Broken Pasts(9)

“Theresa,” I said as I refilled my wine glass, stuffed a container of ice cream under my arm and started towards the living room. “Please, call me Theresa.” Nathaniel nodded but didn't speak. I think he'd somehow decided that he'd crossed the client/employee line more than enough for one day. I let him follow me and sat down on the couch, pulling an emerald green throw over my legs as I turned on the TV and tried to find something to watch. I glanced up until I found Nathaniel's chin. He was standing directly behind the couch, eyes focused not on the screen but on the mirror above the fireplace. He wasn't looking at his reflection either; he was just staring as if he were looking at everything and nothing all at once. He must've been in this business awhile to have picked up that kind of skill. “Would you like to sit down?” I asked and got an instant smile in return, a really nasty, dirty, delicious smile. My heart started to thump in my chest and I found myself clenching my thighs to keep other parts of myself in check. Holy crap. I could not believe the effect he was having on me.

“You're trying the limits of my self-control, Ms. McMaster,” he said and that was it. He remained standing behind the couch as if he hadn't just flirted with me. And he had. There was no way I was imagining it.

“Why's that?” I asked as casually as possible, tilting my head back down so that I was looking at the TV and not at him.

“I'm sorry,” he said and his voice was neutral this time, almost too neutral. “But you'll be safest if I maintain my position here.”

And you're trying the limits of my self-control, I thought. You can't just throw me a few clues and then take it all back. I will figure you out, I swear it.

“Suit yourself,” I said and then paused. “I'd rather have you behind me anyway.”

How's that for a little sexual innuendo?





CHAPTER 7

Rhea showed up on my doorstep at seven a.m. the next morning. When Nathaniel opened the door, she screamed. I pushed past him and grabbed her by the shoulders as she started to turn away, pulling her into a hug. Glen was already out of his car and jogging across the dew covered grass.

“Theresa!” he shouted, reaching out for our daughter's arm as if I'd just exposed her to a brothel full of naked men, erections raised like flags for all the world to see. “What on earth is going on?” I pulled Rhea forward and put my hands on the sides of her face. I think she'd screamed more from surprise than anything else. Already, she was calm.

“Who's that?” she asked, trying to peer around me at Nathaniel. When I glanced back at him, his face was completely still, like a Greek statue, frozen into perfection. He was too stoic, too emotionless, the ideal bodyguard, like the ones you see in the movies. Either he was putting on a front for Glen or he thought this was amusing. I was betting on the latter.

Glen paused on the bottom step of the stoop and adjusted his glasses.

“You didn't tell me you were seeing someone.” I pursed my lips. Like that was any of his business.

“Hey Rhea,” I said, trying to smile through a massive yawn. I wanted to be pissy; Glen had interrupted the best dream I'd had in years. One that featured a fully naked and willing Mr. Sutherland. “Why don't you go in your room and play some video games. I'll take you to McDonald's before I drop you off, how's that sound?”

“Yay! I want pancakes!” she shouted as Nathaniel stepped out of her way and she moved past him, enraptured by the idea of a little gaming before school. Screw the new guy. I've got better things to do. God, I had an awesome kid.

“Glen,” I said, standing up and adjusting the straps of my tank top. “Why are you here? I asked you to take Rhea for the week.”

“Well, it's your week and Winnie wants to take the girls to see her parents.” I pursed my lips in anger as I stared down at my ex's severe face. Even with his brown eyes pinched and his thin mouth set in an unhappy line, he had the appearance of being a trustworthy, reliable sort of guy. It's one of the reasons that I'd fallen for him. The types of guys I'd always liked, the interesting, spicy, mysterious ones like Nathaniel, they'd always let me down. I'd thought that no matter what, that Glen would be there for me, even if it was just out of a sense of duty. I'd been wrong. He'd left me during one of the worst periods in my entire left. Left me because I couldn't give him biological children. A horrible miscarriage, a botched surgery, and a pair of cancerous ovaries later and I was left alone while Glen was off impregnating the first woman who'd give him the time of day. Winnie Freeman. You are such a bitch, I thought at him as I started off on a very familiar, very tiresome rant.

“So Rhea isn't good enough to visit Winnie's parents because, what,” I held my hands out to the side and then let them drop against my thighs. “Because she's my daughter? Or because she's … ” I dropped my voice to a whisper. “Adopted. Which is it, Glen?”

“I'm not doing this with you this morning, Theresa,” he said as he crossed his arms over his pumpkin colored shirt. It did nothing for his skin except wash him out. Winnie had probably bought it. She considered herself some kind of nouveau fashionista, but hey, there's no accounting for taste, right? “Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend.” His attitude made me want to slam the door in his face, but yet, there was so much more I could do. Except tell him that Gary was stalking me. Then he'd try to get full custody of Rhea, play that against me like a curse. I could do anything but tell him the truth. I stepped back, put my hand on Nathaniel's arm and hoped he'd play along with me.

“This is my boyfriend, Nathaniel Sutherland. Nathaniel, this is my ex-husband, Glen Gibson.” To my utter delight and complete surprise, Nathaniel wrapped one arm around my waist, digging his fingers into the my side and pulling me against him. My reaction was instant and surprising. Like a heroine in an old movie, I felt my knees go weak as my blood heated and my body begged for a taste of whatever this man had to offer. It sounds pretty in romance novels, but in reality, it's kind of horrible. I felt dizzy, like I could topple over at any moment and I suddenly had no idea what to say or do, like I was frozen in place with adrenaline and need.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Gibson,” Nathaniel said as he held out his other hand and gripped Glen's firmly. I was happy to see that Glen's handshake was weak and floppy in comparison. His wrist looked dainty and liable to snap like a pencil under Nathaniel's strength. I smiled.

“Likewise,” Glen said as his eyes snapped over to my face. I felt hot and flustered, like I'd been in the bedroom for hours with the most exquisite foreplay. It was a look that Glen had probably never seen before. This thought surged right through me, took a terrible event from my past and flipped it right on its head. Thank god you left me, I thought as I stared at Glen's tiny nose and serious frown. Or I might've been trapped in that horrible place between 'good enough' and 'safe.'

I was having a life altering revelation, right there on that doorstep with a stranger's arm around my waist. I had to call Jamie.

“When will you be back?” I asked, suddenly wanting to get rid of him so I could go in the bathroom and call my best friend. I had discovered that using the restroom was the only excuse I could use to get out of Nathaniel's sight. He was damn good at his job.

“Tuesday,” Glen said. “I'll pick Rhea up after school.”

“Fine,” I said as Nathaniel stepped back and grabbed the knob on the front door. “See you then.” I closed it in his face without another word and turned away, letting Nathaniel lock it for me. I grabbed my phone off the dining table and went straight for the bathroom. “I'll be just a moment,” I said as Nathaniel nodded and paused in the hallway just outside the door. I closed it quickly and turned on the fan and the faucet.

“What are you doing up so early?” Jamie answered after only one ring.

A chorus of shouting exploded from behind her and I caught bits of, “Good morning, Miss McMaster.” There was some scuffling and Jamie stuck something into her mouth.

“I'm kicking your boys' asses for you, you know?” I smiled.

“Oh, so now they're my boys?”

“Marry me, Theresa, I'm in love with you!” I chuckled as Ray's voice exploded through the line for just a moment as he snatched the phone away from Jamie.

“Little brat,” she snarled playfully as she regained control. “Just wait until Rhea turns thirteen and see how you much you laugh then. What do you want?”

“I had a life altering revelation,” I said and she spit out whatever it was she had in her mouth.

“You are too much, you know that right? You're like every romantic comedy movie character I've ever seen.”

“Good,” I said as I sat on the edge of the counter and ran a hairbrush through the tangled mat of black at the back of my head. “At least they always get happy endings. Now be quiet and let me talk. You're not going to believe this, but I think I'm actually one hundred percent over Glen.” There was a faux gasp on the other end of the line.