Under Control

by Shannon Stacey

  The conversation with Kelsey stayed with her, creeping up from her subconscious throughout the busy day.

  It just means he’s not sure about you yet.

  Sure about what, though? Sure that he liked her? Olivia knew he did. And she had no doubt they were compatible in the bedroom. But there was still that whole part of Derek’s life he wasn’t sharing with her, and maybe that’s where the doubt was lurking.

  She needed to meet his kids. Until she did, there was only so far forward she and Derek could go together before they started spinning their wheels.

  When she walked through the door of Broussard Financial Services, Olivia tried to shove those thoughts back into her subconscious where they belonged—for now. She was here to go over some details for the Village Hearts benefit and she wanted a clear head. They’d decided after a brief email exchange that it would be more efficient to simply meet in Jess’s office for a few minutes than to keep bouncing emails back and forth.

  It was quiet in the offices, but Olivia could see a few people still behind glass partitions, working at their computers. And Jess stepped out from a hallway, a smile on her face. “Hi, Olivia. Thanks for coming.”

  “No problem. With the benefit coming up so soon, it’s a better use of our time to nail down these details so we can move on to the next items on the list.”

  And a mere twenty minutes later, when Jess emailed the results of the session to George and Ella, copying the rest of the board, Olivia felt the familiar rush of checking a job done well and efficiently off her list.

  “We work well together,” Jess said as she powered down her computer. “I hate to keep repeating how glad I am you’re a part of Village Hearts, but I really am.”

  “I am, too. Are you heading home now?”

  “I am. I usually work late on Tuesdays and Fridays anyway, since Rick won’t be home waiting for me, but I want to stop by and see my grandparents tonight.”

  “It must be hard to make it all work.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You live in the same neighborhood as their fire station, don’t you?” Jess nodded. “Isn’t it a long commute for you?”

  “I’m not going to lie. It’s tough sometimes, especially when the weather’s bad. But it’s worth it.” Olivia must have looked skeptical, because she laughed. “You don’t look convinced.”

  “It seems like so much wasted time and your time is...valuable.”

  “More valuable—financially speaking—than Rick’s?”

  Olivia’s cheeks burned. “I didn’t mean to imply that. Speaking strictly from an efficiency standpoint, you commute back and forth through the city every day, while Rick works two shifts a week and they’re twenty-four hours long.”

  “I know it looks like that, but they’re always doing something with meetings and covering shifts for other guys and community events. Paperwork. Those assigned shifts aren’t the full extent of his job. And I like living near our family and friends. Kincaid’s. I love our house, which was my grandparents’ house, actually. It’s just...home.” She shrugged. “I use the commute time for things I can do on the move, and I delegate a lot. Sometimes, if I don’t have meetings with clients, I just work from home.”

  Olivia nodded, trying to process that. It didn’t seem like a structured enough plan for a woman with Jess’s responsibilities, but it looked as if she was making it work. Somehow.

  “So, speaking of family,” Jess said, “I, uh, heard you met Amber.”

  Olivia’s face suddenly felt so hot, she actually put her hands to her cheeks. “Yes. We met. I guess she gave you the details?”

  “She didn’t give me all of the details, but the fact your face is the color of a cherry tomato right now is filling in the gaps.” She made a sorry face. “It probably doesn’t help much, but she felt really bad about it.”

  “It was awkward. And weird.” She frowned. “In my experience, divorced couples don’t have relationships like that.”

  “It’s probably rare for a couple to go back to the friendship they had before it all fell apart, but they managed it. Minus the romance in the friendship, of course. You know they’re not hung up on each other, right?”

  “I know. I believe that.” And she did. “It just threw me a little, I guess. It’s one thing for him to tell me they have a good relationship, but she has a key and just lets herself into his apartment and they laugh together. And it’s not wrong. I don’t want them to hate each other and fight over everything. It’s just an adjustment for me.”

  “He’s worth it,” Jess said quietly. “I haven’t known him a long time, but I’ve known him long enough. I know his family. And my husband sees him on the job, and Derek’s a good guy.”

  “He really is.”

  “Families—especially parents—can really do a job on us, can’t they? My dad was estranged from his parents for most of my life. I came out here from San Diego because my grandfather’s doctor left a message for my dad and he wasn’t available, so I decided to handle it myself. That’s when I learned they weren’t bad people and my dad had really been the villain of the story.” Jess sighed. “Luckily, he was able to admit it and they’ll never be close because a lot of hurt built up over the years, but they have a relationship now. And they all love me, so they’re trying with each other.”

  “And you met Rick while you were here?”

  “He was my grandparents’ tenant and he looked out for them. Since he’d heard nothing good about my dad, when I showed up on his behalf, Rick assumed I was here to scope out whether putting my grandparents in a facility and selling their home would be profitable for Dad and I. He was determined to stop me.” She smiled. “And then we fell in love.”

  “I like happy endings.”

  “Most stories have happy endings if you can stick through the slaying-the-dragons part.” She smiled. “Rick and I are happy. My dad’s coming out from San Diego for the Village Hearts benefit, which is practically a miracle. And my grandparents will be there. If it’s meant to be, it’ll all work out.”

  Olivia didn’t believe in meant to be so much as make it happen, but she smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind. And speaking of your grandparents, I should head out so you can go visit them.”

  “Thanks again for stopping in, and I’m sure we’ll be in touch before the next meeting.”

  Olivia didn’t make it home before Kelsey left, but she’d left her boss a note on the kitchen island detailing what they’d accomplished that day, as well as a list of tasks for tomorrow and an overview of the rest of the week. There was color-coding—in the office versus on-site—and symbols—books, speaking engagements, podcast, and the different stages of client work—and she felt herself relax as she immersed herself in the familiar and comforting structure of her business methodology.

  Maybe relationships couldn’t be structured and color-coded the way a business plan could, Olivia thought, but there had to be some kind of a plan and there were steps to check off. If she wrote them out, she knew what she’d have to write next to the next box. Meet Julia and Isaac.

  It was a big step—probably the biggest yet—and thinking about it robbed Olivia of the calm she’d achieved since walking through her door. Whether for better or worse, it would change everything. And no amount of planning could give her any control over the outcome.

  * * *

  By Monday morning, Derek felt Olivia’s absence like an almost physical ache. It had been just over a week since he’d seen her in person and, though they talked on the phone every day, it wasn’t the same.

  He wanted to see her. Kiss her. Hold her hand. Fall into bed with her.

  Falling into bed was a little harder to pull off, but he had a plan for the first three. He didn’t have the patience to type everything he wanted to say into the phone, so he called her knowing he’d probably go to voicemail, which he did.

  “He
y, it’s me. I have to pick up a couple of donations for the auction tonight and one’s in your neck of the woods. I know you’re busy, but if you don’t have anything planned for after work, I thought maybe you’d like to ride along? Let me know, and if you want to go, tell me what time you’ll be free. Oh, and you should meet me downstairs because I really need to get the donations tonight, if you know what I mean. Talk to you soon.”

  It was almost an hour before he got a response. Love to. Free at six and I’ll meet you downstairs because I do know what you mean.

  That made him grin as he tucked the phone away. If he went upstairs to her apartment, he was getting her naked and she’d be naked until it was too late to do the errand he had to get done.

  The kids’ part-time summer camp had ended for the season, so he picked them up and took them for ice cream. They were only gone a couple of hours, but it gave Amber some time to do errands or housework without them underfoot—or soak in a bubble bath eating chocolates for all he knew—and it gave him more time with them. They’d be going back to school soon and it cut down on their flexibility a lot. He’d get the weekends, but visits during the week were shorter and less frequent because they had homework to do and sleep schedules to maintain.

  Once he’d dropped them off at their mom’s, Derek had just enough time to shower and change into jeans and a decent shirt that didn’t have black raspberry ice cream dripped on it before it was time to cross the city to get Olivia.

  Traffic gave him plenty of time to think about how wrong his life was beginning to feel. Kids over here. Olivia over there. No overlap. Planning dates around when he’d have Isaac and Julia. It didn’t feel right anymore.

  He and Olivia had been living in a bubble. They were two people getting to know each other, having great sex and living for the next time they could see each other.

  Last weekend, the bubble had popped.

  Despite what had been an incredibly awkward first encounter—especially for Olivia—she and Amber had been introduced. It had gone okay, all things considered. And so would her meeting his kids, he told himself.

  Maybe it would be a little rocky at first, since they were already dealing with their mom having a baby. But kids were resilient and they’d adjust, especially if everybody was happy. And he had no reason to think they wouldn’t like Olivia, even if she didn’t have a lot of experience with kids. She was smart and funny and had great people skills.

  But there was a constant nagging worry Olivia might not like Julia and Isaac that he couldn’t banish no matter how often he told himself he was being ridiculous.

  His kids were awesome. He loved them without reservation or limitation, but that didn’t mean they were perfect. They were young. Sometimes they got loud. They made a mess. They argued or whined or pitched fits. Bad moods or mild, fast-moving stomach bugs could ruin plans in an instant. They were cuddles and chaos, and Derek just sighed and rolled with it.

  They were his kids and he loved them, so what’re you gonna do?

  Olivia wasn’t a fan of chaos. And they weren’t her kids, so she could choose to walk away. The problem was that if she walked away from them, she’d be walking away from him, and the possibility had been like an ulcer burning his guts for days.

  It was time to trust in what he and Olivia had and rip the bandage off.

  She was walking down the front steps of her building when he pulled up to the curb, and he wished again his car didn’t look so out of place in her neighborhood. He really should stop being a cheap son of a bitch and buy something nicer. Not new-Audi nice, but maybe something that would pass inspection if he took it to somebody besides his uncle’s buddy.

  Olivia didn’t even give the old shitbox a second glance, though. She opened the door and slid into the passenger seat, smiling at him.

  “Hi,” he said before cupping his hand around the back of her neck and giving her a hello kiss.

  He’d intended for it to be a quick one, but as soon as his mouth touched hers, he forgot about his intentions and the fact he was barely pulled over, with his foot still on the brake. All he knew was the softness of her lips, the warmth of her breath and the feel of her fingertips digging into his upper arm.

  “Missed you,” she whispered against his mouth.

  She had no idea how much he’d missed her, but he didn’t want to stop kissing her long enough to lay it out for her. He devoured her, and her small moan of pleasure made him forget everything until a car horn jerked them back to reality.

  Olivia chuckled as she reached for her seat belt. “At least we weren’t standing on the sidewalk this time. So where are we going?”

  Derek pointed at the navigation screen on his phone as he pulled into traffic and then turned down a side street. “I already grabbed the first donation. Now we’re just heading down to the South Shore to pick up a painting. There are some things people will bid higher on if they can look at them instead of just seeing a printed-out picture. And having some cash-and-carry items for instant gratification also helps get people in the bidding mood.”

  “Wouldn’t it be faster to take the highway?”

  “Probably.” He glanced over long enough to see her skeptical look. “Okay, definitely. But we’re not in a hurry and I like spending time with you.”

  “I like spending time with you, too. I was just thinking that the quicker we get the donations picked up, the more time we’d have to relax...at my place.”

  “We’ll take the highway back,” he said quickly. “Hell, I’d turn around right now, but I told George I’d take care of it tonight so Ella would stop nagging him about it.”

  “I’m glad you called me. I wasn’t sure when I’d get to see you again.”

  Rip the bandage off. “How would you feel about getting together next weekend?”

  “I’d love to, but don’t you have your kids next weekend?”

  “Yeah.” Even though the thought of saying them out loud scared the crap out of him, he forced the words out. “I thought maybe we could all do something together. The four of us.”

  “Oh.”

  That single word didn’t offer up many clues as to how she actually felt about the idea. “Not just the four of us, though. Aidan and Lydia are having a barbecue and I’m taking the kids with me. If you go with us, you can meet Isaac and Julia, but there will be a lot of people you know there, too. I was thinking it might be less pressure on you. And them, I guess.”

  “That sounds fun.”

  “I think you’d enjoy it. It’ll be a little like the fundraiser at Kincaid’s, but with kids and a lot more food and less drinking. Okay, it won’t really be like the fundraiser at Kincaid’s. I just said that to entice you because you seemed to like everybody.”

  “I did like everybody. I want to meet Isaac and Julia, too, and you’re probably right about it being a good way to do that. Probably less awkward for them than the four of us sitting at a table, talking.”

  Less awkward for all of them, Derek thought. “Good. I’ll tell the kids.”

  “Not that it would change my mind about going with you, but is Amber going to be there?”

  “No.” He reached over and took her hand, lacing their fingers together. “She knows the guys and she’s still friends with a lot of the women, but when it comes to these kinds of things, they’re like my family and I got to keep them in the divorce.”

  “That makes sense, I guess. Jess and Rick will be there?”

  “As far as I know.”

  “Should I plan to meet you there? I have her address, so I’ll be able to find it.”

  “If you come to my place, you could meet the kids first and then we could all ride over together.” He wanted to keep her first time meeting his kids casual, but not that casual. Some subtle signals to Isaac and Julia that Olivia wasn’t just another friend at the barbecue might help the process along. “If you don’t mind doing that.”<
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  “Of course I don’t mind.” He glanced over at her, and her smile looked genuine enough. “I’m looking forward to meeting them. I really am.”

  “It’ll be fun. I know you usually work on your book on Saturdays. Am I cutting into your work too much?”

  This time her smile didn’t look quite as genuine, but she shook her head. “I’m fine. I’ll work on it a little bit each night to make up for it.”

  “Does that mean you won’t take my calls after hours anymore?”

  “As if I’ve shown any ability whatsoever to resist you.” She laughed. “As if I’ve even tried.”

  He hoped she didn’t start anytime soon.

  Chapter Twelve

  Olivia looked down at the football gnome on the landing, her stomach in knots as she listened to children’s voices on the other side of the door.

  Today was a big deal—for her and for Derek both—and she was terrified she was going to screw it up somehow.

  Before she could change her mind and run back to her car to text him some total lie about a migraine or upset stomach, she knocked and the voices quieted. A few seconds later, Derek answered the door.

  His face lit up in a smile when he saw her, but he didn’t kiss her like he usually did. To be expected, she thought as he stepped back. “Come on in. You could probably hear the kids from outside. They’re a little excited today.”

  “I’m excited, too.” And nervous as all get-out, but she kept that part to herself as she faced the two kids in the kitchen. They were watching her with interest, but she didn’t see any traces of animosity, which was a good start.

  Derek rested his hand on his son’s shoulder. “This is Isaac and that’s Julia. Kids, this is my friend, Olivia. She’s going to ride over to the barbecue with us.”

  That made her sound more like a hitchhiker than his girlfriend, but she knew he wanted to keep the introduction low-key, so she went with it. “I’ve heard these barbecues are always a lot of fun.”