Law Man (Dream Man #3)(83)

My lids were getting heavy when the TV suddenly went off and just as suddenly I was on my feet and one of his arms was around me, the other hand at my jaw tipping my head back. Then his mouth was on mine, mine was open, his tongue slid in for a sweet, delicious touch to the tip of mine and then his lips were gone.

“Go to bed, sweetheart,” he murmured.

“’Kay,” I murmured back.

His arm gave me a squeeze, his lips gave me a grin and then he turned me, gave me a gentle shove and my feet took me to his bedroom.

I didn’t know if he had his pajamas and I didn’t know if he had a blanket or pillow. In record time I was in my nightie in his bed fast asleep. So I didn’t know he came in, got his pajamas, changed in his bathroom and nabbed a pillow I wasn’t using after sliding my hair off my neck then gliding a finger along my jaw before leaving the room, closing the door and bedding down on the couch.

* * * * *

The next morning my eyes opened and I heard Mitch, Billy and Billie in the kitchen.

Then I closed my eyes.

Then I smiled into the pillow.

Then I rolled out of bed, did my bathroom business, tugged on Mitch’s flannel and headed to the kitchen for coffee, Mitch’s oatmeal and to help Mitch get the kids ready for school.

* * * * *

When I got back to Mitch’s place after work, I saw a note on the kitchen counter.

It said:

Sweetheart,

The kids are with me on the greenbelt. They’ve had a snack. We’re going out to dinner when you get home, come find us.

M

He wrote, when you get home.

Home.

Oh boy. I liked that.

I went to Mitch’s room, changed into jeans and a tee, making a mental note to ask Mitch when I could get back to my apartment for clean up (and moving back in) but also so I could get more stuff. Then I slipped on some flip-flops and went to go find them.

As I walked down the back steps to the greenspace behind our unit, I saw LaTanya and Brent sitting at a picnic table with a woman I didn’t know. They were watching Mitch, Derek and Billy playing catch with another extremely hot guy and two mini-hot guys (also who I didn’t know) at the same time watching Billie race around chasing what looked like nothing but I was assuming in her imagination was something.

I got greetings, Billie’s was how she greeted Mitch which was to say a body collision followed by a hip hug then she went back to chasing imaginary butterflies (or whatever). Mitch’s was distant (as in physically since he didn’t quit playing catch) but not distant emotionally because his eyes warmed, his face got soft and his beautiful mouth smiled when he saw me. I also got introductions and a handshake from the woman I didn’t know who was Tess O’Hara (of Tessa’s Bakery!). She was the woman of Brock Lucas (the extremely hot guy) who was Mitch’s partner (oh my God! his partner! cop partners were like family!) who gave me a chin lift and the two boys were Joel and Rex, Brock’s sons (oh my God again!) and we were going out to dinner with them (oh my God, God, God) after catch.

After I managed the herculean task of not hyperventilating and/or fainting, I joined Tess, LaTanya and Brent on the picnic table and watched Mitch, Derek, Brock, Joel, Rex and Billy playing catch.

And that was when I started fretting.

Not because of my crazy life living in a dream world. Not because I’d found out that day my new charges’ insurance was going to suck a huge amount out of my paycheck every two weeks. Not because my day was ending with Mitch playing catch with Billy and us going out to (another) family dinner, this being extended cop family including his partner and his family. Not because I hadn’t heard from Mom and Aunt Lulamae in a while and I knew this meant they’d retreated in order to plot and that did not bode good things.

No, I was fretting because Billy was not really good with a baseball mitt or throwing a ball. This was likely because he’d never tossed a ball with his father. But that wasn’t it either. It was the fact that it was clear he wanted to be good not because he actually wanted to be good but because, I was guessing from his behavior which was openly anxious, he didn’t want to annoy or disappoint Mitch.

And he seemed not to cotton onto the fact that Mitch, nor Brock nor Derek for that matter, were anywhere near annoyed or disappointed. All the men were patient and encouraging, not in an overbearing way, in a natural, calm way that was not penetrating Billy at all. The more they tossed the ball, the more anxious Billy became whenever he missed a catch or threw wild, which was nearly every time.

“This isn’t good,” I muttered as I watched Billy miss another catch that Mitch tossed what would have been straight into his mitt if he hadn’t screwed up his concentration, tried too hard and moved his mitt at the last minute.

“He’ll relax, babe,” LaTanya muttered back. “Remember this is as new to him as it is to you and Mitch.”

“He’s freaking out,” I whispered.

“Totally,” Brent whispered back and I looked at him to see he was concentrating on Billy too. “He’s all wound up.”

“It’s because he thinks Mitch, Brock and Derek are cool but that’s only because Mitch, Brock and Derek are cool and he doesn’t want to be not cool,” Tess explained then she bumped me softly with her shoulder and whispered, “He’ll calm down, Mara. It’ll be okay.

“That’s not it,” I told her.