Page 61 of Playing With Temptation

Dylan on a mission could mean him hacking the NSA. Which would be easy for him to do since he worked there before TC.

“Didn’t even see him,” Ethan muttered. “Walking right fucking next to you and didn’t see the fucker until it was too late.”

That wasn’t the first time Ethan had brought up not seeing the guy who shot me.

“We’ve talked about this, E. Let it go. I didn’t see him either. He was in the shadows. The forest is thick. There was nothing you could’ve done differently.”

“You stepped in front of me, asshole. The least I could’ve done was catch you, so you didn’t crack your skull.”

At least he was joking about my fall.

“Though, maybe that hit to the head rattled something loose and knocked some sense into you,” he continued. “You’ve avoided the topic. Are you ready to talk about her yet?”

Rainy.

I dodged his questions all week. Mostly because I didn’t have answers.

“I’m taking my time. It’s not just us, we both have kids.”

“Yeah, Jase, kids that know each other. Juni and her boy are in the same class, right?”

They were and that was another level of complication I hadn’t thought of.

“Which means if this gets fucked our kids are tied up in it.”

I didn’t have to glance over to know Ethan had taken his eyes off the road to look at me.

“Please tell me your head’s not back up your ass,” he demanded.

“Fuck no. I want her back. I know she feels the same, but Friday after school when we all went out for ice cream—all of us—Cole, Juni, Lucas, me, and Rainy, I was reminded we have three kids in the mix that need to be handled with care and eased into a blending of families. I gave her a week of slow, texting only, getting her to a place where she’s comfortable. She’s there. Now I need to work on the kids. I’m thinking another week.”

Ethan busted out laughing.

“Brother, I think your definition of slow isn’t really slow. A week?”

“Like you said, Juni and Lucas know each other. Cole and Lucas hit it off. I know the more they get to know each other that’ll be all good. What needs to be handled carefully is introducing them to the idea of me and Rainy. Unfortunately, Cole and Juni understand what divorce is. Their mother is getting married, they already live with their stepfather, they get a third person being in their everyday lives. I don’t think they’ll have a problem with me seeing someone. Though I’ve never introduced them to a woman before, so I need to keep a close eye on that. But Lucas doesn’t. It’s been him and Rainy his whole life with the only other constant besides his grandmother was Rainy’s best friend Zoe who recently died.”

“Damn,” Ethan muttered. “How’s Rainy handling that?”

I checked our surroundings, mentally calculated we still had at least fifteen minutes before we hit the sand mine on the outskirts of town, and gave Ethan a rundown of what Rainy had told me, including the motherfucker Julian sending her flowers and Rainy’s suspicion about Julian being behind the car accident.

When I was done, I wasn’t surprised he asked, “Did you get a last name?”

“No, and before I could, Rainy had to run out the door to pick up Lucas.”

“We need a last name and address so we can pull the accident report.”

His response didn’t surprise me either.

“I’ve got the kids this week. So, dinner alone is out. And this isn’t a conversation I want to have over the phone so I’ll get that info next week, when the kids are back at Shay’s and I can convince Rainy to arrange a sleepover for Lucas with his grandma.”

“Dinner alone,” he repeated. “Does that mean, you’ll be arranging a family dinner?”

Ethan turned onto the gravel driveway of the sand mill. It was time to get back to police work but still I answered, “Fuck, yeah. Two if I can swing it.”

“Slow my ass,” he muttered as he rolled to a stop next to Whittman’s SUV and rolled down his window. “Where to?”

“Stay on the gravel road. When you see the sand elevators, hook a left. It’s the first pond behind the laydown yard. Wendy and Frank are up there with the foreman, and the guy who found her.” Whittman paused and shook his head. “Cap’s up there, too.”