“I don’t have my phone.” Pete sat down next to her. She was sitting, tailor-style, right on the ground, dressed in what must’ve been her pajamas—a barely there white tank top over boxers that were covered with little flowers, possibly pink ones. Her arms and legs were bare but she didn’t seem to notice that the night air was cold.
She’d managed to put on sneakers before leaving her house—no doubt she’d had them right beneath her bed. For such a rule-follower, it was weird that she hadn’t stayed put in a doorway, but then he realized that she’d come out here so she could check on her kids, and go rescue them single-handedly, if she’d had to.
Her phone whooshed with the sound of an incoming text that she immediately read.“What?”She looked up at Pete with an expression of outrage and disapproval. “Tevin says that was only a four-point-nine on the Richter scale. Seriously?”
He had to smile. “My guess was a little higher,” he told her. “But just a little. The amount of shake also depends on depth—how shallow it is. And the location of the epicenter.”
“Tevin says it was about a half mile east of us.”
“That sounds right.”
“So Southern California’s still here.” She chose to embrace the good news rather than be pissed that the quake wasn’t as big as she’d thought. “No need to go into Zombie Apocalypse Prevention Mode.”
He smiled again at that. “Nope.”
Her phone whooshed, and she looked down at it and laughed. “Earthquake selfie,” she said, showing him a photo of her sons, their heads together, making wide-eyed, openmouthed faces into the camera. She used her flash to take a similar photo of herself, smiling as she sent it back.
He wanted that, he realized. That easy, friendly, intensely devoted relationship that Shayla shared with her boys—he wanted that with his daughter. But the odds of ever having it were slim to none. Even if Maddie did a complete about-face and suddenly welcomed a relationship with him…He was a lot of things, but unlike Shayla,funnyandfun-to-be-withweren’t on the list.
Right now, however, he’d settle for being glad that Shay thought Maddie had been worried for his safety.
Also? “If Maddie felt the quake,” Pete said, “that means she’s still somewhere local.”
“So not in Manzanar,” Shayla said. “Or Sacramento.”
“I’m betting Los Angeles didn’t even feel this one,” Pete told her. “Manzanar and Sacramento are both much farther away.”
She gave him some serious side eye. “I knew that. I’m notthatgeographically challenged.”
He laughed. “My bad. I just thought…But you’re keeping it together really well.” He paused. “Unless you were just kidding about the diving under the table, and the earthquake helmet?”
She shook her head. “Inside, I’m a mess. Outside, I’m Mom. Last thing I ever want to do is scare the boys, or somehow transfer my fears to them. Of course, they’re older now. Tevin’s definitely aware that earthquakes aren’t my favorite thing. That’s why he was texting me with all the science.”
As she spoke, Pete tried to listen, but thatI’m Momreverberated in his head, and all he could think was that the world had changed enormously from the days when moms went to bed with rollers in their hair and mud masks on their faces. And Shayla may have been focused on being Tevin and Frank’s mom, but she was also a tremendously beautiful, sensual, incredibly strong, sexy woman, and he wanted to…
He wanted…
She’d stopped talking and he looked up and into her eyes, suddenly aware that he’d been staring at her mouth. Her mouth, and the soft curves of her body beneath that shirt that was so thin, he could see right through it.
She was aware, too, of the direction his thoughts had turned, but she didn’t back away. She didn’t say a word. She just sat there, looking back at him.
She wanted, too.
He waited a moment, just looking into her eyes, because God, he didn’t want to get this wrong. But she just held his gaze—until she didn’t. Her eyes slipped down—just for a fraction of a second—to his mouth.
So he leaned in, slowly, and even reached to touch her face and gently pull her chin up and…
He kissed her.
As far as kisses went, it was G-rated. His lips against the sweet softness of hers. No tongues, no way. He wanted to—Jesus, his heart was pounding—but he didn’t.
He just pulled back to look into her eyes again, and time seemed to slow and not-quite stop, but change and expand. He’d experienced something similar a few times, while out on ops with the teams. There was a name for it, that sense of being present and acutely, intensely aware:kairos.The word also meantopportunity,and he was not a fool, so he slowly leaned in and when, once more, she didn’t pull away, he kissed her again.
This time, she opened her lips to him. This time, she leaned in, too, and he took that as an invitation to put his arms around her, even as she slipped her arms up and around his neck and her tongue into his mouth.
And their G rating was instantly revoked as he tried to devour her in return, because the way she was suddenly hungrily kissing him completely ignited the fire in his veins that he’d been trying to control.
Pete pulled her up and onto his lap even as she tried to move closer, and she straddled him as he wrapped himself more tightly around her. Her arms and shoulders and back were cold, but the softness between her legs was hot against him. Jesus, her fingers were back in his hair as she kissed him and kissed him, and Christ, he was going to come, her breasts soft against his chest, his body straining and sliding against hers through their thin layers of clothes.
