Games of the Heart

by Kristen Ashley

  God, sometimes he just killed me. But when he did it, he did it in a way I liked.

  “Shut up,” I whispered.

  Mike stared at me, his eyes warm and gentle and that killed me too, in a way I liked.

  Then he shut up, at least about that.

  “I owe you for the party shit you bought. You need to give me the receipts.”

  “Shut up,” I said louder and his hand curled firm on my ass again.

  “Dusty. You need to give me the receipts.”

  “Is this macho, I can talk until I’m blue in the face telling you it was my pleasure to give that to Rees so I want to pay for it and you still won’t agree Mike?”

  He grinned, his hand relaxed and he answered, “Exactly.”

  “Whatever,” I muttered. “I’ll give you the receipts.”

  “Thanks, honey,” he muttered back then continued. “By the way, you didn’t bring a bag but you’re spendin’ the night.”

  I so was.

  Still, I felt compelled to point out, “Seriously, you’re bossy.”

  He didn’t reply, just kept grinning.

  “Were you this bossy with Debbie?” I asked.

  “Sweetheart, you know no one can be bossy with Debbie because she’s so fuckin’ bossy. It was unrelenting. I could try to boss, I just couldn’t wedge one in.”

  “So I have hope,” I muttered. “I just have to do it unrelenting.”

  “Just a reminder, Dusty, Debbie lasted a while because I was a teenager with a small pond to choose from and she gave it to me regularly. When my field opened, Debbie was gone.”

  I burst out laughing, shoving my face in his neck and feeling his hold tighten on me.

  I loved this. I loved the comfort of it. That we could talk about stuff openly. That stuff that could feel weird or come between others didn’t between us. We got it. It was history.

  This was now.

  This was us.

  We could talk about anything.

  I lifted my head and looked at him to see him smiling at me.

  Yes, this was us.

  “The boys are clearing snow,” I announced.

  Mike blinked.

  “Pardon?”

  “Darrin had contracts –”

  I knew he knew exactly what I was talking about when he cut me off.

  “You’re shittin’ me. They’re doin’ that?”

  I nodded. “Both Fin and Kirby.”

  Mike’s focus went out and I knew he was harking back, counting snowfalls when he muttered, “Three times.”

  “Yep,” I confirmed and his focus came back on me.

  “Rhonda allowed it?”

  I nodded.

  He murmured, “Fuck.”

  “So, as a Dad, you think that’s wrong?”

  “Uh…yeah. Kirby doesn’t even have his driver’s license. I knew Fin helped Darrin out and knowing Darrin, he wouldn’t have allowed that unless it was covered in the contracts or Fin was protected by Darrin’s insurance. So I don’t know what the contracts say but I doubt whatever insurance is provided includes the work being done by a non-licensed minor like Kirby. If he got hurt…” Mike trailed off.

  “I didn’t like it either,” I agreed. “But I didn’t say anything when Rhonda told me because she’s their Mom and I didn’t know how she and Darrin played stuff like that with the boys.”

  “If I’m right, he covers three developments. If Kirb could be on a tractor with a blade, Darrin would have had Kirb’s ass on a tractor with a blade. Did Fin recruit him?”

  I nodded.

  “Takin’ care of his family,” Mike muttered correctly.

  “Yep,” I repeated.

  “Fuck,” Mike repeated.

  “Yep,” I repeated again. Then I took in a deep breath and shared, “Rhonda’s checked out.”

  Mike’s arms got tight and his eyes looked deep into mine when he whispered, “I’m gettin’ that.”

  I pressed deeper into him and whispered back, “Totally, Mike.”

  He held my eyes then replied, “She’s gotta snap out of it, Dusty.”

  “You know Rhonda,” I reminded him.

  “I do. But shit happens and you gotta step up. We got the Debbie situation under control but both you and I know she’s in DC plotting. She’ll make her next move and she’ll do it soon.”

  He was not wrong about that.

  I did a face plant in his neck.

  Mike’s hands gave me a squeeze. “Angel, look at me.”

  I lifted my head.

  “It’s time to talk to your Dad,” he said softly and my heart squeezed.

  “He’s worked hard all his life, Mike. So has Mom. They love it down in Florida. He fishes. Mom spends hours in the kitchen making food out of gourmet food magazines she never had the time to make when she was a farmer’s wife. Dad spends time pretending he likes to eat it when really he just wants a fried tenderloin sandwich. They’re enjoying the good life.”

  “Explain again why Darrin left the farm to all four of you,” Mike demanded to know something I’d told him the night we reconciled. Something he muttered then that he thought was “jacked” and something he clearly thought was still jacked now. Then again, Darrin loved Debbie. Mike didn’t.

  “Because he loved his sisters,” I told him. “He knew Debbie but he always saw the good in people, even Debbie. And he knew Rhonda. So, if anyone would have Finley and Kirby’s backs with the farm, keeping it whole and safe for them to take over, he knew he couldn’t trust Rhonda to do it. But he could trust Debbie and me. Or he thought he could. He was wrong.”

  “Your Dad would lose his mind if he thought Debbie was pushing to sell the farm to developers,” Mike noted, again correctly.

  “Yes,” I agreed unnecessarily.

  “So you need his firepower at your back.”

  I sighed.

  Mike kept talking. “Right, honey, as you know, I’m a Dad and that’s a lifetime job. He knows that too. I get that you want to sort this shit and let them have their retirement. But life happens. They get that. Their son died unexpectedly and they are not down in Florida living the high life. They’re down there worried about Rhonda checkin’ out and those boys bein’ looked after. If they knew about Debbie, they’d lose it, at least your Dad would. He’d want to know. And I know he doesn’t know because if he did, his ass would be up here or he’d be on the phone to DC tellin’ his girl to stand down. You need to call in reinforcements, at least with Debbie.”

  He was right so I sighed again then nodded.

  Then I asked, “What about Rhonda? I told you I talked to her twice and she drifted away. I think she’s replacing Darrin with me. And Fin, well, he loves his Mom, I know it. And I also know he’s relieved to have me around, you demonstrating you’re going to wade in with Debbie. But he’s losing it with her, Mike. He’s not being ugly but I know he’s worried, feeling pressure and getting impatient with her because of it. I don’t know if she’s paying bills, if she knows how to handle the accounts, what their money situation is. But the corn has to go in and it doesn’t just plant itself. Fin knows all this too.”

  “Her folks?” Mike suggested.

  “There’s a reason Rhonda is the way she is, honey,” I said softly. “Her Dad isn’t a bad man, or at least not totally. But Darrin told me he was a perfectionist, impatient. He came down on Rhonda hard when she was a kid. Darrin thought she was naturally shy, a little flighty, definitely sensitive but that gig with her Dad dug all this in deep. Her Mom is a hoverer and enabler. Mom told me while they were around after Darrin died, Rhonda’s Dad was impatient with her, her Mom was running in to do everything so Rhonda wouldn’t have to do it. I don’t think they’ll help.”

  “She got any close girlfriends?”

  I shook my head. “You know she’s shy. In fact, I still find it a miracle Darrin got in there. She has a friend. They’ve been besties since high school. But she moved to Missouri at least a decade ago.”

  Mike stared up at me then his face changed i
n a way that made me brace right before he rolled me to my back with him on me.

  His hand sliding up my body, it ended curled around my jaw as his face got close.

  I would understand the intensity in his dark brown eyes and the change in circumstances when he asked, “How long you plannin’ to stay, darlin’?”

  My body melted under his, I circled him with my arms and answered, “I planned to stay at least until the crop was in and I had a sense it was good.”

  “June, July,” he muttered.

  “Yeah,” I muttered back.

  He smiled. Big.

  “June, July,” he repeated.

  I smiled back. Big.

  “Yeah.”

  We kept smiling at each other like lovestruck idiots, we did this for a while and I loved every second of it.

  Then, unfortunately, Mike ended it but, fortunately, he ended it with a plan.

  “Right, you got time. No doubt about it, Fin’s up. It’s a year or two earlier than any kid should have to shoulder that responsibility but you know what you’re doin’ and you got your Dad on the line if you need him. Give him his head, take his back. This is about the farm, not the snow removal. With that, I’ll make a few calls, see who I can get to work with Fin if it snows again before spring comes. Yeah?”

  I nodded.

  “Rhonda, keep at her. Just keep talking to her. Do it steady, do it firm. Watch and take a read as you’re talkin’. You’ll know, she doesn’t snap out of it, when the time will be to shake her up a bit.”

  I nodded again.

  “In the meantime, until I feel it’s cool to introduce you to the mix of bodies sleepin’ under this roof when my kids are in their beds, every other Friday night to Sunday morning, you plan to sleep in this bed with me.”

  I nodded again this time smiling.

  “That a plan?” he asked.

  “It’s a plan,” I whispered.

  “As it goes, there’s shit you don’t like, anytime, honey, I want you to know you can talk it through with me.”

  I figured that already but I loved having it confirmed.

  “Thanks, Mike.”

  “Anytime, Angel,” he said gently before he dropped his head and touched his mouth to mine.

  Then he rolled back, shifting and adjusting so he could yank the covers from under us and we resumed our positions with the sheets up to our waists.

  “TV, conversation or making out?” Mike offered me a selection and I lifted my head to look down at him.

  “Audrey,” I picked a choice he didn’t offer and I saw the shadow of what appeared to be mild irritation drift through his face. Although I saw it, I knew he wasn’t feeling it about me.

  Last Saturday I discovered the bad news about Audrey Haines was that she did not have horns, fangs, acid green eyes or matted hair. She was tall, trim but built and there was a reason her genes mixed with Mike’s made such gorgeous kids. She wasn’t a striking beauty like her daughter and I wasn’t a guy but I still knew she was a woman who a man would look at twice. Her thing definitely wasn’t my thing because her clothes were obviously top-of-the-line, classically fashionable and she wore them well. But, even though Mike was now with me, I hated it, but I could totally see him with her. If I didn’t know what happened behind the scenes, they were definitely a couple that fit. He was gorgeously handsome, she was exceptionally pretty. He wore clothes well and had a confident manner; she wore good clothes stylishly and had a remote bearing that was nonetheless attractive.

  The weird news was that she seemed entirely removed from both her kids. At first I thought they were pissed about what she’d done regarding the party. But it wasn’t that. Their relationship with their Dad was obviously close, deep, warm, often-times teasing, definitely parent/child with a constant vibe of loving.

  Audrey Haines had none of that with her kids.

  And the last news was discomfiting. This being that she watched her kids and Mike nearly throughout the party in a pensive way that made me think she was planning something.

  It didn’t help when Mike, who told me he never spoke to her, ended up on the back deck with her. Their conversation was short and clearly, from Mike’s expression upon return, not pleasant. But she’d broken the seal and she’d walked into the party planning to do just that.

  I didn’t know her. What I did know was that she and Mike had been divorced for nearly three years, separated for some time before that so I found it not a coincidence that when another woman hit the scene, she instigated contact.

  I’d let this slide mainly because we’d not had personal time to discuss it.

  Now we needed to discuss it.

  Mike didn’t hesitate laying it out.

  “She informed me she has a new job, this was what took her away that day and made her fuck up her part of the party. She’s getting better pay and she’s moving to a bigger apartment in Indy.”

  I didn’t think any of that was bad.

  So I asked, “Isn’t all this good, including her melting the freeze on communication?”

  “With Audrey I learned to be suspicious of everything, especially shit that on the surface seems good.”

  I rubbed my lips together. Mike watched this for a second before his eyes came back to mine and he continued laying it out. This time, it was bad.

  “Suspicious this time would include the fact that she hasn’t spoken to me in I don’t know how long but offered to meet me at her complex and show me her new place.”

  There it was, bad.

  “Oh boy,” I muttered.

  “Yeah,” he replied. “She didn’t say shit. She didn’t act like a bitch. She didn’t pitch a fit. But she also made it clear she understood I was movin’ on with you and it wasn’t her favorite thing.”

  “Oh boy,” I repeated on a mutter.

  “Angel,” he said on an arm squeeze, “I hope you get I am never, ever goin’ back there.”

  I took in a deep breath and nodded.

  “She might be gearin’ up to play games but whatever game she thinks she’s gonna play will end up as solitaire,” he assured me.

  “Okay,” I replied quietly.

  His face shifted, hardening slightly and he went on, “Since we’re talkin’ about pain in the ass exes, you don’t talk to Beau LeBrec. Ever. He calls, you don’t answer. But if he calls, you tell me.”

  “Mike –”

  He shook his head and his arms gave me a different kind of squeeze. The warning kind.

  “No discussion. This is Mike Haines the cop who’s seen a fair few of these kinds of guys and the damage they can wreak if they don’t clue in talking. And it’s the Mike Haines talking who’s your man who does not want his woman who’s got a full plate dealin’ with this kind of guy or enduring the damage he can wreak.”

  “If he doesn’t clue in, what are you going to do?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I do know what I’m not gonna do and that is allow him to continue to be a clueless pain in the ass when it comes to you.”

  “Maybe I should talk to Hunter,” I muttered.

  “No, I’ll be callin’ Rivera.”

  I wasn’t sure that was good.

  “Mike –” I started but stopped when I got yet another arm squeeze.

  “You told your girl about you and me and she told Rivera,” he surmised.

  “Uh…yeah,” I confirmed hesitantly.

  “Women talk, Dusty, this is not something I’m just learning. And their favorite topic of conversation is dissecting a guy who acted like a dick.”

  This was true, he clearly knew it so I decided not to confirm this verbally.

  He grinned and it was a relief to see he was entirely unoffended.

  Then he stated, “Rivera is not doin’ this for me. He’s doin’ it for you. And he needs to know LeBrec contacted you again. And I need to know what he intends to do about that at his end. He might not like it at first but he’ll get me and then he’ll tell me.”

  “Okay, I’ll leave the man communication and
cop bonding to the men who also happen to be cops.”

  “Good call,” he muttered.

  “And I won’t answer if Beau calls.”

  “No, you won’t.”

  I rolled my eyes. Mike gave me another arm squeeze.

  It was time to move on.

  “Right, so, I picked what we did last. Your turn.”

  His face changed again and it changed in a way I liked a whole lot.

  “I got choices?” he asked quietly, his face and an underlying note in his voice that was beyond sexy making “Little Dusty” do a little shiver.

  “I’m open to suggestions.”

  Mike rolled me, ending on top again but this time with his lips at my ear where he murmured, “You whispered a lot of dirty shit to me over the phone and you seriously got off on what I did earlier. How dirty can my girl be?”

  “Little Dusty” didn’t shiver with that. “Little Dusty” did a full on shake.

  “I’m willing to explore the boundaries of dirty,” I murmured back.

  “Then on your belly, honey, and take off the tee. I’m gonna start with your back.”

  He was going to start with my back?

  At that, “Little Dusty” rocked the core of me.

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  Mike moved away.

  I did as I was told.

  Then we spent a goodly amount of time exploring the boundaries of dirty and through it I discovered that good guy Mike Haines had a multitude of nuances.

  And some of them were very, very bad.

  So bad, they were awesome.

  But in the end, I fell asleep in good guy Mike’s arms, his eyes were to the TV and before we’d settled in, he’d gone to open the door and let in his dog. So not only did I fall asleep in Mike’s arms, I fell asleep in a bed that included a golden retriever.

  And before I drifted off to sleep with the television news my lullaby, I remembered exactly how much I liked falling asleep in Mike Haines’s arms.