Dreamspinner Press Year Six Greatest Hits

by JD Ruskin

  I plucked him easily from the air, tucked him against my chest, and carried him to the bar on the side of the kitchen that looked out on the great room. The other two boys were already sitting on the tall leather-backed stools eating with their mother as Cyrus flipped pancakes.

  “You gonna eat?” I asked Phillip.

  He nodded fast before I put him down beside Micah.

  “How is it?” I asked Micah.

  He beamed up at me, and when I tousled his hair, he reached for my hand.

  I took the little hand in mine and squeezed it for a second as I realized that I had not eaten since the day before. “God, I’m starvin’.”

  “Sit down,” Cyrus ordered me as I walked around into the kitchen.

  I moved up behind him, leaned over and wrapped my arms around the man. I loved hugging him, and the amazing part was that he always let me.

  “Thank you for cookin’ so late,” I said, kissing his ear. “I appreciate it, Cy.”

  He stilled in my arms and let his head fall back into the crook of my neck. I supported his weight and kissed his forehead, loving the feel of his silky hair in my face.

  “So, Weber—” Carolyn cleared her throat. “—where did you come from?”

  I gave him a last kiss, a final squeeze, and then stepped free and walked back over to where she and the boys were. “I was in Guthrie, Oklahoma, at a stock show. I showed some horses for a man, did some saddle bronc for exhibition.”

  She nodded, her lips pressed together. “And where are you off to next?”

  “Alaska.” I sighed. “Gotta be out near Anchorage before Christmas.”

  “Why?”

  “Oh, I got me a job for the holidays,” I answered, noticing that Tristan was picking at his eggs. “And I need the money.”

  “I—”

  “Pardon me,” I stopped her, leaning forward, chin in my hand as I looked at her oldest. “You gotta eat them eggs, Tris, or you ain’t gonna get no bigger.”

  His dark sapphire eyes flicked to mine.

  “I swear you won’t. My mama told me and Spence that the only way we got so big was because we ate everything that was put down in front of us and we slept when we was told.”

  “If I eat everything, I’ll get as big as you?”

  “Yessir,” I assured him.

  “But I don’t like plain eggs.”

  “You like cheese on ’em?”

  He nodded.

  “Well lemme see what we can do.”

  I went to the refrigerator, found a bag of shredded cheese, and brought it back and told him to tell me when. Of course, Micah lifted his plate for some, and Pip just started chanting the word for me until I sprinkled at least four tablespoons on his eggs as well.

  Once they were all settled, I put it back, took the plate with the pile of eggs, bacon, and pancakes that Cy offered me, kissed him, and leaned against the bar so I could look at the boys and their mother.

  “Sorry, you were sayin’?”

  Her breath quavered. “Weber, is the job in Alaska going to turn into something more?”

  “Not that I know of.” I smiled at her and then at Cy as he put a bottle of Tabasco down beside me. “Thank you.”

  “And here,” he told me, placing the tall glass of milk he’d poured for me close as well.

  “Y’all want some milk?” I asked the boys.

  “Juice is better,” Tristan told me.

  “Not this late at night, and milk is always better’n juice. Or water. Water’s best.”

  They asked Cy for milk, and Micah smiled at me when he started drinking his.

  “Weber.”

  I looked back at Carolyn. “Ma’am?”

  “Please, call me Lyn, okay?”

  I smiled at her.

  She sighed. “Would you consider staying here for the holidays and watching my kids for me?”

  I squinted at her, certain she’d lost her mind.

  “I… the reason I’m here right now is that my husband left for Las Vegas this afternoon with our nanny.”

  “On a trip?” Maybe I was missing something.

  She shook her head.

  But why would her husband go on a trip with the nanny if the kids were…? Oh. Got it. God, I really was tired if it took me that long to figure things out. “I’m sorry,” was all I could think of to say.

  “Me too.”

  I turned and looked at Cy, and he looked pained and mad and worried all at the same time.

  “Weber.”

  Looking back at her I saw how she was chewing her bottom lip.

  “I would ask my parents to help me, but they live in Half Moon Bay, and Tristan has soccer and Judo and piano, and Micah has to see his therapist, and he has an art class.”

  Why was she—

  “And I didn’t make any arrangements for Pip because I thought I didn’t have to, but now his preschool is out for the holidays, and he still has a music class, and they all have gymnastics, and so now… now I’m screwed.”

  I felt the weight of her stare.

  “Unless I get some help.”

  “Ma’am—”

  “Lyn,” she corrected, eyes steady on me.

  I shook my head.

  “Weber,” she said, sucking in her breath. “I really need you.”

  I studied her face and then smiled. “I’m not one to accept charity, Lyn. I thank you for your kind offer, but you don’t know me from—”

  “My brother knows you,” she told me, interrupting. “And I see how you are with my boys firsthand, and I have never seen them take to anyone so fast, especially….” She opened her eyes wide before looking at Micah and then back to me. “I could drop them off every morning, and you can have my car, and I’d be here between five thirty and six every night to pick them up. I mean, starting Monday I’m in trouble. I don’t have the time to find someone I trust, and I can’t afford to not work, as I’m about to be a single mother.”

  I stared at her.

  “I just… need a break.” Her chin quivered. “I mean, I have the money. I could hire someone, some stranger, but these are my kids, you know? I could run to my parents or here to my brother or even to my older brother and my sister-in-law if they weren’t going out of town for the holidays”—she was rambling—“even though Rachel’s perfect and I’m not—but the fix would still end up being a stranger because they all work and my folks just live too damn far away!”

  “Mom, you’re not supposed to use that word.”

  “I know, Tris.” She took a breath, clearly willing herself to not break down. She closed her eyes a moment, and when she opened them, they were red but there were no tears.

  Jesus, what the hell was I supposed to do?

  “I don’t want to send them some place I don’t know or leave them with someone I don’t trust. Please.”

  I turned to look at Cy.

  “Don’t even look at me,” he grumbled. “For once you can’t accuse me of plotting. It’s not my fault that her piece of crap hus—”

  “Don’t,” I cut him off, scowling. “We do not speak ill of people’s parents, ever.”

  He huffed out a breath even as I felt his hand slide between my shoulder blades.

  “Weber.”

  I looked back at Carolyn.

  “It’s only for two weeks, and then Tristan and Micah will both go back to school, and Pip’s preschool will reopen as well. I just need a temporary fix.”

  “I wouldn’t feel right takin’ money from you for watchin’ your boys. It would be my pleasure to do so.”

  “Yes, but it’s hard work.” She sighed. “It is. How does twenty-five hundred sound?”

  “Like not enough.” Cy was indignant.

  “That would be more than enough,” I told her. “And far too generous.”

  “No,” she assured me. “Cy’s right. If you made twenty an hour and you have an eight hour day, then—”

  “How ’bout a thousand and I won’t feel quite so crappy takin’ you up on your kind offer.”


  “Oh, Weber, a thousand is—”

  “I’ll do it for that and not a penny more.”

  She gasped. “Really?” Suddenly she was verging on tears, but they were the good kind. “You will? You’ll watch the boys for me?”

  “Yes, ma’am, it would be my pleasure.”

  “Ohmygod, thank you!”

  I turned to look at Cy. His fingers, which had been combing through the hair at the nape of my neck, had stilled as he held his breath. “Would that be all right if I stayed two weeks? Would you be okay with me bein’ here that long?”

  He glared at me. “You have known for the past three years what I would really like, so don’t ask stupid questions like that.”

  “Come here,” I said, taking his hand and walking him through the great room to the huge glass doors. They looked like giant wooden frames, and the first time I had seen them, I had been confused. But you pushed on one side, and it angled open like a giant window, nothing to slide.

  He was staring up at me when I turned around to face him.

  “I don’t know what you had planned, but that would put me here through Christmas, and I don’t want to cause any—”

  “Just stay.” He nodded, smiling at me. “Please.”

  I grabbed him and hugged him, burying my face in the side of his neck, pressing a kiss there as his hands fisted in my T-shirt.

  “Okay,” he said, sucking in his breath. “Now come eat already before you pass out.”

  I followed him back to the kitchen and ate standing up, the boys chattering at me as their mother looked on. Afterward, I had them help me wash the dishes, and they all formed a little assembly line. Carolyn told me I was an angel straight from heaven, and when I explained that I was actually from somewhere else, she laughed really hard.

  I went into Cy’s bedroom to call Aidan’s brother in Alaska, and when he found out I wasn’t coming, I had never heard such surprise. Apparently, Aidan had spoken out of turn, and his brother had made no plans to hire me. He thought there might be a job in another couple of weeks or so, but he couldn’t say for certain. So I had crossed the country on a maybe instead of a for sure and could have kicked myself for taking Aidan at his word. I knew better. The man had wanted to get into my pants, and that was all. I really was not that bright.

  Putting the phone down, I saw a face peeking around the corner at me.

  “I am so stupid, little man,” I told Phillip.

  “No you’re not. Lizzie in my class, she’s stupid. She eats her boogers. You don’t do that. I’ve been watching.”

  I grunted and gestured for him. He ran and leaped and scrambled up on the bed by me, and together we crawled to the end of the bed and looked at the TV.

  “You wanna get the remote?” I asked him, pointing at it maybe four feet away.

  “Nope. You wanna get it?”

  “Nope.” I yawned.

  “Call Micah.”

  Such good ideas he had. I yelled for Micah, and he was there seconds later. We both pointed at the remote, and he grabbed it and then got on Cy’s enormous California King with us. Tristan joined us soon after, his Nintendo DS in hand, using the stylus as he lay beside Micah.

  “What’re your Mom and Uncle Cy doin’?” I asked him.

  “Drinking tea and talking,” he told me.

  I made a noise of disgust, and Tristan nodded.

  “I know, talking… bleh.”

  When I smiled he smiled back, and then I turned on the TV. It was on ESPN, and before I could hear the complaints. I changed it. I flipped channels until I got to Animal Planet and River Monsters was on. Tristan said it was good, so we all gave it our attention.

  First I was leaning my cheek on my closed fist, and then my head was on my folded arms. Once Phillip—Pip—climbed on my back and put his head down on my shoulder, I started to fade. Tristan moved so he was leaning on my right side, and Micah was on the left, tucked in tighter. They were all keeping me warm, and I was a goner.

  I woke up what felt like minutes later and realized that the TV was off, as were all the lights but for one. The boys were gone, and instead there were lips kissing slowly up my spine. I made a noise of appreciation, feeling the T-shirt pushed up between my shoulder blades.

  “Carolyn took the boys home—after much protesting, I might add. They all wanted to stay and sleep with you, but I explained that I had first dibs.”

  I grunted. “How long was I asleep?”

  “Couple of hours.”

  Rolling over on my back, I looked up at him in the low light.

  “You should get under the covers and go to sleep. You’re exhausted.”

  When I lifted my hands to his face, he turned his head and kissed my palm. “Thank you for asking your sister to take pity on me.”

  “I didn’t, you know I didn’t. She decided all on her own that you were to be trusted.”

  “You’re mad.”

  “Of course I’m mad. Because you won’t just stay with me and let me take care of you.” He squinted down at me.

  “Nope,” I agreed.

  He moved to pull away, but I held him tight, our eyes locked together.

  “Let go.”

  I shook my head and eased him down slowly until our foreheads were pressed together, the two of us now with closed eyes, just quietly breathing.

  When I lifted toward him, his lips slanted down over mine, and I let everything fall away as I kissed him. Really, if I had anything to offer at all, I would lay claim to him, and no one but me would ever have him ever again. But as it was, all I could be was a diversion until he realized he could do so much better. He was a neurosurgeon. I was a homeless drifter, and this wasn’t a fairytale.

  “Weber,” he gasped, parting our lips. “Stop.”

  But this was what I had to offer, all that I was good for. “Doc,” I growled, tugging at his clothes. “Take these off.”

  “No!” he yelled at me, yanking away, pointing toward the pillows. “Get under the damn covers so I can hold you while you sleep.”

  I looked at him and was surprised to find no desire there at all, no lust riding him, simply furrowed brows and dark, flashing golden-brown eyes.

  Moving fast, I got under the covers as the light was turned off and the room was plunged into semi-darkness.

  “Come here, ass.” I laughed at him.

  He was tangled around me in seconds, and as I tucked his head under my chin and held him tight, I felt him tremble.

  “No one but you ever holds me like this.”

  “Dumb fuckers,” I assured him. “They’re missin’ out on somethin’ great.”

  “You’re the only one who knows I love it, because you’re the only one who ever made me do it.”

  The man was a natural snuggler, loved to be cuddled and nestled in beside me. I had been surprised the first time when he had tried to squirm away. But as I held him pressed to my heart, I had felt him surrender, felt him clutch me back, tremble in my arms, and whimper softly.

  “You’re the only one who had the balls to try and make me submit.”

  “That’s right.” I smiled in the dark, rubbing my cheek in the silky waves. “You didn’t want to do this at all the first time, did ya?”

  “No—” He sucked in his breath. “—because I was the dumb fucker back then.”

  I chuckled, and he pressed tighter.

  “Thank you for wanting to hold me, Weber.”

  “Thank you for lettin’ me, Cyrus.”

  His sigh of pleasure made me smile as my eyes drifted closed.

  Chapter Three

  I WAS surprised in the morning when ice cubes were put on my stomach. When I yelled and the squeals of delight filled the room, the giggling and little arms wrapped around my neck, I realized that it wasn’t ice, but feet. Micah and Pip were both giggling like psychopaths as Tristan snickered from where he was flipping channels.

  “Why are you here?” I asked the spawn of Satan. I had obviously missed that they were evil the night before.
Maybe sleep deprivation had finally melted my brain.

  “We came to pick up you and Uncle Cyrus to go to Nana and Grandpa’s.”

  What?

  Family?

  More family? Was he high?

  I tossed the comforter off of me, put it back over Pip and Micah, and walked out into the kitchen where I smelled coffee.

  “Good morning,” Carolyn greeted me as I staggered over first to her brother to kiss him and then to the coffee pot.

  “Ma’am, your children are evil.”

  She laughed softly. “Tell me they did not put their freezing little feet on your stomach.”

  “They did.” I glared at her.

  “God,” she said and sighed, “they are one hundred percent in love with you.”

  I grunted as Cyrus walked over to me.

  “How did you sleep, cowboy?”

  “Ain’t a cowboy no more,” I said, sipping the black coffee.

  “You’ll always be my cowboy,” he said, gravel voiced and sleepy, placing soft kisses along the underside of my jaw. I couldn’t stop the rumbling purr that came out of me.

  Carolyn made a noise, but I couldn’t be bothered to look at her. I was far too interested in her brother and his hands roaming up under my T-shirt.

  “This weekend,” he began, fingers tracing over the muscles in my abdomen, “I promised my folks I’d drive up to their place in Half Moon Bay because my brother Brett and his family are spending the holidays with his wife’s family this year so we won’t see them again until after the New Year.”

  “Okay.”

  “Carolyn was supposed to go as well, of course, and take her kids.”

  “And my husband.” She sighed. “Don’t forget I was supposed to have a husband as well.”

  “That ain’t your fault, darlin’,” I reminded her.

  “I know, but still.”

  I put the coffee down, even though I needed it to wake up, because I needed Cy more. The allure of the man was overwhelming. “Well, you should go.” I yawned, wrapping my arms around him, drawing him close. “I can stay here.”

  “Oh no,” Carolyn chimed in from behind me. “I want you to spend more time with the boys, Weber, and I want to talk to you about Micah.”

  “I don’t wanna be in the way,” I said, smoothing a hand down Cy’s back, pressing him tighter against me.