Hard Break (Deadlines & Diamonds, #5) (17 page)

Turning the doorknob, the first thing to hit Kayla was the smell of dinner, barbeque to be specific. She pushed the door wide and stepped inside.

“Mom!”

“Mooomm!!”

“Mommmmy!” Penelope with damp hair, a clean face and her favorite Merida pajamas on raced out of the pantry, carrying a bag of potato chips. “Ian got me at school.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was coming home to Ian’s.”
Sadie threw her arms around her waist. “I love you, Mom.”

Kayla smoothed Sadie’s damp hair, leaning over to kiss the top of her head. She loved the smell of clean hair. “I love you, too, sweetheart.”

“Hey, guys, do you—” Ian stopped in the doorway. Kayla laughed at the apron he’d chosen; her hot pink one with the black polka dots. “Hey, Kay.” He held up the plate of hot dogs. “I usually limit my hot dog intake to when I’m at a
Rockets
game, but who am I to argue with these guys?”

“Don’t argue, Ian
, you’ll only lose.” Chase took the plate of dogs.

Ian laughed. “I learned that a long time ago, my man. Penelope, did you get the buns?”

Pene lifted the bag of Doritos up. “No, I got red chips.”

He nodded, approving. “Awesome. Set those on the counter and grab the buns. Sadie
, can you raid the fridge for the ketchup and mustard?”

“I don’t like mustard.” Sadie’s nose wrinkled.

“Well,
I
do. So make sure you get the mustard. And relish.” He flashed Kayla a smile. “You got any onions?”

“Pa—
pantry.”

“Hey,
princess, grab an onion while you’re in there.”

She peeked out. “
Onion?”

“Yeah, you know, yellow. About the size of a baseball.”

Her brows knitted, but she said, “Okay,” before ducking back inside the small shelved room. 

Dumbstruck. That was all Kayla had. She watched the way the kids and Ian all worked together as a team and found herself blinking to clarify what she saw. She really should offer to help, was about to
, when Ian looked over his shoulder.

“If you want
, you can head upstairs, freshen up, dinner will be ready in about five minutes.”

“Thanks, I’ll hurry.”

“No hurry. We’ll wait.”

Chase groaned. She smiled as she heard Ian scold her son. “Seriously, man, give her a break. We’ll wait.”

She hustled up the stairs, changed into some yoga
pants and a t-shirt, washed her face and brushed her teeth. Not that she planned on kissing Ian. But she sure as hell wouldn’t stop him if he…

She caught her expression in the mirror and smiled harder. Not only had she fallen for the guy, she’
d turned into a giddy teenager.

Nineteen

T
onight was the night. Ian had to tell Kayla how he felt. So, maybe picking the kids up and taking them for ice cream and making dinner was his way of buttering her up. Maybe.

The kids climbed into their chairs and waited. Only three chairs remained empty. He’d never sat in Leon’s chair, wouldn’t. It wasn’t his place. He always sat in the chair next to Kayla
, and that was exactly where he’d sit again tonight.

“Can we eat
now
?” Sadie whined, leaning down to sniff her hot dog and store-bought potato salad. Dang, any closer and she’d be snorting ketchup.

“Yeah. I sta
aaarving.” Penelope poked a single finger at the ketchup on her hot dog then quick as lightning popped the red tipped finger into her mouth.

“Well, then we’d better eat, dontcha think?” Kayla swept into the kitchen, beautiful as ever.
Now though, she seemed relaxed and happy.

Penelope’s
joyful squeal was cut off by her hot dog.

“Slow down, little girl, you don’t want to choke.”
Kayla laughed quietly.

Ian
smiled at her, taking a bite of his own dog. He had to admit to being pretty impressed by his hot dog cooking ability. He bit down for the second time and swallowed a groan, along with the hot dog.

Or at least he thought he had.

“That good, huh?” Humor twinkled in Kayla’s eyes.

“I must be really hungry.”

She finished chewing the bite she’d taken and uttered an exaggerated moan. She wiped her mouth with a white paper napkin. “No, these
are
really good.”

“Mm-hmm. Good,” Penelope concurred.

“We should have these every night,” Sadie suggested.

Kayla chuckled. “
I don’t know, you’d get tired of hot dogs if we had them
every
night.”

She shrugged, chewing quickly so she could talk. “Probly.”

“And we can only have them if Ian cooks.” Chase put down his dog and forked up a bite of salad. “Yours aren’t even close to this good, Mom.”

“Hey now.” Ian jumped to her defense. He never meant to outdo their mother’s cooking.

She put a hand on his arm. “It’s true, and sometimes the truth hurts.” She turned her focus on her children. “Hurry up, guys, we still have homework to do.”

“No we don’t,” all three kids said in unison.

“Guys, I’m tired. Let’s not play this game.” She closed her eyes and breathed deep, probably praying for patience she didn’t need.

“No games, Mom,” Chase said. “O
ur homework
is
done. Ian helped us with it.”

She glanced at him and Ian flashed her a cheesy smile. Relief rushed into her expression, her
sapphire eyes softened. Surely he imagined the tears swimming with gratitude. Her lips tipped slowly at the corners. She said nothing. She didn’t have to, the message read like blinking neon.
Thank you.

“Well, let’s hurry up, so you guys can have
extra-long storytime.”

“Yay! Ian tell stories.” Penelope clapped her hands.

“Ian! Ian! Ian!” Sadie cheered.

Chase scowled. The kid was ten, he didn’t do stories. Or at least he liked to think he was too old for stories. Ian reached over and covered Kayla’s hand. The touch, innocent as it was, sent jolts up his arm. He needed this woman like he needed his next breath. Hers hitched. Her eyes flicked to his. There was that silent communication again. It spoke volumes.
She saw. She finally saw him as a man. A man she was most certainly interested in. Finally!

He was not so overcome with emotion that he considered crying. Nope. Not at all. He looked away and blinked a couple of times becaus
e he had something in his eyes.

She smiled gently, eased her hand out from under his touch and reversed the hold. She patted his arm a
nd looked at Chase. “How’s this? Ian can tell the girls a story and you can read me a chapter from that zombie book you’re reading?”

Chase glanced from Kayla to Ian and back again. The kid wasn’t stupid and
he totally saw the
holy crap, there’s something about to ignite
arc between the two adults. Ian watched Chase’s eyes narrow, his brows frown.

Ian waited for the rejection. One word
from any of the kids and it’d game over. Kayla would choose her kids, as she should. But Ian hoped like hell the choice didn’t have to be made.

“Ian, why do you hang out with us?”

And there it was.

He had one shot.

If he screwed this up, he’d never get another one.

He looked Chase right in his
bright blue eyes and told him the absolute truth. “I love you guys, Chase.”

“But you have a life,
Ian.”

“Cha
se!” Kayla came to the unneeded, unwanted rescue.

Ian cleared his throat. “If it’s okay, Kayla, why don’t you and the girls head upstairs wh
ile us men clean up the kitchen?”

Protectiveness radiated in her eyes. Ian wasn’t quite sure who she felt protective of, though. “Are you sure?”

Ha. Mystery solved.

He grinned at her. “I think I can handle him.”

She smiled at her son. “Can you handle
him
?”

Chase frowned so hard his
entire face headed south. He squinted through silted eyes. “Yeah, I got him.”

K
ayla wasn’t so sure. She certainly had more than a few reservations about leaving the men in her life alone together. Especially after Chase had put together two-plus-two. Her son didn’t seem completely opposed to the idea, yet had a couple reservations, if the scowl on his face was anything to go by.

She hurried after the girls, shooing them up the stairs. Shooting glances over her shoulder, she really did want to know what the heck was happening in the kitchen. Good grief, she’d barely figured things out herself. How long had the truth been staring at her?

Blind, stupid and dumb. Hell.

“Mom, are you coming?” Sadie called from the top of the stairs.

Kayla hadn’t realized she’d stopped halfway up the staircase. She broke out into a jog. “Yeah, let’s get those teeth brushed, so you’ll be ready when Ian comes up.”

“Ian. Story.
Woot woot!” Penelope did a little hoppy-jumpy thing, twisting around in the air before running down the hall to their bathroom.

By the time Kayla stepped into the tiny sea-life
decorated bathroom, the girls were busily brushing their teeth. Penelope, who’d perched herself on the counter, leaned into the mirror and showed off as many teeth as she could. Toothpaste dribbled down her chin splatting onto the front of her nightgown.

Sadie stood on the stepstool and moved the brush over her own teeth. When she looked in the mirror and saw Kayla, she quickly rinsed off her brush and spit in the sink. “I’m all done, Mom. I did it all by myself.”

Kayla’s only response was to hold out her hand, palm up. Sadie frowned, but relinquished her toothbrush. Kayla swept the brush over the tiny white teeth, checking for any loose ones before once again rinsing the brush and putting it away.

“Good girl. Go climb into bed and I’ll be there in just a few minutes to tuck you in.”

She snorted, but left without any further protest.

Penelope bent at th
e waist and spit into the sink. Or she’d meant to, at least. Instead the white puddle landed smack dab in the middle of her nightgown, which hammocked itself over a few inches of the bowl. Pene shrieked, clutched at her nightgown, smearing toothpaste all over the counter.

“Stop, Pene. Just stop.” 

Penelope looked up, horrified, then glanced back down at the bane of her existence.

“Arms up.”

Penelope’s arms shot toward the ceiling. Kayla carefully tugged the offensive dirty nightgown from the little body and tossed it into the hamper. Good thing tomorrow was laundry day.

“Let me check your teeth
then we’ll get you a new nightgown.”

Penelope frowned. “Merida.”

“We’ll see if we can find you another one with Merida on it. Open wide.”

The little mouth opened. Kayla did the brush thing, telling Pene to spit. This time with no mishap. Penelope wiped her mouth on a towel. The decorative one.
Oh, well.
Tomorrow’s laundry day.

She helped Penelope off the counter, reaching to toss the towel into the hamper before turning off the light and heading out the door.

After getting Penelope situated in a pair of night-night underpants—with Merida on them—and a new Merida nightgown, the three Black girls waited for Ian. Good grief. It’d been twenty minutes.

Kayla would have really liked to have been a fly on the wall. And yet, hearing what the guys were saying scared the living shit out of her.
Was her son really interrogating her…boyfriend?

Dang.

Was that what Ian was, or would be, once she spilled the beans?

Would Chase accept it? Was it too soon?
She didn’t want to have to make a choice between Ian and Chase. There was no choice to be made, actually. As much as she loved Ian—and holy crap, she really did love him—she’d choose her kids every time. No question.

If Chase
couldn’t accept it…

Oh, Go
d, please let Chase accept it.

A
s soon as his mother was out of the room Chase turned his focus on Ian again. Sweat rolled down Ian’s side. Holy shit, facing his prom date’s father—holding a shotgun—had nothing on the stare down he faced now.

“Why do you hang out with us?” the kid asked again.

“I told you,” Ian answered calmly, “I love you guys.”

One side of Chase’s mouth quirked.

“You don’t believe me?”

“What are your intentions with my mom?”

The question, posed so seriously, made Ian laugh. Not a chuckle either. He nearly doubled over. Chase, however, was not amused. The kid frowned hard.

“I asked you a question, Ian. I didn’t tell a joke.”

Ian sobered. “Sorry. You just sounded so mature it caught me off guard. Sorry, man. Go ahead and ask me again.”

Chase cleared his throat and leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms. The kid looked so freakin’ serious Ian had to bite his lip to keep the humor inside. Chase narrowed his eyes.

“What are your intentions with my mom?”

“My intentions are completely honorable, sir.”

The use of the formality made Chase smile. Although as soon as he realized it, he wiped the happy from his face.

“Good.” He sat forward, resting his forearms on the table. He got in nice and tight to ask, “Do you love her?”

Ian glanced over his shoulder, then resumed the up close and personal. “With all my heart.”

Chase beamed then.

“But she doesn’t know yet.”

Chase jerked back. “What do you mean she doesn’t know?”

“Just what I said, my man. She doesn’t know.”

The kid frowned and shook his head. Total disapproval. “You haven’t told her yet?”

“Nope.”

“Does she love you?”

“I don’t know.”

Chase slapped his palm against his forehead. “She hasn’t told you either?”

“Huh-uh. But I think
she does.”

His lips went big and cheesy. “I think so too. Don’t tell her I said that.”

“Don’t worry, my man, it’ll be our secret.” Ian inched closer, hoping Chase would follow his lead. When the kid did Ian asked one very important follow-up question, “Can you get on board with your mom and I loving each other?” As the next question flashed into his head, Ian almost couldn’t breathe through the nervous excitement. “Maybe got married one day?”

Chase looked down at the table. His mouth quirked on one side, then the other, then the lips flattened into a line. “That depends,” he said finally, quietly.

“On what?”

“Will you still love me?”

Ian jumped out of the chair, sending it sliding against the tile with a screech. He rushed around the table, turned Chase’s chair around to kneel in front of the kid.

“Look at me. Right in the eye.” He waited until the order was obeyed. “I love you, Chase, and I love your sisters too. I can’t imagine loving my own kids any more. The fact that I love your mom—and whether or not she returns that love—doesn’t have any bearing on what I feel for you guys. You’re the greatest kids I’ve ever known, ever will know. I’d die for you.”
Oh, God!
“I’m such an idiot. I’m not going to die. I’m not going anywhere. I…shit, I mean, crap. I…” He had to stop talking.

He bit down on his tongue, closed his eyes and wished for a damn time machine. Talk about screwing things up. He was the biggest freakin’ idiot on the planet. He didn’t deserve the love of this family.