. She offered and the ball was in his court. If he decided to pass, then she’d move on. That is, if she ever went anywhere other than the playground.
Locked away in the back room she carefully packaged up the finished amethyst necklace and bracelet, then put it in the shipping box. She’d drop it off for overnight delivery on Monday, and get it all insured.
She was just walking out of the vault when she heard
the alarm go off up front and froze. Crap, someone was breaking in. What should she do?
She ran to the door and locked herself in, grabbed her phone and started to back into the vault, thinking to shut herself in there too. She could release the door from the inside if need be.
Call 911, that’s what she should do. She pressed the numbers and was just ready to hit dial when the alarms shut off, so she waited and moved back to the door, putting her ear to the wood, and listened.
Footsteps. Damn, someone was there. But the alarm was off, and that couldn’t have happened if they didn’t know the code. Deep breath, think. She’d wait a second more and decide.
The knock sounded on the door her ear was pressed to, and she jumped back with a squeal. “Olivia, are you in there?”
Finn. Quickly she unlocked the door, trying to pretend her hand wasn’t shaking, and yanked it open.
“Thanks for giving me a heart attack.”
“Sorry. I saw your car out back and didn’t expect the alarm to have been set. I unlocked the front door and just walked in.” It made sense, but she was still annoyed and her hand wouldn’t stop shaking, nor the thumping of her heart. He reached out and grasped her hand, holding it. “Hey, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. You’re shaking like a leaf.”
“Yeah, well, I thought someone was breaking in and I was trapped back here.”
“What was your plan?”
“What do you mean?”
“If that happened, what was your plan? Other than locking yourself back here. What if he set a fire out front?”
“Thanks, Finn. Can you try not to make it worse for me?” Why would he go and say that?
“I’m serious. You should always be prepared. Tell me what you would have done.”
He looked and sounded so serious, and she was touched that he cared. She held her phone up showing him that 911 was already punched in.
“I locked myself in and was placing a call. I didn’t hit send after the alarm shut off. If the alarm hadn’t shut off I would have locked myself in the vault if need be. No one can get in without the code and it’s fireproof.”
He nodded. “That’s good. Not any ventilation in there though.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Rain on my parade, why don’t you.”
He laughed slightly. “You should learn to protect yourself.”
“Who says I can’t?”
“Can you?”
“Maybe. Against what?” she wanted qualified.
“If someone attacked you. A buddy of mine on the force teaches a self-defense course. You should take it.”
His concern was warming. “I can handle myself.”
“Really?” he asked, dropping her hands and crossing his arms, leaning against the wall.
“Yep,” she said, full of confidence.
“Okay, tell me.”
“Back to that again?” she asked, mimicking him and crossing her arms.
“I want to make sure you can handle yourself.”
“Why do you care? Or is it the human being thing again?”
“There’s that. And maybe I care a bit more than I should.”
Her heart was starting to race for another reason, and she knew he could tell. He was staring at her hard now, and she saw the heat in his eyes. Maybe it was time to push it a bit. Push her boundaries and see what happened.
“Want me to tell you what I would do, or give you an example?”
He smirked. “You think you can throw me to the ground, do you?”
“I could bring you to your knees if I wanted to.”
“I’m sure you could,” he murmured so quietly she almost didn’t hear him. If she hadn’t been watching his lips move, she wouldn’t have. “Come here.” He pulled her forward and turned her around, his chest against her back and his arms around her. “Show me.”
“Huh, what?”
He leaned in low, whispered in her ear, “Show me how you would get away.”
“Maybe I don’t want to.”
“Show me or get away?” he asked, his breath warm and faint against her.
Oh man, he felt way too good, but she ignored him. She could do this. She could get control of the situation.
“I don’t want to hurt you. But these heels I always wear, they’re pretty deadly on the top of someone’s foot.”
His cheek grazed hers. “That’s true. Then what would you do?”
“A perfectly placed knee to the groin should do it.”
“Ouch.” He released her and stepped back. “Sorry about that. I probably shouldn’t have grabbed you that way.”
“Are you really sorry?” she asked, challenging him.
“No, not really.”
“Have you tried to find a babysitter yet?”
“I’m working on it.”
“Good to know.”
She at least felt better than she had before. He obviously was interested, but it didn’t seem that easy to get some time alone. She wanted to make a suggestion to him, or ask about his sister, or another family member, maybe a friend, but didn’t. She didn’t know his personal situation and she didn’t want to presume.
From the two times she’d seen Finn with Trey, she realized he was a hands-on father, and a pretty darn good one. It was nice to see. And nice to know, especially from someone whose own father could never be bothered to make a phone call, let alone visit.
She took a step back, figuring she needed some space right now. “What are you doing here?”
“I came in to work. It was a short week for me and I wanted to make up the time I missed.”
“Do you normally work on Saturdays?” Maybe she was wrong about him as a father.
“No. If I’m not at the firehouse, I’m with Trey. I try to make the time for us, as much as I can. But I know you’re on a time crunch and I didn’t want to get too far behind.” He stopped talking and looked at his watch. “My sister has him for a few hours today so I could come in. But I need to pick him up by two.”
“What’s your sister’s name?”
“Sherri. She has two kids of her own and Trey enjoys playing with them.”
She nodded. Part of her wanted to keep talking to him, but he was obviously pressed for time. “I’ll let you get to work then.”
She watched as he smiled at her, hesitated a second, then turned on his heel and walked back to the front of the store.
***
What the hell was he thinking, grabbing her like that?
But he had been concerned that she might not be able to protect herself. Too many memories of walking in to check on Becca while she worked, seeing her with guys all over her and wondering if she knew what to do if she ever got cornered. If she was ever completely alone at night.
Then he remembered Becca never needed his protection. She enjoyed all the attention she got. The more dangerous the man, the more she was turned on. Looking back now, it disgusted him more than anything.
Of course, years ago he loved it. Loved that she liked it wild and crazy, that she was willing to do or try anything at least once. She had no fear and he’d always worried she’d get herself in a bad situation one day.
Then he realized that was part of who she was. She was in control more than he ever realized and it was all a game of chance to her. He knew that better than anyone. Lesson learned, and it was a hard lesson for him.
And by grabbing Olivia right now, well, all that proved was that her body fit so well with his. The scent of her filled his nostrils and he couldn’t help but lean in and whisper in her ear. He hadn’t missed the way her body swayed closer or the shivers that appeared on her arms.
He would have to work harder to get some time with her. He’d wanted to this past Friday, but he couldn’t, not after spending Thursday night at the firehouse.
He couldn’t do that to Trey, leave him two nights in a row. So that was making it difficult for him.
He didn’t want to ask his mother or sister to watch Trey during the week either. Not on a scho
ol night, not if he wasn’t at the firehouse. They both helped out so much and both had to work too.
Besides, then they would know he was going on a date. He didn’t need them questioning him, or asking for details.
He’d heard enough over the years about needing to find Trey a mother. He was damned if he was going to find someone for just that reason.
He believed what he always told Trey. They made a great team, the two of them. He didn’t need a woman in his life to complete his family.
But he wanted a woman in his life to feel like a man again. He missed the feel of a woman’s body next to his. The softness under his hand, the sweet smell of her hair and skin.
And thinking those thoughts wasn’t going to get the work done. They weren’t going to help him find a babysitter either.
Pushing it from his head, he spread the plans out on the floor and grabbed some wood to start measuring.
Lead the Way
He heard the click of heels, but didn’t look up from what he was doing, just turned the saw on and ran the wood through it. When he was done, he lifted his safety goggles, rested them on top of his head and looked up at her standing in front of him.
“How about lunch?” she said.
He glanced at his watch. “It’s a bit early.”
“I didn’t mean today. I mean, yes, I’ll run out and grab us something today. But I meant a lunch date. No alcohol. No babysitter to worry about either. One day next week, can you take an hour and we can do lunch? Puts us on a time limit too, no watching the clock and trying to figure out ways to slip out the bathroom window.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve had to slip out of a bathroom window.” She snorted at him and he grinned. “How about you?”
“Nope. Never done it before.”
“Never had a bad date?” He should have figured that much.
“Of course I have. Plenty of them. But I never go on a first date alone.”
Interesting. “Bet the guy loves that.”
“Really, Finn. I told you I could handle myself. In this day and age, if it’s the first time I’ve met the man, one of my friends was normally in the restaurant too.”