by Alyssa Kress
~~~
He was apparently a glutton for punishment. Why had he offered to spend an hour alone with a woman who wanted nothing to do with him?
As Brennan crossed the distance between the two houses and walked up the porch steps, he assured himself he was doing this for Liam. Having the papers filled out promptly and properly would help assure the kid's future.
Right.
Erica opened the front door, and Brennan could sense her tension as he followed her into the house.
From the front foyer, she turned right into the dining room. Papers littered the top of the round walnut table.
"There." She gestured toward the chaos with an arm. "I can't believe anyone can do this by themselves. I don't even know which of these forms are relevant; they're all written in government, lawyer language. I'm sure I need Grover Hamilton."
She wanted Brennan to give up. She wanted him to leave.
Paradoxically, her attitude allowed him to relax. She had her fences up, so he didn't have to worry about what might be happening to his own. Meanwhile, her assumption Brennan wouldn't be able to sort through a little red tape touched his competitive nerve.
"Perhaps we'll have to resort to Hamilton." Not if Brennan had anything to do with it. "But let's take a look first."
With a shrug, Erica took a seat at the table. Four chairs were set at ninety-degree angles around the circular table.
Brennan took the seat next to hers. "What have you got?"
"A big mess." She crossed her arms over her chest and didn't look at him.
Despite every signal she could possibly give that he was unwanted, Brennan felt his skin heat at her proximity. Her sex appeal had not changed one iota since she'd told him off so emphatically the other night. He easily remembered the way she'd felt in his arms when they'd kissed behind the Mountainsmith camping tent in his store. The warmth and strength of her lips...
"Is there a list?" He was determined to redirect his thoughts. "Oh, I see it." From the messy pile, he pulled out a piece of paper that appeared to list all the guardianship forms. Scowling, he forced himself to focus on the document. "Okay, the 'Overview' is not anything we have to fill out. Next is 'Petition for Appointment of Guardian of Minor'."
For the next ten minutes, he went down the list of forms and helped her pull together those she actually needed to complete. Forty-five minutes after that, minutes during which Liam returned to the house and went upstairs—but whose presence had not prevented Brennan from being aware of every breath Erica took and the precise location of every curve of her body—they'd completed all the questions she hadn't known how to answer.
Brennan leaned back in the dining room chair. "Oh, and don't forget you have to give notice to everyone who might have an interest in Liam's welfare or the estate." He tugged the corner of the form in question.
"You mean relatives?" Erica shook her head. "There aren't any. My mother and father were both only children, so no aunts, uncles, or cousins."
"There's Clint."
"Oh." With a laugh, Erica covered her mouth. "I hadn't thought of him."
Her laughter got to him as nothing else so far had. It made her seem accessible again. And happy. He liked seeing her happy.
Trying to control himself, Brennan inched out the form. "Clint does have to be served, believe it or not, and by someone who's not a party to the action. I can do it."
"Oh." She seemed surprised. "Okay. But—wait." Her brief smile sobered considerably. "What about my oldest brother, Alex? Don't we have to serve him, too? But it would be impossible. Nobody's heard from him in over a decade."
"The court doesn't expect miracles. I thought I saw— Yes, there's a place to explain why you haven't served notice to someone."
"Good. I'll fill that out."
The tension with which she'd begun this exercise had disappeared. Brennan's monster persona had apparently vanished. She even looked at him.
"Thank you. You were right. You did know how to do this."
Their eyes met.
A spear of pure desire went through Brennan. Quickly, he looked away. He didn't want her to see his lust. Hell, he didn't want to be feeling it. Surely this isn't why he'd agreed to come over and help her fill out the papers. Though he couldn't pin down exactly the reason he had. Perhaps later he could sort out why he kept acting contrary to his own interests.
Meanwhile, Erica, too, had apparently felt something she hadn't liked in that moment. She cleared her throat and her voice came out cool. "You said you had an hour, and it's been a little more than that. So, I'll let you go."
Now was clearly not the time to admit he'd only claimed to have an hour so she wouldn't feel apprehensive about inviting him inside. Nor was it a favorable time to act on Liam's request that Brennan offer to help her get physical training customers in Palmwood.
Clearly, persuading her to accept that sort of help was going to require some creativity.
"Yes," Brennan agreed. "I should go."
Truer words had never been said.