Captured In Ink (Art of Love Series) (5 page)

***

When Shane got to Reesa’s house that evening, there was a late model black BMW parked where Jillian’s sports car had been parked yesterday. Since there was no more room on the driveway, Shane left his well-used sedan on the street. He had driven the car instead of riding the bike because he hoped he would be staying late.

Of course to stay late, he had to get inside the house first. Maybe he’d get lucky and the kids would let him in,
Shane thought, smiling at his wishful thinking as he walked to the front door.

Nervous about a woman for the first time Shane could remember in ages, he rang the doorbell and waited. He smiled when Zack answered the door, completely believing the universe was helping him again.

“
Dude
—about time you showed up. The dweeb is trying to come back,” Zack whispered through the screen before holding it open. “Go be a super hero and save Aunt Teresa from the dweeb attack.”

“Who or what is the dweeb?” Shane asked, not tracking what Zack was saying at all.

Zack rolled his eyes and stepped outside, closing the door behind him to prevent their conversation from being overheard by his aunt.

“Remember I said you were better than the
last guy
?” Zack reminded him.

“Yes,” Shane said. “I do recall that comment.”

“Well, the
last guy
is trying to come back, but we don’t want him back,” Zack said firmly. “He’s not exactly a family type of guy. If you’re willing to discourage the dweeb, we’ll help you get Aunt Teresa to date you.”

“Thanks—I think. What am I supposed to do to discourage him?” Shane asked, wrinkling his forehead as he took in the sincerity of Zack’s pleading gaze.

“I don’t know. Does my aunt like you at all?” Zack asked, looking Shane up and down.

Unoffended by the boy’s assessing gaze that had obviously found him physically lacking in some manner, Shane laughed at the question just as the door opened and Chelsea stepped out with Sara in her arms.

“Hey, girls. How’s it going?” Shane asked.

“Did you come to date Aunt Teresa?” Chelsea asked urgently, tilting her head up and up to meet Shane’s gaze.

“Well—I, yeah, I guess I did. I was sort of hoping it might be okay with you all if I did,” Shane said, almost stuttering as he tried to calmly answer the surprisingly direct question from a fourteen-year-old girl.

When Sara held out her arms to him, Shane sighed and took her. He didn’t know what else to do but go with the flow. He had presented doctorial papers to whole auditoriums full of people with less apprehension than he felt being grilled by these kids about his interest in Reesa.

“What’s so bad about this guy anyway?” Shane asked, melting a little when Sara laid her head on his shoulder. “I’m practically a stranger to you all. You should be more concerned about me.”

“He wants us out of the way,” Zack told him flatly.

Shane turned and saw Chelsea nodding in agreement. They were being too earnest for him to doubt what they were saying.

“And you’re not a stranger. We know who you are. You’re the
Winged Protector
dude,” Zack said sincerely, grinning at the shock on Shane’s face. “The vote was three to one to encourage Aunt Teresa to date you this afternoon.”

“
Three to one?
” Shane asked, frowning and trying to follow the crazy conversation. “One of you voted against me?”

“Brian doesn’t know you, so he didn’t want to vote,” Chelsea said logically. “We figured it wasn’t fair to consider the vote unanimous until Brian was completely in agreement. So his vote counts against you for now.”

“You three voted for me, huh?” Shane declared, warming up to the idea as he looked at them. “Do you vote on everything?”

“Mom and Dad always—
never mind
,” Zack said firmly, stopping his outburst and straightening his spine.

Shane swallowed hard, trying to get what little spit he had left in his mouth past the lump in his throat. Zack was hanging tough. Whatever the situation, he was leading his siblings down the most familiar path, offering ritual stability to them as best he could.

“We vote on everything,” Zack told him tersely. “It’s just what we do.”

It was humbling to think the kids were supporting him just because of the tattoo on his arm and a few graphic novels. That was a lot of blind faith to have in someone you didn’t really know. He sure as hell wasn’t going to let them down even if Reesa sent him away for complicity.

“Well, if I have to go into hero mode to save your aunt, you all have to be my sidekicks. Any ideas about what to do?” Shane asked.

“What else? Death to the dweeb,” Zack stated logically, grinning as both Chelsea and Sara giggled.

Shane smirked at the reference to something his character often said.

“Short of death—is there
something else
?” Shane asked, mouth twisted into a smirk. “Lethal action should always be a last resort. Plus I left my cape at home tonight. I’m in alter ego mode. You’re stuck with plain old Shane Larson versus the BMW dweeb.”

Zack looked at Chelsea, who nodded. “Chelsea thinks we can try to convince the dweeb that you’re the main man in Aunt Teresa’s life. That ought to intimidate him enough to hit the road for good. I saw him trying to kiss her earlier, but she wasn’t having it.”

“
Kiss her?
What the hell?
Oh—sorry,” Shane said chagrined, his face flushing as Sara squealed.

“
Shaney—you said a bad word
,” she accused, smiling at a guilty faced Shane.

“Yes I did. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” Shane declared, not really minding the way Zack and Chelsea laughed at his blunder. On the other hand, he was not crazy about Sara’s nickname for him.

“
Now you have to stand in the corner until you are very, very sorry
,” Sara informed him.

“You’re right. I need a time out to think about things. Can I do it after we chase the dweeb away?” Shane asked in a whisper, making his voice rough and pleading to Sara, who giggled.

“Okay,” she whispered back.

“So what’s the plan?” Zack asked, laughing at Shane’s shock. “Well, you’re the hero. We’re just the sidekicks.”

Shane looked at his snarky grin and narrowed his eyes.

“Take your sister,” Shane ordered, passing Sara to Zack.

He took out his phone and his wallet. He dialed a number and handed Chelsea two twenty dollar bills.

“We’re going to pretend we do this all the time and that I’ve been dating your aunt for a while. What do you guys like on your pizza?” Shane asked.

Zack and Chelsea high fived. “Pizza!”

“You’re not snowballing me with the dweeb story just for pizza, are you?” Shane asked, the thought he was being deceived by two teenagers just occurring to him. He thought of all the tricks he and Michael had played on their parents.

“Dude—have some faith,” Zack said. “Pizza is just a perk. We wouldn’t be teenagers if we didn’t celebrate pizza.”

Shane laughed. He couldn’t help it. He really liked Zack Lansing. He was a great kid.

“Okay. So is one of you going to fill in your brother on the plan?” Shane asked.

“No need,” Zack said confidently. “Brian never comes out of his room unless it’s to eat. He’ll go along with anything for pizza. I know my bro.”

“So what’s going to happen if your Aunt Teresa doesn’t go along?” Shane asked, speaking his greatest fear aloud. “I came here to talk her into dating me, not run some other guy off. She could kick me out as well as him.”

“What are you worried about? The Winged Protector
isn’t afraid of anything,” Zack taunted, making Sara giggle again at his tone. “Is Shane Larson afraid?”

“Yeah—are you afraid?” Chelsea chimed in, shushing when Shane’s irritated gaze fell on her.

“No—I am not afraid. For future reference though,
do not
get used to talking me into things,” Shane told them firmly, their quiet snickers telling him he had wasted his breath. His respect for his father tripled with their laughter.

“Now pass Sara back to me,” Shane said, taking Sara and settling her on his hip. “Girl, you are heavy. You really do need to walk.”

“Can I hold your hand if I walk?” Sara asked.

Shane nodded. “Sure.”

“Can I wear my dancing shoes?” Sara asked.

Shane looked to Chelsea, who nodded.

“Yes,” Shane said firmly. “You may wear your dancing shoes.”

“Then I will walk and be a princess for you,” Sara said.

“Well, let’s hold off on that until we all get inside,” Shane said, motioning for Chelsea to open the door.

Chapter 4

“Brent, I haven’t changed my mind about the children,” Reesa said, sipping her ice water as she studied the man she had not too long ago planned to marry.

Brentwood Addison was thirty-five, successful, and a partner in the investment company where she used to work as an accountant. He was also handsome, very good in bed, and yet not even interesting to her anymore. Evidently, a year of living with Brent had gone right out of her memory the minute she’d let a tattooed Viking throwback with a mesmerizing voice put his hands on her.

“I want you back,” Brent told her sincerely, reaching out for her hand, surprised when Reesa pulled hers away and eluded his grasp.

“I heard you were dating other women, so I figured we were done. As far I’m concerned, there is no going back,” Reesa said firmly, taking another sip of her water.

Saying it out loud didn’t sting at all even though she’d cried in the shower for a couple of months when Brent hadn’t even tried to make things up with her after she’d moved out. Those first couple months with the kids had been sad, lonely, and hard to deal with on her own. Now she would do whatever it took to keep what was left of her family together.

Truth was sex with Brent had lost its appeal the moment Shane Larson had carried her into his house. Just sitting in Shane’s lap and laughing had changed her requirements for intimacy. Even if Shane hadn’t come looking for her, she would always want the kind of connection that she had found with him that night.

She studied Brent now, still slightly amazed that not even a flicker of interest remained. What that said about her, she wasn’t sure, but there was no denying Shane Larson had raised the bar for all future bedmates.

And to think she’d once thought Brent was the best.
Wow—it’s really amazing how a couple of weeks can change your life.
Her thoughts went to Shane Larson demanding to know where she liked to be kissed and then doing it precisely—very, very precisely—proficiently even.

“Reesa? Are you hearing me at all?” Brent asked, irritated that Reesa kept drifting off from their discussion.

Sure, Brent thought, he had dated and slept with other women after Reesa had moved out, but no other woman had ever come close to the kind of focused attention she had given him. When he hadn’t gotten over her in six months, Brent had decided to have her in his life whatever it took. He just had to figure out a way around the obstacles between them—obstacles otherwise known as her dead sister’s four children.

There had to be some way to get Reesa to compromise. They all didn’t have to live with them. Brent was willing to pay for boarding school for the strange child that locked himself in his room, if that’s what it took. What better help could Reesa want?

Brent couldn’t see how she could refuse him. He could give her back the life she’d had if she’d just work with him. He only regretted that it had taken six months for him to realize that she was worth whatever money it took to buy her freedom.

“I’m sorry, Brent. It’s been a long day and now I need to get dinner. You’re welcome to stay and eat with us if you like,” Reesa said politely. “But it’s only fair to tell you that I can’t date you again. I’m interested in someone else.”

Which was a true statement, Reesa thought. Shane might be more trouble than Brent, but at least he hadn’t run away at the sight of her with four kids. That made him ten times more interesting. She was just trying to run him away for his own good.

The irony of wanting to chase away the handsome, settled business man, and letting the semi-employed college student into her life instead made her smile at her odd luck, but it didn’t make her wish less true. When Reesa came out of her thoughts of Shane this time, Brent was glaring and she sighed.

“
Interested in someone else
? Come on, Reesa, you haven’t even been dating,” Brent said pointedly, looking at her skeptically. “You don’t have to lie about it. I can see how busy you are.”

Reesa stood and narrowed her gaze, glaring at Brent in return. “Have I
ever
lied to you or said something I didn’t mean?”

“No—no you haven’t. Sorry I implied it,” Brent said hastily, remembering the temper Reesa possessed and rarely unleashed. “But you’re not really dating are you?”

For one blinding moment, Reesa wished more than anything that she could have told him yes. “No, I guess technically I’m not dating. That doesn’t mean I’m not interested in someone,” she said tightly, sounding more defensive than she liked.