Wait For Me

by K. L. Grayson

  Grabbing my phone from my pocket, I switch my playlist to something more rock and less country, and crank up the volume. I force myself to focus on the task at hand, and when I finish tightening the last bolt, I slide out from under the car and hop to my feet so I can check on the kids before moving on to the next thing.

  Inside the office, Henry is fast asleep, his pouty lips wrapped around his thumb, and the older two are too busy watching the iPad to notice me.

  “Hey, guys.”

  “Shhhh,” Jack says, giving me a dirty look.

  “Hi, Daddy.” Emma hops off her chair to give me a hug. “Can we pway outside now?”

  “Not yet, pumpkin. Uncle Duke is bringing lunch, and then I have to finish up a few more things, and then we’ll play outside, okay?”

  “Shhhh,” Jack hisses again. “I can’t hear the movie.”

  Emma puts a finger over her puckered lips, silently telling me to be quiet, and smiles as she climbs back onto her chair. I hold my hands up and creep backward out of my office, shutting the door behind me at the same time the chime above the front door dings. Expecting to see Duke with our food, I turn and nearly trip over my own feet when I realize it’s Nora.

  A pale yellow shirt hangs off one shoulder, revealing a sleek line of smooth skin, and accentuating the soft swells of her breasts. A small gold cross rests against her chest, and I swallow hard as I drag my eyes away from her cleavage.

  Her hair hangs loose in a wild mess over her shoulders. From the looks of it, she either stuck her finger in an outlet, or drove around in a convertible with the top down—something most women wouldn’t dream of doing. She looks young and fresh and—Christ, this is ridiculous.

  It doesn’t matter how hot she is. This is the girl who thinks I’m old and unattractive. I need to quit lusting after her like some horny old man—although at twenty-eight I’d hardly consider myself old.

  Nora takes a hesitant step forward, her full lips curving up slightly. A mouth like hers should be illegal. I look away, willing the thought out of my head, but it doesn’t work. Instead, I picture those pink lips parted in ecstasy as she writhes beneath me, and—son of a bitch, what is wrong with me?

  “What are you doing here?”

  Her smile falters at my harsh tone, and I take a step toward her. She may be crowding my brain, but it’s not her fault, it’s mine, and I shouldn’t take my frustrations out on her.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. I’m just surprised to see you.”

  “That’s okay.” This time Nora’s smile stretches across her face.

  It’s beautiful. And rather than fight my reaction to it, I enjoy it, because it’s not every day a woman looks at me as though she’s genuinely glad to see me.

  “Nick asked me to drop this off.” Nora offers me Emma’s doll.

  I take it from her. “You didn’t have to come all the way out here just to drop this off.”

  “I wanted to.”

  “I appreciate it. Things have been crazy this week, and I haven’t had a chance to swing by Nick’s to pick it up.”

  Okay, that’s not entirely true. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to grab it. I just didn’t want to chance seeing Nora again.

  Lot of good that did me, because now she’s in my shop, filling my space with her soft, floral scent, and I’ll forever be stuck with the memory of her standing here, looking like an untouchable angel.

  “I was also hoping to talk to you, if you have a minute.”

  “Sure.” I set Emma’s doll down and lean a hip against the counter. “What’s up?”

  “I’m sorry about the other night. When I was talking to Jessa—”

  “You don’t have to apologize,” I say, ending this conversation before it starts. “I’m not worried about it, and you shouldn’t be either.”

  “So you’re not mad at me?”

  “Not even a little.” I just don’t want you here looking at me like everything you said the other night was a complete lie.

  “Good, because what you overheard was—”

  My cell rings, cutting her off, and I grab it from my pocket. I contemplate sending the call to voicemail, but it’s Angela, and I need to find out what’s going on with her husband. “I’m sorry, but I’ve got to take this.”

  “Go.” Nora cuts her hand through the air. “I’ll wait.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I’ve got nothing else to do today.”

  I lift a brow. “Are you being sarcastic?”

  “No,” she laughs, shaking her head. “I literally have absolutely nothing else to do today.”

  “I’ll be right back.”

  With my phone to my ear, I slip into the shop and answer the call.

  “Angela, how’s Ed?”

  9

  Nora

  It’s impossible not to stare at Grayson’s ass as he walks out of the office, which is why I don’t even try. The way his faded jeans cup his cheeks—Mmm. The man is a walking wet dream.

  As soon as he disappears from the room and the door shuts behind him, I turn to take in the space. A chubby face peeks out from behind a door.

  “Nowa!” Emma flies through the doorway, around the reception desk, and I squat just in time to catch the squirmy four year old in my arms.

  “Hi, Emma!”

  She smiles up at me. The poor thing has a red ring around her mouth, dirt smudged across her forehead, and her hair is a hot mess. “Have you been drinking red Kool-Aid?”

  “How’d you know?”

  “Because your lips are red, silly.” She giggles when I poke her in the stomach. The faint sound of baby noises catches my attention, and I look at Emma. “Is that Henry?”

  “He waked up.”

  “He woke up,” I gently correct, walking with her across the room so I can look in on the little munchkin.

  Jack glances at me from what appears to be his dad’s desk chair but doesn’t say a word.

  “Hey, Jack.”

  He waves and turns back to whatever he’s watching on an iPad.

  “Henwy is awake,” Emma announces, pointing to the other side of the room.

  Sure enough, there he is, standing in the corner of his pack-n-play, chewing on the edge with a string of drool running down the side.

  “Up.” He pushes his arms into the air and reaches for me.

  As soon as I lift Henry, I get a giant whiff of poop. “Whoa, little dude.” I hold him in the air in front of me and curl my nose, because holy cow, this child reeks. “You stink.”

  Henry chuckles and kicks his legs.

  Emma pinches her nose and makes a face. “Eww.”

  Jack giggles, but when I turn to look at him, he sobers and shifts his eyes to the iPad, pointing toward the floor. “The diaper bag is behind the door.”

  “Emma, can you grab it for me?”

  A couple of seconds later, she wobbles over with the giant bag hanging off her shoulder. I sit down on the floor, and Emma lays out a changing pad for Henry.

  “Okay…” I rummage through the diaper bag. Diaper, check. Wipes, check. Chew toy to keep Henry occupied, check.

  “Do you know howda change a diaper?”

  “Umm…not really.” I look at Emma and shake my head. “I did it in a movie once, but I had a magic wand, so all I had to do was flick my wrist and poof the diaper was clean.”

  Emma gasps and gazes at me in wonder. “Are you a wizard? Jack wikes wizards.”

  “I like Harry Potter,” Jack mumbles. “And she’s not a wizard.”

  “She could be,” Emma says. “You don’t know.”

  “I’m not a wizard. I played a teenage witch in a movie. That was a long, long time ago. But how hard can it be to change a diaper?”

  As carefully as possible, I open the tabs, pull the front down, and oh yeah, this baby is full.

  “Holy cow, Henry, what did you have to eat today?”

  His only reply is a series of spit bubbles and baby babble, but Emma thinks I
’m funny. I’m three wet wipes in to cleaning up the mess when Henry starts peeing.

  “Oh, God.” I scramble, reach in the diaper bag, grab the first thing my hand touches, and hold it over his penis. Henry smiles at me as he empties his bladder while Emma rolls on the floor in a fit of laughter.

  Even Jack laughs, but I don’t dare look at him. I just finish cleaning Henry up, change his onesie, because it’s now urine-soaked, and stand the little man up in his pack-n-play.

  “There. That wasn’t so bad,” I say, proudly giving Emma a high-five before I bend down to wipe the pee off the floor. “Good thing your dad’s floors are concrete and not carpet.”

  “You’re hired.”

  I look over my shoulder, directly into Grayson’s amused stare. He lifts a brow, and that’s when I realize I’m hunched over with my ass in the air.

  I quickly stand, knocking my shoulder on the side of his desk. “Shit.”

  “Oooh.” Emma looks at me and shakes her head. “You said a bad word. Jack gets in twouble for sayin’ dat word.”

  Grayson rushes to my side. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  I can’t think, let alone answer him, because his hands are on me, manipulating my shoulder, and all I can think about is how warm they are and the calluses on his palm and—

  “Nora.”

  “Huh?”

  He smiles. “I said you have a small cut, but I don’t think it needs stitches. Emma, will you grab a Band-Aid out of the front pocket of the diaper bag for me?”

  She’s happy to help and hands her dad a My Little Pony Band-Aid. When Grayson has it secure, he takes a step back to inspect his handiwork, and I’m finally able to breathe again.

  “You should’ve been a doctor.”

  “Trust me, this is as far as my healing capabilities extend.”

  “I doubt that.” I’d bet my diamond-studded microphone that his kiss could heal lots of my aches.

  “Thank you.”

  I furrow my brow. “Shouldn’t I be thanking you?”

  “I meant for changing Henry’s diaper.”

  “Oh, that. We kind of made a mess.”

  His smile is powerful, and I have to steady myself on the desk to keep from falling over.

  “I can see that.”

  “Well, it was mostly Henry’s fault. He made the mess. Emma and I just sort of got stuck in the crossfire,” I tease.

  “Is that right?” Grayson takes Henry out of the pack-n-play and kisses his cheek while I gather the wet clothes and blanket. “Did you make this mess?”

  “No.” Henry shakes his head and squeezes his dad’s cheek.

  “Okay, fine.” I tweak Henry’s belly. “It’s mostly my fault.”

  “Always keep the little dude’s little dude covered. I don’t know what it is, but a waft of fresh air and the fountain goes off.”

  “Trust me, I’ll never make that mistake again,” I say, setting the soiled linens beside the diaper bag. “These need to be washed.”

  “Another thing to add to my never-ending to-do list.”

  I can’t imagine how long his list is. Being a single dad of three can’t be easy, and yet that’s how he makes it look.

  “You have one of those too?”

  Grayson laughs and puts Henry on the floor beside us so he can play with his toys. “Probably the longest one known to man.”

  “What are the kids doing here with you today?” I ask.

  “Angewa was sick today,” Emma says from her spot on the floor by Henry.

  I frown. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah.” Grayson motions toward the other room, and I follow him into the reception area. He lines himself with the door, so he has a clear view of the kids. “Angela isn’t sick. I just didn’t know what to tell the kids. Her husband, Ed, had a stroke last night. That was her on the phone; she was calling to give me an update.”

  “Oh, no.”

  He nods. “I know. She was calling to let me know that with everything that’s going on, she won’t be able to watch the kids for me—at least for the foreseeable future. Ed will have to go through extensive occupational and physical therapy, and after that, it’ll depend on how well he recovers.”

  “I’m so sorry. That’s awful. If there’s anything I can—”

  “Sorry, bro,” a husky voice interrupts.

  A side door opens and in walks a man who looks so much like Grayson that they could be twins. They have the same blue eyes, blond hair, and square jaw, but where Grayson is built and a little stocky, this guy is lean.

  “The line was awful and—” The man stops, finally noticing me. His smile grows increasingly large. “Who is this beautiful creature?”

  “I’ve been called a lot of things, but never a beautiful creature.” I hold my hand out and smile. “Nora.”

  “Oh, I know who you are,” he says, taking my hand. He brings it to his mouth and kisses my knuckles. “Nora Hayes. You’re Nick’s sister.”

  “I am,” I say, happy that he didn’t refer to me as Nora Mitchell or that girl from TV. “And you are…”

  “Duke. I’m this guy’s brother,” he says, nodding toward Grayson, who is staring at our hands with a sour face. “I’m helping him with the kids today.”

  I’m not at all attracted to Duke, and I don’t want Grayson to think I am, so I pull my hand back. “That’s nice of you. I was just about to offer to stay and play with them until he gets done with work, but—”

  “That would be great.” Duke pushes the bag of food into Grayson’s chest. “Because I have a million other things to do today.”

  Grayson frowns. “When I called you this morning and asked you to help, you told me you didn’t have, and I quote, ‘a damn thing to do today’.”

  “Something came up.”

  “What?”

  My eyes volley between the brothers.

  Duke looks at his brother like there’s a big secret he should’ve caught on to, but Grayson appears just as confused as I feel.

  Finally, Duke sighs and shakes his head. “Stuff. I have stuff to do. Nora, sweetheart, are you sure you don’t mind helping?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Don’t call her sweetheart.”

  Grayson’s words might as well have been a growl. I wonder what I have to do to get him to make that noise again.

  “You don’t have to stay, Nora.”

  “I don’t mind. Nick and Jessa are having dinner with her parents tonight, so I have zero obligations for the day.”

  “Perfect.” Duke claps his hands together and starts backing toward the door. “Nora, it was a pleasure meeting you. I hope to see you again.” He turns to Grayson. “Bro, you are the luckiest son of a bitch I’ve ever met.”

  Emma gasps.

  Grayson frowns. “Duke, how many times do I have to ask you to watch your mouth around the kids?”

  “Sorry, Emma Bear,” Duke says.

  “Dat’s okay.”

  And then Duke slips out the door and I’m left staring at Grayson, wondering what in the world I just got myself into. I don’t know the first thing about caring for one child, let alone three. I can play with them all day long, but it’s the actual care part that’s a little sketchy.

  “You sure you’re okay here?” Grayson asks, grabbing his sandwich from the bag his brother brought in. “I could still be several more hours.”

  “Oh, yeah. We’ll be fine. Take your time.”

  “The house is unlocked if you need to go in for anything, and there’s a swing set out back.”

  “Perfect.

  He points to the bag. “There’s food in there for the kids.”

  “Food. Right, because it’s lunch.”

  “Did you eat?” he asks.

  My stomach growls, answering for me. Grayson laughs, sets his sandwich on the counter and unwraps it. It’s huge and already sliced in half. He takes one part of the sandwich, wraps it in a napkin, and hands it to me.

  “You don’t have to do that,”
I say.

  “I know I don’t. Here.”

  I take the sandwich. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me. You’re helping me by watching my kids. I’d give you the shirt off my back if you asked for it.”

  I’m tempted to ask, just to see if he really would, because, hello, have you seen this man? He’s gorgeous fully dressed. I can’t imagine what he looks like underneath all of those clothes.

  “Can we have a picnic?” Emma asks.

  I smile down at her. “That sounds like fun.”

  “I don’t want to have a picnic,” Jack says, sulking into the reception area. “Where’s Uncle Duke?” He rummages through the white paper bag and pulls out a small brown box.

  “He had to leave. Nora is going to stay with you guys while I finish up work.” Grayson squeezes Jack’s shoulder and kisses the side of his head. “Be good, okay?”

  Jack rolls his eyes and walks back into the office.

  “We’ll be fine. Go.” I take Emma’s hand. “Come on, sweetie, let’s grab Henry. The three of us will have a picnic while Jack finishes watching his movie.”

  “I wike you, Nora.”

  Oh, my heart. She’s the sweetest thing in the world. “I like you too, Emma.”

  We’re almost to the door when I turn around. “Grayson?”

  “Yeah?”

  “What you overheard me say to Jessa was a lie.”

  He lifts a brow. “Is that right?”

  I nod and look at the kids. They aren’t paying us a bit of attention, so I take a step toward him. “I was trying to get her off my back.”

  “Why was she on your back?”

  “Because she thinks I’m attracted to you.”

  “Are you?”

  I take a deep breath. No sense in being shy now, Nora.

  “Very much so.”

  10

  Nora

  “Higher!” Emma squeals, pumping her legs as she flies through the air.

  I give Henry another push and look over at Jack. He ate lunch in his dad’s office, but eventually wandered outside. He hasn’t said a word to me, and I can’t figure out if it’s because he’s scared of me, or just that timid. It’s not likely to be the latter, considering some of the stories Jessa and Nick have told me. From what they say, he’s boisterous and loud, a far cry from the boy who’s been keeping to himself all day.