Full Disclosure (Homefront: The Sheridans Book 2) (5 page)

“This is his second year in pre-K there. We’ll
switch over to public in kindergarten.”

He seems surprised. “Why?”

“Because it’s free.” Well, duh, I’m
thinking. But I guess those are the things the ultra-rich don’t consider, so I
cut him some slack. “Did your daughter just start there?”

“Her first day was today. We tried public
school for a few weeks but it just wasn’t a good fit.” His voice is strained,
so I don’t press for details, especially with Hannah within earshot.

Allie told me once that Hannah has ADHD
and hasn’t found any kind of relief in those medicines I always hear moms
talking about in the carpool line. Ryan’s lucky to have the money to give his
daughter another option other than the crowded elementary school here in our
area. Not all kids have those options.

My brother sure didn’t.

“How’d her first day go?” I ask.

“Good, I think. It’s the first time I’ve
picked her up and saw a smile on her face at the end of a school day. And she
found out they have a school choir she can join, so she’s excited about that.”

“She likes to sing?”

“Loves to.”

I watch her petting Lolli. “She’s in
second grade, right?”

“How’d you know?”

“Allie and Logan told me.”

“Oh, of course. Yes, second grade.”

“She’ll like Mrs. Helminski. I worked on
a committee with her for last year’s spaghetti dinner.”

He’s got that steely-eyed, reserved look
on his face, the kind that tells me nothing about what’s going on in his head. “Spaghetti
dinner,” he repeats quietly.

“Mmhm,” I say, watching Lolli eagerly bring
the kids a saliva-soaked ball. The dog definitely has some retriever in her.

“Is that another fundraiser?”

Hannah and Connor laugh loudly as Lolli tears
across my tiny yard to retrieve the ball again.

“Oh, that’s right. You’re new.” I smile
teasingly. “The fall fundraiser is just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve got the
Fun Run at the end of the month, so you’ll be walking door to door asking
perfect strangers to sponsor Hannah. Then in a couple weeks, the kids start
selling their neighbors overpriced wrapping paper.”

“Great.” His tone is sarcastic.

“Then the Spaghetti Dinner is in February
usually with a Valentine’s Day theme, because spaghetti and Valentine’s Day go
hand-in-hand, right?”

I see a hint of a smile on his face.
“Just like autumn Luaus and pigs-in-a-blanket,” he responds.

“Exactly. There’s little rhyme or reason
to our fundraisers. Last year for the Spring Gala, we did a Cinco de Mayo
theme, but the food was mostly pit beef and hot dogs because someone got a
really good deal at Sam’s Club.”

“Spring Gala. Should I break out my tux?”

“Uh, no. Collared shirt is as fancy as it
gets at Orchard Acres.” I flash a smile as Lolli breaks away from the kids and
licks Ryan. She’s a licker, thus the name, Lollipop. “She likes you.”

“Dogs are easy. That’s why I like them. Much
easier to handle than people.”

He grimaces slightly, as though he said
something he regrets. Probably forgot that I’m on his payroll, I imagine.

“You’ve got plenty of people to handle.
So, do you like Lollipop, Hannah?” I ask as she comes over toward us.

“I love her,” she replies
enthusiastically.

My heart pinches slightly at the
knowledge my son will have to say good-bye to this dog tonight. He’ll put on a
brave face, but I know that around bedtime, when his room seems empty without
her sleeping with him, there will be tears involved.

Connor darts toward us with two of
Lolli’s balls in his hands. “Hannah says I can come swim in their pool next
summer if I let them have Lolli.”

Oh. This is awkward with a capital A. “Champ,
I’m sure they will have lots of plans this summer.”

“He’s more than welcome,” Ryan says with
a shrug.

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

“Our kids are going to the same school. It’s
good they get to know each other. And I imagine we’ll be bumping into each
other plenty.”

I shoot him a smile, knowing mine won’t
have nearly the effect on him as his does on me. “Yeah, if we’re both not
careful, Natalie will have us on clean-up committee in a couple weeks.”

Hannah sits down by her dad. “For the
fall fundraiser?” she asks. “Are you on a committee, Dad? Mrs. Helminski says
that
all
the parents need to help.” She stretches out the word ‘all’ for
a couple seconds, the same way I can imagine that Mrs. Helminski probably did.

Oh, boy. The pressure begins.

“I think I’ll help them out by writing them
a nice donation check, Hannah.”

I nod emphatically. “That’s right,
Hannah, they can really use the money more than the help at this point.”

“That’s not what Mrs. Helminski says. She
says we
all
have to roll up our sleeves and get to work. My class is making
decorations. We’re drawing a coconut tree mural,” she finishes proudly.

Connor crawls onto my lap. I love that he
still does that. I’m sure I’ll miss it in a year or two. “My mom’s on the
silent awkward committee,” he informs them.

“Auction, honey. Awkward is a different
word.” He has a tendency to get the first syllable right for words. But the
next one is up for grabs.

“What are
you
going to do to help,
Dad?” Hannah asks.

Ryan looks like a deer in headlights. I
have a feeling if Hannah asked him to build a new wing for the school with his
own bare hands, he’d be breaking ground on it tomorrow morning. He shoots me a
look. “What would you recommend, Kim?”

“The silent auction committee, definitely.
It takes the least time and you can do it on your own schedule. That’s why I’m
doing it. We just go to a bunch of businesses and ask them to donate things
that we can auction off. Pretty easy, actually. And fun, too—at least for
me it is.”

“You’d be really good at that, Dad. You
can get people to do anything,” Hannah tells him.

Lord, that child doesn’t know how true
her words are. I’m sure there are plenty of women who would do just about
anything for Ryan Sheridan. Me included.

“Okay, I’ll do it,” he says, that rare
smile perking up his face… and my libido.

Hannah beams with pride at his response
and hugs him before jumping into a game of some kind of tag with Connor and
Lolli. The game doesn’t appear to have a set of rules. They just run around and
tag each other and Lolli when they can.

“You don’t really have to do it, you know.”
I let him off the hook when she’s out of earshot. “I’ll say you went to the
businesses with me, and no one will know the difference. You’ve got a lot on your
agenda, I’m sure.”

He bristles slightly, and from his
reaction I’m betting he abides by that same SEAL honor thing that his brother
does, even though I don’t think Ryan’s ever been in the military. “I don’t
mind, especially if you’ll show me the ropes,” he says. “When were you planning
on doing it?”

“Friday after work, if I can get my mom
to babysit Connor. I thought I’d hit up the places in the mall in Jeffers and then
see if I can get Bergin’s to donate a couple nights in their hotel.”

His eyes look thoughtful a moment before
he pulls his smartphone out of his pocket. He taps a few times, probably
checking his schedule. I can’t imagine how busy a guy like this is.

“Friday is great. Six work?”

“Sounds perfect.”

My insides warm slightly at the thought
of being alone for the evening with Mr. Sheridan—I mean, Ryan, since it
will be after five-o’clock. Even though I want to kill Allie for having him
show up at my doorstep like this, I can’t help being grateful for this chance
to feel the lovely surge of hormones in my veins.

I don’t date much. Allie and Cass think
it’s because the picking’s are slim here in Newton’s Creek. But I use that
excuse as a crutch. I actually just don’t like dating.

At all.

Period.

But that only makes an evening with Ryan
more intriguing to someone like me, because it’s not a date. And I get to enjoy
these butterflies in my stomach, without the pressure of it going anywhere. Around
Ryan I feel different somehow. Not just a mom with a past I try to forget every
day. But a woman with an honest-to-God sex drive.

“Hannah, we should probably get going
now, don’t you think?” Ryan suggests.

“Aw, Dad. I don’t want to go yet,” she
calls from the other side of the yard.

He shakes his head watching the kids
laughing and rolling around with the dog in the grass. He gives me an awkward
glance. “I’m not sure who she wants to adopt more, Lollipop or your son. She’s
always begging me for siblings.”

“I know what you mean. I get the same
thing from Connor. Only child syndrome. I swear someone should come up with a
company called Rent-a-Sib, so that I could just lease a brother or sister for
him for a while.”

“Well, if you want to let them play a
while longer, I can order some pizzas.”

My heart goes pit-a-pat. “Sure, that
sounds great.”

Merciful God. I’ll definitely need a cold
shower tonight.

- RYAN -

“This was a set-up.” I shoot my brother
my deadliest glare as he steps into my workout room. I’d been tempted to call
him earlier tonight, but knew he’d be by. Ever since I added a Jacob’s Ladder
to the gym in my basement, he’s been here at least three times a week after
Hannah goes to bed to try it out before he gets his own.

Tugging his t-shirt over his head, he
ignores my statement and simply says, “Did you like her?”

“The dog or Kim?”

“Both.”

At least he’s not hiding it. “The dog is
great. She’s sleeping in Hannah’s bed as we speak.”

“And how about Kim?”

She’s sleeping in
my
bed, I wish I
could say, unable to forget how those cocoa brown eyes made my knees nearly
buckle. “She’s nice, Logan, but she works at JLS. It’s not going to happen. Spot
me?” I ask him, lying down to do some bench presses. I’ve loaded up the weights
more than usual tonight. Something about being around Kim gave me a bit more
energy than I usually have after Hannah’s nodded off to sleep.

Logan moves next to my bench. “It’s not
the military. You don’t have a fraternization policy.”

I pause the conversation for a moment
while I knock out five reps at 315 pounds, and rack the bar. “For other people,
no. But for me, there has to be.”

“There isn’t.”

Inhaling, I lift again, considering how
my brother lives in a completely different world than I do. “Some rules aren’t
written in a manual,” I tell him when I set the bar down. I’m the CEO, I remind
myself. I have to hold myself to a higher standard. “What happens when the
relationship goes south, and I’m slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit?” I’m
sure he noticed how I said “when,” rather than “if.” Since my divorce, I tend
to be a pessimist when it comes to women.

“Kim wouldn’t do that.”

As I start my next set, I think back to
the last two hours I spent with her, watching her play with the kids, laugh as we
shared a pizza, and fill me in on the nuances of life at Orchard Acres Elementary
School. No, there was nothing about her that made me think she’d ever do that. “Okay,
maybe she wouldn’t. But if news got out that I was using my employees as some
kind of dating pool, I’d get more bad press than I can handle. JLS needs to be
squeaky clean, Logan. We get enough flack from special interests. There are
other women I can date that won’t put our brand at a reputational loss.”

“Oh, really? When was the last time you
had a date, Casanova?”

I sigh. It was the week before Hannah
moved in. No coincidence, to be sure.

As I rise from the bench, Logan laughs as
he steps away from the weights. “Your silence speaks volumes, bro. Kim’s worth
breaking a rule for. Good mom. Ultra protective, like you are. Super smart. Cute,
too, isn’t she? Not gorgeous, but definitely cute.”

Not gorgeous?
Has Logan even given her a second look? Her
eyes alone should be on magazines selling overpriced mascara.

“It doesn’t matter what she is. She’s not
date material.” I know I might be overstressing this, but I don’t care. JLS
Heartland’s reputation means everything to me. My family name is attached to it.
I can’t tarnish it.

“She’s everything you said you wanted in
a woman.”

“Sure, if she worked elsewhere. Now drop
it, Logan.” Why is it that whenever a guy hooks up with the right woman, he
suddenly thinks that everyone should give monogamy a try?

 Starting up on the Jacob’s Ladder,
he mutters, “Okay, Okay. Allie and I just thought—”

“Allie was in on this?”
Could I be any
more humiliated?

He doesn’t even glance my way. “Maybe a
little. We just thought you two should meet. She didn’t tell Kim it was you
coming to her house tonight. I don’t think Kim would have had you over had she
known.”

“Thanks for stroking my ego, bro.”

“I still say you should see more of her.”

“I plan to,” I say, earning an
inquisitive glance over his shoulder as he continues to climb. “In the carpool
line at school. Besides that, we’re both on the same committee for the school
fundraiser. We’re going out Friday night to see if we can get some businesses
to donate things for the silent auction.”

“Sounds like a date to me.”

“It’s not a date. It’s for the kids,
Logan.”

“Really? I didn’t hear anything past ‘We’re
going out Friday night…’” he stops suddenly, his eyes darting behind me. “Well,
look what the cat dragged in.”

I stop my crunches and glance toward the
doorway. “Hey, Dylan. Didn’t expect you in till tomorrow night.”

“Yeah, well, plans changed. I saw Logan’s
car and figured you’d be down here. Peanut asleep?”

“Out like a light,” I say, glancing at
the baby monitor I have set on the ledge. Hannah hates that I keep it in her
room, a relic from her infant and toddler days. But the fact is, it’s a huge
house, and I wouldn’t be able to hear her call me if I didn’t have it down here
in the workout room after she goes to bed.

Dylan walks over to me and gives me the
usual brotherly punch on the shoulder in greeting. I’d give him the same, but
I’m hanging nearly upside down right now.

“Did you check in at Bergin’s yet?” There
aren’t many hotels in our area, and even Bergin’s Hotel and Conference Center,
the cream of the crop, isn’t up to Dylan’s standards. I offered him a room at
my house while he’s here, but he says having a seven-year-old sharing his air
space might cramp his sex life.

I can’t exactly argue with his logic,
even though that seven-year-old happens to be the center of my universe.

“Nah. Came straight here.”

“Just a heads-up—we got a dog today,”
I warn him.

“A dog? Seriously?” He looks around. “So
where is he?”

“She,” I correct. “And she’s up in
Hannah’s bed.”

“Aw, a dog for Hannah. Every kid needs a
dog.”

“Agreed. So, why the early arrival?”

He shrugs his shoulders as he offhandedly
grabs a couple gloves from my shelf. “Can’t I come to visit my family early? Am
I that much of a family pariah?” He pounds into my hanging bag. Dylan owns a
chain of gyms and is exploring the possibility of expanding to Cincinnati or Dayton
next. I can tell there’s more of a story to his early arrival than he’s
sharing. But I’m not about to pry.

Logan, on the other hand…

“Another painful breakup, Dylan?”

“Fuck you, man,” Dylan responds, which
tells me that Logan hit the nail on the head. Dylan has remarkably bad taste in
women. “We can’t all end up with Allies,” he adds.

No doubt, I’m thinking. But I won’t be
feeling sorry for Dylan. He doesn’t have any kids living with him full-time and
he travels constantly, so he can cast his net a lot further than I can. “You’ll
get no sympathy from me.”

“Why the hell not? This last one has me
wondering if any of them are worth it.”

“You’re dating the wrong kind of women,”
Logan informs him, and I nod in agreement.

“You’ve never met anyone I’ve dated.”

“Yeah, but they’re always tweeting
selfies of themselves on your arm and sticking updates about your relationship
on Reddit. They don’t exactly leave much to the imagination, Dylan. Might want
to go out with someone you have something in common with for a change. Like Ryan
here.”

“You want me to date Ryan?” Dylan
deadpans.

“No, asshole. I want you to date someone
like he’s dating.”

I halt my crunches and stare at him. “I’m
dating someone now?” News to me.

“Yep. He’s just starting up with some
woman who works for him. Her kid goes to the same school as Hannah.”

“You’re dating a JLS employee? Isn’t that
breaking Dad’s cardinal law?”

“
Dad’s
cardinal law, Dylan. Not
Ryan’s. Dad made that rule back when JLS wasn’t employing half the women in the
area.”

Logan’s right about that, and I let his
argument sink in a split-second before I remember to reply, “I’m not dating
her, Logan. We’re just friends.”

Dylan shoots me a grin. “And if you can’t
fuck your friends—”

Anticipating his statement, I cut him
off. “If that works so well, then why are you here a day early, probably
reeling from another dramatic break up that we’ll see in the tabloids tomorrow
morning?”

Dylan grumbles slightly, pounding into
the bag. The press loves my brother as much as I hate the press. Half the
reason I hire a woman to grocery shop for me is because I can’t stand the sight
of my youngest brother’s face beaming back at me in the magazines they sell in
the check-out line. Ever since he won an Olympic medal in wrestling several years
back, and then got a few endorsements out of the deal, he’s become the
tabloid’s Golden Boy because of various escapades.

After a few minutes of blessed silence
when I can finally focus on my crunches, I hear him ask, “Is she a good mom?”

I stop completely and stare at him.
“Excuse me?”

“This woman who works for you. Is she a
good mom?”

“Yeah, she seems to be.”

“She’s awesome. Raising her son all by
herself,” Logan adds and when Dylan shoots him a questioning glance, he
continues, “She and Allie are friends. So I know her pretty well.”

“Then you should date her, Ryan,” Dylan
says. “Screw Dad’s archaic rules. You’re the CEO now. Not him. And if someone
who might be a good stepmom for Hannah comes along, don’t you owe it to your
kid to see if it might be a good fit?”

Logan flashes a smile. “Not often that I
agree with Dylan, but he’s totally right. It’s like Allie always says about
people when they’re looking for the right dog.”

“Sorry,
what
did you say?” I angle
a gaze at him. I’m not sure, but I’m thinking Allie wouldn’t approve of him
comparing searching for a woman to looking for a dog.

“You heard me. People come to her and
tell her they’re looking for something specific—like, say a Labradoodle. And
they might be overlooking a really incredible Shepherd mix that would be a
perfect fit personality-wise for their family. The more restrictions that you
put on who you are looking for, the more likely you are to overlook someone who
might be perfect. And you could end up with the wrong one.”

I know he and Dylan are picturing my ex
right now. So am I.

“What’s the most important trait in a
woman for you?” Logan continues.

“That she’d be a good addition to
Hannah’s life,” I say without hesitation.

“So as a good dad, don’t you have a
responsibility to at least see if this might go someplace? Screw the company
and how things might look. Hell, if our family can survive the constant
backlashes from all the scandals Dylan is sending our way—”

“Hey, watch it,” Dylan interrupts.

“—then we’ll survive if the JLS
Heartland CEO goes on a few dates with someone who works for him.”

“I’ll consider it,” I say noncommittally.

But in the back of my mind, I’m picturing
Kim’s smile again, and remembering the stirring effect it had on me. My
brothers are right, and I hate that. Because like all brothers, they’ll never
let me forget it.