Law Man

  I really did.

  I nodded.

  Mitch continued, saying softly, “He’s terrified.”

  I bit my lip. “Yeah,” I agreed then asked, “Should we talk to him about it?”

  Mitch studied me but he did this thinking.

  Then he said, “Don’t know. He thinks we cottoned on, might cause more anxiety. We play it cool and give him day to day good and steady, he might relax.”

  “I’m going to talk to Bobbie at work about it,” I told him and it was his turn to nod.

  “I mentioned it to Slim,” he informed me, surprising me. “Slim caught on when we played catch, though it was hard to miss.”

  Slim was Brock, Mitch’s partner’s nickname.

  Brock was good. Brock had two boys. Brock probably had a wealth of experience.

  “And what does he say?”

  “He says if he thinks we cottoned on, it might cause more anxiety. If we play it cool and give him steady, he might relax,” Mitch said on a grin.

  “Great,” I muttered and Mitch’s arm gave me a squeeze.

  “Our play, we give him two weeks. He doesn’t settle in, we talk again and decide who talks to him. You with me?”

  I smiled and whispered, “Yeah. But if you ready, break me, I’m going to protest the play.”

  His head tilted on the pillow and his lips twitched. “Why’s that?”

  I pressed my body into his and told him, “Because I’m comfy.”

  “Sweetheart, you can’t sleep on me,” he pointed out.

  “Who’s talking about sleeping?” I asked and his eyes flashed.

  Then his hands moved. Then my hands moved.

  Then our mouths and tongues moved. Then other parts of us did the moving.

  By the time we broke, I was way more comfy, in fact, I was nearly catatonic. But, even so, I got up and cleaned up, put my nightie and panties back on and Mitch tugged on his pajama bottoms. We got naked, obviously, but we didn’t sleep naked. It wouldn’t do for Billie to come in and puke and us to be in our birthday suits.

  This concerned me. I’d been scheduled for my foster care classes and CPS had not been around again, although Mitch had informed them of the situation with my apartment and told me I could probably expect another visit when we returned to it.

  But I didn’t know how they’d feel about me sleeping with my boyfriend every night with the kids in the same house. Even if that boyfriend was nice guy, good guy Detective Mitchell James Lawson. I didn’t need them to have any reason to shake up the good and steady we were giving the kids.

  So, curled into Mitch, I sleepily shared this concern.

  To which, Mitch, not sleepy at all, replied, “Anyone tries to take those kids from you, Mara, they deal with me.”

  I blinked at his shadowed chest then lifted my head to look at his shadowed face.

  “Pardon?”

  “You got enough to worry about, don’t worry about CPS. I don’t know where they stand on shit like this but they hear you got a sleepover boyfriend and try to place those kids somewhere else, I’ll create a shit storm like they’ve never seen. So don’t worry about it.”

  “How will you do that?”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Mitch –”

  I stopped talking when he rolled into me so he was on me, totally on me. All his weight and his hands were at either side of my head, fingers in my hair, his shadowy face close to mine. Even though I couldn’t see him, I could definitely feel his intensity.

  “You didn’t learn this from the one you had but I learned it from mine. Parents do anything to protect their kids. Anything. Whatever they have to do. They exhaust themselves. They bleed themselves dry. They run themselves ragged. They do whatever they have to do. My Mom and Dad are good now but, growin’ up, we didn’t have a lot and I never felt it. I didn’t even fuckin’ realize it until I was out on my own and looked back at my life. I didn’t need for anything, I rarely wanted for anything. They did that for me and worked themselves to the bone to do it. They taught me life lessons and they let me take my share of falls but the real shit of life, they cushioned me from. Bud and Billie have already taken their share of falls. That’s done for them, Mara, and if it has to be me who sees to it, I’ll see to it.”

  I was breathing heavy because he was heavy on me but it was more. A lot more.

  “I…I don’t know what to say,” I wheezed. He heard the wheeze and took one hand out of my hair to plant his forearm in bed beside me and take some of his weight off me.

  “Nothin’ to say,” he told me. “I just laid out the way it is.”

  “Mitch –”

  He stopped me talking by touching his mouth to mine then whispering, “Go to sleep, baby.”

  “I think –”

  “Don’t think,” he growled, his intensity returning. “Hear this. Four years, I watched you be cute and I enjoyed watchin’ your ass move in your tight skirts. But in five minutes at a fuckin’ Stop ‘n’ Go my world was rocked seein’ you with those two kids. Not two hours later, a woman came up to us and told us we had a beautiful family. I didn’t get it because we didn’t have it then but I get it now. She was right. But I also learned I have somethin’ else on my hands. I gotta protect those kids from any more falls and I gotta protect my woman from takin’ any more too and I’ll exhaust myself, bleed myself dry and run myself ragged to see to doin’ that.”

  I stared up at him, silent and completely motionless.

  Then I burst into tears.

  Mitch rolled with me in his arms and I cried in them too.

  When I quit crying, Mitch’s hand came to my face and his thumb swept across my wet cheek while he whispered, “Never believed in this shit but now, I’m thinkin’ I fell in love with the promise of you the first time I saw you.”

  My body bucked as my breath hitched and the tears came back.

  “Mitch –”

  “And Bud and Billie mean more to me because they were the catalyst that got me in and gave me you. Just lucky they came with.”

  Another hitch another buck another broken, “Mitch –”

  “I love you, sweetheart,” he whispered.

  I shoved my face in his neck and burst into tears again. These lasted longer.

  When they faded, silently, he turned me and curled into my body, holding me close, his face in the back of my hair.

  And when the tightness in his arm around me relaxed, I whispered, “You’re my dream man.”

  “I know.”

  I blinked at my shadowed pillow. “Pardon?”

  “Mara, baby, never believed this shit either but now I know you were made for me. So, seein’ as that’s true, it goes the other way too.”

  Oh my God.

  “I was…I was…made for you?”

  “I’m a cop for a reason, honey.”

  “So you were made to save me,” I guessed, not sure I liked that.

  “No, I was made to protect you and you were made in a way that it would always be worth the effort.”

  Okay, that was good. I was definitely sure I liked that.

  Too much.

  “Oh shit,” I whispered, lips trembling, “I think I’m going to cry again.”

  His body shook but his arm got tight as his face burrowed deeper into my hair and I listened to him chuckle.

  Which kinda pissed me off.

  “Mitch! You don’t laugh during a heart to heart.”

  “You do during one that involves Marabelle Jolene Hanover.”

  I found myself glaring at my dark pillow. Then I realized I was exhausted from an orgasm, two crying jags and a heart to heart with Detective Mitch Lawson.

  So I muttered, “Whatever,” which got me another chuckle.

  And…whatever.

  I snuggled backwards into Mitch and his arm got tighter. His breath went steady and it got looser.

  But I didn’t fall asleep. I stared at the obscure folds of my pillow and played his words in my mind.

  Then I played th
em again.

  And repeat.

  And each time, my soul sighed.

  Then I went to sleep.

  * * * * *

  That was three days ago.

  Now the kids were out of school, it was Saturday, Mitch and I were both off and we were taking the kids to Six Flags Elitch Gardens.

  Billy and Billie were beside themselves with excitement seeing as they’d never been to an amusement park in their lives.

  I was too, seeing as I hadn’t either.

  Mitch was too (in his hot guy, macho cop way), seeing as he got to give that to all of us.

  Mitch came out of the bathroom, walked to his pajama bottoms on the floor, tagged them and pulled them up, all while I watched. Then I started to get up, pushing up to a hand but instead of Mitch heading out to go wake up Billy, he came to the bed and sat on the side.

  Then his hand lifted, he pushed my hair over my shoulder, his fingers curled around my neck and he drew me near him as he leaned into me.

  Then, his eyes holding mine, he whispered, “Best good morning I ever had was the first time you wrapped that mouth of yours around my cock.”

  I sucked in breath as my nipples started tingling but he wasn’t done.

  “Fuck, baby, knew I loved that mouth of yours but after that, loved it more. Just like everything about you, the reality is better than expected. Off the fuckin’ charts.”

  “Mitch,” I whispered back, my hand lifting to curl tight around his wrist.

  I watched his eyes smile as he finished, “Gonna have to work hard to top that.”

  I knew my eyes were smiling too because my mouth was doing it when I promised, “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Then he changed the subject. “Just to let you know, you’re right about the Spring Deluxe. Your mattress is the shit, baby.”

  “Told you,” I reminded him.

  He grinned.

  Then he whispered, “But I’d sleep on a bed of nails, I was sleeping next to you.”

  I blinked. Then tears filled my eyes.

  Mitch watched this, his thumb sweeping my cheek then he leaned in, touched his lips to mine, got up and walked out to wake up Billy.

  I watched then, when the door closed behind his beautiful back and great ass, I flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, deep breathing.

  Then I heard Billie screech, “Elitch Gardens!”

  Well, I guessed that meant I didn’t have to wake her up.

  I heard her little feet beating on the floor, I heard a bang on the bedroom door and then I heard Mitch’s deep voice saying on a lie since I was not in the shower, I was in the bed and naked, “She’s in the shower, gorgeous.”

  At this information, Billie switched targets immediately.

  “Can we have donuts?”

  “We’ll swing by on the way to the park,” Mitch answered.

  “Yippee!” Billie squealed.

  That was when I smiled at the ceiling.

  Let me just say, I liked the real world.

  The real world was awesome.

  And I was going to stay there awhile.

  Hopefully forever.

  * * * * *

  “T minus two freaking seconds before we’re out the door, baby,” Mitch called impatiently from the front door. Billy and Billie were standing with him, Billie bouncing on her toes and even Billy was fidgeting with excitement.

  I was rushing around.

  “I need to get sun block,” I told him.

  “You can buy that stuff at the park,” Mitch called to me because I was running down the hall.

  “Bud, did you get a hat?” I yelled from the bathroom, ignoring Mitch and grabbing the kids’ sun block from their medicine cabinet.

  “Yeah, Auntie Mara,” Billy yelled back.

  “Billie, honey, did you –?”

  “I have a hat!” Billie screamed. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

  I shoved the sun block in my big purse while rushing down the hall.

  I got to the door.

  Then I took them all in and muttered, “Right, let’s go.”

  “Yippee!” Billie screeched, Mitch opened the door, she raced out of it, Billy raced after her and I tipped my eyes up to his smiling ones.

  “Yippee,” I said softly, smiling huge.

  Mitch’s eyes dropped to my mouth then his arm hooked me at the waist, he pulled me to him, his mouth came down on mine and he gave me a short, hot, wet kiss.

  Finally he let my mouth go but not my waist, guided me out the door and held me close as we stood outside together while he checked to make sure it was locked.

  And there I was doing what I never thought in a million years two months ago I would be doing ever in my life. I was standing in the breezeway pressed close to Ten Point Five Detective Mitch Lawson waiting for him to check to see if my door was locked.

  Then, at thirty-one years old, my man took me on my first family visit to an amusement park.

  I was wrong.

  I didn’t like the real world.

  I loved it.

  Because it felt like a dream.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Our Kids

  I jumped down from Mitch’s SUV, slammed the door and watched with a small, tired smile as a Zombie Billy jumped down from the backseat.

  The park was a hit. The kids had a freaking blast and I had one too.

  But, best of all, all day Mitch’s eyes were lit with a light that was new to me but it was a light that I liked. It was not his normal sense of humor which was usually easy to trip for Billy, Billie and me. And it was not because it was a sunny day, we had the day off and we were at an amusement park.

  It was something else.

  I loved him, this I knew. He was my dream man. He thought we were made for each other and I loved that he thought that. As the days and weeks went by and we clicked naturally into each other’s lives, the kids clicking with us, I was even coming to believe he was right.

  But that day he gave us all something more.

  Yes, in all that he’d given us, he’d given us something more.

  We had a blast; the kids were tuckered out because they’d been on the go all day filled with excitement, wonder, adrenalin and a lot of crappy food. Billy, Billie and me, we loved it. Every second of it.

  But that light that shown in Mitch’s eyes told me he loved it more. Not because he liked roller coasters and crappy food.

  No, because he liked to see us happy, he liked to make us that way and he didn’t mind us knowing it.

  From the beginning, he’d demonstrated generosity, selflessness and protectiveness but there was something beautiful about sensing his contentment grow as the hours passed and he got more out of giving something to us than we got out of having it.

  I knew before that Mitch would make a great Dad.

  But I knew right then that he’d build a beautiful family.

  I knew this because he was already doing it.

  And knowing that, I loved him more.

  Billy slammed his door, taking my mind off my happy thoughts. Then, surprisingly, he drifted to me, his body careening into mine. He slid an arm around my waist, leaning heavily into me and I took his weight, thinking that was beautiful too.

  I slid an arm around his shoulders and looked through the SUV windows to see Mitch bent into the backseat. He’d unbuckled a dead to the world Billie and was pulling her out of her booster seat. I watched as he secured her, her little legs around his waist, her head on his shoulder, her arms dangling heavily, Mitch’s arm under her booty. He slammed the door and his other arm wrapped around her back to hold her close to his torso.

  Incidentally, that was beautiful too.

  I moved Billy toward the sidewalk as Billie and Mitch moved that way and he bleeped the locks.

  “The stuff,” I called quietly to Mitch, referring to the variety of souvenirs and spoils of victories Mitch and Billy had won playing games at the park that were in the back of Mitch’s truck.

  “Put h
er down,” Mitch replied just as quietly. “Then I’ll come back and get it.”

  I nodded and Billy and I met Mitch and Billie on the sidewalk. I watched Mitch take me and Billy in, again his face registering contentment, that light in his eyes I could see in the evening dark, his lips tipping up. Mine tipped up back at him and my soul sighed.

  Maybe that was what he was feeling. His soul sighing.

  And, I had to admit, mine sighed again just thinking we gave him that especially with all he was giving us.

  We walked up the steps side-by-side and I gave Billy’s shoulders a squeeze.

  “Did you have a good day, Bud?” I asked softly.

  “Best ever,” he muttered.

  Best ever.

  He was right. It was the best ever. For all of us. Maybe even Mitch.

  I looked back at Mitch to see his still curved lips brushing the top of Billie’s hair.

  Yes. It was the best ever. Even for Mitch.

  Yeah, oh yeah, I loved Detective Mitchell James Lawson. I loved the family we were building. And I loved that he loved it too.

  I looked down to my feet, concentrating on executing the last few steps. My body was pleasantly exhausted and I didn’t want to do a face plant in the stairs to end a great day. Billy’s body remained heavy against mine as we climbed and I kept my gaze at my feet as we made it to the breezeway, my mind winding down, my thoughts happy.

  Therefore when I heard Mitch whisper a clipped, “No,” which was shortly followed by a soft, intensely angry, “Hell no,” it so surprised me in the mood I sensed we were all in I lifted my head and twisted my neck to look at him.

  His face was carved in stone.

  What on earth?

  He stopped and I automatically stopped with him, Billy stopping with me. Then I looked where Mitch was looking and I felt my body turn to stone just like Mitch’s face and I knew when Billy saw them because his body did the same against mine.

  Mom and Aunt Lulamae were standing outside my door. Their eyes were on us. Their hair was amped out to maximum volume. Their makeup was a tribute to raccoons. Their cleavage was bared. Their arms were crossed on their chests pushing it up and bearing more.

  And their faces were smirking.

  I knew why.