Three Boys and a Baby. Laura Altom Marie

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      “I suppose for her field of criminal law, defending the occasional jaywalker or underage drinker would get dull.”

      “But what about me and Dillon? Were we dull?”

      “Jackson…” Ella hefted herself onto the counter, letting her legs swing. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but did you ever think of moving to Kansas City to be with her? I mean, they do have firemen there, don’t they?”

      He exhaled sharply, then looked away.

      “What’s wrong? Another sore subject?”

      Posture defeated, he shook his head. “Don’t think I didn’t suggest the same thing. But she turned me down. Fed me some nonsense about how if we were with her, she’d feel honor bound to spend time with us instead of working her way up the proverbial ladder. Can you imagine?”

      Ouch. Todd had at least left her and the boys for lust. But to be abandoned for work?

      Ella pressed her lips tight, hopping off the counter to give Jackson a hug. “I’m so sorry. You deserve better.”

      “We both do,” he murmured into her hair.

      Ella had meant the hug to be comforting. Purely platonic. But something about the warmth of Jackson’s breath on her neck made her insides quiver. Awareness flooded her. A hypersensitivity to his size. His all-male smell. The way his hold wrapped her like a blanket—which was madness. She already had more than enough quilts in the upstairs linen closet, thank you very much. After Todd had left, she’d promised herself never again to turn to a man for emotional support. Sure, she might one day be in another relationship, but never again all the way. Heart and soul. Todd’s infidelity had come damn near close to destroying her, and for the boys’ sake, she had to learn to depend on herself.

      Releasing Jackson, she turned her back to him, straightened the flyaways in her hair while willing her pounding heart to still.

      It had just been a hug.

      So what if her stomach had somersaulted?

      Obviously, judging by their earlier conversation, Jackson still had feelings for his ex-wife. Meaning? Simply that when Ella finally felt comfortable enough in her own skin to rejoin the dating scene, Jackson would be a lousy first candidate.

      “Thanks,” he said.

      “For what?” Her mouth had become the Sahara.

      “Listening. Being here. For always having been such a good friend to Dillon, and now me.”

      She shrugged, not trusting herself to meet his gaze. “No biggie.”

      “Yeah, well, it is to us.” Landing a playful slug to her right shoulder, he added, “You’re a good gal.”

      A good gal? Nice. Way to make me feel like a desirable woman. Not that that’s what she expected him to think of her, just that he certainly had a knack for making her feel decidedly undesirable.

      Hand clamped to her forehead, she said, “I’m, ah, really tired. How about we track down our respective kids and call it a night?”

      “We good?”

      “Sure. Why wouldn’t we be?” She gave him a bright smile.

      “Hey…” Hand warmly clamped to her shoulder he said, “Even I know that’s not your real smile.”

      “How would you know that?”

      “Because at the exact moment we found out the boys were safe, I was privy to the real deal.” Flashing a heart-tugging grin all his own, he winked. “I like that one much better.” After squeezing her shoulder, he tucked his hands in his jeans pockets, then whistled his way to the back door. “Once I find our crew, I’ll send yours home.”

      

      “THAT WAS NICE,” Julie said while Dillon, still hyped up on the thirty-eight cookies he’d apparently downed at Whitney’s house, jumped in front of the stuck screen door.

      “You should fix that, Dad,” his kid said, still jumping and not even breaking a sweat.

      “I’ll get right on it,” Jackson said, giving the stupid thing a hard enough yank to pop off the bottom hinge, too.

      “Honey,” Julie complained, while he hefted the screen door out of the way, leaning it against the side of the house.

      “Look what you did. If you’d just let me do it, it wouldn’t have broken. All you had to do was lift and jiggle.”

      Jackson took a deep breath and counted to ten.

      She brushed him aside, then slid her key into the main door’s lock. It irked him to no end that she even had a key.

      Dillon shot by. “I’m gonna go play with my Xbox, ’kay?”

      “What you’re going to do,” Julie shouted after him as he dashed up the stairs, “is get in the tub, then head straight to bed. Tomorrow’s a school day.”

      “Aw, man…”

      “Do it,” Julie said, presumably in the same scary, I-mean-business tone she used on her new hardened-felon friends.

      Jackson tossed his keys on the entry-hall side table, releasing a sigh. “Jules…You can’t just waltz in here—”

      “You called me Jules,” she said, nestling her designer purse alongside his keys before sliding her arms around his waist and resting her cheek on his chest. “It’s been a long time since you’ve called me that.”

      “Don’t read anything into it. It’s been an endless day, and I’m tired.”

      “I know what would make you feel better…” Easing her hands under his shirt’s hem, she palmed his abs. There had been a time when her lightest touch instantly had him hard. Now? It didn’t faze him. “Mmm…I see you’ve been working out.”

      “Okay,” he said, royally ticked she’d pull this kind of stunt. Lightly grasping her wrists, he pushed her away. “I’ve officially had all I can stomach of whatever twisted game you’re playing. First, you waltz in here, acting like you’re our kid’s mom when—”

      “I am, and always will be, his mother.”

      “You gave him up, remember?” Along with me.

      “Stop. You’re not being fair.”

      “Fair? Julie, you freakin’ walked out on us both. It’s been three weeks since you’ve even called Dillon to say hi, yet now you actually care whether or not he has a bath? Give me a break.”

      “No, you give me a break. Just because I—”

      “Mom? Dad?” Jackson had been so engrossed with telling off his ex, he hadn’t noticed his son sneaking up alongside them. Make no mistake—Dillon was his son. “I thought you weren’t going to fight anymore.”

      Running СКАЧАТЬ