Tugging lightly on Buck’s leash, Ronnie headed into the building. Buck seemed more like his old self with every passing minute. The two boys followed Buck and Ronnie back inside and pointed him in the direction of the gym.
Once inside the gym he noticed the group of girls from yesterday doing a cheer. Perhaps his school had taken high school sports a little more seriously, but if this was their cheerleading squad, he’d hate to see the actual team. They sucked.
The girls were not in even rows, either horizontally or vertically. Their movements weren’t in sync with the cheer and a couple of them were clapping a second or two later than the rest of them. Rusty would have freaked out if he had seen the lack of symmetry in this bunch of kids. Fortunately for them they weren’t in the military, or they’d be running until they dropped from exhaustion.
Ronnie sat on one of the bleacher seats near the door and watched. Addison noticed him and waved. He nodded his acknowledgment.
Buck stood at alert watching the kids as though they were a new group of recruits. The door to the gym opened and an older gentleman in a suit stepped through. He stopped short upon seeing Buck. Approaching cautiously, the man cleared his throat.
“Sir, I’m sorry, but we do not allow animals in the building. I’m afraid you will need to take your pet back out to your vehicle,” the man said.
Ronnie watched as the two boys he’d met outside came through a different set of double doors to watch with even bigger mischievous grins. The little shits had dimed him out to the principal and were waiting for a response. Standing back up, Ronnie faced the older balding man and crossed his arms over his chest, still holding on to Buck’s leash.
“Sir, let me introduce Sergeant Buck, United States Army,” he said, nodding toward Buck. “I know you aren’t attempting to kick a decorated soldier out of your building. I forgive your lack of respect for the politics involved but a representative of this country’s fighting forces deserves better,” he said to the man.
The man looked at him with a stunned expression as the two young boys made their way over to where Ronnie stood so they could better hear what was being said. Ronnie turned to face the boys as they approached, and they stopped in their tracks. They tried to snap to attention to salute Buck, and Buck went from being on alert to sitting down.
“At ease, boys,” Ronnie said.
The principal looked as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t formulate a sentence worthy of his thoughts. After looking at Buck and then the boys and then Ronnie, the man turned and marched out of the gym. The boys looked at each other and then back to where Ronnie stood next to Buck.
The guys would enjoy the hell out of this story…even Rusty. Ronnie forced down the laugh that threatened to overtake him.
Kids were fun, especially at this age. They were halfway between being children and becoming adults. They were trying to grow into the men and women they were destined to become. Ronnie could see a bit of Ian in these two clowns who stood before him now, looking like their little idea of a good time perhaps wasn’t working out so well after all.
“You guys football players?” he asked the boys.
“No. Wrestling,” one of them replied.
Now that they mentioned it, he could see their sport of choice in their bodies. They were fairly ripped for their age. Most teenage boys were either too chubby or too skinny since the build of manhood hadn’t hit quite yet.
“So why are you fucking with a soldier rather than lifting weights or working out, then?” he asked them.
Their faces blanked and they again looked at each other. He wasn’t stupid. He remembered the stuff the kids in his high school had said. Their language was worse than what was said in the barracks. What shocked these boys was that an adult was saying something to them they were used to hearing only from each other.
“Dismissed,” he said, waving his hand at them and sitting back down on the bench.
The boys turned and headed out of the gym almost at a run. For the next ten minutes, Ronnie occasionally saw different boys stick their heads into the gym, look at him and Buck and then leave. His coaches in school would never have allowed such behavior. The coaches back then worked him and his buddies like dogs during practice. Looking back over to the cheer squad, he noticed the woman who must be the cheer coach texting on her cell phone, completely ignoring the cheerleading squad. No wonder these girls were as bad as they were.
Soon enough, practice ended and Addie ran over and grabbed her book bag from one of the bleachers on the far side of the gym before heading over to him. She eyed Buck curiously as she approached.
“Is that your dog?” she asked.
“No, this is Sergeant Buck, United States Army,” he said.
She giggled and gave him a knowing look. “That’s awesome.”
Unlike the day before, Addie didn’t stare him down. Maybe it was because they’d gotten the initial awkward meeting over with, or perhaps it was Buck’s presence. Ronnie was glad she was more comfortable around him, poor kid. His parents had been at every sporting event for all five kids in their family. He felt bad for Addie that it wasn’t her mom or dad picking her up. He also felt bad for Kayla for having to miss it.
When they made it to his truck, Buck moved as close to Addie as he could get. She began petting him and he lay down next to her on the seat and put his head in her lap. The dog was an attention whore, but it worked for him
“What did you think of our cheers?” she asked.
Did he have to answer that? Ronnie wondered. If so, should he lie and encourage her? Or just tell her the truth? He had absolutely no parenting skills at all and was at a loss about how to answer her.
“Be honest,” she said, as though reading his thoughts.
Rather than giving her a straightforward answer, he said, “Are you all supposed to be doing different things during the cheer?”
“So you noticed that, too, huh?” she asked with a sigh.
He smiled over at her, glad she hadn’t asked him to elaborate. The rest of the ride to her house was done in comfortable silence.
When she entered the house, she stopped inside the door, obviously noticing that the living room was now cleaned and meticulously dusted. The room would even pass Rusty’s OCD inspections. She gave Ronnie a full-blown smile and bounded up the stairs to her room. He and Buck headed into the kitchen, where he found a bowl, filled it with water and put it on the floor for the dog.
“Be mindful of the designer china dish there, Buck,” he said with a smirk.
Laughing at the events of the afternoon, Ronnie began dinner preparations. After finishing up, he made sure Addie would be okay alone and then headed out to take Buck back to Rusty’s house, trying not to think about when he might see Addie’s beautiful mother again.
Chapter Three
Twelve days. That was exactly how long Ronnie had been working for her, and he was like some sort of miracle gift from God.
He had dinner waiting for Kayla every weeknight. Rather than doing the few items she could think to write down on a piece of paper, he just came in and took over running the household. As for her idea of wanting an older, grandfatherly type…
She truly appreciated the fact that Ronnie was closer to her own age and in very good shape. Keeping herself from ogling him whenever he was around was nearly impossible. The man was the best-looking thing she’d seen in quite some time.
He’d caught her staring at him a couple of times and had only smiled as though he knew what she was thinking. She would have been embarrassed if not for the fact that she’d caught him eyeing her a couple of times in return. He didn’t appear to care if she caught him looking, and his gorgeous smile was even bigger when she caught him than when he caught her.
In spite of his gorgeous smiles, he was a serious man, mostly quiet and often all business. He had wasted no time whipping her house into shape and keeping it that way.
She and Addie had been taking a little more care to keep things picked up and
organized as well, and their efforts were making a huge difference. Addie was more relaxed, and so was Kayla. Addie was appreciating being able to go to practices and hang out with her friends without worrying about whether she would end up having to get a ride home. Having the house clean and dinner taken care of actually allowed Kayla time to talk with Addie and find out about her daughter’s day at school…almost like when her mother had lived with them.
Last weekend, when Kayla had finally made it home, she’d been pleasantly surprised to learn Ronnie had already done the laundry—until it dawned on her that meant he’d washed her personal items as well. When she’d figured that out, he’d grinned and then winked at her!
Over the past week, they’d gotten into a routine. She was pretty sure that Addie was well on her way to completely adoring Ronnie. Kayla was just grateful for his help, though she could only imagine what Ronnie thought of her parenting and housekeeping skills. He made organizing their lives look easy, while it had been difficult for her to keep up even before all the overtime hours for this new ad campaign.
Sighing, she picked up her cell phone, selected him from her contacts list and hit Call. Tonight was the first football game of the season and she’d realized there was no way for her to make it on time if she still planned to stop at the nursing home for a visit.
“I hate to ask,” she said when he answered, “but is there any way you could drop Addie off at the football field tonight?”
When he didn’t respond right away she added, “I will be there to pick her up. In fact, I should be there by halftime. I promise. I’m just running late and I wanted to stop by and visit my mom to see if she needs anything.”
“Say please,” he said, his voice low and husky.
Was he flirting with her, or just teasing? It was a little unexpected coming from the normally quiet man, so she paused a moment before saying, “Please, Ronnie.”
“Yeah, like that,” he said.
She could swear she felt his words. They made her breath catch. A flush of heat spread across her cheeks. Just breathe…
A suddenly heavy sexual tension stretched across the connection. Finally he said, “I will get her to the game on time and make sure she’s fed beforehand. I will put some dinner for you in the microwave. Make sure you eat and change into something more comfortable…before you come.”
Even though he probably didn’t mean it like that, she could feel her cheeks burning as her mind conjured up images of his muscled arms and firm hands doing more than just washing the dinner dishes.
“Thanks, Ronnie. I also need to know if I should send a check to Man Maid or pay you directly for your services,” she said breathlessly.
She cringed as soon as the word left her lips. Services… Wow… Too late to unsay it now.
The tension between them was so heavy she could barely focus on anything but the fantasy of him…. What would it be like to kiss him? He seemed to be good at everything….He was probably a really good kisser, too.
She could hear him laughing quietly, and then he said, “I hope that I did a good job these past couple of weeks. Are you pleased with me?”
“Yes,” she managed to choke out. She could just picture his devastatingly handsome grin.
“Good, then you’ll be even more excited when I tell you that all the laundry is done. I made Addie put her things away after school but your clothes are on hangers in the laundry room. Addie washed her own personal items, which I appreciated. However, your more delicate things I hand-washed…and laid on the counter by the washing machine,” he said with a smile in his voice.
She could hardly breathe, let alone respond. The thought of his big hands touching her panties was the closest thing to intimate she’d known in a very long time.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked. “Did you not want me to touch your—”
“No… I mean, it’s fine,” she said, interrupting him. The sexy low tone of his voice was making this even worse for her. He was doing this on purpose…he had to be. But why? She was his boss! She shouldn’t be imagining what she was imagining.
“See you at the game, Kayla,” he said with a laugh, and then disconnected the call.
She’d only heard him say her name once before, but both times it had given her shivers and made her heart race. She tried in vain to focus on the things she needed to get done so she could get out of the office at a semi-reasonable time, but her mind kept drifting back to Ronnie.
Ronnie washing the dishes with a towel draped over his thick shoulder and a grin on his face as he listened to Addie talk about school. Ronnie licking the metal beaters of the handheld mixer he’d used to make mashed potatoes so Addie couldn’t have them. Ronnie in her front yard, shirtless and trimming an overgrown bush in one of the flower beds.
Yes, the man was fine. There was no two ways about it. He was chiseled and toned with brown hair that was slightly curly and blue eyes that winked with sexuality. If that wasn’t enough to whet a woman’s appetite, conversations like the one they’d shared on the phone would certainly finish the job.
Even while daydreaming about Ronnie, she managed to finish up by six-thirty and head to the nursing home. As she entered her mother’s room she noticed a dark bruise along one side of her mother’s face. Kayla sat down next to her mom on a small sofa and waited to see if she would recognize Kayla today.
“I’m just waiting on the doctor to take a look at my face,” her mother said after a few minutes.
“What happened?”
“That tall woman slapped me. Can you believe that?”
“Someone hit you?” Kayla asked in alarm just as one of the attendants entered the room.
“She took a spill earlier getting out of the bed,” the attendant supplied.
“Why wasn’t I notified?” Kayla asked the woman.
“We had the nurse look at it and nothing is broken. I’ve been putting some ice on it throughout the day whenever she is calm enough to allow it,” the woman replied.
Kayla got it, but that didn’t make accepting her mother’s injury any easier. Since her mother’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease three years ago, Kayla had watched the graceful, well-spoken woman go from forgetting simple things to not knowing her own name half the time. Now she rarely even recognized her own child and grandchild. It bothered Addie, so Kayla didn’t force her daughter to visit, especially since her grandmother was usually oblivious to their visits anyway. The shell of a person her mother had become quite simply broke Kayla’s heart.
“The doctor is really on his way to look at it, just to be sure? I’d prefer that, if you don’t mind,” she replied.
The woman nodded and smiled at her. After clearing her mother’s dinner tray, she left the room. Kayla sat silently for a moment wrestling with her emotions. Working so much also meant spending less time with her mom, and even in the best nursing homes, things could happen.
The extra money Kayla made allowed her to pay off some bills and ensured she could keep her mother in this nice facility, but it also took away the time she could have spent watching out for her mom. There was just no way to win in this situation. If not for Ronnie holding down things at home and with Addie, she would have had even less time with her mother.
“I’ll just wait here with you until the doctor can take a look at your face,” Kayla said, patting her mom’s hand.
Her mother grabbed Kayla’s hand and held it in her frail one without saying anything. She was losing more and more weight and getting weaker and weaker. Kayla hated that there was nothing that could be done to stop the evil disease.
A little while later, when the doctor still hadn’t arrived, she helped her mother change into a nightgown and lie down in the bed. Soon enough, her mother was asleep, so Kayla headed down to the nurses’ station. After requesting that the doctor call her once he examined her mother’s face, she headed home. Her heart was heavy, and she just couldn’t seem to shake her worry, even though she knew Addie would expect her to be excited about th
e first game of the season.
When she got home, Kayla changed clothes and heated up the dinner that Ronnie had left in the microwave. Once again she paused to appreciate the man’s ability to so effectively take care of the house and Addie…and her. After eating the meal and loading her plate into the dishwasher, she headed to the football field.
It was a beautiful fall evening, and as she climbed the stairs of the stadium she found Ronnie sitting on one of the benches watching Addie with a disgusted look on his face. Kayla made her way to where he sat, and he slid down a little to make room for her.
“Is everything okay?” she asked him.
“Your daughter’s coach is killing me,” he said, pointing out a woman sitting several seats over, in the front row.
The woman was talking to the two women who sat next to her. Kayla couldn’t quite figure out what the woman had done to draw such ire from the normally easygoing Ronnie.
“I don’t understand,” she said, looking back at him.
“I don’t think she’s even looked at the girls this whole first half of the game. The other team has the ball, right? Addie’s cheerleading squad is doing a cheer for the offense,” he said disgustedly. “So instead of stopping the girls so they don’t make fools of themselves, it’s merely social hour for her.”
The man to Ronnie’s left snickered at his comment. Looking out to the field Kayla could in fact see that the other team had the ball, and upon listening to the cheer the girls were doing she cringed. The girls stood close to the stands and the football team was lined up on the sideline acting as a barrier between the game and the cheerleaders. The girls were facing the crowd rather than the game.
“Maybe they can’t see past the boys,” she said.
“It doesn’t help that the coach isn’t paying the slightest attention to the game or them,” he said.
“I suppose not,” she replied with a sigh.
He looked away from the game and the girls and turned toward her. After studying her face, he asked, “You okay? You look…sad.”
Maid to Fit Page 4