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“I don’t want her to get attached and then you walk away.”
“She’s already attached. You can’t keep her from being hurt. You can’t guard her from life. But,” I say, placing my index finger under her chin to bring her eyes to mine when she looks at the floor. “I have no intention of hurting either of you.”
“So, what? You want to date me?”
“Yes.” My answer is immediate and there is zero hesitation.
“Slow,” she says, surprising the hell out of me. “We take things slow. I know we’ve been getting to know each other, but over text messages is a lot different than in person. Finley is now involved. I can’t hide you in my phone forever.”
“You set the pace,” I tell her. Her shoulders relax and a slow smile tilts the corner of her lips. I want to puff out my chest and tell the world that I put that smile there. What is she doing to me?
She nods. “I set the pace.”
“What’s got the two of you looking so serious over here?” Amelia asks with a giggling Finley in her arms.
“Furniture placement,” I say, trying to diffuse the situation. I meant it when I said that she sets the pace. That includes telling our friends. Speaking of friends, things between Amelia and I are as if last weekend never happened. I still can’t believe we were drunk enough to sleep together. I’m never drinking like that again. Ever.
“I’m going to go round up the guys and unload my truck.” I give Mara’s shoulder a squeeze as I pass by her. I want to kiss her, but our first kiss won’t be a short peck in passing. No, I want to devour her.
The wives are in the kitchen unpacking boxes and setting everything on the counter when I walk in. “Hey, where are the guys?”
“Garage,” Reagan says, pointing at the garage door.
“What’s up?” I ask, joining them.
“Just staying out of their way.” Mark motions toward the door that I just walked through.
“We’re the muscle,” Kent says, flexing his arms.
“Come on then, muscles. I have my truck backed up and ready to unload.”
“We heard you pull in. What took you so long?” Tyler asks.
“Had to say hello to the women,” I say as an excuse. Not that I was convincing the beautiful Mara to date me. One, they would never let me live it down, and two, she sets the pace.
“Let’s get the rest unloaded. I’m sure she wants to get settled,” Ridge says, opening the side-entry door and letting in the cool January air.
It takes the five of us maybe fifteen minutes to finish unloading my truck. “Now what?” I ask Mara.
She looks around at all the boxes and furniture and sighs. “I don’t really know.” She laughs.
“Tell us how you want the furniture arranged in here, and we’ll get it moved for you. Then we’ll go to your room and Finley’s. That way all you have to do is unpack,” I suggest.
“Okay.” She looks at the room as if she’s trying to work it out in her head.
“When Mark lived here, he had the couch here, the loveseat over there.” Dawn points out how the room was laid out.
“I like it. Let’s go with that.”
“You sure?” I ask her.
She nods. “I’m not super picky and the layout makes sense. Let’s do it.”
“No, you move on to the next room, decide how you want it. This won’t take us long.” I avert my gaze to keep from watching her walk down the hall.
It takes us all of ten minutes to change the furniture around. The longest part was moving boxes out of the way. “Next?” I say, walking into the master bedroom.
“I think this room is good. I like the bed where they set it up. The dressers too. I’m going to go check Finley’s room now.” I follow her out of the room and across the hall to Finley’s.
“I set her crib up,” Tyler tells her. “It’s solid.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that so much. It took me days to put that thing together the first time.”
I want to ask her where Finley’s dad was. All I know is that he’s no longer in the picture. She’s never gone into detail and I’ve never pushed for more either. However, if we’re doing this, we’ll need to discuss it eventually. Just like I’ll have to confess about sleeping with Amelia. I shudder at the thought.
Fuck, I’m seriously never drinking again.
“This room looks good too. I can’t thank you all enough for the help. You’ve made this move so much easier.”
“Anytime,” Tyler says, turning to leave the room. “Reags!” I hear him call out for his wife. “I’m starving.”
“I’m going to order some food,” Mara says, heading toward the door.
“Hey.” Reaching out, I hold her arm. “You’re not feeding this brood.” It would cost her an arm and a leg.
“Of course I am. That’s the least that I can do with all the help everyone has given me.”
“Nope. I’ll order a few pizzas.”
“Seth.” She sighs. “You don’t have to take care of me. I’ve been doing this on my own for a long damn time.”
That’s something else she’s been vague about. I don’t know her history, just that she’s alone. I want to know why. How? How could a woman as kind and as beautiful as her have no one? Where’s her family?
“Consider it a welcome-to-the-neighborhood offering. Better yet, we can chalk this up to our first date.” I give her a wide smile and the corner of her mouth tilts into a grin.
“You don’t give up, do you?”
“On you? Never.” Placing my hands on her shoulders, I turn her body toward the door and walk with her out of the room.
Two hours later, we’re sitting in the living room, bellies full of the pizza I ordered. The women are in the kitchen helping Mara put everything away that they unpacked, while the guys and I are sitting here on our asses. We did the heavy lifting. Besides, I have a dark curly-haired angel sleeping against my chest.
“Cute kid,” Ridge says, pointing to Finley, who plopped down in my lap to eat and never left.
“Yeah.” I agree she’s pretty damn cute.
“She seems to like you,” Tyler adds.
“You seem to like her,” Mark chimes in.
“You seem to like each other.” Kent laughs. “Hey, I wanted to be in on this too.” He shrugs.
“I mean, I am irresistible,” I say. I know what they mean, and I do like her, and it’s the icing on the cake that she seems taken with me.
“It’s Mara, right? The one you can’t stop thinking about?”
Damn. “You a mind reader?” I ask.
“No.” He chuckles.
“She’s hot,” Kent comments.
“Don’t even.” I point at him.
“Thank you for your help.” I hear Mara say. Looking up, I find the ladies joining us in the living room. “I’m sorry. I’ll take her,” Mara says when she sees me.
“I’m good,” I tell her, placing my hand on Finley’s back. Her eyes lock on mine like she’s trying to figure me out. Yeah, join the club, sweetheart. You have me doing and thinking things I didn’t think I was ready for.
“Call us if you need anything,” Amelia says,
breaking us out of our trance.
“We’ll come by tomorrow and ride over to my mom’s together. Let Finley get used to her and her house before Monday,” Kendall tells her.
“I can’t thank you enough. All of you. You’ve made this move so much easier.”
I remain seated as she hugs everyone goodbye. “You want her in her bed?” I ask.
“Yeah, but I need to get her changed into some pajamas. Lay her on my bed. It’s easier than her baby bed.”
Carefully, I stand and take my time making my way to her bedroom. It already smells like her. I slowly inhale, memorizing her scent.
“Ready,” she says, holding up a pair of purple pajamas.
Trying not to wake Finley, I place her on the bed. “I’ll step out while you change her.” I don’t want to be a creeper.
“Thanks, Seth.”
In the hallway, I stand with my head tilted back against the wall, waiting for her to emerge.
“Sef,” a sleepy Finley says.
I feel her words in the pit of my stomach. It’s like it’s twisting and knotted up, but not in a bad way. It’s a good feeling—knowing she’s asking for me.
“Seth’s still here,” Mara assures her. “Lift up for Mommy,” Mara tells her. “There. You ready to sleep in your new room?” Mara asks as they step out of the room.
“Hey, sweetheart.” I wave awkwardly to Finley. However, not without reward. Her little face lights up with a smile.
“What have you done to my daughter?” Mara asks, her tone teasing and her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.
“We’re buds, right, Finny?” She doesn’t reply but rubs her sleepy eyes.
“Let’s get you in bed,” Mara says, stepping down the hall and entering Finley’s bedroom.
“Sef,” Finley whimpers, and her plea reaches in my chest and grips my heart.
“Hey.” I step into the room. She holds her arms out for me where she’s standing in her bed. I don’t ask for permission as I lift her into my arms and snuggle her to my chest. “What’s going on?” She burrows into my chest, her head on my shoulder. “You have to get some sleep. You get to meet Sonia tomorrow. Are you excited?”
