I narrowed my eyes. “Where are they while you’re watching T.V.?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, but they’re gone a long time.”
I blinked slowly and ran my palm along my forehead. A hand landed on my arm and I turned, finding Luke standing beside me, his eyes hard. “Who’s your babysitter?”
I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “A teacher, actually, from the elementary school.”
“A teacher?” Jake asked. “A teacher is screwing around when she’s babysitting.”
I pursed my lips. “I thought having a teacher babysit would be a good decision.”
“Of course you did, honey. I would’ve thought the same.” Anna shook her head. “I’m going to talk to Kasey.”
I tilted my head in confusion. “Kasey?”
“My daughter-in-law. She’s a teacher as well.” She cocked her head. “Haven’t you met Jax and Kasey?”
I sighed. “I honestly don’t know. There are so many of you.”
They laughed and Lanie laid her hand along my forearm. “There are a lot of them, but I promise you’ll get them all straight.”
I nodded, but I doubted it. I didn’t have time to get to know this family. There weren’t enough hours in the day for everything I had to do, let alone make friends.
I felt a hand wrap around the back of my neck and my head twisted to see Luke had moved to stand close to my side. “It sounds like you’re going to need a new babysitter.”
Heat flushed my cheeks when I realized how close he was standing and I swallowed hard. Luke was someone I definitely didn’t have time for. “Yeah.” My voice sounded tired even to my own ears.
He leaned in closer and pushed my sunglasses up to sit on top of my head, his minty breath wafting across my lips. I tried to move back, but his hand squeezed my neck gently holding me close. “Let me help you today, at least.”
His dark blue eyes held mine, causing a stirring in my belly like I’d never felt before. Not with boyfriends and certainly never with Andy’s father. I broke his stare but nodded. “I’d appreciate that.”
I moved away and he released his hand as I squatted down in front of Andy. I tapped on the bill of his baseball cap and smiled. He gave me his lopsided grin in return. “Okay, kiddo, sounds like you’re going to hang out with Luke today.” His smiled widened and I took a deep breath, taking on a stern voice. “But you have to promise me you’ll be good for him and use your manners.”
He nodded his head excitedly. “I will mom.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Promise?”
He held out his pinky finger for me to wrap my pinky finger around, laughing when I did. “I promise mom.”
I tilted his hat back and kissed his forehead before standing to face Luke. I’d noticed most of his family were talking amongst themselves, all except for Jack who seemed to be keeping a watchful eye. I squared my shoulders and faced Luke, ignoring the look of surprise that crossed his face when he saw the serious look on mine. “I’ll give you my number and you have to promise me you’ll call if anything happens or he needs me.”
He grinned, causing my stomach to do a flip, which I ignored. “Do I have to pinky promise too?”
I ignored that and moved on. “I don’t get off until two—”
I started, but he interrupted me. “I’ll bring him to your house tonight so he can go to sleep in his bed. Do you have a spare key?”
Did I want to give him a key? God, that would be so much easier than picking him up while he’s asleep and carrying him to the car, then driving home and carrying him in the house. He’s getting bigger and harder to carry around like I did when he was small, but having Luke in my house, in my space, felt overwhelming.
I caved when I saw the sincerity in his eyes. “I do, but it’s at the house.”
“I’ll follow you home now and you can give me the keys and my instructions.”
I nodded and turned back to see his family was still lingering so I called out. “It was nice of you all to come today.”
I got a lot of smiles and sweet comments while they dispersed, Jack calling out to Luke that they would meet him at the ice cream shop on Mainstreet. I didn’t even know there was an ice cream shop on Mainstreet.
Luke followed Andy and I to our car and stood by while Andy climbed in the backseat and buckled himself in. I pulled open my front door and turned to face Luke, resting my hand on the top of the open door. “Thank you, Luke. I really appreciate you doing this.”
He reached up and tucked a piece of hair that had escaped my messy bun behind my ear. “No problem.”
I averted my eyes, squinting in the bright sun, his stare too intense. I lowered myself into my little and honestly, pretty shitty car, putting the keys in the ignition, thankful when I heard it turn over.
Luke propped his hand on the roof of my car and leaned down, his face coming close to mine. I expected the shiver that ran through my body when he leaned in, and I wasn’t disappointed. I sighed and turned to look at him. His eyes flicked between mine. “Trust me Kate.”
I blinked slowly. He had no idea how much he was asking of me. “I’m trying.”
“I won’t give up until you do.”
I nodded. I was starting to believe that.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LUKE
“Mom usually reads me a story.”
I smiled and sat on the side of Andy’s bed, facing him and Cookie who were cuddled close together. How the hell he wasn’t asleep already was beyond me with how busy he kept me all day. “Do you want me to read you a story?”
He grinned. “Okay.”
I looked over at the small bookshelf in the corner of his room and stood. “What’s it going to be?”
He looked thoughtful, making me chuckle. “Any Dr. Seuss.”
“You got it.” I grabbed one off the shelf and made my way back to the bed, grinning when he moved over and pulled Cookie to lay on his belly so I could sit beside him. I rested my back against the headboard and settled in to read a story I hadn’t heard in over twenty years.
Andy fell asleep only a few pages in so I moved as gently as I could from his twin bed and put the book back on the shelf before making my way to the door. I glanced back and smiled before shutting off the light and pulling the door almost closed, but leaving it open a crack so I could hear him if he needed me. I walked out to the small kitchen and grabbed my phone off the counter, sighing when I saw another text from the woman I’d taken out one time over a month ago. I’d already told her I wasn’t interested in the nicest way I could, but she wasn’t getting it or she didn’t want to get it.
I moved to the small living room after grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator and sat on the couch, propping my feet up on the coffee table. I laid my head back against the cushions and closed my eyes, wondering, not for the first time today, how the hell Kate does all she does.
When we left the ballpark, I’d followed her home. She’d been all business, telling me everything I needed to know about Andy, giving me a key and her phone number. I could tell she was nervous leaving him with me for the day, but she really didn’t have any other options and selfishly, I was really fucking happy about that.
After doing about a hundred things in five minutes, Kate left for work and it was just me and Andy. I loaded him and Cookie into my vehicle and headed to the ice cream shop where I knew most of my family would be, waiting to give me shit about babysitting for a woman I barely know. I haven’t been hiding my attraction to Kate, so I was ready for it, but surprisingly they didn’t have much to say. Or my dad told them to shut the hell up before I even got there.
That was more likely.
After ice cream, I took Andy to Jake’s where we worked on some baseball skills, which included Bray trying to play right alongside Andy. It was funny watching Lanie’s dogs Beasley and Bobby play with Cookie and the two boys. I chatted with Jake, sitting in a lawn chair and watching the boys play while drinking a cold beer. It should hav
e felt odd to me, having been single most of my adult life, but it didn’t. It actually felt like I was right where I was supposed to be.
We stayed and had dinner with Jake and Lanie and I was happy to see Andy chatting away about baseball. After playing a little more we headed back to Kate’s house where he took a shower, saying he could do it all by himself and he did if I overlooked the amount of water I cleaned up off the floor when he was done.
I lifted my head and opened the bottle of water resting against my leg before bringing it to my mouth. I glanced at the clock on the wall and saw it was only ten, so I grabbed the remote, turned on ESPN and settled in to watch game highlights. I was probably asleep in about five minutes considering I don’t remember seeing many highlights.
I opened my eyes when I heard the lock on the front door click open and sat up. Rubbing the back of my neck, I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees just as Kate walked through the front door. I was expecting the shot of heat to course through me when my eyes hit her and I wasn’t disappointed. I stood when she hung her purse on one of the five hooks right inside the door.
She looked fucking exhausted.
“You look exhausted.” I said softly.
“I’m fine.” She said quietly, moving into the living room where I was standing. “How was Andy?”
We had talked around dinner time when she called to check on him and I had him call her after his shower to say goodnight, but I still knew she’d ask. “He was good. Seemed to have a good time.”
A small smile graced her lips and my eyes lingered there. I’d give just about anything to taste those lips. “I knew that just from talking to him earlier.”
I glanced down at her hand, hanging by her side. “How’s your hand?”
She raised it up and examined it. “It’s doing better, but I won’t lie, I hadn’t expected it to hurt this much or for this long.”
I chuckled softly. “Bruised knuckles are no fun.”
“Why in the world do guys get into fights if it feels like this?”
“I don’t think it’s the same for guys. I mean, it still hurts like hell, but some of us actually like the adrenaline rush and release from hitting something.” I answered honestly.
She cocked her head. “Do you fight with your brothers?”
I smiled. “All the time.”
“And you like that?” She shook her head like she couldn’t understand.
“Usually we’re just fighting for fun, not really to hurt each other, although through the years, we’ve gotten in to a few fights because we were pissed.” She looked so lost, I tried to explain differently. “Sometimes it’s how we communicate.”
She toed off her sneakers. “Oh, yes the caveman syndrome.”
She giggled when I laughed and I was surprised when she continued with the conversation. I realized then I’d talk about anything she wanted to if it meant I got to stand close and just breathe her in.
“Is that why you became a cop? Because of the adrenaline rush?”
I faltered a minute when she switched gears, but once I caught up I answered. “No. I became a cop because it’s all I ever wanted to be. I don’t remember ever considering anything else.”
She walked towards the kitchen and I followed, pausing by the small counter while she pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator and twisted off the cap. “Really? That’s odd. I think most people go through a lot of ideas before they settle on one thing. What made you want to do it so badly?”
I contemplated that for a moment, never having to put it in to words before. My family had always known and accepted I would be a police officer. “I like the discipline, the routine and then once I made detective, I realized I liked the puzzle. I like gathering the pieces and trying to put the puzzle together, and getting inside a criminal’s mind so I can bring them to justice.”
She smiled softly before taking a few steps closer to me and I waited, hoping she would keep asking me questions, but fearing she was going to tell me to go. “Luke, I can’t thank you enough for spending the day with Andy.” She glanced at the floor, but then took a deep breath and met my eyes once again. “He doesn’t have a lot of chances to spend time around men and I know he needs that.”
I took a few steps towards her, careful to move slowly, afraid she’d take steps away from me if I moved too quickly. “He’s a great kid, Kate. You’re giving him everything he needs.” I moved another step, putting me almost toe-to-toe with her. “Does he see his dad?”
She took a deep breath and released it slowly. “No.”
Not able to stop myself from touching her any longer, I reached out and ran my hand up her arm and around the side of her neck, rubbing my thumb along the column of her throat. “Why not?”
“His dad started a new life. He left and never looked back, no matter how much I begged.” Her face flushed and I knew she realized how much she’d given away in that moment.
I moved even closer, breathing deeply when my chest brushed against her breasts, straining against the tight top of her uniform. “Were you begging for you or Andy?”
She huffed. “It doesn’t matter now, he didn’t stay.”
“Then he’s a dumbass.” I said honestly.
She smirked, but took a step back, causing me to drop my hand. I felt the loss immediately. “I think that title is saved for me.”
I frowned. “Why would you think that?”
She shook her head, taking another step back. “It’s a long story.”
I stepped closer even knowing her retreating should be telling me all I needed to know. It just wasn’t anything I wanted to hear. “I have time.”
“I don’t.” She skirted around me, walking towards the front door, telling me without words that it was time for me to go and I dropped my head. “I need to get a few hours of sleep. Andy will be up before I know it.”
I moved slowly around the counter to grab my phone and keys off the kitchen island and walked across the small room to stand in front of her by the door. She crossed her arms over her chest but seemed to be having problems meeting my eyes. I reached out and put two fingers under her chin, lifting it until I could see her beautiful green eyes. “Do you work tomorrow?”
She nodded and I dropped my fingers. “Yeah.”
“What time?”
“Five.”
“Spend the day with me.”
She blinked. “What?”
I leaned down, putting my face closer to hers. “Spend the day with me.”
She shook her head. “I have things to do here and I need to find a new sitter for Andy.”
“What things?”
“All the things I neglect during the week, like laundry and mowing the yard.” She twisted her fingers together. “Some Sunday’s I make meals for the week if I have enough time. So, as you can see, my day’s already filled.”
I ignored her objection, vowing in my mind to find her a babysitter. “My family has a dinner every Sunday around one. I want you and Andy to come.”
Her head was shaking no before I even finished talking. “That’s a nice offer, but I really can’t.”
I ran my thumb across her full bottom lip and she stopped talking. “My mom has some ideas for sitters for you.”
Her eyes brightened. “Really?”
I should feel bad, promising something I wasn’t sure I could deliver, but I couldn’t. I knew there were only a few ways I was going to be spending time with her and I was using those ways to my advantage. “I’ll pick you guys up around twelve.”
I could almost hear the wheels turning in her mind, trying to find any way out, but I also knew her only concern was finding the best for Andy. I was counting on that. Her shoulders lowered in defeat and I barely held back the grin. “Okay, we’ll come, but I’ll drive us. Can you text me their address?”
“I’ll pick you up and then I’ll stay with Andy again when you go to work.”
She smiled softly. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You di
dn’t.” I knew I needed to go before she changed her mind, so I leaned past her and pulled the door open. She turned to face me standing in the open doorway and I tried to resist, I really did, but it was clear I have no control around her. I wrapped my hand around her waist and pulled her tight against my body, breathing in her sweet scent, feeling her curves pressed against me was almost too much. Leaning in, I laid my forehead against hers. I ran my thumb along her cheek, thrilled when I heard her breath hitch, but knew I was pushing my luck so I slowly moved back, meeting her eyes. “In case you don’t realize it, I think you’re an amazing woman and a great mother and I intend to spend as much time with you and Andy as I can.”
She wouldn’t meet my eyes and she didn’t say anything so I continued, deciding to lighten the mood. “And I could not have been prouder of you than I was when I watched you punch that bastard in the nose and then knee him in the nuts.”
Her head snapped up and her lips twitched, thankfully recognizing the lightness in my tone. “I think next time I’ll just use my knee and save my hand.”
“As long as you’re with me, you won’t have to do any of that.” I leaned in close, laying my forehead against hers once again, unable to stop touching her. “I won’t ever let anyone hurt you or Andy.” She was quiet but didn’t move away and I knew I’d pushed her as far as I could tonight. “I’ll see you tomorrow, baby.”
She nodded and her voice was quiet when she answered. “Okay.”
Pulling back from her was the hardest thing I’d done in a long time, but I needed to if I wanted to keep the progress I’d made. “Lock up, Kate. I’m not leaving until I know you and Andy are safely locked inside.”
She took a few steps back, lifting her head when I called out her name. “What?”
“I think I like it when you’re tired.”
She cocked her head. “Why?”
I grinned, wanting to lighten the mood even further, knowing it would most likely piss her off. “You’re guard’s down. Makes me know it’s worth all the work I’m putting in.”
Her eyes flared, but I winked and moved quickly to my vehicle, knowing if I turned around now I’d see just how much I pissed her off by the fire in her eyes. I waited until her door closed and backed out of her driveway, smiling.
Kate (The Dimarco Series Book 5) Page 6