16 Marsden Place

by Rachel Brimble

  “What?”

  “In fact, jeans.”

  “Where are we going? I mean, if I decide to give in to this obvious, child-induced blackmail.”

  “Lodge Park.”

  Her eyes stretched to manic proportions, and she flung her hands out, waving them back and forth, the robe forgotten. It gaped wide open.

  “No, no, no. There’s no way you’re getting me inside any theme park. Not now. Not ever.”

  He grinned. “Ten minutes.” Jack headed back to the car. When he glanced back at her window, she was gone.

  Smiling, he slid into the driver’s seat. “Sienna’s just getting changed, girls. She won’t be long.”

  “Is she really coming with us?” Katy asked. “Really?”

  “Yep.”

  “She needs to put something on her boobies.”

  Struggling not to laugh out loud, Jack spun around in his seat. “Holly, that’s enough.”

  Katy giggled while her sister scowled and crossed her arms. “I could see them.”

  “Enough.” Jack faced the windshield, his smile wide.

  Fifteen minutes later, the girls had devoured a bag of chips, but finally Sienna’s front door opened. Jack let out a low whistle through his teeth at the sight of her. Dressed in illegally tight white jeans, a dark blue silky shirt, and ballet pumps, she looked carelessly phenomenal. Her long brown hair was tied back with a blue and white scarf; a tote bag swung from her shoulder.

  Fixing her eyes on his, she strolled down the driveway and yanked open the passenger door. Her butt slid into the seat.

  “Good morning, ladies.” She turned between the seats to look in the back. “Is this trip Daddy’s idea or yours?”

  “Daddy’s.”

  “Mine.”

  No prize for guessing which response came from which daughter.

  Sienna huffed. “Hmm, thought as much.” Pinning Jack with her eyes again, she said, “Right, let’s get this show on the road. If I throw up at any point, it’s entirely your fault.”

  “You’ll be fine.” Jack gunned the engine. “I promise we won’t be going on anything more testing than the spinning teacups.”

  Sienna groaned and squeezed her eyes closed. “I hate the spinning teacups.”

  “We need to have some fun. We’re starting over.”

  “Theme parks are not fun. They’re torture. Now, if we’re talking fun…” She lowered her voice. “Last night was more my cup of tea.”

  At the spark in her eyes, Jack’s groin flickered to life, and his imagination plunged into overdrive. Where had the man gone who didn’t want all the sex? Abducted by an invisible force the moment his lips covered hers, that’s where.

  He coughed and shifted in his seat. “Like I said, spinning teacups are high on the list of favorites.”

  Her eyes lit with very sexy triumph before she slumped down in her seat, dropped her sunglasses over her eyes, and crossed her arms like Holly. “I can hardly wait.”

  Shaking his head, Jack pulled away from the curb as the girls’ cheers bounced around the car and Sienna dropped her head to the side window.

  The monstrosity that was the teacup ride rumbled to a stop under Sienna’s backside. She glanced at Jack and quickly looked away. The man grinned at her with the glee of a sadomasochist. He’d pay for this in ways he didn’t have a damn clue about yet. Slow, torturous, and undoubtedly sexual…

  “Ah, you’re smiling at last.”

  Sienna snapped her head around and glared at him; her betraying smile disappeared. “If only you knew why, Blue Eyes. If only you knew why.”

  His eyes glimmered as he quirked an eyebrow. “Sounds promising.”

  “Oh, it’s promising, all right.”

  The ride gave a final jolt, and people to their left and right leapt from the teacups, apparently eager for the next installment of self-inflicted torture. Katy’s small hand slipped into Sienna’s.

  “I want to ride the bumper cars with you.” Her sky-blue eyes shone with irresistible and very practiced persuasion. “Holly can go with Daddy.”

  Bumper cars? Um…that would be a no. Sienna’s indignation pulsed against her temples and shot a bolt through her left eye just for the hell of it. They walked down the wooden steps of the ride and onto solid and long-awaited asphalt. “I feel a bit dizzy after the teacups, sweetie. I think I’ll sit the next one out.”

  “We never get to go on the bumper cars because we only have Daddy.”

  Sienna’s heart turned to mush, and the fight dribbled out of her. What was she supposed to say to that?

  “Fine, fine.” She smiled. “Let’s go find the bumper cars.”

  “Yay!” Katy clapped her hands and did a little jig.

  Sienna looked at Jack. He mouthed a thank you and took off in the lead, swinging Holly—happy for once, judging by the breadth of the smile on her face—onto his shoulders. The smells of cotton candy and toffee apples suffused Sienna’s senses as they walked past the food stalls. The clang of metal meeting metal and pellets being shot from dummy rifles mixed with the chorus of triumphant cheers all around them.

  So this is what family fun feels like when you are an adult. Sienna pressed her free hand to the jumble of nerves in her stomach. It didn’t matter how much she told herself she was in control of the situation, her nerves continued to soar. If this went wrong…if Jack walked away or something happened to him or the twins, where would that leave her?

  She’d vowed never to let emotional attachment burrow through her protective walls, yet it felt so damn good being there. So good holding Katy’s hand and watching Jack walk ahead of her with Holly giggling on his shoulders, his face relaxed and happy.

  Sienna’s shoulders slumped as her last trickle of resistance to the day dissolved. Even though her head still spun from the brutality of the teacups, she couldn’t deny the satisfaction running through her veins like liquid balm. She wanted Jack and the girls to find a way for this to work for all of them—including her. She wanted their bright light in her life after existing in the semi-darkness for too damn long. Never had she felt so optimistic about her future. The time was right. Jack was right for her.

  So, if further down the line, Jack did want to walk away…she’d let him go. No one should have to do anything before they were ready, and in the meantime, she could at least enjoy the time she had with him now.

  Sienna squeezed Katy’s hand and smiled. “After we ride the bumper cars, we’ll tell Daddy we want a cheeseburger, chips, and hot apple pie to follow. What do you think?”

  Katy grinned. “Okay.”

  “Good girl,” Sienna replied with a wink.

  Jack spun around with Holly screaming high above him. Maybe a kids’ theme park wasn’t so bad after all. If Sienna could endure this, her childfree future didn’t feel so entirely set in stone. Her mother had always told her it only took one man to change a woman’s mind about becoming a mother. Maybe she was right.

  Ten minutes later, Sienna sat in a red-and-black bumper car, food now the last thing on her mind. Katy was securely strapped in beside her, and dance music vibrated at a hundred decibels through their eardrums. Yet Sienna’s anticipated dread of the bumper cars evaporated the moment she slid into the seat. Grinning like a maniac, she gripped the steering wheel. Jack’s punishment was going to start a damn sight earlier than her planned bedroom scenario.

  The bell rang for lift off, and she slammed her foot on the accelerator.

  Jack spun off ahead of her, and as Sienna raced after him, Katy giggled like she might pee herself any second. Sienna hesitated. Would she? She glanced at Katy and shrugged. If she peed, it was already worth it to see the glee on the little girl’s face right then. Turning back, she zoomed in on her target. Now she’d show Jack who was boss. Her father had taught her a lot of things, and to ride a bumper car with aplomb was right up there with flossing her teeth every day.

  A crop of Jack’s glossy dark hair showed above the headrest as she neared. Sienna lined up perfectly with his
rear bumper, and then bam! Holly screamed, and Jack cursed. Katy loved every second of the impact, judging by her yell of “Yee-haw!” Victory bubbled inside Sienna like she’d piped the post at the Monaco Grand Prix. She watched Jack tailspin to the side and gave him the queen’s wave as she and Katy cruised smoothly past. Jack and Holly’s shocked faces were a snapshot for the family album.

  Sienna’s laughter was short-lived, however. Jack’s shock quickly evolved into vengeance.

  “Uh-oh.” Katy hunkered lower in her seat, her little fingers gripping her seatbelt as though her life depended on it.

  “It’s all right. It’s just a game. They won’t—”

  Jack came at her, and Sienna slammed her foot down hard. She tried to swerve, but it was too late. Jack had her in his sights like her car was little more than a sitting duck. Bam! She and Katy left the seat, and Sienna’s sides split clean open. All four of them—Jack, the girls, and her—sat front bumper to front bumper laughing so hard, they were a mess of nothing.

  Sienna caught Jack’s eye, and she accepted she was in such trouble there was little she could do but surrender. Her heart was his to do with as he would.

  The bell rang, announcing the end of the ride, and she got out the car, lifting Katy into her arms without inhibition. Carrying the little girl to the edge, they stepped out onto the surrounding grass. Sienna moved to put her down, but Katy tightened her arms around her neck. She looked into her beautiful eyes.

  “You okay, sweetie?”

  The little girl nodded. “Perfect.”

  Sienna swallowed when Katy dropped her head into the crook of her neck. Jack strolled toward her, Holly on his hip, his eyes flitting from Sienna to Katy and back again. He stopped so close, Sienna could see flecks of silver in his blue eyes. Then he leaned forward and kissed her, long and lingering. Its silent meaning curled around her, enveloping her in the reassurance she craved.

  They held his girls in their arms as people meandered around them—they might as well have announced by flyover they were dating.

  Sienna looked at Holly, and for a split second, pleasure lit like a beacon in the child’s cool brown gaze before she blinked and the habitual scowl returned.

  “Ugh,” Holly huffed.

  Sienna smirked. “Too late, sugar. I saw the look in your eyes. You kind of like your daddy kissing me.”

  The girl crossed her arms. “No, I don’t.”

  “Oh, yes, you do. Now, I’m hungry. Let’s go.”

  Holly hesitated, then smiled. A little one. She unfolded her arms and shrugged. “Okay.”

  Sienna had started forward when Jack’s arm came around her waist. “You should’ve been disqualified for that first attack, you know.” His breath whispered warm across her ear.

  “You deserved it for bringing me here in the first place.”

  “Really? You aren’t enjoying yourself?”

  She stopped. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

  “Well, judging by the width of your smile…” He grinned.

  She shrugged. “It’s an okay sort of day, I suppose.”

  “Good.” His eyes darkened with desire.

  The tension between them soared, as did her need to kiss him good and hard. She cleared her throat. “We’d better…”

  With words failing her, Sienna turned on wobbly legs and headed for the smells of frying onions wafting toward them on a perfectly cooling breeze. She couldn’t remember ever feeling as happy or free. God, her mother would have a coronary if she could see her carrying a child around the fairground.

  She laughed. “Do you know something?”

  “What?”

  “If my mother finds out we’ve shared more than one meal together and you persuaded me into a theme park, she’s going to lock you up and never let you escape Potterford again.”

  Jack laughed. “It’s been that long since you’ve had a relationship?”

  “It’s been so long, I think the woman already decided a year ago I was married to my multispeed G-spot, five-tongue clitoral vibrator.”

  Jack blanched. “Your…”

  Sienna laughed again when he whipped his face from one daughter to the other. They were oblivious.

  “Chill, Jack. It’s all good.”

  “Yeah, Daddy.” Holly sniffed. “Chill.”

  They all laughed as Sienna led them to the wooden tables and benches set out in front of one of the many burger vans littered barely more than a few feet apart around the park. She reluctantly slipped Katy from her hip onto the seat and sat down beside her. Jack put Holly down opposite them and clapped his hands.

  “Okay, burgers all round?”

  “Yay!”

  He shot Sienna a wink that sent her stomach into a frenzied loop-the-loop before heading for the queue. God, she could sink her teeth into that ass of his every hour on the hour given half a chance. The girls busied themselves playing with the ketchup packets on the table, their giggling drowned out by the beat of Sienna’s racing heart.

  Jack struck up a conversation with the guy standing in front of him. His demeanor easy, his expression relaxed. There was no trace of the man who’d flipped out when he’d discovered what she planned with the shop. His face was handsome in the bright June sun, his wide shoulders relaxed, his thumbs caught in the front pockets of his jeans.

  Sienna sighed. She didn’t want the day to end.

  Jack then raised his hand as though apologizing to the guy in front of him and pulled his cell phone from his back pocket, still smiling. Within seconds, the smile slipped.

  Sienna’s own dissolved. She looked to the girls. Blood-red ketchup smeared the table and their hands as the twins laughed, their eyes carefree and alive. Looking back to Jack, Sienna saw he’d left the queue and now stood alone, holding his hand to the back of his neck as he talked into the phone.

  After a few minutes passed, the girls had run out of ketchup packets and started on the mayonnaise. Time stood still.

  “We need to go.”

  Sienna jumped at the sound of Jack’s voice. Anger stormed like a tornado in his dark blue eyes.

  “What is it?”

  Not answering her, he turned to Holly and Katy. “For crying out loud. Look at this mess.”

  Sienna’s heart leapt into her throat. “Jack—”

  “Didn’t you think to stop them?”

  She opened her mouth to fling back a response, then clamped it shut. Silently, she stood and snatched some paper napkins from the wooden cutlery box on the table. She wiped Katy’s hands as they trembled in hers, tears wobbling precariously at the girl’s bottom lashes. Holly’s eyes were dry, but the dark red flush at her cheeks reminded Sienna of her own way of dealing with bad things when she’d been the same age…and now.

  Jack swiped at Holly’s hands, his eyes focused on his task rather than on his daughter. Holly glared at his bent head, her bottom lip quivering. Sienna looked away lest she march over and shove Jack away, telling him exactly what a jerk he was being. It wasn’t her place to get involved. And it would be neither welcomed nor appreciated, judging by the thunderous expression on his face.

  The day was over. Jack’s daughters knew it, and so did she.

  With her heart pounding, Sienna avoided looking at him as, one by one, they all rose from the table and walked through the park. The souvenir shop stood ahead of them, and determination rose inside her. Holly and Katy weren’t leaving without something good, something real and tangible to hold in their hands and remember the day wasn’t about their unhappy father.

  “Wait.”

  Jack and the twins froze. He looked at her, his eyes blazing. “What? We need to go.”

  “Not yet.”

  “Sienna, now.”

  “I want to buy the girls a gift.”

  From the corner of her eye, Holly and Katy’s gazes lifted to her face, but Sienna kept her focus on Jack. Daring him to challenge her. Daring him to refuse her first request of the day. She’d done everything he’d wanted. Damn, he’d even convinced he
r she was enjoying herself. She’d make sure his girls went home with something good to hold when they lay in their beds later on, wondering what the hell had happened. One minute happy; the next one sad. The familiar emotion of kids with parents split apart by divorce or death.

  “No,” he said.

  “Yes.” She glanced at Holly and Katy as their heads whipped back and forth between her and Jack. “Let them buy something to keep. Today was a good day. They deserve to have something to take home from it.”

  His jaw clenched and unclenched. She held her nose high. Slowly, Jack’s expression softened, and he closed his eyes. “Fine.”

  Sienna’s heart ached when he leaned down and cupped each of his daughter’s chins in his hands, his eyes shining with love and apology.

  “Would you like Sienna to buy you something from the shop? Am I being Grumpy Daddy?”

  Her eyes glassy, Katy looked at Sienna, then Jack. “Uh-huh.”

  Jack looked to Holly. “Holly?”

  She shrugged. “Don’t know.”

  He exhaled. “Come on. Let’s go in the shop and spend Sienna’s money, okay?”

  They didn’t rush forward as Sienna had hoped; instead, their steps were heavy…until they walked inside. The flashing lights and fluffy, rainbow-colored palette of merchandise was too much to not seduce even the most disappointed child. Sienna was delighted. The place was her shop on a different level—it supplied in kid language what she did for adults. Dare to enter and you’ll leave with something you didn’t even know you wanted. She grinned as the twins’ hands left Jack’s and they ran into the furor right along with the dozens of other kids running everywhere and giving their parents nervous breakdowns.

  The moment they were alone, Sienna grasped Jack’s wrist and tugged him around to face her. “Who was on the phone?”

  He wiped his other hand over his face. His expression said it all.

  “And?”

  “I told her it wasn’t a good time to talk.”

  “Which means what?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing. It means nothing.”

  Sienna took his hand. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  “I’m thinking I hope you’ve got your credit card at the ready now you’ve let the twins loose in that store.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and headed into the shop.