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ground.
“That’s right. Time to go before someone falls asleep.” Todd
scooped Eric into a fireman’s hold with the small, dirtcovered face buried into his neck. “You don’t mind leaving
this early?”
“I’m thrilled. There’s only so much family abuse a person
can take.” Reva mustered a smile.
Damn, that’s a good smile even when she’s tired.
“I’ll make excuses while you go put him in the car. Be right
there.”
Todd waved at her family and carried Eric off. When she
joined him a few minutes later, the smile was still there. He
felt a tug at his heart. Odd, he hadn’t expected to be that
comfortable around Reva. Hadn’t expected comfort around
any woman. His marriage had tainted him, he guessed.
“That was fun,” he stated when they reached her house.
Eric had dropped into a slumber in the back seat, one leg
curled under him, the other slanted toward the floorboard.
Todd rushed to get Reva’s door before she opened it, and
walked her to the step.
“I’m sorry they reacted like they did. It was unexpected.
They’ve never really been wary of anyone I’ve brought home
before. I guess it’s different now that I—” She cut off the
sentence and glanced away.
“Yeah, they told me about that.” Maria had filled him in on
the angry fiancé that nearly beat the shit out of her before
she had the sense to pick up and leave. He wanted to kick
himself for teasing her about living so close to family. Had
she lived closer then, the asshole probably wouldn’t have
touched her. Knowing the Zamora men, they would have
given
him
something
to
remember
about
mistreating
women.
“They did? Oh great . Now, you’ll think me a total screw-up.”
“Not even close. Why would you say that?” Todd shook his
head.
Something
stirred
in
him.
A
protective
instinct
perhaps? The wind caught the ruffled neckline of her shirt
and blew it away from her skin. When the streetlight cast a
blue glow across the curve of her breast, he recognized the
instinct as nothing protective. It was more primal than that.
He had enjoyed the game with her family, getting them all
riled up. The mischievous sparkle in her face lit him up too.
Even more interesting was his reaction to the banter. A
temporary partnership had formed between them based on
humor. He wondered if that had been missing for her as
much as for him these past years. He liked the spark of it,
the ease that she went with him in the teasing. It was
alluring. The light on her face at the moment was even more
so, trickling across the fullness of her lips to taunt him.
Those lips probably tasted as great as they looked. It would
be a damn shame if they didn’t.
Huh. Guess he’s finally over the bitter divorce. “I’d better
go,” he said. “Thanks for the invite.”
“Thanks for accepting.” She leveled those velvet brown eyes
on him and he swallowed the lump in his throat. He was
going to kiss her. Yeah. Had to. That mouth is just sooo…
“Goodnight, Todd.” She slipped inside the door and left
him standing wondering if he’d misread the signals.
The following day Annie showed up just after lunch and
whisked Eric off as if she’d missed him. Todd knew better
but thankfully Eric didn’t. It was a relief that the boss didn’t
come with her; Todd might have mishandled that. He knew
it would happen eventually but until now, he had considered
a quick jab to the nose would be the proper introduction.
Perhaps a hand-shake and a few choice words would work
nicely too. After all, the son-of-a-bitch saved him from the
cold-hearted cow. Now, he just needed a way to salvage Eric
from her claws too. He knew that impossible but it was still
nice to dream.
The house always seemed eerily quiet after Eric left. It
usually took a while to adjust. Todd pulled the fridge open,
extracted a beer, and went to the backyard. He settled into a
lawn chair and sipped from the bottle. Was it possible that
Reva was sunbathing again this afternoon? He imagined the
black, shiny fabric of