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“Robbers are big and scary,” Katelyn said solemnly, sniffling.
Thomas tapped the tip of Katelyn’s nose. “Just like Megatron.”
The little girl’s face lit up in a brilliant smile, but Cody’s expression darkened. He huffed and folded his arms over his chest. “Hey! You can’t play without me!”
“Since you don’t want to share, you’ll have to be a cop, too,” Thomas said.
“I don’t wanna be the good guy.”
Thomas hunkered down on one knee; he set Katelyn on her feet, but she clung to him anyway with a smile that made Brianna’s heart clench. “Hey, we have to be fair. How about if you’re a rebel cowboy instead?”
Cody tilted his head. “Maybe…”
“You’ve got that tree house, right? That can be the wild, wild west.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Cody shrugged and looked away.
Katelyn giggled and ran at him, flapping her arms like a cape. “You’d better run! I’m gonna get you!”
“You are such a dork,” he said, rolling his eyes—but he dropped his Transformers and sprinted for the door, Katelyn’s shrieking laughter nearly overriding his attempt to growl, “Why so serious?”
Thomas stood, watching them go with a rather odd look. Brianna stared at him. She couldn’t believe he’d just stepped in and took control over the situation. Part of her wanted to be angry. He’d taken over when she should have been disciplining her children. Cody should be in his room until dinner, and she should have been the one to hug Katelyn’s tears away. But her children were happy and he’d brought them to a truce with a minimum of tears and sulking. Oh, she wanted to be angry, but how much of that was the fact that he’d infringed on her territory, and how much was the fact that she, just like her son, didn’t like to share?
Is that the real reason I’ve been keeping people at a distance?
He caught her eye and quirked a brow. She looked away. “How did you know exactly what to say?”
“Younger sister.” He sank down on the couch. “You get used to it.”
“Ah.” One more grudgingly vouchsafed bit of information. One more piece of the personal puzzle that was Thomas. And one more reminder that he didn’t want to talk about his family, from his clipped tone and tight posture. Brianna sighed and changed the subject. “I worry about them in that tree house. Michael first built it for Zach. I’m not exactly handy enough to maintain it; it’s falling apart.”
“I’ll take a look at it this weekend. I can swing a hammer.”
“Cody will love you forever. Or at least until he outgrows it.”
He stretched his arm along the back of the couch and fixed her with a pointed look. Was she supposed to take that as an invitation?
He was still watching her. Waiting. She gathered her dignity and, with as much poise as she could manage, sat down next to him, somewhat within his embrace. A breath later his arm hooked around her and hauled her close against his side, fitting her snugly against the comfortable strength of his body.
“Oh!” She steadied her hands against his chest and looked up. Her nose bumped his chin. His lips were so close and her mouth throbbed with the memory of the kiss only a few minutes ago. “You’re supposed to be outside playing.”
“I’ll go out in a second.”
Zach made a disgusted sound. “Are you two done being lame? When is dinner going to be here?”
Brianna broke away quickly. “Don’t take that tone, young man.”
“Whatever. I’ll be in my room.” He unfolded himself from the chair and stalked toward the stairs.
“You want to kick the ball around later?” Thomas called after him.
“Fuck off,” drifted down from the second floor, followed by the slam of a door.
“Swear jar,” Thomas said mildly and Brianna burst into laughter.
“Stop making me laugh. I’m supposed to be angry and taking him to task.”
“He gets a free pass on that one. Next one, I’ll make him wash my car. With a toothbrush.”
