over here,” he said. “I bet I can find something we can all
play.”
Without another glance at me, he
headed to a cabinet in the corner of the room.
“ I’d better help,” the
oldest girl, Katie, said. She stood up and winced, but the pained
look on her face faded so soon I thought I’d imagined it. I wasn’t
imagining the bags under her eyes, though. She smiled at me and
Maddie. “There’s no telling what Babs will come back with,
otherwise.”
When they were both gone, I set Maddie
back on the floor. “Is everything okay?” I asked quietly, so no one
else would hear. “You’re not scared? No one touched
you?”
She gave me a sage look. “I’m fine,
Mommy.” That would have to do for now. Later, when we were alone,
I’d try to get her to talk. Not in front of all these strangers,
though.
I sat down in a recliner near where
all the kids were gathered, hoping to slow the frantic pace of my
pulse.
I still wasn’t used to seeing Dana acting comfortable in a social
setting, even though it had been nearly a year since she’d shown up
in Portland and asked Zee to help her learn to touch and be
touched. Hell, I still wasn’t entirely sure I liked the fact that
he was touching
her. Although if I had to let anyone do it, I guess I was glad it
was him.
She had been raped by some guys in
college, and it had completely fucked with her mind, like it would
with anyone who’d been through something like that. After it
happened, she couldn’t even stand the slightest bit of contact with
a man, couldn’t handle flirtation—nothing at all where men were
concerned. Any little thing could trigger a panic attack, so she’d
spent seven years of her life in almost total isolation from the
male species.
But right now, Zee had both his hands
on her waist, pulling her toward him from behind, and she seemed
fine. No, she was better than fine—she was glowing.
Because of that, I couldn’t hate him
for touching her.
I was sitting on a barstool by the
kitchen island and nursing a beer with Webs at my side. David Weber
was a veteran on the team, a forty-year-old winger who brought more
leadership than skill to the table these days, but he could still
find a way to score when it mattered. My stool was at the end, so I
had a good view into the living room where everyone else was.
Webs’s wife and kids were here—including his teenaged daughter
Katie, who was nursing a serious crush on Babs—and Sara Thomas, the
coach’s daughter who, like Webs’s wife Laura, had become one of
Dana’s best friends.
I was pretty sure the case of puppy
love between Babs and Katie was mutual, but I didn’t want to get
involved. They could sort out their own love lives. I was having
enough of a problem dealing with my own.
Not that I was in love with Rachel
Shaw. At least not yet. How could I be in love with a woman who
didn’t trust me enough to even talk to me? I was definitely in like
with her, though. How else could I explain kissing her like I had?
Or continually thinking about kissing her again?
At the moment, she was sitting on a
recliner in the living room, watching all the kids play in the
middle of the living room floor. Babs and Katie had organized all
of Katie’s younger siblings along with Maddie and Tuck, and they
were playing Monopoly in teams. Babs had been smart enough to pair
the younger kids up with someone older, so they could be more
evenly matched. He was playing with Tuck, Katie was with Maddie,
and Luke and Dani Weber made the third pair.
The kids were fine. There was no
reason for Rachel to watch their every move from only about a foot
away; no reason she shouldn’t be sitting a few feet further from
the kids drinking wine with Laura and Sara; no reason she couldn’t
be in the kitchen with the rest of us while Zee and Dana cooked; no
reason she couldn’t just let the kids be kids.
Hell, Babs didn’t need to play with
the kids, either, but it came naturally to him. Not only that, but
I figured he
play.”
Without another glance at me, he
headed to a cabinet in the corner of the room.
“ I’d better help,” the
oldest girl, Katie, said. She stood up and winced, but the pained
look on her face faded so soon I thought I’d imagined it. I wasn’t
imagining the bags under her eyes, though. She smiled at me and
Maddie. “There’s no telling what Babs will come back with,
otherwise.”
When they were both gone, I set Maddie
back on the floor. “Is everything okay?” I asked quietly, so no one
else would hear. “You’re not scared? No one touched
you?”
She gave me a sage look. “I’m fine,
Mommy.” That would have to do for now. Later, when we were alone,
I’d try to get her to talk. Not in front of all these strangers,
though.
I sat down in a recliner near where
all the kids were gathered, hoping to slow the frantic pace of my
pulse.
I still wasn’t used to seeing Dana acting comfortable in a social
setting, even though it had been nearly a year since she’d shown up
in Portland and asked Zee to help her learn to touch and be
touched. Hell, I still wasn’t entirely sure I liked the fact that
he was touching
her. Although if I had to let anyone do it, I guess I was glad it
was him.
She had been raped by some guys in
college, and it had completely fucked with her mind, like it would
with anyone who’d been through something like that. After it
happened, she couldn’t even stand the slightest bit of contact with
a man, couldn’t handle flirtation—nothing at all where men were
concerned. Any little thing could trigger a panic attack, so she’d
spent seven years of her life in almost total isolation from the
male species.
But right now, Zee had both his hands
on her waist, pulling her toward him from behind, and she seemed
fine. No, she was better than fine—she was glowing.
Because of that, I couldn’t hate him
for touching her.
I was sitting on a barstool by the
kitchen island and nursing a beer with Webs at my side. David Weber
was a veteran on the team, a forty-year-old winger who brought more
leadership than skill to the table these days, but he could still
find a way to score when it mattered. My stool was at the end, so I
had a good view into the living room where everyone else was.
Webs’s wife and kids were here—including his teenaged daughter
Katie, who was nursing a serious crush on Babs—and Sara Thomas, the
coach’s daughter who, like Webs’s wife Laura, had become one of
Dana’s best friends.
I was pretty sure the case of puppy
love between Babs and Katie was mutual, but I didn’t want to get
involved. They could sort out their own love lives. I was having
enough of a problem dealing with my own.
Not that I was in love with Rachel
Shaw. At least not yet. How could I be in love with a woman who
didn’t trust me enough to even talk to me? I was definitely in like
with her, though. How else could I explain kissing her like I had?
Or continually thinking about kissing her again?
At the moment, she was sitting on a
recliner in the living room, watching all the kids play in the
middle of the living room floor. Babs and Katie had organized all
of Katie’s younger siblings along with Maddie and Tuck, and they
were playing Monopoly in teams. Babs had been smart enough to pair
the younger kids up with someone older, so they could be more
evenly matched. He was playing with Tuck, Katie was with Maddie,
and Luke and Dani Weber made the third pair.
The kids were fine. There was no
reason for Rachel to watch their every move from only about a foot
away; no reason she shouldn’t be sitting a few feet further from
the kids drinking wine with Laura and Sara; no reason she couldn’t
be in the kitchen with the rest of us while Zee and Dana cooked; no
reason she couldn’t just let the kids be kids.
Hell, Babs didn’t need to play with
the kids, either, but it came naturally to him. Not only that, but
I figured he
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