“You know what you need, Rocco?”
“What?”
“A treehouse.”
“For real?” His voice was filled with awe.
“For real. Let’s build one.”
His little fist punched the air. “Yes!”
And that’s when I lost the first piece of my heart to that little kid.
When 6:30 rolled around we were both starving and nobody else was home yet. We’d gotten dirty playing soccer so Rocco’s solution was to shed all his clothes. I opted to keep mine on, despite the aforementioned “pants optional” policy in place at Laney’s house. I fixed us some peanut butter sandwiches and threw in a banana to make myself feel like a more responsible guardian.
Laney and Gavin both got home around 7:00. They walked in the door at the same time, and I heard Laney tearing into Gavin about keeping his phone charged. He threw an insult back at her and it reminded me so much of Bailey and me that I had to smile. Rocco and I were on the couch watching some asinine show about a bald kid with some weird-ass name I can’t remember and his overly touchy-feely family. I don’t even think Rocco liked it, but it was the only cartoon I could find.
“Hey, Nate,” Gavin greeted us first. “Sorry about the daycare thing. I didn’t realize my phone battery was dead.”
“No problem. Hey, things are looking good at the new site. I hear you’re picking things up pretty quickly.”
Gavin scratched his head a little self-consciously. “Yeah, they’re going pretty well. I’m learning a lot.” He walked over to the couch and put his fist out for Rocco. “Hey, dude.” They exchanged a fist-bump and he turned and headed for the hall. “I’m gonna hit the shower. I’ve noticed my luck with the ladies hasn’t been so great when I head straight from work to the bars.”
“It’s a learning curve, my friend,” I shot back.
“Hey, Rocco,” Laney said quietly as she approached next. She was wearing a sheer blouse with some kind of black tank underneath and her ass was perfectly showcased, yet again, in a pair of tight black pants. It took everything I had not to pull her onto my lap and cop a feel. “I am so sorry I couldn’t come get you today, buddy, but I promise I’ll be there tomorrow.” The guilt was plain on her face. Now I felt like a perv and instead wanted to pull her in for a hug. “Did you have fun with Nate?”
Rocco’s head swiveled from the TV and his eyes were bright. “Mommy! Nate and I are gonna build a treehouse!”
Laney cocked her head at me, eyebrows to the sky. Perhaps this was the kind of thing you’re supposed to discuss with the mom first.
Even though I may have been in trouble with Laney, my mood was sky high when Rocco gave me a hug on his way to bed. I waited on the couch and switched the TV to ESPN while Laney put him down. She emerged from his room fifteen minutes later and sat down beside me. I turned to give her my full attention.
She cleared her throat. “First of all, I want to thank you for picking up Rocco and taking care of him. I really don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come through for me.” She placed her hand on my arm.
Before she could continue I said, “But I shouldn’t have made plans to build a treehouse without conferring with you first. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but I get it. I’m new at the whole kid thing so you’re required to cut me some slack.” I went with my most charming grin.
“Goddamned dimple,” I heard her murmur.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Yes, you’re right. You should have asked me first but it’s mostly just because I don’t want you promising him things that don’t end up happening for whatever reason. I can’t handle him being disappointed any more than he already is.”
I was sensing a much bigger issue at hand but I chose to let it go for now and try to tackle it later, once we’d gotten to know each other better. “You don’t have to worry. I am 100% on board with the treehouse. In fact, I can’t wait. I promise.” I crossed my heart.
“I believe you. And thank you, Nate.”
Well if that wasn’t an invitation to go in for a kiss I don’t know what was. But like a complete imbecile, I didn’t. Instead, I chose that moment to fill her in on the little incident at daycare.
“Come here,” I beckoned and made a space right in the crook of my arm. She didn’t hesitate to fill it. Warm, supple woman cradled against me, I could be happy here for a long time.
“I take it things went well with Rocco,” she said.
“They were actually awesome,” I responded and I’m sure my excitement was reflected in my voice. “But I’ve got to tell you I was a little pissed about some things at his school.”
Her body stiffened against mine. “What things?”
“Laney, I don’t know if these people are your friends or if you just happened upon this daycare, but I did not get a friendly vibe, no offense.”
“Crap.” Her hand covered her eyes.
“It may have been a random one-off kind of thing, but some little prick was messing up Rocco’s project and his dad was spouting off some bullshit about Rocco being somehow ‘different’ than the other kids. The whole thing just pissed me off and I told the guy to go to hell and I may have even threatened his kid …” My voice trailed off as I realized for the first time how utterly ridiculous this all sounded. Shit.
“You threatened a child?” Her jaw went slack and her eyes shot fire at me.
“Well, maybe not so much the child but I’m pretty sure I insulted the father’s manhood and threw a threat or two in there.”
Silence.
“In my defense, the kid was wearing women’s clothing and still had the nerve to knock over what I personally considered to be an inspired Lego masterpiece that Rocco had worked hard on.”
Laney looked down to her lap and then brought her eyes back to mine. “Was the little fucker by any chance named Tucker?”
Feeling somewhat vindicated I responded, “Why yes, yes he was.”
“Okay, I can agree that I didn’t get a good vibe from a lot of the moms there, his included. But, Nate, you can’t go threatening people at daycare. Who knows how these things operate! They could call the cops or something. Or at the very least we could be kicked out for violent threats. You know they have these zero tolerance rules now?!”
“Well where are those zero tolerance rules when the pink-shirted kid is bullying Rocco and his dad is insulting him along with it? I don’t know a lot about kids, but Rocco’s skyscraper was at least fourteen stories high and I believe an elevator was being installed. Sounds to me like the simpletons couldn’t compete so they resorted to sabotage. Have you never seen a movie like this? Rocco is the brilliant inventor and Tucker is the underachieving mama’s boy with something to prove.”
She put one hand on my arm again and another behind my neck. “Nate, I need to hear the following words come out of your mouth: ‘I understand these children are five and we are not in a Martin Scorsese movie.’”
I started to laugh but her facial expression remained deadly serious so I recited her ridiculous statement. Sheesh. But I added my own addendum. “Laney, I promise you there is nothing to worry about. Flamingo kid’s dad was humiliated to the point where he will never utter a word of our conversation to another soul. Still, maybe shopping for a new daycare isn’t the worst idea, huh?” Hoping I hadn’t gone too far, I waited.
The next thing I knew I was being straddled by the hottest girl on the planet and I finally had her ass in both of my hands. Sweet Jesus, my life was good.
Chapter Fourteen
Scarlett O’Hara Had an Excellent Point
LANEY
His hands were on my ass and I was throwing caution to the wind. Every inch of my body was straining toward his, and each firm line of his chest, arms, and thighs was colliding with my body. My immediate thought was that we had too many clothes separating us, but we were in my damn living room so I had to stop my thoughts from careening that way.
His hard thighs were a dream and I wanted to strip his jeans off to caress them with my hands and mouth. Muscular thighs were a huge turn-on for me and Nate had them in spades. I don’t know if it was just the physical labor from his job or if he did additional working out on the side, but his body was a thing of masculine beauty. I ground down on his pelvis from my straddled position and was not disappointed by the rigid evidence of his desire I encountered through the denim. It was obvious his body was as eager as mine, but I wasn’t sure how far I wanted to go tonight. I was still freaked the hell out by him popping up in our lives only to disappear in a few months, so I knew I should be careful. I just had a hard time communicating that message to both my heart and my hoo-hah. He was so freaking hot. And he was so freaking into me. That was a collision of fates that didn’t happen in my world. I was too weak to resist.
I ran my tongue around the shell of his ear and sucked his earlobe. Apparently that was the last straw. Nate physically picked me up and headed to my bedroom with his hands on my ass, and I had no choice but to hang on for dear life. This was shocking and a bit embarrassing on many levels, the least of which being the chronically untidy state of my bedroom.
Let me explain.
In all these romance novels, the buff guys are constantly picking the girls up and throwing them on the bed or having vertical make-out sessions—all while not straining a single muscle. I am not that girl. I have tits and I have ass, and I’m not saying that in some cute little “oh, look at her perky booty” kind of way. I have double Ds and a very proportionate ass to match. That very often puts me into the plus-size department and then on to a tailor to fit the smaller parts of me. Everyone loves to talk about boobs and booty like they are thrilled the old bombshell figure is back in style, but I can tell you two things: (1) a rack like this wreaks havoc on your back, and (2) tailors are not inexpensive.
So Nate carrying me to my bedroom, an event which should have been a romantic milestone complete with “Up Where We Belong” playing in the background, was instead an episode that filled me with self-doubt and imagined trips to the emergency room. A hernia, at the very least, was a distinct possibility in this little scenario—how romantic can you get?