by Pj Fiala
“Madison Laine Sheppard,” Jeremiah said.
“Hey, Maddie, welcome to the family,” Gunnar crooned to her.
Gunnar flicked his gaze over to Janie, who was looking right at him. Shit, what are the odds she would be the one to help deliver his little sister? He still, for the life of him, couldn’t remember her. He remembered the blow job—sort of—but not her.
Stacie, Jeremiah’s sister-in-law, stood in the doorway and cleared her throat. “Will you guys stop hogging the baby so the rest of us can?”
The boys and Molly kissed Joci, hugged Jeremiah, and then left the room. Gunnar was last, softly talking to Jeremiah before he turned to leave. As he walked into the hallway, he turned back to wave to his mom before he bumped into Emma. She almost fell and Gunnar quickly wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling.
Ashley giggled. “You two have got to stop meeting this way. At this rate, you’ll kill each other.”
Gunnar’s face flamed a bright red as he looked at Emma. “Sorry, I should’ve been looking ahead.”
Emma smiled. “Me too.” Smoothing her sweater, she said, “So, how’s your little sister?”
“Maddie. She’s good.”
“Maddie. That’s adorable.”
Ashley started walking again. “Tyler and I are going to take a nap. Enough walking for a while. Nice to see you again, Maddie’s brother.” She grinned as she looked at Gunnar.
Gunnar captured Emma’s gaze in his. The color of deep chocolate framed with thick lashes held his attention. He swallowed as she smiled up at him and his cock jerked.
He blurted, “Emma…Would you have dinner with me?”
Cocking her head to the side, she asked, “Did you have dinner with Janie?”
Gunnar shook his head and furrowed his brow. “Ah, no, I didn’t. What does that have to do with having dinner with you?”
Emma shrugged. Okay, he had a good point. But she didn’t want to get involved with a player, either. She hesitated, not knowing what to say.
“I didn’t think it was that hard of a question. It’s just dinner.” Gunnar grinned. “After all, you threw baby formula all over my very clean bike. You kind of owe me a dinner at least.”
Emma pulled her mouth into a straight line. Her body flamed when she was near him. When he broke her fall, she felt a fire run through her body and head straight to her lower core. Now she was wet between the legs and her breasts were heavy. Her nipples hard and uncomfortable. Good thing she had a sweater on; it was hard to see through.
Softly, she whispered, “Just dinner?”
“Just dinner.”
“Okay. Just dinner. I’m really not doing men right now.”
Gunnar raised his eyebrows. “Are you into women then?”
“What? No! What is it with men anyway?”
“Hey, you’re the one that said you weren’t doing men right now.”
Emma’s face flushed pink, remembering her words. She pulled her hands up to cover her face and groaned. What was it about him that made her brain go on vacation? When she was able to compose herself, she pulled her hands away from her face and took a deep breath.
“I meant…I’m taking a man break. In other words, I’m not getting involved.” Her hand swooped out in front of her, palm up, as if that made it clearer.
“Okay. Got it. No involvement, just dinner. You’re not doing men or women, but you still eat. Good?”
Emma giggled as she looked at him. Gunnar smiled back and they both started laughing.
He pulled his phone out and they exchanged contact information. He could count on one finger the number of times he had given a woman his phone number and address. He shook his head from side to side; he was becoming someone he didn’t know. “How about this Saturday? That allows each of us a few days to get our new family members home and settled.”
“Saturday is great.” She smiled up at him, unable to form much more of a thought than that.
“I’ll pick you up at seven.”
Chapter Six
Janie stood just inside the door to Joci’s room when she heard Gunnar and Emma talk about a date. Her stomach twisted with jealousy and hurt. What was wrong with her that Gunnar wouldn’t call her and ask her out? She waited where she was so they wouldn’t see her and as soon as Emma walked away, Janie stepped out of the room. Gunnar and his uncle were standing in the hallway, watching Emma walk into Ashley’s room. Janie plastered a smile on her face and walked out. Gunnar looked over at her and then looked away again. Dayton chuckled as Janie walked past. When she was out of earshot, Dayton cleared his throat.
“You got ‘em lined up?”
Gunnar looked at him and then the direction Janie had gone. Oh.
“No. I didn’t recognize Janie before. Kind of picked her up in the bar the other night; didn’t even know her name. I know that’s kind of crude, but…”
Dayton chuckled. “You don’t have to explain. I’ve been there. It’s been years and years, but I get it.”
*****
“You look stunning. Wow.” Gunnar admired Emma as she opened the door to let him in. Her perfect ass was covered in denim and her breasts were covered in a black and tan striped tank top. She wore a delicate gold chain and a black blazer. Nude high heels stretched her legs, giving her short five foot two frame the appearance of a leggy model, and Gunnar’s thoughts instantly went to imagining them wrapped around his waist.
Emma smiled at his praise. “Thank you. You look stunning yourself.”
Her eyes traveled down long, lean legs clad in black jeans. She slowly lifted her gaze up his body and admired the way his black leather jacket opened to show off the gray t-shirt hugging his lean torso and broad chest. Gunnar was simply breathtaking; he would look hot wearing nothing. Shit, she shouldn’t have thought that. Now her head would be there all night long. Probably because it was true.
Swallowing and licking her lips, she stammered, “Come on in. I’ll let Ash know I’m leaving. Tyler’s been fussy this evening.” Gunnar stepped in and heard Tyler crying. Ashley walked down the hall toward the living room, looking frazzled. She smiled at Gunnar when she saw him.
“I can’t get him to stop crying. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
Gunnar smiled and stepped forward. “May I?”
Ashley quickly handed Tyler to Gunnar. He sat on the sofa and laid Tyler on his belly across his knees, supporting Tyler’s head with his hand. Gently, Gunnar rocked his knees back and forth and patted Tyler’s back at the same time. Within a few moments, Tyler quieted down and a loud burp escaped his mouth. Ashley and Emma looked at him in awe and smiled.
“God. Thank you so much. I didn’t know what was wrong with him.”
Gunnar grinned. “When he’s crying and he pulls his little legs up at the same time, he has gas. My grandma does this with Maddie and it works every time.”
“Geez. Tell your Grandma thanks. I was going crazy trying to get him to quiet down. Ron has to work for another hour.”
Emma looked at Ashley. “Do you need me to stay home, Ash? We can wait till Ron gets home.”
“No, you two go on your date. Now that he’s quiet, I’ll put him in bed and take a nap myself.”
Ashley picked Tyler up and crooned to him as she walked back to the bedroom, with a wave in their direction.
Gunnar stood up. “Ready?”
Her smile bright, Emma nodded. “Yep.”
Gunnar pointed his truck in the direction of downtown Green Bay. “So where did you move from?”
Emma’s eyes drifted out the passenger window. “I just came back from Chicago. I’ve been living there for the past six years.”
Gunnar nodded. “Please don’t tell me you’re a Bears fan, I’ll have to turn this truck around and take you home.”
Emma laughed. “Nope. Born a Packer fan, still a Packer fan. No Bears for this girl.”
“Whew. That’s good. So is Ashley your only sister?”
“Yes. Just Ashley and me.Our parents ar
e gone, so she’s all I have left; well, Tyler and Ron too.”
“Sorry about your parents. That sucks.”
“You have a big family. Were all those people at the hospital related to you?”
Gunnar snickered. “Well, yes, I guess. My mom and Jeremiah married last year. It was just my mom and me before then. Jeremiah adopted me as a formality, actually. Mom’s sister, Jackie and her husband David were at the hospital. Jeremiah’s parents, my grandparents, were there as well as Jeremiah’s brothers and sisters-in-law. You met Uncle Dayton. Jeremiah’s twin sons, JT and Ryder, were at the hospital, tall and blond, like my dad. Molly, my sister, who is engaged to my brother Ryder…”
“Um, wait…what?”
“Yeah, I know. It isn’t as creepy as it sounds though. Molly’s a photographer and she was taking the pictures for my mom and dad’s wedding. My mom knew her for years, from some class they both took. Anyway, she and Ryder met, sparks flew, they started dating. The night I was officially adopted, we were having a party at my mom and dad’s house and I had a box of pictures from my biological father’s wife. I brought them with me, hoping my mom could help me with some of the people in the pictures. Molly saw her mom in one of them and one thing led to another and we found out we are biological brother and sister. Well, half-brother and half-sister.”
“Holy hell. Small friggin world, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I never knew my biological dad. He basically left when I was born. My mom’s former best friend is Molly’s mom. Turned out my dad had been cheating on my mom with Molly’s mom. Crazy shit.”
“I’ll say.”
They pulled into the restaurant and were seated on the patio, right next to the fireplace. It was dark out, but the lights on the patio cast a soft yellow glow. The flames from the fire flickered and cast a beautiful medley of colors and patterns on the table. They ordered their food and Gunnar watched Emma as she stirred her drink with her straw. Beautiful, this one. Her blonde hair was loose and flowing around her shoulders and down her back. Slightly wavy, and in the light from the fire, it glowed like a halo. She looked up at him and his cock moved around in his pants. Those eyes of hers were stunning. She had that same light pink shiny lip gloss on her full lips and he wanted to taste them. A slight breeze blew and he noticed a faint scar in front of her ear. She subconsciously pulled her hair down to cover it.
“So, what about Janie?”
Gunnar snapped to attention. “Janie?”
“Wow, please don’t tell me you’re a pig, Gunnar.”
Gunnar shook his head once and looked Emma in the eye. “I’m not a pig.” Taking a deep breath, he leaned forward, placing his forearms on the table. “Look, it was my birthday about a week ago. I was out with my brothers and sister at a bar we go to called The Barn. She came on to me, I had a few drinks, I just wanted to get laid. I told her nothing but sex and she agreed. I admit, I didn’t even ask her name, but she didn’t offer it either. For the record, I don’t even know how she knew my name; I didn’t offer that either. That’s the cold, hard truth.”
He sat back a little and let out a breath. “If you’re going to hold that against me, you better hold it against her too, because she’s just as guilty as I am.”
Emma looked past Gunnar to the water behind him. Well, he was right about that. She was just as much at fault for that as he was, if you could call it fault. It was consensual.
Emma’s voice soft, she said. “I can’t hold it against either of you. You’re right, it takes two. I just felt so sorry for her, she looked mortified. After giving her body to you and you don’t even recognize her, I felt bad for her that’s all.”
Gunnar snorted. “She didn’t exactly give her body to me, more like her mouth. And I don’t mean kissing either; I didn’t even kiss her.”
“Holy hell. Are you kidding me? Jesus, I don’t even know what to say.”
“Again, she was a willing participant.”
“What did you do, just dump her off at her door?”
Gunnar looked away. He shouldn’t have said anything at all.
“You didn’t even walk her to the door? Christ, Gunnar. You are a pig.”
“Again. Consensual. Period.”
Yikes, where do you go from here?
“Why are you so worried about her anyway? Do you know her? I mean, before you saw her at the hospital?”
Emma shook her head. “No. It’s just… Never mind.” She let out a long sigh and watched the lights from the fire twinkle on the river alongside them.
“No, go ahead, tell me. It can’t get any worse than this.”
“True.” Taking a deep breath, Emma said, “I just broke up with a guy—a player. I caught him cheating and he said the same thing to me. He didn’t even know the girl’s name; he just wanted to bang her. I kicked his ass out and moved back home.” Sitting back in her chair, she set her napkin on the table. “This wasn’t a good idea.”
The waitress set their food down in front of them. Looking up at Gunnar, Emma saw the sorrow in his eyes. Picking up her napkin and placing it on her lap, she picked up her hamburger and took a bite. Not sure where to go from here, they began eating in relative silence. Looking up at him from under her lashes, she felt sad about it all. He sure was a pretty one, but she couldn’t get involved with another guy like him. Simple, end of story.
Gunnar wracked his brain trying to figure out how to fix this shit.
“For the record, I didn’t cheat on anyone. Never have. Never would. My biological father was a cheater, and I saw what it did to my mom. I’d never do that to another person.”
Emma froze with a French fry on its way to her mouth. She looked into his eyes, noticing the fine lines at the corners. Her eyes traveled down his straight nose to his full lips. She sat mesmerized as he licked his lips and wondered what it would feel like exploring her mouth. Then, he smiled the most seductive smile she had ever seen and those dimples creased his cheeks and dammit, her panties grew damp. Slowly, she raised her eyes to his. He was watching her. Assessing her. She very gently laid the forgotten fry on her plate and grabbed the napkin off her lap, needing something to do to expel some of her newfound energy.
Taking another calming breath, Emma dared another look into his eyes. “Sorry. I guess I’m still a bit…it hit close to home.”
Gunnar nodded and dug into his burger in an effort to lighten the mood. Perhaps they could still salvage this.
“So, you quit your job and everything?”
Softly Emma said, “Yeah.”
Gunnar’s phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and looked at the caller ID.
“It’s my sister. Do you mind if I answer?”
Emma shook her head.
“Hey, Mol. What’s up?”
“Gunnar. Your mom and dad stopped by with Maddie to visit. Then, JT stopped in and we wondered if you weren’t busy if you would like to stop by and visit. Nothing big, just shooting the breeze.”
“Okay, well I’m having dinner right now with Emma. Let me ask.”
With a grin on his face he said, “My family stopped over and they miss me, I guess. Would you like to stop over there on the way home?”
Emma shrugged her shoulders. “Sure.”
What was wrong with her? She should have said no, but when she was around him she didn’t seem to think before words tumbled out of her mouth.
“We’re just finishing up dinner. We’ll be there in about half an hour.”
He ended his call and tucked his phone in his pocket. He grinned at Emma, showing off those darn dimples as he pushed his empty plate away.
“I guess Maddie was screaming her lungs out. Mom was getting stir crazy and Dad was racking his brain on what to do with both of them, so they headed to Ryder and Molly’s under the pretense that they wanted to see the bathroom. We just finished remodeling it.”
“You remodel bathrooms?”
“Well, theirs. They just bought this house a couple months ago. We just finished it last week, but Mom was b
ig as a house and having a hard time walking with her hip being sore, so they hadn’t seen it yet.”
“What’s wrong with your mom’s hip?”
“The day she found out she was pregnant she had a motorcycle accident and hurt her hip, broke her shoulder and collarbone, and bruised up her face.She’s better now, but she didn’t have a lot of time to heal with being pregnant, and then as her body was expanding to make way for the baby, she was in a lot of pain. It’s been hard on them.”
“Holy cow. She was in an accident?”
Gunnar pinched his face up in a scowl. “It wasn’t her fault. LuAnn—she worked for us—had the hots for my dad and cut the brake lines on Mom’s bike. She said she didn’t mean to hurt Mom, but she was mad and acted without thinking.”
“Holy shit! What happened to LuAnn?”
“She’s in jail. We were worried Mom was going to have to go through a trial and all that entailed, but luckily, LuAnn was feeling remorseful and took a plea deal. She’ll be in jail for about three years. She’ll probably get out early, but it’s good to give her a cool down period. She pulled so much crap on my parents, trying to break them up. I don’t hate people, but I hate her.”
Emma pondered all he said. “I would hate anyone who tried hurting Ashley and Tyler too, so I get it.”
Gunnar smiled. “Anyway, now they’re married, I’m adopted, and they have Maddie, so it’s a happy ending after all.”
Emma nodded. “Happy endings are good. Glad someone is getting one.”
Gunnar looked at her and cocked his head to the side. Apparently she just had a bad breakup and uprooted herself in the time span of a nanosecond, so that probably rattled her self-confidence. He thought she’d get that back; she was gorgeous, smart, funny, and she laughed easily, even when they were in uncomfortable situations. She was the total package.
“Ready to go and meet my little sister?”
Emma laughed. “And your big sister, your brothers, and your parents. Holy shit, did I just agree to this?”
Gunnar put his arm around her as they walked toward the door. “Not only did you agree, but you had a smile on your face. And, for the record, Molly is my little sister as well; I’m about eight months older than her.”
