“Ooh, gotta go.” Lily wiggled out of Vic’s grasp.
He grinned. “Abandoned again.”
Gina rolled her eyes. “Don’t even.”
“Can I sit?”
A little buzz streamed inside her. He wanted to stay. He hadn’t come by just to see Lily. Should she even let herself start to think there might be hope?
“Sure, let me get the kids out the door and I’ll be back. Do you need Michael for anything?”
“No. He’s pissed at me.”
She glanced back at him. “What for this time?”
“I’ll tell you when you get back.”
Maybe, Gina thought as she walked back to the kitchen after seeing the kids off, he finally wanted to talk. Just because they couldn’t be a couple didn’t mean she couldn’t be his friend. They had a bond now. Surely they could figure out a way to move forward.
Sliding into the chair next to him, she examined his wounds. Disaster. “How are you?”
He braced his chin in his good hand. “I had a meltdown on the plane.”
She sat back. “You had a meltdown?”
“Yep. Total annihilation. I broke Mike’s plane. That’s why he’s pissed at me.”
“What happened?”
“I wrecked one of the seats. Knocked the sucker right off its base.”
Reaching for his hand right now would not be a smart move. They both knew what happened when they touched each other, and raging-hot sex, at this point, would do them no good. Touching him had to be off-limits. She wanted to, though. Admitting weakness must be destroying him, and she couldn’t offer comfort in the way she would have liked.
Yep, they were back to being stuck, just like before they’d gotten involved.
“Anyway, we’re going to pull the security. It’s over now.”
Over. Just like that? “You’re sure?”
He held his hands toward his battered face. “Totally. Sirhan won’t be bothering us again.”
Screw not touching him. She reached for his hand and let its warmth work through her, processing the idea that Vic had probably killed Sirhan. She forced the thought away. “Thank you.”
He jerked his head and tapped his other hand on the table. “Will you take a ride with me?”
A ride? Not a good idea. Unless…
“Is it going to change something?” she asked.
Let him say yes. Please.
He stared at her a minute.
“I’m not pressuring you,” she said, “but you know how I feel. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to spend time together right now. We need to figure out how to be just friends.”
He shrugged. “It might change something. It would be up to you.”
A tingle of hope wormed its way around her heart. “I’m confused.”
“Take a ride with me and maybe it’ll make sense.”
“What do you think?” Vic asked.
He’d parked on the shoulder of the quiet country road, and they stood before rows of thick green corn stalks. Soon the stalks would be as tall as Gina. The evening sun cast shadows across the property and the wind rustled the leaves on the plants.
She scanned the area. “Uh, it’s a cornfield.”
He wiped a sweaty hand across his T-shirt. Nervous. Comical given the life he’d led. All in all, his future sprawled in front of him and, now that he’d made the decision, he hoped Gina would want to be part of it.
“It’s my new office.”
She snorted. “You’re going to be a farmer?”
There’s a scary fucking thought. He laughed. “Hell no. I haven’t gone completely off the rails. We’re building a training center so we can teach people to do what we do.”
After studying the field, she faced him. “Who’s we?”
“Mike and me. We went to the bank today and signed the papers. We’re fifty-fifty partners. It’s my baby, though. All he wants to do is count the money.”
She reached out and grabbed his hand. “I don’t understand what you’re doing. This is sudden. Have you thought it through?”
She had no idea how much he’d thought about it. He’d never discussed it with her, so how could she know? And wasn’t that what she’d been begging him for? To talk to her?
“You think it’s a reaction to Tiny dying?”
“I do.”
“It’s not. Mike and I have been talking about this for over a year, but we didn’t have the acreage we needed. Mike met with the owner of this property last year and told him we wanted it. The guy came to him a few weeks ago and he made the deal.”
She drew back an inch. “I didn’t know that.”
Weighty sadness dropped on him and he breathed in. “Maybe Tiny dying pushed me to finalize everything, but I’d been thinking about it. A lot.”
He surveyed the ground, thought about what he needed to say before looking back at her.
“I know I screw up. I know I’m a challenge. I know I’ll never talk as much as you want me to, but I’ll stay put. All this crap with Sirhan brought things into perspective. Having you and the kids in my life is more important than playing cowboy. I know that. I knew it before I left for Pakistan, but I had to end it. I wanted us to have an honest shot at making this work, and the constant pressure of Sirhan being out there would have been a problem. It’s not an issue anymore.”
She blinked a couple of times, put her hands over her face and slid them down her cheeks. “Are you sure you can do this? I need you to be sure. I can’t go on a roller coaster with you. You’re either here or you’re not.”
He’d expected that. Even prepared for it, but suddenly everything he’d rehearsed seemed inadequate. He peered out over the thousand acres of property he now owned, and his stomach pitched. He owned property. And it wasn’t for his mother. Look out, world, he was settling down.
He turned to Gina, waited for her gaze to settle on him before he spoke. “Right now, I figure I’m sixty-five, maybe seventy percent man. With your help, I think we can get me the rest of the way. I’m not perfect and I’ve got a ton of baggage, but I love you. I love your kids. Even the one that’s a pain in the ass. And I’d like to be around for them. I’ll never be their dad, but maybe I can help. That alone tells me I’m ready for this.” He waved a hand toward the field. “All of it. It just took me a little while to figure it out.”
Her eyebrows hit her hairline, but she had an ear-to-ear smile. A good sign. All this talking must have sent her into a state of euphoria.
He ran a hand over her soft curls. “The thing I know for sure right now is I want to be around for the next fifty years, and when I die, I want to die in your arms, not with some lunatic staring me down.”
She stepped forward, slipped those arms he wanted to die in around him, and his heart hammered. Nothing beat the feel of her body wrapped around him. He breathed in the scent of her lemon shampoo and kissed the top of her head.
With her cheek against his chest, she ran her hands over his back. Up and down, up and down, up and down. Was this a yes or a no? The longer she stayed quiet, the more he feared a no. This could be the equivalent of hanging naked from a fucking flagpole.
“Gina, please say something. Tell me to go screw myself if you have to, but say something.”
“Okay.” She smiled up at him. “I love you. And the only person I want you screwing is me.”
Relief swarmed and the tension eased from his body. He plastered her face with sloppy kisses because he suddenly understood contentment. And maybe even liked it. “When I’m with you it feels like home, and that hasn’t happened since I left my aunt’s house eighteen years ago. Thank you.”
She pulled him close. “I missed you. I wasn’t sure I’d recover from you.”
He laughed. “You still may not, but if anyone can handle me, it’s you. You always give me another try.”
“Well,” she sighed, “who am I to reject someone with so much potential?”
“Oh please.” He gave her a light shove and they both laughed. “Sp
eaking of potential, my mother is coming to visit.”
Her mouth flopped open and he laughed. “Yes, I said my mother. Since you two are such good friends, you get to help me entertain her. I don’t even know what she likes to do.”
Gina slapped her hands against her cheeks, but amusement lit her eyes. “Who are you and what have you done with the man I love?”
“Listen, honey. You created this monster and you’re stuck with it.”
“I’ll help you with your mother. On one condition.”
Ugh. Conditions. Everything had a cost. He’d have to suck it up.
“What is it?”
“You have to promise to spend some time alone with her, talk.”
“But—”
She held up a hand. “And I mean really talk to her. Tell her you’re angry and let her explain. Then you need to let it go. You’re a grown man and you’re capable of a lot more than you let yourself believe.”
Well, okay, then. She told him. “Yeah, well…” was the only lame-ass answer he could come up with. Shit. He’d become a wuss. Next she’d have him vacuuming. He shuddered.
Gina laughed and the sound echoed in his head. He slung an arm over her shoulder and they stood staring at the setting sun and one hell of a huge cornfield. His cornfield. No. Their cornfield. He’d build them a life with this property. A good life, where he could come home every night, have dinner with the family and listen to the kids fight or whine about homework. Maybe he’d miss playing cowboy, but the love of a good woman couldn’t be beat. He knew that now.
“We’ve got a future in this field, babe,” he said.
She tucked her hand in the back pocket of his shorts. “A big one.”
He nodded and puckered his lips. “Say, how do you feel about babies?”
She slid into the wide-eyed oh-no look. “As long as they’re someone else’s, I love them.”
“Hmmm,” he said. “We’ll have to work on that response.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Man Law: Never avoid competition.
November
“This is just too much,” Gina said from her spot along the wall of St. Theresa’s Catholic School gym.
Daddies and daughters wandered between different events, waiting for the assigned group to compete while moms and family members watched from the sidelines. Of course, Michael, being Michael, couldn’t resist getting in the middle of it and promptly made his way to the center of the gym for a strategy session with Vic and Lily. Matthew stood next to them, throwing his two cents in.
“I think they’re getting a little carried away,” Roxann said.
Gina laughed. “No, really?”
Poor Lily stood between the two men, her head swinging back and forth as they engaged in a heated debate. When Lily held up her finger and tried to butt in, Vic put his hand on her shoulder but kept jabbering with Michael. She turned toward Gina and shrugged.
Matthew didn’t fare much better, because when he said something, Vic and Michael each put a hand on his chest and shoved him away. Matt laughed and strolled off. Male bonding was a complex and nutty thing.
“This has been going on at my house all week,” Gina said. “They’ve been running a mini boot camp in my driveway.”
“Lily doesn’t seem to mind.”
“She loves it. She came to breakfast this morning and announced she’d—” Gina made air quotes, “—‘pound Misty Franklin into the ground.’ Where do you think that came from?”
Roxann covered her mouth to hide a laugh. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Maybe he’s gone too far, but it is funny.”
“Someday I’ll laugh.”
She huffed and, seeing movement next to her, shifted to see Dora Franklin making her way over. Her insides sunk to the floor.
“Oh, crap. Here comes Dora. I can only imagine the shots she’ll take at me.”
Roxann casually glanced over Gina’s shoulder. “The one with the baggy jeans and tunic?”
“Yep. That’s her. She used to tell everyone I dressed like a tramp. That’s changed since you got a hold of my wardrobe, but still, it wasn’t right.”
“Hello, Gina,” Dora said, her chirpy fake-nice voice grinding Gina’s nerves.
She smiled big. “Hi, Dora. How are you?”
The woman’s bright orange hair and blue eye shadow could have lit up Times Square. Good Lord.
“Well, your boyfriend seems to be enjoying the day.”
Ugh. Shot number one. Gina held up her left hand so the flaming bitch could take a gander at the boulder on her finger.
“Fiancé. I wouldn’t let him do this with Lily if he were only my boyfriend.”
“I see,” Dora said, again with the fake smile.
And…Did this bitch just tilt her head and check out Vic’s ass? Well, who could blame her, but to be so blatant about it?
Besides, Gina couldn’t picture old Dora and her four-hundred-pound husband having any good, healthy sex. Sex would probably give the man a heart attack.
“Vic does have a competitive nature, but this is nothing,” she said. “You should see what the man can do in the bedroom.” She raised both hands and fanned herself. “Whew! It’s a wonder my body hasn’t burst into flames by now. That’s how hot it gets.”
Roxann bit down on her bottom lip.
Dora cleared her throat.
“Yep,” she said, “I hit the jackpot with him. I mean, just look at him. Hot, hot, hot.”
A burst of laughter finally erupted from Roxann, and Gina shrugged. “I can’t help it if the man is insatiable. And that big, beautiful body is all mine.”
Dora sucked in a breath, spun on her heel and stormed off.
“You are rotten,” Roxann said. “Not that she didn’t deserve it.”
“That’ll give her something to gossip about.”
Gina focused on Vic, bent over tying a bandanna around his and Lily’s legs for the three-legged race.
Lily swung her head toward Gina with a big toothy smile. A few of her curls had come loose from her hair band, and she tucked them behind her ear. She had one hand on Vic’s shoulder for balance, and the sight of her happy baby smacked Gina in the chest. Lily’s dream of competing in the Daddy-Daughter Olympics had come true.
They moved up to the starting tape, Lily’s gaze firmly planted on the finish line. Gina swallowed hard. The girl would be crushed if they didn’t win. When the whistle blew, Lily and Vic took off in perfect step. They sailed ahead of the pack, but Lily kept her eyes focused ahead. When they reached the finish line, Lily glanced back to see Misty and her dad barely halfway there. She raised her arms in victory and let out a whoop. Vic cracked up and loosened the bandanna binding them together. The two of them did a double high five along with some weird butt wiggle they’d come up with as a celebration dance.
A tingle shot up Gina’s arms.
“Now, this is embarrassing,” she said, but couldn’t help giggling.
Her baby would have a daddy she’d remember.
Daddy-Daughter Olympics. Who would have thought it would be such a great day?
And that Vic would be the daddy?
God help her.
Look for more books in the Private Protectors series from Adrienne Giordano, coming soon from Carina Press!
About the Author
Adrienne Giordano writes romantic suspense and women’s fiction. She is a Jersey girl at heart, but she now lives in the Midwest with her hard-working husband, sports-obsessed son and Buddy the Wheaton Terrorist (Terrier). She is a cofounder of the Romance University blog. Adrienne’s books have been finalists in the 2008, 2009 and 2011 Linda Howard Award of Excellence contests. Her debut romantic suspense, Man Law, will be released by Carina Press on July 4, 2011. Her second book will be available from Carina Press in September 2011. For more information please visit www.AdrienneGiordano.com.
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9185-4
Copyright © 2011 by Adrienne Giordano-Maynard
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Man Law Page 27
