Unexpected Bond: Unexpected Arrivals #4 Read online

  “She’s Amelia’s friend,” Mark points out.

  “And she’s my employee. My wife likes her too, so don’t screw this up.” Ridge slaps me on the shoulder as he walks behind me to gather the rest of the tools as we pack up for the day.

  “I don’t plan on screwing it up.”

  “But maybe scr—” Kent starts, and I punch him in the shoulder to shut him up. “What was that for?” he asks, grinning.

  He knows damn well what that was for. “Don’t say it. Don’t even think it,” I warn.

  “Come on, you know you’re thinking about it,” he counters.

  “Kenton.” My voice is stern and his smile grows even wider, and I didn’t think that was possible.

  “Fine.” He holds his hands in the air in mock surrender. “I got it. Mara and her… Mara’s off-limits.”

  “Asshole,” I mutter, and Ridge throws his head back and laughs.

  “Each and every one of you deserves this and so much more. I should have recorded y’all when I was falling for Kendall. You were relentless with the shit you gave me.”

  “Anyway,” I say, changing the subject because he’s right. I might be ready for it, but that’s not going to stop me from calling them assholes when I see fit. “We’re having dinner tonight, so I gotta jet.” Looking at the time on my phone, I see it’s just after six. I know she left at four thirty, so I hope I’m not too late and they still want to have dinner.

  Rushing out to my truck, I climb in and am grateful I started it earlier. Actually, it was Kent who started all of ours. Fucker, I can’t help but shake my head and smile. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I start to type out a text but decide to call instead.

  “Hello.” Her sweet voice answers after one ring.

  “Hey, I’m just leaving the job site.”

  “Long day?” she asks.

  “Yeah, but that’s the norm for us. Are we still on for dinner?”

  “Seth, it’s fine. You’ve had a long day.”

  “You’re right, I have. I’d like to end that day with you, Finley, and some cheesy extra sauce pizza.”

  “How did you know that?” she asks.

  “Mara.” I chuckle. “I remember every one of our conversations.” She doesn’t reply, so I push on. “I’m going to stop by my place and grab a quick shower. You ladies be ready in thirty.”

  “Okay,” she says, surprising me. I was prepared for her to try and argue out of going.

  “See you soon.” I end the call, not giving her the chance to change her mind, and point my truck toward home. Lucky for me, the job we’re on is only ten minutes from my place.

  Pulling into my driveway, I leave the truck running and head inside. I strip naked in the laundry room, tossing my clothes in the washer to start later. I then take the world’s fastest shower, towel dry my hair, slide into some jeans and a hoodie, and call it good. I find some tennis shoes in the laundry room, slip into them, grab my keys, wallet, phone, and lock up, racing back out to my truck.

  I make it to Mara’s with time to spare. Again, I leave the truck running as I bound up the front steps and knock on the door. I shift from one foot to the other, warding off the cold. It doesn’t help that my hair is wet. I should have used the blow dryer but didn’t want to risk being late.

  “Hey, get in here. You’re going to freeze.” Mara steps back, allowing me to pass her and enter the living room.

  “You ladies ready for dinner?”

  “We are, but you need to do something about that wet hair. You’re going to get sick.”

  “I’ll be fine.” I grin. She’s worried about me.

  “And we can eat here.” She places her hands on her hips and gives me what I can only guess is her “mom” look.

  “Fine. Do you have a hairdryer?” I ask. “Oh, and we’re going out,” I say, giving her a look that tells her I’m ready to argue if she is.

  She sighs. “Yes, come with me.” She reaches out, takes my hand, and pulls me behind her, leading us to her bathroom. She drops my hand and bends to open the cabinet under the sink, and I can’t help but stare at her ass in those leggings she has on. “Here.” She stands and hands me the hairdryer. “Handle that.” She points to my head. “I’m going to get Finley ready to go.”

  “I left my truck running.”

  “We need to take mine for the car seat.”

  “I’ll move it over.”

  “That’s a lot of work just for dinner. I’ll go start mine now.” She turns on her heel and leaves me standing in her bathroom holding her hairdryer and thinking I need to get a car seat.

  Shaking out of my thoughts, I plug the dryer in and run it over my hair. It’s still damp, but not as bad. Running my fingers through it, I tuck it behind my ears. Good enough. Once I’ve wound up the cord and placed it back under the cabinet before shutting off the light, I follow the sounds of Finley’s giggles.

  “Sef!” Her eyes light up when she sees me.

  “Hey, Finny. You ready for some pizza?”

  She bobs her little head up and down, wiggling in her seat on the chair.

  “Hold still.” Mara laughs. “We have to get these boots on you or no pizza.” Immediately, Finley stops wiggling and cooperates with her mom. “There.” Mara stands and lifts Finley from the couch. She reaches out for me and I grin, taking her from her mother.

  “How was your day with Sonia? Did you have fun?” I ask her.

  She doesn’t answer; instead, she rests her head on my shoulder. Her little eyes take me in as if she’s trying to figure me out.

  Mara collects Finley’s coat and stops to stand in front of us. “We have to put your coat on so we can go.”

  Finley folds her little body into mine and refuses to let her mom help her into her coat. “Finley,” Mara says, her tone of voice a clear warning.

  “Hey, Finny. You want to go get pizza?” She lifts her head and nods. “Okay, you have to listen to your mommy and put your coat on. It’s really cold outside, so if you don’t wear a coat, we can’t go,” I explain, having no idea if she understands what I’m telling her. She’s almost three, but I’m not sure reasoning with a two-and-a-half-year-old is the right thing to do. I only know what I’ve seen the guys and their wives do with their kids. I hope it works.

  Moving to the couch, I set her down and take her coat from Mara. She holds out one arm and then the other, allowing me to help her into her coat and zip it up. As soon as her hood is up, she holds her arms out for me, and I pick her back up. “Ready?” I ask her.

  Again, she bobs her little head. “Peza!” She cheers.

  “How about you, Momma? You ready to go?”

  She smiles a watery smile and nods. “Yes.”

  “Hey.” I reach out and place my hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.” She shakes her head and her smile grows.

  “Tell me.” I step closer.

  “You’re so good with her, and she’s enamored with you.”

  “I’m sorry if I overstepped.” I’m not really. I want to help her. She’s been raising this little lady all on her own, and I want to be there to support her. Give her a break now and then. But, I also don’t want to piss her off. Finley is her daughter, after all. I have no claim to either of them—something that doesn’t sit well with me.

  “It’s not that at all. I worry about letting her get too close to you. You’re the first man to ever really be in her life.” She waves her hands on the air. “You know that already. I’m rambling. Never mind, let’s go.”

  “Mara.” I wait for her to look at me. “You don’t have to worry about her getting close to me. I’m not going anywhere. I know that it’s more than just your heart I’m vying for, it’s hers too. I understand this is a package deal. I wouldn’t be here if I was any less than all in.”

  “Momma, peza,” Finley says, demanding our attention.

  Leaning in, I kiss Mara’s forehead. “All right, let’s get moving.” I bounce Finley in my arms and head outside, making sure
I cradle her close to my chest to ward off the cold. I buckle her without any issues as I’ve had practice with the guys’ kids.

  “Let me shut my truck off,” I say to Mara once I’ve closed the back door to her SUV. Rushing to my truck, I switch it off, pulling the keys from the ignition and locking the doors before climbing into the passenger seat.

  “Sef,” Finley says, pulling my attention. I turn to look at her and she smiles at me.

  “Silly girl,” I say, making a funny face. She laughs, as do I. Turning back around, I look at Mara. “She’s a ham.”

  “She’s showing off for you.”

  I chuckle. “Let’s go, woman. We’re starving here,” I say to change the subject. I know it’s hard for her to see Finley connecting with me this easily. It’s going to take some time for her to get used to this and for her to be convinced that I want them both.

  Chapter Six

  Mara 6

  * * *

  We’re sitting in a booth in the back corner of Small-Town Pizza. Seth is on one side of the booth while I’m on the other. Finley sits in a booster seat next to Seth. She insisted, and he didn’t even balk at the idea. Instead, he slid into the booth, helped her remove her coat and made sure she was settled in her seat. Our waitress brought over a plain white paper placemat and a small cup with a few crayons in it. Finley is scribbling on the paper with not a care in the world that the man next to her is virtually a stranger.

  “How was your day?” Seth asks, resting his back against the booth.

  “Overwhelming. There’s a lot to learn, but the systems I can handle. It’s just learning the processes for Beckett Construction and the ins and outs of the business.”

  “Well, if you have questions or need any help, you know who to call.” He points to his chest. He grins at me and I can’t help but return it with one of my own. He’s so easy to be around.

  “What about you? You put in a long day.”

  “Yeah, nothing new really. We like to keep on task. If it’s a job that we need to get under a roof or is outside, we try to work ahead of the weather. In this case, it’s snow. We’re supposed to be getting a big storm on Friday afternoon. Ridge wants to head out early, and we all agreed.”

  “I think it’s great that you all have been best friends for so many years and still work together.”

  “Since we were not much older than Finley if you can believe it. And we’re more than just best friends. We’re family. I know that sounds strange, but the more you’re around us, you’ll see what I mean. It’s hard to explain it. They’re my brothers, their wives are my sisters-in-law, and their kids are my nieces and nephews. I can’t imagine it any other way.”

  “I’ve never had that, so it’s hard for me to grasp. I had very few friends growing up. I was the outcast as the girl in foster care. Most of my foster families basically took me in for the money, and I got the minimum of what I needed. Hand-me-down clothes, nothing new. I wasn’t allowed to get my driver’s license until I was eighteen and moved out of the home. It’s not like I could invite a friend to spend the night at the home. And in order for me to go to someone’s house, they had to have extensive background checks and home visits to be approved. That’s a lot just for some kid to hang out at your house. The upside is that my college was paid for, so there’s that. Well, there would have been that had I not gotten a full-ride scholarship. It was still nice to know that option was there, to not have that financial burden over my head.

  “The foster families I lived with, they never allowed me to have people over, and they never let me go anywhere either. I think they were worried I would run off. What they failed to realize is that living with them, in a clean home with solid meals, was better than living in the children’s home. They weren’t mean to me. We just never really connected, you know? All that changed when I went to live with the Parkers, they had planned to at least let me get my license when I turned sixteen. They always offered for me to have friends over, but I didn’t have many friends, I was the outsider, the girl with no real family.”

  “You’ve never told me what happened to your parents.”

  “My parents, well, let’s see. I don’t know who my father is. My social worker said my mother never listed him on my birth certificate. My mom, she’s an addict. Was an addict. She died when I was two. I went to the children’s home and bounced from a few foster homes. I was lucky in that respect. None of the homes I was in were bad. No drugs, or abuse. I just never seemed to… bond with them. Something was always missing. Until the Parkers, but I only had them for four short years before they had to move away.”

  “And Amelia? I know the two of you met in college,” he says as he reaches out and pulls Finley back into her seat where she was starting to slip.

  “Yeah. So when I turned eighteen in May, I also graduated. I busted my ass in school to get a full-ride scholarship. I was even granted a summer scholarship, so I started as soon as I graduated. Amelia did as well and we were roommates. We hit it off and have been close ever since.”

  “We all grew up together, us guys and Amelia. She went away to college and we never really heard from her. Not until she came back last year.”

  “She was there for me when I found out about Finley, and Blake. I don’t know that I could have made it through without her. When she called and told me about the possibility of a job closer to her, I wanted to know more. She’s my dearest friend.” Something flashes in his eyes, but it’s gone before I can decipher it.

  “Sef, wook.” Finley slides the placemat toward him and shows him her scribbles.

  “Finny, you’re an artist. How about this?” He grabs a crayon and writes F-I-N, in big letters. “Can you write that?” he asks.

  She sticks out her little tongue and concentrates really hard to mimic him. He watches her with a smile on his face as she makes her attempt. “Wook,” she says proudly.

  “Strong work, Finny.” He holds his large hand up and she places her little one against it for a high-five.

  “Peza!” Finley cheers as our waitress approaches. She drops her crayon and claps her hands, making all three of us laugh.

  “All right, little lady, this is hot, so you need to be careful,” Seth says, placing a piece of pizza on her plate. He looks over at me. “Should I cut it up for her?”

  “Yeah, I can do it.” I start to reach for the plate, but he picks up a fork and starts to cut it.

  “I can do it. You go ahead and eat. I eat fast so I’ll catch up, trust me.”

  I put a piece on my plate and cut a bite with my fork, all while watching him work to cut up my daughter’s food and keeping her entertained at the same time. He even blows on a piece and shows her that she can start eating while he works on the rest.

  “For what it’s worth,” Seth says, adding two slices to his own plate, “I’m really glad that you took the job, and that you’re here.” He glances over at Finley then back to me. “Both of you.”

  “Me too.” I don’t just say the words; I mean them. All these months Seth and I have been talking, and I feel like I’ve known him forever. Sitting here with him, watching him with Finley, it confirms what I already knew. Seth Jennings is one of the good ones. I’m not sure what I’ve done in life to stumble upon Amelia and her friendship, and now this. Her sharing her friends and family with me. Bringing me into their fold. I feel as though Finley and I can actually be a part of something. That it isn’t just the two of us against the world anymore. The thought is scary and exciting all at the same time.

  “Finley, let’s go potty before we leave,” I tell my daughter once we’ve finished eating. “We’re potty training. She’s been doing great, but I have to remind her frequently to avoid any accidents,” I explain to Seth. Some date I am. I can feel the flush on my cheeks as I stand here awkwardly discussing my toddler’s bathroom habits.

  “No worries. You ladies do what you need to do. I’m going to take care of the check and get a box for the leftovers.”

  “Here, let me.” I
reach for my purse and he shakes his head.

  “Not happening, babe. Go take care of Finny. I’ll take care of this. It was my treat.” He lifts Finley from her seat over the booth and into my arms. I don’t bother to argue. One, I don’t want to make a scene and two, he doesn’t strike me as the type of man who’s just going to give in on something like paying for dinner. I make a mental note for it to be my treat next time.

  Next time.

  I’m already anticipating the next time I get to see him. “Momma’s in over her head, Finley.” She smiles up at me like she gets it. “Yeah, you are too, sweet girl. I hope he doesn’t break our hearts.” I’ve been living but not really living. Living for Finley, but I want to live for both of us. I want her to see what it’s like for a man to be a part of our lives, to see the connection between a man and a woman. I’m risking both of our hearts taking a leap with Seth, but I can’t shelter her from heartbreak. Hell, I can’t shelter either of us. We’re diving, hoping for the best, but if it’s the worst, well, we have each other and we’ll muddle through. “It’s time to take chances, Finley.”

  “Sef.”

  I can’t help it. I laugh. I know she doesn’t know what I’m talking about, but her reply couldn’t be more perfect. “Yeah, sweetie. Seth.” I help her use the potty and praise her when she does. After washing our hands, we find Seth waiting for us just outside the restrooms.

  “Let’s get you bundled up.” He helps Finley into her coat, then takes her from me, handing me mine. Once I’m in my coat, he passes me the small box of leftovers that were sitting on the ledge nearby and then laces his fingers through mine. Together, the three of us linked, hand in hand and Finley in his arms, make our way outside. “You mind if we make a stop?” he asks. “Or does she need to get home and in bed?”

  “How long of a stop are we talking?” I ask, mentally wondering what time it is. I know it’s getting close to her bedtime.

  “Just about ten minutes tops. I actually need your help.”