Controlled Response

by Joey W. Hill

Page 26

 

  As her sister made a strangled sound, Lucas bit back a grin. "That's an HR recruiting secret," he commented gravely. "I trust you won't betray our confidence. "

  "Marcie. " Cass sent her a quelling look. "Where's everyone else?"

  "Out back. Nate just wanted to be here when you called and said you were coming home. "

  "Mommy, look. " Nate rattled past again.

  As Cass smiled at him, she murmured to Lucas, "Nate's always called me Mommy. I'm the only mom he's ever known. "

  Any other time, she could have managed that without the quaver in her voice, but it had been that kind of day. As she felt Marcie studying her, she cursed Lucas's intuition when he discreetly opted to fall in step with the little boy, moving out of earshot.

  "It was Jeremy again, wasn't it? You have the pinched look. "

  Cass lifted a shoulder. "I picked him up, he's off again. Let's not talk about it, okay? Not in front of company. "

  "Looks like company that stuck with you through it. " Marcie sent a more thoughtful look after Lucas, but then shifted to an examination of her older sister's appearance. Cass pressed her lips together under the uncomfortable appraisal, determined not to say a word to explain the mans shirt and suit coat loose over her skirt. A suit coat that matched Lucas's trousers. Thank God she had it, though, or the bright sunlight would have shown she wore nothing under the shirt.

  Surprisingly, however, Marcie held her questions while Cass focused on Lucas. The little boy was jabbering at him. When he made a wobbling turn, Lucas's hand steadied the seat of the bike as they continued their circuit.

  "Holy God, Cass," Marcie said at last. "I saw the pictures, but I didn't think they made them that pretty without wings. Or air-brushing. "

  "You should see the rest of the team," Cass relented. "They're just about as bad. "

  "Just about? So you think he's the cutest one, then?"

  "Objectively, I'd have to say so, but its mere degrees. "

  Marcie tucked her tongue into her cheek. "That Ben O'Callahan looks more my type. "

  "He's probably about fifteen years older than you. "

  "So? If he was immortal, like Superman, it wouldn't matter. Ours could be a timeless love. Do you think they do internships? I could try to trap him in the mailroom or something. "

  "Oh, God. " Cass elbowed her sister. But her tensions were easing, being here at home.

  Marcie could drive her crazy, but teenage silliness like this helped Cass more than her younger sister knew.

  If she entertained for even a moment that Lucas could become part of her life, she knew that would mean the wunderkind would become part of it as well. Thinking of Ben around her sister almost made her laugh. She knew he'd flirt, making Marcie feel pretty and special, but fend her off appropriately, taking on a big brother role.

  It made her wonder if the Knights of the Board Room nomenclature had come about because of what women's intuition detected about them. They were decent, honorable men. She'd directly experienced it when they stood around her in that tight circle, an unsettling memory under the circumstances, but she couldn't deny it had been a warm one, strangely similar to the welcome of Nate's greeting.

  Unconditional acceptance.

  "He's the cyclist, isn't he?" Now Jessica, her twelve-year-old sister, was on the porch, wearing knee pads. "Does he know anything about bike chains? Mine came off and something's bent, so I can't get it back on. "

  "How did it do that?"

  "When I fell off. I was trying to turn on the ramp—"

  "Where is your helmet? I told you that you're not allowed to do trick riding unless you've got it on. Marcie—"

  "She had it on last time I saw her. I can't watch her every minute. " Marcie fired up.

  "I told you when Mrs. Pitt had to cut back her hours, you could watch them in the afternoon and I'd pay you for that. You said you could handle it. " Not for the first time, Cassandra wondered why she could defuse arguments efficiently in a board room, but at home one irritation could set off a firestorm. And this was an ongoing one between her and Marcie.

  "It wasn't her fault, Cass—" Jess jumped into the fray.

  "Ladies. Someone mentioned something about a bike chain?" Lucas stood to their left, a steadying hand on Nate's shoulder while the little boy, his expression uncertain, looked between them.

  "He knows how to fix it," Marcie said before Cassandra could head her off.

  "Marcie, he's wearing a suit. He's not here to—"

  "Do you wear a helmet?" Jessica asked hotly. "I've seen pictures of people your age, when they were little, and they didn't wear helmets. "

  "Nope, we didn't. Not way back then," Lucas confirmed. "We had bigger things to think about. Like dinosaurs and the ice age. "

  Jessica narrowed her eyes, undeterred. "So you didn't need them. "

  "No, of course not," Lucas agreed. "Overprotective, overrated"— his head jerked, a tic, twice, before he continued without blinking an eye—"hogwash. " Making a wall-eyed look, he feigned a stagger around Nate's bike. "Not a problem at all. Your sister's been kind enough to wipe the drool off my chin when I can't seem to control it. Brain damage, you know. "

  Jessica tried to look unimpressed, but Lucas was far too handsome and charming. In a matter of minutes, Cass saw him win the girls over. Any woman whose hormones had kicked in would be powerless against him, she knew.

  "Will you fix my bike chain?" Jess asked.

  "Sure," he said. "Just give me a minute to make a phone call, and I'll be right there. " He glanced at Cass, moved back toward the white limo.

  As she watched him, she realized he made the perfect prince on the white horse. The way he moved toward the car, the sunlight glittering across his hair. Broad shoulders and muscled arms. Cass remembered the fairy tales, and couldn't help the twinge, despite her appalled response to it. She didn't need rescuing. She'd rescued them all on her own. She wasn't insolvent, not by a long shot. She had college tuition covered for Marcie. Her own 401k. A home.

  So why was it he made her feel rescued with just a smile, a look of those concerned eyes?

  God, she needed to get rid of him.

  When she turned around, her sisters burst into giggles, apparently having caught her staring after him like a lovestruck moonbat.

  She definitely needed to get rid of him.

  Instead, he stayed for the next several hours, sending the limo away. He fixed Jess's bike in no time, with only one trip needed to their well-organized tool shed. Cass sat on the back steps nearby with Marcie and let her sisters and Nate take over conversation with him, knowing she was testing him, knowing she shouldn't be giving him that encouragement. But damn it and big surprise, he was good with them.

  In contrast to his frank affability with the outgoing Jess and confident Marcie, as well as his more male interaction with Nate, he was quiet and patient with shy ten-year-old Talia, letting her approach at her own pace, become part of the group of girls without saying much. Next thing she knew, he was talking to her about the book she was carrying, coaxing her to tell him about it while he tuned up Jess's gears.

  Then there was eight-year-old Cheryl, whom they called Cherry. She and Nate took right to him. Cass never brought men home, hadn't allowed herself a relationship where it even crossed her mind. Should she let the kids hope for anything? Just because she didn't allow herself hope? Damn Lucas for making her think about it like that.

  When he came back at last to sit beside her, the two of them watched the kids bike around the backyard, and he asked her easy questions about them. As she responded, he leaned back, his arm braced behind her on the concrete stoop, making her want to rest against it, but she resisted, not sure if she wanted the kids to see that.

  As if he'd read her mind, he nudged her arm. "Lean back. " When she frowned, he tugged her hair. "You know my ride left, so you'll have to put up with me. "

  "You have a worki
ng thumb," she retorted sweetly. "I'm sure an amorous, lonely housewife will pick you up. You could become her afternoon fantasy. "

  "Sorry, already booked. " The kids had reached the end of the yard and were exploring something they'd found by the fence. Before she could anticipate him, he'd captured the back of her neck and drawn her to him, holding her fast for a sweet, teasing kiss. Because the kids were distracted, it wasn't outrage that fueled her token attempt to push him away, which just resulted in her hands latching into the front of his grease-stained shirt as he deepened the kiss, made her stomach flutter and knees quiver.

  When he raised his head, his eyes alone were enough to keep the fire leaping through her bloodstream. His hand was very appropriately on her waist, but the fingers hidden from view were curved over a buttock, stroking, making her crave him to go lower, palm her there.

  "I'm going to be your fantasy tonight, Cassie. All afternoon. In a few minutes, some very accomplished childcare providers will be arriving to take your kids off for the evening.

  Matt, Savannah, and the guys are going to take them to the movies, followed by dinner at a playhouse and arcade, and then back to Matt s place for a slumber party. "

  Before she could get over her shock to protest, he continued, tightening on her waist.

  "While they're safely being entertained, suitable to their ages, I am' going to take you to your bedroom and entertain you in a manner suitable to your age. I'm going to make love to you through the night, so when there are circles under your eyes tomorrow, it will be for a better reason than working on late-night paperwork. When Matt and the team bring the kids back here, I'm going to make you sleep in and fix your kids breakfast. " His eyes held her in place. "I'll bring you breakfast in bed. "

  "I don't know," she said at last. She swallowed. "I'm feeling overwhelmed. I'm not sure that's good, Lucas. "