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.Brianna rushed to her side, but somehow Thomas managed to put down the tray and still get there first.He dropped to one knee next to Katelyn and, before she could take a breath for another shriek, scooped her into his arms.Brianna fought the urge to snatch her child away from him.As if he would harm Katelyn or something.But he wasn’t a strange man.He was her— Okay, she didn’t know what he was.But she held her breath and held back, even if it took all her willpower.She had to give him a chance.Thomas nudged Katelyn under her chin, urging her to look at him.“Hey now, munchkin.No need for all that.What’s wrong?”“C-Cody won’t let me be M-M-Megatron.” She screwed up her face, looking at him with huge, pleading eyes.Cody thrust his lower lip out with a scowl.“They’re my Transformers.I can be whoever I want.And I want to be Megatron.”Brianna sighed.Damn it, she’d had this talk with Cody before.He never wanted to share and was always horrible about hoarding his toys until his sister cried.All it did was reinforce the idea that Katelyn would get her way if she cried, and Brianna had been trying to break her of that.“Young man, you—”“That’s all right,” Thomas said.Brianna stared at him.What was he doing? But he only shrugged, offering Cody an easy smile.“You can be Megatron.Katelyn and I are going to play something better than Transformers.”Katelyn’s eyes widened.“Better than Transformers?”“Mmm hmm.We’re going to play cops and robbers.I’ll be the cop.You can be the robber.”“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.”“Military tactics.” She sighed and settled back against him.“I’m starting to think he might need that.Without his father, discipline has been nearly impossible.”“He probably needs to feel like you’re his friend.Not his mother.”The odd note in his voice prompted her to look up at him.His face was closed, and he looked across the living room with darkened eyes.“What do you mean?” she asked.“I mean…when there’s only one parent, there’s no good cop, bad cop.” His voice was almost too quiet.“There’s only you and them against the world.He needs to feel like you’re on his side, because when you’re his enemy, there’s no other parent to turn to.”She touched his cheek.“How do you know that?”“My dad wasn’t around, either.” He seemed to snap from his trance, and looked down at her with a bitter quirk to his mouth.“He never had much of an excuse for his absence [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]