“Cool.” Regan’s eyes stayed glued on the screen as she provided cover for Adam’s mad dash back to their fort with the enemy’s flag. “Adam’s running in the winning point and then I’ll get ready to go.”
“No problem.” Mel stroked Regan’s hair. “Annie said dinner would be at about six-thirty. You’ve got time. I’m just going to go get changed, okay?”
Regan nodded, giggling when Pixel stretched out and nearly fell off his seat on her shoulder. “Help this kitten, would you?”
Mel scooped up the boneless little body and repositioned Pixel next to Regan’s neck. “And you said this little guy wouldn’t love you.”
“Score another point for you. A week and a half and I’m a changed woman. Cats are definitely better than dogs.”
Mel chuckled and tugged on a lock of Regan’s hair as Adam whooped with joy at Regan’s flipping a truck that was chasing after him with a well-thrown grenade. She shook her head. “Come see me when your game is over,” Mel said.
Regan nodded. “We’re about to send these boys home with their tails between their legs.”
Mel was still grinning when Regan joined her in the bedroom ten minutes later, flushed with the afterglow of a well-played game, a state not unlike the afterglow of great sex. Mel enjoyed seeing her like that, fully engaged and excited. Especially when she knew the upcoming hours would be nerve-wracking for Regan.
“You ready for this?” she asked.
Regan walked to the closet and threw open the door, releasing an anxious sigh. “I’ve been trying not to dwell on it.”
Mel sat down on the bed, and grinned when Pixel followed Regan into the bedroom and launched himself up onto the mattress. She stroked his head, then rubbed a slow hand over his belly when he flopped over on his side to give her access.
“You did so great at Jane’s wedding, though,” Mel said. “Seriously, you were so charming. Jane thinks you’re the best thing since sliced bread.”
“She’s just happy someone has settled you down.”
Mel shot her a firm look. “I mean it, you did great. I know you were nervous and everything, but everyone loved you.” She leaned down and kissed Pixel’s tummy. “Everyone will love you today, too. You’re great.”
Regan stared into her closet. “But this is Hansen. This is really important.”
“And you’ll do fine. Just be yourself, Regan. You’re the most likeable person I’ve ever met. You just don’t realize it most of the time.”
“What should I wear?”
Mel’s lips twitched into a sympathetic grin. She stood up from the bed, ignoring Pixel’s outstretched paws that flailed about in protest, and approached Regan from behind. Wrapping her arms around the redhead’s middle, she said, “How about that cute little T-shirt with the old-school joystick? And those jeans that make your ass look so hot.”
Regan snuffled a little at the suggestion. “That’s not too geeky for this?”
“It’s you,” Mel said with a shrug. “He’s barbecuing out, baby. It’s totally casual.”
Regan nodded and turned in Mel’s embrace. Mel looped her arms around Regan’s waist and pulled her close.
“If you say so.”
“I say so.” Mel dipped her head and kissed Regan, lingering for long moments in the enjoyment of her taste and feel. “Is Adam gone?”
Regan nodded. “We won. He went home to celebrate.”
“You two are so cute together. It’s unbelievable.”
“We’re a well-oiled machine,” Regan gave Mel a cocky smile. “I’m serious. We’re a force to be reckoned with. Enemies tremble in our wake.”
Mel released Regan with a gentle pat on the behind. “I think it’s great that you’ve got a little boyfriend to play with.”
Regan frowned. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Sure he is,” Mel argued. “He’s a guy. He’s your friend. You’re a cute little team…uh, I mean well-oiled machine. He’s your boyfriend.”
“Whatever,” Regan said, rolling her eyes. She gave Mel a pleased grin. “I’m glad you like him. I’m glad he likes you.”
“Me, too. Now get dressed. We’ve got places to go, people to meet.” She watched the blood drain from Regan’s face.
“Right,” Regan murmured. “I can do this.” She pulled off the T-shirt she wore, revealing a black bra underneath.
Mel leaned forward and traced gentle fingers over the design on Regan’s upper arm. “Yes, you can do this.”
Regan closed her eyes and exhaled nervously, then her face relaxed and grew peaceful. Nodding, she looked up at Mel with determined green eyes. “I can do this.”
*
Hansen stood at an impressive grill, an apron tied around his waist and a baseball cap on his head. Annie and Katie sat at a table on the deck behind him, their heads bent over coloring books with a large box of crayons open between them.
He looked up from the grill as soon as Mel and Regan came into view, and pinned her with a wide grin. “I hope you’re ready to eat, Raines, ’cause I’m making enough to feed an army.”
Mel covered her stomach, groaning. “Are you on a mission to kill me with food, Hansen?”
“Nah,” Hansen said. “Just trying to toughen you up a bit.”
“Well, thanks. I guess if that taco joint you like never killed me, nothing can.”
Hansen curled one arm over his stomach to take a bow, and raised a pair of tongs in the air. “You’re welcome.” Straightening up, he moved his gaze behind Mel and dissolved into a warm smile. “You must be Regan.”
Mel led Regan over to him by the hand, stroking her thumb over her lover’s knuckles in reassurance. “This is Regan,” she confirmed, and tugged Regan close. “Regan, this is Peter Hansen.”
“Regan, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to meet you.” Hansen offered his hand to Regan, who took it without hesitation. “I had to see the woman who turned the unflappable Officer Raines so inside out.”
Mel reached out and poked Hansen in the side without thought, then winced when he sucked in a breath in reaction. “Sorry, partner.”
Hansen shook his head, chuckling. “No, I deserved it. Don’t worry, I’m in perfect health and wholly capable of accepting a jab for bad behavior.” He grinned past Mel, to his wife. “Just ask Annie about that one.”
Annie Hansen rose from her place at the table to join the small group, and wrapped her arm around her husband’s middle. “Only in the most extreme circumstances. And for the record, I think that one was justified.” She smiled over to Regan, offering her hand in greeting. “Hi, I’m Annie.”
Regan returned her smile, giving her hand a polite shake. “Well, you know who I am by now. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Annie said. “We’re thrilled to finally meet you.”
Hansen looked back at the picnic table, extending his hand with a patient smile. “Katie, honey, come here and say hello to Aunt Mel and her girlfriend Regan.”
Mel blinked at Hansen’s easy handling of the introduction, and turned nervous eyes on his daughter as she stood up and walked over to her father. The girl kept her gaze down, shy, until she stood in front of Mel. Then she raised innocent hazel eyes, and gave Mel a timid smile.
“Hi, Aunt Mel.” She darted a quick glance over to Regan, cheeks turning pink. “It’s nice to meet you, Regan.”
“You, too,” Regan said, staring at Katie with something akin to empathy.
Mel smiled at the realization that Regan was seeing a piece of herself in the red face and quiet timidity of Hansen’s daughter.
“Did you want to give your present to Aunt Mel, sweetie?” Hansen asked, stroking Katie’s hair with a large hand.
Mel looked at Hansen in surprise, and then at Katie, who nodded and fumbled with a piece of paper. For a moment she didn’t look like she would manage to say anything, but finally she gazed up at Mel and offered what she held in her hands.
“I drew you a picture.” She wrung her hands together when Mel took the p
aper. “My dad said you like motorcycles.”
Mel grinned at Katie, eyes watering with sudden tears, and gazed down at the colorful drawing in her hands. Her grin grew wider when she took in what she had been given. It was a picture of her, she supposed, in full comic book style. She sat astride an elaborate motorcycle, every inch the female superhero. She wore a colorful costume with a simple insignia on the front. One muscular arm was flexed in a display of strength.
Regan chuckled. “Katie, this is great!”
Mel looked at the girl, who had dissolved into a look of embarrassed pleasure. “You’re a really good artist. I’m impressed.” She hesitated only a moment, then crouched down to pull Katie into a gentle hug. “I’m also flattered, Katie. Thank you for the gift.”
With a flustered grin, Katie murmured, “You’re welcome,” and retreated to her mother.
For a moment nobody said anything, and then Annie asked, “You like video games, don’t you, Regan?”
Regan gave Annie a shy grin. “I love them.”
Annie put her hand on Katie’s shoulder, drawing the girl’s attention up to her, and gave her daughter an encouraging nod. “I thought so. I told Katie that maybe you could help her with a new game she’s been working on with Peter. They’re both stuck and desperate on this level of Super Monkey Ball 2.”
“You’ve got a Game Cube?” Regan asked Katie.
The girl nodded in excitement. “Dad got it for us when he got out of the hospital. We play together when I get home from school sometimes.”
Regan nodded, already looking more relaxed. “Super Monkey Ball 2, huh? That’s a tough one. I’ve played it a lot, though, so I can try to help you out.”
“Cool.” Katie looked up at her mom with a hopeful smile. “May we play games, Mom?”
“Sure, honey. Why don’t I go help you guys get set up?”
Mel checked in with Regan. You’re okay? Regan gave her an easy smile in reply. Video games. Worked like a charm, every time.
She watched Annie lead Regan and Katie to the sliding glass door at the other end of the deck, and toss a loving smile back over her shoulder to Hansen. He waved his tongs in parting.
“Was that planned or is it just my lucky day that we’re getting a chance to have another of these one-on-ones you know I live for?” Mel muttered.
Hansen tossed her a playful grin. “A little of both?” He reached out and turned a piece of chicken with the tongs. “She’s really sweet, Mel. Really cute.”
“She’s everything,” she said, jamming her hands into her pockets. After a moment, she bumped Hansen’s arm with her elbow. “I’m going to have to get used to the whole Aunt Mel thing, I think.”
“Is that okay?”
“More than okay,” Mel said. “Just new.”
Hansen smirked down at the chicken, then up at her. “Katie thinks you’re wonderful, by the way. Saving her dad’s life and everything—”
“I didn’t save your life,” Mel mumbled. She stared through the smoke coming off the grill. After a beat, she knelt and snagged a can of Coke from the cooler that sat at her feet. She straightened up with the freezing can in her hand, and struggled to fight off her emotion at the subject.
Hansen didn’t respond to her denial. Instead, he chuckled. “I think she may have a crush on you. Hero worship, crush…at that age it’s all the same, isn’t it?”
Mel’s mouth dropped open. “Hansen, I—” She stopped, uncertain of how to respond. Finally, she gave him a cautious smile. “It was cool of you to introduce Regan like you did. As my girlfriend, you know.” She wished she could verbalize why his acceptance was so important to her. “I appreciated that.”
Hansen chuckled in amusement. “We had the women can love other women and men can love other men talk with her last week. We figured it was best, you know, before you brought Regan over for the first time.”
“That’s really…that’s really cool of you.”
He shrugged. “That’s the great thing about kids, you know. You tell them stuff that puts some adults in a tailspin and they just accept it in the blink of an eye.”
“You’re a good father. I wish I’d had a father like you.”
Hansen turned away from the grill, pinning her with tender brown eyes. “And that’s the great—and terrible—thing about being a parent. You have a lot of power over your kids. They learn what you teach them. I want to teach Katie to be a good and tolerant person.”
“She’s lucky to have you.”
Hansen grunted in agreement, reaching up to touch his neck. An angry pink scar stood out in stark relief against his tanned skin. “We’re all lucky.”
Mel turned her eyes toward the door where Regan had disappeared. “You can say that again.”
“So couplehood is agreeing with you?” Hansen smiled down at his chicken, then took a sip of ginger ale from an open can that sat next to the grill.
“Yeah,” Mel said, still with a touch of wonder. “It really is.” Hansen’s knowing eyes held an intensity that made her break their gaze. “I mean, I’m still getting used to being in Regan’s house. But even though a lot of things are changing for me right now, it doesn’t really matter. Because when I’m with Regan, I’m home.”
“Then, my friend, it sounds like you’ve really found it.” Hansen’s voice was so full of love that it lulled Mel to peace.
“What’s that?”
“A family.”
Mel looked at him with unrestrained joy. “For once in my life, there’s no doubt in my mind.” Remembering the can of Coke she still held, she opened it and held it aloft to Hansen in a one-sided toast. She couldn’t have stopped her too-wide grin if she’d tried.
“A family.” she repeated. “Yes, that’s exactly what I have.”
About the Author
Born in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, Meghan O’Brien relocated to Windsor, California, in October 2005. As a recent transplant, she’s enjoying the moderate weather and gorgeous scenery of the Bay Area. Meghan lives with her partner Angie, their son, three cats, and three dogs. Yes, it can be just as chaotic as it sounds.
Meghan works as a Web developer, but her real passion is writing. From her humble beginnings creating numerous “books” out of construction paper and crayons as soon as she learned to write, to her two published novels and various anthology contributions in the past five years, writing is what makes her feel most complete
Books Available from Bold Strokes Books
Wind and Bones by Kristin Marra. Jill O’Hara, award-winning journalist, just wants to settle her deceased father’s affairs and leave Prairie View, Montana, far, far behind—but an old girlfriend, a sexy sheriff, and a dangerous secret keep her down on the ranch. (978-1- 60282-150-7)
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Truths by Rebecca S. Buck. Two women separated by two hundred years are connected by fate and love. (978-1-60282-146-0)
Father Knows Best by Lynda Sandoval. High school juniors and best friends Lila Moreno, Meryl Morganstern, and Caressa Thibodoux plan to make the most of the summer before senior year. What they discover that amazing summer about girl power, growing up, and trusting friends and family more than prepares them to tackle that all-important senior year! (978-1-60282-147-7)
In Pursuit of Justice by Radcly
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Long Shot by D. Jackson Leigh. Love isn’t safe, which is exactly why equine veterinarian Tory Greyson wants no part of it—until Leah Montgomery and a horse that won’t give up convince her otherwise. (978-1-60282-141-5)
In Medias Res by Yolanda Wallace. Sydney has forgotten her entire life, and the one woman who holds the key to her memory, and her heart, doesn’t want to be found. (978-1-60282-142-2)
Awakening to Sunlight by Lindsey Stone. Neither Judith or Lizzy is looking for companionship, and certainly not love—but when their lives become entangled, they discover both. (978-1-60282-143-9)
Fever by VK Powell. Hired gun Zakaria Chambers is hired to provide a simple escort service to philanthropist Sara Ambrosini, but nothing is as simple as it seems, especially love. (978-1-60282-135-4)
High Risk by JLee Meyer. Can actress Kate Hoffman really risk all she’s worked for to take a chance on love? Or is it already too late? (978-1-60282-136-1)
Missing Lynx by Kim Baldwin and Xenia Alexiou. On the trail of a notorious serial killer, Elite Operative Lynx’s growing attraction to a mysterious mercenary could be her path to love—or to death. (978-1- 60282-137-8)
Spanking New by Clifford Henderson. A poignant, hilarious, unforgettable look at life, love, gender, and the essence of what makes us who we are. (978-1-60282-138-5)
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