Page 45 of Down and Dirty

“I don’t have no friends,” he was telling her. “Other kids don’t wanna play with me.”

“Oh, Sammy, that is not true.”

“Uh-huh. I look different and I talk different. Nobody wants to play with me.”

“Being different is not so bad. I am different.”

He twisted his head to look at her. “Yeah, you are,” he said with a child’s bluntness. “Do you have anyone to play with?”

Britta turned slightly, her eyes connecting with Zach’s for a brief second.

He winked at her. You can play with me anytime you want, baby. He hoped she got that message.

She blushed. Yep, she got the message.

“You and I must work to fit in better in this country,” she told Sammy, meanwhile brushing his hair back off his face in a maternal fashion. “We need to learn to speak better, to write in this language, to adapt to the way of living here. Because, like it or not, this is where we are both going to stay.”

“My father will send me away,” Sammy said in a small voice, but Zach heard it.

“No, he will not,” she told him.

“He’ll whip me like Grandfather did.”

Zach’s hands fisted, and his eyes watered.

“My father beat me, too,” she confided in a voice so low he barely heard her.

Now, not only were Zach’s hands fisted and his eyes watering, but he felt a tightening in his chest.

“But your father, he will never do that,” she assured the boy.

“Good,” Sammy said sleepily and snuggled up against her chest.

For a few moments, he and Britta sat in silence.

Her blonde hair, which had been wildly sexy with curls a short time ago, now hung in lanky hunks. Her sexy red lip gloss was gone; in fact, her lips were kind of blue. Mascara had run down her cheeks, making black tracks.

Still, she looked gorgeous to him.

This woman was like no other. Instead of screaming for help, like many females would have, this Amazon had not hesitated to dive into the ocean to save his son. Now, she sat Madonna-like, holding the boy, the antithesis of the GI Jane she tried to portray.

He had no idea how it had crept up on him. Somehow, he had always imagined he’d hear bells and see stars. But, quietly and with no fanfare, a remarkable fact hit him square in the face… rather, heart.

He was in love with her.

No, no, no, he immediately corrected himself. I am in like, not love. She saved my son. What’s not to like?

Chapter 9

The best laid plans…

Zach was going to get laid tonight or die trying.

Note to self: That was a bit crude. Try again.

Okay, Zach had a plan to seduce Britta into his bed. And it all depended, number one, on his persuading Britta to come in his town house. No pun intended. And, number two, it depended on his talking Britta into an overnight — hell, a weekend — stay with him. And, number three, it depended on Sammy being cooperative for once, willing to fall asleep. And, number four, it depended on his SEAL buddies not showing up to chat, which they’d threatened to do; yeah, like he was up for a frickin’ chat. He’d told them they could go to a chat room if they wanted to chat. And, number five, it depended on Britta being in the mood.

So many “depends”! You’d think he was a bleepin’ ad for incontinence.